Chapter Four Hundred and Forty Three
"Charlie?" Ruby said when her mother answered the phone that morning. "Joey? Are you both there?"
It was their morning ritual but today was a more important call than ever before.
"Yes, darling, we're both here," Charlie said.
The couple were sat at breakfast before work, Charlie's mobile on loudspeaker so they could both talk to her.
"I can come home on Sunday!" Ruby announced.
Around the Bay, news was beginning to spread that Vittorio, the now infamous Italian Prince had arrived in town. He had kept a low profile but he was a big story and everyone, particularly Colleen, was eager to get a glimpse of him. He had also turned Bianca's whole world around.
"Sunday?" Joey managed, barely able to believe the news.
She looked at Charlie, who looked like she might actually cry. Their little girl was coming home.
"Yep," Ruby said proudly. "And Claire is being discharged on the same day. If… if you didn't mind collecting her too?"
"Of course we will," Joey said. "Ruby, we're so happy."
"Are you?" Ruby said uncertainly. "Charlie, you're quiet."
"I'm happy," Charlie said, her voice breaking and a tear escaping. "I'm so happy. I can't wait for you to come home."
Joey put her arms around her.
"We're dealing with some tears here, Rubes," she explained. "But she's very happy and she loves you more than she could put into words. So do I."
"I love you both too," Ruby said softly. "I can't wait to come home."
At school, Liam eagerly caught up with Bianca. She had hastily cancelled their dinner plans the other night, telling him that she hadn't been feeling well and yesterday, he had barely seen her.
"How are you feeling?" he asked, genuinely concerned.
Guilt flooded her.
"Oh, um, I'm fine," she said.
She hadn't been unwell at all. Vittorio had shown up at her door, completely throwing her off course. She hadn't spent much time with him but she had been too confused to have dinner with Liam so she had cancelled and lied.
"Are you sure? Should you be at school if you're sick?"
"It was just a twenty four hour thing," she replied vaguely. "I'm fine now."
"Maybe we could do dinner another time," Liam said hopefully.
He had been genuinely gutted that they'd missed out. He still couldn't help but hope there could be a future for them.
"Yeah," she said, still vague. "We'll sort something out."
Charlie arrived at work with a genuine spring in her step, almost lighting up the police station. It was very different to the mood she had been in for the last few days.
"Someone has all the joys of spring," Watson remarked, following her into her office.
"Ruby is coming home on Sunday!" Charlie announced gleefully.
Watson grinned. So full of happiness, Charlie hugged her, taking her by surprise.
"Oh, I'm so happy for you, Charlie," Watson said. "I know how much you've been missing her."
"I can't even describe how I feel right now," Charlie said. "I just…"
Although she and Joey had visited their daughter every time they were allowed, which had been once a week, it had never felt enough. But now their baby girl was coming home. She felt herself welling up again.
Marilyn wandered along the beach in a bit of a daze. Things just hadn't been right since that fateful night out with the girls. She and Mitzy had barely spoken. Well, Mitzy had tried to talk to her but she hadn't wanted to speak back. And Sid had just used her friend's insensitivity as ammunition to state that she wasn't the right person to have in her life. And his lack of belief in the prediction itself had come to the surface all over again, which hurt. All in all, she felt like she had the weight of the world on her shoulders and she couldn't breathe. Time was running out.
Liam went to the Diner at lunch time to grab a sandwich.
"Have you seen him yet?" Colleen crowed.
"Seen who?" the rugged teacher asked, not particularly interested in whatever piece of gossip she might have picked up now.
"Prince Vittorio!" she said excitedly. "The Italian?"
Liam froze and stared at her. Colleen's eyes widened.
"Oh!" she said. "Oh, I suppose you probably have a vested interest in him too, don't you? What with that Bianca girl he was engaged to."
He promptly forgot his food and left.
Alf was still struggling but his mood had improved after sharing his woes with Joey, Miles and Irene. It felt good to have friends he knew cared about him so much.
"You seem pretty chipper today, Joey," he remarked, as they served behind the bar together.
"Ruby's coming home on Sunday," she told him. "We're collecting her and her friend Claire first thing on Sunday morning. Everything is finally going to be okay again."
Alf pulled her into a hug and kissed the top of her head.
"I'm so happy for you, love," she said sincerely.
"Thank you," she said.
Sid went to find Mitzy when he finished work at the hospital. She was sat outside her caravan, reading a book in the sunshine.
"You need to listen to me once and for all," he told her, getting right to the point.
"Sid!" she said, rather startled.
"I don't know what your game is but you need to stop dragging Marilyn into it and stop ruining her life," the Doctor warned.
"I'm not…" Mitzy tried, putting her book down.
"My girlfriend was so broken after that night out," Sid told her. "It's not fair, what you're doing with this ridiculous psychic game you've got going on. You're lying to her and she's so gullible that she actually believes it."
"It's not a lie," Mitzy insisted.
"It's crap," Sid snapped.
"I…"
"Leave her alone," he warned. "Just leave her alone."
"So, how are you doing?" Joey asked, as she and Alf continued to work. "Any better?"
"I hate to admit it but you were all right all along," the older man told her. "I do feel better for opening up and telling you three what was going on."
"Then might we be right about talking to the police?" Joey asked hopefully. "You know Charlie would help you."
Alf sighed and looked directly at her.
"I'm putting you in a difficult position at home, aren't I?" he said.
Joey reached out and squeezed his hand.
"She understands that I can't always tell her everything," she said. "Just like I would understand if it was the other way around and you'd confided in her."
