by KERRY BARNES
Francesca flew back with Ruby, accompanied by Dominic, who was now the official bag carrier. Besides, there wasn’t any real need for a security guard in England. It was different in the States, since the Lucianis were a very wealthy family, and so Dominic’s job was to look after Francesca.
Sam was at the airport to meet them and, as Ruby walked through the arrivals, he instantly saw the difference in her. She had a huge grin and colour in her cheeks. She ran over to him with her arms outstretched. Sam was choked up. It had been years since she had shown so much affection.
“’Ello, my angel.” He gave her a big hug.
Her grip was tight and he then realized, she had her strength back.
“Look at you, you look… well… really pretty… and the scars have gone.” He held her away so he could get a better view.
“No, Dad, Sisco bought me proper makeup to hide them.” She grinned.
Sam was glad to have his sister over for Christmas and was looking forward to the family being together.
Ruby was so happy to be back in her own home with her dad and brother. Not that she didn’t enjoy staying with her aunt; it was always a treat.
Jack had the Christmas lights twinkling on the tree and the fire alight in the living room, just so it would be cozy and, more to the point, homely. He had heard that Sam had suggested Ruby stayed with Francesca but deep inside Jack prayed she’d say no.
As Ruby stepped indoors, she felt relaxed. She loved the smell of leather sofas and the pine from the Christmas tree. The fire made its crackling sounds and she sat heavily on the puffy settee.
“Cor, that flight from the States, it’s a bloody long one.” She was glowing.
“So, Rubes, feeling better now then?” asked Jack, wearing a big smile.
“Yeah, I do, even me face has healed up.”
“So, have you decided to stay, or do you think you might go back with Sisco?” Jack couldn’t help himself. He could only settle once he knew what his sister wanted to do. He looked at Francesca, who winked.
“Well, it’s like this. I have no one to argue with over there. They are too nice… but here, I’ve got you when I need a good ruck,” she laughed.
When Francesca left, and Sam went to work, Jack sat opposite Ruby and stared for a while.
“What's up, bro?” she asked, peering over her Hello magazine.
“You know what happened that day, don’t you, Ruby?”
She bit the inside of her lip and nodded.
“Do you want to tell me?” he asked calmly.
“Jack…” She stopped for a second, trying to control her quivering lip. “Jack, I thought I knew Jesse. She seemed nice but it was an act.”
A tear rolled down her cheek. He wanted to cuddle her and tell her it was all right but the need to know the truth was greater.
“What happened, Rubes?”
“I’d been seeing our mum for a few weeks. I lied because you and Dad would have gone off your heads, so I kept it a secret.”
Jack nodded, listening intently.
As she revealed the whole story, including the episode with Jacob, the tears fell effortlessly, but Jack didn’t console her, not until she had told him everything. Then, he sat beside her and held her for ages, until her sobs subsided. He was now an angry man. He had never felt so bitter in his life and wouldn’t rest until Jacob and Jesse were seriously fucked up.
As he went to get up from the sofa, Ruby grabbed his arm. “Jack, I don’t want you to do anything, that’s one reason I didn’t tell you.” He wasn’t listening.
“Jack, listen to me. I want them hurt in the worst way possible. Going in there, throwing punches, means nothing to these people. Trust me, I know them!”
He sat back, intrigued as to what she had in mind.
“I intend to get them for this, but not in the way you think. You have to trust me. I know I’m younger than you, and you all feel you need to protect me, but I have to do this alone or it won’t work.”
Jack was in a temper. “So you think you’re going back there, to a place where you were fucking left for dead, and it won’t happen again?” He was shouting now.
“I wished I had never told you now. I thought you would understand, and let me do this my way.” Ruby jumped to her feet in a fit of rage. “Why do you, Dad and Fred reckon you have the right to take revenge? It didn’t fucking happen to you, or Dad, or any other fucker, for that matter. It happened to me!” Ruby was screaming and poking herself in the chest, “It was fucking me… do you understand? I was the one attacked. It was me who nearly died, not fucking you!”
