Maggie

by Marie Maxwell

  ‘Oh, don’t remind me. I said similar to Babs on that Saturday, that last Saturday, when she said Maggie wanted a proper birthday party because she wanted to ask a boy! Babs thought she was far too young, but you and I both know about young love …’ Her voice trailed away as once again she could feel the tears starting to well.

  ‘This is all just so sad … for all of you. I don’t know how you bear it. Babs and George were such a big part of your life, but you’ve not been able to grieve for them for yourself, only for Maggie.’ Gracie said.

  ‘Thanks. It’s hard, but …’ Ruby pulled the belt to her coat tighter as the wind picked up. ‘I don’t think Aunty Babs realized Maggie was grown up enough to be in love with a boy, especially one who wasn’t from the village; an outsider, as they say.’

  ‘Did anything come of that Andy boy? He wasn’t a bad kid, you said. Maybe he’s worth encouraging a bit to keep her out of trouble. Or would that make it worse, do you think?’

  Ruby shrugged as she thought about it. Her instincts told her that he was OK, but her instincts had been wrong before, so she was wary. ‘I’m not sure. He seemed alright when I met him, but I don’t know about him now. She tells us nothing. His mother and aunt were brilliant with Maggie when she got drunk and chucked up all over the perfectly manicured lawn at the Manor House, no less! Oh God, that was mortifying. I had to go and collect her!’

  ‘Maybe you could invite him down for the day or something? He may be a distraction.’

  ‘Not sure … I don’t want to push them together, though. She’s so vulnerable at the moment that she’d be easy prey.’

  ‘Better the devil you know?’ Gracie asked.

  ‘You’re right; I’ll try and ask her about him. Hah, as if she’ll listen, let alone answer.’

  The two women walked along together, comfortable in each other’s company. They’d met in the maternity hospital when they were both young, unmarried mothers, and they had remained close friends during the intervening sixteen years. So much had happened to both of them, happiness and heartache in equal measures, but life had turned out well for both of them in the end … until the day of the fatal car-crash, which had changed everything.

  ‘Have you got your leaving date yet?’ Ruby asked Gracie as they walked along. ‘It’s going to be weird without you around. I’m going to miss you so much. You’re as much a part of Thamesview as me and Aunt Leonora. It won’t be the same!’

  Gracie looked at her friend and smiled affectionately. ‘No, not a fixed date, but Edward thinks it’ll be just after Christmas. He’s chomping at the bit now; he’s hated having to work in the London office. Says it’s like a prison sentence after the freedom of Africa.’

  ‘And the malaria?’ Ruby asked. ‘He was so ill.’

  ‘Touch wood it’s all OK. He’s been passed as fit again and can’t wait to get our confirmed leaving date. I’m more cautious; excited but cautious. I can’t imagine living in Africa. Me, little old Gracie McCabe, ex chambermaid at the Palace Hotel!’

  They looked up in unison at the hotel, which stood at the top of the hill that led up from Southend Pier to the high street. It was a landmark building for the town, and Gracie had worked there before she went to work at the Thamesview Hotel with Ruby.

  ‘You deserve it. You’ve worked so hard, and Edward is such a nice man. You’re the perfect match. And look, that’s where you met.’ Ruby pointed across to a point on the beach.

  ‘Who’d have thought it, eh? Me marrying a decent bloke who’s a bit of a country gent with a few bob. And now swanning off to Africa … Mum thinks I’m mad even considering it, but Dad’s all for it.’

  ‘You’ll love it, I just know you will! Aunt Leonora would have been so envious of you. She always wanted to travel. And she’d have been proud; she had a bit of a soft spot for you.’

  ‘Oh, I loved her. And I still miss her. Every so often I remember her standing upright and stern in front of me having a go about something or other. Dragon Lady!’

  ‘Funny how things change but also stay the same. Who’d have thought all those years ago we’d end up like this?’

  ‘We’ve done fine, both of us, and this dark moment will pass for you, as have all the others.’

