Rachel couldn't resist probing Jacqui about Nathan, given that she'd seen the two of them together the other night. Jacqui denied that Nathan had even been back to the flat.
"I should have known that you wouldn't look twice at someone like him", said Rachel. "I mean, Lord Snooty! You'd *have* to be desperate, wouldn't you?"
Jacqui's face - it was an absolute picture! LOL.
Jacqui later tried to quiz Susannah on the same subject. Again she denied that there was anything going on, but Susannah saw through it. Suse told Jacqui that she thought Nathan to be young and handsome and that Jacqui ought to go for it. It looks like Jacqui will - she seems well smitten.
Rachel's now finished in Bar Brookie for a couple of weeks and is going to Bristol for the wedding. Sinbad gave her a picture frame to take as his wedding present to Mandy and Brian.
Harry is still trying the patience of Susannah and Katrina. They're both getting very stressed and it seems likely that something will snap before too long. In the meantime, Susannah failed to return home in time to breastfeed Emma and Katrina improvised by giving her a bottle instead. Giving her a bottle? I'd had hit her with one. Oh no, sorry - I thought we were talking about Susannah, but we're not!
Susannah was furious about the bottle incident and they rowed again, for the umpteenth time. In fact, Susannah went totally ballistic when Katrina accidentally hinted that Susannah favoured Emma over Harry.
Odd story of the day was Greg's blocked drain which he traced to next door and promptly started digging up Mick's garden. Mick doesn't know yet and Sinbad put the wind up Greg by suggesting that Mick will find an alternative use for the hole when he returns!
And so to the Mussies. Joey still wants to turn Luke in but Niamh won't hear of it. A taxi pulls up outside and we're introduced to Rose and Don (Rose is *Joey's* sister, I think now, rather than Niamh's) who raised Luke for his first twelve years.
Ryan phoned - I'm not quite sure why, but it seems that he's still in Carlisle and it caused Niamh to ask him for a contact number in case there's any news on Luke. Rather odd that, I thought, since she knows full-well that he has a mobile. It was quite important to the story only last week! Surely that mobile's not got itself bricked up, too? Bizarre.
More visitors. This time it's the bizzies who have surrounded the house back and front. Niamh eventually lets them in but only once Joey has stashed Luke in the water tank in the loft (which he seems to have had the foresight to have almost emptied in readiness!). The bizzies conduct a search of the house, including the loft and just as they're about to lift the lid to the water tank there's word that Luke's been sighted at the ferry terminal and they all scarper. A reprieve!
As the cops leave, Alec arrives. He finds Luke coming down the stairs dripping wet and flips.
"Luke! What the bloody hell's he doing here?"
Alec insists that if Luke isn't gone by tomorrow, then he'll phone the police himself.
Niamh feels threatened by Rose's presence and tells her that she should go back to Ireland. They row and Niamh feels it necessary to repeatedly point out that Luke is her son and not Rose's. She resents Rose for having raised Luke and that she (Rose) couldn't possibly understand what it's like to have a baby, let alone have that baby taken away from her. Rose says that she does understand. In fact she's had an abortion. As she says this, Don walks into the room and hears. It's obviously news to him and he asks whether the baby was his. Rose says that it was and that she was only 15 at the time. Joey then admits that it was he who forced Rose to have the abortion, which due to complications left Rose unable to have children. Niamh accuses Joey of insisting that Rose took Luke in, just to ease his guilt.
So another happy week in the Musgrove household, and more to come on Friday no doubt. It looks like trouble ahead for Niamh and Joey's marriage, but with everything else which has happened to them recently, it's hardly surprising if it all starts to take a toll on their relationship. I just wonder whether the whole Luke/Rose/Don business is really necessary. Why do the recent characters all have to arrive with so much complex baggage?
Summary © 1999 Graeme Selway
Brookside and all related materials are © Mersey Television 1982-2001