Nobody’s Darling

by Nobody’s Darling (retail) (epub)

  Lizzie didn’t answer. There was nothing for her to say. Everything Ted had pointed out was true, and she could find no rational argument with it. At least, not one that she could say outright. Instead, she concentrated on slicing the jam pie. Afterwards she watched the clock, and waited with growing impatience for Ruby to come home.

  * * *

  Ruby saw the last customer safely away. ‘You’ve made the right choice,’ she told the aged dowager. ‘You have excellent taste.’ It had taken over an hour to satisfy this difficult person, but at last she was pleased with her purchase; a lovely cream, broad-brimmed hat with an abundance of precious blue feathers and a small discreet veil that gave her ageing face a soft pretty look. The tricky part had been persuading Lady Lloyd Briggs towards a hat that not only flattered her but gave her an air of importance befitting her social position. Even harder was the task of drawing her away from the desperately unsuitable, frilly fancy thing that would have better suited a woman half her age. Although it was twice the price of the one the customer had settled for, Ruby’s conscience would not have allowed her to complete a sale on it.

  The large white-haired lady nodded and smiled as Ruby helped her to the waiting carriage where the driver was patiently waiting. ‘You really are a clever little thing,’ she told Ruby in a warm admiring voice. ‘You might allow me to think I chose the hat, when we all know it was you who chose it for me.’ When she saw how Ruby’s dark blue eyes grew round with astonishment, she laughed out loud. ‘I’m grateful to you,’ she admitted, much to Ruby’s relief. ‘What an absolute fool I would have looked, wearing that young frilly thing that took my fancy.’ She shook her head. ‘I don’t know what came over me,’ she confessed. ‘I have a certain position to maintain, and my days of youthful fancy are long gone.’ She sighed. ‘But thank you, my dear. The hat I’m taking away is a beautiful thing, and to be honest it makes me look ten years younger… keeps the wrinkles in the shadows,’ she laughed. As she looked beyond Ruby, she saw Widow Reece standing in the doorway. ‘You have a real gem in this young lady,’ she told her. ‘From now on, I want her to attend to me, if you don’t mind?’

  ‘But of course.’

  ‘Good.’ Another warm smile bestowed on Ruby, and then she was seated in the carriage, one hand crossed over the other on her lap and her chin held high. Ruby thought she looked every inch the grand old lady she was. In a moment the carriage was going down the street and soon it was lost to sight.

  Inside the shop, Ruby turned the sign round to read ‘Closed’, and then followed her employer into the back room to collect her coat and bag. ‘I like her,’ she said simply. ‘And she’s not half as difficult as she used to be.’

  ‘That’s because she’s taken a liking to you, and she respects your judgement,’ the other woman said. ‘She’s right, you know, Ruby. You really are very clever.’

  ‘No.’ She shook her head as she shrugged herself into her coat. ‘The hat she took was the only one in the shop that would have done for her.’ She went to the cupboard and collected her bag. ‘Once I arranged it on her head, she could see that for herself.’ ‘Ruby?’

  ‘Yes, Mrs Reece?’

  ‘Have you got a moment?’

  ‘Well, yes. I could catch the later tram if you like. Is there urgent work for me to do?’

  ‘No, no. Nothing like that.’ Widow Reece shook her head. ‘As far as I can tell, you’ve caught up with everything.’ She roved her gaze about the room. It was neater than she had ever known it. ‘I never cease to be amazed at the amount of work you get through in the course of a day.’ Walking across the room, she explained to Ruby. ‘It’s just a little talk I want, that’s all, and then you can go. It shouldn’t take a moment, and hopefully, you won’t have to catch a later tram.’ She seated herself at the work-bench, patting the nearby chair. ‘Sit here with me a while,’ she suggested. ‘There’s something I have to say.’

  Ruby’s face flushed with fear. ‘Oh, Mrs Reece! It isn’t something I’ve done, is it? I ain’t angered you, have I?’ As she sat on the chair, her troubled eyes never left the other woman’s face.

