The Bold and the Beautiful recap (Nov. 14): Ridge proposes to Taylor

The ink hasn’t even dried on Brooke and Ridge’s annulment papers, and he’s already designed a wedding dress for Taylor and popped the question! This man has wasted no time trying to move past the hurt of leaving his “destiny.”

But, while he and Taylor were caught up in a moment of engagement bliss, Douglas was confronting his dad about a discovery he found on his phone. It’s official, the cat is out of the bag and we’re about to go speeding toward a (hopefully) explosive ending to the CPS call storyline and the Brooke/Ridge/Taylor triangle.

Hearts are definitely set to break soon but for now the situation is still teetering on the edge of ruin. Here’s what happened today on The Bold and the Beautiful.

The Bold and the Beautiful recap (Nov. 14)

Thomas and Douglas continued their talk about deleting the voice manipulator app off his phone. Douglas doesn’t see the harm in such a deceptive tool because he’s just been using it for a bit of fun, but Thomas sees it differently. He also expressed to his son that the bigger issue is that Douglas isn’t listening to him and is continuing to use an app he was told to get rid of. With yet another pout, the boy went upstairs after assuring his dad he’ll delete it.

Other than plot reasons, I’m still unsure why Donna was so up in arms about Thomas gently but firmly reprimanding his son for not doing as he was told. She brought that unease to Brooke’s doorstep when she came to check on her about the annulment.

When her sister confided that Ridge left her because of Thomas, Donna decided to share what she witnessed at Forrester Mansion. But, before she could tell the story properly, Thomas arrived at Logan Manor in order to have a word with Brooke alone. Donna inquired about whether he and Douglas had come to some kind of resolution about the app to which Thomas responded that kids will be kids and sometimes you have to lay down the law.

Brooke agreed, but Donna looked uneasy as if she’d seen Thomas yelling at Douglas or acting in anyway threatening to him. Let’s just say this isn’t my favorite way of this storyline starting to bear fruit, but it’s what we’ve been given so here we are.

Once Donna left, Thomas told Brooke that he’d come to tell her not to try to interfere with his parents newfound happiness. Typically, that’s exactly what she does when Ridge has decided to move on. The conversation then turned to Brooke’s treatment of Thomas over the years.

Yet again he accused her of never being kind or supportive of him. Brooke denied that by saying she’d helped raise him and had been kind and supportive then. It’s these past couple of years that are the problem. She doesn’t trust him because of all that he’s done in that short amount of time.

Thomas claims that had Brooke been there for him he’d have returned her support but that’s doubtful at least when it comes to her marriage to his father. Even if his relationship with Brooke had been good, he still would have championed a reunion between his parents, it’s what he’s wanted since he was a child.

Douglas learns the truth about the CPS call

That’s why he’s gone to such lengths to ensure it happens including initially lying to his son about the voice app. When Thomas returned home, he found Douglas in his room looking guilty. When he asked why that was, Douglas started in on what he’d found on his phone. See, while Thomas was busy  unnecessarily confronting Brooke, his son had been messing around with the app.

He’d gone to his room with the intentions of deleting it like he was told, but then he found the button that would allow him to retrieve deleted files. Excited, he tapped it and every file that had been deleted was retrieved. Douglas began clicking through the recordings he’d made until he landed on one of Brooke.

At first, he thought it was odd that his grandmother would use his phone to leave a message like that but then when he clicked onto another voice file, he realized it’d been his dad. Ever the sharp child, Douglas put two-and-two together and figured out what Thomas had been up to and confronted him about it as soon as he walked in the room.

Thomas tried to convince Douglas that Brooke made the call, but the child wasn’t having it. He had the same response when Thomas tried to convince him that somehow his phone had glitched to the point that he picked up Brooke’s message in his app. Thomas was going down quicker than a sinking ship and his son was not about to throw him a life raft. It was rather fun to watch and Henry Samiri was so good in the scene.

After Douglas told his dad that he’s not dumb, essentially taking him to task for trying to snow him with such nonsensical lies when he knows why he wanted him to delete the app, Thomas came clean. He explained that he placed the call to CPS because Brooke threatened to do so and that she doesn’t want them to be together. Douglas had already figured out that his dad did it so that his grandfather would leave her and be with Taylor, Thomas simply confirmed his suspicions.

Douglas didn’t comment on whether he thinks his grandmother Taylor and his grandad are better suited, but he did tell his dad that what he did was wrong. He held tight to his belief even when Thomas tried to say that Douglas meant Brooke and Ridge being together is wrong.

Douglas is very much his father’s son. Stubborn. Determined. Unwilling to back down. And stalwart in his convictions. This was not a fight that Thomas was going to win.

It felt like the two were facing off in a battle of wills today on our soap. For his part, the calm demeanor that Thomas had been projecting with Douglas slipped when his son said that this situation reminded him of the time he’d kept the secret about Beth. Thomas denied it and growled that what happened then wouldn’t happen now.

The moment seemed threatening but the statement could also be interpreted as Thomas saying he’s not going to lose his son like he did after the truth came out about Beth and he left. We’ll have to wait and see about that but it’s going to be a tense wait because while all this was happening, Ridge was busy proposing to Taylor.

Taylor says yes to Ridge’s proposal

At the top of the episode, Taylor had been checking in on how Ridge was feeling about his annulment. They had some cute banter about her being a psychiatrist and how no one can get out of sharing their feelings when it comes to her.

Ridge opened up a bit, but when Taylor started asking about what Brooke did that made him leave, he shut down her line of questioning. He’s been steering Taylor away from the possibility that he’s with her because of Brooke betraying him and assuring her that he’s choosing happiness not running. That’s not true though so when the truth comes out that’s going to be incredibly hurtful for his best friend.

Deciding not to dwell on his sadness, Ridge had a light bulb moment and went running off, but not before telling Taylor to keep her phone close. Sometime later, he texted her to come to the Forrester showroom. There Ridge was leaning against the wall and waiting for her. He told her to look behind her. On stage was a beautiful satin wedding dress.

Overwhelmed, Taylor turned back to Ridge and found him down on one knee. The man didn’t even get a speech out before she said yes. It was a gorgeous moment between the two complete with Taylor jumping into his arms and wrapping her legs around his waist. And her ring? A rock set in a gold band, Ridge spared no expense.

Admittedly, it was hard being as ecstatic as the happy couple knowing what we all know that they don’t. Will those wedding bells get a chance to ring? I hope so, but you never know with The Bold and the Beautiful. Until next time, Bold fans. Stay beautiful!

Stay tuned to Hidden Remote for more The Bold and the Beautiful news and coverage! New episodes of the soap air Mondays-Fridays on CBS. Evening viewing is available on Paramount+.