by Pam Weaver
Despite everything going on around her she tried to trawl her memories of that time, to analyse what had happened. Was it only she who had attracted him? Had she done something to encourage him as he’d implied, or did he like children? Any children? Had he done it to anyone else? Just the thought of it made her feel sick.
‘Has Yardley ever had a girlfriend, do you know?’ Ruby asked Babs as they stood side by side in the kitchen, cutting tiny crust-free jam sandwiches.
‘Not that I know of, but what an odd question. Any reason for it?’
‘No, just wondered. I suppose I’m surprised he’s still here and living over the garage at his age. Wouldn’t you think he’d have been married by now?’
‘Oh, I think he’s too much of a loner for that. He has a bit of social life in the village. He goes to the working men’s club and to church, and on his day off he does some gardening for the vicar. I don’t know what else he does but he’s been with us for so long now and he’s helped George so much.’
‘Uncle George helped him: he gave him a job and somewhere to live.’
‘That’s why it works. They’re good for each other.’ Babs smiled at her. ‘This is nice, just standing here talking. I really miss having you around to talk to. I know it’s hard for you but I really wish you’d visit more often, maybe even stay for a few days?’ She paused and when Ruby didn’t answer she pretended not to notice. ‘Anyway, shall we take the sandwiches and lemonade out to the children in the garden?’
As Babs picked up one tray, so Ruby picked up the other. ‘Let’s go.’
As they got ready to leave Ruby wanted to snatch Maggie up and take her away from the vicinity of Derek Yardley. She knew that the right thing to do would be to tell George and Babs, but it was so long ago and she still had her old childhood fear of not being believed, of being thought of as the outsider causing trouble. And Yardley had been part of the Wheatons’ lives for far longer than she had, and George especially depended on him. She couldn’t do it.
They all walked out together to the car, and as she opened the passenger door for Leonora to get in she caught sight of Yardley standing beside the Wheatons’ gleaming black Vauxhall, pretending he was tending to it. But she knew he was watching her, the same way he had always watched her.
‘I’m just going to have a word with Yardley,’ she said. ‘I won’t be long.’
‘Can I come with you?’ Maggie asked.
‘You stay and talk to Aunty Leonora. I’ll be one minute.’
As she walked over to him she smiled as if she were going to greet a friend.
‘Once you warned me, now I’m warning you. If you lay one finger on Maggie then you’ll live to regret it. I’ll make your life a real misery.’
Yardley’s smile was equally insincere as he faced her. ‘Now that’s a bit uppity of you, isn’t it? I mean, what’s it to you? You’re not part of that family,’ he nodded his head in the direction of the Wheatons, who were all standing in the driveway, ‘not like I am, and what I do is none of your business, Miss Dirty Evacuee. None of your business.’
He rubbed his hands together as if he was rubbing dirt off but Ruby was determined not to be riled. She didn’t want anyone to see the confrontation, so she shrugged. ‘But you made it my business when you did what you did. Remember my brother Ray who came to visit? Well, there are another two just like him at home. Three nasty violent thugs. So remember that if you ever touch Maggie like you touched me I’ll know and I’ll send them all down to deal with you.’
She turned and left him standing where he was, but she could feel his eyes boring into her back.
With the smile still glued to her face she hugged everyone, climbed into the car beside Leonora and drove off down the drive.
‘Did you enjoy the visit?’ she asked Leonora as they drove through the village towards the main road.
‘It was nice to see Maggie but I wasn’t happy that you tried to take advantage of George being a doctor. If I wanted to see a doctor I would, and I don’t.’
‘But he’s your brother, he’s bound to be worried about you. You should have taken advantage of him being a doctor on hand!’
‘Don’t be ridiculous.’
With that Leonora put her head back and closed her eyes. Within a few minutes she was asleep leaving Ruby with plenty of time to think about the day that had ended so badly for her.
When they eventually got back to the hotel she helped Leonora upstairs to her flat and then went back down to find Gracie.