  ‘Angered me?’ Widow Reece was amazed that Ruby should even think such a thing. ‘On the contrary, I am delighted with you. In the short while you’ve been here, I’ve received nothing but praise and admiration for the wonderful way in which you handle the customers. You’ve made a very big impact on my sales, and the repairs are done in record time.’ She paused, staring at Ruby with wonder. ‘If it wasn’t for you, Ruby, I might have been obliged to close this shop and resign myself to a lonely old age.’

  ‘Oh, but you could have got someone to help you. There are any number of nimble-fingered folk looking for work.’ Ruby was greatly relieved that she wasn’t about to be sent on her way yet again. She was still smarting from Cicely’s treatment of her.

  ‘No, Ruby. It was you or no one. Like you say there are any number of nimble-fingered folk out there, but as I’ve already explained, it’s the heart that creates a thing of beauty. Not the head, nor the fingers. You have the heart, Ruby. The minute you walked into this shop, I sensed it.’

  ‘I’m glad.’

  ‘I want to take you into my confidence. That’s why I asked you to stay behind for this talk.’

  She was intrigued, ‘What do you mean, Mrs Reece?’

  ‘You know my hands are getting worse?’

  Reluctant to acknowledge such a cruel thing, she remained silent.

  ‘I know you saw me drop the box of cuttings the other day, and you must realise how much expensive material I’ve wasted by stubbornly trying to cut out the hat-shapes. You’ve seen these things, and you have never interfered. Instead, like the caring soul you are, you have discreetly gone behind me and put things to right. I’m grateful for that, Ruby.’ When she saw the girl was about to protest, she put up her hand. ‘Hear me out,’ she insisted. ‘The thing is… I’ve seen the doctor. There is nothing whatsoever he or anyone else can do. The disease in my bones will worsen until there will come a time, not too far off, when I won’t even be able to lift a cup, let alone make a hat.’

  Ruby was horrified. Seeing this kind woman facing such an unkind fate made her heart go out to her. ‘I’m so sorry,’ she murmured. The words seemed pitifully inadequate. ‘I’ll do whatever you ask of me,’ she offered. ‘Say the word, and it’s done.’

  The other woman smiled sadly. ‘Bless you,’ she murmured. ‘I know you’ll work harder if I ask you, and that is just what I’m asking you. So far I’ve been able to manage, but when the pain gets stronger and my fingers begin to wither, can I count on you, Ruby? Alternatively, I could take on another assistant, and between the two of us we could probably train her to a good standard. What do you say, Ruby? Either way, I’ll be putting a deal of responsibility on your shoulders. I wish I could say it won’t be for some long time yet, but the doctor tells me the disease is taking a terrible hold.’

  Her eyes were suspiciously bright as she gazed on Ruby’s concerned face, ‘I don’t want to close this shop.’ Her voice was small and quivering. ‘It’s been my life for too long, do you see?’ Suddenly she recalled the accountant’s advice. ‘Of course, I could sell a share of the business… take on a partner. But then things would never be the same, would they?’

  The idea of a stranger coming in to give her orders was shocking to Ruby. Besides, she had a feeling that Widow Reece would be made even more unhappy by such a move. She was adamant. ‘You and I can keep this business going, Mrs Reece. There won’t be need of a partner, or another assistant, because then all your profits will be gone. I’ll work harder and stay longer, and there are plenty of things you can do, even if your fingers are not so nimble any more. You’re so skilled at choosing material and knowing what the customers want. Nobody designs like you, and every pattern in this shop is one you’ve created… you told me that yourself. If your fingers refuse to work, you’ve still got a quick and clever brain. You know how to buy, and you know how to sell. You only have to cast your
eyes over a hat to know whether it’s right or wrong. That’s a gift, Mrs Reece, and you can’t just waste it. You mustn’t!

  ‘If I stayed in the back room, and did all the cutting and making, it would work. It really would. Oh, and whatever would you do if you sold your shop? You’d be that unhappy.’

  She stopped, ashamed at letting her thoughts burst out like that. ‘I’m sorry. It isn’t my place to say these things,’ she said sheepishly. ‘My mam always said I never knew when to keep my mouth closed.’

