Young and the Restless sees Claire Grace Newman (Hayley Erin) heartbroken this week when Kyle Abbott (Michael Mealor) finally spills the secret he’s been keeping. But Claire’s anguish over what he did leads Kyle to a strange conclusion: he thinks proposing marriage is what he needs to do now.
We’re going to talk about Claire’s reaction when Kyle proposes. He just told his parents it’s the best thing to do, but a Claire and Kyle wedding could be absolutely disastrous.
Kyle’s Shocking Confession: The Audra Charles Kiss Revealed
This week, if you’ve not seen it yet, Claire again asked Kyle, “Please tell me if there’s anything at all you’ve not revealed about that time in France with Audra Charles (Zuleyka Silver).” We know Claire is quite happy that Nate Hastings (Sean Dominic) dumped Audra, but she’s still suspicious of her own boyfriend.
To his credit, Kylerolls the dice. He takes a risk and decides to be honest, but like 88% honest, not 100%. He’s going to tell Claire, “Yes, okay, he kissed Audra while trying to expose her scheme.” Even worse, Kyle reveals the kiss happened in his sleeping car on the train. They were alone there.
But what he doesn’t tell Claire is that he was only dressed in a towel, and he climbed on top of Audra in the bed. They were playing a serious game of tonsil hockey before it stopped. Kyle makes it sound way more innocent than it was, but it was at least somewhat the truth.
Claire’s Betrayal: The Weight of Kyle’s Lies
Claire tells Kyle that Audra was actually more honest with her than he was because Audra did tell Claire they kissed in France, and he was denying it. The core issue is Jordan Howard (Colleen Zenk), Claire’s crazy great-aunt, lied to Claire her entire life and gaslit and misled her.
So, honesty is super important to Claire, and now she’s completely beside herself. It’s not so much that Kyle kissed Audra, it was the lying. Kyle’s excuse was that Claire had just lost her dad, Cole Howard (J. Eddie Peck).
So, Kyle didn’t know how to tell the truth about the kiss without making Claire’s grief worse. Plus, Kyle was afraid of hurting and disappointing her. When Kyle finally comes clean and begs Claire to tell him things are okay, she’s not okay, and she walks out on Kyle.
Family Drama & Kyle’s Desperate Marriage Proposal Plan
Later, Claire tells her mom Victoria Newman (Amelia Heinle) and her grandma Nikki Newman (Melody Thomas Scott) about Kyle kissing Audra in France. They think Kyle made a huge mistake, but they also think he truly loves Claire. Victoria says it’s totally up to Claire to decide if she should forgive Kyle; it’s not up to them.
Her mom and grandma also know that Kyle was the subject of a wicked plot cooked up by Victor Newman (Eric Braeden) and Audra. He was being targeted and put in very bad positions. Bottom line, Claire needs time. She’s not going to forgive him at the moment. Luckily for Kyle, Claire has not written him off completely.
Kyle’s Grand Gesture on Young and the Restless
So, in time, I do think Claire could forgive him. But I don’t know if he can be patient because, meanwhile, Kyle is telling his parents, Jack Abbott (Peter Bergman) and Diane Jenkins (Susan Walters), that he came clean. He told Claire the truth, but he might have blown up their relationship.
It sounds like Kyle does not want to give Claire time to think about it for too long. Kyle wants to make a grand gesture to win her back and prove his love. He tells his parents the only way to prove himself to Claire is to ask her to marry him. Kyle wants to show Claire just how committed he is to her. It could be late this week, probably into next week, that we’ll get Kyle proposing to Claire.
I’m sure she’s not going to see it coming. As hurt as Claire is, if Kyle’s proposal is very heartfelt, and we do know that little Harrison Locke (Redding Munsell) is back soon, Kyle might involve the kid in the proposal on Young and the Restless. And that might convince Claire that his love is indeed real.
Of course, Victor will lose his mind if Kyle proposes and Claire says yes. As with any soap opera wedding, there’s always the chance that a wedding would go wildly off the rails. I think that’s especially true in the case of Claire and Kyle. I suspect Claire and Kyle big day would end in chaos potentially. Here’s what we could see that would blow up this potential wedding.
Victor Newman’s Vengeance: The $5 Million Contract Threat
Obviously, Victor will not be happy about any new Newman and Abbott wedding, even though he gave Claire and Kyle his blessing. First of all, he was lying. Second of all, that does not apply to any engagement. Victor was still hoping that Kyle would lose Claire and that it would fall apart before it got more serious.
Jack was just pressuring Victor this week to tear up that contract, but he said no. That’s a red flag. If you remember, Kyle signed a document saying he would leave town and pay Victor $5 million if he broke Claire’s heart.
So, Victor Newman could whip that contract out at the “speak now or forever hold your peace” part of the wedding and blather on about Kyle betraying Claire with Audra. He could make a whole big scene, and Victor might say, “Pay up. Pack your bags, buddy. Forget it. You’re not marrying my granddaughter.”
Audra Charle’s Revenge: Sabotaging the Wedding
Next, of course, there’s Audra who absolutely could and would sabotage Kyle and Claire’s wedding. Audra hates Kyle and now she also hates Claire. She blames Claire for the breakup with Nate even though, let’s be real, Audra did that all on her own. Ruining Kyle and Claire’s big day would give Audra a lot of pleasure. No way will she stand by while Kyle gets his happily ever after with the woman he loves now that Audra has lost everything.
Holden Novak’s Intervention & Audra’s Manipulation
I also think Holden Novak (Nathan Owens) could show up and intervene. Audra might even provoke Holden to interrupt. She might get in his head about Claire. If Audra Charles realizes how smitten Holden is with Claire she might tell him he’s got to stop the wedding or he’ll miss his chance. Audra could tell Holden that breaking up the wedding would save Claire from Kyle because he’s a cheater and is just going to hurt her again. Plus, Holden really likes Claire so he might stop the wedding or try to.
Runaway Bride? Claire’s Second Thoughts on Young and the Restless
We also have to mention Claire herself might have second thoughts. Kyle’s lie about the kiss might eat at her. As much as Claire loves him, she may not be able to trust Kyle (Michael Mealor) again. So, Claire might interrupt her own wedding and say, “I’m sorry. I can’t do this,” and do the runaway bride thing.
Cane Ashby’s Blackmail: Victor’s Ultimate Wedding Wrecker
And the last thing, Cane Ashby (Billy Flynn) could interrupt the wedding to ruin their big day because Victor is blackmailing him. Right now, Victor has documents that show Cane’s initial money that seeded Arabesque came from Collin Atkinson’s (Tristan Rogers) last con, where he talked the lady who owned the chateau into leaving everything in the will.
So, Victor may tell Cane he’s got to find some way to blow up Claire and Kyle’s wedding, or he’ll reveal the dirty info he’s got. So, we’ll see if Claire says yes when Kyle proposes. Even if Claire says yes, there are so many ways their nuptials could go off the rails. I just don’t see her getting married to Kyle going off without a hitch. My top candidates for wedding disruption are Audra and Victor.
