Family Drama 4 E-Book Bundle (114 page)

‘No, Tony, I don't need any help. I can deal with Ray – he's my brother.'

Ruby was in shock but she had no intention of letting anyone know how she was feeling, especially Ray. She couldn't believe that he had found her, let alone turned up on the day of the funeral, and just before the formal reading of the will. She had to get rid of him before Leonora's solicitor arrived with all the documents. She could only imagine what would happen if her family found out about her inheritance.

‘Come on then, come through to the office,' she said to Ray. Then she leaned over George's wheelchair as if to push him. Hardly moving her mouth she whispered, ‘When the solicitor comes take him straight through to the lounge and shut the door. I won't be long.'

High heels clacking sharply on the tiled floor, she marched straight across the small lobby to the office, with Ray right behind her, but despite his inimitable swagger he looked unsettled out of his own environment and in his sister's. The last time they'd been together she had been young, scared, secretly pregnant and about to run away. As she looked at him she realised that for the first time ever she had the upper hand over her brother. She was on home ground whereas he was on unfamiliar territory and among total strangers.

‘Take a seat.' She pointed to a bucket chair near the door and, needing the security of a barrier between them, walked round and sat behind the desk.

‘Very important, Rube. I'm impressed,' Ray smiled.

‘What do you want, Ray? I'm not really sure why you're here.'

‘Because you're my sister. Because you ran off without a word and left Ma and Nan worried sick, not to mention Robbie and Art. Ma thought you'd probably been done in up north; me and the boys thought you were probably on the game somewhere.' He laughed but she didn't react. Ruby knew he was only baiting her.

‘Not a thought for any of us, had you? And as for Mr and Mrs High and Mighty declaring with a straight face they didn't have a clue …'

Ruby smiled. ‘They were helping me, being kind to me. They really cared about me, which is more than can be said for my real family. What a sorry tale you're telling, but none of you had any thought for me when you were treating me worse than a stray alley cat. Still, that's in the past. Done. Forgotten. So why are you really here? I don't understand. How did you know where I was?'

Ray Blakeley crossed his legs, folded his arms and smiled.

‘A little bird told me!' he said. ‘Now I'm asking how you came to be here. I thought you ran off to be Florence Nightingale and tend to the sick. Now, as far as I can see, you're a waitress to Lord and Lady Muck out there.'

Ruby ignored his dig, happy to realise that he no longer had any power or control over her. ‘Are any of the family with you? Is everyone OK?' Ruby asked.

‘Bit late to be asking that, Rube, after all this time not bothering.' He frowned. ‘But you're not telling me what all the bloody Wheatons are doing here. What are you doing here? They told Ma they didn't know where you were and now it's all happy families beside the seaside.'

‘It's their hotel and I work here.' Ruby lied easily. ‘But now I have to get back to the funeral, so if you're done …'

‘Any messages for anyone?' he grinned.

‘No. I'm sure you'll tell them everything.' She stopped. ‘Just remember me to them. I missed Ma and Nan. Is Nan still OK?'

‘Same as she was, but older and deafer.'

As she stood up so did Ray, but the angry attitude she knew so well just wasn't there in the same way now; he was all bluster. She walked beside him to the doors and then out onto the steps.

‘I'll be back, you know. You don't escape us that easily.'

His words were thrown angrily at her, but as he turned away she noticed something in his expression, something she'd never seen before. Ray Blakeley looked vulnerable. She looked at him closely and noticed that his clothes were very well worn, and there was a sad, dishevelled air about him. He looked like a chubby neglected version of the Ray she remembered so well.

Something had happened to change him.

She suddenly remembered him sitting on the side of his bed, beaten to a pulp and scared witless by Johnnie Riordan.

Something was wrong with her brother. He'd given in far too easily. As she watched him make his way down the steps she noticed for the first time that he had a limp.

‘Ray, wait!' she called. He turned on the pavement outside. ‘How did you get here?'

‘On the train.'

‘Just to come and see me? I'm flattered,' she smiled.

