Ricky Sharpe
Erica Sharpe (2013-2016)
Bonnie Sveen
Episodes: 5712–6442
Sibling: Adam Sharpe
Marital Status: Nate Cooper (2016, separated)
Children: Casey Braxton
Occupation: Photographer; Waitress; Restaurant & Gym Co-Owner
The sister of Adam Sharpe, Ricky turned up at Heath and Bianca’s engagement party, where she ended up sloping off to sleep with Brax after assuring him she didn’t blame him for Adam’s death and was grateful that Casey had helped out her nephew Jamie. When Bianca wondered why she was the only one of the Braxtons’ girlfriends not accepted by Cheryl, Ricky told her that Heath was Cheryl’s favourite. Brax tracked her down doing a photography assignment near the beach and she slept with him again only to disappear straight afterwards. She reappeared for another liaison where he tried to pretend he wasn’t worried about Casey and Kyle fighting over Tamara. However, she kept disappearing after getting phone calls she claimed were from work and was evasive when Brax pressed her for details.
Senior Sergeant Emerson then told Brax the police were looking for Ricky. Brax quizzed her and after initially disappearing again she told him that she was having to deal with all the businesses Adam had left behind. Brax offered to help her. However, after going away with Brax, Ricky observed Kyle typing in the password for the Angelo’s account on his laptop then used it to transfer $100,000 to Connie Callahan, grandmother of Heath’s daughter Darcy. When Kyle wondered about Brax’s lack of interest in the restaurant and then noticed the missing money, Ricky told him Brax was having money troubles. Kyle asked her to get him some work so that he could help Brax out. When Brax told her she was the best thing that had happened to him in a long time, she ran off, saying she couldn’t be the sort of girlfriend he wanted. She then went to Adam, who was still alive and using her to get revenge on the Braxtons and who persuaded her to continue with their plan.
Ricky paid Kyle $25,000 to collect a package containing a gun. She photographed the exchange and, after making up with Brax, planted the gun in Casey and Tamara’s flat. She spoke to Brax about what happened to Adam and learned that he believed Adam was already dead when he left him, instead of leaving him behind to die as Adam believed. However, Adam ignored her pleas to abandon his plan and threatened to have Brax killed if she told him anything. She seemed on the verge of telling him anyway when she noticed a car watching them. She offered Kyle another job and tried to get Brax to go away with her but he refused to leave his brothers, even though he and Heath were now on bad terms with Heath having found out about the money transfer. She sent Kyle to get a package containing a large amount of money, then Brax unknowingly spoke to Adam when he answered her phone. Adam ordered Ricky to break up with him but Brax refused to accept it.
When Tamara found out Kyle was adding money to the Angelo’s account and he told her about Brax’s supposed money worries, Ricky talked her out of speaking to Brax about it. Adam decided to accelerate plans, using the gun and money to frame Casey for armed robbery. Ricky continued to discourage Tamara from voicing her suspicions but was horrified when Brax told her Casey could get twenty years, refusing to have anything more to do with Adam. Kyle confronted her and she admitted she’d been ordered to frame Casey by someone threatening Brax but claimed not to know who it was and urged him Brax would be in danger if he found out. Kyle and Heath forced her to repeat the story to Brax after she helped him check out the scene of the supposed robbery, in reality a pub owned by Adam. She told Adam she’d tell Brax everything and told him to leave town, only for Adam to take her prisoner.
Ricky was imprisoned with Tamara at an abandoned house. She flirted with their guard, Joey Beresford, in order to overpower him and escape but ran straight into Adam who took them both to a warehouse. With Tamara in a bad way physically and mentally after being starved and imprisoned for days, Ricky encouraged Adam to release Tamara and keep her. Adam lured Brax to the warehouse where he found Ricky tied up but as he tried to free her Adam shot him. Ricky managed to get free and get the gun off Adam, forcing him to hand her the phone and let her call an ambulance. At the hospital, she gave a full account to the police of what had happened and how she had framed Casey and Kyle. Casey turned her away when she came to Brax, angry that Tamara’s ordeal had left her unable to remember him, but Heath felt she was the only person that could get through to Brax. She told Brax she loved him and he woke up. She later returned and told Brax she was leaving. He told her he loved her and she stayed the night at the hospital but next morning went to Natalie and asked her to be there for Brax. She ignored Brax’s attempt to call her as she left town.
