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Nora moved to
Llanview in 1992 and met Bo Buchanan.
She assisted him in his search to find the hit and run driver who
killed his wife, Sarah Gordon. Nora suffered from blinding headaches and
blackouts and she kept from Bo her fear that she might have been driving
the car that ran him and Sarah off the road.
They later discovered that the accident had been caused by drunk
driver. The burden of guilt
was lifted and Nora moved in with Bo.
They became engaged in 1993.
One of Nora's most
far-reaching cases came in 1993. After
the annual spring fling Marty Saybrooke accused Kevin Buchanan and three
of his fraternity brothers of gang rape.
The night of the spring fling, Kevin had carried Marty upstairs to
his room and put her to bed to sleep off her drunken binge.
Kevin returned downstairs. Todd
Manning and his friends Powell Lord and Zach Rosen followed him to Kevin's
room where Marty was passed out. The
frat party was too loud and too wild for anyone downstairs to hear Marty's
screams as she was brutally raped by Todd, then Zach, and Powell.
Nora Buchanan
believed Todd when he said Marty wanted to have sex with them, and she
agreed to represent the boys. The
trial went well for the defendants and it seemly likely that Todd would be
acquitted after Nora's brutal cross-examination of Marty.
When Nora discovered that Todd had raped another coed, Carol Swift,
she realized he was guilty. The
ethical conflict of the situation troubled Nora's sense of decency and she
agonized over how to proceed. Nora
delivered an intense summation, where she made it clear to the jury and
courtroom that her three clients were guilty.
Nora's abrupt change of heart against Todd, Zach, and Powell,
caused a mistrial.
After the mistrial
Todd promised to make Marty sorry that she had accused him.
Marty spoke out on Luna's radio program about her experience. After
the broadcast, Marty found Todd waiting in the alley outside the radio
station. He pinned her against the wall and threatened to rape her a
second time. Luna witnessed
Todd threatening Marty and ran into the alley.
She struck Todd across the face with metal pipe rendering him deaf
in one ear, and permanently scarring his cheek.
Marty confronted Todd in the hospital, where he taunted her about
the brutal rape. Todd boasted
about his conquest not knowing that Marty was recording his confession on
tape. Todd was sentenced to
eight years in prison because of his confession.
Later that year,
Nora was diagnosed with a life-threatening malignant brain tumor that
required immediate surgery. She
reluctantly decided to be operated on but didn’t share her medical
condition with Bo. Bo found out about her condition right before the surgery and
raced to be with her where he stayed the entire time.
While, Nora was
temporarily blind from the procedure and recuperating at her beach house
Todd had escaped from prison. He
went to the remote beach house, threatened Nora with a knife and viciously
attempted to rape her. Nora
foiled his attempt by hitting Todd over the head with a lamp.
Bo, who heard about Todd's escape on the radio, came back to the
beach house and rescued Nora. Bo
brought her back to Llanview where she had a second operation that
restored her sight.
Nora is a loving
and protective mother and when her daughter, Rachel became addicted to
drugs she and Hank were very upset. Rachel
nearly overdosed on heroin and RJ joined Hank and Nora for an
intervention. Against her
will, Rachel was sent off to a rehab clinic to overcome her drug
addiction.
In 1995, after many
delays and cold feet on the part of both the bride and groom-to-be Bo and
Nora finally got married in a rock and roll wedding presided over by
Little Richard. After the
wedding, the guests danced in the aisles then attended the 50's-style sock
hop reception.
After running away
from the rehab facility, Rachel ended up in New York City where her world
was starting to collapse. She
started working with a shady "escort service."
Fortunately Rachel's stepbrother, Drew Buchanan, helped Rachel to
return to her family in Llanview and work to overcome her substance abuse
problem and get her life back on track.
Nora hired an
assistant, Georgie Philips, to help her with her legal workload. Georgie
seemed to be the perfect assistant to Nora, but while she was managing
Nora's office, she ingratiated herself into the Buchanan's personal lives.
Georgie even moved in with Rachel Gannon.
