The Pine Valley Bulletin

GREY, Maria Santos
Portrayed by
: Eva La Rue (1993-97, 2002-05)
Family: Hector Santos (Father); Isabella Santos (Mother); Julia Santos Keefer (Sister); Mateo Santos (Brother); Anita Santos Warner (Sister); Rosa Santos (Sister); Maddie Grey (Sister); Sam Grey (Son)
Marriages: Edmund Grey
 
 

1993: Dr. Maria Santos moved to Pine Valley from Texas to become a neurologist at Pine Valley Hospital. While at a bar, she met Edmund Grey. Edmund was fresh off his breakup with colleague Brooke English. What started out as friendship blossomed into romance. Maria and Edmund were inseparable. By the year’s end, they were engaged to marry.
Maria’s family slowly made their way to Pine Valley. The first member was her wayward sister, Julia Santos. After being caught in an affair with a much older man, Maria’s father, Hector Santos, sent her to live with Maria hoping some of her good habits would rub off on Julia.

1994: Maria made plans to marry Edmund. All of her family made the move from San Antonio to Pine Valley. But Maria still had her reservations, especially because of Edmund’s continuing working relationship with Brooke. Edmund assured her that he only loved her. They married in a traditional Catholic ceremony.
Someone from Maria’s past threatened to compromise Maria’s newly wedded bliss. Her college sweetheart, Del Henry, had moved to Pine Valley. Maria and Del broke up when he got cold feet talking about marriage. Really, Maria had just learned she was pregnant with his child. She underwent a risky abortion that compromised any chances of her having another child. Maria wanted to keep all of this a secret from Edmund. But Del had his own intentions. He began to date Julia to stay close to Maria.
Julia and Maria’s relationship was further estranged when Julia suffered a life changing injury. A tornado passed through Pine Valley, causing a lot of damage. Julia pushed Maria out of the way of a falling chandelier. In the process, the shards of glass cut Julia’s face open. Maria did her best to repair her face, but it remained permanently scarred. Julia ran away from the hospital after seeing her disfigurement.
Julia returned months later. She had just been raped while living in Center City. Maria helped Julia cope with her injury and the trauma. After Julia’s successful facial reconstruction surgery, Maria enlisted Julia in nursing school. Julia learned to rely on her sister.
Edmund was presumed dead in a car explosion. On the night of his funeral, he walked into the Wildwind chapel. He had faked his death to finish his investigation into Matt Callaway. Everyone was relieved to see Edmund alive. But Maria felt betrayed by Edmund’s actions. That night, she left Wildwind.

1995: Maria and Edmund were stranded at the stables during a snowstorm. Edmund forced Maria to confront the insecurities in their marriage. Edmund promised his commitment to her and their marriage. After a night of lovemaking, Maria moved back into Wildwind.
But life at Wildwind had changed a lot. Maria found herself at odds with Dimitri Marick’s new wife, Erica Kane. Maria caught Erica trying to steal her prescription notes. Maria recognized that Erica had become addicted to her painkillers. Dimitri chalked up Maria’s allegations to cattiness, and proposed that the Maricks move out of Wildwind.
Maria and Edmund wanted a child, but Maria was unable to conceive. The Greys began the adoption process. Maria’s little sister, Anita Santos, came to Maria when one of her friends, Kelsey Jefferson, learned she was pregnant and was looking to putting her child up for adoption. Kelsey was the granddaughter of Maria’s mentor, Dr. Joe Martin. Edmund had reservations of adopting a child from such a prominent Pine Valley family. But Maria thought it was the perfect opportunity. She invited Kelsey to move into Wildwind.

1996: Maria and Edmund welcomed Samuel Carols Grey. But, things became estranged at Wildwind when Edmund let Kelsey stay to nurse Sam. Kelsey caught Anita in the arms of Bobby Warner, her ex-boyfriend. Kelsey revealed Bobby was Sam’s father. Driven by jealousy, Kelsey asked the Greys for Sam back.
Maria was not ready to loose her son. She took Sam and tried to make her way out of town. Edmund stopped her at the airport. Edmund took Sam out of her arms to return to Kelsey. Maria was devastated by Edmund’s actions. Betrayed, she returned to Wildwind alone. There, she found a sulking Dimitri. Dimitri tried to comfort his sister-in-law, but Maria could not be consoled. In a moment of weakness, Maria and Dimitri had a one-night stand.
Bobby convinced Kelsey into giving Sam back to the Greys. Maria found her way back to Edmund. But their happiness was short lived when Julia was forced to testify against the crime lord Slade. For her own safety, Julia and her new husband Noah Keefer were forced into Witness Protection. Maria did not know when she would see her sister again. Maria also learned she was pregnant. Only, she did not know if Edmund or Dimitri was the baby’s father.

1997: Maria was ready to see the end of her marriage when she admitted to Edmund about her affair with Dimitri. Edmund left Wildwind, leaving Dimitri and Maria to grow closer together. Erica was suspicious about the circumstances. In the middle of a storm, Erica confronted Maria about her affair. The stress caused her to go into premature labor. Erica promised to get the child to safety. But, Erica’s erratic driving forced her car into a river. The baby was missing and presumed dead. Maria only ever got to hold her child in her arms for an instant.
As Maria grieved the loss of her own child, Erica welcomed her adopted daughter, Sonya Kane, to Wildiwind. Maria could not help but feel a connection with Sonya. In truth, Erica’s daughter was really Maria’s. Guilt ridden watching Maria mourn, Erica admitted to her crime. The Greys reunited and named the child Madelyn Flora Grey, after Edmund’s mother.
But happiness eluded the Grey’s once again. Edmund, Maria, Brooke, and Maddie were on a flight from New York going to Pine Valley. There was a sudden explosion on the plane, causing it to crash on the Jersey shore. Brooke and Edmund’s part of the fuselage had landed safely on land. Maria and Maddie’s part of the plane landed on a cliff. Maria pleaded with Brooke to take Maddie from her. Before Brooke could help Maria, the wreckage fell off the cliff into the water below. Maria was presumed dead, though a body was never found.
Edmund held the first annual Crystal Ball in Maria’s memory.

