Rose O'hagan had lived in the catholic children's home most of her short life.She was nearly sixteen, a shy unassuming girl, there was nothing remarkable about her.She prefered it that way , being part of the background , being noticed scared her.Rose's best friend Lily was much prettier , she had attracted the unwanted attentions of Father John , and Rose did not want the same fate to befall her.
The two friends were opposites in almost every way , Lily's feisty , flirtatious behaviour hid her pain, while Rose was the quiet, sensible worrier.It was Friday night and Lily was determined to sneak out and have some fun.As usual she had roped her friend in and an excited Lily and reluctant Rose made their way into town.Lily had met a boy the previous day while running an errand and had arranged to meet him and his brother.
Rose gasped when she saw the boys, they looked about eighteen and nineteen and the only clean thing about them was the shiny motorbike that they stood next to.They were very alike ,both tall and blonde with blue eyes and wearing filthy denims.
"This is Chris," Lily pointed to the older brother. "And this is Jake."
Rose looked very nervous as she whispered, "Hello, I'm Rose."
Lily boldly kissed Chris and Rose cringed when Jake grabbed her, but he didn't seem to notice her discomfort.The brothers lived in a grotty bed-sit, they had no other family except a father who was apparently in jail , it all seemed so grown up and exciting to the two girls, who saw little of the real world.They picked up some chips on their way to the bedsit and the girls both gasped at the filth and mess in the little room.
Chris and Lily ignored the chips and began making out on the sofa, Rose felt very awkward and afraid, not knowing what to do.Jake grabbed hold of her wrist and pulled her onto his lap and started kissing her.Rose had never had a boyfriend or even a friend that was a boy.There were only girls at the children's home.This did not feel like the romantic stories she secretly read, but then maybe they were only make believe , maybe it was supposed to be like this.She felt a mild repulsion but did not dare make a fuss or push him away.She put up with his unwelcome advances wishing that Lily would hurry up so that they could go home.But Lily appeared to be in no hurry , so Rose watched her and copied her and pretended that she was enjoying herself , whilst cringing inwardly and trying not to cry.
After what seemed like an eternity Lily finally got up off the sofa and said that it was time to go.Rose couldn't wait to get out of there and was horrified when she heard Lily arranging for them all to meet up the following week.The Phillips brothers readily agreed , after all they didn't get that kind of offer very often.Most of the town avoided them like the plague , they were known troublemakers and would no doubt follow their father to jail one day.
Rose worried that there might be something wrong with her.Why had she not enjoyed the experience, when Lily seemed to love it? Little did she know that Lily just used it to block out the pain of the priest's abuse , it was a way of regaining control in the only way she knew how.
"Did you like Jake,then?" Lily asked.
"He was OK," said Rose with as much enthusiasm as she could muster.
The secret trysts continued , Rose became accustomed to Jake's mauling and if he ever noticed that she was not enjoying the experience he never showed it, because to be honest he didn't care.Then the inevitable happened, Rose found out she was pregnant.She told Jake just after her sixteenth birthday and desperate to get away from the miserable existence at the children's home she married him, thinking that putting up with him would be better than her life there.Lily , not wanting to be left behind lost no time in persuading Chris to make it a double wedding, and Chris who was genuinely fond of Lily and knew when he was onto a good thing agreed.
Rose was happy to be pregnant , for the first time in her life she felt special and was looking forward to the baby being born.A baby that would love her, and that she would love.
The brothers got into some major trouble and decided that they should all move to another town, where they were not so well known.Chris found a reasonable place in a town called Yabbie Creek and for the first time in his life got himself an honest job as a deckhand.Jake however seemed more reluctant to actually work for a living and scrounged off his brother.In the end Lily got tired of this , both she and Chris were working but Rose and Jake just seemed to eat all the food in the house , argue and drink.Infact Lily was growing concerned at the amount Rose was drinking.
"But think of the baby," she tried to warn Rose, but by now Rose was using the alcohol to block out the reality of her sham of a marriage and could not manage without this crutch.It all came to a head when the brothers came to blows over a trivial argument about who drank the last of the milk.
Rose and Jake moved to a dump of a house on the edge of the neighbouring town, Summer Bay.Now friendless and lonely Rose sank deeper into her dependency on alcohol as despair and depression overcame her.Jake spent most of his time out with new friends he made at the pub , unaware or more likely unconcerned with his young wife's plight.He made dodgy deals , dealt in stolen cars and got into fights.He hated not having his brother around but was too proud and stubborn to apologise, so he took out his anger on Rose.She was shocked the first time he hit her, but she had nowhere to go , and she didn't want to have the baby on her own.
"Maybe he'll change when the baby comes along", she tried to convince herself.
Chris , meanwhile was making a real effort.He and Lily had gradually fallen in love , they both worked hard and reluctantly agreed that any contact with Jake and Rose would only drag them down.Although their house was not a palace , they gradually made it into a home , and bought little luxuries with their meagre wages and on the whole were happy.Their only sadness being that they had to stand by and listen to the gossip about Jake and Rose.They had both tried to talk and reason with them , but Chris's brother and Lily's friend seemed to be on the road to self destruction and in no state to listen to reason.
