After her talk with Steffy the rest of Hopes day goes quickly, she leaves Forresters early to go pick up Beth from Donna's. If all went well, she will have a new sitter for Beth and won't have to rely on her Aunt anymore.
She sings along with the radio as she drives, today has been wonderful for her. First Thomas tells her that Douglas wants to video chat with both her and Beth, she's sure this is the breakthrough she's been praying for, and she thinks it's only a matter of time before he'll be back with her permanently.
Added to that good news she'd made sure she has put Steffy in her place, and she was now satisfied that Steffy would be far to busy making her line a success to even contemplate glancing Liams way.
She wasn't sure what Steffy had in mind with her arrangements for her Fashion Show, but she was fully prepared to just go with it, she'd never seen her so committed to something, that look that she'd had in her eyes when she'd looked at her was laser sharp, like she'd fixated on something and wasn't going to let anything stand in her way until she achieved what she wanted. Hope giggled to herself, Steffy was about to make her a worldwide fashion icon, she'd be an even bigger name than Steffy Forrester herself, everything in her life was finally coming together in the most wonderful way possible, she was about to get everything she'd ever wanted.
"At last," she said as she took a deep breath. "It's finally my time to shine, it's my time to be number one. I'm finally about to get everything I deserve, and Steffy is going to make sure I get it!" She was laughing happily at the sheer irony of it all as she pulled up to Donnas.
She entered Donna's to find her aunt at the lounge room table with Beth and Caterina, they were drawing something together while laughing at each other.
"Can I join in?" she said as she walked over.
"Mummy, come look, we're drawing a lion," said Beth happily.
Hope walked over to where the three sat drawing what appeared to be more of a round blob with streaks out of its head than any type of cat.
"That's wonderful honey," she said with a smile, "Now it's time to get your things and you can tell me all about your day on the way home, alright."
Beth nodded, "Okay," she looked up at Cat, "See ya later Cat."
"Arrivederci Beth," Cat answers with a smile.
Beth runs off to get her little bag from the upstairs bedroom where she has her afternoon nap as Cat turns to Hope.
"On that note I think it's time to leave you two to talk then," she says with a smile, knowing they're about to discuss how she performed with Beth today.
Hope thanks her and she quickly leaves the two Logans alone to talk.
"Well?" asks Hope as the front door closes. "What did you think?"
"Honestly, she seems wonderful, and Beth loves her," replies a smiling Donna. "Of course, it did help that Marius dropped in with some pizzas for lunch."
At Hopes surprised look Donna quickly adds, "He couldn't stay long, he just had a couple of slices with us and a glass of wine then left, he said he had to much work to do and not enough time."
"You and Marius, you're serious? What about Eric? I thought you wanted to get back with him?" says Hope with a disapproving frown.
Donna blushes, "It's complicated, and Eric has made it plain he has no interest me, and that was before I found out what he did to Pammy. He's not the man I thought I knew Hope, and I don't think I can live with Eric after what I found out, it's changed my whole perspective."
"Aunt Donna, you can't believe everything that Pam says, she's Stephanies sister and she's made it plain and clear that she's on the side of Steffy, Thomas, and Zende. I always thought that you and Eric were destined to be together, just like Mum and Ridge, and me and Liam. You can always fix things, just go and see him, I just know you can make it right if you try." Says Hope, her voice dripping with her obvious disapproval.
Donna shakes her head as she begins to get a little angry with her niece's not so subtle views. "No, not this time Hope. I've had it with Eric and his moods, he's not only treated me badly, but he's treated Pammy horrendously!" She holds up her hand as she sees Hope getting set to argue with her.
"No Hope, I trust Pammy, she's my best friend, I believe her, you weren't there, you didn't hear her voice when she told me she was going to send me an email with everything she wanted to tell me in it. She was devasted – for me – I could see it in her eyes, and when I read it, I just knew it was true."
She looks at Hope pleadingly as she adds, "Trust me when I say I didn't want to believe it, I didn't want my life and my relationship with Eric shattered, but everything inside of me screamed that it was the truth." A tear slips down her face as she says sadly "Everything!"
Beth comes back down the stairs and interrupts the pair.
"I'm ready mummy," she says, totally oblivious to the tension between the two women.
Hope sighs before smiling down at her daughter. "Okay miss, out to the car we go, and it will be lots of vegetables for dinner tonight seeing as you had pizza for lunch.
"Awwweee," moans Beth as she heads out the door with her lips pouted in disappointment.
Hope turns back to Donna, "Thanks for today, Aunt Donna, and please, just think about what I said. I don't think Marius is a good fit for you, he's, well, he is a little young don't you think?"
With that she turns and walks out after Beth, leaving Donna confused, angry, and upset by her casual cruelty.
Later that evening Marius returns to his apartment, he's mentally exhausted from all the extra work he's now doing with the HFTF line, but after hearing what Steffy wanted, and more importantly, why, he, Thomas and Zende had thrown themselves into the adjustments they were making with a vengeance. Zende had even rung several agencies for advice, which had proved to be invaluable, especially with the help they needed in booking the models they would need.
So far everything was going ahead of Steffi's schedule for which he was grateful, because he knew that tomorrow morning, after they had their first meeting with their new models, there was bound to be hick-ups. He just prayed that there was nothing serious as he had found himself becoming both intrigued, and excited by Steffi's concept.
He thrived when given a challenge, and boy, had she given him one!
Cat came down the stairs as he threw his large bag that he had his sketches in on the couch.
"You're late," she says as she wanders into the kitchen. "I saved you some dinner, it's not much, just some Lasagne I grabbed from your friends place, Deacons, I think it's called."
Marius smiles over at her as she takes the food out of the oven and starts to cut up some crusty bread for him. "You don't have to wait on me Cat, I can feed myself you know."
Cat huffs, "Call it a celebratory meal," she says looking at him, as a slow smile starts to spread across her face.
"You got the job?" he asks quickly.
"Hope rang me a couple of hours ago, I'm on probation, and she still wants me to mind Beth at Donna's, just to make sure, but yes, I have the job!" she squeals and rushes into her brothers arms for a happy hug.
Marius hugs his sister before pushing her away as he quickly tells her. " That's wonderful news, but we may have to move up the timetable drastically."
At Cats puzzled look he quickly explains what Steffy told he, Thomas and Zende that morning, and what they were planning on doing about it.
Cat is shocked to her core, "Oh my god, that's horrible, how could she do that to another woman, as for your boss, this Steffy sounds a bit like our father, what she's planning, although I applaud it in some ways, well, it's just plain vicious!"
Marius takes a deep breath, "Can you honestly blame her Cat, this is the second husband of Steffi's that Hope Logan has slept with, what would you do if it was you?"
Cat tips her head to the side, "Me, oh I'd do exactly the same thing, I'd never let her get away with destroying my life twice."
She pauses as she looks up at Marius. "The good thing in all of this is that any guilt I was feeling about what we're doing is now totally gone. That woman is a viper, she hides behind a virtuous smile and a false public image, whilst all the time she is exactly like her mother . . . NO, she's worse! From what I've read at least her mother didn't try to hide what she did, she revelled in it, but her daughter, she's much more dangerous because she's sly, she hides her true motives until she's ready to strike."
She pauses a moment then nods, "Eat your dinner Marius, I have to go order a couple of things that I'll need."
With that she strolls out of the kitchen to the lounge and opens her laptop as Marius grabs his dinner and goes to digest all that he's learned today, as well as all of what his sister has just said.