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Of her stepchildren, Robert is the one Diane knows the least. She loves him, truly, likes him a lot (when he's behaving himself), and her heart really does ache for him when things go wrong. And somehow, for Robert, things often go wrong.
She remembers having, well, not conversations as such, but discussions about Robert with Jack over the years. They usually ended as quickly as they started - Robert was always a sore subject. Diane knew Jack loved his son, the main problem was that he had seen too much of himself in him.
She had been saddened but unsurprised when Robert didn't come to the funeral, and even sadder when Andy revealed, with one too many drinks in him, that he had attended. He just didn't make himself known.
After all these years, and the time she's been able to spend getting to know Robert better, she thinks she nearly understands why. Boys and their fathers. Men and their sons. A disaster waiting to happen.
Aaron is good for Robert. It seems odd to say, because her first impression of Aaron Dingle (Livesy, at the time) was that he was a no good thug, and that he was going to corrupt young Victoria. He's grown into a fine young man now, still a bit hot-tempered, but he's steadfast and more levelheaded than she'd originally given him credit for, that's for sure.
He and Robert seem to mellow each other, soften their sharp edges when they're together, let a little light through the dark clouds that hover endlessly over them both. Which is why she's doing what she's doing.
The boys are obviously stressed, of course they are. Diane knows Robert's been going spare looking for Rebecca (Diane's no fan of the girl but she certainly would never wish her any harm), and she can tell that Aaron is worried about him, and that Robert is ignoring Aaron's concern, which is irritating Aaron which is annoying Robert and so on and so forth until today, when the two of them arrived at the Woolie for their tea and are barely speaking to each other.
She hadn't planned this, she's no master manipulator like some people in this village she could mention, but the opportunity has presented itself, so she has to jump on it. Robert's just gone off to the loo, and Chas has asked Aaron to go down to the cellar and change the barrel - apparently the mechanism keeps locking in place, something that she can't help but notice never used to happen under Diane's management. He's only been gone a minute or two, when Diane nabs Robert on his way back from the loos.
"Robert, love, will you help me with something in the cellar?"
"In the cellar?" he asks, frowning at her as he's stopped in his tracks.
"Yes," she says, racking her brains for a reasonable excuse, "there's a few bottles down there I need."
Robert puts his hands in his pockets, and smirks, "Diane, are you asking me to help you steal from your old pub?"
"No! Robert Sugden, you take that back!" Diane feels affronted at the accusation. "They- they're, they're mine, actually, my own personal collection, that I've just remembered that I stored down there."
"Since when do you collect-"
"Oh, stop being a knob, Robert, and go help her," Vic calls over from the table, where she's bouncing young Seb on her knee. Liv looks up from her phone at that, a cheeky grin spreading over her face.
"Yeah, Rob, stop being a knob!"
Robert sighs, "Vic, please…" as he gestures at Seb on her lap. Vic raises a hand in apology and turns back to her food. Robert looks at Diane again, and gives another long-suffering sigh. "Go on, then."
"Thank you," Diane says, before turning to lead the way downstairs, praying not to run into Chas or Charity on their way, they don't need any more delays. "Was that so hard?"
Robert grumbles under his breath as he follows her and Diane rolls her eyes so hard she's afraid they might get stuck back there. She wants to tell him I'm doing you a favour, you prat, but she manages to keep quiet on the matter.
They get to the door to the cellar and Diane does an internal sigh of relief at the sight of the key sitting in the lock. She moves to the side and gestures in, "They should be in that corner over there, if you just pass them out to me."
Robert ducks under the low doorframe, then pauses for a second when he looks to the side and presumably notices Aaron, Diane can't see the back wall from this angle. "Hey, what're you doing down here?"
"Trying to… change this… fuckin'… will you grab hold of this for me, I can't reach," comes the grunting reply, and Robert abandons his task for Diane to immediately go and help. Diane rolls her eyes again, wonders if she should start counting every time she does that around Robert.
As soon as he's down the step and out of her eyeline, she quietly pulls the door closed, and turns the key. She pauses for a second, looking at the locked door - she hadn't thought this far ahead.
"Oh!" she calls out, hoping it's loud enough for the two to hear. "O-oh, no, the door's stuck!" There's silence inside and then some movement before the handle starts jiggling.
"Diane?" Robert says, slightly muffled through the wood. "What's happened?"
"I, em, I think the door must have just… closed over!" She hesitates, then decides to double down, "It was always quite sticky, this door! I'll go and get some help, you two sit tight!" She goes to head up the stairs then pauses. Bernice has told her time and time again that she's too nosy for her own good, but Diane maintains that it's all part of being a parent.
Quietly, carefully, she sits down on a crate by the door, and waits.
"Diane?" Robert calls again, and she grimaces as she listens. "Diane! She's gone!"
"She said she was getting help," Aaron says, sounding like he's gritting his teeth. "Come back and help me with this!"
There's a loud sigh that sounds so much like Jack Sugden that Diane almost wants to pinch herself, followed by some movement. It's quiet for a minute, just some heavy breathing and grunting that she frowns at before there's a loud metallic clang and she hears Aaron let out a quiet triumphant whoop.
