At La Mer Hotel, Valeria's engagement banquet explodes into a public fight when Mrs. Hardy demands the janitor — Marilyn, Valeria's mother — be removed. Lionel, who says he owes everything to Marilyn, storms in, orders a drive to the hotel and declares, "I'm marrying her." The hotel manager objects, saying a mother can't be banned and reminding them Marilyn once spared the Hardys. Mrs. Hardy responds by humiliating Marilyn and issues an ultimatum: make her serve a drink or the engagement is off. The banquet collapses into a standoff, the couple's future left unresolved.