After struggling for the past hour to find the courage to walk into the surf club and speak to Tracy, Ruby finally shuffled into Noah's bar and peered through the crowds of people in the room supporting the marathon. Glimpsing through a small gap she saw Tracy sitting on the couch across the room. Brushing through the exiting men and women, Ruby raced up to her dead sperm doners widow as quickly as her still fiable legs would allow. When she was close enough, she flung the envelope down on the table in front of the startled woman.
"I don't want it", Ruby said giving Tracy a stern look.
Glancing up at the young woman standing in front of her, Tracy simply sighed.
"Look, I don't care what you do with the money. It's nothing to do with me, I just wanted rid of anything to do with this whole nightmare", she replied as if passing off the burden to somebody else.
"What and you think I do?", Ruby practically shouted at the woman. "He raped my mother, he almost ruined our lives!".
The memories of the entire drama came rushing back and Ruby felt herself getting nauseous. The whole ordeal made her feel dirty and disgusted. Biologically, Grant was her father. But as far as she was concerned that was more than she could bear. Being related to him in any way made her feel sick. It was a subject Ruby was never comfortable discussing, but a sad reality she couldn't escape. No matter how hard she tried to run away from it.
"Your lives. I lost a husband. My kids lost their father. We were living a happy life. Then you showed up and turned everything upside down", Tracy shouted back, feeling herself getting angry.
Trying to surpress the nauseating feeling in the pit of her stomach. Although she knew that Tracys life had been damaged by what happened, she couldn't help how angry she felt. Not at her, but at the circumstances.
"I found out that I was the product of rape. A rape your husband committed. I found out that for sixteen years, my whole life had been a lie. I wanted answers. I wanted justice for my mother and I'm sorry for what that's done to your family. But I'm not sorry Grant's dead!", Ruby yelled back, the sickening feeling intensifying.
Placing a hand on her stomach and closed her eyes, trying to block out the bright lights in the bar. Opening them she saw Tracy standing there ranting away but she couldn't make out what she was saying. All the voices in the room began to merge together until it Ruby couldn't make out a single recogniseable voice in the room. She looked back up at Tracy, feeling lost and confused. Looking around the room, she noticed that people had been standing there watching them arguing.
Ruby could feel herself getting flush. Gripping her cane she turned and made a hasty exit out of the bar towards the surd club exit. Tracy stood there for a second and watched Ruby exit the club. Feeling angry and unsatisfied she picked up the envelope and her handbag and bolted out of the bar after the girl, wanting to settle things once and for all so that she could finally move on with her life.
Outside the marathon runners were beginning to make their way across the finish line. Charlie crossed the line the fastest of all the lady runners and fifth overall. Proud of her achievement. She laughed when she saw Tony practically carrying Miles over the finish line. After finally catching her breath, she made her way over to where Annie and Romeo were standing handing out water bottles. Annie smiled when she saw Charlie coming towards them.
"Hey Charlie, fifth place, that's awesome. Ruby will be so proud", Annie said handing her a bottle of cold water and giving her a congratulatory hug.
"Aw thanks. Speaking of my daughter, have you seen her? She was meant to meet me at the finish line", she said, sounding disappointed that Ruby wasn't the first to congratulatory hug.
"I think she's in the surf club. I saw her go in about fifteen minutes ago", Romeo said as he tried his best to hand water bottles to the hundreds of runners who were beginning to bombard them.
"Right, thanks", she said waving goodbye to the two youngsters and walking over to Leah, Rachel and Nicole who were standing beside the wooden beach rail.
Each of them took turns congratulating her on her race placing and filled her on how poor old Miles was doing. Scanning the crowd, Charlie tried to spot her daughter but found it difficult. It wouldn't be hard to miss her considering Ruby was quite petite. She felt herself beginning to worry as she wondered if her conversation with Tracy had gone bad. Charlie began to twist the water bottle in her hands in an anxious manner. Just then her train of thought was broken by Nicole who place her hand on Charlie's shoulder.
"Hey look, there's Ruby", she said pointing towards the surf club.
Ruby stumbled along as she walked from the surf club along the worn down path towards the crowds of people outside. The sickening feeling in her stomach getting worse. She could feel herself getting dizzy as vision became blurred, her eyes lids getting heavier. She tried desperatly to get to the crowd as quickly as he could but she couldn't find the energy in her body to do it. Her breathing bcame rapid and knees became weak. Leaning against her cane for dear life
Charlie smiled when she looked up and finally saw her daughter. Watching her walk along, she excused herself from the group and she began to make her way towards Ruby. Just then she noticed Ruby stumble and rubbing her eyes as if trying to clear her vision.