She returned but wasn’t sure she and Brax could put things behind them, resulting in him giving her an ultimatum to either get back with him or leave for good. Heath and Bianca interrupted them and convinced the pair to go away together. She also got in touch with Connie to explain where the money really came from. Brax asked her to move in with him but she was reluctant, feeling it would tear his family apart. Just as they were settling in to the new arrangement, Brax was told he would have to testify against her. She ended up arguing with Kyle when Tamara was also called to testify, after which Tamara admitted she remembered Ricky protecting her. Brax refused to testify and Casey and Tamara were both sympathetic, resulting in her getting a two year suspended sentence.
She was sent by Brax to check on Bianca when she began to have doubts about getting married to Heath and managed to talk her round. Bianca asked Ricky to be her bridesmaid and also to teach her to surf. She learned Heath had cheated on Bianca during her doubts. and stopped him telling her at her hen party. but was shocked when he decided not to tell her at all. Ricky was tempted to tell Bianca herself but in the end Heath came clean anyway. Ricky convinced Bianca she wasn’t entirely innocent after seeing her nearly kiss Zac and tipped her off about Heath’s attempt to leave town. When Cheryl attempted to stop their attempt to get married again, Ricky told her not to attend the ceremony if she couldn’t support them, earning herself a ticking off from Brax until Casey convinced Cheryl to attend.
When Casey suffered spinal damage after being run off the road, Ricky was unable to keep Brax calm and called Heath back from his honeymoon. She sent Brax away when he failed to get through to Casey and tried to convince Casey to use his wheelchair. Her bullying tactics had even less effect than Brax’s persuasion so she ended up asking Tamara to convince him. Kyle brought Evelyn MacGuire to her when he found her running away from Zac and Hannah’s attempts to remove her from the Sanctuary Lodge cult. Ricky did a deal with the girl whereby she and Zac would take her camping in the bush and she would get to choose where she lived when she came back. It was only partially successful, since although they had an effect on Evelyn she decided to return to the cult to keep an eye on her father Ethan.
When Brax invited Josh Barrett to stay with them, Ricky suspected there was something he wasn’t telling her. Brax then called her to the pier and told her the Barretts’ father had tried to demand the money from the last robbery Danny did and struck Casey. Brax ended up pushing him and causing him to hit his head, killing him, and Adam had helped cover it up. Ricky begged him to keep quiet but, guilty about the effect on the family, he confessed first to the rest of the family and then to the police and was arrested. Ricky tried to get him to retract his confession but he insisted on sticking to his guns.
With Brax serving ten to fifteen years, Ricky threw herself into fulfilling the last request he made by standing by Josh when he was shot, and insisting on visiting him even when he was hostile towards her. She found out about Heath’s secret studying to be a fitness trainer and, when Bianca was reluctant to take on Mangrove River students, pointed out that she was rejecting students like Heath. When Josh turned up at her place after disappearing from hospital and didn’t want to go back, she insisted on keeping him there against medical advice and got Nate and Hannah to look after him there. In the end, she convinced him to call Maddy who got him to go back. When she learned Kyle had warned Nate off her, she got into an argument with him which saw him walk out of the restaurant. She assumed he was upset about seeing Casey with Tamara and told the pair to tone it down, which resulted in Kyle and Casey fighting. Afterwards, she offered to help Kyle more at the restaurant and convinced him to apologise.
When Brax was allowed visitors, Heath insisted Ricky have the first visit which she found painful. She helped Heath and Nate look after Andy when he was stabbed. After a visit to Brax, she fainted at home and Kyle called Nate against her wishes. Nate realised she suspected she was pregnant and got her to do a test which turned out positive. She was frustrated when Kyle overheard and told him and Nate not to tell anyone. Heath realised something was going on and convinced her to tell him and soon after Bianca and Casey also found out after witnessing her being sick. Bianca told her to do what was right for herself and she told the family she would make her decision without any input from them. When Maddy told her about her drink being spiked by Andy, she went with her to the police but got blasted by Roo for keeping it from her. She went to prison intending to tell Brax of her pregnancy, but he broke up with her before she could do so. She went to Nate and hid out at the hospital overnight before trying to move out of the house, only for Heath, Casey and Kyle to convince her they were still her family. Soon after, she started bleeding and was taken to hospital. After undergoing tests, she was given the all-clear, but before she could be discharged she was caught in the explosion of a bomb Jade Montgomery had planted in Bianca’s bag.
