‘You’ll be all right, won’t you, Ruby? And you’ll look after Rose?’ Joe laid his hand over hers.
Staring at his long, slim fingers, smooth and unblemished by toil, in total contrast to her own small, capable hand, red and chapped by hard work, Ruby couldn’t bring herself to tell him the truth. Whatever he had done, deep down he was still the same big brother who had protected her from the Spivey Street kids when they bullied her on her way home from school; he was still the same Joe who used to tell her jokes to make her
laugh when she was sad. It had been Joe who had comforted her when she was going through the gangly-legged, coltish stage of adolescence, telling her she was lovely and one day she would knock the socks off all the lads for miles around. She met his eyes with a smile. ‘Don’t worry about me or Rosetta. We’ll be all right.’
‘Crowe treats you well, I can see that. And anyway, he wouldn’t take it out on you. He may be a hard man but he wouldn’t stoop so low as to harm a woman.’
Ruby sipped her port and lemon, saying nothing.
‘As for Rose, well, she’s gone home to Mum, who’ll give her an ear-bashing, but she’ll take care of her and the nipper. With you as a doting auntie, it’ll be a lucky little bastard and that’s the truth.’ Supping the last drop of his pint, Joe slapped the glass down on the table
Staring at him, Ruby wondered how anyone who was so basically kind and loving could also be so completely self-centred and selfish. She loved Joe dearly but, at this moment, she really didn’t like him at all.
‘Come on, Ruby,’ he said, getting to his feet. ‘Don’t look so serious. I’m sure army life will suit me down to the ground, so you don’t need to worry about me. Let’s get you back to Raven Street, and then I’m off to be a soldier of the queen.’ With a mock salute and a bow, Joe held
his hand out to her, grinning as though he had not a care in the world.
Throwing herself into her studies, Ruby had no time to worry about Joe or Rosetta. She had the comfort of knowing that Mum and Granny Mole would be surviving more comfortably now she had sent them the rest of her wages; it wasn’t a fortune but at least they would have enough to eat.
Working a fourteen-hour shift meant that Ruby had little or no spare time, but somehow that didn’t seem to matter. She worked alongside Pamela, who took great pains to explain every procedure and to encourage her, and, best of all, there were the wonderful moments when she had to assist Adam as he went about his duties. Ruby’s admiration for him grew every time she watched him undertake a clinical procedure. He seemed to have the happy knack of being able to communicate with patients, whatever their social standing or their intellectual capacity. Ruby cherished the golden moments when she stood by his side, even though she might be holding a kidney dish filled with bloodied dressings, a vomit bowl or a smelly bedpan. She wondered at his easy-going, cheerful nature; nothing ever seemed to ruffle the calmness of his disposition and nothing seemed to matter except that she was helping Adam in his life’s work of
ministering to the sick. She took a secret delight in the knowledge that he had made it possible for her to train as a nurse. His generosity in donating the bursary made him even more special in her eyes. The more Ruby grew to know Adam, the deeper she fell in love with him and the more desperate she became to deny what she knew was a hopeless passion. Pamela had confided in her that she and Adam had become unofficially engaged, and that made Ruby even more determined to control her runaway emotions.
The weeks slipped by almost without Ruby noticing the passing of spring into summer. She left for the hospital at six-thirty every morning, returning well after nine o’clock every evening. She always walked home, the same way every night, enjoying the cool breeze on her cheeks after a long hot day working on the wards. Buying textbooks had used up the small amount of money she had saved from her wages for that particular purpose, leaving nothing for cab fares, but the summer evenings were light and Ruby saw no danger in walking the familiar streets on her own.
She had seen very little of Jonas since he had returned from Southend and Ruby made no attempt to seek his company. Lily sent postcards, sometimes two or three a week, and she seemed to have accommodated herself to life in an institution. Her notes were cheerful, optimistic
and affectionate and Ruby sat up late at night, writing long letters in reply.
On her infrequent days off, Ruby always meant to visit Tobacco Court to see how Rosetta was getting along, but somehow there was always something that stopped her. Mostly she was simply too tired to walk all the way to Whitechapel and she would spend the day resting, reading and studying. In her determination to avoid Jonas, she also managed to shut herself off from what went on in the house. Ruby knew that bare-knuckle fights, ratting and cock-fighting took place nightly in the walled confines of the back yard, but it was surprisingly easy to close her mind to the illegal goings-on in Jonas Crowe’s establishment. Gambling, drunkenness and prostitution were all part of life in the East End and Ruby knew that she couldn’t change a thing; but when she was a qualified nurse, she could at least help alleviate the suffering brought about by poverty and disease. Single-mindedly, she concentrated all her efforts on her studies.
