Free Families and Friendships by Margaret Thornton

a baby?’ Debbie persisted. ‘When I was born, I mean. Is that how you got to know her?’
    â€˜Oh for goodness’ sake! Questions, questions!’ said her mother. ‘Listen – I’ll tell you about it, then perhaps you’ll let it drop, will you? We knew Claire long before you were born. She was a neighbour of ours when we lived in the village, before we moved here to Whitesands Bay. I told you how your daddy and I wanted a baby, and it didn’t happen, so we decided to adopt a little girl. We knew that Claire worked at Burnside House, and we’d kept in touch with her after we moved, and so we asked her if she could perhaps help us, just a little bit. She put in a good word for us with the adoption society; it was very kind of her. And so … we adopted you, didn’t we? Now, are you satisfied, Miss Nosy Parker?’
    â€˜Yes …’ Debbie nodded thoughtfully. ‘So Claire knew the lady; the lady whose baby I was?’
    â€˜Well, of course she did,’ said her mother. ‘That’s obvious, isn’t it? But I told you, didn’t I, that she couldn’t keep you? I know she loved you, but she had to let you go.’
    â€˜She was an unmarried mother then, wasn’t she?’ said Debbie. ‘That’s why girls go there, isn’t it? Because they’re having babies and they’re not married?’
    Her mother looked startled; no doubt, thought Debbie, because she had found out so much about having babies without it being talked about at home. She answered a bit sharply.
    â€˜Yes, she was having a baby and she wasn’t married. That’s what happens to girls, Deborah, when they don’t think about what they’re doing. Now, we’re not going to say any more about it, alright?’
    Debbie nodded. Mum never called her Deborah unless she was cross or upset about something. She hadn’t meant to vex her mother. She was just curious about … well, everything.
    â€˜It’s all right, love,’ her mother said then, a little more gently. ‘I don’t mind you asking questions, and I suppose you’re bound to think about it sometimes. Your daddy and I decided to be honest with you – about you being adopted – right from the start. You’re still happy about it, aren’t you, Debbie? You know how much we love you.’
    â€˜Of course I’m happy, Mum,’ said Debbie. She smiled at her mother, then, on an impulse, kissed her cheek, something she didn’t often do spontaneously.
    â€˜That’s OK then,’ said her mum, giving her a hug. ‘Your daddy and me, we don’t want you to worry about anything.’
    Vera had had quite a shock when Debbie started asking questions, although she had guessed that she might do so as she got older. She seemed happy enough at first with the answers she had been given. Nothing more was said on the subject for ages, whilst Debbie continued contentedly enough at school. She seemed to enjoy her lessons, and did her homework without any trouble. She worked away at her own little plot in the garden and helped her father with his gardening as well. Shirley Crompton was still her best friend, at school and Sunday school, and in the Guides now, to which they had progressed from the Brownies.
    Vera had thought it was a good idea when Stanley managed to get her a weekend job at the Sunnyhill garden centre. She clearly enjoyed it very much. It meant that she couldn’t go to church now, on a Sunday morning, or to the teenage class on a Sunday afternoon. But that didn’t worry Vera overmuch. She and Stanley didn’t always go themselves, but they had tried to bring Debbie up in what they believed was the right way, and they trusted her to be a good, responsible girl.
    It was inevitable, too, that she should eventually have a boyfriend. And Kevin Hill was a decent, well-brought-up sort of lad from a very respectable family, or so he