as victoria recovers from her first bout with multiple personalities, victor concedes to the relationships of his white collar daughters to working class gentlemen when he uncovers that he had a long-lost son. victor embarks on a search for the son he had long yearned for. viki and joe first marry in december 1969, and merrie (lynn benesch onward) and larry (michael storm onward) in june 1970. a short time later, joe apparently dies in a car crash while reporting in california, giving victor the opportunity to set his widowed daughter up with a suitor more to his liking. with a vacant editor-in-chief position available, victor replaces joe with promoted upper-crust writer steve burke (bernie grant).