Ruby Page 10
Staring at each of them in turn, Eddie reached out and picked up a large spanner. He grinned as he gripped it tightly and batted it against the palm of his other hand.
‘Now, you and I are going to have a little chat. Well, more than a chat really …’
Eddie started to swing the spanner, knocking things off the various surfaces . His long arms and massive hands gave him both control and strength of the weapon, and tools and engine parts went flying, including a hammer that bounced fiercely off Bobbie’s shoulder.
‘Don’t! Please don’t. Leave us alone, we haven’t done anything …’ Bobbie was one step from tears and he put his hands over his head in terror as Ray clambered to his feet and tried to shoulder-tackle Eddie.
‘Don’t, Ray, you stupid git!’ Bobbie shouted. ‘He’ll kill us …’
‘Clever boy! At least one of you’s got some brains,’ Eddie laughed as he whacked Ray right across his knuckles with the spanner. ‘Now give me what you know you shouldn’t have and I’ll be gone. But if not, then the bikes outside look like they need seeing to …’
He didn’t need to finish the threat. This time there was no arguing. Bobbie ignored his brother and told Eddie exactly where to look. Eddie scooped up the boxes, which contained twenty-four bottles of black-market whisky and gin, and headed towards the door.
‘The lesson of the day for you boys is that Mr Riordan’s unhappy. He wants you to stay off his turf. You want to wheel and deal, you don’t do it round here. Got it?’ He looked from one to the other. ‘I said, have you got it?’
Ray and Bobbie lifted their heads in unison and nodded.
Eddie winked at the prostrate brothers and left as quickly as he had arrived. The whole episode had lasted only a few minutes but in that short time Ray and Bobbie had both been badly hurt. However, that was the least of their problems.
The cases of whisky that Eddie had taken hadn’t been paid for, and for that they knew they’d be in even worse trouble.
Ruby took the stairs three at a time and nearly ran into her mother, who was standing on the landing wringing her hands.
‘Something’s happened to my boys. They’re hurt and I don’t know what to do. They don’t want to go to hospital but they must, they have to, they’re hurt …’
‘All of them? What happened? ‘ Ruby asked.
‘No, it’s Ray and Bobbie. Just go and see if you can do something to help them, please!’
‘Why me?’ Ruby was puzzled at her mother’s insistence.
‘You said you wanted to be a bloody nurse – you lived with a doctor – you know what to do …’
Ruby went into Ray’s bedroom, the tiny boxroom that used to be hers, and saw him lying fully clothed on top of the bed. He was lying on his back with his knees up and bloody hands clasping his midriff. She could see his hands were injured and his face was deathly pale. As she moved forward to take a closer look her mother stood stock-still in the doorway with her hand clamped over her mouth.
‘Get out, Ruby,’ Ray shouted as he opened his eyes and saw her leaning over him. ‘Get out of my fucking room and mind your own business, you stuck-up little bitch. Get out …’
Ruby shrugged. ‘OK. I was only going to help.’
With her mother almost glued to her back, she went into the other bedroom to see Bobbie, who was sitting on the edge of his bed close to tears, while Arthur was tucked down tight in his bed curled up in the foetal position facing the wall with his hands over his ears, trying to pretend nothing was happening.
‘Bloody hell, what have you two been up to?’ Ruby asked. ‘You need a doctor—’
‘No,’ Bobbie interrupted sharply. ‘Don’t tell anyone. It’s nothing, you mustn’t tell anyone. Please, Ruby, don’t tell.’
‘Is Arthur OK?’ Ruby asked over her shoulder.
‘He’s just scared,’ Sarah said. ‘He doesn’t know anything. He was here with me and your nan but he saw them come in all covered in blood.’
Ruby turned to her mother, who was standing behind her gulping in air and making noises as if she were hyperventilating.
‘So what happened? Did they crash the motorbike?’
‘I don’t think so. Ray said someone jumped them on the way home, but I don’t see why they don’t want anyone to know. Will you try and talk to Ray again? Bobbie’ll just do whatever he says. They’ve been beaten so bad – why would anyone want to hurt my boys?’
