For those of you wondering when the murder will occur, it is coming, but I'm not going to tell you when exactly :)
"Your daughter?" John spun around at the sound of Martha's voice, finally realising what he'd said. "Did I hear you right John?" She had only just walked into the diner with her grandfather and son at the end of the confrontation, but early enough to hear that. "Is it Georgie, is she your daughter?"
"Oh shit," Gina muttered, the cat well and truly out of the bag and dreading how her stepdaughter would take this very public revelation.
"Is it true John, are you Georgie's father?" Martha demanded.
"Yes," he said in a small voice. His daughter would probably hate him even more after betraying her secret like this.
"Does she know?" She closes her eyes when John looked away. "Of course she does, that's why she resents you so much."
John nodded sadly. "She blames me for her horrible childhood, for leaving her with the monster who murdered her mother."
"Did you leave her there?"
"It's complicated and this isn't the best place to discuss this."
"No it's not and you're not the person I should be talking to," Martha said with a hint of edge to her voice.
"Don't be too hard on Georgie for not telling you earlier," Gina said as she came to their side. "It's hard for her to break the habits of a lifetime."
"I know that and I've always known Georgie's kept things to herself, but this? I just wish she'd told me, even if she wanted nothing to do with him, she still should have told me, because this doesn't just affect her, it affects our family." She sighed in frustration. "Before, you were always related to Jay through Jack, but now, I realise that he's your grandson and," she frowned. "Oh shit, I guess that makes Hugo his uncle."
"And Georgie's stepbrother."
"No offence, but I don't think that's going to be a selling point to Georgie."
Gina chuckled. "I think I should get John out of here before the gossip starts."
Martha looked over at Colleen who was already starting to spread the news. "I think I'll go as well," she muttered.
Taking a break from Robertson, Charlie stepped out of the station for some fresh air. She smiled when her phone went just as she was about to dial and she saw the caller id. "Hi baby, I was just about to call you."
"Hey."
"Are you ok, you sound a bit flat?" Expecting Joey to say she'd had a run in with her father, she instead, listened intently as Joey filled her in on what went down in the diner with Angelo. Worried she'd snap her phone in half if she gripped it in anger any longer, Charlie forced herself to relax. "I hate that you were subjected to that."
"I knew Angelo wasn't going to take this quietly, but I've never been so disgusted with him." Charlie could hear her sighing over the phone. "He's not the man I thought I knew."
"Unfortunately, with some people, you see a whole new side to them when things don't go their way."
"He didn't even seem to care he was causing a scene or that he was basically spreading awful lies about you and Georgie."
"If he does it again, I'm almost tempted to call Morag and have him done for slander."
"There were plenty of witnesses to his disgusting rant if you do call her."
Even over the phone, Charlie could sense there was more. "Joey, why do I feel like Angelo being a prick isn't all that happened?"
"Gina stepped in to confront Angelo, then John arrived on the scene and kind of let slip something I don't think your cousin will be at all happy with having been blurted out for all to hear."
"What could John say that would piss off Georgie? Granted, she's not his biggest fan, but still."
"I'm not sure if I should be telling you this or it's better coming from Georgie."
"By the time Georgie told me, I'll be the last to know," Charlie said in slightly mocking tone. "I think the ice is thawing slightly with her, but there's still some way to go, especially when it comes to her telling me things."
"Ok then." Joey paused a moment, before speaking again. "John sort of threatened Angelo if he ever spoke of his daughter like that again."
"Why would Angelo be talking about Shandi?"
"Not that daughter," Joey replied.
Charlie had a sudden sinking feeling what Joey was going to say, which she confirmed moments later. "Apparently Georgie is his daughter."
"Fuck," muttered Charlie.
"And Martha chose just that moment to arrive."
"Fuck."
Joey couldn't help herself, she laughed at Charlie's one-syllable responses. "Where are you right now?"
"Getting some fresh air out in front of the station."
"Then that must be a good look, with you standing in front of the cop shop in your uniform, swearing like that."
