Cast the First Stone by Margaret Thornton

Author:Margaret Thornton [Thornton, Margaret]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Severn House Publishers
Published: 2012-12-09T16:00:00+00:00

Sixteen

Fiona soon found that Ginny was a great person to have around. She was sensible and practical, able to look on the bright side of life and ready to have a laugh, though not at the expense of others; unlike Hazel Docherty whose jesting was often thoughtless, even cruel at times, directed at those who were of a more timid disposition.

The fourth occupant of the room was Bridget O’Connor, a small dark-haired girl whose accent and Celtic features betrayed that she was of Irish descent. She was often the butt of Hazel’s unkind humour, being referred to as Paddy or Mick or ‘our little friend from the potato fields’.

Bridget’s home, now, was in Sunderland. Like Ginny, she was the eldest of a large family. She, too, was seventeen years old, the same age as both Fiona and Ginny, and had five younger siblings. Beyond that, however, she had divulged very little of her circumstances. Her mother sometimes came to visit her, a shabbily dressed, tired looking little woman who was probably not yet forty, but who appeared much older. She resembled Bridget, with the same sad, dark eyes. The father was never to be seen, and when asked, Bridget had replied briefly that he worked on the docks.

Hazel, at twenty, was the eldest of the four room mates. She stated, quite unashamedly, that the father of her baby was married and that there was no chance of him leaving his wife, nor did she want him to do so. ‘We dropped a clanger, that’s all,’ she shrugged.

Ginny had told Fiona how she had come to be ‘in the family way’. ‘It was the lad next door,’ she said. ‘He’s a few years older than me, more of a mate, really, than a boyfriend. We went to the pub one night, and I had too much to drink, and so did he. He didn’t mean this to happen, but . . . well, it did! Actually, he said he’d marry me, but me mam and me da won’t hear of it.’ Fiona thought she sounded a little regretful, but Ginny was never downhearted for long.

She confided in her new friend about Dave, and how she had been quickly removed from the scene and not allowed to see him or any of her friends again.

‘Oh, poor you!’ said Ginny. ‘And you really loved him? I don’t think I love Arthur, but he’s a real nice sort of lad and we’ve always got on very well.’

‘Well, I thought I loved him,’ said Fiona, ‘but I know I’ve just got to try and forget him.’

Bridget, however, did not say how she had become pregnant. Hazel frequently tormented her about it. ‘It was one of them leprechauns, so it was!’ she jeered. ‘A little green man who crept into your bedroom at dead of night, didn’t he, Bridget?’

‘Leave her alone, can’t you?’ Fiona snapped one afternoon when the older girl had gone too far, leaving Bridget in tears.

‘Oh, shurrup, you!’ retorted Hazel. ‘Don’t start telling

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