Vanni was not reluctant to receive her familiarities and finally placed his hand on her thigh, both now turning to face another. I did not have a good...plan from here, so I used the only plan I had come up with. “Vannie, when Donna was in a sorority, she won a French kissing contest, first place, best seductress at Duke. She should show you.” How lame was that. Two weeks of diving and no drinking, the booze may have gotten to Donna a bit more than usual. I got the puzzled, WTF, are you stupid,. There was lots of banter and exchanging anecdotes and histories – how Sam and Anna had met Jayne and Mark (at a swingers’ club); shared interests (mainly sex); etc. Of course the food was lovely but almost incidental. I do remember the men had oysters to start with, but as they ladies weren’t keen, they had asparagus instead and seemed to take great pleasure in dipping them into the hollandaise sauce and then provocatively licking the tips, teasingly sucking them and laughing. The wine flowed. But however well my “old acquaintance” seems to be able to read me, as if I were written in large print with colour illustrations, to anyone else, I’m completely opaque; I’m able to brush away her doubt with confidence. I only wish I could don that armour of confidence around him, because I know I’ll need it to hold my own with what’s to come. At last, the afternoon is over, but I’m determined that this time, unlike the last, I plan on leaving an indelible impression on him, such as he has left. ”I naturally asked, “Who is ‘we’?”“My sisters, your mother, and me.”Chuck laughed, “Why were we not invited to the planning table?”“It just sort of happened. Mother, you have had three daughters. Maybe that is all you can make. So, you could have several more c***dren and create more sisters for us but not solve Chuck’s desire for a boy. Nelida is too old, my sisters are at the university, I have no immediate plans. So, we decided I should increase the odds by having a baby for the two of you..