And I Come Back To You

Chapter Six - Ruth May

  Ruby turned around to lock the door and went down the stairs, holding Brian's hand. Brian had regained his composure and the skin under his eyes was still a bit wet. They went out and headed for his car; they sat inside of it and Brian started the car up. He drove away from Edith Grove and looked at Ruby who was clenching her fingers around the safety belt.
“Dear, are you okay?”
“Yeah, yeah...”
Brian sighed and looked back at the road.
“I can see you're nervous. Is it because of my mum?”
“It's quite strange for me to see her again after all those years. Do you think she'll remember me?”
“She never forgot you, and everytime I see her, she smiles at our photograph. Is it enough for you?” he smiled.
Ruby sighed and smiled sadly. Brian turned on the radio and silently stared at the road, while Ruby was looking at the landscape passing by, trying to calm down. Thirty minutes later, they arrived in Hampton Hill and Brian parked in front of his old house. He unfastened his safety belt and took his keys. He made sure he hadn't left anything visible. He turned to Ruby who was staring at the house, worried.
“It's going to be okay, love” he whispered. “She's been waiting for you.”
“I know, but... After all this time, don't you think... it's a bit... daring?”
“No, love. She'll be happy. She'll also be shocked, but it will be okay.”
At this moment, a small figure pulled the curtains of the living room. Ruby blenched and instinctively grabbed Brian's hand. He kissed her.
“You won't be alone. And if it's too much for you, we can go elsewhere.”
“No, I'll go.”
They got out of the car and she took a small mirror out of her handbag and made sure her hair hadn't gone wild. She sighed and lifted up her chin. She let Brian hold her hand and lead her to the door. He knocked three times and opened it. Ruth was sitting in the living room, on the old couch, reading a novel. Ruby tried to read the title more carefully, as Ruth didn't raise her eyes. She immediately recognised the cover. It was On The Road. Her heart pounded in her chest as she also recognised the folded corner of the cover. It was her copy. It was the copy she had left there when John took her. She quickly spun around and looked at Brian, her eyes becoming a bit wet.
“Are you okay?” he whispered.
As she was about to speak, Ruth's voice sounded from the living room.
“Who is it?”
“It's Bri, mum.”
“Oh, do come in!”
He stepped forward and kissed his mother who closed the book.
“Mum, there's someone with me.”
“Is it a new girlfriend?” she grinned. “You're a bit too old for that, love.”
“Not really. Please, put down the book, you may have a shock.”
Ruth shrugged and put down the book along with her glasses on the table. Brian waved at Ruby who shyly stepped forward.
“Good evening, madam!” Ruth said. “My name is Ruth May, Brian's mum.”
“Mum, you know her.”
Ruby lifted up her chin and Ruth's eyes widened. Her jaw dropped, and her hands shivered.
“Ruby Franklin...” she whispered. She stood up and slowly walked up to her. She stroked her cheeks with her old hands. “Is it possible? You're back?”
“I am, Ruth.”
“Oh, dear Lord!”
Ruth broke down in tears and tightly embraced her, sobbing on her shoulder. Ruby rested her chin on the old woman's shoulder, letting tears escape from her eyes. Brian was looking at them, smiling, filled with emotion. Ruth took a deep breath and stepped back, taking Ruby's hands and staring at her.
“You became a gorgeous woman! Let me see you, turn around!”
With a grin, Ruby obeyed Ruth and spun round and round. Ruth attentively looked at her and smiled.
“Indeed, you are a gorgeous woman. Oh dear, where have you been all this time?”
“In Paris. I'm a doctor now. I'm currently working with a team to find a cure for people who have liver failures.”
“Oh, that is great! Is it because of your brother?”
“Yes. I want to heal all the victims of this disease.”
“And that's really brave. Congratulations, dear. All those years, I was so frightened that you might have been killed by your father, and now you're here, alive. You don't know how relieved I feel!”
“I can't know. But thank you, Ruth.”
Ruth smiled at her and then turned round to face Brian.
“Are you two... back together?”
Brian giggled and looked up at Ruby, questioning her by his eyes. Ruby smiled and shrugged.
“I guess we are.”
“Oh I'm so glad you are! Your ex wife was nice, Bri, but she wasn't made for you. But Ruby is and has always been.”
Ruth looked back at Ruby and winked. She laughed and kissed her cheek.
“Would you have a cup of tea?”
“I'd love to, Ruth. May I help you?”
“No, just sit on the couch with Bri, I'm taking care of the tea.”
She patted her guest's shoulder and slowly walked up to the kitchen. Ruby came to Brian and they shared a tender kiss, stroking each other's hair. Brian hugged her and grinned.
“So, is it that bad?”
“No, not at all. I'm glad to see her, I've missed her.”
They sat on the couch and held hands. They turned their heads to glance at the framed old photograph of them, nailed to the wall.
“Oh, I looked beautiful this day in spite of my injuries.” Ruby said.
“You always look beautiful, Ruby.”
She playfully nudged him.
“What? Why do you hit me? I'm telling the truth, the only truth.”
“Can I tell the truth too?”