Ricky only suffered minor injuries and began spending time with Nate, talking him out of taking a transfer, but felt awkward, feeling the Braxtons were spying on them. Then she collapsed with stomach pains and was taken to hospital, where Nate told her she’d miscarried. Nate took her home and she overheard him and Kyle arguing, during which Nate suggested Ricky was only at the house because she was waiting for Brax. Ricky slipped out of the house during the night but Nate tracked her down and pointed out she cared about the Braxtons even without Brax. She attended Ethan’s funeral with Nate and afterwards kissed him, then asked him to leave. Heath told her not to wait for Brax and she admitted to Nate that she had feelings for him but didn’t want to act on them. When Nate started avoiding her, reminding her she’d chosen a man in jail over him, she tried to see Brax but Casey admitted he had been transferred and no-one knew where he was. She was angry the Braxtons had lied to her and felt she didn’t belong with them anymore, moving out to a motel.
She eventually accepted the Braxtons cared about her but invited Nate back to her motel room and slept with him. She felt awkward when Casey saw them together but spoke to him about it. Heath confided in her about Jess’ pregnancy. She then received a phone call from Adam, who Casey was trying to get to support Brax’s version of events, where he asked her to visit him with Casey; she refused but then turned up in the middle of Casey’s visit and joined him in trying to convince Adam. Heath told her Brax had been released, just as Nate got her a photography assignment in London, and she told Brax she’d moved on. She initially refused to help Josh look for Johnny’s body but ultimately contacted Adam and told him to talk to the police. When she learned Nate had tried to warn Brax off her, she told both Brax and Nate she was going to London and might not come back. When Nate told her Jess had terminal cancer, she quickly shared the information with Bianca. This resulted in Bianca insisting on accompanying her to London. Brax, Heath and Casey followed them there and Ricky agreed to talk to Brax. He told her he’d made a mistake and kissed her but she walked away. The next day, while she was doing a photo shoot with Eliza Doolittle, Brax turned up but Ricky refused to speak to him. Bianca and Heath later informed her that Brax had been run over by a car and she visited him in hospital but couldn’t forgive him.
She returned to Summer Bay to find the town focused on Leah being in hospital after eating poisoned risotto. She broke up with Nate and went to see Brax when he returned only for him to collapse in front of her. She rushed him to hospital and learned he had a pulmonary embolism after flying home against medical advice. Brax then confided in her that Johnny Barrett had been Casey’s biological father. After babysitting Harley, she told Brax the truth about her miscarriage. When both Andy and Josh found out about Casey and Johnny, Ricky advised Brax to tell Casey before anyone else did. She talked Josh out of saying anything but ended up in an argument with Brax when Casey found out. Nate defended her and told her he loved her but she slept with Brax. The next morning, she felt guilty but after talking with Nate and Hannah she got back together with Brax and moved back in with the Braxtons.
She helped smooth things over between Casey and Cheryl and helped Brax and Casey uncover the fact that Phoebe’s father Mark was trying to bribe Kyle to dump her. She was in the house with Brax when someone fired a shot through the window and suspected Andy. When Harley went to stay with Bianca during the duration, Ricky walked away when Bianca asked for help, feeling she could cope. She supported Brax after Kyle was attacked and assured him she didn’t regret choosing him. Brax told her that Mark Nicholson, Phoebe’s dad, was behind the attacks. She was shocked when she saw Nate with a woman who turned out to be his estranged wife, Sophie Taylor; Nate assured her they’d been separated for years but she felt betrayed he hadn’t mentioned her. She advised Casey about his feelings for Denny and, when Brax had difficulty communicating with his brothers, Ricky suggested he organise a family barbeque. She supported Heath’s decision to go for custody of Darcy and gave special attention to Nate and Sophie when they had a date at Angelo’s. She asked Brax what he saw in their future and explained their baby would have been due that day. She told him she wanted a baby with him one day, but he replied that it was never going to happen. When she questioned him, he admitted he was worried about ending up like his father.
