Nobody’s Darling
Page 28
‘You had no right looking in the window.’
‘And you had no right being there like that.’
‘You’re not my keeper, Johnny Ackroyd, and don’t ever forget that.’ At first Ruby had been alarmed and a little ashamed. Now, though, her anger was rising. ‘I don’t want to talk about it.’
‘I don’t suppose you’ve told anyone what you did?’
‘No, I haven’t.’ She tossed her head defiantly. ‘I suppose you can’t wait to tell?’ Even as the unkind words fell from her lips she regretted them. Johnny wasn’t like that, and she knew it. All the same, she was disturbed by the fact that he knew about her little deception.
‘Aw, Ruby… RUBY!’ He looked away, so frustrated he could have shaken her. ‘Don’t you think if I was going to tell, I would have done it by now? After all, I’ve had plenty of time, haven’t I?’ he reminded her fiercely.
‘I know,’ she admitted. ‘I’m sorry.’
He looked at her then, a warm forgiving smile breaking over his handsome features. ‘Won’t you tell me why you did it, Ruby?’
‘It was a prank.’
‘A very dangerous prank.’
‘I don’t want to talk about it.’
He didn’t answer. Instead he studied her a moment longer while she stared down, twiddling a piece of grass between her fingers. He knew her when she was in this mood. There was no use pursuing the matter. One thing he had to ask though. ‘Does Luke Arnold mean anything to you?’
He was taken aback by the vehemence of her reply.
‘I loathe him!’ She wound the blade of grass round her fingers and broke it. ‘You were wrong if you thought I was enjoying dancing with him. It was for Cicely. She’s the one who’s taken in by him.’ Suddenly afraid that she had said too much already, Ruby warned, ‘That’s all I’m going to say. It was a prank, and that’s an end to it.’
‘He’s a bad lot.’
‘You don’t have to tell me that. I know it already.’ She was losing control and it showed in her voice. ‘Now… can we leave it alone?’
‘If that’s what you want.’
‘It is.’
There was an awkwardness between them now, and she deeply regretted that. He was right to warn her against Luke, and she should be grateful. Yet all she felt was irritation that he had seen her that night.
‘I shouldn’t have said anything.’ He still felt the urge to shake her though.
She looked up and smiled at him. The subject was closed, and the day mustn’t be spoiled because of it. Heartened, she turned her eyes to the sky, watching the small white clouds bumping into each other. A pleasant breeze was beginning to rustle the air. ‘It is lovely here, isn’t it?’ she murmured. The air between them was clear now, and she was glad.
‘Yes. It is lovely,’ he agreed softly, glancing sideways at her. ‘But only because you’re here with me.’ He sensed that if she could turn the clock back, she would change the events of that night and was grateful for that at least.
She looked at him then, and when he bent towards her and kissed her lightly on the mouth, made no resistance. In fact, it gave her a delicious thrill. Even with the heat of the sun on her face, she was trembling. In her heart she was afraid, desperately afraid that her own emotions might overwhelm her.
When he went to kiss her again, she deliberately turned away and looked over to where the other two were going at a snail’s pace along the footpath. ‘It’s so good to see Maureen out and about,’ she said. She wanted him to kiss her. Wanted him to hold her in his arms. But it wouldn’t be fair. Not to him and not to her. ‘What are you afraid of?’ he asked.
‘I’m afraid of nothing.’
‘You’re afraid of me… afraid of letting me love you,’ he insisted. ‘Why?’
‘I’m not ready for love.’
‘Don’t lie to me, Ruby.’
‘And don’t you tell me how I feel,’ she retorted. ‘Love can’t happen between you and me. Somewhere there’s a girl waiting just for you. It isn’t me, that’s all I’m saying.’ In a frantic attempt to remove herself from his dark quizzical gaze, she clambered to her knees and pointed to Maureen and Dolly, ‘Look,’ she cried, ‘Dolly got her there safely. We were worrying over nothing.’ He didn’t reply. There was a moment of unbearable silence as he continued to gaze at her while she kept her eyes on the two girls.