Alf nodded gratefully. They were interrupted by Bianca entering the venue and approaching the bar.
"Little bit early even for you, isn't it?" Joey teased. "Vodka?"
"Ha ha," Bianca smirked. "You'll never guess who is in town."
"Um… Vittorio?"
Bianca blanched.
"How do you…?"
"Everyone knows," Joey told her. "In fact, Charlie and I are a little hurt you haven't told us already."
She offered a look of mock emotional pain, making Alf chuckle and move away to give them girl time.
"Seriously, everyone knows?"
"Everyone."
Bianca immediately thought about Liam.
That evening, Marilyn had dinner with Sid and his kids. It was quiet and she knew she wasn't her usual bubbly self. She hadn't been for days. It didn't help that Indi was the epitome of misery and nobody seemed to know why. Poor Dex was keeping up morale all by himself.
After dinner, Sid and Marilyn finally managed to talk things out and she got everything off her chest that she wanted to, including her hurt over his lack of faith in the prediction and understanding over what she was going through.
"Well, why don't you just support me and we just agree to disagree?" she snapped.
"Whatever I feel about the prediction, I will always, always support you," Sid told her kindly. "You mean the world to me. I will always be there. No matter what."
Charlie went over to the restaurant after work. Joey had started late so had to stay late and run the shift until closing but Charlie had no objection to sitting and chilling and spending time with her at the bar. It wasn't like she had to do it all the time. She even helped out sometimes. And besides, it was her restaurant too. This place was part of their family.
"I just can't believe that Ruby is really coming home," she sighed happily. "I mean, it's less than a week away."
"We should both take the day off on the Saturday to get everything ready and organised," Joey told her. "Make everything perfect for her when she gets here."
Charlie grinned.
"Got it covered," she said.
"Great minds think alike," Joey told her, stealing a quick peck.
"Ooh, look who it is," Charlie noted, as Bianca walked through the door with Vittorio.
"I'll seat them," Joey said, hurrying to take over from a rather bewildered Angelo.
Against her better judgement, Bianca had agreed to have dinner with her ex-fiancé and now, with all eyes on her, including those of her best friends, she was extremely nervous.
"Hello there," Joey said, smiling pleasantly. "Welcome to Bucktons'."
"Vittorio, this is my friend, Joey," Bianca introduced. "She owns this place. Joey, this is Vittorio."
Vittorio kissed Joey's hand. Joey had to admit that he was charming.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Joey," Vittorio said.
"And you," Joey said. "Let me show you both to your table."
At the bar, Charlie chuckled to herself.
Now that she had made peace with Sid, Marilyn decided it was time to go home and make amends with Mitzy. She didn't like there to be unrest between them. She just wanted to make things right. Knocking on the caravan door, she was glad when she opened up.
"Can we talk?" Marilyn asked.
"Sure," Mitzy said, completely ignoring the warning Sid had given her.
They sat down outside the caravan together.
"I was really thrown by what happened the other night," Marilyn said. "And hurt that it came out the way it did. But I know I was hassling you and it just happened. It was just one of those things, I guess."
"No," Mitzy said. "It was unforgiveable. I'm sorry. I should have handled it better."
"The point is, you're one of the best friends I've ever had and I just want to draw a line under everything," Marilyn told her. "I only have two months left. Time is running out and I don't want to spend that time unhappy or ill at ease with you. I just want to enjoy myself."
"So… we're okay?"
Marilyn smiled.
"We're okay," she confirmed.
Charlie and Joey couldn't help but spy on Bianca and Vittorio, who were also drawing attention from other patrons. But they were eager to find out what was going on and how things were developing, not that they weren't sure they would get the full story afterwards.
"I'll be completely upfront with you, Bianca," Vittorio said. "The only reason I'm here is to win you back and I won't leave until I've succeeded. I made the biggest mistake of my life at that party and I have no idea what I was thinking. You are the only woman I ever, ever want to be with. I love you so much and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want to spend the rest of my life proving myself to you, proving that you're making the right decision by giving me a second chance."
"I haven't given you a second chance," Bianca said.
He offered her the charming smile that was so easy to fall in love with.
"I know," he said. "But I really, really hope you will."
It was the end of the night and Charlie and Joey were glad to be home. They were still on a high level of happy at the prospect of Ruby coming home and they knew that every sleep would bring them closer to that moment where their family would be complete again.
"Do you think Bianca and Vittorio will get back together?" Joey wondered, as she and Charlie got ready for bed.
"I don't know," Charlie said. "I mean, she seemed pretty taken in by whatever he was saying to her tonight."
"And he was pretty charming," Joey added, slipping between the sheets.
Charlie climbed into bed also and cuddled up to her.
"Oh, was he?" she teased. "Are you on the turn?"
"Totally!" Joey laughed, kissing her. "I'm cured!"
Vittorio and Bianca took a walk along the beach, under the moonlight. He had mostly definitely put his heart on the line and opened up to her about his feelings in a way that he genuinely never had before. He had made her feel special, wanted and loved. He had made her feel important. Despite everything, she could feel herself warming to him again.
"So, how do you feel about me, Bianca?" Vittorio asked, stopping their walk.
They gazed into each other's eyes.
"Do you think you could give me another chance or am I just wasting my time?"
"I don't know…"
"Please?" he said. "Please don't tell me I'm wasting my time."
"I…"
He leant in and kissed her. She was powerless to resist.
Further up the beach, Liam was heartbroken to witness the whole thing.
Next time… Joey receives a complaint, Romeo is in receipt of some tough love and John has an emergency...
