All My Tomorrows (29 page)

Ruby didn’t like the sound of this woman at all. ‘I’m so sorry, Mr Reilly,’ she said anxiously. ‘If it’s going to cause trouble, then perhaps it would be better if I found somewhere else to stay.’

‘You’ll not be going anywhere but Beach View,’ he said firmly. ‘Fran will be back from the hospital now, and I’m sure Peg’s warned her that you might be coming, so she and the other girls will have got your room ready.’

Ruby’s eyes filled with tears again. ‘Everyone’s being ever so kind,’ she said unsteadily. ‘And I ain’t got the words to tell you how grateful I am – but thank you, Mr Reilly.’

‘Call me Ron; everyone else does,’ he said gruffly. ‘And there’s no need for thanks – or for tears. I only did what any right-thinking man would do.’

Ruby shook her head and gave him a watery smile. ‘Nah, you done more’n that, Ron, and I’ll never forget it.’

‘Come on then. Let’s go home and face the Doris dragon.’

Ruby’s hand was tucked back into the crook of his arm and Harvey trotted happily alongside her, tongue lolling, ears flapping in the wind that was blowing the blossom from the trees and making it swirl like pink and white confetti. She and Ron had defeated one dragon already tonight, and she had little doubt that, together, they could slay another.

Beach View Boarding House was a tall, narrow terraced house, with the front steps shadowing a basement window. Most of the windows seemed to have been boarded over, but the front door and brass knocker were polished to a gleam and the steps had been recently whitewashed. There was a bit of damage to the walls, probably from flying shrapnel, but it clearly hadn’t suffered like the houses at the end of the short street, which were no more than rubble.

‘They went in a gas explosion right at the start of the war,’ explained Ron. ‘We had a bit of damage at the back the night Peggy was injured, but that’s all been mended and now we’re almost as good as new again.’ He gave her an encouraging smile, turned the key in the lock and opened the door.

Ruby stepped into a square hall which led to three doorways and a wide, elegant staircase of dark, gleaming wood. The paint was faded, the wallpaper beneath the dado rail coming away in places, but there was a delicious smell of food and furniture polish and a lovely warm atmosphere that could only come from a real home.

Harvey licked her hand as if to reassure her and then stayed by her side as Ron led her into the kitchen. She got the impression of worn furniture, homeliness and clutter before the friendly chatter died down and everyone turned to welcome her.

She felt rather intimidated at being the centre of attention, but began to relax a little as she recognised Fran from the hospital, with her wild red hair and green eyes. As Suzy and Sarah introduced themselves, she marvelled at how sophisticated they looked with their blonde hair and elegant figures. She returned Jane’s welcoming smile, admiring her creamy skin and artless manner, and then grinned at Rita, instantly recognising a kindred spirit.

‘Welcome to Beach View,’ said Rita. ‘You don’t have to be mad to live here, but it does help.’

‘I’m sure it’s all lovely,’ she murmured, still feeling a little out of her depth.

‘I’ll get the first-aid kit out,’ said Suzy as she eyed Ruby’s battered face. ‘Those grazes need cleaning and I’ve got some iodine for the bruises.’

Ruby dipped her chin as she felt the shame heat her face.

‘It’s all right,’ murmured Rita as Suzy went to fetch the first-aid box and the others continued to fuss over Ron and Harvey. ‘We don’t need to know anything unless you want us to. We’re just glad you’re here.’ She saw the blood on Ruby’s coat. ‘Give me your lovely coat, Ruby. Sarah’s an absolute whizz at getting stains out, and it’ll soon be as good as new.’

‘I only bought it two weeks ago,’ she replied as she slipped it off. ‘D’you think she really can get it all out?’

Rita nodded and grinned, but their conversation was cut short by a querulous voice. ‘I’m not invisible, you know, and I don’t appreciate being ignored.’

The girls parted to reveal an elderly woman sitting in a fireside chair with her arm in plaster. ‘Ruby, this is Mrs Finch,’ explained Rita. ‘We all call her Grandma Finch and we love her to bits.’ She leaned closer to Ruby. ‘She’s got her hearing aid in tonight, so you don’t need to shout,’ she said in a stage whisper.

Ruby thought the little woman looked ever so grand, with her white hair and nice floral frock – like the old ladies what lived up in Kensington and walked their lapdogs in the park – but there was a glint of naughty humour in her eyes which made her very approachable. ‘Hello, Mrs Finch. Pleased to meet yer, I’m sure.’

