Ruby (21 page)

‘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.’

‘Well, it’s got bugger all to do with you, that’s for sure, you ignorant pig.’

‘Stop it, the both of you,’ Ruby said with a break in her voice. ‘The lawyer is dealing with everything, along with Uncle George. It’s nothing to do with me. If I have to move on then so be it. You both seem to think I’m entitled to something but I’m not.’

Ruby turned away and stepped back onto the balcony.

‘I’m sorry.’ Tony followed her out and kissed her on the cheek. ‘I was just trying to help. I only came to see how you are but I realise I’m not appreciated so I’ll come back tomorrow when you’re not so emotional. My parents both send their condolences, by the way.’

‘Tell them thank you.’ She forced a smile.

He kissed her again and, ignoring Gracie completely, left the room as quietly as he’d come in.

‘I wish you’d get on with him,’ Ruby said. ‘Especially now. It’s going to be difficult enough as it is.’

‘Sorry. He is such a snob and he looks down on me all the time. And he was sneaking around. I don’t like him but I’ll try to be nice in future.’ But Ruby knew Gracie didn’t really mean it.

Over the years Gracie had gradually changed both in appearance and attitude. She had filled out into a very shapely young woman with slim legs, curvy hips and a quick and endearing smile. Her mousy hair was brighter and blonder, and it wasn’t greasy any more. She wore it shoulder length and gently waved, which softened her features and, along with carefully applied make-up, helped detract from the acne scarring on her face. She was vivacious and bright-eyed, and everyone who met her liked her.

Everyone except Tony Alfredo.

Although she still worked at the Palace Hotel on the busy seafront, she also spent a lot of time helping out and learning about the business at the quieter and smaller Thamesview Hotel in Thorpe Bay. Because they worked together and played together she and Ruby had become as close as sisters and had never once fallen out with each other, but it was this closeness that irritated Tony and he made no secret of it. He simply didn’t understand why Ruby still enjoyed a lively night out at the Kursaal with Gracie when she could be alone with him.

Tony Alfredo still lived with his parents, although they no longer lived over the café. They had bought a small house close by in a road behind the seafront, where Tony was waited on hand, foot and finger by his doting parents, in whose eyes he could do nothing wrong.

Attractive and ambitious, he had an obvious charm and no hesitation in using it to get what he wanted. Old for his years in many ways, and often staid in his rigid Italian Catholic outlook, he wanted far more commitment from Ruby than she was prepared to give at that time, and made no secret of it. But although his charm and eligibility were undeniable, it was all wasted on Gracie, who simply declared him oily and devious.

‘I’ve seen creeps like him before,’ she’d say. ‘Just because he speaks nice, wears a suit and works in London don’t mean he’s not just as much a fly-boy as the boys at the funfair.’

‘But you like the boys at the funfair.’

‘Not any more. I learned the error of my ways and dumped them; so should you.’

Ruby always laughed it off and emphasised that she actually enjoyed Tony’s company, but whatever Ruby said, Gracie McCabe didn’t trust him and made no secret of it.

In return, Tony Alfredo made no secret of the fact that he despised her and her lifestyle.

It was a standoff.

Babs Wheaton held her hands out, palms up, and shook her head. ‘I am at a loss here. How exactly are we going to handle this, George?’

‘We’ll deal with it as Leonora would have expected us to: fairly and properly,’ her husband answered with a gentle smile. ‘She trusted us to carry out her wishes and that’s what we’ll do. We understood her and knew her well enough to know what she wanted; what she meant.’

‘Of course we will. I think I’m just surprised. I wish she had confided in us so that we could have been prepared, for Ruby’s sake. It’s going to be a very sudden transition. Ruby has only ever thought of herself as Leonora’s assistant, and she’s still so young.’

‘I don’t think it ever occurred to her that she would die any time soon – well, it didn’t occur to any of us, did it? She thought she was under the weather. But even if we had known in advance we’d still be in the same situation now.’

George Wheaton was sitting at an impressive antique roll-top desk, which dominated the second reception room at the back of their house. It was an informal, comfortable room with large, well-worn furniture, and the one they used far more often than the formal sitting room at the front. As George shuffled papers across the desk from one pile to the other, his wife paced the floor.

Leonora’s solicitor had briefly outlined everything to George on the phone, and he and Babs were trying to get all the facts straight for themselves before telling Ruby.

‘You’re right, of course, darling. If she’d known how ill she was she’d have gone to the doctor, I’m sure, or even let you examine her when she was here. What exactly did she say when you spoke to her at Maggie’s party?’

‘I told you, nothing much at all. She refused to confide in me about her health, just said she had a cough and cold. I did tell her to go and see her doctor but she always was contrary. When she was a child, Mother used to call her Contrary Mary.’ George Wheaton looked down at his desk and ran his fingers across his forehead; the shock had hit him hard.

‘I was always the sickly one and I always thought I would go first. Everyone did, even when I was a child.’

‘I know you’re going to miss her, darling – so will I – and poor Ruby will be bereft,’ Babs smiled sadly. ‘That was such an unlikely relationship. I never thought when we sent her there that they’d actually become so close.’ She laughed lightly. ‘I imagined Leonora packing Ruby back to us as soon as she possibly could, but in the event she wanted her to stay and treated her as much like a daughter as we do. Strange.’

She pulled a chair from beside the fireplace and sat beside her husband, placing her hand gently on his leg.

‘But all this will business – I don’t know if this is good or bad for Ruby. I’m worried her family will crawl out of the woodwork again. Can you imagine what would happen if her family got wind of this? And then there’s that Johnnie fellow. I didn’t trust any of them to start with, but now this has happened. Considering everything, Ruby’s done so well at the hotel and in her life. I don’t want this to be a burden to her.’