Roxy blinked, checking that the image in front of her was correct, that it was a young Ronnie staring back at her. Roxy snapped the locket shut, holding it in her palm tightly.
Thoughts exploded in her mind as she leaned against the bar. Roxy tried to run through all the explanations for the appearance of her sister's locket but it just didn't make sense to her.
She leaned further back until her elbow caught the side of the box, making the glasses chime as they knocked together. Roxy turned to look at the box of glasses and her mind rushed back to the night before. The events at the wedding seemed a bit of a blur to Roxy, accusations and screams had flown around The Vic, none of which seemed to make any sense. Neither Ronnie nor Archie had explained what had happened, trying to brush the problem under the carpet the minute Danielle was thrown out the door.
Roxy tried to recall what Danielle had screamed then her mind flashed back to when she was frantically looking for something in the glasses; she had said she was Ronnie's daughter! But she must have been lying Roxy thought; she couldn't be Ronnie's daughter, could she?
All the questions overcame Roxy, she propped herself on top of a stall and rested her head against her hand, the locket wrapped between her fingers.
What if she had been telling the truth? The question kept going round and round in Roxy's head. As she started to piece together what Danielle had claimed one man kept jumping into her thoughts, her father.
If Danielle was Ronnie's daughter then he lied, he lied to Ronnie that her daughter was dead; the thought made Roxy feel sick.
Could Archie be the monster Ronnie always claimed he was? Roxy couldn't help but think about the loving and kind Archie, who had held her hand on her first day of school, put a smile on her face when she felt down and wiped away her tears.
But a new image of Archie started to develop in her head. She started to piece together an image of Archie that Ronnie always claimed he was; cold, manipulative, evil.... She tried to fight this image as it formed in her mind, trying to remember him as the man she always thought he was.
"How you getting on love?" a voice said, making Roxy jump as she was deep in thought. "Fine thanks" Roxy replied to her father who was stood in front of her smiling kindly. She quickly wiped her hand behind her back, sliding it and the locket into her jean's pocket so it was out of sight. Roxy couldn't help but look at him in a different way, trying to notice the imperfections that Ronnie always claimed.
"Come and give your old dad a hug" Archie said warmly, opening his arms out to Roxy. But she didn't move, her eyes fixed on his. Roxy noticed the confused look in his eyes but the awkward situation was suddenly interrupted with the sound of Amy crying from upstairs.
Archie pulled his arms back as he heard his grand-daughter crying, noticing how tense Roxy was. "I'll go check on her" Archie said, turning away from Roxy.
"No!" Roxy screamed, not realising how loud and blunt her voice had sounded before it was too late. "I'll go" Roxy stated firmly, hurrying past Archie and leaving him perplexed at her attitude.
Roxy strolled round the square, pushing Amy's buggy in front of her. She had gone to check on her daughter and decided they both needed some fresh air and time away from The Vic.
Roxy parked Amy's buggy next to Arthur's bench and slowly sat down. She looked at her beautiful daughter, whose eyes were beaming back up at her.
Roxy couldn't help but study Amy's features; her button nose and gentle smile. Did she look anything like Danielle? Roxy wondered. She tried to picture Danielle in her head but found it hard because she had never taken much notice of her before, only paying the girl any attention when she needed someone to babysit Amy.
Roxy's thoughts were interrupted when she heard the slamming of a door in the distance. She looked away from her daughter and towards the Slater's, watching as Mo and Charlie left and walked across the square.
Roxy wondered if Danielle was in, sitting right across the Square. Roxy needed to find out the truth, knowing that she couldn't deal with all the questions running around in her head, she needed answers.
Roxy stood up and grabbed the handles of Amy's buggy, pushing her frantically across the square until she reached the Slater's front door.
"Ok, ok, I'm coming!" She heard Stacey yelled as she slammed her fist against the door. "What do you want?" Stacey barked as she opened the door to see Roxy and Amy in front of her.
"Is Danielle in?" Roxy asked, a note of desperation in her voice.
"No" Stacey answered bluntly. "Why do you want to see her anyway?" she asked aggressively.
"I just need to talk to her Stace. It's urgent" Roxy pleaded, trying to convince Stacey with a forced and unconvincing smile.
"Like I said, she's not here" Stacey replied. "Well I'll wait then" Roxy demanded, attempting to push Amy's buggy through the doorway and past Stacey.
"Oi, what are you doing?!" Stacey shouted, standing in the way of Roxy's path.
"I said I need to talk to Danielle!" Roxy repeated.
"Well you will have a long wait" Stacey barked, smiling slightly that she had the upper hand on Roxy. "She's gone" Stacey finished.
