East End Angel Part 25

Ruby had seen the graze on Matilda's cheek and the woman's hair, so neatly coiled earlier, was dishevelled, framing her face in faded auburn skeins. 'I have to go back ... otherwise he'll just keep coming here, creating merry h.e.l.l.' Ruby made a small futile gesture. 'I'm ashamed you got dragged into it and got hurt.'

'Ain't nuthin' to be ashamed about. A punch-up's par for the course for the likes of us round here.' Matilda managed a grin despite her aching face.

Ruby peeped sideways at her husband. He was standing with his mother, who held a rag to her bleeding nose. They were both watching her spitefully. Ruby had already told Charlie she'd go with him so long as he let Pansy and Peter stay with Matilda until things were sorted out between them. Ruby knew she was in for a hiding, and she'd take it willingly to keep her children safe from Charlie's malice. As for Paul ... she wouldn't be parted from him; besides, she knew it would be a liberty too far to expect Matilda to care for two children and an unweaned baby.

'Your husband can come back here as often as he likes and bring the old bruiser with him.' Matilda contemptuously snapped her head at the East Enders. 'I can promise them both the same reception as they got today. They won't get no change off us.'

Ruby spontaneously hugged Matilda, careful not to squash the baby between them. 'You've been so kind, but if you'd have the two older kids for me, just for a short while till things calm down and they can come home ...'

'Do you really believe things will calm down?' Matilda patted Ruby's arm when the woman coloured up. 'It's your life, Ruby, and I ain't gonna tell you how to live it. You come back here any time, and you'll be welcomed with open arms. Understand?'

Ruby knuckled her damp eyes, nodding. 'Would you ask Margaret to tell my lady I can't do her work no more. I'm sorry I mucked her about; hope Margaret won't get into trouble 'cos of me.'

'No need to worry about that!' Matilda clucked her tongue. 'Lots of women round here'll give their eyeteeth fer the position. Job'll be snapped up by tomorrow.'

Miserably, Ruby knew that to be true. She'd lost a good job after only a few days. She'd got on with her client and had found the work and the money gave her a boost. 'I'm off now. Thanks for everything you've done. I'll pay you back ...'

Matilda quietened Ruby with a finger on her lips. 'None o' that, now. Times like this money ain't important. The kids'll be fine with me. I'll let Kathy know what's gone on, shall I?' She followed the younger woman as Ruby trudged towards the Potters. 'Kathy'll be done up when she finds out you're back to square one.'

'Nurse Finch has been so good to us.' Ruby squeezed Matilda's arm, indicating she shouldn't come further but keep her distance from her belligerent kin. She walked on alone towards her husband, patting Paul's back, but her heart was beating so fast in fear she felt faint.

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO.

Kathy could see her mother was feeling glum, and she guessed that things at home were still fraught for Winnie. Her mother had told her that her brother had got a good hiding off Eddie for bringing the police snooping around. Last time Kathy had seen Tom, he'd been moping in his room with a black eye and both legs striped with weals from Eddie's belt. She had to admit that her brother had been an idiot getting involved with the Fascists in the first place, but Eddie's chastis.e.m.e.nt was always too harsh. Before she'd left that day, Kathy had told her mother so.

'Has Dad calmed down yet, Mum?'

Kathy was sipping tea by her mother's draining board. Winnie was plunging her husband's smalls up and down in the suds in the sink.

'Needs darning,' Winnie muttered, ignoring her daughter's question and throwing aside a sock. Last time she'd seen Kathy, she'd been full of how she was going after Polly Wright for gra.s.sing up Tom, when it was her own son who'd done the bullying and caused the accident. But Winnie had done nothing other than bawl some abuse at Polly, then send the woman to Coventry. She'd heard how Polly had floored an old bruiser of an East Ender, as a favour to Tilly Keiver. Winnie knew that she was no match for Polly even on a good day, and lately she felt dog-tired with depression. So she had avoided going round the Bunk and had given Tom a clip round the ear instead to ease her nerves.

'How's Tom bearing up?' Kathy tried again to find out if there'd been any further blow-up over that particular crisis.