Jack grabbed his sister and hugged her again. “We know, we know. I just want to protect you though, Rubes.” His voice was gentle and soothing. “All my life, I’ve tried to make up for the times I was too young, too helpless, and too small, to stop her hurting you. I couldn’t fight back, Rubes, only hide you, wipe your tears, and cuddle you at night. I can’t get that out of my head. It probably ain’t normal, but most kids don’t go through what we did.”
Ruby calmed herself and sat back down on the sofa.
“Jack, if I don’t seek retribution, the hate I have will eat me away… I want closure. Please, Jack, I have to do this. If I need your help, I will ask you.”
He stared at his sister and realised she had grown up over the last few weeks. Reluctantly, he nodded. “On one condition, though. I have to know when you’re planning on doing this, just in case.”
She agreed and then headed to bed. The day had been long and tiring.
Before she walked up the stairs, she looked back at Jack. “Tell me I’m not anything like our mother!”
He smiled. “You are nothing like her. You’re a Vincent, Ruby, and don’t you ever forget it!”
She spent the night twisting and turning, and with thoughts of revenge flowing through her mind, but these were halted by the fear of prison. When the morning arrived, and the aroma of bacon wafted up the stairs, she felt fresh and at peace. She had battled with her demons and won. Her plan was devised and her head clear.
She would not waste time. Out of her suitcase she pulled a teddy bear. It was a big, expensive-looking teddy which sat upright, holding a heart. The heart had a pouch for a note or anything else. The teddy was in fact a nightdress case and the back could be unzipped and nightclothes carefully stored away. Ruby smiled. “Perfect,” she whispered to herself.
Jack emerged with a big smile. “Breakfast is served, madam.” He bowed, mimicking a butler. “That’s a nice teddy.”
She nodded. “Cute, ain’t he?”
Ruby, although trying to keep an eye on her figure, thoroughly enjoyed her fry up and wiped her plate clean with her bread and butter.
Sam laughed. “Well, they might have the best burgers in the States, but they can’t cook a breakfast like your old man, eh?”
She waited for her dad to go out before she talked to Jack. Sam had the banking to sort out, and they were interviewing more staff, so he would be out of the house for some time.
Jack was loading the dishwasher when she walked up behind him.
“Cor blimey, Rubes, you made me fucking jump!”
“Jack…” There was a long pause. “Jack, I need your help.”
He nodded. “Go on.”
“I need a gun.”
Jack’s eyes widened. “No way, Ruby, you ain’t gonna shoot her. You will get life inside!”
She laughed. “No, I’m not going to kill anyone.”
“So why a gun?”
Ruby took a deep breath. “I just need one. Look, please trust me. I promise you, it’s not for shooting anyone. I don’t even need the bullets.”
He looked into Ruby’s eyes. He could usually tell when she was lying. He concluded she was being honest.
“Dad has one in his drawer in his room.”
“Will he notice it’s gone?” Her voice sounded so sweet and innocent.
Jack shook his head. “He has probably forgotten it’s there.”
They crep
t into their father’s bedroom. It was the grandest in the house, with a bath you needed to step into and a walk-in wardrobe, and as big as a three bedroomed semi.
The drawer in the bedside cabinet housed the gun. As Jack slid it open, they could see there – under magazines, broken watches, and love letters – was the monster. Ruby grabbed it and shut the drawer.
“Rubes, you promise me it’s not to shoot anyone?”
She rolled her eyes. “Fuck off, I’m not that angry. Yeah, all right, I hate their guts. But want them dead? No… worse than that!”
“So why the gun?”
“Jack, just trust me.”
He nodded.
Ruby wiped the prints off the gun, wrapped it in a new pair of pyjama bottoms, placed it inside the teddy, and sewed up the seam to hide the zip. She held it away from her and admired her piece of work.
No one could guess there was any weapon inside the toy. It was soft and padded enough to fool anyone, especially her mother. In a pouch, hidden at the back of her wardrobe, was a small bag full of marijuana. She rubbed the contents over the teddy.
