Ruby by Heather Burnside (carter reed txt) 📗

38

March 2008

‘Well I never thought I’d see the day when a daughter of mine would have a house like this. They must be paying you well managing that nightclub, my girl.’

Ruby smiled back at her mother but she couldn’t help but feel a twinge of guilt at the lie she’d told her. She hadn’t really seen any alternative though. Over the years, as she’d become progressively more affluent, Ruby had invented a stream of lies for her mother, with her imaginary career progressing from restaurant waitress to nightclub employee and eventually nightclub manager.

But, even on the salary of a nightclub manager, the house would have been out of reach so Ruby had come up with the lie that she was co-purchasing it with her ‘friend’ Tiffany. She had relied on these fabrications to keep a close relationship with her mother because Ruby knew she couldn’t have coped with the knowledge that her daughter was not only a lesbian, but the madam of a brothel.

‘Come inside,’ said Ruby. ‘Have a look at the kitchen.’

It was the second time she and Tiffany had been to see the house, but this time they had returned with Ruby’s mother and her youngest brother, Tyler, knowing they would be thrilled to see the place Ruby was going to buy. And it was such a relief to finally be able to show them where she would be living because, since she’d left home, she had never done so. Instead she had made many excuses to prevent them coming round, from living with a difficult flat-mate to the place being too dirty and run-down, until they had eventually stopped asking.

‘Wow! Good stuff this innit?’ Tyler commented as he marvelled at the modern kitchen with its high-tech appliances.

‘My God!’ her mother chipped in. ‘I bet this is a step up from that other place where you lived. I don’t know how you put up with it for so long when you could afford something like this.’

‘I did have to save for a bit,’ said Ruby, flashing Tiffany a loving glance. ‘Anyway, wait till you see the garden.’

They walked through to the comfortable living room then through the patio doors and into the conservatory.

Her mother stared around the room in awe.

‘Haven’t you seen a conservatory before?’ asked Ruby.

‘Only on the telly.’ Her mother was soon standing at the window looking out into the garden. ‘It’s beautiful,’ she muttered subconsciously.

Ruby grabbed the bunch of keys and inserted one into the back door. ‘Come on, I’ll show it to you.’

Although it was a modern house, the garden was quite mature, having being cultivated since the first owners had moved in almost twenty years previously. It had a small but adequate lawn and a series of flagged areas punctuated with beds full of colourful blooms. At the far side of the garden was a recessed area housing an arbour, which was surrounded by shrubs and climbing plants, giving it a tranquil feel.

Ruby’s mother walked over to the arbour and plonked herself down on the seat. She didn’t say anything, but a pleasant smile graced her lips as she gazed around her. Eventually she stood up and shivered.

‘You’ll have to come round in the summer, Mam,’ said Ruby. ‘You can sit out then. We might even have a barbecue.’

‘It’s lovely,’ she said, looking about her, and Ruby could have sworn she saw a tear in her eye.

Next, Ruby and Tiffany took them up to the master bedroom and Ruby proudly showed off the stunning fitted bedroom units, pulling open the door to a corner wardrobe.

‘You’ll get plenty of clothes in there,’ said her mother. Then she looked around the rest of the fitted furniture. ‘How many wardrobes do you need?’ she asked.

Ruby and Tiffany laughed and then took them through to the en-suite bathroom followed by the other two bedrooms and, lastly, the family bathroom.

Ruby was amused by the next comment. ‘But I thought you had a bathroom in there.’

‘That’s the en-suite, Mam. This is the main bathroom.’

Ruby could feel Tiffany’s hand on the small of her back, out of view of her family. She smiled affectionately at her while her mother tutted and shook her head as though this level of extravagance was strange to her.

When they’d finally finished having a good look around, Ruby led them all back downstairs where they hovered in the hallway for a few moments before leaving.

‘Well, what do you think?’ she asked.

‘It’s well smart,’ said Tyler. ‘I wish I had an ’ouse like this.’

Ruby turned to her mother who nodded her head. ‘I think you’ve done very well for yourself, Ruby,’ was all she said but for Ruby it was enough. She could see that pride was oozing out of every pore in her body.

She tried to dismiss the fact that the pride she felt was based on lies. As far as Ruby was concerned, it didn’t matter how she had achieved her financial status; the end result was just the same. And it was wonderful to see how proud she had made her family.

*

Aaron Gill looked over to his cell door to see the huge frame of a fellow prisoner, Mal, standing in the doorway. Gilly sat up in his bunk.

‘Come in mate, shut the door,’ he said, knowing he didn’t want anyone to overhear them. ‘What have you got for me?’

‘Some info, but it’ll cost.’

‘No probs, it’s all here,’ said Gilly, referring to the cigarettes they had agreed in payment. ‘But I want to hear what you’ve got first.’

Mal sat down on Gilly’s bunk. ‘She’s still using the name Ruby,’ he began.

‘Yeah, and…?’

‘She’s running a brothel now, apparently.’

‘Really?’ said Gilly, annoyed that Crystal hadn’t seen fit to share that information with him. ‘How long’s it been open?’

‘Six months.’

‘I wonder how the bitch managed to afford that.’

‘She’s the co-owner apparently but I don’t know who the other owner is.’

‘No, worries. That’s not important. Where is it?’

‘Manchester, above a nightclub called North. Have you heard of it?’

Gilly