  ‘Please don’t apologise, Ruby. You’ve said what I hoped you would say, and I thank you for it. Of course, I’ll raise your wages, that goes without saying. I had intended to do that anyway.’ She raised her eyes to the ceiling, deep in thought, as though reading something written there. After a while, when the silence was thick and expectant, she lowered her gaze and stared at Ruby, saying softly, ‘My accountant thinks I should sell up and see a little of the world before I become altogether immobile.’ She took a long deep breath. ‘He’s a good man, and he’s the best at his profession, but he knows nothing of human nature.’

  ‘I think you should do what your heart tells you to.’ Ruby was astonished that she should say such a thing, when all the while she ignored the urging of her own heart, which told her she should go to Johnny and accept the love that had grown between them.

  ‘You’re a strange young woman, so much older than your years.’ Widow Reece looked at Ruby as though seeing her in a new light. ‘I feel better for confiding in you.’

  ‘And I’m glad you did.’ Ruby rose from her chair and began to fasten the buttons on her coat. ‘But, if I’m to catch that tram, I really ought to be going.’

  ‘Of course.’ Mrs Reece saw Ruby to the door, afterwards throwing the bolts home and returning to the back room, where she sat on the stool and gazed around. The room was meticulously neat, with every type and shade of material lovingly stacked on the many shelves. Hats in their different stages were arrayed on stands, and Ruby’s large work-box was placed to one side of the table where she spent many hours bent to her joyous task. There was a great sense of love and devotion in that little room.

  She bowed her head and stared at her hands. The fingers were already misshapen, with the joints butting upwards at a peculiar angle. ‘Old age is a cruel thing, Ruby,’ she whispered. ‘And perhaps I’m asking the impossible. Who knows? At the end of the day I might be made to sell after all. But for the time being, Ruby Miller, you’ve given me hope. God bless you for that.’

  Her arms fell heavily to her sides. Taking one last look around before closing the door, she then went on slow footsteps upstairs to her own comfortable quarters.

  * * *

  ‘RUBY!’ Dolly’s voice sailed up the street, bringing a smile to the approaching Ruby. ‘Look at me… look at me, Ruby!’

  The girl was seated on a makeshift swing that wound her round and round the lamp post, before spinning her back the other way. She was laughing and screaming with delight as she counted the number of swings before the rope had wound itself, and her, tight to the post. As Ruby came nearer, she kicked out with her feet and sent herself whizzing high and wide. ‘I can do ten swings,’ she bragged. ‘And our Frank can only do eight.’ Whereupon Frank ran indoors in a sulk, Ralph followed, and by the time Ruby reached the front door, they were rolling about the passage floor, punching and yelling at each other.

  ‘Hey!’ She grabbed them by the scruff of the neck. ‘If you want to fight, do it on the cobbles and not in here, thank you.’

  Frank was the first to wriggle free. Ralph waited until he was well out of reach before he put out his tongue at Ruby. ‘You little devils,’ she called as they tumbled out the front door. ‘I’ve a good mind to tan your backsides.’

  Lizzie had heard it all. ‘They’ve been a right pair o’ sods, I can tell yer,’ she grumbled. ‘Yer dad’s gone out, and Lenny’s took his hook. It’s time that lot were abed.’ She nodded towards the doorway. ‘There’ll be hell to pay if they’re still up when yer dad gets back.’ She was seated in the fireside chair but seemed restless, picking at the sewing on her lap and occasionally glancing up at the mantelpiece. The letter wasn’t easily visible now, because Lenny had been too interested in it so Lizzie had pushed it out of sight. ‘I’ll get yer tea, lass,’ she said, beginning to clamber from the chair.

  ‘No. You stay where you are,’ Ruby told her. ‘It sounds to me like you’ve had a bad day.’

  Lizzie chuckled. ‘Aye, well, I’ll not deny it,’ she confessed. While Ruby was hanging her coat on the nail behind the door, Lizzie regarded her with deep curiosity. ‘When the childer are abed, you and me can have a little chat, eh?’ She needed to be alone with Ruby when the matter of that letter came up.

  ‘If you like.’ She went into the scullery and came out with the food her mam had kept warm. ‘Do you want to chat about anything special?’ she asked, seating herself at the table and beginning her meal. Her strong blue eyes searched Lizzie’s face. ‘This dumpling is good, Mam.’ Lizzie never failed to put a wholesome meal on the table, and Ruby was always filled with admiration.