‘How’s Maggie?’ Gracie asked.
‘She’s lovely. She’s so pretty, and clever beyond her years. There were four others there and she was way ahead of them. It must be because Aunty Babs spends so much time with her. She’s five, can you believe it? Five years old.’
‘Yeah, I can,’ Gracie said sadly.
Ruby’s jaw dropped. ‘Oh God, I’m so stupid; your own baby. I’m so sorry, Gracie. I was so wrapped up in myself …’
‘Oh, it’s OK. I don’t often think about him. I think he’s probably fine. But I have to think that, don’t I? Sometimes I think you’re really lucky knowing all about Maggie, but then at others times I think I’m the lucky one ’cos I can forget most of the time.’ She smiled and touched Ruby’s arm. ‘Did she like her presents? I bet she did. And how’s Lady Leonora? Did she buck up a bit once she was with her family?’
‘You know, one day you’re going to slip up and say that in front of her, and then you’ll be in such trouble!’
‘But I don’t mean it, do I? Anyway, how is she?’
‘Tired, but I think she enjoyed it. Have you got to get back or do you want to stay here tonight? There’s an empty room on the first floor, but don’t tell anyone.’
‘Oh, yes, please. I was dreading dragging me poor aching body all the way back home tonight. These ladies are far more demanding than what I’m used to. Gracie this, Gracie that, it never stops.’ But she grinned as she said it, and Ruby knew she had actually enjoyed being in charge of the hotel.
‘Go and take the key. It’s time for all of us to get some kip. And thank you for today. I couldn’t have gone without you!’
‘Get away …’ Gracie laughed. She reached over the desk, snatched up a room key from the board and ran up the stairs.
Ruby made sure everything was as it should be before handing over to Henry, the night porter. It had been a long and emotional day.
As Ruby had put the car in gear and driven out of the drive, Derek Yardley had carried on pretending he was engrossed in buffing the paintwork on the already gleaming car, but he was actually watching everything through his eyelashes. He had noticed how Ruby was included in the family gathering while he was left firmly on the outside. He’d seen how she’d been part and parcel of the birthday celebrations, both inside the house and out in the garden, while he had been handed some sandwiches and cake on a plate to take away and eat on his own.
He resented the fact that he’d been a loyal employee to the doctor and his wife for over fifteen years and yet he remained no more than that. He wanted so much to be a part of their lives, to be included the way Ruby Blakeley was, to be their surrogate son, but instead he was just an invisible employee.
As he watched the car disappear out of sight all he could think was how he could get back at Ruby and make her life as miserable as she had made his. He had been delighted when Ruby was ordered back to London, but it hadn’t been the end he had expected. She was still back and forth, and even though she wasn’t in Melton any more she was still treated as family. Even when the Wheatons had adopted the baby the talk was still of their precious Ruby. The final straw for Derek Yardley was when they gave her the role of godmother, while he remained just the employee who drove the car.
It had all been brewing in him for so long when, to add insult to injury, he’d had to stand still and smile as she insulted and threatened him. He couldn’t believe that Ruby Blakeley, the little nobody evacuee from the backstreets of London, the kid who was absolutely no
better than he, had actually had the nerve to speak to him so disrespectfully about something that had happened so many years ago.
Something that he knew could still ruin him in the eyes of the Wheatons.
Yardley’s biggest talent had always been his ability to hide his feelings completely, so on the face of it he remained the pleasant and accommodating driver who was always there. Every day he carried on smiling and behaving as he had always done, but every day his resentment and his paranoia increased.
He was angry that Ruby continued to be treated as one of the family, while he was living in a poky flat over a garage with an outside toilet and a tin bath. He was angry that after Ruby had left the Wheatons’ home they had then taken in another child, this time an orphan baby, and adopted her.
Because of the time he’d worked for them – dedicated his life to them almost – Derek Yardley had anticipated an inheritance of sorts when the childless couple eventually passed on, but now he could see that slipping away. For that he placed the blame on Ruby, and for that he was determined to do her down.
