Ryan had spent the night with Skylar, happily, glad to be able to be close to her again without having to give her the ultimatum that would take the real decisions out of her hands. He needed her to make the choice by herself and so he was happy to stay with her until late afternoon, taking her out for breakfast and then along to a little local art display in the village square. It wasn’t fancy like the fundraiser, it was just some local artists who were looking to display their work and sell to an appreciative audience. It was nice for them just to wander through the gardens of the village square, holding hands and being a real couple for once, he even bought her the chance to sit with a tarot reader in an old gypsy caravan who told her that her life held great adventures. Skylar was a little disheartened by it all, particularly the reading that she had already met or was already with the love of her life, who she would be with forever and how they would start a family in ‘the near future’. She just couldn’t believe it even though she did have a strong belief in the supernatural and psychic worlds, but when she knew what she did about the world and her life…her fate and her time with Ryan, how could she believe that she would get to be with him forever and have children with him?
But the way she had passed it off made Ryan ask what the woman had said, smiling at their future together only to get curious about the note of disbelief that came to her voice when she explained the mention of Zeke. “She said that he would shape my future and that my past with him has made me a stronger person. Something about how my life has been improved by him.” Skylar sighed, angry at the reading about Zeke when it was complete tosh, especially how it was the entire reason that she couldn’t live out her supposed future with Ryan all because of her stupid past with her ex. But he managed to cheer her up for a while, at least enough for them to spend the rest of the day together until his first class around three. It was his only lecture that day, and only an hour long but he admitted to Skylar that he wanted to go to the library afterwards for about an hour, in order to research what was needed for his dissertation.
What he really planned to do, was do a little digging into Zeke’s and Skylar’s past. Something wasn’t gelling in his head and it needed to be sorted out so he could understand why she was so angry with her ex and why she couldn’t see a future for them together. But an hour later, half of him wished he hadn’t done it and the other half was glad he had. What he found out was difficult to understand until it all pulled together in his head and started to make some real sense. It hadn’t taken him long after putting in Skylar’s full name into the internet search engine before a couple of hundred hits came up, including a personal Facebook page that had the most surprising news. The picture on the profile page showed him that the Skylar he knew was the same as the one on the screen, when the news articles had no pictures to convince him that the two girls, the one he knew and the one in the article, were the same. Once he saw the ‘rest in peace’ notices and the comments on the page that expressed a sadness at her demise, he decided to go back to the news articles to figure out what the whole story was. He took a while to register the death even though he knew that the picture meant it was true. Skylar…his Skylar…had died almost a year ago.
The articles only confirmed the news. They stated that she had been killed by her boyfriend, Zeke. Which explained why she was so angry with him. Her death also perfectly explained her reluctance to start a relationship with him. The whole story wasn’t much different to the honest approach Skylar had taken that afternoon, admitting to how Zeke had died after the stress of what he’d done got too much for his brain and his tumour to handle. What she didn’t admit was that he had attacked her after he saw her talking to another guy outside a shop. When she got home to their apartment together, he had lashed out with a backhand across the face, followed by a fight between them. Skylar had fought back, the poor thing, creating such a mess of their apartment that when the police arrived, they thought the place had been burgled. But once he had caught her waist to stop her from running off, she had fallen over and Zeke had pinned her down and strangled her. The coroner was quoted in one of the articles as saying that she had been strangled unconscious multiple times before being given a reprieve, which Zeke’s doctor had insisted was because he had panicked at seeing what he’d done only for Skylar to ‘probably wake up and provoke him again’. But Ryan got so mad at reading his statement, that it was Skylar’s fault, that he closed the window and sat at the desk, upset and holding his head in his hands. He couldn’t bear to know what she had been put through, only to die anyway, despite all her fighting back and the dedication she had put into getting her ex the help he needed.
Another article was a little more sympathetic, not putting the blame on anyone but stating that Zeke’s condition had caused her death and that the doctors incompetence at treating him and taking care of him in a hospital facility where he couldn’t hurt anyone, was the reason Skylar had died. But he couldn’t agree with that either. He blamed Zeke. He had killed the girl he loved…he had stayed with her and never let her escape until the day he eventually killed her, even though he had known the risks. He liked the picture of her at the bottom of the article though…a little group picture of Skylar and Zeke, his arms around her and with a smile on her face as their friends all posed in the background. It was a good photo of her and he couldn’t help but print it off, mostly for the photo and also in preparation for the day he confronted Skylar about his new found knowledge for a full explanation. He also printed off a page that he found by a further search, using the information he had found in the articles, that brought up a website dedicated to a fund Skylar’s parents had set up for men and women in abusive relationships. He recognised the name of the trust, which made him feel worse, remembering it from when Pepper had first got together with Devin. It was the trust and their helpline that had saved Pepper from her last relationship.
Ryan couldn’t help but just print off all the information so that he could re-read it all and figure out a real solution, but it wasn’t until he got back to his dorm room and read it through one more time that it all formed into shape. The way Skylar acted when she heard of Joachim’s accident, the way she continued to go to the chapel and her ‘job’, how she was supposed to meet everyone on her list and ‘help them’ with their lives…it all made sense. He couldn’t help but spend the afternoon thinking it over and putting all the pieces together.
