Edmund and Dixie Draw Closer Together (by Sheila Steinbach, SOM 5/11/1993)

AMC's Edmund is reeling in shock this week after he walks into Brooke's office and overhears Tad asking Brooke to marry him.

Brooke is startled to see Edmund, but he covers nicely by asking her a work-related question, then leaves. Hurt and angry, Edmund heads for the country-western bar, cruising for trouble.

Dixie gets an urgent call from Billy the bartender, who says her friend Edmund is a walking time bomb, ready to explode. If she doesn't come over ther and calm him down, Billy warns, a brawl will erupt.

Dixie arrives at the bar just in time to stop Edmund from getting into a fight. Edmund hotly declares he can take care of himself. But Dixie replies she didn't come all the way down there for a drink, she came to pound some sense into him.

As Edmund cools down, Dixie tells him that when she reached rock-bottom, Brian helped her by telling her the plain truth. Now she aims to do the same for Edmund. She says if Edmund is there to pick a fight, then he's just proving Brooke was right to break up with him.

But when Edmund tells Dixie about Tad's marriage proposal, Dixie is floored. Tad doesn't love Brooke, she insists- they simply had an affair, that's all. For Tad to marry Brooke without loving her would be cruel and manipulative, Dixie declares.

Edmund, trying to analyze Tad's actions, believes Tad has managed to convince himself he really does love Brooke. Edmund thinks Tad will seem so sincere that Brooke will believe him.

Dixie and Edmund leave the bar and go to her house, where he thanks her for preventing him from making a complete jerk of himself. Dixie says she sympathizes with him, but there's nothing they can do about Brooke and Tad.

Edmund theorizes Tad still loves Dixie, and that's why he's doing all this. But Dixie replies if Tad can convince himself he loves Brooke, then she can convince herself she's not in love with Tad.

John Callahan believes that bringing his character Edmund together with Dixie is a great idea. And he thinks their friendship could grow into something deeper.

"It's a welcome change from most storylines, where you jump into bed with a girl when you're on the rebound from someone else. I think this is a healthier way to have a relationship," he says. "Edmund doesnt' treat Dixie like a mother or a child, he treats her like a woman."

Cady McClain (Dixie) says her character knows exactly what pain Edmund is going through, and that's way she went to the bar to help him. "She's been through the bar scene, the loss of self, and that feeling of separation from love," she tells SOM. "She and Edmund are coming together to help each other heal."

Will Tad and Brooke's romance now bring Dixie and Edmund closer together? Stranger things have happened, Cady notes.

"That's how Tad and Dixie started. Isn't that the kind of ideal thing we all hope for? That we'll meet somebody we relate to as a friend, and that a relationship will come out of that? "There is great equality in the way Edmund and Dixie treat each other, and it's partly because their pain is so similar that they have compassion and respect for each other."

Megan McTavish, AMC head writer, says: "We find Dixie and Edmund very interesting together on camera. It's one of those relationships we like because anything can happen with it. They have a good understanding of each other. They don't need to explain anything because they've both been there.

As adorable as Brian is- and Dixie certainly does care for him- Edmund is a man who can give her perspective on what Tad's doing. Brian can't, because he's too young to understand Tad. Edmund sees Tad very clearly. And when Edmund is explaining Tad to Dixie, he's explaining it to the audience as well. For the audience to enjoy the story, they have to understand the story."

Whether Dixie and Edmund will become more than just friends remains to be seen, Megan adds. "You never know where it'll go. It's sort of what we did with Dixie and Brian. That came up out of the blue. Everyone thought it was an oddball idea, but we said we'd try it. So we never say never around here."