It was a warm night in July and the full moon hung like a golden ball in the darkening sky as Ruby walked home. She felt strangely restless, with a quiver of excitement fluttering inside her chest like a caged sparrow. Forcing her feet to go in the direction of Raven Street, Ruby tried to
rationalise her disquiet, thinking that it must be the unexpected invitation to Adam and Pamela’s engagement party that had unsettled her. She had known that they would make it official as soon as Adam had qualified, but now it had happened it was so final. In a few days they would be pledged to each other in front of family and friends. Ruby had not expected to be invited to the party at Adam’s parents’ house in Highgate and she did not want to go, but Pamela had insisted that she accept, challenging her to think of a reason why she should not attend. To admit that she would feel out of place in such an illustrious gathering would sound like inverted snobbery; Ruby knew that she would have to accept and put on a brave face.
She had one foot on the bottom step of the house in Raven Street when a hansom cab pulled up and Jonas sprang out. He paid the driver and caught up with Ruby before she had time to let herself into the house.
‘I thought I told you never to walk home alone.’
‘It’s safe enough.’
Jonas’s dark brows knotted across the top of his nose. ‘I expect that’s what the women thought who got carved up by the Ripper. I know that worthless brother of yours has done a bunk, but I told you to always get a cab home at night.’
‘All right, I will next time.’ Ruby could feel his breath hot on her cheek, bringing back vivid memories of that night months ago. Her hand trembled as she tried to insert her key in the lock.
Reaching across her, Jonas unlocked the door. He followed her into the hall. ‘You will get a cab every night without fail. Do you hear me?’
‘There’s no need to raise your voice, Mr Crowe. I heard you.’
For a moment they stared at each other, locked in a battle of wills.
‘If you’ve run out of money, you only have to tell me and I’ll see you have sufficient for cab fares,’ Jonas said, unbending a little.
‘Thank you. Can I go now?’
‘Yes, and change out of that hideous rag you’re wearing. You look like a drab.’
‘I’m proud of this uniform,’ Ruby said, with a defiant lift of her chin.
‘Maybe, but it doesn’t do you justice. What happened to that blue gown I bought for you? Why haven’t I seen you wearing it?’
Staring at him in amazement, Ruby shook her head. She had intended to give it to Rosetta but somehow she couldn’t bear to part with something so beautiful. ‘It’s hanging in the cupboard.’
‘Then go and put it on. I want to see you in it.’
Ruby hesitated, sensing danger. ‘Why?’
‘Why do you hide your good looks with
dowdy clothes and your hair scraped back into that hideous bun?’ Jonas fingered a curl that had escaped from the combs that held Ruby’s hair off her face. ‘Dress yourself up, do your hair and have dinner with me.’
Suspecting the worst, Ruby tried to read his expression and failed. ‘I – I don’t think so.’
‘Don’t you trust me, Ruby?’ A smile played around the corners of Jonas’s lips and the steely look in his eyes was replaced by a disconcerting twinkle.
‘No, I don’t, and with good reason,’ Ruby said, backing away from him.
‘I can’t lie and say I’m sorry for what I did – let’s say the temptation was too much for me – but I promise I won’t lay a finger on you. Humour me, Ruby. Change your dress and join me for dinner.’
‘I’m tired. It’s been a long day …’
‘And you need to eat. I’ll give you fifteen minutes to change and then I would appreciate it, Miss Capretti, if you would give me the pleasure of your company.’
It was an order rather than an invitation but Ruby was not going to submit to bullying, even when it was disguised by a velvet voice and a teasing smile. ‘No, thanks.’
‘And I want to talk to you about Joe,’ Jonas said over his shoulder as he walked away.
This could not be taken as anything but an
ultimatum. Reluctantly, Ruby went up to her room and changed into the gown of shimmering, lavender-blue silk. Even to her tired eyes, the effect was astounding: a stranger looked back at her from the mirror, even before she had had time to pile her dark curls into a fashionable upswept style. For the first time in her life, Ruby wished that she had some jewellery, just a plain necklace or some earrings, to complete the transformation. I look like a proper lady, she thought, staring at her reflection, wide-eyed. If only Adam could see me now.