*****
Eva was excited about helping Angelo start up his new law firm. They had recently had their offer on the building on the outside of the village accepted and were currently deciding on the best way to organise the business aspect. It was a twenty four hour job so she was relieved to know that her assistant was very ably helping to run the bookstore while she and Angelo were busy with the law firm. In the meantime, he had merged their bank accounts to help her pay for the upkeep of the bookstore and the planning of the law firm until it was up and running. Their relationship was becoming more serious with the more time they spent together and it was a pretty much accepted fact that they would get married at some point in the near future, despite the fact that neither of them had brought up the subject. But they didn’t have to. It was obvious that what they had was something special, why would they mess that up by breaking up or assuming that they could always be together without taking that next step forward? And the business was just the first of that to happen.
It was pretty easy to get it all done. Once the building was bought, they made a preliminary visit to see what structural work needed done, with a builder who was able to tell them how much it would cost and what wasn’t viable. Next was the drawings of their plan by the architect, the submitting of the plans and the financial organisation. Once all of that was sorted out and the building started taking shape, then she would be able to start buying the furniture and the necessities of the business. Until then, she would just have to be happy with getting to spend so much time with Angelo. “Alright, so let’s take a break and you can get back to your bookstore. Is that alright with you?” He asked her so suddenly that her thoughts were interrupted from the light reading she was doing, as she read through the list of things they had made to do in recent days. But she did like the idea of stopping for a while.
“How about, instead…I rustle us up something to eat and then we put all this away and enjoy some time alone together?” Eva suggested an alternative, glad to see him smile in agreement and admit that he could live with that arrangement, on one condition. She was intrigued enough to ask him to name it, without promising to agree to anything until he had explained what it was she might be agreeing to.
“You promise to love and honour and obey me…for as long as we both shall live…” He smiled down at her as she slid across the sofa to snuggle in to him, wondering what his tone meant. He wasn’t asking and he wasn’t suggesting it as an idea, he wasn’t even trying to bargain with her as if it were something they had talked about. They hadn’t and she was very curious about it.
“Do you have a ring or are you just bargaining with me?” She wondered, glad to hear his immediate reaction, that he was bargaining with her, with a seductive smile that said there was a bigger story behind his words than he was letting on. But she had a little bargaining and story telling of her own to do and she felt it was about time to bring it up. She had been thinking it over, quite seriously for at least a few days and she was hopeful for the outcome. “Good. Because I was thinking that once the firm was up and running I’d close the shop.” Angelo made an instant protest, asking if she was sure, with a look that said he wasn’t sure about the move or what it would mean for them as a, relatively new, couple. But she was absolutely sure about it, she had given it real thought and real consideration as to what it meant for her, for them, and for whatever future they had together. “Yeah. I kind of like the thought of getting the firm going and then us getting married… And maybe then we could settle down and have a family…then I wouldn’t need the hassle of running the bookshop and raising the kids. Your work is stressful enough without me working full time and leaving the kids unattended and able to get in trouble.” Eva sounded so happy talking about it that Angelo couldn’t help but tease her. She was bringing up children and marriage without either of them having talked about it previously, as he just had, but it was with such hope and joy that he couldn’t take that happiness away from her.
“There’s a lot of talk about kids here…who even said I wanted children?” He asked cheekily, making her smile and admit that he was a traditional man, with a traditional family and heritage, she knew he wanted a lot of kids to make up for the fact that he never got to be a part of a big Italian family, as was the usual custom. And he had to agree, he was that man and it did make enough sense for a smart girl like Eva to figure it out by herself. “You’re right. My parents were planning on a big family until my dad got sick, then they thought the stress of one kid was enough…Julius was the same, Paige was a monster to deal with when she was a baby, they couldn’t handle any more.” He was a little sad then, talking about how the dream of a big family of children had been ripped away from Julius and Silvia and her parents. How they had been deprived of that joy. But as much as he wanted a large family with lots of children and he now knew that Eva felt the same, he decided to make a sacrifice of his own, in preparation for the possibility that they wouldn’t live the ultimate dream. “I do want children, but I don’t want you to sacrifice your bookstore. How about you just take on a partner or two? Like I am with the firm, taking on Devin and Joachim. Take the pressure off but don’t isolate yourself entirely.” He asked of her, knowing that the bookstore meant a lot to her and she had built it up from nothing, she was allowed to want to keep it. He didn’t see why they couldn’t do both anyway, keeping the bookstore and the firm running and have children. Other people did it, then they could do it.