‘Hello, dear. I’m glad you decided to stay with us. You’ll be all right here.’ She eyed the others over her half-moon glasses and tried to be stern. ‘They all talk at once and dash about like mad things on motorbikes and bicycles, wearing trousers and painting their legs with gravy browning. They’re a lively lot, but they’ll see to it that you settle in quickly.’

Harvey rushed between them all and tried to lick Mrs Finch’s face before he was firmly pulled away and distracted by the sight of food in his bowl.

Ruby’s legs could no longer hold her up and she sank gratefully onto a kitchen chair while Suzy cleaned her grazes and put iodine on the bruises. She was drained by the night’s events and the boisterous welcome, and simply longed to crawl into bed.

‘I expect you’d like something to eat,’ murmured Ron. ‘I know I would. What’s left in the pot, girls?’

Fran checked in the large pot on top of the gleaming black range. ‘The last of the rabbit stew, dumplings, carrots and onions. There’s only a bit of apple and custard for afters, but I’m sure it’ll be enough as you’ve already had one tea tonight, Ron.’

‘Ach, to be sure, young Franny, I wouldn’t say no to a second helping of that stew.’

‘Then it’s a good thing there’s enough for two,’ she said with a wink before ladling it out into bowls.

‘This is a lovely coat,’ said Sarah as she dabbed at the bloodstains on the sleeve and collar. ‘I suppose you bought it in London?’

‘Nah, I got it ’ere. Proper posh, ain’t it? Never thought I’d ’ave summink like that, ever.’

‘Good grief. Aye never imagined Aye would be assaulted by such ghastly gibberish. Is the gel actually attempting to speak English?’

An immediate silence greeted this remark and Ruby looked up at the woman who stood in the doorway. Not over-tall, but with a good figure for a woman of her age, she looked as if she’d just walked out of a department store window. But the eyes were cold, the lips curled in a snooty sneer. This could only be Doris.

‘If you spoke the King’s English then I could excuse that remark,’ said Ron as he chewed on his stew. ‘But as you don’t, then I think you should apologise to Ruby for your lack of manners.’

‘When it comes to manners, Ronan, you are hardly the one to make judgements.’ The cold gaze swept over Ruby once more. ‘Aye have no idea why you are here,’ she said frostily, ‘but Aye can only surmise that you were expelled from your billet as it is the middle of the night.’

‘You can surmise all you like, Doris,’ said Ron before Ruby could respond, ‘but, unlike you, Ruby is here at Peggy’s invitation and that’s an end to it.’

‘But she’s no more than a guttersnipe,’ she hissed. ‘Really, Ronan, what was my sister thinking? I can’t possibly run this house with yet another one of your waifs and strays cluttering up the place.’ She shot Rita a meaningful glare, which was ignored.

Ruby thought she was a snooty cow and not worth the effort of another fight. She exchanged a knowing look with Rita and carried on eating the delicious stew as Ron continued the battle.

‘She was, as usual, thinking of others, rather than herself,’ retorted Ron. ‘If you don’t like the arrangement, then you’re always free to go back to your own home.’

Doris ignored this broad hint. ‘How long is she staying?’

‘She’s staying for as long as she wants, and you forget, Doris, you are not in charge here. I am.’

‘If it wasn’t for me there would be utter chaos,’ she snapped. She slapped Harvey’s inquisitive nose, which had gone up her skirt, and without another word stalked out of the kitchen in a huff.

Ron turned to Ruby and winked, his eyes sparkling with mischief. ‘To be sure, she’s riding a high horse tonight,’ he said as he reached for his pipe. ‘Don’t mind her, Ruby, none of us take any notice of her either, and ’tis a wonder she’s still here. We keep trying to get rid of her, but short of packing her bags and putting her out on the doorstep, she seems determined to stay.’

‘We think she secretly likes it here,’ said Suzy as she collected her nursing cape from the hook on the door. ‘Anthony, her son, is away for a while and her husband seems to spend most of his time at the golf club, so she probably prefers even
our
suspect company to sitting on her own every night.’ She chuckled. ‘You’ll find it’s never dull around here, not with ferrets, Harvey and Ron to keep us on our toes.’

‘Ferrets?’ Ruby brightened a little. Her dad had kept ferrets.

‘Flora and Dora,’ said Ron proudly. ‘I’ll introduce them to you tomorrow.’

Suzy said goodnight to everyone and left for the hospital with a cheery wave.

‘Suzy’s courting Anthony,’ said Rita, with a grimace, ‘and Doris doesn’t approve.’

Ruby wondered how on earth anyone could possibly not approve of the lovely Suzy. ‘Is she snooty about everything?’