"That valve needs replacing," he pants, and Robert scoffs in return.
"You think?!" then after a few seconds, "How long d'you think Diane will be? There's no service down here."
"That desperate to be away from me, huh?" is the response and Diane raises her eyebrows at Aaron's forthrightness. Robert must do as well, because it's quickly followed by, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, that… that was unfair."
In the long seconds that follow, Diane imagines them watching each other carefully. She has to strain to hear Robert's voice.
"Will you come sit down with me?" More movement and, when the voices pick back up, they sound closer, like the two of them have settled on the step by the door. "I… I know, I've been… distracted, lately, and I get that you're worried-"
"Worried? You make it sound like I'm freaking out over a paper cut. Robert, you had a seizure in our living room, and you still aren't slowing down. Today is the first time I've properly talked to you in days, I'm beyond worried at this point!" Diane furrows her brow in concern - she hadn't heard anything about a seizure.
"Once I find Rebecca-" Robert's cut off by Aaron groaning, "Aaron, she's missing!"
"I know! I know she's missing, I just don't see why you have to run yourself ragged trying to find her! That's what the police are for." Diane gets the feeling these two have spoken about this before. She's beginning to wonder how helpful this whole thing is going to be, and whether she should just unlock the door and move on, when Aaron says something that makes her freeze. "You don't owe her anything. After what she did to you-"
"I'm not having this argument again," Robert snaps, and the pair go quiet again. Diane's thoughts whir in her brain. What did Rebecca do to Robert?
Eventually, Aaron speaks up again, "I understand that you want to find her, for Seb."
"Do you?" Robert asks, sounding tired. It takes a moment for him to speak up again and, when he does, he catches both Aaron and Diane off guard. "Did I ever tell you about my mum?"
"Sarah, yeah, of course…"
"No, Pat." If Diane's interest wasn't already peaked, it is now. "She died when I was… God, maybe 5 months old? 6? And I don't remember her, obviously, but I also don't… think about her. I mean, I do, subconsciously, sure, but I don't spend time on her. Really at all. I never knew her, and Dad would only tell so many stories, and he stopped telling them completely when Sarah came around."
Diane leans her head on the door frame. She had never really asked Jack about his first wife. She'd heard about the tragedy obviously, had been moved by the story of Jack raising Robert alone for the first few years of his life, but now she's realizing, she never got much detail about the woman her husband had loved.
"The only thing I know for sure about her is that she loved me. She was 40 having me, I was supposed to be some kind of miracle baby, not… wandering through the Dales, destroying everything I touch."
"Hey…" Aaron says, softly, and Diane can picture him placing a hand on Robert's arm or shoulder, a fond gesture she's witnessed many a time over the years.
"I have been thinking about her, for the last while, since Bex has been gone. Dad wasn't great at telling me about Pat, but he loved her, and I could feel that, and it helped a bit. I think it helped," Robert sniffs, and when he speaks again his voice is thick. "But it still… God, Aaron, it sucks. It just fucking sucks, and I don't want that for Seb. I don't want him to grow up wondering what she would've thought of him. Wondering if she would've been… would've been proud, or, or horrified. If things would've been different with her around."
She hears Aaron breathe in but Robert, now clearly crying, barrels on before he can speak.
"At least I know my mum and dad were in love. I barely even like Rebecca. How is that fair to Seb? If the only memories he has of his mum are from a guy who just shagged her because she was there?"
"That's not what happened."
"Aaron…"
"It's not! But, okay, I hear you, I'll leave it. For now." And there it is again, Aaron insinuating that there is something about Rebecca that Diane and the rest of the village don't know. Diane shakes her head as wipes her eyes. She's still not sure what Rebecca's done to her Robert, but, not to speak ill of the dead, she always knew those Whites were rotten to the core. "I love you so much, Robert. And Pat, she would've loved you too, I know it."
"You don't know that," Robert says through his sniffles.
"I do. Far as I know, Pat Sugden was a woman with sense, with a good head on her shoulders. And she had the good fortune to love you, even if it was just for a little while. Only a fool would throw that away."
Robert huffs. "You calling Jack Sugden a fool?"
"Jack Sugden was a pillock," Diane blinks at that, even as it's followed by croaky laughter. "And a twat. And if he walked into this pub today I'd clock him one, right in the nose, see how he likes it. That's what you get for being foolish, old man."
Diane brings her hand to her chest. The world and its mother knew Jack and Robert had never gotten on but Diane hadn't known that they'd ever come to blows.
This latest batch of quiet remains for longer than the others, and Diane stands carefully, lifting the key, wondering what she's going to say about the door suddenly becoming unstuck, when Aaron speaks up again. "We'll find Rebecca. For Seb, we'll find her. I can't promise I won't want to clock her too when we do…"
"Okay," Robert lets out a laugh at that, sounding like his tears have dried up somewhat, "thank you, I get it."
Aaron's tone is serious when he responds, "I don't like it when people hurt you, Robert. I especially don't like it when they get away with it."
