SOAP OPERA DIGEST: March 31, 1992

TRUE LOVE ~ by Roberta Caploe

The romance of Melissa (Missy) and Scott Reeves is an old-fashioned love story. Engaged two months after they began dating, they wed a little over a year later and are expecting their first child in June, just sixteen months after that. Although they are sophisticated enough to succeed in the antagonistic entertainment business, there remains about Melissa and Scott an element of innocence, a Disney-like optimism. Despite illness and unemployment, their relationship remains underlined by a belief in traditional values: God, home and each other.

They met when he was playing the short-lived role of Jack on her soap, DAYS OF OUR LIVES. Though each one was involved with someone else, Scott clearly recalls the first time he noticed his future bride: "We had one scene together the whole time I worked there, and it was very indirect. She didn't even say anything to me. It was a beach scene, and she had on this little bathing suit."

"He was looking at my butt!" Melissa interjects. Quibbling aside, after Scott left the show, he would still visit the set. One day, Melissa called him over while she was being made up and asked his age. By this time, both had ended their previous entanglements. "She had never asked me anything personal before," Scott points out. "That night, I was sitting around with a few friends in my apartment, thinking, 'Who can I [invite over]?' I thought of Missy, because we had talked that day. So I called her, "In a suave move, Scott had lifted Melissa's number from the cast sheet at the studio.

"I was in such a funk," Melissa recalls. "I had gotten off work and I was tired. I didn't drive on the freeway then. I asked, 'Is there a way I can get there on Ventura Boulevard?" There was. After Scott's friends left, he played his guitar and sang to her. "I was saying, 'Oh, no.' We had both just gotten out of these horrible relationships," Melissa remembers. Scott agrees, "I started feeling the same way, thinking, 'It's happening. The feelings are starting.'" Scott called her the next day with an enticing invitation -- to help him wash his dog. "We spent the entire day together," Scott says. "She had dinner at my parents' house, and stayed until late evening. From then on, [we were together] every single day."

Hurting through space at warp speed is what they really mean. Both Melissa and Scott realized being together was not only right, but also necessary. "You have to go through all the bad relationships so that when the right one comes along, you just know. You appreciate it so much," Melissa notes. Concurs Scott, "It's something you can't explain. It's so easy. With every other relationship, you can always see the end in the back of your mind."

Two weeks after that first evening together -- they proudly remember it was February 24, 1989 -- the couple shared their first serious kiss. "For the first two weeks," notes Scott, "all we would do was sit in my apartment, listen to music and just look at each other. Then one night, we played music, lit candies and just danced and kissed the entire night."

A scant week later, Scott bought the engagement ring, thinking he'd figure out when to propose. However, he got a role in one of the Friday the 13th movies, requiring him to spend two months in Canada. Melissa began flying up to see him every other weekend. Scott secretly went through the headache of getting the ring into Canada, which required paying a hefty tax.

"On April Fools' Day, I asked her to marry me," Scott says with a sheepish grin. He rented a limo and took Melissa on a ride around Stanley Park. "I was really surprised," she insists. "I knew that we were going to get married, but I had no idea that he'd bought a ring. We pulled into a look-out point and at the bottom of the steps leading up to it, he proposed to me. It was so beautiful; and I was so glad. I didn't even think about it. I said, 'Yes yes!'"

A wedding date was set for February 1990, but then Scott began to suffer unexplained seizures and the doctor needed to look at his brain to ascertain whether or not had had a tumor. The wedding plans -- for a big affair with three hundred guests -- were off. "The week that he was having his surgery. I had to work every day," Melissa recalls, adding, "I never thought about him dying. I didn't want to, I guess."

Scott was more pragmatic about the situation: "The morning of the surgery, I had a kind of peace about myself. I said, 'If I die, I'll never know it, because I'll be under an anesthetic.' The other thing I was thinking was, 'I don't want this to be my time, God, because [Missy and I] have such a life ahead of us. I'm in love.'"

The seizures were caused by a sinus infection that had traveled to Scott's forehead and created an abscess. Once it was taken care of, he was fine. The couple opted for a much smaller wedding with forty friends witnessing the ceremony and then going to dinner with them, "If we had wanted a big wedding," explains Melissa, "we would have needed six more months to plan it. We just wanted to get married."

Besides each other, Scott and Melissa had their faith in God. The practicing Christians attend church services every Sunday. "It's so much easier on a marriage when you have God, church and the Bible in your life," Scott declares. "It gives you confidence. When you are going through hard times, you can go to God and pray." They are opposed to divorce, and they waited until they wed to make love.

"Sex is important in marriage," Scott asserts. "It's the most incredible thing in the world, in a marriage. [But] I think sometimes you can ruin a relationship if you [have] it prematurely. If you think about it, it's something you really don't want to share with everyone in the world. I'm not saying, 'Look at us, we're perfect.' Believe me, I was a wild kid. But you grow up."

Mr. and Mrs. Reeves have weathered tough times after their marriage, too. For a while, Scott wasn't working, and Melissa was getting loads of press. The couple really had to keep their feelings in check. "Sometimes I was so frustrated and depressed and I'd take it out on everybody," Scott observes. "I got to the point when I said, 'This is ridiculous, letting this business control me. I married the most wonderful person in the world, and I have a great life. I should be thankful.' Missy was so supportive."

"In this business," remarks Melissa, "it doesn't matter who's making the money as long as it's coming in." However, she admits that she'd think, "How can these people not hire my husband? They're so stupid. He's the most handsome thing on earth.'"

The couple had to think twice when Scott was nearly offered Brian Bodine, Matt Borlenghi's role, on ALL MY CHILDREN. "Here I was, with this really secure job, telling my husband who hasn't worked in a while, 'You can't take this job,'" Melissa observes.

"It was very likely that I might have gotten the part," Scott continues. "I had gone to New York and I was in my hotel room. If I tested and they took me, I'd [automatically] be under contract. Reality struck that night. We were both like, "We can't have a marriage three thousand miles apart.' I threw up all night. I didn't sleep. I called my agent in the morning and told her to call ABC. It was the most miserable morning of my life. I just wanted to get home." Shortly after returning to L.A., he landed Ryan on YOUNG AND RESTLESS. "I got Y&R and it's so perfect. Missy got pregnant ... that's when we really saw God working in our lives."

The Reeveses expect their child on June 19. "I can't wait to see both of us in the at night and rub Missy's stomach. I look at her and I'm like, 'Gosh, there's a baby.'"

Melissa reports that Scott will be with her during delivery. "he's probably going to tape my mouth shut so I don't scream," she predicts. "I have a pretty good tolerance for pain, but I hear it can be pretty amazing. I'm getting an epidural [a potent shot for when labor gets intense]. I don't want to do it naturally. I just don't think I have it in me, and I wouldn't want to scare my husband."

The Reeveses don't expect an infant to ruin the romance in their marriage, although Scott jokes, "I already kissed that good-bye." Then he adds, "The fact that our whole life is going to change isn't as scary as [the idea] that once we have [the baby], I hope we can do everything right. It's just amazing to think of what the two of you did. You've made a child."

Karie's DAYS Page: Reeves