There was a general murmur of agreement and Rita giggled. ‘Only if you don’t live in the posh side of town or have a title, like that stuck-up Lady Chumley that she’s always on about.’

Ruby sat at the kitchen table with its faded oilcloth and finished the deliciously rich and fragrant stew even though she was still trembling from her ordeal and her eyelids were drooping with weariness. Beach View Boarding House was a haven of warmth and welcome, and it didn’t matter that Doris had ideas above her station, for there was real friendship to be had here, and a chance to pick up the pieces and begin again.

Ruby finished the stew and drank a welcome cup of tea as the other girls settled down to their knitting and sewing. Ron disappeared with Harvey to check on the Anchor, and Mrs Finch twittered and giggled as she listened to ITMA on the wireless. Doris put in an appearance for a short while to wash out her sherry glass, but no one spoke to her and she went back to her room.

‘Where’s Mrs Reilly’s baby?’ Ruby asked.

‘She’s in with Doris,’ said Rita, who was making a hash at knitting what might have been a scarf. ‘Minding Daisy is about the only thing she’s good at, and they seem to have become quite fond of one another, which is a complete mystery. Doris is hardly the maternal type.’

‘No, she didn’t look as if she was – more like one of them shop dummies, really – all clothes and no feeling.’

Rita giggled. ‘You are a caution, Ruby. I’m glad you’ve moved in.’

‘So, what brought you here, then? What’s everyone’s story?’

Rita told her how she’d been born in Cliffehaven, and had gone to school with Peggy’s daughter, Cissy. Blast bombs had flattened her little home behind the station and she’d been billeted at the asylum. When that was blown to smithereens, Peggy had rescued her from the chaos of the Town Hall emergency accommodation and brought her here.

‘Sarah and her sister Jane came all the way from Singapore to be with their great-aunt Cordelia, and they still don’t know what happened to their father, or to Sarah’s fiancé, Philip,’ she said quietly. ‘But their mother’s safe in Australia with her parents and her baby boy.’

‘Blimey, that must be ’ard, not knowing – and to be on the other side of the world from yer mum and all.’

‘Yeah, I think it is, but they don’t go on about it.’ Rita continued, ‘Grandma Finch has been living here for years, and Fran and Suzy moved in before the war ’cos they didn’t want to live at the nurses’ home under Matron’s nose.’

‘I don’t blame them. I’ve heard from my mate Lucy that she’s a right tartar.’

Rita grinned. ‘She can’t be any worse than Doris. Poor Suzy,’ she sighed. ‘If she ever marries Anthony, she’ll have the old bat for a mother-in-law, and it gives me shivers just thinking about it.’

Ruby grinned. ‘Me too.’ She regarded the happy scene of the girls and Mrs Finch gathered in peaceful harmony in the glow from the fire as they listened to the wireless. It was warm and cosy and a million miles away from Nelson Street.

‘What about you, Ruby? Peggy didn’t tell Fran very much, only that she thought you’d be moving in tonight, and that we had to make sure you were warmly welcomed.’

‘It’s a long story, Rita, and I’ll tell you once I’ve ’ad a good night’s sleep.’ She gave a vast yawn and picked up the rosebud she’d carried with her from Nelson Street. ‘I’m completely done in, and I have to be at the factory by eight in the morning.’

‘Come on then. I’ll show you upstairs and teach you how to use the water heater in the bathroom. It can have your eyebrows off if you’re not careful.’

Ruby’s eyes widened in disbelief. ‘A bathroom? In the house?’

‘Peggy and Jim worked long hours to save up enough to get it put in, but of course government regulations mean we can only have five measly inches of water in the bottom of the bath, and then we have to scoop it out in the big enamel jug and pour it into the water butt by the back door. Ron uses it to water his veg.’ Rita grinned impishly. ‘There’s a proper lav upstairs as well. Which is a very good thing. The old outside lav got blown to bits a couple of weeks ago, and Ron hasn’t got around to replacing it.’

Ruby said goodnight to everyone and thanked them again for making her first evening so lovely, and then followed Rita up the stairs with her basket. The bathroom was a revelation of white tiles, with a deep tub on clawed feet and polished brass taps. The boiler was a bit of a liability, but as long as she remembered to step back and count to three after putting the lighted match to it, she wouldn’t lose her eyelashes.

Rita continued her guided tour, pointing out the airing cupboard where the towels and household linens were kept, the lavatory, Mrs Finch’s bedroom and the three rooms on the floor above. ‘Fran and Suzy still share, Peggy’s daughter Cissy’s room is at the end, and I’m in the middle up there. And this is yours, right next to Sarah and Jane’s.’