A Mother Forever by Elaine Everest (good novels to read txt) 📗

she decided to walk up to the bookshop and keep Frank company. There was always something to do there, and it would keep her mind away from thoughts of the future.

She’d just reached the high street when a group of men came in sight. They were in jovial spirits and joked with each other loudly as they waited on the pavement for a tram to pass before crossing the road to the Prince of Wales Hotel. In amongst the group she spotted Derek and young Donald Green, and hurried towards them. ‘If you’ve got any thoughts of going in there for a drink, you’d best change your mind. Your mother is waiting at home and she’s none too pleased with the pair of you,’ she said, placing her hands on her hips as she gave the two young men a piece of her mind.

Without answering Ruby, the pair hung their heads in shame and hurried past her towards home with shouts from their mates echoing in their ears. The rest of the men carried on their journey towards the pub; only one remained. Ruby glanced at him, then caught her breath in shock. ‘Eddie?’

‘Ruby . . . can we talk?’ he called, reaching out a hand as if to pull her back to him as she turned to hurry away.

She stopped and thought for a moment. Did she want to speak to the man who had yet again abandoned her and the children? She spun on her heel, walking back towards him, her anger showing no bounds. Slapping his hand away, she waved her fist in his face. ‘How dare you ask to speak to me? It has been four years since . . . since the night we spent together,’ she shouted in his face. ‘Where have you been? Why have you not sent any money for the children? If it wasn’t for what I bring in, the children would starve. You had your way with me and then you vanished. I’ve had no way of getting in touch with you. Why, Eddie, why?’

Eddie pushed her hand from his face and gripped her wrist tightly. ‘I don’t recall you complaining at the time,’ he said, a smile flitting across his weather-worn face. ‘You are looking well, though,’ he said, pushing from his mind the memory of seeing her with Frank and a baby in a pram on the day of the king’s coronation. ‘How is our son?’

‘Our son? You’d not recognize our son if you walked past him in the street.’

Eddie would like to have said that that was not the case, as he’d made a point of being by the boy’s school on more than a few occasions, watching out for him just to satisfy himself that George was fit and well. In her angry mood, it was going to be difficult to speak to Ruby, and he’d so wanted to talk with her before he left town. It was fortuitous she’d appeared when she did, as he’d been wondering whether to knock on the door of number thirteen – to face Ruby and tell her the truth at last. While he still had the chance.

‘Ruby, whatever’s happened before . . . can you forget it for a moment, please? I really need to speak to you.’

‘I don’t think we have anything to say to each other, Eddie. I thought after that night four years ago you’d be returning to me, and you, me and George would have a life together. With our union that night, I’d foolishly thought we would be a family once more. You mentioned at the time that if you stayed it would bring trouble to our door. Did you have no thought of the trouble George and I could be in on our own? If it wasn’t for Frank, I don’t know what I’d have done,’ she said, her face flushed as the angry words poured out of her.

‘I had no idea you’d be that quick to have another man climb into my bed, take over my family, and give you a child. Perhaps if you hadn’t been so brazen with your affections elsewhere, I would’ve returned rather than wait to speak to you until now,’ Eddie retorted, thinking back to the day he’d seen the happy family leaving number thirteen. To say his heart had been broken was an understatement. Although he’d stayed close to the town and kept an eye out for his son, part of him had become frozen with the effort of trying not to imagine his wife with another man. ‘For you to divorce me and marry Frank Green so quickly speaks volumes about your feelings for me,’ he snarled.

‘Oh, for heaven’s sake, Eddie, what the hell are you talking about? Perhaps we do need to talk things over. And I do need to introduce you to your daughter.’ Ruby shook her head at how confusing their conversation had become.

‘My daughter? What the hell are you talking about, woman?’

Grabbing the sleeve of Eddie’s jacket, she muttered, ‘Follow me.’ Not wishing to have any passers-by overhear the conversation, they walked in silence to a nearby cafe. It was Marge’s old business, but she had long ago given it up, which meant Ruby could feel comfortable crossing the threshold. Telling Eddie to order two cups of tea, she sat at one of the scrubbed tables and waited, wringing her hands, worrying that he would make a scene as memories of his volatile character came flooding back to her.

When he returned, he sat opposite her. ‘Well, come on, I’m listening,’ he said, sliding the cups so forcefully across the table that much of the tea slopped in the saucers.

‘Pat is your child. I have never slept with another man. Whatever outward appearances show, Frank and I are just good friends.’

Eddie gave a bitter laugh. ‘You can’t pull the wool over my eyes, Ruby Caselton. Or is it Ruby Green now?’ he asked, feeling a tightness grip his heart. How many times had he listened to Derek Green go on and on about his