His thoughts immediately went to Johnnie Riordan.
Seventeen
Up in the flat at the top of the Thamesview Hotel Ruby went out onto the balcony and picked up the binoculars that Leonora always kept to hand. Despite it being dark outside she held them up to her eyes but she couldn’t focus properly because the lenses were blurred and damp from her tears. She rubbed her eyes quickly with the back of her hand and sniffed. She really couldn’t take it all in.
It had been one of the worst days of her life.
That morning, just three days after the visit to Melton for Maggie’s birthday, Ruby had gone back up to the flat for an early tea break and been surprised to see that Leonora wasn’t up and around. Even though she’d been feeling unwell and unable to manage the stairs, the pernickety woman had always made sure she was washed and properly dressed before settling in the chair in the sitting room or out on the balcony. Ruby had quickly checked the kitchen and bathroom and the balcony before going to her bedroom and knocking on the door.
‘Aunt Leonora? Are you OK? Shall I bring you a cup of tea in bed?’
She had waited for several seconds before knocking again and rattling the door handle. ‘Aunt Leonora?’
When there was still no response she opened the door and peered in.
As soon as she had seen Leonora Wheaton lying flat on her back in her bed with her eiderdown on the floor, one arm hanging over the edge of the bed and her eyes open and lifeless, she knew the woman was dead, but still she had frantically tried to wake her. She gently shook her body and then cautiously touched her icy-cold face.
‘Wake up. Please wake up, please. You can’t leave me, you can’t …’
As the panic had built up inside Ruby felt herself losing control, so she ran out of the flat and called over the banister, ‘Help! Someone, help! Aunt Leonora’s unconscious. She won’t wake up!’
Although she had known without any question that she was dead, Ruby simply couldn’t bring herself to say the words out loud.
It was only later that day, after death had been confirmed and certified, Leonora’s body removed and the formalities dealt with, that reality had forcefully hit Ruby.
Aunt Leonora, her mentor, companion and unlikely friend, whom she had lived with for over five years, was gone.
Deep in thought, and with the binoculars grasped firmly in her hand, she walked around the flat, picking things up and putting them down, looking at the things that she’d always seen but never really taken notice of before. Leonora had always kept the flat uncluttered for convenience, but there was still the family photograph in which George was a young boy on his feet before the polio struck; the model of a sailing ship with cotton sails and tiny brass portholes; the shelf of travel books, a selection of postcards and a framed photo of Maggie.
As she looked at everything with different eyes Ruby realised exactly how much she had grown to love the outwardly cantankerous old woman and how much she was going to miss her.
Ruby had listened and watched, and she alone knew that behind the carefully constructed façade of church-going severity was a woman with unfulfilled dreams of a glamorous life far away on another continent, with a dashing gentleman on her arm. She’d seen the faraway expression on Leonora’s face when she watched the liners through the heavy binoculars, which were always to hand. Ruby knew that when she was out on the small balcony of the ordinary seaside hotel she was no longer a prim and proper spinster but a beautiful young woman gazing out from the salt-stained balcony of a liner, headed off into the great unknown.
Ruby walked back out there again, sat on Leonora’s chair and looked out to sea. Leonora’s sea. She was still sitting there deep in grief when the door flew open.
‘Ruby! Jesus Christ, I only just got your message and I came straight here. I can’t believe it. I knew she was poorly, but dead? That’s so awful,’ Gracie cried as she ran full speed across the flat towards her friend. Ruby stood up and they hugged each other and cried.
‘I know, I can’t believe it either. I don’t know what to do, I feel so useless, but the hotel still has to be run. We’ve got only three guests but still there are things to do. Gracie, I don’t want to go downstairs …’
‘Don’t worry about that. I’ll go down and check in a minute, and then I’ll stay with you tonight. Have you spoken to George yet?’
