Diana stood up. ‘Don’t ever call my child a bastard or I will go and you won’t have anyone to continue Moongate.’
Her father lifted his chin and squared his shoulders. ‘Go to your room, Diana. We will talk about this later.’
Diana went to her room and lay on her bed. She was tired but she had told the truth about the situation. Her parents just had to get used to it, and then they would come up with some sort of lie that everyone would go along with. No one would believe it, of course, but they would be too polite to mention it.
Diana didn’t mind being talked about; it was better than being dismissed or overlooked.
Let her parents deal with the details – she was having a baby.
18
Amanda
Amanda had arranged for Diana to come for lunch since she seemed to decline every dinner invitation that was sent her way.
‘I don’t want to walk in the dark.’ A reasonable concern but Amanda had offered to walk with a powerful torch to light the way.
‘I go to bed early.’ An offer of an early supper didn’t work for Diana, who said she liked to sit with Trotsky in the kitchen where they ate together.
‘I don’t want to get in the way of your growing friendship with Simon,’ was the final excuse. Amanda had explained that she and Simon were friends already and weren’t growing anything but the seeds they were sowing in the garden.
Amanda had the feeling that Diana was pushing her and Simon to be more than friends and had said so to Simon who had laughed.
‘I think Janet is trying too. She asked me all about you the other day when I went to her house to see the pond and pick up the plants.’
‘Meddling old matchmakers,’ Amanda had said, slightly peeved at the audacity of the women.
No matter what Amanda tried, Diana had said no to any dinner invitation, claiming that she had a routine and she liked the way her life worked. ‘It’s been like this for half a century so I won’t be changing it for anyone or anything.’
Eventually Amanda gave up on trying to get Diana to Moongate for dinner and had settled on lunch instead. She had made a Caesar salad and had some lemon mineral water, and dessert was one of Shelley’s apple cakes with cream.
Diana arrived walking with her arm through Simon’s for support.
‘Hello, are you coming also?’ Amanda panicked when she saw him. She didn’t think she could stretch the meal to three servings.
‘No, no, just delivering your guest. I’ve been raking the gravel on the driveway in preparation for some new gravel I ordered, and I should get back to finish up.’
‘How did you pay for it?’ asked Amanda. She certainly didn’t have any money to pay for a truckload of gravel.
‘I paid for it,’ said Diana as she walked into the house.
‘Diana, you shouldn’t do that,’ Amanda said. ‘I’m supposed to pay for those things.’
‘It wasn’t a huge amount of money and I do like to hear the crunch of the car wheels on the fresh gravel,’ she said.
Simon gave them a wave and headed down to the front of the garden as Amanda closed the door, while Diana went through to the sitting room and sat on the sofa.
Amanda walked in and sat down on an armchair.
Diana was silent for a moment, looking around at the room with its formal sofas and painting.
‘I have always hated this room,’ she said.
‘Kitchen?’ asked Amanda.
‘Much better,’ said Diana and they walked through to the kitchen. Diana’s tension seemed to ease as she sat at the table.
‘I never liked formality, despite my appearance,’ Diana said, touching the brooch attached to her pale blue cotton jumper over a white shirt dress.