"Ruby", she said loud enough for her to hear.
But she didn't react. Charlie quickened her pace as she walked along the same worn down pathway Ruby was on. Looking at her daughter she saw her place a hand to her head. Dropping her cane, Ruby fell to the ground in a motionless heap.
"RUBY", Charlie shouted as she ran as as fast as she could to her daughter's side, dropping to her knees and scooping her up into her arms. Shaking her to try and wake her up.
She turned around to call Rachel, but her doctor friend was already running up to where she was, joined by Dr. Madden. Giving Ruby the once over they consulted with each other as Charlie rocked her back and forth in her arms.
"She's had a hypo", Dr. Madden said. "We need to get her home and get blood sugars under control.
Charlie nodded at what the doctors had said and watched as two medics came and lifted Ruby onto a stretcher and carrying her to the ambulance and placing her in the van. Charlie climbed into the Ambulance, followed by Dr. Madden, while Rachel and Leah followed suit in Leah's car. Watching from a distance, Tracy stood in the shadow of the surf club and watched the ambulance drive off, feeling sorry for the young who just moments ago she wanted to tear into.
Back at Charlie's house, the medics carted Ruby into her bedroom on the trolley and stood back to allow Dr. Madden and Rachel stabilize her blood sugar levels. Charlie remained outside in the living room with Leah, giving them the space they needed to do what was necessary. She paced the floor up and down, up and down. Breathing in deep breathsto calm herself. Ruby had already had a hypo before, but this was the first time Charlie had witnessed one and it scared the life out of her.
She was suddenly stopped in her movement by the appearance of the medics wheelng out the empty trolley to the ambulance and directly behind them was Rachel and Dr. Madden, who placed her medical bag on the table and repacked it properly.
"Is Rubes alright?", Charlie asked them.
"She's fine. We've stabilized her levels, and we've given her a shot", Dr. Madden informed her. "It was a pretty full on hypo so it could be a couple of hours before she wakes up".
"Uhh, thank you so much", Charlie said breathing a sigh of relief.
"Why don't we leave you to relax. We can celebrate tomorrow with breaky in the diner. My shout", Leah said as she stood up.
Nodding at the women, she thanked them for their help and walked them to the door, waving them off as Leah pulled out of the drive way. Closing the door she made her down the hallway and into Ruby's room. Walking over to the bedside, she sat down ans stroked her daughters hair. She leaned down and placed a kiss on her forehead and then pulled the bed cover up over Ruby's shoulders. Charlie stood up and walked out of the room, closing the door over slightly so she could hear if Ruby needed her.
Later that night, Ruby began to stir in bed. Flickering her eyes open, she squinted at the light coming through the gap in the door from the hallway. Sitting up slightly she rubbed her eyes and peered around the room, her gaze falling upon big ballons with 'Get Well Soon' printed across them.
"Mum", she called out, wanting comfort from Charlie.
Within seconds of the words coming out of her mouth, Charlie appeared at the door, a smile on her face, happy to see her daughter awake.
"Hey, I'm here", she said walking over to the bed and sitting down beside Ruby,
"Mum, I'm sorry I wasn't at the finish line. I wa...."m Charlie placed a finger to Ruby's lips to stop her and then began to speak herself.
"Rubes, it doesn't matter. I'm just glad your feeling better. We can talk about everything tomorrow", Charlie said knowing exactly why Ruby was on edge.
Ruby nodded and then looked down. Disappointed she wasn't there to cheer her mother on,
"So where did you finish", she asked.
"Fifth", Charlie answered, tucking a strand of Ruby's hair behind her ear.
"Mum, that's amazing. I'm so happy for you", Ruby said giving her a hug.
Finally Charlie had gotten the hug she had been waiting for since she crossed the finish line. They released each other from the embrace and glancing at the ballons again, Ruby turned back to her mother.
"Who are the ballons form?", she asked.
"A pretty good looking young man by the name of Dylan", Charlie said jokingly. "He heard what happened and he called by earlier to see if you were okay. Nicole gave him the address",
Seeing Ruby smile at the news, Charlie decided to make her feel a whole lot better.
"Then he asked my permission to take you out on a date when your better", Charlie finished.
"Really?", Ruby squealed.
"Yeah. As a matter of fact, he's joining us for breakfast at the diner tomorrow", she informed her.
Ruby let out another squeal and then pulled her mother into a big hug. She was finally going to get the chance to talk properly with a boy she could only descibe as the Prince Charming of the real world.
