‘I can understand how you feel. Did you travel to London to see the queen’s funeral procession?’
‘No. George was a baby, and I didn’t want to leave him with Mum as I’d have worried too much. Eddie went, though, and told me all about it,’ she said. ‘Perhaps I’ll take George to watch the coronation. He would enjoy seeing the parades and the posh carriages. It seems strange to think Queen Victoria has not been gone ten years and already we are talking of her grandson being king. Imagine if my mum had been queen – I couldn’t even contemplate taking over her crown while still mourning her loss,’ she said sadly.
‘The royal family know no different. They were born into it,’ Frank said as he shifted slightly to get more comfortable. ‘George may only be ten years of age, but it’s like propping up a sack of potatoes,’ he grinned.
‘Here, let me take him for a while,’ Ruby said, holding out her arms to take her son. ‘He can squeeze in here next to me.’
‘No, I’m fine now I’ve stretched my arm. If you like, I’ll give him a piggyback home?’
Ruby chuckled. ‘Just like a sack of potatoes?’
‘He’s no trouble. You must be proud of him. I don’t know a brighter kid. He knocks our Donald into a cocked hat.’
Ruby felt proud that Frank thought well of her son. She’d found him to be an intelligent man, so his words meant something to her. ‘I do wish I’d been able to give him a brother or sister. It is good he has your Donald to talk with, but now Donald is that bit older I fear George will appear too childish to have hanging on his shirt tails.’
‘There’s still time. You’ve not reached old bones yet,’ Frank said, lowering his voice so fellow travellers didn’t hear.
Ruby rubbed the window with the cuff of her coat, trying to look out into the darkness to see where they were. ‘I could say the same of you, Frank Green. I’ve not seen you go courting as much as other men your age,’ she smiled as the train came to a halt. ‘My goodness, this is our station,’ she added as a whistle could be heard, with the stationmaster announcing they’d arrived in Erith.
The group of friends walked in companionable silence, apart from Frank. He’d noticed his mum was wearing her indoor slippers now, and joshed her playfully about not being able to take her anywhere posh. Stella was quick to answer that the person they’d gone to pay their respects to would be none the wiser.
Ruby fell behind to walk with Frank who, despite him saying otherwise, was struggling with the sleeping George on his back.
‘Come here, you weakling, let me take him,’ Derek said, taking George from his brother and sweeping him up in his arms with ease. ‘If you did a man’s job you’d have the muscles,’ he grinned good-naturedly.
‘And if you had the brains you’d not be working down in the brickfield,’ Frank was quick to reply as they watched Derek move at speed ahead of them.
‘It’s a joy to see you brothers get on so well,’ Ruby said as Frank offered his arm and relieved her of her heavy bag. Slipping her arm through his, she thought how lucky she was to have such good friends.
‘There’s something I wanted to ask you,’ Frank said as they approached Alexandra Road. ‘Can I come in and have a few words?’
Ruby felt her heart lurch. If he was going to swear his undying love to her, it wasn’t the right time. She loved Frank as she would a brother, if she’d had one. To let him down could cause pain not only for him, but also Stella and Wilf, and that was the last thing she wanted – especially when they were all tired after the trip to London, and George needed his bed. ‘For a few minutes,’ she said as Frank took the yawning boy from Derek’s arms and she made her thanks. Opening the front door, she ushered them inside and turned to look back at the street she’d come to know and love so well. With the row of houses bathed in the glow of the streetlamps, there was a certain magic in the air. Ruby prayed that nothing would change her life, but as she wondered about the future, a shiver ran through her body.
‘Bless him, he didn’t need any persuading to get to his bed. It was all I could do to get him undressed and run a flannel over his face,’ Ruby said as she joined Frank in the front room. He’d lit the two gas lights on the wall either side of the chimney breast and had carried in a tea tray.
‘You are lucky to have a gas stove. Mum went on for ages until Dad relented when the coal stove took too long to get going.’
Ruby sat down and took the teacup he handed to her. ‘It wasn’t my doing. You can thank the chap who owned the house before my landlord got hold of it. Surely you must have known the owner?’
‘We never really crossed paths. Dad said he left pretty quickly.’
Ruby told Frank the story of how the house had been lost due to the man’s addiction to gambling and Eddie being in the right place to take on the tenancy. ‘It was one of the best things to happen in my life. Here we are as near as damn it five years later, with a lovely home.’
‘But no husband,’ he said, watching her closely to see how she would react.
‘I’m happy as I am, Frank. I do miss Eddie – whatever you may think, there was a time when he was a good husband. In hindsight, I
