Stitch, Nina, Tessa, Abby Y&R
Credit: CBS screenshot

The superlative surrogate’s failure to communicate may signal a sinister twist in light of recent strange goings-on.

The residents of Young & Restless’ Chancellor manse were thrown into a tizzy when they began comparing notes on Mariah’s unscheduled departure and realized that things weren’t adding up. Although texts were sent from her phone indicating she’d had to leave for a last-minute business trip. The trouble was that when Tessa messaged her back to say good night, she didn’t respond. Not a big deal, right? Except she didn’t respond in the morning either.

Now firmly into “that’s not like her” territory, Tessa and Abby’s concerns grew, and even Nina put down her crossword puzzle and frowned when Tessa reported that Mariah hadn’t taken her overnight bag or her new maternity clothes.

Helicopter mom-in-training Abby was quick to get on the horn with Jack, hoping to get the deets on Mariah’s assignment and the particulars of her hotel — except Jack hadn’t heard anything about the business excursion. He promised to look into it, but we definitely got the feeling his next call will bring even more bad news… that there is no business trip.

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Call us paranoid if you must, but on the heels of other recent strange goings-on, we fear she’s been kidnapped.

First there was a shadowy figure looming over Abby while she slept in the Chancellor house — we never did find out who that was — and then, in what may or may not be a coincidence, her ex-husband, Ben ‘Stitch’ Rayburn showed up in town. Now, we love us some Stitch, but his behavior was off.

We could brush off the awkward interactions between Ben and Abby given their history, but no way to spin him lurking in the bushes, in the dark, outside the parlor window and watching a pregnant Mariah. That was just creepy.

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After the scene, theories abounded as to whether Stitch had turned stalker or whether he was acting out of concern for the estate’s inhabitants. Ben could be mooning over his lost love, Abby, and focused on the baby she’s about to have, given they lost their unborn child. Some even speculated that, as a doctor, Ben could have switched his sperm for Devon’s, meaning Mariah is carrying his and Abby’s baby. If he’s gone that far off the deep end, and has taken Mariah, then we’re in dangerous territory, folks.

Conversely, it could be Stitch’s son, Max, who is the threat. If he escaped the facility where he was going rapidly downhill and has fixated on Abby (let’s not forget he deliberately caused her miscarriage), Ben could have been keeping watch over her and her unborn child. If he was unsuccessful in his mission, then Mariah and the baby could be in Max’s clutches.

Here’s what we know — the last time Young & Restless viewers saw Mariah she was talking to Stitch in the park while taking a break from jogging, where he’d been weirdly hanging around after everyone thought he should have gone back to Iowa already. Things that make you go, “Hmm.”

Of course, Mariah could actually be on a business trip having cellphone issues, or be indisposed for other reasons, but where’s the drama in that, right?

Share your theories on Mariah’s disappearance after looking back on photos of the Tessa and Mariah’s love story in the photo gallery below.

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