Ricky went away for a while and when she returned Brax told her he’d had enough of looking out for other people. She spoke to Heath, who admitted he wasn’t sure if he could have stuck to not having children. She tried to support Heath when he was wrongfully suspected of abusing Darcy and stopped Brax losing his temper with Casey when he refused to stay with the rest of the family. Brax saw it as evidence he wouldn’t be a good father but when Ricky said she couldn’t do without children he suggested he might be ready one day. She stood up for Heath when Connie tried to keep Darcy with her when Heath left town. After Heath’s departure, Brax suggested they start trying for a baby and the two of them moved into Heath and Bianca’s flat.
She played a minor role in Brax and Casey’s attempts to protect Josh from the dealers who were after Andy. Shortly after a pregnancy test came back negative, she learned Brax had told Kyle they were trying, and he had told Phoebe, and got annoyed, ending up arguing with Brax until they smoothed it over. When Brax turned up with an old cot he wanted to renovate, she suggested they stop talking about trying for a baby and just let it happen; Brax agreed but insisted on telling the rest of the family and continuing with the cot. She tried to arrange a double date with Nate and Sophie but Brax refused to attend; the other three went to Angelo’s anyway and she convinced Brax to join them but he walked away on learning Nate knew about their baby plans. She encouraged Brax to act like more of a big brother figure to Josh.
When she found out Andy was dealing again, she asked Casey to keep Brax out of any problems. She found out she was pregnant the day Casey was killed by Jake Pirovic and was unable to talk to Brax, who was obsessed with his grief and a desire for revenge, instead confiding in Phoebe. After the funeral, she also told Kyle after Phoebe had dropped hints and gave Denny an album full of photos of her and Casey. She unsuccessfully tried to convince Brax not to go after Jake. He returned to see her but refused to give her answers and slipped away again after spending the night with her. She rushed to the hospital after Jake was brought in and was unable to stop Brax getting himself arrested by attacking Jake. When he was released, she told him about her pregnancy, halting his revenge desire. Brax was arrested when Jake was murdered anyway but Ricky convinced Emerson to let him go by telling him about her pregnancy.
She suggested that Brax give Casey’s old room to Andy and they went for an ultrasound together. She also tried to get him to give Andy more responsibility at the gym. Denny gave her the engagement ring that Casey had intended to give her, and which Brax had passed on, but, after giving her a surfing lesson, Ricky convinced her to take it back, saying they considered her part of the family. She was worried when a stranger, Ash, turned up looking for Brax and told Andy to keep an eye on him. However, he turned out to be a friend of Brax’s from prison. Despite this, Ricky was uncomfortable with him staying, since he and Brax were keeping secrets, and suspected they were up to something criminal. She wanted Ash gone, blaming him for Brax’s mood swings and aggression, but Phoebe convinced her Ash was good for Brax so she asked him to stay. She reassured Josh when he was worried he wouldn’t make a good father. Brax admitted to her he’d been getting into fights in prison and Ash had stopped him getting into one he wouldn’t walk away from.
She advised Nate to stay away from Sophie to help her get over a drug relapse, promising to look after her. However, she then alerted Nate when Sophie lost her temper with Leah but told him to stop going near her. She was annoyed when Brax failed to turn up for an ultrasound appointment because he was helping Ash. When Brax considered going with Ash to track down his sister Billie, she told him he had to choose between them. However, she ended up being forced to accept Brax going. One of her doctor’s appointments was interrupted by the discovery Sophie had gone missing and she compared notes with Nate on worrying about their partners. When Brax and Ash returned, she was shocked to discover $40,000 in Brax’s bag and Ash admitted Brax had gone after Dean on his own and come back with the money. Ricky asked Brax how far he would go and told him that trying to be a hero had got Casey killed. They went for an ultrasound together and learned they were expecting a boy. Ricky organised a trip to the city to support Phoebe in the launch event for her single. She saw Brax and Josh following them shortly before the coach she was in crashed. Ricky suffered only minor injuries and was sent to hospital, where she supported Kyle and Phoebe after Kyle was badly hurt. She joined Brax and Ash in backing up Phoebe when she confronted Neive Devlin, who had posted a video of her apparently having sex on the internet as a publicity stunt.