'Little bleeder deserved his punishment.' Before Kathy could follow up the topic, Winnie abruptly changed the subject. 'b.u.mped into Matilda last week. She said she'd like you to pop in to see her next time you were over this way.'

'I was going to call round to the Bunk anyway,' Kathy replied. 'I look forward to seeing how Ruby and the kids are settling in.

'That little Pansy's a cutie.' Winnie smiled. 'She's taken to Reg. Saw him going for a walk with her. Could be the kid's granddad, he could, way he dotes on her.' Winnie found another holey sock and it joined the other in the darning pile. 'As for the lad, Tom was kicking a ball about with him the other day.'

Kathy smiled, happy to hear the news. 'Just finish me tea and better get going then.'

'You don't mention David Goldstein much lately.' Winnie shot a peek at her daughter.

Kathy put down her cup on the draining board. 'He's gone off to Spain to fight in the civil war.'

Winnie's labouring fingers fell still, dangling two lengths of wet wool in mid-air. Abruptly, she dropped the socks into the bowl and wiped her hands on her pinafore. 'Well ... that's a turn up fer the books. Are you upset?'

'Not in the way you mean. We'd grown apart so there was no romance left, but I hope he keeps safe, 'cos we parted as friends.' Kathy smiled. 'I've got a new boyfriend ...'

'Your dad'll be pleased to hear it.' Winnie cleared her throat, realising she'd spoken tactlessly. 'That is ... you know how your father is with the police. He'd never have liked it if you and David got married.'

'Yeah, I know,' Kathy said wryly. She realised her mother had diplomatically refrained from mentioning that Eddie wasn't keen on Jews either.

'Nice fellow, is he, the new one?'

Kathy nodded. 'Perhaps I'll bring him over one day ...'

'Mmm ...' Winnie said with muted enthusiasm, resuming dunking socks. She was already fretting her husband might show her up during the new boyfriend's visit. Eddie Finch could find fault with most people, and to their face, if he was feeling particularly churlish.

Nick hadn't said any more about meeting her parents but Kathy knew she owed him the courtesy of an introduction before long. She had a feeling he might tell her soon that he loved her and she knew she'd fallen for him. She'd been in two minds whether to question him about the lorry hijacking that had happened when he worked for Wes Silver. She should know all about the man she hoped to spend her life with ... even if some of his past wasn't to her liking. In return he had every right to know about the shameful behaviour of her relatives and she could only hope the truth wouldn't scare him off ...

Kathy's mind immediately turned to Jennifer. She toyed with her empty cup, brooding on whether to mention to her mum that her sister was carrying Winnie's first grandchild. Jenny had said she didn't want their parents informed, but Kathy knew for certain that her twin yearned to be reconciled with their mother. She hoped her sister had given up on the idea of trying to abort the baby. The moment she'd seen Jennifer's knitting, she'd been relieved that her twin seemed resigned to motherhood.

Without doubt, Jennifer's pregnancy was another calamity to add to those that had gone before. But, in an odd way, the news of a baby even one born out of wedlock might melt Winnie's icy heart where Jennifer was concerned. Whether her mother would yet feel able to tell Eddie about their grandchild was another matter. At some time in the future, news that Jennifer Finch had been spotted pushing a pram might leak out. Kathy knew Winnie would sooner hear the scandal from her own daughter than from a neighbour.

Still Kathy hesitated on mentioning the matter. She estimated that her sister was about four months gone. There was still a long way to go and a natural miscarriage could yet occur. She couldn't deny such a solution would be best for all concerned in the circ.u.mstances.

As Winnie started wringing out her washing, Kathy said cheerfully, 'Best be off then, Mum, and call round Matilda's before I head for home.'

'Reckernise him, do you?' Charlie had twisted a fist into his wife's tangled brown hair and was forcing her head against the windowpane. 'I reckon he knows you, don't he, gel? Hanging about waiting for you, is he?' Charlie shook Ruby as though he had a kitten by the neck. 'Course, now he's had a butcher's at your ugly mug, he might scarper sharpish.' Charlie shouted a raucous laugh.

'Don't know him ... never seen him before,' Ruby gasped out. Any effort to talk was agony. Her lips were cut and her left eye puffed up to a slit from the battering her husband had given her the evening after he'd forced her home with him.

