Milly could see there was no chance of her staying indoors and blacking her nose. ‘If I take it slow, I can reach the river without making myself bad. But if I feel poorly, we will have to turn back.’
‘Thank you, Mum. As long as you stay out for an hour, it will give me time to talk to Eddie. Now, do you want a bite to eat for your breakfast?’
Milly nodded. ‘Ta, love, then I’ll get myself ready and wake the boy at the same time. Are you staying here all day?’ she asked Stella, with a disapproving look. Clearly Milly felt that if she could not stay to listen to the conversation Ruby would have with Eddie, then why should a neighbour?
‘I’m going to bring in the washing while Ruby gets your breakfast, then I’ll be off over home to sort out my lot. Old Miss Hunter won’t say anything to me if she sees me taking in the dry sheets. It’ll save Ruby getting any grief. In my book she seems to have enough of that at the moment,’ Stella said, with a smile that defied Milly to answer back.
Milly huffed as she got to her feet. ‘What did I say about doing your laundry on a Sunday? It will bring bad luck, you mark my words.’
Ruby took a deep breath and did her best not to be distracted by Eddie’s puppy-dog expression. How many times had she seen that look? This time she would harden her heart, otherwise their lives would continue like this into old age. She didn’t want to look back and regret her life, or that of her son. ‘Eddie, I can’t listen to your excuses any more. Why, only yesterday afternoon you were promising things would be different. I don’t know what to believe. I know you are the head of this family and in the eyes of the law I have to take your lead. But I’m not going to, as I want more for my life and that of my – our son. I do want to respect you, Eddie, but it’s getting harder and harder. Each time you come home with some cock-and-bull story about having been given the sack from your job, or when you lose what you earned on a horse.’
Eddie had enough shame to look down at the table where they sat. Milly and George had already been gone nearly an hour by the time he finally woke up, and Ruby kept glancing at the clock on the mantelpiece. A wedding present from her two sisters, it was a prized possession and one she’d not taken to pawn when times had been harder than they were at present. She hoped Milly wouldn’t rush George back too soon from their walk. Tapping her fingers on the table, she waited for Eddie to speak.
He rubbed his hands over his careworn face and licked his lips, wishing he had a drink in front of him – and he didn’t mean tea. He was awash with the stuff, as Ruby kept filling his cup. ‘I’m just one of those unlucky chaps who makes mistakes. I don’t think I’m made out to do a job where I clock on every day and pick up a pay packet at the end of the week. I like to move about and do bits and pieces for different people.’
‘That was all well and good while you didn’t have responsibilities. Now you have a wife and a son, and dare I say a mother-in-law too.’
‘And don’t I know it?’ Eddie all but snarled. ‘How come she ended up living with us, when your Janie and Fanny have homes of their own and are doing well for themselves?’
Ruby had often thought the same, but in truth she knew that it was probably because her sisters had married well and moved up in the world. They now both spoke with plums in their mouths; to have Milly Tomkins under either roof would risk exposing their lowly roots. ‘I know it doesn’t always seem as though she is, but Mum’s happy with us. She loves our George and fits in,’ she tried to explain, although she had to agree there were times when she’d have gladly shown Milly the door. ‘You have to remember that I never knew my dad. Him dying as he did before I was born, I have only ever known my mum. Fanny and Janie being older than me, they can remember him. It’s important to me to have Mum about. She’s my only contact with my past.’
Eddie shook his head. ‘I have no idea why these things are important to a woman. I left home as soon as I was able to make my way in the world and I’ve never looked back.’
‘I’d like to have known your family,’ Ruby said.
‘There’s not much to know,’ he said, shrugging off her words. He’d never opened up about his family, even though she’d asked him many times. ‘A man makes his own way in life. He doesn’t need family hanging on his coat-tails,’ was all he’d ever said on the subject. In fact, at their wedding he’d had just a few friends, along with Cedric Mulligan, sitting on his side of the church. He didn’t seem to have any roots, and perhaps this was the reason he wandered so easily from job to job and home to home.
‘Oh well, that’s not what I want to discuss with you at the moment. Eddie, I know you think I keep going on about it, but I want you to understand that I like living here. We have the kind of home I’ve always dreamt of and I don’t want to move on. Our George needs to have a stable home and go to school and learn as much as he can in