  Ruby linked arms with her friend. ‘God, I hope so, Gracie Grace. Christmas is going to be the next big challenge, but we have to make it good as it’ll be your last before you fly up, up and away!’

  ‘Don’t remind me! There’s still so much to do, but Edward is the organizer. He’s an experienced traveller, and to him it feels like going home. All our belongings are going off by sea next week, and we’ve arranged a farewell visit to his family. That makes it all so real; we really are going!’

  After the trauma of Gracie’s disastrous first marriage and premature birth of her daughter, Ruby knew her friend deserved a break, but she couldn’t imagine how she was going to manage without her around. For sixteen years they’d always been there for each other, and Gracie had always been Ruby’s main motivator, her emotional support and her right-hand man when it came to running the hotel.

  They had been as close as sisters from the moment they had met and bonded all those years back, and they had worked and lived together for many of the intervening years, but now all that was about to change.

  There were going to be 3000 miles between them, and their friendship would be maintained via letters only for three years.

  ‘You’re going to have such an adventure, and how wonderful for Fay to experience all of this so young.’

  With their arms still linked, Ruby started to walk a bit faster, pulling Gracie along with her. She didn’t want to spoil her friend’s moment by bursting into tears. She was so close to falling apart that everything seemed to set her off lately.

  ‘Actually, I’ve decided on two things,’ Ruby said as they neared the town. ‘First, I know I’m turning into an old fogey, but it’s too cold for ice cream. I need a nice strong coffee. Second, maybe you and Jeanette could have one last try with Maggie before you go, appeal to her better nature. I know she has one; it’s just been buried lately under all her vile behaviour.’

  ‘Done. Coffee, and then we’ll decide what to do with Maggie. Any idea where she might be today? Could we find her?’

  ‘Now, there’s a question! She could be anywhere, but I do know she’s not at home where she should be. I’m just praying she comes out of it enough not to mess up Christmas for the boys. I know it’s going to be absolutely dreadful for her, the first one without Babs and George, but I have to think about the boys as well. It’s like walking a tightrope.’

  ‘It’ll be OK. Not perfect, but OK. She’s a good girl at heart. She’s just in pain and lashing out at everyone …’

  ‘I know.’ Ruby sighed. ‘But knowing why doesn’t make it any easier.’

  After waving Andy off at the station, Maggie sunk back into her depression. It had been such a good day, and it was the first time she had laughed in a long time; he had been attentive and kind, and she had loved every moment spent with him. His enthusiasm for her singing and his support for her situation had given her so much to think about. She hoped against hope that his father would like her singing, both for her own sake and for his. Andy seemed to place so much store on his father’s approval and she could see that he would mortified if the man didn’t agree with him, so she had her fingers crossed for them both.

  Instead of going straight home, she wandered around town aimlessly for a while hoping to find someone, anyone to talk to, before eventually walking the long way back, clutching her copy of her precious record in her hand. It was a secret that she was savouring.

  She stood outside the front door for a few moments, dreading going back into the house that she saw as an unwelcoming prison rather than home. It seemed so much worse after such a good day, but after a few breaths she put her key in the lock and carefully opened the door before creeping indoors as quietly as she could. She tiptoed upstairs to her room, and before even taking her coat off
, she put the record on the turntable to play and sat on the edge of her bed to listen to it. It was scratchy and short and the quality was poor, but even Maggie could hear that it was actually quite good. She was in tune, her voice was strong and she was word perfect.

  She let it replay as she got changed into more casual clothes, before leaning back on her bed and listening to it over and over again – until a banging on the door interrupted her.

  ‘Maggie, are you in there? Maggie? Answer me.’ Johnnie Riordan’s voice was angry.

  ‘Yes …’ she answered, while at the same time snatching the arm off the record and closing the lid of the player.

  ‘Why didn’t you tell us you were in?’ he shouted through the door. ‘We wondered where you were. Your dinner’s in the oven if you want it. Don’t make a noise when you come down; the boys are going to bed.’