‘Yes, they’re coming down here tomorrow. There’s the funeral to arrange and also her business affairs. Uncle George has to deal with the solicitor and everything. I think she was very organised in all that, you know how she was …’
‘I suppose she was worth a few quid – quite a lot of quid, probably. Will the hotel and everything go to them?’
‘Yes, they’re the only family she has apart from a couple of obscure cousins up north somewhere.’ Ruby paused and looked down. ‘Gracie, I know it’s selfish even to say it right now, but what am I going to do if they want to sell the hotel? Where will I go? I can’t go back to Walthamstow, and I can’t go back to Melton with Maggie there. It’d be too much for me to have see her every single day.’
‘Blimey, Rube, I hadn’t even thought of that!’ She looked at Ruby in horror. ‘No, George wouldn’t do that to you. He knows this is your home and your job. Maybe he’ll let you stay here and run the hotel for him.’
‘You keep forgetting I’m not family. They owe me nothing. I owe them for everything they’ve done for me.’ Ruby said as she stared at her friend.
‘I don’t think they see it like that,’ Gracie said quickly. ‘Well, I hope they don’t. I mean, look what you’ve done for them. They’ve got Maggie – that’s got to be worth much more than a bleeding hotel in Southend.’
‘What’s this about the hotel and Maggie?’
Ruby and Gracie jumped up in unison and turned round. Neither of them had heard Tony Alfredo enter the flat and walk across to the balcony where they had been sitting with their backs to him. Both of them immediately worried he might have heard the words and put two and two together.
‘This is a private conversation, haven’t you never heard of knocking? That’s just so bloody rude.’
Ruby looked from one to the other, terrified that Tony might have some idea what Gracie meant. But instead of responding to Gracie he looked her up and down dismissively before going over to Ruby and kissing her on the cheek. He was still wearing his pinstripe suit, and with his highly polished shoes, gleaming white shirt and perfectly groomed hair he looked every inch the solicitor. Even amid the sadness Ruby couldn’t help but think how handsome he was.
‘I’m sorry to hear about your aunt. Dad told me. It was so sudden and I know you were fond of her. What happened?’
‘It was a massive heart attack, they said. It was instant – she wouldn’t have known anything about it – but I still feel guilty that I wasn’t there,’ Ruby answered quickly, to stop Gracie giving a smart answer.
‘I must admit I was surprised
you didn’t bother to tell me yourself,’ Tony said, with a hint of undertone. ‘I’d have come straight back from work. It seemed odd I had to hear it from my father. I felt quite sidelined.’
Ruby shrugged slightly. ‘Well, it only happened this morning and it’s been hectic ever since. I’m sorry you’re upset, though. I didn’t think.’
‘Is her legal situation all in order?’ he asked, putting his arm around Ruby’s waist.
‘I’ve no idea. Uncle George is coming tomorrow to deal with everything.’
‘I hope he’s got your best interests at heart. This has got to be a profitable business and it’s an expensive property.’ He paused. ‘So what’s Maggie got to do with it?’
He smiled as he looked from Ruby to Gracie and then back again, watching both their faces as he did so. Ruby knew then that he’d registered Gracie’s comment and was analysing it.
‘What’s Maggie got to do with what?’ Ruby asked.
As always, Gracie was quick off the mark. ‘We were just talking about how much she’s going to miss her Aunty Leonora who lived by the sea in a hotel. Every little girl’s dream, that – free holidays!’
Tony didn’t respond to Gracie; he didn’t even look at her. It was as if she wasn’t even in the room.
‘Well, if you need help with the legal side I can help you, Ruby. You need to have your own representation.’
‘Why would I need that?’ Ruby frowned, genuinely bewildered.
‘You may have a claim on the estate. You’re entitled to something for all the hours you put in here. You’ve done all the work for so long.’
‘Oh, give the old legal flimflam a rest,’ Gracie snapped. ‘Can’t you see she’s upset at losing Leonora? All that other stuff doesn’t matter a bloody fig.’
‘Shut up.’ Tony retorted dismissively. ‘It’s nothing to do with you.’