"Katy!" The young woman forced a smile onto her face at Linda's cheery greeting. "It's so good to see you. How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine, Linda, thanks." She replied as calmly as she could, while keeping one eye on her children who were tearing around the park with the others. "How're you? I haven't been in the Vic for ages."

"Well, you're busy over at the R&R."

"I feel like I barely leave the place." Katy agreed with a chuckle. She glanced over to where Bailey was dejectedly kicking at the grass, not really listening to what Ruby was saying to her. "How's she holding up, poor kid?"

Linda sighed deeply and shook her head. "She's not saying much, I don't think. Mitch was hoping that today would take her mind off things."

"It'll take a damn sight more than a picnic to do that." The younger woman said softly. "I'll ask Amy to talk to her. At least she knows how Bailey will be feeling losing her mum so young."

They continued to watch as the children, apart from the one they'd been discussing, laughed and messed around with the football. Linda huffed exasperatedly as Dennis teased the younger children, requesting that he gave the ball back. Katy had snorted with amusement when Karen likened him to the child from The Omen, not correcting her, even when Linda half-heartedly rose to his defence.

"You alright, darlin'?" Jack asked, dropping onto the picnic bench beside his daughter and looping his arm around her shoulders. "You're not playing, are you?"

"I think I can handle a kick about, Dad." She replied, rolling her eyes. "But no, I'll give it a miss today. Where's Amy?"

"She was not up for footy." He laughed at the prospect. "She's round at a mate's house."

"D'you reckon she should have a chat with Bailey? I mean… she lost Roxy so young, maybe she'll be able to say something to comfort her a little bit? I'd speak to her, but I don't think it would have anywhere near the same affect as if Amy did."

"I'll see what Mitch thinks before I suggest it to Amy." Jack mused, glancing towards the other man. "I don't wanna overstep, you know?"

"Yeah…"

"By the way, you do know you can't give Amy a job at the R&R, right?"

"Of course I know that." His daughter rolled her eyes again. "She's ten. She wanted to help out and spend some time with me, that's all. I bunged her a tenner because she did a damn good job of checking the stock for me."

"Yeah, well, she won't stop talking about how she's gonna work there as soon as she can."

"At least I'd be able to keep an eye on her." Katy pointed out with a grin.

Jack let out a disgruntled sound, before wandering off to join Mitch and Mick, leaving Katy with Linda and Karen. They shot her a sympathetic look, which made her internally groan, before wandering over to speak to Honey. She had waited until Adam had disappeared for a minute before making her move.

"Billy says Will's doing OK, now." She started, smiling warmly at the older woman. "I'm really glad to hear that. It must have been terrifying."

"It was." Honey agreed, fear passing through her eyes at the memory of her son's accident.

"I hear you're moving in with the dentist."

"Katy, don't start." The brunette warned her, looking exasperated. "It's sweet that you're looking out for Billy, but–"

"I get it." She shrugged, glancing towards her cousin and watching as he attempted, and failed, to keep control of the football. "He's a prat."

"Well, I wouldn't quite–"

"I love Billy, course I do; he's my cousin. But honestly, I despair of him sometimes." Katy continued, watching Honey out of the corner of her eye. "He's totally useless."

"He's not! He's a wonderful dad and he's kind and…" Honey blurted, before catching herself. "He's not totally useless."

"OK."

With a shrug, Katy smiled innocently at her and wandered away. She pulled out her phone, smiling at Whitney's message about the flat she and Callum were in the process of moving into. Laughing, Katy text back quickly, assuring her friend that she would not be offering to help them redecorate, however hideous the wallpaper was.

When Dennis' cry attracted everyone's attention and Mitch demanded an explanation for the rapidly forming bruise on the boy's eye, Katy's heart sank. Jessica and Matthew were looking extremely guilty, their eyes fixed firmly on the floor. When Bailey stepped forward to take the blame, Katy's eyes narrowed suspiciously. The guilty expressions had not disappeared from her daughter and brother's faces and the blonde guessed that there was something more to the situation than was initially obvious.

Waiting until Mitch had marched his daughter over to a free picnic table to wait while he packed up their things, Katy approached the two four-year-olds with a stern expression on her face. They immediately looked at each other, before doing their best to look innocent.

"We didn't do it." Matthew announced immediately.

His niece shot him a look. "We didn't, Mum… promise."

"Right… but what do you know?" Katy asked, arching an eyebrow and folding her arms. "Because I know there's something you're not telling me."

"It was Ollie." Matthew blurted.

"Matthew!"

Katy frowned. "What d'you mean, it was Ollie?"

"Dennis was being mean to all of us and then he felled over so Ollie kicked him." Jessica elaborated with a sigh. "I nearly did it too."

"God's sake…" The blonde ran a hand through her hair. "What have I told you?"

"But I didn't do it!" Her daughter defended herself. "It was Ollie."

"Yeah, alright. Just stay out of trouble or we're going home, OK?"

Wondering whether to inform the other parents of the truth, Katy watched Karen talking to Bailey. As the woman stood and made her way over to Mitch, she decided to keep the information to herself for the moment, guessing that they'd sort themselves out well enough without her interference.

