The Game of Denial Read Online Free PDF

cleavage?" Tucker asked. Giselle poked him playfully on the arm. He pulled his wife closer and kissed her.
    "Even when I was much younger, I didn't have enough cleavage to get excited about, so I chose the mysterious approach," Joan said. "I spent most of the evening hiding behind one potted plant or another, coming out only to refill my champagne glass." A smile lifted the corners of her mouth. She lowered her voice and her children leaned closer to hear. "Then I saw her. The most beautiful creature I had ever seen was staring right at me. I thought perhaps there was something wrong with my dress or stockings. I screwed my head around to check my rear and when I turned back around, she was walking toward me. She seemed to prowl like a panther stalking its prey, her hair flowing wildly around her face like a mane. I had never seen anyone so magnificent in my life."
    "Hot, huh?" Meg asked.
    Joan opened her eyes and met Meg's. "Hotter than the center of a flame," she answered. "I thought I might combust right there on the spot."
    "What does hot mean?" Mitchell asked, turning his head toward his mother.
    "It means very attractive," Giselle said softly.
    "And all of you are the result of that first meeting," Joan said.
    "I think you left out the part between meeting and us," Charmaine said.
    Joan cleared her throat. "I fell in love with your Mama that evening and until Tuck came along our private lives remained just that, private."
    "When did you decide to have children?" Giselle asked.
    "Martine wanted to have children right away, but I wanted to wait. She put up with my reluctance for almost two years before announcing it was time. She had spent the previous two years getting everything in order. She contacted Ron and Gerard, as well as a doctor. The only question was who would become pregnant first. Martine thought we both should carry children. It would make us more of a family if we were both invested in it, although she would have gladly become pregnant with each one of you. She came up with the coin toss idea. I called heads and won, or lost. Tucker is the result. Sorry sweetie, but I can't honestly say I was that excited. The idea of becoming pregnant had never appealed to me, even as a young girl."
    "How did you become pregnant?" Giselle asked.
    Joan cleared her throat. "Martine believed children were created by the love shared between two people. She made an appointment with our doctor who instructed her how the insemination process worked. She brought the sperm from Uncle Gerard home and I probably shouldn't tell anything else in front of the children. Suffice it to say, I became pregnant and was scared to death.
    "Martine hovered over me for the next nine months. She decorated the nursery and read every book she could lay her hands on. She worried that Tucker would kick a hole through my abdomen. She made me eat foods that may have been wonderful for a growing baby, but were truly disgusting. And despite the fact that I went to work every day, she still made me exercise every evening before we went to bed.
    "The morning Tucker was born was so chaotic and, of course, Martine insisted on being with me during the birth. I wanted to be anywhere except in that room. It's true what they say about giving birth. It may be a beautiful process, but it hurt like hell and I called Martine a few very unkind names. During each contraction she would lean down and whisper into my ear, telling me how much she loved me and thanking me for the gift I was giving her. When I looked into her eyes, the pain didn't seem as bad. Our doctor allowed her to stay through the entire delivery and even let her cut the umbilical cord. Actually Mama was the first one to hold Tucker after the nurses counted his fingers and toes," Joan said, the memory floating through her mind. "I was so exhausted I fell asleep almost immediately. When I woke up Martine was sitting in a rocking chair next to my bed holding Tucker in her arms, cooing to him in French.