Free The Diary Of Pamela D. by greg monks

don’t know the first thing about business.’
    ‘Have you told him yet that you’re in love
with him?’
    Pamela could only gape.
    Norrie gave her a look that was all too
knowing. ‘Come, girl, everyone under this roof knows how you feel
about him, with the possible exception of you and Mr. Theo himself.
You’ve never been intimate with a man, have you.’ It was a
statement.
    ‘What-?’ Pamela, who had gone a deep shade of
red, could only manage a squeak.
    ‘You’re still a virgin, aren’t you? That’s
why you’re so terrified to get too close to Mr. Theo. God knows, in
this day and age, that’s a rare commodity. Unless you want to end
up a nun you’d better hurry up and tell him how you feel. He won’t
hold out hope forever, you know.’
    ‘Norrie! Theo . . . he
doesn’t want me.
He’s not the least bit interested-’
    ‘Then why’d he buy you all
those new clothes, eh? I know , he told you that the money came
from Mrs. D. Well, it didn’t. If you must know, I overheard Mrs. D. saying
that it was about time he was nice to the girl, meaning you. So there.’
    ‘Norrie . . . I-’ she stopped herself and,
purely on impulse, went over to Norrie and hugged her. ‘I’m sorry I
threw out your preserves.’
    ‘Oh, bosh! At least these
will be edible. I was having a rather bad time of it when the old
batch got made. The others kept them far too long, just to humour
me, thinking I didn’t know they’d gone bad. Brr! I hope you had
sense enough not to open them before you threw them out. But never
mind. A clean slate! That’s what we all need. And you know, my
dear, there are times when I can’t help but think of you in those terms. Now
come, that’s fifteen minutes. Let’s seal these and get the next
batch in before both of us lose track entirely.’
     
    Theo returned four days later during an
horrific snowstorm. There had been a number of problems: icy road
conditions, impassable roads, collisions involving several cars.
Theo and Mr. Pascoe had just finished changing a tyre only a few
miles from the Dewhurst place, and they were both thoroughly
chilled and miserable. Without thinking, Pamela brought Theo a
large mug of coffee laced with rum as he sat in the sitting room by
the fire, glaring at the inclement weather from the safety of his
armchair. He accepted the mug from her, smelled it in surprise, and
drank deeply. Pamela had turned away and was just about to leave
when unexpectedly he said, ‘Wait, please. Sit down a moment. I wish
to have a word with you.’
    She did as he asked, but sat on the edge of
the chair across from him, stung with misgiving, hands clutched in
the hem of her apron. As before, taking in her demeanor, he seemed
angry or unsatisfied with what he saw. What he said, however,
caught her entirely off-guard.
    ‘I’ve managed to track down your
parents.’
    Ashen-faced, Pamela could only stare, waiting
for him to continue.
    ‘They’re both alive, living in different
parts of North America. Neither of them expressed the slightest
curiosity over how you are, or what you look like now that you’ve
grown.’
    Looking away from him, Pamela wiped at tears
that came unbidden, yet found herself experiencing a sudden
detached feeling of desolation that was somehow akin to fate, as
though she had known all along that this would moment would come.
Her parents were not the kind of people that Theo and his family
would ever associate with. It was over.
    ‘When are you sending me back?’
    He was silent for several long moments. At
last, he said very quietly, ‘Is that what you want?’ For the first
time, his voice sounded gentle, if that was possible.
    ‘What I want?’ she said, bitterly. ‘What I
want doesn’t matter, does it? I suppose I should be used to that by
now-’
    He took a deep breath, let it out slowly.
‘I’m not sending you back unless that’s what you want. I would
rather you stayed-’
    ‘What?’
    Wryly considering her
wide-eyed look of surprise, he said,