But he'd not cowed her. She'd lied to Charlie a moment ago. She couldn't see well enough out of her blurry vision to say for sure if the foreigner was Paul's father. But he had Yan's slight stature and long black hair, and that gave Ruby the faintest of hope that he had come back, as he'd promised he would.

'All look the bleedin' same, don't they, them c.h.i.n.ks?' Charlie dragged Ruby back into the room, shoving her away from him. 'Perhaps he heard you've had his kid and he wants it.' He picked up his donkey jacket from the chair. 'Go and ask him, shall I?'

Ruby tried to outrun her husband to the pram but Charlie knocked her sideways before she could throw herself over the baby and prevent him picking Paul up. 'Perhaps he'll offer me a few quid for the little b.a.s.t.a.r.d.' He stuck the howling baby under an arm as though he was so much useless baggage. 'I'd give the little bleeder away free but I ain't turning down a payday. Pikies buy 'em and use 'em as labour. Perhaps the Chinese do 'n' all. Boys can do hard graft as they grow.'

'Put him back in his pram, Charlie,' Ruby pleaded from her crouching position on the floor. 'Please put him back,' she begged. 'He's just a baby, leave him alone. It's me you've got it in for. Please, Charlie ...' She crawled on her knees towards him.

'Now that's better,' Charlie crowed. 'Seems I'm learnin' you yer duty at last.' He sauntered towards Ruby, Paul screaming under his arm, his tiny face bright red in distress. 'Catch ...' He carelessly dropped the child through the air onto his wife's lap.

Greedily, Ruby pressed the baby's face to her own, whispering against his skin to soothe him.

At the door, Charlie turned around, his lips thin and vicious. 'If that c.h.i.n.k's still out there hanging around when I get back, I'm gonna ask him a few questions, and if I don't like the answers, you'll pay, and so will he.' He raised a fist, looking at it while shaking it. 'Don't think about running off, will you, Ruby. You know I'll find you just like I did before. Next time, I'll put you in the ground and you won't want me alone with the foreigner's brat, will you, when yer gone?'

'Ruby's a grown woman, Kath. You've got to leave her be now 'cos you've given all the help you can.' Nick drew Kathy into a tight embrace, rubbing her back in comfort as she sobbed.

'I've not helped!' Kathy gurgled, wiping her eyes with the heel of a hand. 'I've just made things worse. I was wrong to interfere.'

'No ... don't think that! You were right to try to keep the family safe.' Privately, Nick believed Kathy had reason to fear Ruby's lot had worsened the moment she and the kids took off to Islington. Charlie Potter was a vindictive bully and would believe it his prerogative to knock obedience and loyalty into his wife now he'd defeated her escape.

'You told me to leave well alone. But I wouldn't listen. I was stupid and arrogant poking my nose in, thinking I knew best and making you help too. You must think me a fool ...' Kathy's voice was shrill with distress.

'Hush ... I'm proud of you, Kath.' Nick smoothed a tender hand over her tear-stained face. 'I was glad to help. You didn't talk me into it. You just had more courage than me from the start when it came to protecting the family.'

'Peter is trying to put on a brave face but Pansy is so upset without her mum and her baby brother.' Kathy wiped her nose. 'Matilda tries her best to keep them cheerful but they know that something bad's happened ...' Her words tailed off into a hiccoughing sob.

'Something bad was happening before you got involved, sweetheart,' Nick soothed. 'That b.a.s.t.a.r.d Potter needs sorting out once and for all.'

Kathy's wet eyes sprang to Nick's face. 'Don't you go after him, will you?' she whispered. 'If you beat him up again he'll just take it out on Ruby as soon as he gets home.'

'I'm not gonna do anything to make things worse, swear,' Nick vowed softly.

'I wanted them all to have a chance of being happy together, yet all I've done is split the family up.'

'Pansy and Peter are in the best place, staying with Matilda.'

Kathy nodded agreement, but they both knew what Nick had left unsaid: the two older children might be safe but Ruby and baby Paul were again at the mercy of a brute who resented and wanted to punish them.