When Brax was arrested and accused of killing Dean, Ricky blamed Ash and slapped him but quickly made her peace with him. Kat tried to convince her to stop Brax skipping bail to look for the real culprit, Sam Kennedy, but instead she went to the police station to keep Kat busy while Brax and Ash slipped out of town. When Brax’s solicitor Craig Stanley suggested pleading guilty to a lesser charge or offering Ash as an alternative suspect, Ricky told Brax he should consider one of them. Brax decided to accept a deal that would see him serve eight years for manslaughter and signed the bar and gym over to her and Kyle. When Brax changed his mind and decided to plead not guilty, Ricky threw a last party for him on the beach. She blamed Ash when Brax was sentenced for twenty years after the police found the money Ash had hidden at the restaurant. She tried to avoid him and went away with Denny for a bit.
When Denny confided in her that she’d kissed Ash, Ricky blasted her, then also blasted Ash on learning Brax had told him to stay away from Denny. She visited Brax in prison for the first time and told him what was going on but he felt Ash would do the right thing. Nate reminded her things would change without Brax around so she told Ash she wouldn’t give him a hard time any more. She helped smooth things over between him and Denny by explaining surfing reminded Denny of Casey, but also told Ash he needed to tell Brax. When things were tense between Kyle and Phoebe after his disastrous proposal, Ricky let Phoebe stay in her flat for a while. She soon got tired of her turning the place upside down though and convinced her and Kyle to make up.
She went to visit Brax at the same time as Ash but found the prison in lockdown. Ash assured her it was probably nothing but when she learned Brax couldn’t have visitors, Ash admitted he was in solitary. She began having stomach pains while she was alone but Denny and Nate came to her help. Ash then found out that Brax was in jail with Gunno, a man Ash had once reported for smuggling drugs into jail. Ricky tried and failed to get Brax a transfer when Gunno started blackmailing Ash. She worried Kyle would become addicted to the thrill of doing jobs for Gunno and agreed with Ash that they should stop, only for Kyle to go anyway. When Ash brought him back, Kyle accused them of dooming Brax, especially with the news that he was out of solitary. Nate faked a medical emergency so she could get in to see Brax and warn him. Afterwards, she reminded Kyle of his promise to look after her and the baby.
She met Billie for the first time when Ash brought her back to the Bay and convinced her to believe Ash’s version of what happened with Dean, before arranging for her to stay at the house. When she found out Kyle and Billie had slept together, she managed to smooth things over between the two of them and Ash, before admitting to Ash she wasn’t sure if she was ready to be a mother. Denny admitted Phoebe was arranging a surpise baby shower for her; Ricky acted surprised and had a good time, but a gift of a baby gown from Roo left her upset that she couldn’t show it to Brax. Next morning, as she was about to go and visit Brax, she went into labour. She had trouble contacting the family and ended up having to rely on John to get her to hospital, but eventually had support from first Denny and then Kyle as she gave birth to her son. She showed off the baby to Kyle, Ash and Denny and was also visited by Hannah and Phoebe, but refused to name him until Brax had seen him. She spoke to Brax on the phone, then took the baby to see him and convinced him to name him Casey.
She became dispirited that both Kyle and Ash were better with Casey than her. Nate suggested she be less tense and Billie tried to teach her to meditate, before taking her surfing to get her relaxed. When she was followed by Bob Harmsworth, one of Gunno’s men, Kyle admitted Brax had reported Gunno as part of a plan to break out of jail. When Ricky couldn’t call off the plan, she decided she and Casey should go on the run with him. Kat then arrived with the news that Brax’s vehicle had been run off the road and Ricky quickly accepted he was dead when they found no trace of him. She was furious to hear Kyle and Ash planning a hit on Gunno and told them that if the crime didn’t stop she’d take Casey and leave. She broke down in tears on receiving a box of Brax’s things. She agreed to a memorial, which ultimately consisted of her surfing out to sea and placing a chunk of plaster on which Brax had inscribed “Blood and Sand” in the ocean. However, she still struggled with Casey and ended up letting Kyle look after him for the night.