In a split second Ruby had a lightbulb moment and everything fell into place. She was horrified at the implications of her thoughts, but still wanted to laugh.
Johnnie Riordan. He had to be behind this.
‘I’ll patch them up. You’re right, I used to help Uncle George in the surgery so I know what I’m doing, but you’ll have to tell them to let me.’ Ruby looked at her mother, who was leaning on the wall struggling to light a cigarette. ‘Ray’ll hate having me look after him but if he doesn’t he might get blood poisoning, and there’s nothing I can do if he’s hurt inside. If either of them gets worse then you have to get proper help, whatever they say.’
It was all she could do to keep the satisfaction out of her voice. Maybe now they’d got other things to think about they would leave her alone and let her live her life.
After much persuasion from their mother, and with hatred in his eyes, Ray allowed Ruby to perform some basic first aid on his hands. Her mother fetched some iodine and a bottle of aspirin from the medicine cabinet and then went down to the scullery for a bowl of warm water. While Ruby bathed Ray’s hands Sarah tore an old pillowcase into strips for bandages and watched as Ruby wrapped them around.
Once the basics were done she moved onto Bobbie, who had lost a tooth and bitten his tongue quite badly. He also had a large bruise forming on his left side. But despite the pain they were both in, Ray was adamant there would be no doctor and that they both had to be able to go into work the next morning, although neither of them would say why.
Later that night Ruby and her grandmother were sitting in their bedroom.
‘So the boys are in trouble, eh? About bloody time that pair came unstuck and were taken down a peg or two. I wouldn’t wish them real harm but I hope this is a lesson learned.’ Elsie Saunders was sitting up in her bed wearing a pink crocheted bed jacket and her ever-present hairnet. With her teeth in the denture pot beside her bed she looked older than her years and she spoke with a lisp. She peered across at Ruby, who was sitting cross-legged on her bed. ‘And I’m not going to ask how your day was because there’s something that doesn’t seem right about any of this and I don’t want you to have to lie to me.’
‘I wouldn’t lie to you, Nan.’
‘Yes you would, my girl, same as you’ve lied to your mother, but that’s between you and your conscience. I hope you haven’t overstepped the mark, that’s all.’
‘You don’t think I had anything to do with Ray and Bobbie, do you? How could I do that? I’m pleased they were battered but it was nothing to do with me! I was shocked when I first saw them.’
‘Seems fishy to me that you beg and plead for a day away and it’s the very day something happens. I may be old and decrepit in body but I’m not stupid. I see a lot – far more than your mother, in fact – and when I do venture to the front door I hear things.’
‘Honest, I promise you, Nan, I don’t know anything about what happened to the boys. Cross my heart and hope to die.’ Ruby was starting to feel scared all over again.
‘Ruby, my little precious, never push your luck by saying things like that. I don’t want to know what you’re up to so long as you’re not in trouble.’ Elsie’s expression was serious as she stared at her only granddaughter. ‘And violence never solved anything.’
‘I’m not in trouble, but Ray and Bobbie are, and of course I’m pleased,’ she laughed. ‘I patched them up so now they’re both in my debt and I can do whatever I want!’
Ruby leaned her head back, closed her eyes and thought about what had happened just a couple of hours earlier on the way hom
e. When she had let herself get carried away with Johnnie Riordan in the park, with the moonlight glimmering through the shelter of foliage that hid them from the sight of any passing people. She relived how she had let him kiss her, touch her …
She crossed her arms and hugged her secrets close to herself. Suddenly she felt grown up and in love, and she knew Johnnie felt the same because he had told her.
She smiled happily. Suddenly her future looked a lot brighter and it didn’t matter so much that the Wheatons had let her down; she had Johnnie to look out for her now.
When they’d got back to Walthamstow they decided to take the circuitous route back to Elsmere Road via the alleyways and the park so that they wouldn’t be spotted by anyone. As they strolled through the almost deserted park hand in hand, Ruby just didn’t want to go home; she wanted the moment to last for ever. There was no conversation, but the silence between them was comfortable.