That was the easy bit. The hardest part was yet to come – seeing Jesse again.
She took a cab over to the estate. That was Jack’s idea. “From now on, Rubes, you make sure you get cabs, so you are safe. How long do you think you will be?”
Ruby hugged her brother. “A good few hours, but I will keep my mobile on, and you can call me anytime… Jack, if my phone is off, then I’m in trouble.”
He took a deep breath. “Ruby, let me come with you.”
She shook her head. “Not this time.”
The cab pulled up outside the cash machine and Ruby withdrew five hundred pounds.
She shoved it in her bag and told the cab driver to go to the Kidbrooke estate.
It was a cold, wet day and the estate looked gloomier than ever.
“Here, stop just here!” said Ruby.
“Are you sure, love? This is not a place a nice young lady like you should hang around in.”
“Yes, it’s fine, thank you.”
Ruby admired Jesse’s new properly fitted front door, courtesy of the council.
She thought she would be nervous but she wasn’t. She felt very strong and in control: she had a plan.
Holding the bear proudly in front of her, she knocked firmly.
Jesse usually shouted ‘who’s there’, but this time she opened the door. Her face said it all: guilt, shock and fear.
There was silence for a few seconds.
“Well ‘ello, Mum, ain’t you going to let me in?”
Jesse didn’t see a young teenager full of eagerness and admiration as she had done before. Now, she was staring into the eyes of a woman.
“Yes, of course I am, my baby… come in, come in.”
Ruby walked confidently past Jesse, who nervously glanced outside for fear of a posse.
“Here, Mum, I got you a present, just to say thank you.” She handed the teddy to Jesse, who was looking very uncomfortable at this stage.
“What did I do to deserve this, then, babes?” Her face displayed an enduring smile.
“Looking after me, the way you did, until the ambulance arrived. If it wasn’t for you, Mum, I could have died.”
Jesse tilted her head to the side. “What do you mean, love?” she said rather hesitantly. She was worried that this was a plot, but totally confused as to where Ruby was leading her.
“Well, finding me in that state and then calling the paramedics,” Ruby replied.
Jesse was nodding and listening to the story her daughter was spinning. Her fear had gone and she was content that Ruby saw her as some kind of hero.
“I am so lucky to have you in my life, Mum. The doctor reckons, if you hadn’t called the ambulance when you did, I would not be here now.”
Jesse tried to fathom out why Ruby thought she had called for help when really she went to the chemist and had a smoke with her mate. But she would not argue. Ruby was back and that meant money. She still had the huge drug stash in the bedroom, and a grand left, but that would not last too long.
“So, Mum, when are you off to America for your operation?” asked Ruby as she made her way into the living room.
Jesse’s eyes widened. She had forgotten that little lie; she felt totally off guard and vulnerable. There was something very different about Ruby and she couldn’t put her finger on it.
“Oh, yeah, well there has been a minor delay. My surgeon is away on holiday, so it will be next week.”
Ruby tried to contain herself – the lying bitch. She looked around the filthy room and guessed that the money was spent on drugs.
“Seen much of Jacob, only I was hoping he’d call… I miss him, Mum.”
She was acting sad, but inside she was boiling – with every bone in her body she hated them.
Jesse smiled. She must have completely blanked out the whole incident.
“Jacob should pop around later. He owes me money.” Jesse bit her lip and watched the smile creep across Ruby’s face.
“Do you think he missed me?” It was hard work keeping up the pretence.
Jesse nodded.
Ruby detested Jacob. The man she had fallen for was nothing but a heartless user. He didn’t even visit her in hospital.
Before long, Jesse was talking the same old shit and Ruby was pretending to be interested.
“’Ere, Mum, fancy a drink? Vodka?”
Jesse’s eyes lit up. “Oh, yeah.”
Ruby opened her bag and pulled out a fifty. “Mum, they won’t serve me. Will you get it?”