Wishing she were anywhere but here, Ruby walked into the dining room prepared to face the most unpleasant evening of her life so far. Anger simmered away beneath her outward appearance of calm: bitter, seething anger at Jonas for using threats against Joe to bend her to his will.
‘Very nice,’ Jonas said, eyeing her up and down. ‘I always knew I had good taste.’
‘I suppose it’s all down to you then?’ Ruby looked him straight in the eye. ‘You think you’re so blooming clever but you’re really just a big bully, picking on people what can’t defend themselves and sending your gang out to do your dirty work. Well, I ain’t frightened of you because there ain’t nothing left for you to do to me that you ain’t already done. Now I’m starving, so either feed me or mash me up to a
pulp to get even with Joe. At this moment, I don’t particularly care which, just get it over.’
‘Well then,’ Jonas said, pulling out a chair. ‘I’m glad you got that off your chest. Now sit down, please. I promise not to mash you to a pulp until you’ve got a good dinner inside you.’
Aware that he was laughing at her, Ruby sat down. She had not noticed, until this moment, that the food was already set out on the table, and his assumption that she would accept his invitation to dine with him made her even more cross and uncomfortable. Jonas seemed to be totally unaware of her discomfort, and he sat down, cutting a large slice from a pie that smelt tantalisingly of steak and kidney. Heaping her plate with potatoes and cabbage, he passed it to her with a jug of gravy.
‘Mrs Bragg isn’t the most ambitious cook,’ he said, smiling, ‘but she makes the best steak and kidney pie in London.’
Ruby would have liked to push the plate away, feigning loss of appetite, but she was too hungry to pretend and the pie tasted even more delicious than it looked and smelt.
‘Good,’ Jonas said, filling Ruby’s glass with red wine from a cut glass decanter. ‘I like to see a woman with a healthy appetite.’
‘Oh, shut up,’ Ruby said, gulping down a mouthful of the wine.
Jonas refilled her glass, saying nothing, and
they ate in silence until Ruby had cleared her plate.
‘There’s blancmange,’ Jonas said, waving his hand in the direction of a fat, white, wobbly shape on a willow pattern plate. ‘Or I can ask Mrs Bragg to make you one of her jam omelettes.’
Pushing her plate away, Ruby drank the last of her wine. ‘I don’t want a jam omelette. I want to know why you got me here?’
‘The blancmange is very good,’ Jonas said, scooping some onto his own plate.
‘All right, I’ll have some, but only if you tell me what you’re planning to do about Joe. You do know that he’s joined up, I suppose?’
Jonas heaped another plate with the dessert and handed it to her. ‘Of course I do.’
‘Why are you taking it so calmly? Joe was scared stiff of what you and your gang would do to him.’
‘I have my reasons, Ruby. The army will be the making of Joe.’
Staring at him, Ruby tried to imagine what was going on behind his bland expression. Suddenly she wanted to make him angry, to provoke some reaction from him. ‘And so you’re holding me hostage until he comes back or pays you off, which he’ll never do.’
‘No, I don’t make war on women.’
‘Then why did you force me to come and live here, and why did you …’ Ruby couldn’t bring
herself to put the deed into words; she stared down at her plate, hoping he could not see the blush that flooded her cheeks.
‘I never intended that any harm should come to you, Ruby. I shouldn’t have forced myself on you. It was unforgivable.’
Looking into his eyes, Ruby saw genuine regret and she knew she should have savoured this small triumph, but strangely she felt only disappointment. ‘Is that why you made me come to work for you? Just so that you could use me and humiliate me?’
Jonas flinched as though she had slapped him across the face. ‘No! That wasn’t how it was at all.’
‘So why did you make me come and live here, if it wasn’t to get even with Joe?’
Jonas was silent for a moment, sipping his wine, as if carefully calculating his answer. ‘I wanted you to care for Lily,’ he said slowly, ‘and I knew you wouldn’t come unless I forced your hand. I’m not proud of what I did but, in the first place, it was purely for Lily’s sake.’
‘And now?’
‘Lily is dying. The sanatorium is her last hope but it’s a slim one. I’ve neglected Lily and taken her for granted.’ Jonas pushed his plate away as if he had suddenly lost his appetite. ‘I let her fall in love with me knowing that I could never return the feeling. She has no idea how ill she is
and I just wanted her to have a friend, someone she could rely on. I knew from the first moment I saw you standing in the graveyard that you would be the right person.’