One of the nice things about competent ancestors is that they think about little things like hot weather. This time of year, the breezes are off the l...ke, and the house is designed to catch them. Some long unused baffles on the roof needed to be opened, but the Ballroom had flow-through ventilation designed in. Events would be setting up water spray cooling for the outdoor seating. The same air would be pulled through the house. It was not air conditioning, but it would be endurable. Food. This might have been the longest conversation she ever had with Sara. It would most likely be their last. It wasn’t the answer Sara had been expecting. But, upon a minute’s reflection, it was the one she realized that she should have expected. ‘No, I meant about the baby.’ ‘I’m having it, of course,’ Yvoine said with firm conviction. ‘Are you going to tell Travis?’ ‘Of course,’ she replied, trying to sound casual. Sara said nothing and they waited for Yvoine’s master to arrive home. When he was. The next hand was a nineteen against the dealer’s bust. The crowd was starting to get a lot more vocal. They cheered when the dealer went bust. There were comments about how much had been bet when the dealer made the payout.Dexter took fifteen hundred and added two hundred and fifty dollars to his bet. He was now betting two thousand dollars. He was dealt a pair of sevens. The crowd muttered looking at the cards on the table.Looking at the pit boss, he asked, “Should I split it?”“The dealer has. She was radiant,even wearing business clothes with her hair up in a bun, and theseductive sway of her walk made me forget what I looked like. I greedilyaccepted the embrace as she drew close and wrapped her arms around me,looked up and felt the pillowy softness of her lips against the waxinessof mine, tongues darting between the lock our mouths formed, my boobsgiven a reminder of how just modest they were pressed up against Lisa'smountains, but also a hint that I may be chestier than I gave.