When he spoke it was with great tenderness. ‘Happen you don’t love me, Ruby. Happen you do. I don’t know. You blow hot and cold so I never can tell. But this much I do know, there’ll never be any other woman for me.’ Each word touched her heart and turned it over. ‘If I have to wait forever, I’ll wait for you.’
The sincerity of his quiet voice was more than she could bear. ‘Don’t, Johnny,’ she pleaded softly, ‘I’m not the one for you. You’re a good man, and you’ll make a fine husband. Don’t waste yourself on me. I’m not worth it.’
His smile was sad, but his voice was resolute. ‘I meant what I said. There’ll never be anyone else but you, Ruby.’
For some inexplicable reason, she wanted to cry. The tears clogged in her throat and hovered in her dark blue eyes. She tried to choke them back, but they brimmed over to tremble on the long sweeping lashes. There was so much she wanted to say, but it wouldn’t be said. Instead she murmured lamely, ‘It’s time we were making for home.’ He didn’t argue. He had opened his heart to her. It was enough.
All the way to the main gates, Dolly and Maureen chatted and laughed. Johnny pushed the bath-chair while Ruby walked alongside. In spite of their emotional exchange, there was a strange contentment between them. Each knew the other’s thoughts. There was no need for words. Not now. Ruby wanted Johnny, yet she didn’t. She loved him, yet she didn’t. All she knew for certain was that if she never saw him again, it would be a great sadness to her. But she must never tell him that. She had things to do with her life, and though she might regret it, Johnny was not part of it.
As they came out of the great gates, his attention was caught by the carriage which had just pulled up. He recognised it as belonging to the Arnold family. Sure enough, the door was flung open and out stepped a familiar figure, a tall thin fellow with a pale narrow face and pencil-slim moustache. ‘Well, well!’ He was visibly surprised, but not pleased.
Ruby had seen the look on Johnny’s face and was curious. ‘Do you know him?’ she asked, looking towards the carriage and thinking she too had seen the young man somewhere.
Nodding, Johnny told her in a low voice, ‘That’s Tony Hargreaves, the son of a wealthy mine-owner. According to Thomas, he and his family live in a great mansion in Cornwall.’ He glanced down at her. ‘You know he and Teresa married?’ He had celebrated the occasion for two reasons. First, he was downright ashamed because he’d made love to her that night when he had seen Ruby, and second, he was grateful that she would be moving so far away. Like Ruby he too had a secret. Which meant he had no right to judge her.
The young man stood by the carriage door, holding out his hand to the emerging lady. Ruby gasped when she saw that it was Teresa Arnold, looking splendid in a pale blue outfit, her hair piled up in coils and partly covered with a small veiled hat. Ruby’s attention was caught by the hat, because Cicely had one very similar. It was her favourite and Ruby had mended it many times.
‘I always wondered why they got wed in such a great hurry,’ she told Johnny. Almost as though in answer, a second young lady appeared, carrying an infant in her arms. By the uniform she was wearing, it was obvious to Ruby that the woman was the child’s nanny. This was confirmed when the driver of the carriage produced a perambulator from the rear and, after placing the child into it, the young woman proceeded to push the vehicle along the path, keeping a pace or two behind her employers.
‘They got wed quickly because they love each other,’ Maureen remarked innocently. Dolly looked on with interest.
‘I expect so,’ Ruby replied. At the same time she recalled how some of the women down Fisher Street had talked about t
he ‘grand wedding’. It was common gossip from one end of the street to the other that Teresa Arnold had been with child when her father rushed her into marriage with that eligible young man. Still, she thought wryly, it wasn’t the first time there’d been a slip up before wedding bells rang out, and no doubt it wouldn’t be the last. ‘How long are they staying at her father’s house?’ Ruby wanted to know.
‘I didn’t even know they were coming,’ Johnny admitted, ‘Although, come to think of it, Thomas did say something about how it was the lad’s first birthday, and Oliver Arnold wanted to see him.’ He looked at the infant, a happy, handsome boy with dark hair and big brown eyes. ‘He’s a bonny lad, and no mistake.’ At the back of his mind he wondered whether there was a chance that he and Ruby would ever raise a family.
