Ruby stood in front of the selection of wedding dresses Mrs Woolden, the head of the ladies’ department, had selected as possible choices for the new window display.
‘Hmm, none of them are really what I’m looking for,’ Ruby said, and stood back to look at them from a different angle. ‘I want something… something…’
‘With zebra stripes and tassels?’
Ruby laughed. ‘Well, no. Not quite.’
Mrs Woolden smiled. ‘Why don’t we try them on a mannequin? In my experience, wedding dresses never look the same hung as they do worn.’
They walked into the back room and Ruby lifted one of the dresses from its hanger as Mrs Woolden moved a naked mannequin closer. They worked in silence, first trying one and then another. When they’d reached the fifth dress, Ruby’s head and arms ached, her frustration mounting.
‘I think it’s the necklines. I wanted something a little more modern.’
‘Modern? I think I have just the thing. Stay here and I’ll run along to the stockroom.’
Left alone, Ruby circled the mannequin with a critical eye. Maybe with the right veil and headdress any of these dresses would be suitable…
‘Good afternoon, Miss Taylor.’
Ruby started, her stomach sinking as Hazel Price sauntered in. ‘Miss Price.’ She purposefully turned to the mannequin, feigning an adjustment of the long, ivory skirt. ‘What can I do for you?’
‘I’ve been sent to find you by Mr Carter. He says you need another pair of hands from the workroom to help with your wedding display and here I am.’
Ruby briefly squeezed her eyes shut. Damnation. ‘I see.’
‘So…’ Hazel came to stand beside her. ‘It seems we’ll be working together for the next couple of weeks. Won’t that be fun?’
‘Or torture,’ Ruby mumbled before turning and planting on a wide smile. ‘Well, I’ll be sure to thank Mr Carter when I see him. Why don’t you go to the design department and speak to one of the machinists? They all know what needs doing so you’ll be in good hands.’
‘I think it best I wait for you.’ Hazel ran her narrowed gaze over the mannequin. ‘That dress won’t do at all, if that’s what you’re thinking. It’s entirely wrong for a June wedding. Better suited to the autumn, if you ask me.’
‘I didn’t.’
Hazel turned sharply, her gaze darkening with spite. The atmosphere crackled with tension, the dislike on her nemesis’ face undoubtedly mirrored on Ruby’s. Living with Victoria and being away from her mother for the last couple of weeks had bolstered Ruby’s self-belief immeasurably and her self-confidence had bloomed.
She crossed her arms. ‘You will be under my charge, Miss Price. Mine and Miss Pennington’s. If you wish to help with this project, then you will do exactly as I ask, when I ask it. Is that clear?’
Ruby’s pulse beat so loudly in her ears, she was sure Hazel would hear it.
Slowly, Hazel stepped back, her lips pulled into an ugly sneer, her eyes bright with malice. ‘So, it seems sweet little Ruby has picked up some of her lover’s bolshiness. I supposed it was to be expected. Although, I must say, I can’t imagine any of the staff who have been talking about your grotesque affair will have thought it would happen so soon.’
‘Go away, Miss Price. I have no need for you here.’ Ruby’s heart thundered and, to her shame, tears of anger pricked her eyes. ‘You should really be very careful how you speak about people. The world has a way of paying back both good and bad acts towards others.’
‘Do you love her?’
‘Get out.’
‘Do you?’ Hazel raised her eyebrows, her eyes glinting with spite. ‘Only you do know it’s an offense for a woman to be with another that way. Maybe Miss Pennington would be interested to hear the nature of yours and Mrs La—’
‘Miss Price.’ Mrs Woolden appeared by the back curtain separating the room from the department, her cheeks mottled with anger. ‘I suggest you leave right this minute.’
Hazel took another step back and dipped her head, but not before Ruby saw a flash of fear pass through Hazel’s eyes. Mrs Woolden was as close to Miss Pennington as any woman could be in the store. She had their employer’s respect and ear. If Mrs Woolden disapproved of any of the female staff, Miss Pennington would listen to what she had to say.