“Tell it.”
“I love you.”
He smiled and kissed her lips. Ruth came back from the kitchen, holding a tray with three cups on it and a teapot; she saw Brian and Ruby kissing and couldn't refrain a huge smirk. “I witnessed this when they were 21, and now when they're 44!” she thought. She walked up to the small table and placed the tray on it, trying not to spill anything. She sat beside the two lovers and gracefully poured the tea into the three cups.
“Thank you very much, Ruth.”
“You're welcome, dear. I couldn't let you get thirsty here, you know me!” Ruth giggled. “So, Brian, how was the concert you played recently for Freddie?”
“Oh, it was very... emotional. It was amazing to see all those people gathered here for him. And that's where I saw Ruby.”
“Oh, you were at the concert!”
“Yes, actually that's why I'm here. My aunt took our flat in Edith Grove and lived there for years and now, the flat belongs to her daughter. And so, my ousin suggested that I could stay there for the concert and that I could also stay longer.”
“How long?”
“I'm leaving soon, unfortunately. I'm leaving in a week.”
“Do you still live in Paris?”
“Yes.”
“What about your parents?”
“Oh, John died last year, he got hit by a car. And my mother's in a retirement house, she's too weak to live by herself.”
“I'm still sorry for your father” Ruth said.
“I'm not.” Ruby replied. “He wasted my life and he treated my mother like she wasn't human. That's why she can't live by herself now. John was even more violent when we moved to Paris, and he tried to kill my mother once just because she had told a friend about the situation at home. She's still in a state of shock and she can't recover.”
“Oh, that's terrible! Is she in Paris?”
“Unfortunately not, I wish I could take care of her as I would be close. But she's in Cheltenham, where she was born. We thought it'd be better.”
“And you were right. Why don't you come back to England? I'm sure you'd be better too here. And there's Bri.”
“I wish I could. But my daughter needs me and she studies in Paris.”
“Oh, you have a daughter! How lovely!” Ruth said happily, clapping her hands. “What's her name?”
“May Ruth.”
Ruth stopped and she stared at Ruby quizzically. Then, she looked at Brian who smiled at her.
“Is it...”
“Yes, I named her after you.” Ruby smiled.
Ruth's lips started to tremble. Then, she started to sob. Ruby hugged her with a smile.
“You know, Ruth, it was to thank you for all the things you did for me when I was in need.”
“What a great thing, thank you.”
Ruth kissed Ruby's forehead and wiped her tears.
“Mum” Brian said, “there's something else you should know about May.”
“What is it?”
“Brian is the father.”
“What?! But... Did you meet during those 23 years?”
“No. It was an accident. I became pregnant in 1969 and I had her in 1970. I have a picture of her in my bag, hold on.”
She opened her handbag and searched for the picture of May she always kept with her. She saw it and took it out before handing it to Ruth, who took it with a shivering hand. Ruth also grabbed her glasses that were on the table and put them on. She looked at the picture and giggled before sobbing again.
“She... She absolutely looks like Bri. She has the same hair and... This smile...”
She shook her hand before her face and laughed. She dried her eyes and gave the photograph back to Ruby.
“My granddaughter is absolutely gorgeous.”
“Ruth, do you want to keep the photograph? I have another at home, you can keep it if you want to frame it.”
“Can I?”
“Of course you can” Ruby smiled. Ruth's face lit up and she stood up with energy, almost running across the room and went to the frame picture on the wall. She slithered the picture of May in the frame and proudly looked at it. She joined her hands on her chest, sighing with a grin.
“Can you believe that, Harold? We have another granddaughter, and her mother is Ruby. Ruby's back, she's right here, on the couch, can you see her?”
Brian grabbed Ruby's hand and squeezed it. He sniffed and Ruby could see tears rolling down his face. She wrapped her arms around him and kissed his hair, caressing it at the same time.
“I miss my father” he whispered in a strangled voice before breaking down in tears. Ruby kissed him and patted his back tenderly, wiping his tears with her thumbs. He took deep breaths and tried to calm down. Ruth came back to them, with a packet wrapped in a colourful paper. She sat on the couch again, stretching out her arm to squeeze her son's thigh gently. Then, she removed her hand and put it back on the packet.
“Ruby, since you left because of your father, I've hoped that you'd come back. And you did. Almost one year after you left, I wrapped this for your birthday, hoping you'd be there for this day. Now I think it was a stupid thought. And I guess that you won't like what it contains, but I think you'd have liked it back then.”
She carefully placed the packet on Ruby's knees. Ruby removed her hands from Brian's shoulders and softly opened it. The first thing she saw was her old backpack she left her home with. It was still in an excellent state. Under it, there was two wonderful dresses that she would have loved back in the 1960s. One was purple and quite short with a white belt, and the other was multicoloured and looked like an oriental dress. Ruby's eyes filled with tears and she blushed.