'Make a cup of tea, shall I?' Nick offered, using his thumbs to dry Kathy's cheeks.

Kathy gave him a grateful smile and sank down on the sofa. She'd got home from Islington just an hour ago. After leaving her mother's house, she'd hurried to see Matilda, antic.i.p.ating hearing news about Ruby's job and how the children were settling in. Peter had already started school in the area and Kathy had intended broaching the subject of Pansy joining him at Pooles Park, the school she'd attended as a child.

The moment Kathy glimpsed Matilda's face she'd known something awful had occurred, and not just from seeing the woman's complexion was bruised. Without self-pity, Matilda had told Kathy how she'd come by the injuries. She'd added that following the fracas in the street she'd been unable to persuade Ruby to send her husband and his mother packing and stay with her in Campbell Road.

Matilda's philosophy had been much the same as Nick's: Ruby's future was hers to decide and all they could do was promise her help if she wanted it.

'I want to go and see Ruby and make sure she's all right.' Kathy blinked in despair at the ceiling. 'That's a stupid thing to say of course she's not all right she never will be while she's with him.' Kathy's sadness was being subdued by frustration and anger.

Nick stepped out of the kitchenette, opening a packet of cigarettes. 'Potter will be keeping a close eye on her now. You won't catch Ruby on her own as often as you used to.' He lit the cigarette, drawing deeply on it. 'I heard from my father-in-law that Blanche has finished with Charlie. So that's another reason he might be hanging around indoors more than normal. Promise me that if you're planning on going there you'll tell me so I can come with you.'

Kathy bit her lip.

'Promise me, Kath,' Nick insisted.

'Shall we go tomorrow?' Kathy gazed at him pleadingly. 'I just want to see Ruby and let her know we're still around, keeping an eye on her, ready if she needs us. I won't suggest she leaves him again, I swear.'

'Yeah, we'll do that. If you can get an hour off I'll come over about two o'clock. Potter should still be at work at that time.'

'Mrs Castell is overdue but I'll tell Eunice an urgent private matter's cropped up and she'll have to cover for me if a midwife's needed while I'm out.' Kathy stood up and went to slide her arms about Nick. She closed her eyes, revelling in the warm smoky scent of him as he embraced her. 'Thanks ... I know you understand 'cos you helped bring Paul into the world, didn't you?' She nestled closer on feeling his mouth warming her forehead.

'Oh, you're back,' Eunice garbled breathlessly. She rushed along the path to meet Kathy, bursting with her news. First, she asked, 'Has Mrs Castell had her baby?'

'Safely delivered,' Kathy announced with a weary smile. 'A little boy, seven pounds eight ounces, and mother and father are delighted ...'

'Sidney's out ... an emergency ... we've had a laying over reported by a mother a couple of hours ago.' Eunice stared sympathetically at Kathy. 'One of your deliveries actually ... the Potter baby ... a boy about seven months old.'

Kathy felt her legs weaken. 'Paul Potter?' she whispered. 'What do you mean ... the baby's poorly?'

'I'm afraid he's dead. Sidney's just been on the telephone. The protesters against the Fascists' march are out in force, making driving difficult 'cos the roads are jammed with police and people, but he's taken the child to hospital. It's just a formality anyhow; there's no hope.'

Kathy's fingers froze on the handlebars of her bike. She felt her head swim and quickly let the bike fall and steadied herself against the shed. 'Are you sure? I was going to see Mrs Potter this afternoon. Are you sure?' Kathy suddenly shouted hysterically.

'Are you all right, Kathy?'

Eunice's concerned features wavered in front of Kathy's eyes.

'You've gone terribly pale. Do you want to sit down? Come inside and I'll fetch you a gla.s.s of water ...'

Kathy s.n.a.t.c.hed herself from Eunice's motherly clasp, acting uncharacteristically churlish. Forcing back her sleeve, she focused on her wrist.w.a.tch. It was one thirty and Nick was due to come over at two.

She'd been called out at ten o'clock last night to deliver the baby. Everything had gone as it should for Mrs Castell. Kathy had left the happy couple and come back feeling exhausted but elated that they had their longed for family. She'd been sure that it was an auspicious start to the day and she and Nick would go and find Ruby no worse than she had been before making the move to Campbell Road.