  ‘Aye, well, you get that down yer. Afterwards yer can help me get the young ’uns to bed. Then we can sit and chinwag,’ Lizzie declared, settling back into her chair. The bairn was fast asleep, and for the moment she had little to do. Soon, though, this little house would echo to the shouts and tears of the childer when she marched them off to the scullery for their bedtime wash. Outside she might seem a pillar of strength, but there were times when Lizzie felt bone tired from the day to day struggles.

  It was gone nine o’clock before the last of the children was sent upstairs. Lenny had been late coming in, and arrived only minutes after his dad. There was a short interrogation and Ted told him he was to come home at the time his mam set. ‘You’re not old enough to stay out ’til all hours,’ he reminded him. And all the way up the stairs, Lenny grumbled under his breath.

  At last though, the little parlour was quiet, with Lizzie on one side of the fireplace and Ted on the other. The washing up was done, the crockery put away, and now Ruby could be heard busying herself in the scullery. After a while she came into the parlour, drying her hair with the big towel which was kept for the grown-ups, ‘By! That water’s stone cold,’ she complained with a shiver.

  ‘Yer should have put the kettle on then.’ Lizzie was impatient to hear about the letter, but she was also afraid. All the same, it wasn’t her letter and she had no right keeping it from the lass. ‘When you’re ready, there’s summat for yer,’ she said. Ted opened his eyes then closed them again. He had the feeling that something was brewing, and thought it best to stay out of it.

  Ruby was curious. ‘What is it?’

  ‘When yer ready, I said.’

  ‘You’re being very secretive, Mam.’ Ruby hurried back into the scullery, ran a comb through her damp hair and returned to the parlour where she sat on the stand-chair within arm’s reach of Lizzie. ‘Well? Are you going to tell me?’

  Lizzie didn’t smile. Instead, she got out of the chair and reached up to the mantelpiece. Taking the letter from behind the clock, she handed it to Ruby. ‘This was fetched by a fancy carriage belonging to Jeffrey Banks.’ Anticipating what Ruby was about to say, she revealed, The carriage is hired to run Cicely about afore her wedding. I expect there’s shopping and the like, fittings and things to see to.’ She made a guttural noise. ‘It’s all right fer some, she scoffed. ‘I don’t get no fancy carriage when I have ter run about. By! There’s times when I feel like an old donkey with only three legs.’

  She was momentarily silenced, her heart in her mouth, when Ruby slit open the envelope. ‘What is it, lass? Don’t tell me they want yer back? Oh, yer mustn’t go, lass. Yer doing so well at the milliner’s!’

  She was seated on the edge of her chair while Ted watched through one half-closed eye. Not for the first time, he wondered why Lizzie was so set against Ruby working at Jeffrey Banks’s house. It wasn’t as if the man h
ad been a bad employer. In fact, as far as Ted could tell, up until this last business when Ruby was finished, both Jeffrey Banks and his daughter had been very good to her. What was more, Lizzie herself was employed there when he met her, and had stayed there for some time after they were wed. As far as he could recall, she had seemed happy enough. It was a mystery, and that was a fact.

  Ruby’s wide eyes scanned the page, going over it for the second time to make sure she’d read it right. Just as her mam had said, the letter was from Jeffrey Banks so that was no surprise. But the contents were astonishing. There were two documents: the letter and an official-looking piece of paper.

  ‘What does it say, lass?’ Lizzie urged. ‘Are the buggers asking yer to go back?’

  Dropping the letter to her lap, Ruby shook her head, her fingers still clasped round the two pages. ‘No.’ The relief on Lizzie’s face was immediately obvious. ‘But he’s sent me some money.’

  ‘Oh, it’s yer wages?’ Lizzie visibly relaxed. The letter contained nothing more sinister than the lass’s wages, and here she’d been working herself up to a pitch for nothing at all. ‘There yer are then, lass, you’ve got yer week in hand, and now yer earning from Widow Reece, so yer can put a bit away toward yer nest egg… fer when yer gets wed, eh?’ she added hopefully. More than anything else in the world, she wanted to see Ruby walk down the aisle with some eligible young man, preferably Johnny Ackroyd.