“Open the backpack” Ruth whispered in her ear. Ruby did so, and as soon as she saw what was inside, she suddenly stood up, one hand on her heart and the other covering her nose and mouth. She let herself cry in a corner. Brian took the ackpack and took a look at what was inside. He saw a bunch of pictures and took them out. First, there were the pictures Prudence had taken when Brian and Ruby had received their presents from her; Brian was wearing the nice velvet coat he cherished for years, and Ruby was wearing a white and blue long coat with white boots. Then, there were pictures that Harold and May had taken just for her, in case she'd come back. He had totally forgotten those pictures. On one of them, Ruth, Brian and Harold were smiling, holding a sort of banner on which was written “Glad you're back, Ruby!” On another one, it was only Brian, playing with his Red Special, sitting next to the records she'd left at the Mays'. He never knew about this picture, and he was sure that Ruth had taken it secretly so Ruby would have lovely souvenirs of him. There were many pictures of the May family, smiling just for her, desperately hoping she would be back and make their lives happier. Especially Brian. On the pictures, it wasn't hard to see that he was forcing himself to smile, and it was also easy to guess that he surely didn't want to smile whereas his beloved girlfriend had disappeared.
Ruth stood up and went to Ruby, taking a handkerchief and giving it to her. She wiped her tears and blew her nose.
“I'm sorry I made the whole family suffer.”
“Don't be sorry, sweetie, it wasn't your fault, you couldn't do much.”
“I could have phoned during all those years!”
“You couldn't know we were still thinking of you. I'm sure you thought that Brian had forgotten you, or something like that.”
“I did. I deeply believed it until he came to Edith Grove the day after the concert.”
“See how you touch people around you!” Ruth smiled, wiping the younger woman's tears. “Every year, on your birthday, we gathered here, and Roger was here too, to celebrate it. And even if Harold didn't really like this music, we listened to Led Zeppelin, dancing in the room, you see. We were listening to your records.”
Ruby threw herself at Ruth's neck. She sobbed on her shoulder, like a little girl cries in her mother's arms when she's scared or sad because school starts. Ruth softly caressed her hair, looking at Brian, who was still looking at the pictures he found in the backpack. He put thel down on his knees before looking at what the backpack contained. There was a local newspaper article concerning Dennis's death and funerals. He frowned and said: “I've never seen this article. When was it published?”
“Right after she left.”
Ruby sat up and sniffed.
“What article?”
“This one. It was in your backpack. It's about Dennis.”
Ruby stood up and walked up to him, wiping her tears with her handkerchief. She sat on the couch, followed by Ruth. She grabbed the article and read it.
“Dennis John Franklin, 24, died a week ago in Charing Cross Hospital, due to a liver failure. The young man lived with his parents, John and Prudence Franklin, and his younger sister Ruby Riley Franklin, 21, in Edith Grove, London. Dennis studied at the Ealing Art College, and according to some of his classmates, he was 'a person worth living with'. A dozen of his paintings remained at the Ealing Art College, locked in a small room he used to book to paint quietly. The University Chancellor decided to open an exhibition of Dennis Franklin's paintings and photographs inside the Ealing Art College, in memory of the young student. The exhibition will be open only on Wednesdays and Saturdays for a year; it will be in free access for public, for 25 pounds. Those pounds will be donated to the association of scientists still searching for the cure for liver failures.”
“Wow. I never heard about that, Freddie never told me a single thing!”
“I can't believe it” Ruby stuttered. “They should have asked us the permission to open this exhibition! And I don't think that my parents were told about that.”
“Legally, you could sue them.”
“Why? It took place 23 years ago, what can I do now? And I must admit I'm quite touched by what the Chancellor did.”
Ruby sighed looked at all the pictures Brian had been looking at. She giggled as she saw Brian's forced smiles and the shots of him playing the guitar, surrounding by her records. And then, her heart pounded in her chest when she saw those on which the May family was holding the banner for her. As her fingers clenched a bit on one of them, she felt like the photograph was separating in two parts. Indeed, another picture was stuck against this one, and Brian didn't see it. When Ruth, Ruby and Brian looked at it, they all bursted out laughing. It was a shot of the May family, still holding the banner, but someone had decided to photobomb them. A smiling Roger had jumped in front of them when the picture was taken; he was wearing purple star-shaped sunglasses, and he was wearing a small sign that was hanging at his neck thanks to a thin string. On this sign was written “Come back classmate!”
“Oh, Rog!” Ruby panted as she was drying her eyes after a good laugh. “I miss him so much, I loved hanging out with him, we were never bored.”
“I saw him last night” Brian said. “He says 'Hello from the Crazy Rog Saloon to Lovely Riley'.”
“Crazy Rog Saloon? Oh no! He dared to make this pun!” Ruby laughed.
“What does this pun mean?” Ruth asked, innocently.
“The Crazy Horse Saloon is a very famous Parisian cabaret. And I guess Roger heard about it.”
“We went there, actually” Brian blushed with a grin.
They laughed and Ruth suggested them to have another cup of tea. Unfortunately, the teapot was cold now. Ruth stood up and before she went to the kitchen, she said to Ruby and Brian: “Brian, bring her to her former bedroom upstairs, maybe there are some things she wants to take back with her.” Brian nodded, and they both stood up, holding each other's hand, and they headed for the stairs.