The Scandalous Life of Ruby Devereaux by M J Robotham

Author:M J Robotham [Robotham, M J]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781035901098
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Six

‘Jude.’

‘Hmm?’

‘Jude?

‘Yes?’

‘Are you all right?’ Ruby shuffles over to where he reclines on the study’s window seat, his favourite spot to lie, knees pulled up, in their breaks between the chunks of narrative she is dictating at astonishing speed. ‘You seem a little off today, that’s all.’

‘Do I?’ He jerks up his lanky body and swings his legs to the floor, neatly disproving the point. ‘I’m fine, Ruby. Absolutely fine.’ He’s not. He is, in fact, nursing a hangover of epic proportions after a Big Night, celebrating not much else other than being young and able. Because he can. After weeks with Ruby, Jude is beginning to appreciate what youth offers and old age brings. Her life, as dictated on the screen, has caused him to raise eyebrows on more than one occasion, in surprise, shock and admiration. But looking at her now – the once fickle butterfly in her world – needing help with the stairs, and her tendency at times to drop off if she hesitates for too long in her diction… if a firecracker like Ruby evolves to this, what hope for the rest of them? Hence his abandonment the night before. The one before that, too. And the banging headache he is now trying to keep at bay, and hide from the shrewd senses of Ruby.

After several minutes, she pigeon steps her way down to the kitchen, needing tea. Normally, Jude sorts the food and drink during his time at the house, nine until five most days, but Ruby sees clearly that he’s working off some excess. Her eyes might be milky, skin furrowed and her limbs achy, but her nose functions well enough to smell the drink on him. It’s what they do, isn’t it? she thinks. It’s certainly what she did at his age. In spades. Even so, he does seem a little ‘off’, not his chatty, enquiring norm. But then she’s wrung out, too, after that last chapter. Purged and lighter in one sense. She hasn’t allowed herself to think of her Jude in such detail for an age, and it’s a joy to recall the better bits, the life rather than the result. Still, Ruby feels a sadness settling like sediment around her, following her down the hallway, hovering like a bitter smell, not unwelcome, but not exactly pleasant. Maybe the Jude of now feels it, too. And then Ruby is sad if she’s made him so, because she doesn’t want to drive him away – might never admit it to him, and certainly not to Marina, but she’s become very fond of him, this Jude, a man young enough to be her grandson.

The sadness, she calculates, must be part of the process. What else can she do but tell it like it is, warts and all? If there were no warts, there would – in her life – be no substance either.

‘Juuuude?’ she calls up the hallway. ‘Cup of tea?’

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.