The Faithless - Martina Cole [95]
In truth, Cynthia was amazed at how much the refusal had hurt her. Why should she care about it so much? Her pride had definitely been hurt. And that social worker had irritated her with her fake sympathy and platitudes. Silly bitch – like she gave a flying fuck what she thought.
Still, she had made the woman promise to keep her up-to-date on her daughter’s life, and she had agreed to that. Fucking cheek! This was her child, she had given birth to her, not that fucking old bitch of a mother of hers, or that dried-up stick of a social worker. No, it had been her, Cynthia Tailor that was, who had endured nine months of hell and eighteen long, hard hours of labour. She bet her mother had had a field day, advising her granddaughter to keep away from her own flesh and blood.
Well, fuck them. This was all she had really wanted – a quick peek, just to see what the girl had turned out like. And wouldn’t you know, she was exactly as she had expected. A foolish girl who had no desire to make anything of herself. She would live the life of her nana, without anything of real value, and without any idea of the world that was going on outside the confines of this council estate.
Cynthia lit a cigarette and pulled on it deeply; she allowed herself three a day, otherwise all the hours she spent in the gym keeping in shape were pointless. She had a better body now than before she had had her kids. But that was the beauty of living alone, you could do those kind of things; go to the gym, eat well, take yourself off to a health spa for long weekends. Children stopped that, like they stopped anything good in your life.
Gabriella and Vincent were kissing now, and Cynthia shook her head in consternation. What a fool she had bred, what a complete and utter fool! Gabriella would settle for a life of petty dramas and no money, a life of cleaning and cooking for a man who, once the initial sexual thrill eased off, would use her like an animal while in drink. It was so predictable really, and fucking irritating. She had brought this girl into the world, surely there had to be at least a little bit of her in the child? She reasoned her mum and dad would have made sure whatever spark the girl might have would be repressed. The last thing they would want was another child under their roof with a bit more liveliness than they could cope with, a girl with the chance to make something of her life, instead of emulating them, just existing.
Cynthia drove away quietly, not even glancing into the car where her daughter was telling her boyfriend that she thought she was pregnant and that her nana was going to kill her.
Chapter Eighty-Five
‘Calm down, Gabby. It’s a shock, but it ain’t exactly unheard of in this day and age, is it?’
Gabby couldn’t believe how well Vincent was taking the news. She had thought he would be furious with her. ‘I’m only sixteen, Vince!’
He laughed. ‘We’ll get married, so stop worrying about it, OK? I’ll tell your nana and granddad with you. They won’t be too thrilled but they’ll come round eventually. So please, stop worrying.’
Vincent made it sound so easy and, in a way, she supposed it was. She’d tell them and be damned. But she still felt that she had let them down somehow, had broken their trust. She had a bad feeling on her, although that could just be her hormones.
Vincent felt a rush of love for this girl of his. She was having his baby and she was frightened, but surely she knew that he would always look out for her, always take care of her? She meant everything to him, and she always would.
‘Look, Gabby, once the balloon’s been dropped, you can start planning the wedding, OK? Once your nana knows about that she’ll see we’re serious about each other.’
Gabby nodded,