Ruby felt as though her mother had slapped her round the face. She put her hand to her mouth and stepped back in horror. ‘Why would you say such a thing? Sarah was beautiful. Stella saw her and she said my baby . . . my baby was beautiful . . .’
Milly laughed out loud. It was a harsh laugh devoid of warmth. ‘There was no beauty in what I saw. It makes me wonder how a child of mine could give birth to such an ugly thing.’
George ran into the room to see his mother, but then hid behind her skirts when he became frightened of the way his grandmother was shouting.
‘Mum, please, you’re frightening the boy,’ Ruby said, reaching down to hug her son. ‘Don’t be frightened, George, Nanny and I are just having a few words. It means nothing. Why not go fetch your slate and I will write some numbers and letters for you to copy. Then I’ll put away my shopping and see to your dad – that’s if he’s home from work.’
Ruby tousled the boy’s hair and kissed his cheek, closing the door behind him as he left the room. Turning on her mother, she wagged her finger at her. ‘How dare you talk about a child I gave birth to like that? If, and I don’t believe it, there was anything ugly about my daughter it came from you – her grandmother. You are the one with an ugly soul, and I don’t want it in my home for a minute more. You can pack your bag and go live with Fanny or Janie. I’ve had enough of you. I came home with joyous news, something that made my heart sing when I felt it had turned to ice and would never thaw, and you have done nothing but create a bad atmosphere.’
Milly opened her mouth to speak, her face full of indignation, but Ruby was having none of it and placed her hands on her hips, ready to lay into her mum once again if needed.
‘What’s all this racket?’ Eddie said as he pushed open the door, knocking Ruby sideways. ‘Can’t a man have a nap without you two going at it like fishwives?’ he shouted.
Ruby, who had grabbed the back of an armchair to stop herself falling, wrinkled her nose in disgust at the smell. ‘Have you been drinking?’ she asked as beer fumes overcame her, making her gag. ‘How come you’ve had time to go to the boozer when you can’t have left your work more than half an hour ago?’
‘They let him go,’ Milly jeered, still hell-bent on arguing.
‘Is this true, Eddie?’ Ruby asked, fearful of his reply. Without her earning any money in recent weeks, and with Eddie’s wages at the best of times erratic, things had been tight. She thought of her savings, hidden in a tobacco tin at the back of the pantry. The money was dwindling fast, and she wasn’t sure if the rent had been paid. He slumped into the armchair not saying a word. ‘Eddie – have you lost your job?’ Ruby all but screamed as her mum continued to cackle gleefully. ‘Shut up, Mum. Eddie, speak to me,’ she demanded, pulling at his hands until they fell from his face. ‘What the hell happened? You’ve only been in that job a couple of weeks. I thought you liked it?’
He gazed up at her, looking doleful. ‘I got caught fighting – but it wasn’t my fault,’ he added quickly. ‘I was defending myself.’
‘You always are, Eddie, you always are,’ she sighed, as any happiness she’d arrived home with seeped away. ‘I thought moving here would be a new start for us all. A nice house, a new baby, and you in a proper job for once. I was that delighted when you stopped working for Cedric Mulligan and settled into a job that gave you a pay packet every week rather than bits of money here and there from Cedric when it suited him, or when he wanted you to use your fists. Don’t think I hadn’t heard you’d started hanging around him again,’ she said as he gave her a surprised look. ‘There’s always someone who wants to make sure I knew what you’ve been up to,’ she said, glancing towards Milly, who had become quiet but was still relishing the scene unfolding in front of her. ‘I thought with us paying our rent to a collector we’d not have any contact with Cedric again. This is the second job you’ve lost since we moved here!’
‘We will get by, girl.’ He reached for her hand. ‘We always do, even if it means moving from here and finding something cheaper to rent.’
‘Oh no, not this time Eddie Caselton. I happen to like this house and this town, and I want to make a go of living here. So, will you work with me to make a decent future for all of us, or do I have to show you the door?’ she demanded, wondering what had happened to the man she married. At times a spark of the old Eddie appeared, but then the drinking and gambling took over. Add Cedric to the pot, offering him easy money to do his dirty work, and her dream for a happy family life flew out of the window.
‘Aw, Ruby,’ he said, looking to his mother-in-law for support and being ignored. ‘This street is too posh for the likes of us. I’m not the kind of bloke to earn the kind of money for us to stay here. Every other bloke living in this street has some high and mighty job on the river or running a shop in the town. I’m not like them. Tell her, Milly.’
‘Don’t get me involved in your quarrels. It’s bad enough I have nowhere to live at my time of life, what with your wife showing me