‘Don't kid yourself. I came with someone else. I'm meeting 'em back in the pub up the road.'

‘I have to finish with the funeral, but come back later if you want.' She looked at her watch. ‘At five o'clock, for some tea before you go home.'

His eyes narrowed with suspicion. ‘Why?'

‘I don't know. Maybe because a funeral focuses the mind, maybe because you're family – I don't know – maybe because I'd like you to. But it's up to you.'

Overwhelmed with guilt she walked back into the hotel, feeling so very unhappy. It was all too much for one day.

‘You have to go through,' George said as she went back in. ‘Babs has taken Mr Wallington to the lounge but time's getting on and we have to get back. I'm sorry Ray turned up today of all days. How did he find you?'

‘He said someone told him, but I can't imagine who.' She walked back to the door and looked out. There was no sign of him.

‘I know it's distressing having Ray appear out of the blue like that, but we'll talk about it properly later: first we must do the legalities.'

‘What legalities are those?' Tony asked. Ruby had forgotten he was there.

‘I'll tell you later.'

‘Do you need me there for you?'

‘No, I bloody don't!' she snapped. ‘I'm perfectly capable. Now just let me do what I have to do … please.'

Tony stared at her for a few seconds, his frown so fierce his eyebrows were nearly touching, and for a split second Ruby felt nervous, but then he just turned on his heel and walked out of the hotel.

‘Now you've done it,' Gracie said.

‘Oh, I don't care right now. But don't you go, will you? I have to talk to you as soon as I come down from this meeting. Can you keep an eye out for Ray? I don't want him to know what's going on.' She pulled a face. ‘I told him to come back in two hours for his tea …'

‘Well, he is family, I suppose,' Gracie said. ‘I can understand it, but I don't think Tony-me-laddo will if he gets wind of it!'

Leaning against the wall outside, Derek Yardley was trying hard not to react. With his arms folded across his chest and with one foot crossed over the other he watched as best he could as the events unfolded. He'd never expected to be lucky enough to be a spectator when it all hit the fan, and it amused him especially that Ray Blakeley had unwittingly timed his entrance to perfection.

He couldn't hear everything that was being said so he moved a little closer and tried to read the various faces as everyone stood in the lobby.

When he'd driven George and Babs down to Southend earlier in the week Derek Yardley had been his usual invisible self in the driver's seat as they talked discreetly about the situation, but it didn't matter. For once he had felt strong and powerful and that was because he knew what he had in his jacket.

He'd kept his old feelings of inadequacy and rejection under control for so long, but the confrontation with Ruby and then the news of her inheritance had brought it all back. Once again he was the sickly worthless child no one cared for or noticed.

He'd parked the car and gone for a walk around the block until he'd found a pillar box. He pulled two already written plain postcards out of his pocket and kissed them happily before posting them in the box with a flourish. That would teach her.

‘You'll find RUBY BLAKELEY at: The Thamesview Hotel, Eastern Esplanade, Thorpe Bay, Essex.'

One postcard was addressed to Ray Blakeley and the other to Johnnie Riordan.

Ray walked out of the hotel and Yardley had just moved to follow him when Babs Wheaton called to him, ‘Don't go anywhere, Yardley. We've got to leave very shortly. Come through to the kitchen, there's a plate for you.'

Yardley cursed under his breath but turned back obediently. Firstly, he really wanted to talk to Ray Blakeley, and secondly, he hated being sent to the kitchen while Madam Ruby flounced round importantly having meetings with solicitors.

A plate for you.
How he hated those words. They summed up everything that he hated about his treatment.

He loved both George and Babs Wheaton, who had done so much for him during his many years with them. He loved them so much he would gladly kill for them, but he hated everyone else in their lives.

Especially Ruby and the child Maggie. The usurpers.

Johnnie Riordan frowned as he reread the words on the postcard and then turned it over several times, scrutinising it carefully. He was looking for a clue but he didn't recognise the handwriting and the Southend postmark meant nothing to him. But there was no denying it was meant for him.

He was bemused, but also grateful to his sister for handing it to him when they were alone. However, he also didn't want to react to it in front of her.