‘Shall we sit for a while?’
‘I need to get back.’
‘I know, but a few more minutes won’t hurt. This is so nice, just you and me and the moon.’
As Johnnie looked at her expectantly so Ruby looked up at the full moon shining overhead and smiled. She sat down on the bench and Johnnie sat beside her. He was so close to her she could feel the warmth of his body through his clothes.
‘I was about to have a cigarette but I’m going to have to do this instead …’ Johnnie leaned round, took her face gently in both hands and kissed her, gently at first and then harder, much harder. Ruby was lost; she knew she should resist and go straight home, but she couldn’t …
Afterwards she was filled with remorse and she hated herself because she’d done exactly what the Wheatons had always warned her not to do. She’d let herself down.
‘I have to go home,’ she said, not looking at him. ‘We shouldn’t have done that. It was wrong.’
‘Oh, Red, don’t say that. I know how I feel about you and I know you feel the same.’
‘Do you love me?’ she asked with tears in her eyes.
‘Of course I do.’
The next morning Ruby stayed in her room until she heard the slamming door that told her the boys had gone to work. She went through to the back, hoping that her mother would still be too distracted to ask any questions about her day in London with Eileen.
‘How’re Ray and Bobbie? I heard them go off to work.’
‘Bobbie’s gone but Ray’s still in bed. The poor boy can barely walk. Bobbie’s going to cover for him if Collins shows up. I don’t know what this country’s coming to when two hard-working boys get battered like that for nothing.’
‘Hmm.’ Ruby was determined to be noncommittal. ‘What do they think happened?’
‘Ray said they were ambushed by a gang of men in Blacksmiths Lane as they closed up. He thinks they were wanting to burgle somewhere and came across the boys working late. He’s so worried they’ll get the blame if anything was nicked so he wants it all hushed up. They don’t want to lose their jobs.’
‘So do they know what was taken?’
Instead of answering, Sarah Blakeley started crying again. ‘Will you go and see how Ray is? You’ll know better than me.’
Ruby was getting really irritated with her mother but she did as she was asked.
She knocked on the bedroom door and went in to find Ray trying to get dressed.
‘You shouldn’t be up. You need to stay in bed.’ she said gently, but he ignored her. ‘Ray, please, get back in bed. If you rest you’ll get better but—’
‘Get out of here, Ruby. You’ve done your duty, like Mum made you. Now leave it.’
Ruby was horrified at how ill he looked, doubled up in pain. Suddenly his suffering wasn’t quite so funny any more.
‘Get back in bed, you idiot. Bobbie’s at work, he’ll sort it all out there. Think how Mum’ll feel if you keel over.’
He looked at her and his face was ashen.
‘What happened, Ray? I mean, what really happened?’
‘We were jumped, that’s it. Random.’
‘I don’t believe you.’
‘I don’t give a monkey’s what you believe, you stupid kid. Get out.’
‘You need to see a doctor, you look really white—’
‘GET OUT.’ As he shouted, so Ray leaned forward and was violently sick all over his feet and the bedside rug.
Ruby said nothing – there was nothing to say – but the idea that Johnnie Riordan could have been behind the attack was no longer amusing.
Regardless, she was in love with him.
Eleven
Melton
‘Ruby! What are you doing here?’ Babs Wheaton exclaimed as she walked up to the back door and saw the bedraggled girl sitting on the doorstep in the pouring rain. ‘Why didn’t you go indoors, you silly girl? You’re drenched.’ But her responsive smile quickly dropped away when she registered Ruby’s distressed expression and the small sodden bag on the step beside her. Babs dumped her shopping baskets on the ground and leaned across the girl to push the unlocked door open.