'I know it's a dreadful shock to hear such a thing.' Eunice put a comforting arm about Kathy. 'You were fond of the family, weren't you, although they were a rough lot.' She sighed. 'Sidney said that Mrs Potter was in a bad way. Some of those navvies treat their women worse than dogs. They're like animals; but losing a child is a tragedy nonetheless.'

Eunice was being diplomatic. In fact, she suspected, as had her husband, that it might not be a coincidence that a baby was accidentally smothered in bed at around the same time that the mother was beaten. Sidney had said the boy looked unharmed but a post-mortem would be needed to establish the truth.

'Did Dr Worth say if Paul looked injured?' Kathy whispered, her thoughts tracking Eunice's.

'He didn't see any obvious damage,' Eunice replied carefully. 'There'll be an inquest, of course. The father wasn't about for Sidney to question him.'

'I don't suppose he was,' Kathy ejected through gritted teeth. 'I expect he made sure to be absent. I hope the evil swine rots in h.e.l.l,' she choked.

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE.

Jennifer rolled onto her back with her knees drawn into her aching belly. 'Mum ...' she whimpered. 'Mum!' she shouted when the searing pain became unbearable. 'You b.i.t.c.h ... why won't you help me ... Mum ...?' Her voice tailed off into a hiccuping sob and she swayed to and fro on the mattress, a blanket held up to her face to try to m.u.f.fle her cries. Even in her agonised state, she remembered to be quiet because the nosy cow next door might have her ear pressed to the wall.

Her fingers touched the wadding between her legs, then recoiled from the soaked rags. It'll stop soon, she whispered to herself. The bulk of her miscarriage had gone down the outside privy hours ago, and Jennifer had staggered in and poured a measure of whisky, feeling relieved and optimistic that the worst was over. A short while later, lying on the sofa dozing, she wasn't feeling so chipper when a spasm in her abdomen made her jack-knife. She'd dragged herself into her bedroom, taking the Scotch with her, feeling sure that a proper sleep would sort her out. After an hour of tossing and turning, she'd found the energy to wriggle out of her blood-soaked skirt, and just in her slip, had comfortingly coc.o.o.ned herself in a sheet. As the pain subsided, Jenny held her breath, hoping to keep it at bay with willpower. She rocked onto her side, grabbed at the whisky and upended the bottle against her mouth. With each greedy swallow she savoured the burn in her throat and the soothing muzz in her head. She slid her hand beneath the pillow, snuggling her cheek into it. But it withdrew immediately having touched the instruments of her self-inflicted torture. Hesitantly, her fingers crept back to withdraw cold metal and the sight of the blood-stained knitting needles made unbearable pain again rip her guts.

'What in d.a.m.nation's going on in there?'

Dot Pearson gave her mother-in-law an old-fashioned look as the older woman thumped on the wall that separated her house from Jennifer Finch's. 'I'll give you two guesses, Ma,' Dot said sourly. 'Could be Miss Finch is overexerting herself doin' her housework, or could be she's overexcited earning herself a few bob. And as she's the local scrubber, won't be putting no odds on which it is.'

'Bleedin' h.e.l.l!' Marge Pearson breathed, coming to reseat herself at the table. 'Sounds like she's bein' murdered.

'Wishful thinking, that is, Ma,' Dot muttered, getting up to slam the kettle on the hob. 'Been saying to your son fer months, I can't stand no more of living next to that slag in there. But does he listen?' Dot snorted contempt. 'It's time we moved somewhere better, I've told him ...' Dot's further complaints were drowned out by a sudden high-pitched scream.

'Don't care how good an actress she is, that ain't a woman having s.e.x,' Marge said, pushing to her feet. 'She's in trouble, Dot, take it from me.'

Dot chewed at her lower lip. She had to admit she'd never before heard the like coming out of Jenny Finch's. She stared at her mother-in-law. 'D'you reckon she's got a wrong 'un in there with her, beating her up? Ain't gonna call the police out and get on the wrong side of her if it ain't nuthin' ...'