Charlie suddenly glanced around her surroundings, letting out a sigh of relief that there was no one about. "Nah, I'm safe, which is probably a good thing, because I just found out earlier that the promotion board has approved my promotion to full Sergeant and having a complaint for offensive language and unprofessional behaviour in front of my own station filed against me might not go down too well."
"Your promotion came through?" Joey said in delight. "That is fantastic news, Charlie."
"Yeah, it is. I'm still kind of in shock as I wasn't expecting it just yet and I haven't received official notification, but it's a done deal."
"I guess tonight is another night of celebrations than."
"You think you can find another way to get Ruby out of the house?" joked Charlie.
"I'll tell her we'll be having very loud sex, that should do it."
"Joey!" Charlie almost screeched.
"I'm joking. I think we should do something with Ruby to celebrate."
"That sounds like a great idea. I guess I should head inside and let Georgie know what's going on."
"Unfortunately, she's the hot topic of conversation right now."
"Fuck, that is the last thing Georgie would want."
"I don't envy you telling her."
"I should do it right now, before she hears it from someone else. I'll see you at home. I love you."
"I love you too and good luck with Georgie."
"Thanks, because I might need it," Charlie muttered as she headed back inside.
Closing her phone, Joey looked up to find Shandi standing there.
"I guess you told Charlie," Shandi said.
"Yeah. She's going to tell Georgie."
"This is not how dad wanted this to happen."
"You've always known?"
"Since I was a kid. Having a daughter to another woman was the reason why my mum ran off," she said. "Actually, that's not really fair to dad. Truth is, my parents never should have gotten married in the first place and never would have if mum hadn't been pregnant with me. They had problems from day one, always arguing and then came the day that after yet another argument, dad decided to drown his sorrows with booze and another woman."
"Georgie's mother."
Shandi nodded. "I was only a baby at the time and we moved away not long after that for a few years, before we came back and by then, the Watsons had moved to Mangrove River, so dad had no idea she had a child until he had to go to Mangrove River for business and ran into her, only she wasn't alone. She had a little girl with her and as soon as dad found out the next day how old the girl was, he went back and confronted Georgie's mum. Now, I don't know the details, except that she denied dad was the father but dad wasn't convinced, so he demanded a DNA test. About a week later, the results came back and he wasn't a match."
"So he's not Georgie's father," Joey said, feeling a bit confused.
"Like I said, I don't know the details, only that for the next few years, dad had no idea that he really was her father until one of Mrs Watson's friends turned up on our doorstep two days after her death to give him a letter she must have written some time before and for whatever reason, chose not to send it. I never saw the letter but after he read it, dad believed he was Georgie's father. Of course, mum was long gone by then, having taken off the moment dad told her he may have another child; she didn't even bother waiting for the DNA test to come back, not that I think it would have made much difference when it came back to say he wasn't the father. Mum was looking for an out and dad's affair gave her one. I just wish she'd said goodbye to me before she left."
"Is that why you had it in for Georgie at school?"
Shandi winced. "Not my proudest time. I took mum's abandonment pretty badly and I was an absolute bitch to all, but I saved the worst for Georgie. Unfair, I know, but I was a kid and I didn't understand how my mum could pack up and leave one day while I was at school and all I could remember was overhearing them arguing about some bastard child called Georgie, those were mum's words and then a few years later, that same kid turned up in Summer Bay. And let's just say, that by the time dad told me she was my half-sister, I'd already worked up quite a resentment toward her because of mum." She sighed. "It wasn't the best of times for the family, dad was seeing Gina by then and I was a bit jealous of the time she took from me and the attention she seemed to be giving Georgie and poor dad was caught in the middle of one unruly teenage girl and another who wanted nothing to do with him. I have no idea how long Georgie had known the truth, only that she resented our father from the moment she arrived in the Bay." Shandi smiled wryly. "I guess my sister and I are alike in that, we both resented someone who really didn't deserve it."
"Except you've let your resentment go."
"It was easier for me to do so. I had the supportive family and my appalling behaviour was put down to teenage angst and people treat me now with respect, but Georgie's had to fight every step of the way and still, people judge her because her last name is Watson."
"It should be Palmer."
"Yeah and now that everyone is soon to know that, I'm not sure she's going to be too quick to embrace it." She shrugged. "For Georgie, she holds the Palmer name in the same regard most hold the Watson name, except for Gina that is, the only one of us that Georgie trusts. I guess early on, Gina was the only adult along with Irene, who was really there for her and found a way to get through to her. Dad was devastated and furious at the lie that had kept him from Georgie for so long and he really wanted to take her in, yet she rejected him time and again, much the same as she did with the Bucktons, though at least she eventually warmed up to them."
A thought occurred to Joey. "When you were a couple, were you ever tempted to tell Charlie you were her cousin's sister?"
"Sure, but I'd grown up by then and felt terrible about the way I had treated Georgie when we were younger, so the least I could do was hold her secret. It wasn't easy though, I felt slightly guilty being with her cousin while she was oblivious to our sibling relationship. It's all out in the open now though."
Their conversation comes to a halt as another reached their ears.
"She's a bad egg that girl, just like her parents, I only wish poor Martha could see the truth," Colleen said, only too happy to have believed Angelo's accusations.
"Strewth woman, give it a rest," Alf told her.
"The only reason Martha is with her, is out of gratitude for trying to save Jack, which she failed to do."
"She took two bullets when she risked her life to try to save him and it doesn't really matter how they came to be together, they're still together because they love each other."
"I wouldn't be at all surprised if those rumours about her being involved in her mother's death were true," Colleen continued on.
"Stop it right there Colleen," Alf said in a firm voice. "Her father admitted to everything, now stop spreading poisonous lies."
"I don't know why you're defending that troublemaker." Colleen sticks her nose higher into the air. "That girl is just like her father."
"You mean just like John Palmer?" Leah pointed out. "That is who her father is."
Not knowing how to reply to that, Colleen huffed and walked into the kitchen.
"Some things and people never change," muttered Shandi. "Georgie has been through so much, but do people give her credit for the way she turned her life around?" she said in a deliberately raised voice. "No, they just sit at the side judging her without ever bothering to get to know who she really is." She stared down all there. "I guess judging is easier than admitting that you might be wrong about her." Shandi turned her attention back to Joey. "I need to get out of here. Can I give you a lift somewhere?"
"Actually, I was on my way to the hotel to get the rest of my things and check out."
"I take it then that means you're moving in with Charlie?"
"Yeah. I hope that doesn't make things awkward between us?"
"Oh no, Charlie and I are well over, aside from a friendship, that is. Come on, I'll take you to the hotel."
"Are you sure?"
Shandi nodded. "I have nothing else on right now and we can goss about the blue eyed wonder that is Charlie Buckton."
"I hope the afternoon is quieter," Leah said to Alf as she watched Joey and Shandi walk out together.
"How are you doing, with Brax's arrest and all?"
"I'm coping and I think the gossip has now moved from me to the Palmers and Georgie."
"Certainly a hell of a surprise that."
"You're not wrong there."
As expected, her cousin hadn't taken the news well and had grown increasingly frustrated when she hadn't been able to contact her girlfriend after Alf had answered Martha's mobile, having forgotten to return it to her when he'd borrowed it earlier. Charlie had decided to give her cousin time off to go and see Martha and considering her agitated state, had asked Avery to drive her.
"Time for a nice, strong coffee," she muttered to herself, just as the phone went. With a soft groan, she picked up. "Charlie Buckton."
"Charlie, it's Robert." She frowned. After wrapping everything up, Robertson had left the station and Charlie had hoped by now, he'd be well out of Summer Bay, so she was wondering what he was calling for.
"Did you forget something?"
"No. Graves and I have come across a two person car accident on our way out of town."
Charlie's heart skipped a beat when Robertson told her who was involved.