‘Whatever’s wrong? Oh dear, let’s get you inside and warm you up. You’re soaking wet and you’ll catch your death. I can’t believe you didn’t just let yourself in to get warm …’
With her hair hanging all around her face in rat-tails and her dripping wet cotton frock and cardigan clinging to her body, Ruby looked like a little street urchin. Babs smiled in reassurance and reached out a welcoming hand as Ruby continued to sit stock-still on the step, her shoulders hunched and her arms wrapped tightly around her shaking body. Then after a few moments she put a hand out in response and let Babs pull her up and lead her gently over the familiar threshold straight into the warmth of the kitchen. Despite feeling scared and in the depths of despair, she also felt relief that she was back where she felt safe. She knew she still had to explain the situation, but for the moment she just felt relieved to be back in the place she would always think of as home. She just hoped that Babs and George would continue to let that be.
‘How did you get here?’ Babs asked as she led her over to a fireside chair beside the range and gently made her sit. ‘You should have telephoned. I hate the idea of you travelling alone.’
‘I got the train and bus. It’s taken so long, but I haven’t told Mum and I thought you might tell me not to come if I didn’t ask her first. Johnnie lent me the fare.’ She said it almost as a challenge, but Babs didn’t rise.
‘Of course I would have said you should tell your mother, but I wouldn’t have rejected you, not ever. You know that. Whatever made you think I would?’
‘Last time I came I wasn’t welcome here, and when Ray said you wouldn’t want me any more I thought perhaps he was right: that I was just your good turn for the war …’
‘That’s a lot of piffle and you know it. Now I’m going to make a pot of tea and you can tell me what’s happened. I can see it’s serious.’ Her expression was troubled as she looked closely at Ruby, who wasn’t making any eye contact. ‘Is it Ray? Has he done something to you again? What’s been going on?’
Ruby didn’t answer. She was so scared and embarrassed she just couldn’t think of the words she needed. Instead she sat motionless with her knees together, her hands clenched in her lap, and looked at her feet.
‘All right, you don’t have to tell me anything if you don’t want to – I can see you’re distressed. I’ll do you something to eat and make up the bed in your room and we can talk in the morning.’
Ruby took a deep breath. ‘No, I’ll do it now. It’s nothing Ray’s done – this isn’t his fault – but I’m scared of what he’ll do if he finds out. I’m in such big trouble, Aunty Babs – really, really big trouble – and I don’t know what to do. You’re the only person who can help me.’ She hugged herself even tighter as if for protection, then started to sob quietly.
‘It surely can’t be that bad, dear, and even if it is there’s nothing we can’t deal with, is there? Tell me what’s wrong.’
‘Go on.’
‘I’m sorry … I think I’m having a baby. I think I’m pregnant and I don’t know what I’m going to do.’
Walking over to the kitchen table, Babs Wheaton leaned on it with both hands and then lowered herself onto a chair. Her eyes opened wide with shock as the words slowly sunk in.
‘I’m so sorry. I didn’t know where else to go. Ray will kill me if he finds out. I’ve left for good, I can’t go back there, and if they find out they won’t want me anyway.’
‘Are you sure about this? Have you been to the doctor yet?’
‘I think I’m sure, but I haven’t been to the doctor. I went to the library and looked it up, and I’ve got the symptoms, and I did … you know, I did do … IT. I know how it happens, I just never thought it’d happen the first time, the only time. I promise, it was only once, and when I was at school they said …’
Her words were mumbled and trailed off, and her face was scarlet with embarrassment at having to talk about things like that to the person she loved most, the person whose approval was so vital to her.
‘But you’re only just sixteen. Who is it? Is it that one who brought you up here? Johnnie? Did he take advantage of you?’
Ruby paused. She wondered about lying, about shifting the blame so that she wouldn’t be such a disappointment, but she couldn’t do it. She didn’t want to lie to the woman she truly wished was her mother.
‘It was Johnnie, but he didn’t take advantage of me. He didn’t make me. I really liked him and it just sort of went too far. It was after we left here last time, I was upset and—’ she stopped and searched frantically for the right words. ‘And things happened.’
‘Well, things shouldn’t have happened, and if you’re having a baby then he’s going to have to marry you whether he likes it or not. There’s absolutely no alternative,’ Babs stated angrily. ‘Honestly, he should have known better. You’re just a child. I dread to think what Uncle George will have to say about this.’