‘Mum!’ Sarah cried. ‘He’s not that bad.’
‘Not while he’s clean. But the minute he gets drugged up again, he’ll dump you as quick as he can say have an abortion.’
‘I am not getting rid of it.’ Sarah choked back tears. ‘You can’t make me.’
‘Like I said, don’t expect me to babysit for you. I’ve provided you with a roof over your head for long enough now. You’re on your own if you go through with it.’
Sarah ran out of the room and upstairs, throwing herself onto the bed. As she cried, she pummelled the mattress. Why was everything going wrong for her?
She called Louisa but the phone rang out, unanswered as usual. She threw it down, frustration boiling up alongside hurt. It was as if her sister had forgotten she existed. No wonder she wanted something of her own to love, to nurture, to cherish. Someone who would love her back unconditionally.
It wasn’t ideal that she’d got pregnant, but she couldn’t get rid of it. She’d made her bed and she would lie in it. Where, she didn’t know. But it wouldn’t behere. This house had never been a home, nor would it ever be.
She thought back to the night before Louisa had left. Mum had come in drunk, there had been another row as usual and she had slinked off to bed. The two sisters had sat up until the early hours, talking about life and plans and their futures. Sarah hadn’t realised then that she wouldn’t see Louisa for so long. She missed her sister so much. Couldn’t stand the new fella her mum had shacked up with this time.
But Sarah was seventeen now, an adult in her own right. An adult soon to be a mother. She needed to have a word with Jessie to see what she should do next.
Jessie wasn’t keen at all. ‘We’re so young,’ he argued. ‘We should have some fun first before we settle down. Go on a few holidays, get some money saved.’
‘So it’s okay for you to have Shannon’s baby and not mine?’ She’d stormed off in a huff, but he’d followed her.
‘Of course not! But?—’
She slapped his hand away as he came towards her. She hadn’t expected him to be unhappy. Of course they were young, but Shannon had barely been fifteen when she’d had his son.
‘Don’t you want to have a baby with me?’ she asked.
‘Of course I do.’ Jessie nodded. ‘Just not yet.’
‘You don’t love me!’
‘I do!’
‘No you don’t. You’ll leave me, just like my sister did. Well, at least I know where I stand because I’m having our baby,’ she said defiantly. ‘It’s your choice to stay with me or not.’
‘I’m not going to leave you.’ Jessie reached for her again. ‘It isn’t ideal timing, but we’ll make it work.’
‘Really?’ Her smile was shy.
‘Really. It’ll be fine.’
‘Then you need to get used to the idea that you’re going to be a dad again.’
‘It will do wonders for my street cred,’ he joked.
She slapped him playfully and he drew her into his arms. It was where she belonged, where she felt safe.
Jessie was her world. Their baby would be the best thing to happen to them. They would become a family, the one thing she wished for more than anything.
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
Sarah returned to Derby briefly. It was agony working her last week at the factory but at least she had time to say goodbye to all her friends. Half of them couldn’t understand why she would leave to live in the middle of nowhere. The rest saw the lure of the house in the country and a cushy job.
Her mum wasn’t very pleased she was leaving.
‘How the hell am I going to pay the rent now that you won’t be bringing in any money?’ she sniped when Sarah told her.
‘You’ll have to get a job, Mum,’ Sarah taunted. ‘Like normal people do. It might do you good to get off your arse and out of the house.’
