The Heart's Game (The Kelly Brothers, Book 4) Read Online Free PDF Page B

guest’s tight lipped disapproval only deepened with each course. He only spoke to Dì Tam or her parents and stiffened when he finally realized that Mike was Jason’s husband. By the time they got to the bánh bò for dessert, he appeared to be forcing himself to endure their company.
    That was when the matchmaking pitch began.
    “Hue is an engineer,” Tam started. “She makes very good money working for Microsoft and has her own home.”
    Which was code for “She’s rich and has a place that could hold plenty of relatives.” Jenny’s cheeks burned, and she played with the sweet, flaky cake in front of her.
    Duong nodded, some of the boredom vanishing from his eyes.
    “Hue, Duong comes from a very old and respected family back home. He would make you a good husband.”
    Her stomach knotted, and she set her fork down. Time to let her aunt down gently. “I’m flattered he would consider me, but I’m not looking for a husband right now.”
    “But hue, you should get married before you get too old. You’re already twenty-six.”
    “I’m thirty, Dì Tam.”
    Duong’s eyes widened, and he turned to her aunt and said in a hushed hiss that he’d been told she was younger. The plot became clearer as the whispered conversation continued. He’d only agreed to meet her because she was a US citizen, and her confidence took another blow. She was nothing more than a green card to him, and even then, he was questioning whether or not she was worth it. She was too skinny, too slovenly, too outspoken. Embarrassment swirled inside her chest, bleeding out in her flushed cheeks until she could no longer bear it.
    “I’m pregnant,” she announced to everyone at the table.
    Her mother and aunt wore matching wide-eyed, open-mouthed expressions of shock, but Duong managed to clamp his jaw shut.
    “Are you just saying that to be difficult?” her mother asked.
    Jenny shook her head and crossed her arms over her stomach. “I’m pregnant, and it’s Mike’s child.”
    That was the breaking point. Duong threw his napkin on the table and pushed his chair back in a huff, calling her a slew of insults that implied she had loose morals. Her mother and aunt rose with him, trying to convince him otherwise, but he was already headed for the door. The two women chased after him into the front yard, the slamming door finally silencing their pleas.
    Jenny continued to stare at her half-eaten dessert and waited for her father to reprimand her.
    Instead, he asked, “Was this the news you wanted to share?”
    She nodded, unable to read his reaction from the tone of his voice.
    Jason wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “A few months ago, Mike and I asked Jenny if she’d consider being a surrogate for us since she’d be able to give us the closest thing to our own child. She agreed, and we just found out this morning that she’s pregnant.”
    Her father leaned back in his chair, his chin in his hand. “And you slept with Mike?”
    Mike coughed and cleared his throat. “Actually, we did artificial insemination. I love Jason too much to cheat on him, especially with a woman.”
    “My confidence is really taking a nosedive here,” she rebutted, her voice dry with sarcasm.
    Mike placed a kiss on her temple. “I didn’t mean it that way, Jenny. Next to my mama, you’re the only woman I love.”
    Her father continued to mull over the information for another minute before nodding. “Then it is happy news. Congratulations.”
    Her father’s calm acceptance contrasted with the banging of the front door and her mother’s livid expression when she returned to the dining room. “I can’t believe you would sabotage everything Tam and I worked so hard for. You had a man willing to marry you, and you had to announce that you’re a slut who slept with your brother’s husband. You have disgraced our family. Now you will never find a man who’ll want to marry you.”
    She then ran toward her bedroom and slammed the door. Loud wails