‘What do you make of it, Johnnie?' Betty asked as he stood, deep in thought, with the postcard in his hand. ‘Do you think Ruby sent it to you?'

‘No, that's not what she'd do. If she wanted to contact me after all this time she would have gone to the house.'

‘But you don't live there any more.'

Johnnie laughed. ‘You know that and I know that, but Ruby doesn't. No, I know trouble, and this just reeks of someone trying to stir something up. Ray Blakeley maybe? He'd love to drop me in it now I'm his boss,' he laughed. ‘God, how he hates that.'

‘But in that case he'd be dropping himself in it as well. Is he that dim?'

‘Well, maybe it's someone trying to drop Ruby in it, then. Oh, I don't know and I don't care. Ruby was someone I felt sorry for. She was different, and I liked that, but she must have wanted to disappear off the face of the earth and she did.' He looked at it again and smiled. ‘At least we know she's alive. I had wondered if Ray had done her in.'

‘Have you ever asked Ray about her? I mean, you don't know why she disappeared. Maybe he does.'

Johnnie laughed. He was just about to tell her about talking to Ruby's grandmother but decided against it. ‘No, I wouldn't ask him and raise his suspicions. No, Ruby's of no interest to me any more and I don't know why anyone would think she would be. I'm certainly not going to do anything about it.'

‘Pleased to hear it!' Betty said. ‘But I had to give it to you because it's addressed to you. Best to just tear it into tiny pieces and forget it ever came. You know what Sadie can be like.'

‘Yeah, I know all right. She'd have my guts for garters and a belt before I even finished explaining the whys and wherefores. She'd never believe it was nothing to do with me.'

‘It's because she loves you. She just goes about it all wrong.'

‘I know, but she doesn't trust me and that's damned frustrating.'

‘Well, that's Sadie! Where is she now? Did you tell her I was coming over?'

‘Taken the kids to the park. You know how she is about you. And Ma. She thinks I love you both more than I love her.'

He shrugged and smiled, as did his sister. Neither said anything but they both knew that actually Sadie was right. He didn't love his wife as much as he should. In fact, he didn't love Sadie at all. It was a marriage of convenience on his side. But he didn't feel guilty about it. He treated her properly and provided well for her and their two small sons so she had no legitimate cause to complain.

Betty had caught the bus from Walthamstow to Wanstead to visit her beloved brother at his house just one street away from where Bill Morgan, his employer, who was now also his landlord, lived. Betty had tried to warn him against putting all his eggs in one basket but Johnnie Riordan's ambitions and the promise of a promotion at work and a nice house for him and Sadie to start married life in had cancelled out any concerns.

After his last attempt to find Ruby had ended in failure he'd simply put her to the back of his mind. He'd had feelings for her that he'd never had for anyone before or since, but he was sensible enough to bury them and put all his energy into his ambitions to better himself. And he had done that very successfully, though he had had to sacrifice most of his independence and cosy up with Bill Morgan, the owner of the Black Dog and the man who had bought all the businesses in Blacksmiths Lane from his rival David Collins.

Bill Morgan had put Johnnie in charge of overseeing them all, along with collecting the rents on some of his other investments, effectively making him Ray and Bobbie Blakeley's boss.

Johnnie had enjoyed the irony but at the same time had tried to be fair to them, and as soon as he'd dropped the bombshell that he was going to be in charge he'd increased their wages a little. But he'd also closed off their black-market skulduggery, which he'd had the advantage of knowing all about, and the Blakeley Brothers were caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. If they wanted to keep their jobs they had to be legal.

Pleased not to have to work behind the bar at the Black Dog any longer, Johnnie Riordan threw himself into his new job with gusto. He loved it but the downside was that, as a condition of employment and a higher-than-average wage, he had to accept Bill's rule of iron. Not only did he have to work extra-long hours, he also had to bow to Bill Morgan's matchmaking skills and, against his better judgement and his sister's advice, marry Sadie Scully, whom Bill adored in a paternal way.