Jesse leapt from her seat and, in a flash, snatched the note. “Yeah, we will have a celebration: you, me and Jacob.” Her face was screwed up from the stupid expression of excitement. A month ago, Ruby thought it cute. Not now, though. Now, she found her deplorable.
“Mum, I’ll wait here. I get tired too quick these days.”
Jesse was out the door before Ruby even had a chance to say ‘I’ll have a Bacardi Breezer’.
It was her chance to have a good nose around. Ruby laughed out loud when she finally came across the stash hidden in her pillow case. Very original, she thought. The rancid stench of the room would put any sniffer dog off the scent. As for original ideas, well, the pillow case was the most ridiculous. The other one contained the money. Jesse was so predictable that the plan would be executed like a dream.
It puzzled Ruby how on earth she got away with keeping a large amount of powder in her bedroom and even a set of scales under her bed. If the police raided her flat now she would be bang to rights. There was enough cocaine to get her five years. The scales increased that to possibly seven with an intent to-supply charge. The addition of a gun would lock her up for a long time.
As she sat on the settee, going over the past few visits with Jesse, the penny finally dropped. Her mother was a prostitute: the man from the café and the other men who were at the door were all punters. Her house was never searched, even though Ruby’s attack was the scene of the crime. She concluded that Jesse was shagging the coppers.
Well, she won’t get away with it. Not this time, smiled Ruby.
She expected her mother to be a while and was surprised when there was a knock so soon after she had left. She naturally assumed Jesse had forgotten her key or, better still, had come back to ask what she would like from the shop. No, thought Ruby, that was stupid. From now on she would not be disillusioned by her. As far as she was concerned, Jesse was the devil herself.
Ruby got up and opened it, without a concern for who else might be on the other side of the door.
Her eyes widened when she saw Jacob standing there. He was leaning on the doorframe, puffing on a spliff, and holding a bag of beers. He obviously didn’t expect to see her ever again, and so he also looked shocked and uncomfortable.
Ruby’s plan nearly went out of the window. She had an overwhelming urge to grab a kitchen knife and run it through his chest. She took a deep breath, smiled and invited hi
m inside. Without a word, he entered and made his way to the living room, as he frantically racked his brains to think how he should handle the situation. He had known that Noreen and her mates had given Ruby a kicking. Yet Ruby had kicked his girlfriend so hard in the stomach she had lost the baby.
His heart was beating so fast and never in his life had he felt so much mixed emotion. Noreen had really suffered. The baby was further on than they’d both thought because at the time she didn’t show. If no one had told him she was pregnant, he wouldn’t have guessed. It wasn’t until the doctor said the baby couldn’t be saved he realised how much he had been genuinely looking forward to being a father. She had cried every day for two weeks and blamed him for sneaking around with the schoolgirl.
Then he looked at Ruby and could see the faint scar on her face and felt guilt for luring her, by no means deliberately, into his clutches to end up nearly dead.
It was his Aunt Gloria who told him of her serious condition – the life threatening damage caused to her body. She also insisted he stay away from Ruby. Little did he know she would return.
“How are you now, Ruby?” asked Jacob, in a very sober voice. He had never spoken like that before. He had always laughed and joked.
He perched on the settee and she sat in the armchair. “Yeah, I’m good.” She smiled.
“Aunt Gloria said you couldn’t remember what happened.” It was almost a question.
She shook her head. “No, all I know is I was beaten up and left for dead… apparently!”
Jacob’s palms were sweaty. “So, you have no idea who attacked you?” He had to know if there were going to be any repercussions.
“Nah. Have you heard anything, Jacob?”
He shook his head. “All a bit of a mystery.”
Ruby was fuming. She had tried anxiously to keep a lid on it, aware she had bitten her lip and could sense her nostrils flaring.
“Fancy a coffee?”
He pulled out a beer. “Nah, babes, I’ll have this. Want one?” He wanted to sound jolly and upbeat but his heart was still pounding. He had visions of Ruby killing his baby. It was amazing how a small joint of skunk can make your illusions appear so real. Others might call it paranoia.
