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"Just a little? You're quickly losing points here," Jody teased. "All I'm saying is that he may be being born into one of the wealthiest families in the universe and he may be privileged but I don't want him growing up acting as though he has an automatic sense of entitlement." "I would never raise him like that," Jody replied, sounding slightly defensive. The conciliatory voice said, "I know you won't. I know we are in full agreement on this. I also know your parents, especially your father, will spoil the sense out of their grandson and you know it, too." Nodding, Jody found a smile and patted the strong hand resting on her belly. "Maybe you should be their disciplinarian, too." "I think it's a little too late for that. Well...maybe it won't be so bad. They did a pretty good job with you." "Just pretty good? This honeymoon is getting shorter by the minute..." Jody baited, playfully. Circling Jody without letting her go, Tia was now standing in front of her, hands holding Jody's face and kissing her lips with all the passion and tenderness a soul could possess. "What can I do to make it up to you, to get things back on track?" "That's a good start," Jody breathlessly responded as she was slowly led her back into the bedroom. "Admit it. You can't quit me," Tia's eyes sparkled at her. "You're right. I can't. And don't want to." In two months, they were going to have a son, a legal Wainwright heir they were going to name Tristan John. Jody had reclaimed her maiden name when the divorce from Tony was final and openly declared her love for Tia soon afterward. It had caused another media feeding frenzy, along with speculation of possible impropriety in connection to the abduction. However, the high-powered, even more highly paid Wainwright family attorneys put that rumor to rest by reissuing statements of actual evidence the government had against Montgomery, which were indisputable. Still, every once and a while, Tia and Jody became the tabloid story du jour, not that it made one bit of difference in their lives or the Wainwright business contracts and arrangements. Even the most conservative and prejudiced businessperson transacting with John or Jody knew where his or her bread was buttered and when it came to dealing with the Wainwrights, they seemed to find a way to put their biases aside because if they wanted to be successful, hate was a luxury no one could afford. As time passed, Jody became more sure of and cemented in her love of and devotion to Tia, who constantly amazed her with her strength and tenacity. At first Jody's parents were appalled at the idea of Jody being in a lesbian relationship, complicated by with whom. Maybe if Tia's last name had been Trump, Gates or Buffett, it might have been a little easier to digest but a common, former alcoholic, ex-CIA spook who wasn't even White Anglo-Saxon Protestant? Wainwright kept having to remind himself that, despite all that was 'unacceptable' about Tia, she had saved his daughter's life, not to mention that his little girl was obviously and completely head-over- heels in love with Tia. He could try to convince himself that it was a 'phase' all he wanted but the reality was, this was the real thing for Jody and he knew it. Then the more John got to know Tia, the more he recognized that Tia was a much better "son-in-law" than Montgomery had ever been and much more committed to his daughter, realizing that Tia was everything in a person that he wanted for Jody - faithful, devoted, protective and secure. The only thing he could eventually find wrong with the relationship was that Tia could not help Jody produce a Wainwright heir. Leave it to his headstrong daughter to prove him wrong. The couple had not told John and Sondra that they had been trying to get pregnant, so when Jody conceived through in vitro fertilization, it was as much of a shock to the Wainwrights as it had been when Jody declared a month earlier that she and Tia were actually going to get married. "So much for your phase, John," Sondra had ribbed him. John and Sondra had been invited to dinner on The Quintessence and, after dinner, the two women made the announcement that Jody would be delivering an heir in approximately seven and a half months. Thrilled but curious about the father, the Wainwrights were told that because both Jody and Tia wanted the baby to have half of Tia's heritage, a man named Javier Zamora had donated sperm. He had signed a non-disclosure agreement and a binding contract that he would claim no parental rights to the child and, in return, he and his immediate family would be well compensated for the rest of their lives. With a deal like that, Zamora advised them to not hesitate to call on him again. Sondra was doing her best to do a one hundred eighty degree turn after the abduction. It was a slow, painful process for her but she was trying. Instead of being icy and detached, Sondra was now almost annoyingly hospitable and solicitous. Of course, as Jody had suspected, she had been threatened by John to start acting like Jody's mother or she would find herself divorced and stigmatized, he would make sure of it. Family interaction was very tense in the beginning but Sondra discovered that once she began spending quality time with her daughter and stopped viewing her as competition, she occasionally enjoyed Jody's company. The relationship would always be strained but Sondra also saw that Tia's presence in her daughter's life was a powerfully [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |