"So, the boys are calling you 'Mum' now, are they?" Debbie asked, doing little to hide the judgment in her voice. Luckily, Vanessa had grown used to the holier-than-thou attitude Charity's daughter sometimes had. Debbie's inability to be consistent with her opinion of Vanessa and Charity's relationship would almost be laughable if Vanessa didn't know how much it tore up her girlfriend.
They both understood Debbie's hesitancy toward their relationship, especially given Charity's track record with her exes but Vanessa felt as if they had proven themselves as a couple in the few years that they had been together. She and Debbie had a decent relationship when the younger woman was on-board with her relationship with her mother, but on the days when she wasn't too keen their relationship was remarkably similar to that of step-mother and teenager, which, considering Debbie's age and status as a mother herself, wore a bit thin on the vet sometimes.
Vanessa had known that this conversation was coming from the moment Moses had first called her 'Mummy' in front of his sister, but she wished that Debbie hadn't waited until Charity had disappeared to The Woolpack toilets before bringing it up. She knew that she had done it on purpose; Debbie liked to test Vanessa's commitment to Charity. But the support of her girlfriend in this conversation would have been helpful. Vanessa was still wary of upsetting Debbie, knowing how important it was to have a good relationship with all oh her other half's children, but Charity would have shut Debbie down immediately.
"Yeah, they are," despite Debbie's tone, Vanessa couldn't help the soft smile that broke out on her face. She really did love those boys as though they were her own, "and Johnny's calling Charity 'Mum', too."
"Is that a good idea?" the younger of the two asked.
"Why wouldn't it be?" Vanessa countered. She knew exactly what Debbie was thinking, but she wasn't going to make it easy for her. If Debbie wanted to, once again, question her mother's relationship then Vanessa wasn't going to help her do it.
"C'mon," Debbie started, "my Mum's past speaks for itself."
Vanessa's brow furrowed, "What's your Mum's past got to do with the price of bacon?"
Leaning forward, annoyed at Vanessa obvious attempt at playing dumb, Debbie hissed, "It's not gonna be fair on them boys when she breaks your heart and you don't wanna be their Mum anymore."
Vanessa reeled back. Debbie's words were like a punch to the gut. Sure, she had heard the 'my mum's gonna break your heart' speech plenty of times before and she was sick of hearing it, but the idea that she would ever abandon Noah and Moses was inconceivable to her. She couldn't believe that anyone would actually think that her love for Charity's kids was that shallow. She had every confidence in her relationship with Charity, but beyond that she knew that no matter what happened between them they would always be there for the other's children.
"What are you going on about, Debbie?" Vanessa was genuinely confused now, "I love those boys."
"You love them now, but you know what Mum's like, and when she messes up it'll be those boys who suffer," Debbie rushed out, wanting to make Vanessa understand, "and Noah's already suffered enough because Mum can't hold down a relationship."
Vanessa sighed. She was tired of this constant cycle that Debbie was stuck in. She understood that the mechanic had a complicated relationship with her mother, but Charity had proved herself over the past couple of years. She really had changed and the fact that Debbie was refusing to acknowledge that was starting to wind her up.
"Look, Debbie, I know you and your Mum have a complicated history," she started, holding her hand up when she saw Debbie tried to interrupt, "and I know that she's done some things in her past that she's not proud of, but she's changed."
Shaking her head, Debbie wasn't done, "You think she's changed but she hasn't. She always says she has but she's too set in her ways." Vanessa could see that Debbie was frustrated. The younger woman really thought that she was helping her mother's girlfriend out, but what she couldn't see was that she was allowing her own past to cloud what was clearly in front of her. Even though she knew this, Vanessa couldn't help the anger she could feel bubbling up inside her. She thought that the days of defending Charity were behind her. Everyone could see that the landlady had changed; everyone other than her own daughter.
Snapping, Vanessa leaned forward as though getting closer would make Debbie understand her, "I love your mother and she loves me. I don't care what anyone says about her, not even you, Debbie, because we're good for each other. And yes, she's done things in her past that you clearly can't forgive her for, but I don't need to forgive her because that's not who she is anymore."
Vanessa took a big breath, she wasn't done but she wanted to make sure that Debbie was properly listening to her this time because she refused to have this conversation with her again. It was getting boring and repetitive.
"Vanes-" Debbie started, only to be shushed by the woman.
"No, I'm still talking," Vanessa cut her off, "a lot of the things your mother has done she did because she had no other choice, or at least that's what she thought, and after everything she went through as a teenager can you blame her?" the question was rhetorical, so Vanessa continued, "I love your Mum because of her past, not in spite of it, so I'm not going anywhere, right?"
Vanessa fell silent, breath coming in short, fast bursts, as if she had just run a marathon. She knew she shouldn't have snapped with Debbie, but she couldn't hold her tongue anymore. Charity had suffered a lifetime of being let down by men who let others say what they wanted about her, so she was not about to continue that behaviour. Someone had to defend Charity, even if it was to her own daughter. She didn't know whether the other woman would finally get that Vanessa truly loved Charity, warts and all, or if she would continue to bad mouth her mother, but she had just made it clear either way that the topic of conversation was buried moving forward.
"Uh, yeah," Debbie mumbled, "we both get it."
"Both?" Vanessa questioned, turning her body around in the booth when Debbie nodded her head at something over her shoulder.
Charity was stood behind her and from the look on her face Vanessa could tell that she had heard everything that she had just said. Vanessa closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She didn't know how the other woman was going to react. She mused that it could have been worse. At least she had been defending her girlfriend rather than slagging her off. Although, she would have preferred that her girlfriend didn't know that her own daughter was sill questioning her motives. Steeling herself, she waited for a reaction but after a couple of seconds it became clear that Charity was too caught up in the emotions that she was feeling to muster up a reply.
"Charity," Vanessa whispered, as she stood up and walked over to her girlfriend. Taking her hands, she squeezed them once and waited for the other woman to look her in the eye. When she did, she smiled slightly and waited once more for the woman in front of her to compose herself. For the other woman to be showing this much emotion, or vulnerability as she would call it, in public she must have been affected by what she had heard.
"Ness," Charity croaked out, voice thick, "did you mean all that?"
Vanessa was taken aback by the uncertainty in Charity's voice, "What? Of course I did, babe."
She knew that Charity was still shocked that their relationship ever moved past a one nigh stand, but she had no idea that the woman she shared her life with still couldn't see how much she loved her. The ring that sat in her pocket felt heavy and the plans she had made to propose the next night suddenly seemed insignificant. She had to do everything she could to make the extraordinary woman in front of her see how much she loved her.
Well, she thought to herself, could be worse times to do it.
"Guess I'll have to prove it, huh?" she asked aloud, before turning to Debbie who, for her part looked ashamed of herself, "Debbie, you mind if I ask your Mum to marry me?"
The pub suddenly went quiet. Vanessa's voice had carried across the room and now the whole place was looking their way. The silence allowed Vanessa to hear Charity's gasp.
"What?" Debbie asked, taken aback by the question, "She's a grown up, she can marry who she wants."
"Your blessing would mean a lot to me," she paused before adding, "to us."
"Oh, well then yeah, go for it, I guess," Vanessa knew that Debbie still had her reservations, but the look on her mother's face was enough to make her feel bad about what she had said and there was no way the mechanic was going to cause her mother more pain, despite whatever she felt about their relationship.
Turning back to her shocked girlfriend, she pulled the ring box out of her pocket, opened it to reveal the diamond ring within and knelt down on one knee, right there in the middle of The Woolpack. She couldn't quite believe she was doing this and from the look on her face, neither could Charity.
"I had a whole thing planned, with music and flowers and all that mushy stuff you claim to hate but secretly love," she winked, "but what you just heard me say to Debbie is everything I want you to know, so no point putting it off anymore.
"Charity Dingle, please will you marry me?"
As she knelt on the floor, waiting for her girlfriend's reply she thought briefly about everything that had led them to this moment, and in her mind's eye the most frequent image she saw was them with their kids, just living their lives and being happy. It seemed so simple, but it had taken hem a long time to get to where they were now. They had carved out a life for themselves and had built a single, whole, loving family out of two broken ones. Not everyone would understand what they had but she knew, in that moment, she wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. Skeptical step-daughter and all.
"Yes," Charity breathed out, tears glistening in her green eyes, making them almost sparkle.
Vanessa jumped up and pulled Charity to her. Their lips crashed together and something between them shifted. It was subtle, and if Vanessa wasn't so wired up she wouldn't have noticed it. As it was, it screamed at them both in the silence of the pub. Home. They had found shelter and love in one another and either woman had become the other's home. Pulling away, Vanessa beamed as she slid the ring on Charity's finger.
From behind her she heard Debbie sigh, "Don't think this means I'm gonna start calling you Mum, too."
"Oi, don't be rude you. You're still in trouble," Charity admonished her daughter. She clearly wasn't happy with her attempt at making Vanessa rethink their relationship, and despite how it all turned out, Charity was still hurt.
"I'll settle for you being happy for us?" Vanessa asked with a scrunched-up face, hoping that she could diffuse some of the tension between mother and daughter.
Smiling slightly Debbie tried her best to look apologetic, "I think I can manage that."