The Doll's House

141

The light was utterly blinding. She held her hand up to shield her eyes from the savage glare, but still multi-coloured shapes seemed to dance about in front of her. Swiftly she turned away from the water, which burned with the reflection of an unseasonably strong sun, turning her gaze instead to the beach beyond.

Autumn had crept up on them and Steephill Cove was nigh on deserted. Ruby cut a lonely figure standing by the swell of the sea. In her old life she would have baulked at the strange isolation of the scene – where were the holidaymakers? The fun? The laughter? – but now it suited her perfectly.

They had driven here almost as soon as Ruby had been discharged from hospital, so strong was her desire to escape the press frenzy in Southampton, to retreat somewhere she felt safe. Her burns were healing well, but she still felt self-conscious about her blistered arms and her short patchy hair. Here she could dress as she pleased, go where she pleased, without the risk of encountering well-wishers who would smile and stare. Everywhere else she was still a newspaper headline – here she could just be Ruby.

Staring at the beautiful beach, framed perfectly by the rugged cliffs, Ruby couldn’t help remembering those lonely nights of her incarceration when she’d imagined herself here, daydreams from which she’d been brutally ripped time and again. The fact that her abductor had died twice – first at Helen Grace’s hand and then in the fierce conflagration that followed – didn’t make Ruby feel any better, or any safer. The memories of her isolation and despair were still too strong to stop herself shaking when she thought of him and her terrible ordeal. He still came to her at night – in vivid, appalling nightmares – and Ruby had hardly slept a wink as a result. Weeks after her liberation, she still felt weak, damaged and unsettled.

But her abductor had not won and in time she hoped to expunge him from her life completely. It would be a long road – removing the tattoo in hospital had been the easy bit – and the worst was yet to come. But she had won – she must keep telling herself that – and the most eloquent testament to that fact was the view that now stretched out in front of her: this place, this cove, no longer an illusory retreat for her fractured mind, but something real and reassuring. Ruby crouched down, running the wet sand through her fingers over and over again, fighting back tears of relief.

A cry made her look up and there they were – Mum, Dad, Cassie, Conor – meandering their way towards her. They let her have her moments of solitude but were mindful to ensure she felt loved and supported every moment of every day. Wiping the tears from her eyes, Ruby straightened up and started walking towards them. This was her future now, her happiness.

Finally, she had come home.