Diane wouldn't have thought Robert and Aaron's relationship to be all that romantic before hearing this conversation. Sure, she knew there was love and heat and passion, you don't marry the same person twice if you don't have that. But this is softer than she'd imagined from them, comfortable and vulnerable, and she dabs at her eyes to make sure there's no mascara running to give her away.
"I love you too, you know," Robert says, and that sentiment is clear in his voice.
"Yeah, I know."
There's some movement then, not a lot, just some soft brushing of fabric, and a sort of humming sound, and then something that sounds kind of wet, and a gasp and - oh, they're kissing, Diane realises with a start. Their breathing starts getting a little heavier, and one of them makes a sound halfway between a grunt and a whimper, and she decides it's time to put a stop to this. This is the outcome she'd hoped for, but she's not all that interested in listening in on this part of the making up process.
She tiptoes a few steps up on the stairs, then loudly comes back down, making as much of a clatter as she can.
"Alright down here, you two? I've found the key, so let's get you out of there." She hesitates a moment, before she opens the door, hopefully giving them enough time to right themselves. To their credit, they only look a tiny bit disheveled when they emerge, although Robert's eyes and cheeks are a little redder than they were going in. "Sorry for the delay there, boys, everything okay?"
"Yeah, thanks Diane, we're alright," Aaron says, glancing over at Robert. They both look a little lighter now, like they've let a weight off their shoulders.
Robert rubs his face as surreptitiously as he can, trying to sound casual when he says, "So, we best grab those bottles of yours before the door closes again, Diane."
Diane opens her mouth to speak, but nothing comes out at first. Finally, after a few seconds of the two of them staring at her like she's grown another head, she manages to say, "You know, I-I-I actually remembered, those bottles aren't here at all, would you believe? I did take them, I did, and they are in the, the, the storage room. At the B&B," she nods along with herself as she talks. "Yes, exactly, my collection of wine bottles, that were down here, are now in the storage room at the B&B."
Robert and Aaron blink at her. "O-okay?" Robert says, sounding unconvinced.
"Right then, crisis averted!" Diane says, and pushes past them to the stairs, "Let's head back up, your drinks will be warm!"
The two follow her without complaint, and although she gets a number of sidelong, possibly slightly concerned, looks from them throughout the rest of the evening, she thinks her whole intervention has been quite the success.
Robert and Aaron are laughing and smiling (at each other and at the other punters in the pub), and she's pretty sure Aaron's left hand, where it's hidden under the table, is resting on Robert's knee.
Diane keeps an eye on them as she nods along to whatever it is Vic is talking about, and waves at Seb while he giggles. It's a lovely day, all things considered, but she feels an ache in her chest as she watches Robert.
Pat Sugden had been excited about Robert, Diane knew that much. And she's had her own children, knows the feeling of looking at that brand new life and falling so deeply in love that you can never climb out of it. For the first time, she feels sorry for Pat, that that love had been cut short for her.
She thinks about Sarah Sugden as well, the woman Robert speaks of when he uses the word 'mum', who had loved Robert, and Andy, as though they were her own, and who had also been forced to leave them too soon.
Suddenly, as Robert and Aaron stand to leave, gathering up all the accoutrements that come with going anywhere with a baby, Diane feels as though she's been wasting time.
"Robert," she says, standing from her chair, "you're leaving?"
"Yeah," he says, with a light smile, "need to get Seb to bed."
"Well," Diane opens her arms to pull him in for a hug, and Robert leans into it, even as he frowns a little at the gesture. "I'm proud of you." It slips out without her really meaning it to, and he pulls back to look at her, wide-eyed. "I know I don't say it enough, but I am. I think… you and I don't really know each other, not properly, and I know you're a grown up with your own family and kids and whatnot, but… I suppose, I'm just saying, if you ever need a mum, or Seb needs a gran, or Liv needs a… well, what would I be, an aunt?"
"We-we've never really-" Robert stammers, blinking at her.
"Anyway, what I'm saying is, I'm here. And I'd love to be that for you, for all of you, if you'll give me the chance." She squeezes his arm, hoping he'll take her words to heart. Robert just looks at her for a few seconds, before swallowing and nodding shakily.
"Thanks, Diane," he says, and she doesn't comment on the thickness of his voice.
"And we can start with family lunch on Sunday," she exclaims, clapping her hands in front of her with a smile.
"Oh, em," Robert looks around, like he's looking for an excuse and Diane narrows her eyes.
"You owe me, Robert Sugden."
"For what?" he asks, perplexed.
Diane smirks at his confused face, "You and Aaron seem much more cozy after your little chat downstairs. It's almost a good thing that the door got stuck."
She can see the realization dawn on him, a surprised smile across his face, and he almost looks impressed he pulls her in for another hug.
"You really are a Sugden. Thank you," he says. He gathers up the rest of Seb's things and makes his way over to where Aaron is waiting, sleeping baby in his arms. He stops and turns back to her, still smiling. "Oh, and, Diane?"
"Yes, love?"
"See you Sunday!"