CASS WINTHROP and
FRANKIE FRAME

Frankie was Cass's second true love. While Kathleen ended his womanizing streak, Frankie's love enabled Cass to become the devoted husband and father he is today. Their relationship started in 1989 when Frankie revealed to Cass that it was his then-fiancee Nicole Love who had killed her uncle Jason.

They spent 1989 investigating the supposedly reformed criminal Lucas. Cass was worried about his best friend Felicia, who was Lucas's childhood lover. Frankie got a job working for Lucas at his apartment in the Love Tower, and Cass spied on them from across the street in Frankie's apartment.

One day in the park while keeping tabs on Lucas, he made a sudden move in their direction, and to hide their faces from him, Frankie grabbed Cass and kissed him. That was their first kiss.

Cass had never met anyone quite like Frankie. Her eccentric nature and kind and loving spirit totally intrigued him. They got engaged in early 1990, and slept together for the first time the week before the wedding.

The wedding didn't come off as planned. Frankie was kidnaped on her wedding day by Ryan Harrison, who mistook her for Sharlene Hudson. When she was released the next week, she and Cass promptly had an intimate wedding at their new home.

The return of Cass's first wife, Kathleen McKinnon, in 1991, rendered null their marriage and threatened to separate them for good. Although Cass did return to Kathleen for several weeks, he eventually realized that he belonged with Frankie.

Frankie was hesitant to take him back. In February 1992, she went to the Himalayas to meditate upon the problem. On her return, she forgave Cass and accepted him back.

In 1992, Frankie's best childhood friend from Chadwell, Christy, came to live in Bay City with her terminally ill husband, Douglas. Christy, who was mentally unhinged, quickly fell in love with Cass. She plotted to kill her husband, frame Frankie for it, and thus have Cass for herself. On their way out the door to be married in February of 1993, Christy was able to use Douglass's heart condition to sabotage and delay the ceremony.

Christy's plan fell into place, and Frankie was charged with the assisted-suicide death of Douglas. Frankie, who was taking some college courses at the time, had written a paper describing her strong belief in the right to die, and this was used as evidence against her. Cass quickly divined Christy's plan and he and Frankie worked together to bring her down. It wasn't until Frankie was on trial that Cass & co. were able to make Christy crack. Christy poisoned Cass as her final act, but Frankie stopped him from ingesting too much of the poisoned water.

Cass and Frankie finally made it to the altar in May 1993. They were married in a romantic ceremony in a courtyard in Venice. They honeymooned on the Orient Express, where Frankie became pregnant with their daughter Charlie.

Cass's bout with mental illness in 1994 put a strain on their relationship. But through it all, Frankie remained at his side as his devoted wife.

In 1995 their marriage was tested in the form of Laurie Michaels, whom Cass chose to represent in her lawsuit against the hospital, despite the fact that Frankie's uncle John Hudson was involved. Frankie blamed Cass for the break-up of their extended family. All the while, Laurie had been getting more and more dependent on Cass for emotional support. Nothing developed, though, and Laurie was taken to jail.

In 1996, Cecile made a desperate attempt to win back Cass by drugging him and attempting to seduce him in the middle of Wallingford's book store. Frankie walked in on them and thought that Cass was reverting to his old behavior. She quickly noticed his condition and deduced what was really transpiring. She laid into Cecile, and ended up decking her when Cecile made a tasteless comment about Charlie's health condition.

Cass and Frankie were making plans for a second honeymoon when Frankie came into possession of the Bay City stalker's gold chain necklace. He pursued her to the Cory ice house, and despite Frankie's valiant struggle, killed her. With Frankie gone, Cass almost lost his reason for living. Charlie provided him with the will to go on, and the joy he found in the next couple years was largely in her.

Frankie returned in spirit in 1999 to give Cass her blessing for his upcoming marriage to Lila Roberts.