When she heard Billie had accused Nate of trying to sexually assault her, she left Casey with Kyle and Phoebe and went to support him, before vehemently defended him to customers in Angelo’s. She spent very little time with Casey, who she kept leaving with Kyle or Ash, and asked Marilyn to look after him for the night then ran away. She summoned Ash to a cabin and admitted that she was relieved Brax was dead. Having dealt with her guilt, she began organising Casey’s naming ceremony and asked Kyle to be godfather. He told her he was leaving town but she insisted she still wanted him, then tipped off Phoebe so she could say goodbye. When she learned Phoebe was pregnant and didn’t know who the father was, she lectured Ash about facing his responsibilities and also convinced Phoebe to tell Kyle… only to learn Kyle was in hospital in Melbourne on life support. She brought him home and tried to play peacemaker between him and Phoebe, also asking Nate in to look at his injuries. She later found Kyle collapsed and rushed him to hospital. She encouraged Phoebe to see him when she returned from a trip away and began leaning heavily on Nate. She passionately defended him to the enquiry panel when he got into trouble for not reporting that he had treated Kyle and admitted to Denny that she felt she had made a mistake choosing Brax over him. She was tested as a potential kidney donor for Kyle but in the end it was Ash who was a match.
When she learned that Nate and Kat had split up, she kissed him and they spent the night together. However, when she saw him hugging Kat she ended the embryonic relationship, telling him they couldn’t go back. She worked with Kat on planning a farewell for Denny but during the farewell meal Kat revealed she knew about Ricky and Nate and threw a drink over her. Roo encouraged Ricky to go for it with Nate but she found he was back with Kat. After Phoebe had had a miscarriage, Ricky learned from a furious Roo that Kyle had made unwanted advances on Maddy while she did a trial shift at Angelo’s. Ricky tore a strip off Kyle and told Maddy she could press charges but Maddy declined, instead asking to go on working there. Ricky joined Nate and Kat for a meal with Kat’s old school friend Pete Ashfield, who suggested she not let anything come between the couple. She went to the beach to watch Kat and Nate take part in a photo shoot but ended up replacing Kat when she was called away. She told Kyle to stay out of it when he queried her lengthy phone conversations with Nate, but when she learned Kyle was considering leaving she asked him to stay.
After Nate cancelled a dinner with her, Kyle kissed her but she pulled away. She met up with Nate and told him she loved him; he reciprocated and she also smoothed things over with Kyle. However, she and Nate had to put things on hold when Kat’s brother died. She confided in Phoebe and was puzzled to be quizzed by Ash. After Nate and Kat broke up, he and Ricky decided to take it slow, although they were still quickly caught kissing by Kyle. They went to John and Marilyn’s vow renewal together as a couple, where they were on the receiving end of a rant from a drunken Kat, but it was enough to make them commit to the relationship.
She was surprised when Nate insisted on keeping Casey around when she tried to leave him with a babysitter. She asked him about his father, Gavin, who he hadn’t seen in ten years, then looked for him online. She confided in Phoebe about getting a response but didn’t tell Nate, only for Gavin to turn up. She admitted what she’d done to Nate and encouraged him to get to know Gavin. After a successful lunch together, she invited Gavin to join her and Casey on the beach but was uncomfortable when he kept making comments about her appearance, then got drunk at Angelo’s and manhandled her. She told Nate, who ordered Gavin out of town, but convinced Nate to visit Gavin when he was injured in a car accident and Gavin to visit Nate when he was discharged.
She walked in on Phoebe asking Ash if Brax was alive but Ash insisted he wasn’t. She found an engagement ring in Nate’s pocket and told Phoebe she intended to say yes when he proposed. She got dressed up in anticipation but there were several delays, including Ricky interrupting when she had a pregnancy scare. She and Nate decided to try for a baby in the near future and she let him slip than she knew of his plans. Although they put it on the back burner, he proposed to her at Zac and Leah’s reception and she accepted. However, then Phoebe and Ash came round to reveal Brax was alive. She responded by throwing them out of the house.