  Maggie didn’t bother to respond because she heard Johnnie’s footsteps going back downstairs immediately. Recently, he had been the one who was the most snappy and disagreeable with her, with rarely a nice word to say. Whereas Ruby was constantly trying to make peace with her, while at the same time keeping the peace with the rest of the family, Johnnie had hardened towards her.

  When she had first gone to live with them he’d been friendly and had tried his best to jolly her along, but now he didn’t bother; in her eyes all he cared about was not upsetting the boys, and that hurt her. Although she would shrug and pretend she didn’t care when there was a confrontation, she cared that he seemed to actively dislike her and want her out of the family.

  She didn’t bother to go down for her dinner. Instead she lay back on her bed again and started thinking over everything Andy had said, especially his father’s comments on her situation.

  He had told her what his father had said about the guard-ianship and the estate of her parents and how it was perfectly legal for Ruby and the solicitor to have control. She brooded and got angry before she went to sleep.

  The next day Maggie started to think about something specific Andy had said about her inheritance and his reference to her as an heiress. It made her wonder for the first time exactly how much she, and also Ruby, were worth via the estate of George and Babs Wheaton.

  At the time Maggie had laughed at the suggestion, but then she started to think about it properly – especially as Andy’s dad had suggested, because it was worth so much, that she keep an eye on her inheritance, even if it meant contacting Mr Smethurst herself.

  ‘What does he mean by “so much”?’ Maggie had asked, but Andy had just shrugged.

  ‘Only you know that,’ he’d said.

  But when she thought about it, she realized she didn’t. She didn’t have a clue about anything, except that she and Ruby were to share everything.

  After brooding over her breakfast, she waited until everyone had gone out, and then she went through into the small office Ruby and Johnnie had had built on to the back of the garage. Assuming it was for the hotel business, she had never been interested in going in there before, but now her curiosity was roused and she was determined to start digging around. Because of the design there were two doors which led into the room, one directly from the kitchen and another from the back of the garage; Maggie decided to go in through the kitchen door and then leave the one from the garage open for a quick exit if need be.

  The room was square and sparse, and although there was a window at the garden end of the room, a huge old cherry tree blocked most of the natural light. Maggie had no choice but to put the light on to look around. There was a utility metal desk with a portable typewriter and an adding machine side by side, along with a stack of both typing and carbon paper. Shelves lined one wall, and there was also an armchair and footstool in the corner by the window, a wireless on a side table and a large Chinese-style carpet on the floor. There was a large framed print of a beach scene on the wall which she guessed was Ruby’s touch. It was much more homely in there than Maggie had imagined, and she guessed it was probably where Johnnie escaped to when he wanted some peace.

  Slowly and carefully she opened the drawers first, and then pulled down the flap on the bureau that was behind the door, but there was nothing of interest. In fact, to Maggie’s disappointment, there was little of anything apart from an old chocolate box with a selection of change in it and several ten-shilling and one-pound notes.

  She picked up one of the notes and smiled as she slipped it in her pocket, telling herself it was her money anyway.

  Because the office extension was new, the drawers were still half empty, as were the shelves above it, apart from several books and two empty folders. She quickly flicked through everything and was just about to give up when she spotted the familiar metal filing box from home on the floor in the corner, the same one she had seen Ruby leave the house with on the day she had gone to the solicitors. For a few moments she just looked at it, wondering what to do, but as soon as she realized that the lock was broken she picked it up and stood it on the desk.

  Despite her ongoing anger and defiance, she hesitated about going through it, but then she convinced herself that it was her parents’ box, not Ruby and Johnnie’s, and as such she was entitled to look at anything inside it. Everything that had belonged to George and Babs Wheaton was hers, whatever anyone else said.

