Christmas Past Read Online Free PDF Page B

it by looking so handsome, by caring for her and looking after her. But then the feeling she’d experienced with Jack had been different altogether: more exciting,
more sinful somehow.
    Maybe she loved both of them. Anyway, tonight she had enough love for everybody. She was overflowing with it, and she had never been so happy in her life.
     
Chapter Four
    It was one of those days when nothing went right. Tom had called his employer a bloody idiot, and although he had apologised immediately Rowland Roberts had stormed out of the
car and slammed the door, leaving Tom to assess the damage. Tom, who was trying to teach the doctor to drive in the few days left before his departure, couldn’t understand the man’s
inability to turn left. He had almost demolished the gatepost at the bottom of the drive, and Tom, who had tended the motor as though it was a baby, had become incensed at the sight of the dented
mudguard.
    The doctor slammed every door in the house, shouted at Mary and ignored his wife. The truth was he actually felt a bloody idiot; Tom had taken to the wheel like a duck to water
and the older man had expected to do the same. After cooling down he realised he would either have to get back in the driving seat or employ another driver, though where he could hope to find one
with all the young men joining up God only knew. In any case, now Mary had taken over most of the outside work he doubted if he really needed another handyman. The lass was worth her weight in
gold. Amazingly, she never seemed to run out of energy, and actually appeared to enjoy all the work.
    Mary was feeling hot and miserable, even before the doctor snapped at her. She had just finished pegging out three lines of washing when the heavens opened and it poured with rain, so she had
brought the whole lot in again and heaved it up on to the rack over the fire. Now the kitchen was filled with steam, not only from the damp washing but also from the plum puddings boiling away over
the fire in readiness for Christmas. The condensation ran down the windows, dulled the brassware, and moistened Mary’s hair so that it curled up the wrong way over her forehead, just when she
wanted to look nice for Tom tonight.
    On Mondays she usually paid an evening visit to Tom’s family, enjoying the chattering of Bessie and Lucy, and playing a game of Shop Missis with his young brothers Cyril and Douglas, but
tonight she was staying in to keep an eye on the Christmas cakes in the oven. Dr Roberts had a choir practice in the schoolroom and he was taking his wife with him to do the refreshments, so Tom
would more than likely be coming to the house to keep her company. It had been taken for granted since the dance that Tom and Mary were courting. Everybody seemed delighted, but a cloud hung over
the couple as the day of Tom’s departure drew near. Although Tom hadn’t discussed the war with Mary, she had started listening to the wireless and knew he would probably be sent to
France, and France to Mary sounded like the other side of the world.
    Over the past few weeks Mary had changed. She had always liked Tom, but now when he kissed her he awakened feelings in her she hadn’t known she possessed. She knew now that it was Tom she
loved and she couldn’t bear the thought of his going, worse still the possibility of his never coming back. Yet he had to go, along with all the other young men who had received their call-up
papers.
    The doctor was in a more amiable frame of mind when he came in for tea. He seemed to be getting the hang of steering at last and he always felt happier on practice night, especially when they
were rehearsing carols. Dr Roberts loved carols and looked forward to leading the choir not only at the charity concert in the school, but also in the run-up to Christmas when they visited the
local pubs and collected donations for the orphanage. Gladys used the money to buy a present for each child and a few luxuries so that the nuns could