At first Georgie's interest seemed clingy but harmless, things like
making Bo and Nora dinner and escorting Bo to a social function.
Soon it was clear Georgie wanted to become Nora and she started to
encroach in ways that were more sinister.
Georgie seemed intent on destroying their marriage and getting Bo
for herself. She tried to
play on Bo's jealousies, hinting to him that Sam Rappaport's relationship
with Nora was more personal than professional.
Georgie started getting mysterious phone calls that she hung up too
quickly when her roommate or Nora walked in.
She sent herself flowers and told her roommate they were from a
married lover; giving Rachel the impression that Bo was the man.
Bo was innocent and wanted nothing to do with Georgie.
The evil little conniver went to great lengths to create the
appearance that she and Bo were carrying on an affair and that he was also
being abusive. Georgie broke
into Bo and Nora's house and took pictures of herself in their bed then
altered the photos to make it like she and Bo were in bed together.
One night it all
came to a head and Nora went up to the mountain cabin to confront Bo and
Georgie together. She got there and saw Georgie and a man together hugging and
kissing. Nora thought that it
was Bo and she drove off ending up at a biker bar and getting drunk.
The bar tender found Sam's business card in Nora's things and
called Sam to tell him where she was.
Sam came and comforted Nora about Bo's "infidelity".
Nora returned to
Llanview and she and Bo were shocked when Georgie turned up dead and
buried under leaves near the cabin where Nora had last seen her.
Nora realized that Bo hadn't been unfaithful, but they didn't know
the identity of the man Nora had seen with Georgie at the cabin the night
of the murder.
Georgie had been a
con artist and blackmailer before coming to Llanview; there was no
shortage of people who wanted her dead, including Bo.
Todd Manning's paranoia made him think the Buchanans were trying
pin the murder charge on him. He
was tired of being Llanview's criminal laureate and scapegoat when crimes
were committed. Todd decided to clear his name and find out who the murderer
was. With his usual Todd
logic, he ended up holding hostage at the Buchanan lodge everyone with a
motive. To keep Kevin from
shooting Todd, Rachel confessed that she had killed Georgie to keep her
from hurting Nora.
Nora didn't want to
see her daughter go to prison and she convinced Rachel to go away with
her. They went up to their
old vacation spot where Rachel and Nora spent a lot of time talking.
Rachel convinced Nora to see that running away was the wrong thing
to do. Bo found Rachel and
Nora and they returned to Llanview together.
Rachel was then sentenced to a prison term.
In 1998 Nora and Bo
considered having a baby Buchanan of their own.
Since Nora had been diagnosed as peri-menopausal around the time
that Georgie came to Llanview they were concerned whether it was possible
for them to conceive a child. They
consulted a fertility doctor and were tested.
Things should have gone smoothly, but Sam's ex-wife, Lindsay had
always been jealous of Nora and blamed her for the demise of her marriage.
Accidentally, since she was a "Mrs. Buchanan", but not
the right one, Lindsay got Bo's fertility test results and altered them,
making it appear that Bo couldn't father any more children.
At the same time,
another tragedy occurred. While
defending Cassie and his cousin, Kevin, Bo's son Drew was murdered during
a struggle with Barbara Graham. Bo
became despondent and left in his boat, right into Llanview's version of
"The Perfect Storm". Using
a ham radio, Nora contacted Bo and encouraging him to return by lying and
telling him she was pregnant. Bo
returned and was hospitalized with pneumonia.
Nora wanted to confess her lie to Bo, but every time she tried to
tell him she wasn't pregnant, he took a turn for the worse.
Believing the test
results were true, Nora asked Sam to make love with her in the hope of
conceiving a child and presenting it to Bo as his.
Sam was reluctant at first, but finally gave in and he and Nora
made love. Lindsay was still
very much attached to Sam and she was following him and Nora.
She saw them go into the cabana at the country club and guessed
correctly about the purpose of their mission.
Nora became pregnant
and Bo believed the baby was his. The
stress of deceiving Bo made Nora act very strangely. Bo began to worry
that Nora was keeping something from him.
