Pam was standing over by the window of their bedroom at Southfork. She was looking out into the night. She had her back turned towards Bobby and Rebecca who were also in the room with her. Pam’s heart was pounding so fast in her chest as Bobby had just found out about her dirty little secret and she had no idea of how to explain it to Bobby without looking like a liar.
“Who is Richard?” Bobby repeated the question. When Pam remained silent Bobby lost his temper. He threw Pam’s cell phone down on the bed, before he walked up to Pam and grabbed her arm. “Pamela, answer me dammit!” Bobby spun Pam around forcing her to look at him.
“Bobby please! Not in front of Rebecca,” Pam pleaded with Bobby to see reason as a way to gain some time.
“Alright then,” Bobby sighed, as he let go of Pam's arm. Then he turned around to face Rebecca and seeing the frightened look in her eyes he felt like kicking himself for losing his temper in front of their daughter. “Rebecca, will you please go back to bed?”
“No why are you yelling at mommy?” Rebecca cried, as she didn't understand what was going on. She had never seen her dad act this way before and she didn't like it.
“Rebecca go back to bed!”
“But I can’t sleep…” Rebecca said with a quivering lip. “I wanna sleep in your bed!”
“Rebecca sweetheart, now’s not a good time,” Pam said, putting a comforting hand on Rebecca's shoulder. “Mommy and daddy need to talk.”
“Alright,” Rebecca nodded, as she stopped crying. Then she looked at her mom with pleading eyes, “So will you tuck me in at least?”
“Mommy will be there to tuck you in later, now go to your room,” Bobby said in an annoyed tone of voice.
“Mommy?”
“You heard your daddy Rebecca,” Pam sighed, as she wanted nothing more than to go with her daughter. But she knew that she owed Bobby an explanation and things wouldn't get better by postponing it any longer. “I’ll be there soon, ok?”
“Okay mommy,” Rebecca hugged Pam before leaving the room.
Pam closed the door shut behind her and turned towards Bobby. An uncomfortable silence lingered in the room as they waited for Rebecca’s footsteps to disappear down the hall.
“Okay she’s out of ear shot, so now I’ll demand an explanation…”
“I know Bobby and I’m so sorry but I haven’t been honest with you…”
“So I’ve noticed. So now why don’t you tell me who Richard is?”
“Bobby please, bear with me this isn’t easy for me…” Pam looked down, as she uncomfortably tousled her hair behind her ear.
“What’s so bad that you
can’t tell me?” Bobby asked in a concerned voice, before an awful thought entered his mind.
It must be Rebecca. Bobby’s heart dropped as he loved that child. A part of him didn’t want to know but another part felt compelled to ask, “It’s Rebecca, isn’t it?”
“What?” Pam dropped her mouth.
“She’s not really my daughter, is that it?” Bobby asked with a heavy heart.
“No that’s not it at all!” Pam denied it angrily. “You’re Rebecca’s father Bobby.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“Positive, do the math if you don’t believe me, Rebecca’s 7 years old Bobby. I was still married to you when she was born!”
“You say that, but what if she’s really six years old?”
“Are you saying I’m a liar?”
“No I’m just saying that she is really small for her age and…”
“That’s because she’s a premature baby.”
“Okay, so when did you meet Richard then?”
“Five years ago,” Pam replied. “Bobby I’m telling you for the last time that Rebecca is
your daughter. Why won’t you believe me?”
“I want to Pam. It’s just that you never even mentioned Richard and how can I be sure that Rebecca is really mine?”
“I can’t believe we’re back to this. I thought you knew Rebecca was yours Bobby,” Pam yelled accusingly and seeing the look in her eyes he knew better than to argue anymore with her about it, so he backpedalled.
“I’m sorry Pam, you’re right. Deep down I know Rebecca is my daughter,” Bobby sighed, even though a seed of doubt had been planted in his mind.
“Good,” Pam didn’t seem to notice it.
“So if this Richard is not Rebecca’s father who is he then?”
Pam sighed, “He’s my boyfriend!”
Bobby felt like someone had just punched him in the stomach, “Don’t you mean ex?” He knew he was grasping at straws here but the whole thing really didn’t make sense to him.
