18. Harry
18
HARRY
I know the instant Ruby walks back into my office that something is wrong. She doesn’t make eye contact, instead, her eyes seek out and follow my father’s stiff back as he rises, grabs his suit jacket from the coat stand in the corner of the room, and goes to leave. We haven’t known each other long, but our bonds are deeper than conversation and amazing sex.
“Ruby?” I rise too, walking around the desk to stand in front of her, forcing her to look at me. “What’s happened?” I reach for her hands, but she pulls away.
“Did you know about my dad’s business?” There’s a tremor in her voice that makes my skin prickle.
“What do you mean? About it folding shortly before he had his stroke?”
“No, I mean about your dad being the reason my dad lost his business.”
I shoot a glance at my father who has frozen by the door, head lowered, his back still facing us. He doesn’t look around. Doesn’t even move, although he clearly heard Ruby’s accusation.
“What are you talking about?” It’s a feeble response, but I’m frantically trying to piece together how a simple shopping spree has degenerated into this crazy idea that my dad ruined Graham Jackson’s life.
“Why don’t you ask him?”
There’s unmistakable animosity in her tone as she stares at my dad’s back, and it feels as if we’re voodoo dolls having needles stuck in us from all angles.
“Dad?”
He turns around slowly, and he doesn’t need to speak for me to understand that it is true. “That’s business, son. Shit happens. If you can’t handle the stress, you should get yourself a regular nine-to-five job that you can leave behind on a Friday evening.”
Ruby shakes her head, her eyes growing huge with tears. “It wasn’t just a case of shit happens though, was it? You sold him out, got him involved in a contract that you knew would ruin him, and then you stepped in and bought up the shares of his business for a fraction of what they were worth.”
“Hang on a minute,” Dad says, his eyes narrowed. “How dare you come in here and accuse me of something of which you have no knowledge. You should get your facts straight before you start throwing accusations around?—”
“Whoa, Dad!” I raise my hands in mock surrender, one aimed at him and the other at Ruby like I’m the referee in a boxing ring. “I’m not going to stand here and listen to you speaking to my fiancée this way.”
“Your fiancée!” A sardonic grin twists his mouth into an unpleasant grimace. “Of all the women in the city you could’ve had your pick of, and you chose a Jackson.”
“Okay, Dad.” I move closer to Ruby, choosing my side. “I don’t know what happened back then—perhaps you’ll explain it to me later when you’ve had a chance to calm down?—”
“Calm fucking down? Don’t tell me to calm down, son, when she came in here all guns blazing, trying to stir the pot.”
I ignore him and turn to Ruby who still hasn’t moved. “Ruby, I don’t know what’s going on, or how you heard about this, but can we talk about it later? Please?”
I want to get her away from my dad. I want to go back to when it was just the two of us in our cozy Scottish bubble, walking along the shore with the gulls circling overhead. When we had a fur blanket to snuggle under at night and no one trying to tell us that we were crazy to think that we were in love.
“I don’t know, Harry.”
She spins the engagement ring round her finger, and I think that if she takes it off right now and hands it back to me, I’ll never forgive my father for destroying the best thing that has ever happened to me.
“I need some time…”
My pulse quickens. “You believe me though, don’t you? You believe I knew nothing about this until you mentioned it.”
“I-I don’t know what to believe.” She deliberately refuses to look at my father. “I don’t know if this is such a good idea. The ring. The wedding. Us.”
“Don’t say that.” I take her hand in mine, my fingers trapping hers, so that the diamond is digging into my flesh. “We’re not our parents, Ruby. Their mistakes don’t have to be ours.”
“Let her go,” Dad barks. “Save yourself the hassle and let her go before you’re in too deep.”
I ignore him. I’m already in too deep.
“Ruby, please. I’ll come home with you now. We’ll go back to Chicago if that’s what you want. Right now. Me and you. We’ll walk away from here and have a fresh start. We’ll go back to Edinburgh if you tell me that’s where you want to be. I’ll go anywhere in the world with you, you must believe me.”
My dad scoffs from the doorway, and it’s the fingertip that pushes me over the edge of the precipice.
“Stay the fuck out of this, Dad. This is between me and Ruby.”
“If that’s the way you want it. You can walk out of here with her right now, but don’t expect me to keep your company running. In fact, you can kiss goodbye to any help from me ever again.”
“I don’t need your help, Dad. Not if it’s going to cost me the woman I love.”
“Love!” His face grows dark with rage. “You think you can run a fucking business on love. Oh boy, have you got a lot to learn. Love is what will fucking destroy you and everything we’ve worked so hard for.”
I turn on him. “You’re a fucking coldhearted bastard, Dad, do you know that? You’re not content with pushing Mel away, you want to lose me too.”
His expression crumples, but it’s too late. I have no sympathy for him. All these years since Mom died, listening to him complain about the injustice of life and how hard he had it when he first came to the States, like he’s the only person in the world with problems. I’ve finally realized that he wants to ruin my life the way he ruined my sister Melanie’s because he doesn’t know how to be happy.