Two days later, she told Nate what was going on, prompting him to end the engagement. She agreed to join Kyle in looking for Brax, but only because she wanted answers from him. She reluctantly left Casey with Josh while she joined Kyle in following up a lead, but returned home to find him ill. Nate diagnosed him with viral meningitis and Ricky resolved to stand by Nate and give up the search for Brax. They became engaged again, only for Brax to reappear and ask her to go on the run with him. Ricky refused, telling him that she’d been relieved when her life with him ended and that her relationship with Nate was important to her. However, she did agree to him seeing Casey and went back to the hospital for him. She initially kept it secret from Nate until Brax came out of his hiding place in front of him, but assured Nate that she’d chosen him.
However, when she tried to hide a car Brax had bought Casey from Nate, he was left questioning her commitment, prompting her to suggest they should get married that week. Nate turned down the offer but did convince her to move into John and Marilyn’s vacant house with him while they looked for their own place. She got dressed up for a date with Nate, only for him to be called away to work and left too tired to do anything. He explained he was working to save for a deposit. She was surprised when Kyle suggested they sell the gym to help fund her house buy but agreed. She then learned Kyle had needed the money to pay off his gambling debts from Melbourne but was impressed that he had gone to the police about Dave Morgan’s threats and agreed to go ahead with the sale anyway. When she learned Kyle had gone missing, she alerted the police, contributing to his being found safe. She tried to talk Kyle out of getting involved with Isla Schultz, who had been working for Dave. She photographed Hannah prior to her double mastectomy and visited her on her return from hospital, before taking some photos of her post-op.
She was frustrated when Nate started planning a bigger wedding than she wanted but after much argument, they agreed on a simple but formal wedding in Summer Bay and she suggested having it in a month’s time. She tried to talk Kyle out of taking the fall for Isla after she committed an armed robbery. When she learned his trial was in two weeks, she brought the wedding forward again so he could give her away. She bought a second hand wedding dress and asked Roo to alter it, then argued with Nate about changing her name and writing their own vows before receiving a text from Brax telling her to be happy. She and Nate attended the surprise stag and hen do that Phoebe and Chris had organised for them, but afterwards Ricky admitted to Phoebe that she was having second thoughts. However, she ended up texting Brax back wishing him the same. On the way to the wedding, the car broke down and she had to rush to the service with Kyle and Casey but eventually she and Nate were married. Afterwards, Ricky and Phoebe went to the court to support Kyle. They were aghast when Kyle effectively framed himself for the robbery to stop Isla turning herself in and Ricky was the one to tell Isla what had happened.
She and Nate honeymooned at the Palmer house but quickly had to move out when John returned home. She was thrown when Nate revealed Casey had called him Dada, then angry when she found out he’d been discussing their troubles with Irene. No sooner had they got over that then Nate discovered her text from Brax. She backed out of attending a hospital fundraiser with him but later went anyway. However, she ducked into a caravan to answer a phone call just before the event was rocked by an explosion ande was trapped under rubble and rushed to hospital, where she needed urgent surgery. When she came round, Nate told her she had had to have a hysterectomy. She reassured him when he failed to save Hannah. She spoke to Maria Carmichael about the changes to her future but was unwilling to confide in Nate and on being discharged from hospital, she made a desperate attempt to seduce him. She tried to arrange for them to view a house together but he claimed he had a meeting at work; however, when she went there she found him laughing and joking with his colleagues. She told Phoebe she worried she’d made a mistake marrying him. They attended an awkward house viewing together, after which Nate assured her that he was fine with no more children and they slept together. She texted Phoebe to tell her not to tell Nate what she’d said but Nate saw the message and they argued again. Ricky decided to go and stay with Bianca and Heath for a while.
On her return, she organised a picnic for herself, Nate and Casey, as well as a marriage guidance session, but when Nate didn’t turn up she was left feeling he didn’t care. He assured her he couldn’t get away from work and they rearranged the session but things remained cold between them. She hid a birthday card that Brax had sent Casey, causing another argument, and when she accompanied Nate to a works drink she left early, unable to join in the shop talk. The next morning, Nate told her that she’d always love Brax more than him and revealed that he’d summoned Brax back to the Bay. Brax told her he was now a free man and wanted to move closer to Heath, Kyle and Bianca for a fresh start. After saying goodbye to Ash, Phoebe and Nate, Ricky and Casey left with him.