Ruby

by Marie Maxwell

  ‘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.

  Melton

  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.’

  ‘Well, we don’t have a choice. We have to go back to Southend again and talk to her face to face. It has to come from us and it has to come before the funeral or the formal reading of the will.’

  ‘I’m worried, George. Ruby has been so happy lately, and then there’s Maggie. I’m scared this may change the way it’s all working …’ Babs’ voice trailed away.

  ‘Maggie is our daughter, legally signed and sealed. Let’s not look for things to fret over.’ George wheeled himself backwards away from the desk and then turned the wheelchair so he was facing his wife. ‘Leonora meant well and we have to abide by her wishes and accept that it will be for the best for Ruby.’

  Babs stood up. ‘Maybe we should take this as a reminder to us to get our own affairs in order in case anything unexpectedly happens to either of us.’

  George smiled at his wife, his affection for her written all over his face. ‘We’re already all in order, my darling. Now if you could telephone Ruby and tell her we’re going down to Southend again tomorrow, I’ll go through to the surgery and throw myself at the mercy of the locum again!’

  As they had talked and tried to decide the best way to go about making sure Leonoras Wheaton’s will was executed according to her wishes, neither of them had realised that their driver, Derek Yardley, was standing near the open window, tucked away out of sight beside the blooms of the gnarled wisteria growing up the outside of the house.

  He’d originally stepped out for a cigarette but the sound of voices had pulled him across the garden and he was doing what he did best. Snooping.

  He couldn’t hear every word but he heard enough to draw a conclusion that made his head spin. Ruby Blakeley, the random evacuee who had inveigled her way into the family, was in for a windfall from the lately dead aunt and they were worried about her family and Johnnie Riordan finding out. That told him the inheritance had to be big.

  When he eventually slipped away from the window he was seething, but at the same time a plan was forming in his head to pay back the Blakeley bitch.

  Later that day, when he knew that George was safely ensconced in his surgery and Babs was down at the church hall with Maggie, he’d slipped in the unlocked back door and headed straight for the desk in the hall near to the telephone where Babs Wheaton kept her assorted notepads and address books.

  He flicked through until he found what he was looking for, scribbled the information on a scrap piece of paper and sneaked out again with his prize clutched in his hand. He couldn’t believe he hadn’t done it before.

  Eighteen

  The next day, after a long sleepless night, Ruby stood at the window in the office, watching the road outside and waiting for the Wheatons’ car to pull up. Gracie had taken over the day-to-day business of the hotel and was busy dealing with it all while Ruby nervously waited for them. She felt like a child again, desperately needing them to support her and reassure her that everything would be all right, to promise that they would look after her, whatever happened.

  For the third time in her life Ruby felt lost, with nowhere to go. She wouldn’t ever go back to Walthamstow, and Melton was out of the question, with Maggie there. The only option she could see for herself was to find a live-in job at another hotel; to be a small fish in a big pond after several years as Leonora Wheaton’s assistant.

  She went from the window to the desk, which was dominated by an imposing typewriter, shuffled a few papers and then went back to the window. The wait was nerve-racking and, to add to her distress, when the car did pull up, she saw Yardley was driving. She didn’t want him to see her upset and she certainly didn’t want him inside the hotel, but she knew George and Babs would expect him to be invited into the kitchen for a drink and a snack after the long drive. It had been a secret that she was living here, but suddenly it didn’t really matter any more, especially if she was going to have to move out.

  She quickly wiped her eyes once again, powdered her nose and went outside to greet them. She managed a watery smile as she welcomed them and, without actually looking at him, she made the offer to Yardley, which, to her relief, he declined, pleading the need to stretch his legs.

  George told him to be back in an hour to take him to meet the solicitor and deal with the formalities of the impending funeral. He turned and walked off in the direction of Southend itself as the Wheatons and Ruby went inside. Ruby found it strange to be sitting with them in Leonora’s hotel without her being there; she had to force herself not to think about her lying all alone in the chapel of rest less than a mile away.

  ‘I wasn’t expecting you back until the funeral. I’m worried now!’ she laughed nervously. ‘Is it bad news?’

  ‘Not at all, dear,’ Babs said. ‘George has a meeting with the solicitor that you have to go to as well, but first there is something you should know … something we have to talk to you about.’

  Ruby’s heart started to thump. ‘I knew it. The hotel’s got to be sold and I have to move out. It’s OK, I was expecting it,’ she said quickly.

  Her hands shook as she pulled a cigarette out of the packet she’d been holding and flicked away at the silver table lighter several times before there was a flame. She inhaled deeply and leaned back before blowing the smoke slowly up into the air.

  ‘This is all so horrible. I’m still so upset about Aunt Leonora, I can’t think straight. Thank God there are hardly any guests to look after at the moment. Do you think we should close for a couple of weeks? It’s too sad.’

  ‘I know,’ Babs said, ‘we’re all upset, especially as it was so unexpected. She was one of those ageless people who always seemed as if she would go on for ever. But one consolation is that she knew nothing about it, although I do wish it hadn’t been you who found her.’

&n
bsp; Tears welled up in Ruby’s eyes. ‘It was horrible. She was just lying there. I knew as soon as I saw her even though I’ve never seen anyone dead before.’

  ‘I know,’ George said sympathetically. ‘But, Ruby, we have to talk before I go to the solicitor—’

  ‘Can I stay in the flat until I find somewhere else?’ she interrupted sharply. ‘Maybe the new owners will give me a job. I know what I’m doing now.’

  ‘If you’d just listen for a moment we might get somewhere. I’ve spoken with the solicitor, her solicitor, and Leonora has mentioned you in her will …’

  But Ruby wasn’t listening at all. She just didn’t want to hear what they had to say so she chattered on, putting off the evil moment of truth that she was sure was coming.

  ‘I’ve already asked Gracie to put her ear to the ground; she knows so many people in so many hotels and boarding houses all over town. I might even get a decent job at the Palace now I’ve got the experience.’

  ‘Stop it, Ruby! Just stop interrupting and listen to what we have to say.’ Babs looked at her husband. ‘George? Can you please tell Ruby about Leonora’s will? You understand it all better than I do.’

  ‘Ruby, listen to me and don’t say a word. Leonora made a new will recently. I don’t think she thought she was going to die so soon. I think she was thinking about you in the future. And Maggie …’ He looked at her. ‘Ruby, Leonora’s will states that—’

  ‘The hotel’s going to be sold,’ she interrupted again, trying her best to pretend she didn’t mind. But she did. She minded so much it hurt.

  ‘Calm down and listen, Ruby. You’re acting like a child.’ George was getting impatient with her. ‘Babs just said Leonora has left you something – well, she’s left the hotel to you. To you. It’s all very complicated but the general gist is that the hotel is yours so you’ll be staying here and running it. If that’s what you want to do, of course.’