To whoever made the prediction about what Ruby is really wanting to see Grant for, well done. And so sorry I can't remember who it was! In my defence, it was a while ago. I hope you enjoy the chapter. Love IJKS xxx

Chapter Ninety-One

Ruby was up early the next day and couldn't help but laugh when she found Geoff grumbling at the dining table while Annie was trying to be far too perky.

"What's going on?" she asked, sitting beside the siblings.

"He's complaining because I've got him a job," Irene explained, entering the room from the kitchen with another slice of toast for everyone.

"Oh really?" Ruby asked curiously.

"Geoff, Joey and Aden are going to be the new crew on the trawler. I started proceedings to get it up and working yesterday. I've got tentative permission and they're going to spend the day cleaning it and making it pretty," Irene said with a smile.

"I keep telling you there's no point cleaning it until you get a proper go ahead," Geoff said. "And a trawler never looks pretty."

"Try telling Joey that!" Ruby remarked.

Her obsession with boats was so far unrivalled.

"I bet she's driving Charlie crazy with excitement right about now."

"And you could stand to follow her example," Irene told Geoff.

***

Charlie chuckled and so did Leah. Joey was singing and giddily dancing around the kitchen and singing loudly as she made eggs and toast for the whole family. She was overjoyed to be working on a trawler again, and leading the team, and having her crew be Aden and Geoff. What could be better than working with her best friend and the boy she was convinced would become hers and Charlie's potentially son in law?

"Why is Joey so happy about working on a boat?" VJ wondered.

"I have no idea," Charlie smirked.

Joey whirled around with her frying pan.

"Because working on a boat is the best thing to do ever," Joey announced.

"Oh, really?" Charlie asked with a raised eyebrow.

Leah laughed louder. Joey stepped forward, keeping the pan a safe distance away from everyone and kissed Charlie on the lips.

"Apart from that," she said.

Leah smiled but it was tinged with sadness. It had been quite some time since someone had looked at her the way Charlie and Joey looked at each other. Her last boyfriend had been Roman and he'd been lovely until his life went wrong and he ended up in jail. She missed him. He didn't keep in touch.

"Charlie and Joey sitting in a tree," VJ began to tease.

Charlie poked him playfully in the ribs. Joey returned to the stove and started singing again.

***

When Annie had left for school and Geoff and Irene had both left for work, Ruby headed to the bathroom to shower and get ready. She'd excused herself from school saying that she wanted to go and see Ross. In reality, she was going to track her biological father down and she was going to make him wish that she hadn't. Her initial reason for wanting to find him was because she needed something tangible about her paternity. But the more she thought about him and remembered Joey's words, the more she wanted to give that monster a piece of her mind. She wanted him to see and acknowledge what he'd done. She wanted to hurt him.

***

Charlie dropped Joey off down at the docks and was happy to see what a spring in her step she had. It was nice to see her happy. After only a week out of work, Joey had been struggling and to get a job back out on the water was wonderful for her. She knew Joey had settled on the idea of working on shore and Charlie knew she hadn't been very happy about it but had resigned herself to it being the only option. Charlie made a mental note to thank Irene personally for coming up with such a good idea.

"See you later," Joey said, kissing her goodbye.

"Have a good day," Charlie said. "I have no doubt that you will!"

Joey grinned and kissed her again before skipping out of the car towards the trawler. Smiling to herself, Charlie pulled away and drove to work ready to start a slightly less exciting day of her own.

***

Ruby sat on the familiar bus on her way to the city, although it was quite a different day for her than going to visit Ross. She couldn't help but feel guilty for being so near him and not going to visit. But confronting the man who had raped her mother, her sister, her best friend... that was her priority now. She pulled out her MP3 Player and put her earphones in, ready to lose herself in music for the duration of the journey.

***

Charlie sat at her desk, buried in paperwork. She kept getting texts messages from Joey telling her what apparently exciting chore she was getting up to now. It made her laugh and it made her happy. They were hoping to meet up at lunch time so that Joey could tell her everything all over again and in detail.

***

Joey was scrubbing the deck with some vigour. Geoff was working up at the other end of the boat and Aden was below deck cleaning and organising shelves. Joey was decidedly more chipper than either of the boys, although Geoff's mood was much better than Aden's. He had been dragged to work kicking and screaming and he and Geoff had been arguing a lot so far. Joey had fortunately been on hand to intervene though and she thought she'd done a pretty good job.

***

Ruby stepped off the bus and pulled out Grant's address, which she'd neatly folded into her back pocket. Taking a deep breath, she began to take a slow walk to from the bus station to his house, which according to Google Maps would be twenty minutes away. She kept her music on and attempted not to sing as she began her journey.

***

At lunch time, Charlie arrived early to the Diner and smiled when she saw Joey, Aden and Geoff troop in a few minutes later. Joey grinned and bounded over, capturing Charlie in an enthusiastic hug. Aden and Geoff rolled their eyes.

"Oh, to be as delighted with life as Joey is," Aden said, flopping into a chair.

"Oh, to be as cranky as Aden," Joey quipped, also sitting down.

He poked his tongue out and picked up a menu.

"Geoff, how's Ruby?" Charlie asked when his daughter's housemate had also settled down.

"Yeah, she's alright," Geoff told her. "She's in the city today."

Charlie froze. So did Joey.

"Why?" Charlie asked.

"Said something about going to see Ross."

"But I spoke to him this morning. He never said anything..."

Charlie trailed off. She turned her frightened eyes to Joey.

"She wouldn't," Joey said, although she didn't believe it.

Charlie suddenly had no doubt in her mind as to where her daughter had gone. She bolted from her seat and hurried towards the door. Joey ran after her.

"Charlie!" she yelled as Charlie flew into her car.