  Despite knowing exactly what was in her parents joint wills, she couldn’t resist reading through them again. Seeing the words in black and white brought back the feelings of unfairness that had so overwhelmed her at the time, and seeing the information laid out on her birth and adoption certificates compounded her sense of isolation and lack of identity. She held them both for a while and debated taking them but decided against it. Much as she hated Ruby and Johnnie, she knew the documents were safe with them. She pushed her feelings away as she carefully put the papers back and forced herself to move on to look through everything else.

  She flicked through the sections one by one until she found exactly what she was looking for – the letters from Herbert Smethurst listing all the Wheaton assets and their values. Maggie read and reread the accounts slowly, taking in the figures involved.

  The Blythes had been absolutely correct in their assessment. One day, in the not too distant future, Maggie would be a wealthy young woman, despite having to share everything fifty-fifty with Ruby. She was elated, but her excitement at finding what she wanted was tempered by the fact that Ruby was worth similar, plus everything she already had courtesy of Leonora Wheaton.

  All Maggie could see was that Ruby and Johnnie Riordan had become a very wealthy couple off the back of Ruby handing their daughter over to the Wheatons all those years before.

  Her first instinct was to rush off to the Thamesview and confront Ruby and Johnnie with the information she now had, but then she thought it through and decided she would save it until the time was right. She grabbed a pencil off the desk and an empty envelope out of the bin and wrote down the figures as briefly as she could, stuffed the envelope in her pocket and put everything back as it had been.

  She was just about to leave the room when she had a second thought; she went back to the desk and gleefully filled her pockets with several pounds’ worth of coins before switching the light off, closing the doors and running up to her bedroom to think about the information she had and to count the money she had taken. She took a book down from the shelf over her bed, put the envelope in-between the pages ready to show Andy the next time she saw him, and then stretched out her bed to think.

  She was upset and angry about what she had discovered, but at the same time it cheered her to know she’d put one over on Ruby and Johnnie, even if she was bound to get into trouble for it at some point.

  Eleven

  ‘Well, someone’s been in there; I know they have. The money from the cash box was in the drawer in the old biscuit tin from the hotel. I didn’t have time to count it, so I just dumped it in the tin and brought it home.’ Johnnie Riordan’s face reddened with anger as his voice started to get louder. �
��I bloody well know there was a lot more in the tin than there is now. It must have been Maggie! It had to be her; it can’t have been anyone else,’ he shouted, making no attempt to hide his rising frustration.

  Although Ruby knew he was probably right, she just couldn’t bring herself to openly condemn her daughter out of hand without talking to her first. She carried on wiping the table as if it was the most important job in the world. She stared down at the surface and rubbed away at an invisible mark. ‘Maybe you made a mistake?’ she said, without looking up. ‘And, anyway, it can only be a couple of pounds. We don’t keep much indoors. Is it really that important?’

  ‘It’s no mistake, and it’s quite a few quid that’s missing. Anyway, it’s the principle not the money itself. It’s the only room in the house that’s a no-go zone for the kids. All of them. I know the boys wouldn’t have gone in there and stolen money; in fact, I can’t think of anyone who would … except Maggie.’

  ‘Stolen is a strong word, and I don’t think we should straight away blame her for everything,’ Ruby said, trying to be reasonable. ‘I know she’s being difficult, but so have the boys lately, and—’

  Johnnie interrupted Ruby mid-sentence. ‘Difficult nothing, and don’t you try blaming the boys. If they’re difficult, it’s because of her. The Wheatons spoilt her rotten since the minute she was born. They let her think she was a bloody princess who could have whatever she wanted and do anything she took a fancy to – dancing lessons, tennis lessons, everything she asked for – and now you’re doing the same. Seems she can wreak havoc in this family and you’ll still stick up for her. You’re so focused on her, you ignore everyone else.’

  Johnnie was furious and pacing the floor, and although she could understand his anger up to a point, it still hurt Ruby that he couldn’t be more understanding of their daughter; more understanding of the fact that, with the best of intentions, they had been the cause of Maggie’s grief and anger.