Bo found out Nora's secret when Lindsay showed up drunk at the
Woman of the Year banquet. Intent
on embarrassing Nora, Lindsay announced that she had betrayed Bo by
sleeping with Sam. Bo
realized that Nora was carrying Sam's baby, not his.
Nora and Bo still had deep feelings for one another, but they
couldn't get past this painful incident.
Nora vowed to fight for Bo, but he moved out.
Nora gave birth to a
boy and named him, Matthew after Sam's father.
Because he was born prematurely, he almost died shortly after
birth. With medical care and
Nora and Sam's constant love, Matthew survived.
Nora later learned the truth about Bo's fertility tests and
realized he could be Matthew's father. Nora had Matthew's DNA tested, but Lindsay interfered again.
She bribed the lab technician, Jeff Barnes to make sure that Sam
stayed Matthew's father. The
tests revealed that Sam was Matthew's father, but Lindsay never knew for
certain if the results were real because of her bribing the technician.
Realizing that Bo
wasn't coming back, Nora and Sam became closer.
Nora and Sam almost got married on several occasions, but never
actually tied the knot. Nora
and Sam moved into the beautiful house that Sam bought for Nora so they
could raise Matthew together as a family.
Lindsay inspired
Nora's distrust and she discovered one of Lindsay's darkest secrets when
she learned about Lindsay changing the results of Bo's fertility test.
Nora told Sam and was shocked when he said he had already known
what Lindsay had done. Sam
warned Nora to let this secret stay buried, but she couldn't let this one
rest. Determined to expose
the truth, Nora interrupted Bo and Lindsay's wedding ceremony and told Bo
about Lindsay's dirty tricks. Bo
cancelled his wedding to Lindsay and questioned Nora why she chose that
time to tell him the truth about his fiancée.
Nora insisted she only wanted Bo to know the truth before he got
married, but both Bo and Sam doubted this was the entire reason.
Nora admitted to having conflicted feelings about Bo - something
had happened between the two when Bo rescued her on New Year's Eve - but
insisted Sam was the man she loved and wanted to be with.
Nora's waffling about her feelings and her disrupting Bo's wedding
caused Sam to move out temporarily, although he and Nora reconciled.
While discovering
Lindsay's test tampering, Nora realized that Lindsay was pregnant by Bo.
Nora kept this news to herself but urged Lindsay to tell Bo the
truth on her own. Lindsay had
planned on telling Bo the happy news on their wedding night, but that
never happened because the wedding was cancelled.
When Nora threatened
to tell Bo about Lindsay's pregnancy, Lindsay went crazy and physically
attacked Nora. Earlier that day Lindsay had gone to see her doctor who
advised her to go home and rest. The
stress of fighting with Nora caused Lindsay to suffer a miscarriage.
Nora was guilt-ridden, but Sam assured her that Lindsay's
miscarriage hadn't been her fault. Lindsay didn't agree. After
the miscarriage, her already intense hatred towards Nora tripled causing
her mind to warp even further. She
blamed Nora for Bo leaving her at the altar and for losing Bo's baby.
Lindsay convinced herself it was all a plot that Nora wanted to
keep her from being happy, especially being happy with Bo.
Nora and Sam were
defending Sam's son Will on charges of embezzlement of the Megan
Foundation. They were unable
to prove that Asa had framed Will on the charges and he was convicted.
Nora accompanied Will on the train taking him to Statesville Prison
to start serving his sentence. Both
Nora and Bo were on the train and Nora asked for his forgiveness for all
the misunderstanding between them. Although
Bo still had deep feelings for Nora, he couldn't forgive her.
On the way to Statesville, the train derailed and Nora was severely
injured in the wreck. She was
lying wedged under pieces of metal and unable to be moved to safety. When the train exploded, Nora was presumed dead.
Nobody knew Dr. Colin McIver found her and saved her life.
Not realizing who
she was, Colin brought her to the Cherryvale Clinic for treatment of her
shattered pelvis and other injuries.