Suddenly, Teresa turned and saw them. For a long moment, while pretending to listen to her husband’s chatter, she stared at Johnny in a certain way. A knowing and intimate way, which stirred Ruby’s curiosity. She did not acknowledge them, nor did she stop. At the point where the path swerved away, she smiled. It was a smile that spoke of secrets. Dangerous, thrilling secrets.
Chapter Nine
‘By! That’s cold out there. October’s a funny old month,’ Ted Miller remarked thoughtfully as he went through the parlour and into the scullery. ‘It’s either the tail end of summer, or it’s the dead end of winter.’ He chuckled as he took off his coat and hung it on the nail behind the scullery door. ‘I know which one it is tonight, and that’s a fact, lass. Freeze a man’s bones inside his skin, it would.’ He groaned loudly, rubbing his hands together to get the blood flowing again. Then he swilled his hands and face in cold water at the sink, gasping when it took his breath away. ‘It’s grand to be home and no mistake,’ he called out, vigorously rubbing at his face with the towel.
A few minutes later, blowing and shuddering, he came into the parlour where Lizzie and the childer were waiting for him to get the meal started. He took a moment to spread his large work-worn hands in front of the fire. The cheery flames gave out a delicious warmth. He thawed his front, then he thawed his back. Then he stretched himself and gave a long sigh. ‘I pity the man without a fire to come home to,’ he said, winking at Ruby who was watching his every move. ‘And a family to be proud of,’ he added grandly. How he could have produced such a striking beauty as that lovely young woman, he would never know. It had always been a mystery to him. Bursting with pride, he glanced around the table before his joyous glance came back to Ruby. She smiled at him and his heart was lifted through the roof.
‘Come on then. We’re all waiting for us tea.’ Lizzie raised her face for a kiss. When it was given, she told him, ‘Sit yourself down, man. There’s a good rabbit stew on the table.’
The thick rich aroma had filled the little house, and when he gingerly lifted the lid of the earthenware dish, the sight of the chunky pink meat soaked in globules of fat and smothered in all manner of vegetables sent a wave of ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ round the table. The childers’ stomachs sent up a chorus of groans, and Dolly took a sneaky bite out of her dollop of bread.
‘That’ll warm yer old bones,’ Lizzie said, waggling her head at Ted and looking pleased with herself.
‘Here!’ he protested, his homely face creasing into a smile at Lizzie’s remark. ‘Not so much of the “old” if you don’t mind.’ Pulling out the carver, he sat himself down in it and uttered a short thanksgiving. Afterwards he ordered everyone to, ‘Tuck into that rabbit, before it grows legs and runs off.’ The twins laughed out loud, and Lizzie had to scold them. She gave her husband a reproving look and he quickly bent his head to his meal.
It was a while before anyone spoke, and then it was Lizzie who said, ‘I expect you’ve noticed our Lenny’s been fighting again?’
Ted raised his face to stare at his eldest son whose right eye was swollen and bruised. ‘Aye. I noticed,’ he acknowledged. Feigning annoyance, he directly addressed the boy, asking, ‘What have you got to say for yoursel’ then?’
Lenny remained sullen, mopping up the remains of his gravy with a folded piece of bread. He kept his gaze down until his father demanded in a firmer voice, ‘Look at me when I talk to you, lad!’ Putting his own knife and fork to the edge of his plate, he waited for the boy to sit up straight, and when their eyes met across the table, insisted, ‘Well? What have you got to say for yourself?’
Lenny knew how to play his father against his mother. It was a skill he had worked at long and hard. He put it to the test now. ‘Mam’s got it wrong, Dad.’ His voice was appealing, and he looked as though he was about to cry. ‘I told her what happened but she won’t believe it weren’t my fault. She’s allus ready to believe it’s me that starts the fighting, and it ain’t, I tell you. IT AIN’T.’
‘Oh?’ Ted glanced at Lizzie and she shook her head. He looked away. ‘Why don’t you try telling me what happened then, son?’ he ordered, his voice noticeably softer. Positioning his elbows on the table and resting his chin in his hands, he leaned forward so as to concentrate on the boy’s story. It was the same that had been told to Lizzie, about how he was: ‘Minding my own business… just walking home, when that scab Arnie Dixon set on me.’
