Tad's Flame still Burns Bright!
Storyline from 1988-1990
What would be Tad's reaction to having kids with Dixie? Let's hear what he has to say...
Would Dixie want to have kids with Tad?(click here to find out)
Dixie Cooney and her brother, Will, left Pigeon Hollow in search of their uncle, Pete Cooney. Pete Cooney was known in Pine Valley as the formidable Palmer Cortlandt. Dixie began working for Palmer as his maid. After working there a few weeks, Palmer found out that she was his niece and would not allow her to be his maid any longer. Sweet, naive Dixie then took a job as Laura Cudahy's nanny and moved in with Adam Chandler and Brooke. When Laura was killed, she stayed on as a servant. Adam seduced the very young Dixie because Brooke was "infertile". Adam was pressuring Dixie into giving her child up for adoption so that he and Brooke could adopt it.
Brooke hired Tad to find out who the baby's father was. He developed a close friendship with Dixie and became her confidante and protector. With time he realized that Adam in fact fathered the child. Dixie was smitten with Adam despite Tad's insistance that he was a manipulating pig that was only using her. In order to buy Dixie some time so that she could decide if she wanted to give up the baby, Tad claimed that he was the father. Ruth and Joe welcomed Dixie into their "family."
Brooke found out that Adam was the baby's father. She divorced him.
He married Dixie after gaining her sympathy through a "suicide attempt" that everyone else saw through. Tad couldn't leave Dixie alone. Everyone kept asking him why? Was he in love with her? His patent reply: NO!
That is, until he slow-danced with her at Kelly's Nightclub. It hit him like a ton of bricks. One night while helping her roll yarn, he kissed her. Dixie broke off the friendship.
Tad got the goods on Adam. Adam had him beaten up (and the "goods" were taken) and was about to whisk Dixie away on a honeymoon. Tad told Dixie the truth and told her he loved her. Adam came in and beat Tad up some more. Dixie fell down a flight of stairs and went into premature labor.
Adam Chandler Junior was born 2 months early by ceasarian.Tad and Dixie continued to grow closer.
Adam decided that it was time to get rid of his young bride. She'd served her purpose and he wanted to get back with the woman he really loved... Brooke.
He pretended to go to Asia on business but really camped out in the attic "gaslighting" Dixie into thinking she was insane and a threat to her own son. After supposedly nearly poisoning Jr. with detergent, slashing his baby clothes to shreds with scissors, destroying his photos with acid, and "drowning" his teddy bear in the tub she suffered a breakdown and committed herself to Laurel Hill Sanitarium, at Adam's insistance.
Tad's promise to Dixie.
It took Tad a few hours to realize that it was physically impossible for Dixie to have done what Adam claimed. Once he realized what was going on he snuck into Laurel Hill with "Adam's" help (thanks Stuart!). He told Dixie the truth and she finally woke up to Adam's Machiavellian plot. Although she had signed herself in... Adam wouldn't let her sign herself out and signed committment papers to keep her where she was. He couldn't have her raising his child!
Dixie's Knight In Shining armor had a little trouble with his charger.
With some help from good friends Nico and Cecily Kelly, Tad broke Dixie out, just before she was to receive mind altering drugs to help her "condition". Tad and Dixie turned fugetives from justice and hid out in an abandoned store. Dixie couldn't help but "love" her hero, Tad. He could always make her laugh. But Tad didn't just want to be Dixie's friend and he knew that despite her protests to the contrary... she was in love with him too. ;-) Ah... who could resist the delicious temptations that the TAD TEST had in store for Dixie.
Tad proves to Dixie... he's got the complete package.
Tad proposes a toast.
Tad confesses who owns his heart.
Adam discovered where they were so the couple moved locations to Phoebe's cabin at Willow Lake as they continued to grow closer. When they could come in out of the cold, Dixie divorced Adam... and sued for custody of Jr. She lost.
Tad tried to get her out of her doledrums. He proposed to her dressed up in a chicken suit and she accepted.
Tad tells Dixie why he wants to marry her...
Tad and Dixie spent time together getting to know one another even more than before.
Palmer then set his twisted ways on destroying Tad and Dixie's impending marriage. He brought Tad's busy-body, yokel mother, Opal Gardner Purdy, back to town. Eventually, Tad and Dixie were married and honeymooned in Acapulco.
Dixie regained custody of Jr. after Adam's world was tumbled by Palmer Cortlandt. Kind-hearted Dixie forgave Adam.
When they returned from their honeymoon, they found that Opal had decorated their new apt. for them. YIKES!!
Palmer and Opal drove a wedge between the newlyweds. Opal moved into their apartment while Palmer would point out anything that Tad did wrong. Tad was having financial problems on top of the meddling. He demanded that Dixie totally cut her uncle out of her life and begged her to move to California with him. He told her he had an offer to be a partner in a PI firm in CA. When Dixie learned of Tad's deception (through Palmer's machinations) she left him.
Eventually she came around, but Palmer had pushed through a divorce against her wishes. Tad got the papers... and ended up sleeping with his close friend Brooke in his despair. Dixie heard them having sex in their apartment. They divorced for real. Billy Clyde Tuggle blew into town making fast friends with Dixie, he claimed her for his "southern bride to be". Billy abducted Dixie to an old cabin forced her to "marry" him and tried to rape her. Tad again came to her rescue and the happy couple reconciled and were about to re-marry.
Tad tells Dixie about their entry into the hall of fame of romantic couples.
At the rehersal Tad promises to love Dixie always.
T&D discuss their Golden Anniversary.
Dixie professes her love to Tad.
But Billy Clyde couldn't let his "sweet Dixie bird" commit "pigamy" with Thaddeus "Martian." Before Tad and Dixie could get remarried, tragedy struck. Billy Clyde set a trap for Tad in an abandoned cabin. Tad managed to escape but he and Billy Clyde got into an altercation on Lockport Bridge, during which a bomb exploded and both men tumbled off the bridge and into the rapids below. Billy Clyde died. Tad was presumed dead, but his body was never found. Dixie was heartbroken. "Together forever," wasn't as long as she expected.
Dixie doesn't take the news of Tad's death well.
Dixie refuses to believe that Tad isn't returning.
The wedding ring is found at the bottom of the river.
Melanie tries to get Dixie to remember the good times... and keep them safe.
Things didn't get any easier for her when she learned that Brooke was pregnant with Tad's child, Jamie. Dixie had always wanted to have children with Tad. Now that he was "dead" that dream would never become reality. :.-(
Back to Chez Martin|Dixie (1991-1996)