Meanwhile, everyone in Llanview mourned Nora's death and they gave
her a memorial service that Nora saw on television while she was in the
hospital. Because of smoke inhalation, Nora was unable to speak when
she first regained consciousness. Though
she struggled to tell the nurses and Colin her name and that she was the
one being memorialized. Sam
kept insisting that he felt Nora's presence and thought she was alive.
His and Nora's families assumed he was just not accepting her
death.
When Nora could
speak, the first name she said was "Lindsay Rappaport".
Colin called Lindsay to clinic to identify Nora.
Lindsay had been so happy believing that the thorn in her side was
gone and that she would have an unimpeded second chance with Bo.
She was devastated to learn that Nora was still alive.
Lindsay coerced Colin into removing Nora from the clinic and
keeping her "dead" until Lindsay could regain Bo's affections.
Neither Lindsay nor Colin were aware of Bo's one-nightstand with
Colin's estranged wife, Melanie.
As Nora gained
strength she tried to bargain with Colin to let her go back to her baby
and Sam. Nora tried several
times to reach the outside world and thought she had tricked Colin into
revealing to Sam that she was alive.
She tried to put the pieces together and figure out why Colin would
want to keep her captive, but she didn't realize what the missing piece
was right away. She saw a
picture of Melanie in the bedroom and asked Colin who it was.
Nora remarked that Lindsay and Melanie "could be
sisters", not realizing that's exactly what they were.
Will went to
Melanie's house with the idea that his aunt, a plastic surgeon, could
alter his face enough for him to leave the country unrecognized.
Instead, he found Colin, who knocked him out and locked him in the
basement. When Colin came down to check on him Will knocked Colin
unconscious and found Nora in the bedroom.
They were overjoyed to see each other and Will went to call the
police. Todd arrived and
claimed the authorities were already on the way.
Then Todd claimed that he had contacted Sam and that Will should
leave the country to avoid being caught.
Todd, who was jealous of Sam's son, sent him to Ireland in a cargo
hold and hoped that was the last they would see of him.
Before leaving the country, Will left a message for Sam that Nora
was alive and Colin was keeping her prisoner.
When Nora realized
that Lindsay was the reason she was being held captive she told Colin her
theory. Colin wanted to let
her go, but Lindsay insisted that Nora would send them both to jail.
Lindsay got the crazy idea that Nora should lose her memory to keep
her from incriminating Lindsay and Colin.
Lindsay got a drug from R.J. that would make Nora forget all about
her captivity at Colin's house.
When Lindsay
returned to Colin's she discovered that Nora had been regaining her
strength and was no longer bed-ridden.
The two women struggled and Lindsay accidentally injected Nora with
the mind-erasing drug. Colin,
who was developing feelings for Nora, was furious with Lindsay for
injecting Nora with the drug. He
went to Cherryvale Clinic and tried to steal the antidote from the drug
cabinet.
After getting Will's
news about Nora and Colin, Sam, Hank and John went to the McIver house to
investigate. Colin and Lindsay protested their innocence but even they
were shocked to discover that Nora had disappeared from the house.
Todd had taken an unconscious Nora to a convent and planned on
bringing her home when it best suited his own plans.
Later Todd returned
Nora to Sam's house where her friends and family shared an emotional
reunion with Nora. They were shocked when Nora acted confused and the only person
she remembered was Hank. She
thought they were still married and that Rachel was still a child.
Nora failed to
recognize Lindsay or Colin. Nora
then asked about the little boy in the house after she found one of
Matthew's toys. She had no
memory of Matthew or having given birth to him.
Sam and Bo noticed that Colin almost called Nora
"Scarlet," but he managed to talk his way out of his error.
Lindsay was overjoyed
that Nora didn't remember her, but Colin decided that he would devote
himself to helping Nora recover. Nora
was brought to the hospital for tests to determine why she had severe
memory lost. The tests
revealed traces of the mind-erasing drug in her blood and Larry prescribed
an injection of an experimental drug that could restore her memory.
She remembered more, but she believed she was still married to Bo
and couldn't understand how she could have a baby with another man and Bo
not be upset with her. She is still missing memories of her last few years, but her
family is helping her adjust and trying to gently fill in the gaps.
Time will tell if she remembers everything.
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