The Faithless - Martina Cole [96]
Vincent was right – it had happened now, and they had to make the best of it. She wondered if it would be a girl or a boy? She didn’t care, she just wanted something to love of her own.
‘Come on, we’ll go up and tell your auntie Celly. She’ll be our buffer until your nana and granddad come round.’
‘Do you think they will come round, Vince?’
He grinned. ‘Take my word for it, once this baby arrives they’ll be over the moon.’
She hoped he was right. She wanted this baby badly, and she wanted it to be wanted, not just by her, but by everyone. She knew what it was like to feel unloved, and she was determined no child of hers would feel like that, not ever. It was the worst feeling in the world.
Chapter Eighty-Six
Mary was disappointed, as was Jack, but they both knew there was nothing they could do about any of it. At least Vincent was standing by her, and that was something they supposed. But Gabby was so young, and they both knew how hard it was rearing a child, especially in this day and age. And that social worker, Miss Byrne, had not even looked shocked – it was as if she had been expecting it. In fairness to her, maybe she saw something they hadn’t. She had more experience than they did with children of all kinds, at least that was Mary’s reasoning.
At the moment, though, her main worry was Celeste. The weight was dropping off her, and that would have pleased Mary if she didn’t look so unwell on it. What was strange was that the girl was eating as much as she ever did. She was like some kind of human waste disposal unit, her mouth constantly in motion. Crisps, chocolate, take-aways – she ate anything at any time. And, to crown it all, she would not even go to the hospital, assuring them she was fine. She certainly didn’t look fine – she looked awful but, as the doctor said, there was little anyone could do.
Mary felt plagued with anxiety nowadays, and that was not good for her heart, not good for it at all. Still, she had her tablets, and she didn’t overdo it if she could help it.
‘That girl’s not well, Mary, but she won’t admit it.’
Mary just stopped herself from berating her husband for his uncanny ability to state the bleeding obvious. Instead she said gently, ‘I know, Jack, but what can we do? Like Doctor Morgan says, if she doesn’t want to see him there’s nothing he can do about it, and neither can we.’
Jack nodded, and Mary saw that, like herself, he was getting old. They were only in their late sixties but they were both in poor health. It was their dirt over the years; smoking, drinking, but also the worry. Oh, they had had their fair share of worry all right. She wondered for the thousandth time if Celeste should be forced from the house; after all, the reason she wouldn’t go to a hospital for tests was because she wouldn’t leave the house. Even the thought of the outside world sent her into a panic. How had this happened to her family? It was a familiar refrain these days, and Mary lay all the blame with Jonny Parker and her elder daughter.
She remembered Celeste as a young girl. She had been full of life, a nice girl without big ambitions – not like her sister in that way. No, Celeste had been a decent kind of person – she still was. But she had never had the toughness needed to survive in a world peopled with the likes of Jonny Parker and Cynthia Tailor.
When she heard that Cynthia had gone back to her maiden name, Mary had wondered briefly if there was any way they could stop her