Neighbours

Beautiful Rebecca Napier is the daughter of Alan Napier, faithful assistant to the wealthy Barnes family and the executor of the late Clifford and Pamela’s affairs. Estranged from her father and the rest of her family, Rebecca’s life has been defined by the awful choice she was forced to make as a teenager.

At seventeen, Rebecca was something of a tearaway but her wild days came to an abrupt end when, to her great shock, she found herself pregnant and alone. Under great pressure from her strict father, Rebecca gave her baby up to the then childless Mr and Mrs Barnes to raise as their own. Handing over her newborn son thrust her into stark adulthood overnight.

Though Rebecca told herself that baby Oliver was better off with the wealthy Barnes family, she couldn’t bear to watch him grow up. Much to Pamela and Clifford’s relief, she took her “payment” and moved away. Rarely a day went by that she didn’t think of the boy she abandoned, although she never spoke a word about him to anyone: not even the second son she had years later, Declan.

Raising Declan single-handedly was hard for Rebecca. Despite presenting a polished exterior, she frequently struggled for money. However, she has never accepted charity from anyone because the last time she accepted “help” she lost her little boy. As a result, Rebecca can seem cold, hard and stubborn but scratch the surface and you’ll find an incredibly strong woman nursing a bitter, broken heart.

Rebecca caused controversy as soon as she arrived in Ramsay Street. Although she was thrilled to be reunited with Oliver, she kept him at a distance. Things got worse when Rebecca revealed her reasons for disapproving of Oliver’s relationship with Elle: she believed Paul Robinson was Oliver’s biological father.

DNA tests showed that Rebecca was mistaken and Oliver’s dad turned out to be Richard Aaronow, the same man who fathered Declan. Rebecca was cagey about her reasons for lying, eventually confessing that Richard was a violent man whom she had worked hard to keep out of her life since Declan’s birth. Still unsure whether to trust her, Oliver felt compelled to seek out Richard and establish the truth for himself.

Sadly, Rebecca was proved right when Oliver witnessed Richard threatening Declan. The terrifying experience brought both of the boys closer to their mother and they both offered to donate a kidney when it looked as if Richard would die before he would be brought to trial for attacking her. Rebecca was unable to stop Oliver from having the operation and his brave gesture paid off when Rebecca finally received an apology from Richard shortly before he passed away.

Meanwhile, Rebecca learned to lean heavily on former lover Paul Robinson for support and they resumed their romance, eventually moving in together. Rebecca also got a job as a receptionist at Rebecchi Cammeniti and was instrumental in their successful pursuit of compensation from the Erinsborough council for the dance party roof collapse. She was also thrilled when Oliver’s daughter Chloe was born and she was made the most glamorous granny on all of Ramsay Street.

So will Rebecca finally get the happy ending she so richly deserves or is there yet more heartache around the corner?