2002: Maria had spent the last five years in Nevada under the assumed named Maureen Gorman. She suffered from retrograde amnesia after her injuries from the crash of Flight 149 were cured by Dr. David Hayward’s experimental medication. David knew he would loose his license if he were caught. He told Maria a phony story about how she killed Maria Grey and got in a car accident. He was going to help her hide in Nevada, but for no reason was she supposed to return to the scene of the crime: Pine Valley.
Brooke came to Nevada in search of Maureen because she came up in a national database as a viable liver donor. Mateo’s son, Enzo Santos, was in the early stages of liver failure. When the women came face to face, Brooke fainted. Maria freaked out after learning Brooke was Pine Valley. David told her to not panic. Maria needed answers and left for Pine Valley to find them.
Upon arriving home, Maria was mugged. Aidan Devane came to her rescue. Aidan offered to help Maria even though they only met. Maria was drawn to Wildwind. It was the day of Edmund and Brooke’s wedding. Upon seeing Maddie, Maria had memories of giving birth to her. Maddie guided her “Angel Mommy” to the chapel where she saw Edmund again for the first time.
Edmund told Maria about her past. Maria agreed to move into Wildwind, but not as Edmund’s wife. Aidan turned to Maria after an assassin shot him. Fearing for Aidan’s livelihood, Maria hid him in the hayloft at Wildwind. That Christmas, Mateo arranged for Julia to visit her. Maria remembered the night of tornado and Julia’s scar. After Julia’s visit, Maria learned Edmund had gone to David for an experimental drug to reverse the amnesia. Betrayed, Maria left Edmund and Wildwind and went on the run with Aidan.

2003: Maria ran away with Aidan to the Caribbean to confront Julian, the man who wanted him dead. Aidan revealed that Julian had framed him for murder. Julian took Maria hostage. After successfully alluding Julian and his goons, Aidan and Maria made love. They decided to start a life together in Pine Valley.
Maddie was the sole witness to the murder of Chris Stamp at the hands of hired assassin, Evan Flanders. Edmund agreed to let Maddie hide with Aidan and Maria in their boathouse. But Flanders was able to track them down. He set the boat to explode. Maria jumped overboard with Maddie. While frantically trying to find her daughter in the dark ocean, Maria was bombarded with memories of her past. The trauma had sparked her memory. When Aidan rescued her, he realized something had changed. Maria made her way back to Wildwind to be with her true love: Edmund.
Maria and Edmund renewed their vows at the Wildwind chapel. Joe helped Maria test to regain her medical license. When Carlos Reyes died on her operating table, Maria began to question her ability as a surgeon. Edmund learned that Carlos was the target of a mob hit from the Calvatras crime family. His death was a result of untraceable position. Edmund volunteered to protect Carlos’ brother, Juan Pablo de Vasquez, until the threat subsided.

2004: Edmund got a call on Christmas Ever to respond to an attack at Juan Pablo’s cabin. Though Edmund told Maria to stay at Wildwind, she needed to make sure Edmund was going to be safe. When Maria arrived, she was taken hostage. Edmund was shot trying to save his wife.
Edmund awoke from his coma, paralyzed from the waist down. Edmund was optimistic that an experimental surgery would reverse his condition, but Maria thought the risks were too great. Anita came back to Pine Valley to help Maria. But Maria knew something was wrong with her too. Anita admitted her marriage to Bobby Warner was coming apart. Maria and Anita worked side by side at Pine Valley Hospital.
Another face from Maria’s past made their way back to Pine Valley. Zach Slater was the love of Maureen’s life. She needed to make it clear that she was married with two children. But Zach was relentless in his determination to win Maria back. Edmund became jealous over all the time Maria was spending with Zach. As hard as Zach tried, Maria was committed to her marriage.
Maria found herself torn between the two men when Edmund accused Zach of shooting Ryan Lavery, at The Seasons Casino. Zach had revealed to her that evening that he was Alexander Cambias, II, brother to Michael Cambias who had terrorized the citizens of Pine Valley for the better part of a year. Edmund told Maria she had to choose between Zach and their marriage. When Edmund found out Maria knew about Zach’s true identity, he went ahead and filed for divorce.

2005: Maria’s world was rocked when Edmund was murdered at the Wildwind barn. He died on Maria’s operating table. Ethan Ramsey implicated Zach as the murderer. Maria’s children blamed her for their father’s death because of Zach’s supposed role in the crime. Maria was further scorned when Edmund’s will revealed he had left everything to his children, and named Brooke as the executor to his Estate.
Lily Montgomery was the sole witness to the actual murder. She saw Jonathan Lavery kill Edmund and proceed to burn down the Wildwind barn. Zach wanted to pursue a relationship with Maria, but she did not return his feelings. Maddie tried to make Zach appear to be a pedophile. Maria decided she needed to start a new life.
Maria arranged to move to California to be with Mateo and Hayley. Sam begged his mother to stay so that he could explore his biological family, the Martins. Maria agreed to let him stay for the summer with Joe and Ruth Martin while she set up their new home.