When Dr. Steve Hardy hired Lesley Williams at General Hospital in 1972, her first patient was a woman named Florence Grey, who revealed that husband Gordon had had an affair with a student. Since there are no coincidences in Port Charles, that student, of course, turned out to be Lesley. And the baby that had resulted from the affair? Lil’ Laura hadn’t died, as everyone had believed, she’d been adopted by the Vining family.
Once Lesley found out that Laura was not only alive but residing conveniently nearby, she insinuated herself into her little girl’s life. “Maybe you could just un-insinuate yourself, eh?” replied the Vinings, who had no interest in giving up their daughter (then Stacey Baldwin). As a custody battle loomed, one thing (Lesley’s then-husband Cameron Faulkner paid the Vinings to move away) led to another (RIP, Cameron) until finally, we were left with…
OK, so technically, Dr. Peter Taylor and Steve weren’t relatives. And no one in this photo was ever allowed to be happy for long. But after Lesley got together with Dr. Rick Webber, he helped convince an older and more rebellious Laura (now Genie Francis) that her biomom had indeed cared for her when she was born. Soapy circumstances beyond Lesley’s control had led to Laura making a starter family of the Vinings.
You were in the right place if you came to the Vinings’ daughter, Amy. And even after Laura settled into Lesley’s life, she remained close to her adoptive sister, who for years was a nurse at General Hospital — and the last person in whom you wanted to confide a secret! Even here, look at her, pretending she’s not eavesdropping on Jessie Brewer and Bobbie Spencer when c’mon, we all knew that she was!
Laura was way too young to get hitched when she tied the knot with law student Scotty Baldwin. But there was no telling her that. Even if you’d set the aisle on fire, she was going to walk down it. Which is ironic, because the sweethearts’ ill-advised marriage would soon go up in flames. After Bobbie weaponized brother Luke in hopes of making Scotty her own, Laura was sent careening toward…
The beginnings of Laura’s relationship with Luke were problematic at best. You know all about that night at the Campus Disco. But since you do, you also know that somehow, the couple moved past it, embarking on a life together that was marked by feats of derring-do so unbelievable that action-movie heroes looked at them and went, “Dang!”
Despite the fact that ex-hooker Bobbie had moved heaven and earth — and raised a whole lotta hell! — to steal Scotty from Laura, once the blonde had married Luke, her longtime rival became her sister-in-law. “Would you please pass the butter — and the knife you stabbed into my back so that I can spread it on my dinner roll?”
There’s nothing good to be said about Laura’s abduction by and “marriage” to obsessed Stavros Cassadine with the possible exception of the fact that it left her with her firstborn child, son Nikolas. He shares the dark streak that is typical of the Cassadines but also has just enough of his good-hearted mother in him to make him redeemable. Er, most of the time.
Some would say that Spencer takes after his father, Nikolas, what with all the brooding and the conniving. Others would argue — perhaps rightly — that it’s grandma Laura that he favors, given that when she was his age, there wasn’t any kind of trouble that she could resist getting in. Us? We hope that he has enough of late mom Courtney Matthews in him to someday get (and keep) his act together.
Nikolas’ latest wife, Ava Jerome, has been known to bend the truth until it was pretzel-shaped. Nevertheless, she’s managed to form a strong bond with mother-in-law Laura, who’s maybe just a teensy bit relieved that after losing both Courtney and Emily Quartermaine to the Grim Reaper, Nikolas has found a woman with a knack for cheating death. We’ll drink to that!
Laura’s firstborn with Luke has Dad’s renegade spirit, sure. But whereas Luke sees rules as mere suggestions — and even then, suggestions that only apply to others — Lucky is a such a straight arrow that he become a cop. Come to think of it, we’re pretty sure that the last time the PCPD made an arrest that stuck, he was playing detective in the town that for so many years he called home.
When they were kids, we were sure that they were lifers. Alas, Lucky’s marriage to Elizabeth Webber didn’t stand the test of time — or the test of her love affair with Nikolas. The union did leave them with an adorable souvenir, at least: son Aiden, who any second is sure to be SORAS’d into a troublemaking collegian.
Even if Laura didn’t so closely resemble her daughter with Luke, you’d know that they were related. How could you not when Lulu shares her mother’s spark, her love of adventure and, unfortunately, her appeal to the Cassadines. In fact, it was Stavros’ interest in impregnating Lulu that resulted in the birth of her daughter with Valentin. And before you ask, can we just say one thing?
We could explain to you how Lulu wound up giving birth to Valentin’s daughter, Charlotte, but it would only make your head hurt. And ours. So suffice it to say, yes, that happened. And once again, the Cassadines got to hang a branch from Laura’s family tree.
Lulu was right on the verge of reuniting with former husband Dante Falconeri when — argh! What are the odds?!? — the Floating Rib got blown up by mobster Cyrus Renault, and she got blasted into such a long coma that her ex wound up beginning a whole new relationship with Sam McCall.
Why, we couldn’t tell ya. But Laura’s daughter just has never welcomed a kid into the world in what you’d call the old-fashioned way. Besides Charlotte, whose origin story might as well have been written by the Brothers Grimm, there’s Lulu and Dante’s son, Rocco. Who was initially believed to have been the son of Britt Westbourne and Patrick Drake. And then believed to be the son of Britt and Brad Cooper. Only in Port Charles, folks…
Remember Cyrus, the aforementioned mobster whose criminal activities put Lulu in a coma? Against all odds, he was revealed to be Laura’s half brother. It seems that when Gordon wasn’t cheating on wife Florence, he was sleeping with her, resulting in the birth of the scourge or Port Charles as well as a fellow who struck as a “tad” familiar.
When Laura learned about her extended family via Gordon, she didn’t just get Cyrus for a semi sibling, she also got his sibling, Martin Grey, the shadiest attorney this side of The Simpsons’ Lionel Hutz. Maybe the shadiest on the other side of the cartoon lawyer, too; Martin’s pretty shady!
Through thick and thin — unless it’s one of those periods during which he’s been replaced again by his evil twin, Ryan Chamberlain — Laura has by her side husband Kevin Collins, one of the leveler heads and opener hearts in topsy-turvy Port Charles.
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