Giving the children another half an hour or so, Katy started gathering their things. She said goodbye, attracting the twins, Matthew and Ruby's attention, before heading slowly in the direction of the Square. They skipped along beside her, chattering about the events of the day and asking whether they could do it again soon. Katy answered noncommittally, shooing them up the steps and into the house.

"Are you going back to work, Mum?"

"Nope," she shook her head, "I took the whole day off."

"Can we get pizza?"

"Can we watch a film?"

"Of course we can." Katy assured them, dumping the bags by the sofa and dropping onto it. Immediately the children clambered on top of her, laughing and jostling and trying to get the best position. "Except now I can't move, so…?"

It was shocking how quickly the four of them moved. Katy laughed as she moved to get the TV remote, throwing it carefully in Ruby's direction and heading into the kitchen to put the kettle on. Listening to them bickering, she smiled to herself and shook her head. Her mobile vibrated insistently in her pocket and she pulled it out, expecting it to be Whitney giving her another update on the flat.

"Ritchie?"

"Where are you?"

"I'm at home with the kids." Katy frowned, leaning against one of the kitchen counters and glancing towards the doorway. "What's up?"

"Is there anyone who can have the children? I think we need to talk in person."

Telling Ritchie to meet her at the bar in half an hour, Katy ended the call. She winced as she thought about the children's reactions to hearing that she had to leave them and go into work when she'd just promised that she wasn't going to. Thinking for a moment, she called Lola and asked if she and Lexi could come over and watch the children.

"So… Aunty Lola's just phoned and asked if she could come over for a while with Lexi."

Immediately all plans for pizza and a film with their mother were forgotten. Smiling to herself, Katy gathered her bag and jacket and listened for the sound of the doorbell. Ruby watched her suspiciously, before sidling over and putting her hands on her hips, sending her mother a hard stare.

"Are you going to work?"

"Just for a bit while Aunty Lola's here."

"You promised."

"I know, angel, I'm sorry." Katy told her softly. "If they weren't coming over, I wouldn't. But there's something important I have to do. I'll be as quick as I can, I promise."

"You always promise."

Feeling terrible, Katy nodded, pulling her daughter into a tight hug. "I know…" Hearing the doorbell, she broke away and pressed a kiss to the top of Ruby's head. "Be good and I'll be back soon."

Thanking Lola for helping her out, Katy left the house and headed quickly towards Turpin Road. She headed up to the office, shaking her head and waving off the bar staff's questions about her presence there on her day off. Dropping into her chair, she turned the computer on and accessed the emails from the accountant, assuming that it was the money that she wanted to speak to her about.

She was on edge until she heard a firm knock on the door and rose to let Ritchie in. The older woman shot her a tight smile, before motioning towards the sofa and indicating that they should sit down. Closing the door firmly, Katy did as she suggested, her eyebrows furrowed in slight confusion.

"What's going on?"

"Have you been contacted by a Dean Parry?"

"Uhh…" Katy's blood turned to ice in her veins. "What?"

"It's a simple enough question, Katherine."

"Umm… yeah. He… he turned up here last month asking about Ruby and his brother. We told him that Ruby wasn't his niece and we hadn't seen Nathan for years and he left."

"We?"

"Dad and me."

"And that's the extent of the contact you had with him?"

"Yes."

"And his brother's whereabouts?"

"No idea. I haven't seen him since just after Ruby was born." Katy frowned. "What's all this about?"

"I received an email to say that he was planning on requesting a DNA test to prove whether Ruby was his brother's daughter."

"When?"

"A while ago now; I didn't think much of it, to be honest."

"Right…?"

"But I thought it was a little odd when I didn't hear anything else. He was so insistent in the email, calling you all the names under the sun and claiming that he'd take you to court if you didn't comply. It seems strange that he'd just drop it on your word that Ruby wasn't related to him."

Katy shrugged. "I dunno… maybe because Dad backed me up he thought better of it."

"There's nothing else you need to tell me?"

"Like what?"

"It seems a little strange that this would coincide with the money situation you're dealing with at the moment."

"Surely it would look stranger if the money had gone out of my account, rather than into it?" Katy reasoned, arching an eyebrow at the solicitor.

"Perhaps… but the R&R is starting to struggle financially, isn't it?"

"Not that badly." The blonde defended her business quickly. "We're doing OK."

"Look, I'm not accusing you of anything, Katherine." Ritchie assured her, holding up her hands. "I'm just giving you a heads up. If there's anything you need to sort… sort it."

"There's nothing." Katy replied firmly. "I appreciate the warning, though."

Ritchie watched her for a moment, before nodding sharply and standing up. She smoothed down her skirt, before pausing and looking at the young woman thoughtfully. Katy was about to ask her what she was thinking, when she smiled tightly again and let herself out of the office.

Hesitating on the threshold, she glanced back over her shoulder. "You get more like Veronica every time we meet."

"Thanks."

"I'm not sure it was a compliment." The solicitor admitted. "I'll be in touch."