“I guess so…and then I could back out altogether once we did have kids and just own the place.” Eva realised that he was right. Plenty of people were able to have a family and own a business, they just didn’t run it much themselves. She was capable of doing that. Angelo agreed, asking what exactly she was hinting at with all her talk about children, wondering if it meant she was agreeing to marry him, now or in the future. She laughed when he explained that he wouldn’t allow them to have children unless they were married before asking what kind of timeline he was to expect for their marriage or children. “Well…it’ll probably take six months to a year to get the business running smoothly, then another couple of years to get a name for yourself… So, if we get me pregnant by the end of the year then I’m sure it’ll be a convenient time for children.” She suggested sweetly, bringing a knowing look to Angelo’s face as he realised just what she was saying and how it all worked beautifully in with everything else their lives entailed at that time. He agreed that he could do that quite happily, but that it meant they had better hurry up with their wedding arrangements.
“Hmm… Maybe tomorrow.” Eva decided to spend their time a little more productively, kissing him softly in a way that urged him to go with the flow of their day off together. It didn’t take him long to get the hint, responding to her bad influence.
*****
Raya’s life had been going pretty smoothly since Skylar had influenced her to go for a job at the hospital, where they both worked quite happily. Nothing was complicated anymore, her relationship with Joey was fast tracking in ways she had never expected but she wouldn’t have had it any other way. He came over to the Donna house to see her all the time, spending days and nights with her all the time, lying beside her at night, taking her on dates, even picking her up and dropping her off at her volunteer job. It couldn’t have gotten any better. Or at least, so she thought. But Skylar’s plans for her ran much further than just getting her a volunteer job that she got paid for and sending her off to nursing school when the time came. No-one knew why, not even Link, who she had turned to so many times in wonder of why the elders had been so cruel as to make sure that every charge she was sent to protect and help in their lives, needed little more than someone to love to be happy. Love was at the heart of all her missions and before she had given in to Ryan’s wishes, it had been a cruel coincidence that she was surrounded by love but not allowed to love anyone herself.
For Raya, it wasn’t any different. It had been no coincidence that she had met Joey through his brother and at Silvia’s party, no coincidence that their relationship became strong so quickly or that that night, as Joey sat in the car on Friday, waiting to pick her up from the hospital, he had a surprise for her in his lap that he was desperate to tell her about. He had to ask her first, of course, but he was sure she would say yes and he couldn’t wait to hear the word from her lips. He had to wait another ten minutes before he saw her bounding down the steps of the hospital entrance, smiling to himself as she ran over to the car to get out of the rain. “Hello gorgeous.” He smiled and kissed her in greeting, never tiring of seeing the shy and blushing look she had every time he did so. But instead of starting up the engine to take her back home, he had Julius’s permission to sit there and say what needed said, intriguing her. “I’ve been thinking about us and how great things have been lately. Paige and Danny are engaged and happy together. Paige’s staying at home until the wedding and Angelo’s coming back to visit all the time. Julius’s getting really healthy again, though he’ll never be quite as healthy as he was before he got sick but it’s a good start…” Joey rambled on mindless of what he was really saying compared to what he had intended to say. But Raya was confused, and a little scared of what he was about to ask her. There was a definite question in there but she was afraid to ask him to get to the point in case she didn’t like what he said. “And I was thinking, that maybe it was time for us to take the next step. I’ve been to the estate agents and I think there’s a few places we could afford and Julius’s already said that if you agree, he’s more than happy to let it happen. So I guess I’m asking, kind of idiotically, if you want to move in with me?” He just came right out with it, realising that he was getting far from the subject he had started talking about, regardless of how many times he had rehearsed what he was going to say. She stared at him for a minute, as if not believing him, with a smile on her face that said she was waiting for him to say that it was just a joke and then drive off. But it wasn’t a joke.
“What?” Raya smiled, taking a few minutes of silence between them to notice the absolute seriousness with which Joey stared back at her. It was then that she realised he was serious and very much asking her to really, truly move in with him. Where, she didn’t know but wherever it was, it didn’t really matter. “I mean…I’d love to but…well…we can’t afford it. I don’t get paid much, neither do you and I couldn’t ask Julius to pay out for it.” She reminded him gently of how much Julius had paid out for his hospital bills and the various treatments he had tried in an attempt to get better. The fact that Angelo had had to help out with the payments and the house bills should have told him that there was no money for them to go spoiling themselves with a house or flat.
“No, you see, I’ve already thought it through. I’ve got enough money saved up for a place, I just never had the incentive to actually make the move.” Joey laughed it off, realising that she was afraid to say yes only to find out that they couldn’t afford anything without having to mooch off either of their parents. When she complained that it would make the house or flat his and not theirs, but he could only smile and explain it to her the best he could. “Ever hear of what’s mine is yours?” He teased her softly, glad to see her smile and visibly change her mind. If she had said no, outright, he didn’t know what he would have done but he was happy to see her second guessing her immediate reaction.
“Are you sure? Like, truly sure that this is what you want? Because living with someone twenty four hours a day is so much different to just seeing me for a few hours every day.” She made sure that he was sure that he had thought everything through to all incidences. She was a different person to live with, cranky in the morning, tired around nine at night and messy as hell almost all the time. She wasn’t the same girl, really, just as she was sure he would be entirely different to live with. But he just asked her to trust him and believe that he had thought it through. “Okay then.”