‘It doesn’t feel like that.’

‘I know, but you have to trust me. Now I need to ask you some questions. Important ones.’

Queenie managed a half-smile. Mrs O’Leary was so kind. She’d washed her, rinsed out her sick-stained top, given her a fresh one to wear while her own dried in the garden.

Not wanting to worry Queenie unnecessarily, Mary chose her words carefully. ‘You know I got you those Kotex pads? Have you had to use any yet?’

‘Erm, no. Why?’

Mary’s heart lurched. Surely the poor girl wasn’t pregnant? Hadn’t she been through enough already? ‘May the cat eat that dirty bastard and may the devil eat the cat,’ she hissed.

Queenie was terrified when Mary insisted she must visit Dr Parrott the following day. ‘If I’m pregnant by that monster, Mary, I’ll kill myself.’

Mary held the child in her arms. ‘No, you won’t. You’re stronger than that, my love. Having felt your tummy yesterday, I honestly don’t think you’re with child. But we need to get you checked out, and to make sure you haven’t been infected with any diseases. Dr Parrott is from Cork, same as me; he can be trusted. He’s a family friend and a very nice man. You let me do the talking, OK?’

‘I haven’t got to take my knickers off, have I?’ Queenie asked fearfully.

‘I’ll be with you all the time, I promise. The doctor will examine your stomach and I’ve already got your wee sample in my handbag. He might want to ask a couple of questions, but I’ve pretended a young lad took advantage of you.’

‘Thanks for not telling him what really happened.’

Mary smiled. ‘Whatever you tell me is between us, OK?’ That wasn’t strictly true because last night she’d given the heads up to her sons regarding the awful experience Queenie had been through. She hadn’t gone into too much detail but, as expected, Patrick and Daniel were absolutely livid.

‘You leave that nonce to us, Mum. We’ll sort it,’ Patrick promised.

‘Too fecking right,’ Daniel added. ‘Poor little Queenie.’

And Mrs O’Leary knew that at least Queenie would never have to come face to face with the pervert who’d ruined her ever again.

The trip to Dr Parrott’s was scary for Queenie. Mary held her hand as he examined her stomach with his hands and a stethoscope. ‘I’m pretty sure you aren’t pregnant, young lady. But we’ll do the urine test just to be on the safe side.’

Urging Queenie to sit up, Dr Parrott then asked her some embarrassing questions. ‘Have you had any discharge or pain down below, Queenie? Anything unusual since you had sex?’

Wanting to scream out that she didn’t have sex, she was raped, Queenie bit her tongue and turned to Mary. ‘What does discharge mean?’

‘A substance. The doctor means have you noticed anything unusual in your knickers?’

‘Like what?’

‘Like a green substance or brown? Or have you noticed any change in the colour of your urine? Does it hurt when you use the toilet?’ asked the doctor.