Pam bit her lip nervously before admitting, “Well from my part!”
“You haven’t broken up with him?” Bobby exclaimed.
Pam shifted uncomfortably, “Not exactly…”
“I can’t believe you. I mean we’ve been living together for over a month now and all the time you’ve been two-timing me?”
“I haven’t cheated on you if that’s what you mean…”
“No but on him apparently!” Bobby said disgusted.
“Well like you never have…”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Bobby argued. “You know I’ve always been faithful to you…”
“Oh so how long did it take you to jump into bed with someone else after we had separated the last time?” Pam said in a jealous voice. “Was it before or after the divorce was finalized?”
“That has nothing to do with it…”
“It does, I bet it was a lot sooner than I moved on with Richard…”
“When was that exactly?”
“About four years ago…”
“You’ve been dating him for four years?”
“Yeah,” Pam confirmed.
“Is there something else you’re not telling me?”
“What would that be?”
“Oh I don’t know, like for instance that you’re
engaged to him?”
“No I’m not…but he was sort of living with us in Los Angeles…”
“Oh really?” Bobby yelled. “So where was he when I met you then?”
“On a business trip!” Pam confessed.
“Just great!” Bobby said sarcastically. “So if the guy lived with you why didn’t he…”
“Well he wasn’t living with us full time,” Pam interrupted Bobby. “I mean he does have an apartment by the beach too…”
“Alright, still how come he’s not filed a missing person’s report?”
“Because I called him and told him Rebecca and I was going to Dallas over the summer…”
“Well that’s something, so did you tell him about us?”
“There wasn’t much to tell then…”
“I take that as a no,” Bobby sighed. “So what did you tell him then?”
“That I was going to visit my brother Cliff and my son Christopher…”
“So he knows about Christopher then?”
“Yeah,” Pam nodded.
“So does he know about me?”
“Yes he knows you’re my ex-husband and the father of my children.”
“That’s
all?”
“Yeah, I don’t know what else you’d want me to tell him?”
“Well how about that we’re back together for starters?”
“I know I should have told him but it hasn’t been the right time yet…” Pam sighed.
“Oh so when were you going to tell him then?” Bobby asked.
“Soon,” Pam replied.
“How soon?” Bobby asked, “Is that before or after our wedding?” Bobby asked sarcastically. “Or maybe you didn’t plan to tell him at all. Maybe you were just going to send him an invitation to our wedding?”
“I was going to tell him,” Pam insisted.
“Good, then I’ll suggest you’ll call him right now and do it!”
“Well I don’t think breaking up on the phone is a good idea.”
“You broke up with me in a letter!” Bobby said accusingly. “And we were married!”
“Fine I’ll send him a letter tomorrow telling him it’s over.”
“You’re unbelievable. Is that the best you can do after letting the guy worry about you for over a month?”
“You don’t want me to write him a letter?”
“No, the guy is worried about you. He asked me to tell you to call him back. So I think that’s the least you can do!”
“What if I don’t want to call him?”
“Pam, after four years I think you
owe it to him!”
“Alright then, I’ll call him…tomorrow…”
“Good,” Bobby replied, as he started to walk towards the door.
“Where are you going?”
“To get a drink,” Bobby replied.
“You want me to join you?”
“No, you promised to tuck in Rebecca.”
“Right,” Pam bit her lip. “So you want me to join you later?”
“No I need to be alone tonight.”
“So I shouldn’t wait up for you then?”
“No, I’ll sleep in one of the guest rooms downstairs...”
“But this is your room maybe I should…”
“No, you’ll stay here, I’ll see you in the morning, ok?”
“Okay, goodnight!”
“Night,” Bobby muttered before he rushed past Pam and slammed the door behind him. He was so angry with Pam for having lied to him that he couldn’t even stand being in the same room as her tonight. What was even worse was that he didn’t know if he could trust her anymore. Because despite what he’d just said a small voice in his head kept asking him how he could be so sure he was really Rebecca’s father.
Because if Pam could lie about something as important as having a boyfriend, what else is she capable of lying about?