‘Arnie Dixon?’ Ted sounded shocked. ‘I had a run in with his dad when I weren’t much older than you are now. He were a right bad ’un too.’ He flicked his gaze to the bruise on his son’s eye, asking in an incredulous voice, ‘Are you telling me that Arnie Dixon gave you that?’ He stared at Lenny’s black eye with disgust. ‘By! I should’a thought you could take that lad with no trouble at all.’ He was visibly disappointed. ‘From what I’ve seen of him, a good wind would blow him over.’
Lenny was delighted at the way he had managed his dad. He could see that Lizzie was annoyed, and knew he had won the day yet again. ‘Oh, he weren’t on his own, Dad,’ he declared, suitably wide-eyed and surprised. ‘There were four of ’em. They all set on me at once. Come at me from all sides, they did. If Arnie Dixon had been on his own, he never would have dared to set himself up against me because he knows I can floor him any time. That’s why he had to have them others. He’s a coward, Dad.’
‘Aye. His old fella were a coward an’ all,’ Ted remonstrated. He looked at his son, and he looked at Lizzie, and he was caught between the two of them. He grunted, then cleared his throat and instructed Lizzie in a fierce voice, ‘They’re a bad lot, them Dixon fellas. Allus wanting to argue and fight. I didn’t tell you but there was a rumpus in the King’s Head the other night and it was Arnie Dixon’s old man that started it… used a knife too, so I’m told.’
When Lizzie angrily pursed her lips and continued to glare at him, he turned to Lenny. ‘You did well, son,’ he chuckled. ‘Took on four of them, eh?’ He looked at everyone in turn, his face betraying a certain misguided pride. He didn’t get much response though, because they had heard it all earlier before their dad came in.
The twins were still tucking in, Frank drinking the gravy from the dish like it was a cup until Lizzie gave him one of her looks and he sheepishly put it back on the table. Ralph, as usual, was revelling in Lenny’s every word, and wondering how he could imitate him. Dolly was more interested in making pretty patterns in the spilled gravy on the tablecloth. Ruby was listening though, and she despised the way in which Lenny could wind her dad round his little finger.
‘And did you send ’em away with their tails between their legs?’ he was asking now.
‘I gave them a good thrashing before they got me on the ground.’ Lenny glanced at Lizzie, and she could see the sly triumph in his face. ‘Me mam don’t believe I didn’t start it. Will you tell her, Dad?’ he asked with an air of innocence. ‘Tell her I wouldn’t do that.’
Lizzie retaliated. ‘I don’t want yer to tell me nothing,’ she said stiffly. ‘I already know what Mrs Dixon told me when she came banging on the door this morning.’
‘And what was her account of the story?’ Ted was already on Lenny’s side and Lizzie knew it.
‘So you believe her story above his?’ Ted pointed a finger at Lenny who was biting his lip so he wouldn’t laugh at the memory of Arnie Dixon cowering in that doorway. The snivelling little rat! Taking the money from him was the easiest thing Lenny had ever done. In fact, he knew now what he wanted to do with his life. He wanted to be a big-shot who pushed all the little fellas about.
Lizzie was adamant. ‘Yes, I believe her.’
Lenny was mortified. ‘Mam! You’re calling me a liar then?’
Ted was shocked. ‘Surely not, lass?’
Scraping her chair back from the table, Lizzie stood up straight, her face set hard as she told the three younger childer: ‘Into the scullery with you, and get your wash.’ Without further ado, they scurried from the table, and in a minute could be heard laughing and squabbling in the scullery.
With only Ruby and the two men remaining, Lizzie looked her son in the eye and told him, ‘I’m ashamed to say it but, yes, you are a liar. Everything you’ve told your dad and me is a fabrication, and well you know it!’
‘You’re wrong, Mam. It’s Mrs Dixon that’s telling lies, not me.’
‘The more you open your mouth, the bigger liar you are.’ No one had seen Lizzie so enraged before.
‘Now then, lass!’ Ted was astounded. ‘Aren’t you being a bit too hard on the lad?’
‘No.’ She turned on him. ‘It’s you that’s being too soft. He knows how to use you, Ted Miller, and you can’t see the forest for the trees. You’ve a liar and a coward for a son, and I think it’s time you knew it. He wants taking in hand afore it’s too late.’