“Yeah, well, good luck with trying to keep this business afloat without my connections.”
“I don’t want your connections, and I don’t want your help,” I say, surprised at the coldness in my tone. “I want you to leave. Now.”
“Harry…” His mouth opens and closes, but no words come out. Then he opens the door and walks away, slamming it shut behind him.
Ruby jumps. She hasn’t looked me in the eye since she came in, and I can’t bear for her to think that I knew about this and kept it a secret from her.
“I mean it, Ruby, we can go anywhere in the world. Say the word, and I’ll make it happen.”
She shakes her head, and the tears finally spill. “I can’t…” her voice breaks.
“You can’t what? Please, Ruby.”
I’m still squeezing her hand, the heart-shaped diamond growing warm against my skin. “I don’t care about any of that. My dad. Your mom.” Deep ragged breath. “Whatever happened with your dad… I’ll get to the bottom of it, and I’ll do whatever it takes to put it right. I’ll spend the rest of my life making it right.”
“You can’t, don’t you understand?” She still can’t look at me. “You can’t make him better.”
“You don’t know that. I’ll…” I shake my head, raking my minimal medical knowledge for a plausible argument. “I don’t know, find a neurologist who specializes in aftercare for stroke patients. I’ll arrange for him to see the best physiotherapists in the country. I’ll?—”
“Harry,” she interrupts my rambling. “You don’t have to make promises you can’t keep.”
“You have to trust me, Ruby. I mean every goddamned word, and I won’t ever stop trying to prove it to you.”
“I believe that you mean it, but don’t you see? Everyone is opposed to us being together. How will it ever work if everyone around us is trying to split us up?”
“Your dad isn’t.” I recall our conversation in their den while Ruby was at work. “He knows who I am, and he didn’t warn me to stay away from you.”
She stares out the window without really seeing the outside world. “I never told him your name. He only knows you as Harry.”
I shake my head. That can’t be true. I’m trying to remember if either of us mentioned my surname, but I can’t.
Before I can speak, raised voices reach us from outside the door, and I’m flooded with the overwhelming sensation of Deja-vu. I’d recognize Celia Jackson’s voice anywhere.
The door bursts open, and Lizzie appears, her face flushed. “Sorry, Harry, I tried to stop her?—”
Celia pushes past Lizzie and walks into my office, her gaze skimming me and settling on Ruby. “We’re leaving, Ruby.”
“Mom, can you just give me a little while to?—”
“It’s your father,” Celia says, cutting her off. “He’s had another stroke.”
The color drains from Ruby’s face, and I instinctively reach out to stop her from collapsing, but she pulls away from me a second time, and it’s like a stab wound straight through my chest.
“I’m coming back to Chicago with you.” I don’t wait for Ruby to respond but turn to Lizzie. “Can you book us on the next flight out of New York?” Fuck the extravagance. I’m making a private jet my priority the instant the dust settles on this shit.
“No, Harry.” Ruby shakes her head. When she speaks, her voice is dull, lifeless. “You should stay. You have a business that needs you.”
Lizzie hesitates in the doorway, and I give her a nod. Discreetly, as ever, she closes the door behind her.
“The business isn’t important.” Ignoring Celia, I move closer to Ruby and this time I don’t allow her to snatch her hand away. “Nothing else matters, Ruby. I want to come with you. Please, don’t shut me out. Not now.”
“I…” She shoots a glance at her mom. “I’m not shutting you out.”
I’d feel better if she wasn’t so distracted, but I understand it’s the best I can hope for with Celia’s presence in the room, and her dad’s stroke looming over her head.
“Thank you.” I don’t know what else to say.
Ruby’s eyes finally meet mine, and I can see the torment behind them. She wants to believe me, but she needs time to process the information, and she can’t do that until she knows that her dad is going to be okay.
Her gaze drops to the diamond ring on her wedding finger. I pray that when she looks at it, she remembers our time in Scotland, the cobbled streets and narrow alleyways of Edinburgh, the fur blanket in Eileen’s B&B and the cave on the stony beach. It’s all part of our story, and I refuse to accept that it ends here. Not like this. And certainly not because of our parents.
Ruby leans closer and kisses my cheek. Then with another glance in her mom’s direction, she turns around and walks away.
My heart is soaring. It was an ‘I love you’ kiss, different to any other kiss we’ve shared, and I know that we’ll get through this. It’s only a hiccup. Graham will get better, we’ll plan our wedding, and one day soon, we will be Mr. and Mrs. Weiss.
Following Ruby with my gaze, I barely even register that Celia is still hanging around until she stands in front of me, her expression unfathomable. “I wouldn’t count on Ruby sticking around.” She keeps her voice low, for my ears only. “She only wanted you for your money and, well, that’s not going so great now, is it?”