The engine was already running by the time Joey pulled open the passenger seat.

"Joey, you'll get into trouble at work if you come," Charlie pointed out.

"I don't care," Joey replied.

Nothing was more important than making sure her girlfriend was supported and safe. There was no way she was letting Charlie run into the unknown by herself. Slamming her door, Joey pulled her seatbelt on as Charlie pulled out of her car parking space and sped away. Back in the Diner, Aden and Geoff exchanged glances.

"Do you think they're coming back?" Geoff asked.

***

Ruby knocked on what she hoped was the right door and was greeted by a very pleasant woman.

"Hello?" the woman said.

"Hi, my name's Lucy and I'm new to the area. I was looking for babysitting work."

She handed over her fake resume and smiled politely. She could hear the distinct sound of playful children in the background. The woman looked over the piece of paper and then extended her hand.

"I'm Amy," she said. "And you might be exactly in the right place at the right time."

***

Joey typed the address the police officer read out to her, into her phone. Charlie had called the station and asked for the address before handing her mobile over to Joey. She was driving just that little bit too fast for the first time in her life but her adrenaline refused to let her slow down. She had to get to the city and if Ruby was doing what she thought she was, she had to get there immediately.

"Thank you," Joey said, hanging up.

She read the address to Charlie who nodded unhappily. She knew it well.

"He still lives in our old neighbourhood," Charlie said.

Joey nodded, noting the anxious expression on her girlfriend's face.

"Charlie, you need to breathe," Joey said gently.

"I can't," Charlie said.

The words burst out of her without any control. She wiped several tears from her eyes and relaxed ever such a little bit when she felt Joey's hand on her knee. It felt good to know she wasn't alone.

***

Ruby sat on the sofa talking to the wife of her father. So if this were a conventional situation, she supposed she would be her step mother. And the children running frantically round the house, laughing and enjoying themselves, would be her half-brothers and sisters. That felt weird. She'd grown up believing she had one, older sister, then she hadn't known she had any siblings at all and now she had three younger brothers and sisters, all living happy lives. Her mind was reeling at the thought that Grant's wife and kids had no idea what kind of man he was.

***

Aden and Geoff headed back to the trawler. They'd both agreed not to mention to Irene that Joey had scarpered with Charlie to goodness knows where. Both were extremely worried about Charlie, Joey and Ruby. Geoff had tried calling Ruby several times but she never picked up. He was looking extremely fretful the more time passed. Aden suddenly smirked at him.

"What?" Geoff asked, immediately irritated.

"You like Ruby!" Aden declared.

"Shut up!" Geoff said, sounding like a petulant child. "Of course I don't. She's with Xavier."

"As if that ever mattered," Aden said, heading back down below deck to finish his cleaning job.

***

Charlie slowed when she hit the residential area she and Joey were aiming for. A shiver ran through her as she recognised streets and houses. She nodded towards a white end of terrace.

"That's my old house," she said. "Before we moved. After I got pregnant."

Joey looked at it, wondering what kind of happy and sad memories Charlie must have of that place. She put her hand on top of Charlie's. The police officer smiled affectionately at her. She turned left, getting ever closer to their destination.

***

Ruby and Amy both looked up when the front door opened.

"Honey, this is Lucy," Amy said to her husband. "She's looking for babysitting work."

"Then you must be sent from Heaven!" Grant said, smiling cheerfully and extending his hand to Ruby.

She was trembling slightly as they shook hands. He was tall and lean with longish hair and eyes that were alarmingly familiar. She wondered now what Charlie saw when she saw Ruby's eyes. Did she see him? Could she ever have loved Ruby the way she claimed to after the way she had been conceived? He was wearing a suit and he looked very friendly as he greeted his kids and sat beside his wife.

"So, do you have experience?" he asked.

"Plenty," Ruby said.

Her glared fixed on him and her tone changed. He shifted a little uncomfortably.

"Well, uh, why don't you tell us about yourself?"

"My name's Ruby Buckton," the teenager began.

Grant visibly blanched.

"I'm the daughter of the girl you raped when you were a teenager."

Amy looked horrified and stared at her husband in sheer confusion. A look of panic washed over him.

"What the hell are you talking about?" he asked, trying to keep his cool.

"You raped my mother, Charlie Buckton," Ruby accused, standing up.

"I did not such thing!" Grant denied. "How dare you come into my house...?"

"How dare you abuse a beautiful girl like Charlie?"

"Charlie was an old girlfriend," Gant said, half to his wife and half to his daughter. "Nothing like that ever happened."

"It did!" Ruby screamed, suddenly losing control.

She launched herself at him without thinking it through. He grabbed her wrists and began to push her towards the door. Amy shouted his name but he wasn't satisfied until Ruby was on the doorstep, outside the house.

"You're a rapist!" Ruby yelled, making sure any passing neighbours could hear her.

"Shut your mouth!" Grant bellowed.

"Or what?"

The way he looked at her, terrified her. Without another word, Ruby turned and fled. It hadn't quite followed the plan but she was glad to have told him how much she hated him. She made her way down the path, feeling frantic and frightened as she wondered what to do next.

***

Charlie turned onto the right street. She and Joey both looked out the windows at door numbers.

"Charlie!" Joey said urgently.

Charlie pulled up towards Ruby who was running down the street breathlessly.

"What are you doing here?" Ruby asked as she hurled herself into the backseat.

"What are we doing here?" Joey asked incredulously. "Are you kidding me?"

Ruby swallowed and put her seatbelt on.

***

Grant remained in his front garden. The moment he had slammed the door in Ruby's face, he'd turned back to his wife and been given his marching orders. Now, alone and anxious, he watched Ruby dive into a little, blue car. He quickly moved to his own car and jumped into the driver's seat ready to follow them to wherever they might be heading.