Sickness rolled through Ruby as Hazel stalked past her to the curtained partition and disappeared. If Mrs Woolden had heard what Hazel had said, it could be Ruby’s head on the block rather than Hazel’s.
The silence that followed heightened Ruby’s stretched nerves to breaking. Mrs Woolden stood before her, her gaze unreadable and her lips pursed.
Ruby swallowed. ‘I’m so sorry, Mrs Woolden. I told Miss Price to leave several times, but she—’
‘Might I give you a piece of advice, Miss Taylor?’ Mrs Woolden laid the wedding dress she carried on a chaise longue and started to unzip the protective bag. ‘Matters of the heart are complicated and often hurtful. Embarking on a relationship you know will be a source of heartbreak, gossip and judgement is a foolish decision. One that is of an illegal nature even more so. Do you understand?’
Shame bore down on Ruby until she thought she would faint, but she held firm. ‘I do.’
‘Good. Then let’s us hear no more about it.’ Mrs Woolden’s hands trembled as she lifted the dress and studied it. ‘Why don’t you go to the bathroom and freshen your face and hands? I’ll be here when you get back.’
Mortified, Ruby fled the room and almost ran down the grand staircase, through the atrium to the staff bathrooms. She burst inside and immediately locked herself in a stall and sat down on the closed toilet seat. Her tears came fast and hot, running down her cheeks in rivulets that felt never-ending.
Her heart ached and her mind raced with what Mrs Woolden might do with the information Hazel had so cruelly imparted. Ruby closed her eyes. Oh, to see the disappointment or shock in Miss Pennington’s eyes would be more than she could bear.
‘Ruby?’ There was a sharp rap on the toilet door. ‘Are you in there? I saw you running through the store like a madwoman. Has something happened?’
Ruby stilled as Victoria knocked a second time. ‘You must go, Victoria. We can’t be seen together.’
‘Why not?’
‘It’s Hazel. She… she said something about us in front of Mrs Woolden. You need to leave.’
‘Open the door. Right now. You should know by now that I won’t be hidden from view any more than you should. Open the door.’
Ruby covered her face with her hands before sliding them into her lap and pushing heavily to her feet. The moment she’d opened the door, Victoria pushed her back inside and locked it.
‘What are you doing?’ Ruby’s heart raced as she stood so close to the woman she loved, the woman she wanted. ‘We can’t stay in here like this. What if someone—’
Victoria’s lips crushed Ruby’s, her hands on her shoulders pushing her back against the toilet wall. Desire swept through Ruby on an intoxicating wave to pulse deep in her core. She gripped Victoria’s waist and pulled her tight to her body, their breasts crushing, their legs linking thigh to thigh. After months and months of wanting this, of wondering what it would be like to kiss Victoria, an almost animalistic lust overcame Ruby as she tangled her tongue with Victoria’s, her lips so hungry they ached.
When Victoria stepped abruptly back, her cheeks were red and her eyes alight with an erotic fire that had Ruby reaching for her again.
Victoria smiled and held up her hand. ‘No, no more. At least no more for now. I’ve been wanting to do that for so long, but I just wasn’t sure I could.’ Tears glistened in her eyes. ‘I like you, Ruby. More than like you. I’ve lived a life that was neither true, nor fulfilling, and as much as I loved my husband, it was women I truly wanted to be with, but I have always been so afraid… until you.’
Ruby stared in disbelief, her heart rejoicing yet scared to really believe all she had dreamed of might be reciprocated. ‘You want me, too?’
Victoria laughed. ‘Look at you. How could anyone not want you?’ She smoothed her hands over her hair and the front of her dress. ‘Now, tidy yourself up and go back to work. We’ll talk tonight after Tommy is asleep. This our time, Ruby. No one will pull us apart. Do you understand, no one. If that’s what you want?’
‘It is.’ Tears blurred Ruby’s vision. ‘It really, really is.’
‘Good.’
With a final smile, Victoria left the stall and it was only when the bathroom door closed behind her, that Ruby took another breath.