Read Online Pillow Talk by Hailey North - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Hailey North
Tags: child
Ads: Link
spoke to her, but the way his voice carried, Meg just knew the others would jump in.
Sure enough, Mathilde quit declaiming over the mayor and said, "Good idea, Augie. Why don't you tell us about your family?"
Meg licked her lips, wondering just how to define her family. Springing her three children on them didn't strike her as the best thing to do at the moment. "Um, what would you like to know?"
"The usual things." Mathilde looked at her as if she found Meg extremely dull-witted. "Who your parents are, where you went to high school. The college you attended."
Kinky sat up straighter. "Jules's first wife was a Duffourc and his second a Moisant."
Grandfather thumped on the arm of his wheelchair. "And a lot of good their pedigrees did them. Neither one of them lasted two years. I guess CeCe couldn't fight her own nature, but why that Marianne didn't stick by him six months after—"
"Really, Augie, must you air all the family linen?" Mathilde spoke even more sharply, her patrician eyes narrowing.
It had been like that in the foster homes. Meg was used to conversations that broke off, to whispered endings of sentences. Those hurts had faded over the years as she nurtured her own family, but watching the Ponthiers brought back the ghosts of those feelings. Well, the Ponthiers couldn't inflict any wounds she hadn't already grown scar tissue over.
But she'd be willing to bet none of them had ever met anyone like her.
In her sweetest voice, she said, "I finished high school with a GED."
Mathilde glanced from Grandfather to Parker, then towards Kinky. The effete young man shrugged one shoulder. Mathilde clearly had never heard of a GED and Meg was sure she was too proud to ask what it meant.
Not so Amelia Anne. In a soft voice she asked, "Is that some sort of honors program?"
For Meg it had been.
She nodded. It had been a major accomplishment. She'd dropped out of school at sixteen— not that she'd attended regularly. When she was ten, the wonderful long-term foster parents who'd taught her to love and to laugh at life's problems were killed in a car crash. After that, it seemed the families who took her in were always more interested in her as a babysitter than as a daughter of their own. She'd always been good with kids. Everyone said so.
The teenage girl lowered her earphones for the first time since Meg had entered the room. "A GED is a test you take to get a diploma when you've dropped out of school."
Meg nodded. It didn't surprise her that the girl followed the conversation under the armor of her music and book. "That's right. It's a General Equivalency Diploma."
"And you said it was an honors program."
Mathilde's accusation rang clear in her voice. Lie about this, lie about anything.
Grandfather slapped the arm of his chair. "Better than not finishing what she started."
Meg smiled at him.
The teenager said, "That's what I wish I could do. Take one test and have the whole thing over with."
"Isolde, really," Amelia Anne said, a hurt look on her face, "you're enrolled in the best school in the city. You'll enter the college of your choice and enjoy a wonderful debutante season. How can you make such a thoughtless statement?"
Without another word, the girl pulled the earphones over her ears and buried her face in her book. Kinky, who'd quit drumming on her head while she spoke, resumed his tapping rhythm.
Amelia Anne sighed.
"What you should ask your daughter," Mathilde said, "is where she learned about a GED. Whoever heard of such a thing!"
Without removing the earphones, the girl said, "Astor's older sister did it after she got pregnant."
"Isolde, mind your manners, please," her mother said in a weak voice, glancing more at her own mother than at her daughter.
"I suppose that nixed college," Kinky said, at last stopping the nervous dancing of his fingers.
Meg wondered whether he referred to Isolde's friend or to herself for "only" holding a GED. She stared at his hands, moving so restlessly. An image
Sure enough, Mathilde quit declaiming over the mayor and said, "Good idea, Augie. Why don't you tell us about your family?"
Meg licked her lips, wondering just how to define her family. Springing her three children on them didn't strike her as the best thing to do at the moment. "Um, what would you like to know?"
"The usual things." Mathilde looked at her as if she found Meg extremely dull-witted. "Who your parents are, where you went to high school. The college you attended."
Kinky sat up straighter. "Jules's first wife was a Duffourc and his second a Moisant."
Grandfather thumped on the arm of his wheelchair. "And a lot of good their pedigrees did them. Neither one of them lasted two years. I guess CeCe couldn't fight her own nature, but why that Marianne didn't stick by him six months after—"
"Really, Augie, must you air all the family linen?" Mathilde spoke even more sharply, her patrician eyes narrowing.
It had been like that in the foster homes. Meg was used to conversations that broke off, to whispered endings of sentences. Those hurts had faded over the years as she nurtured her own family, but watching the Ponthiers brought back the ghosts of those feelings. Well, the Ponthiers couldn't inflict any wounds she hadn't already grown scar tissue over.
But she'd be willing to bet none of them had ever met anyone like her.
In her sweetest voice, she said, "I finished high school with a GED."
Mathilde glanced from Grandfather to Parker, then towards Kinky. The effete young man shrugged one shoulder. Mathilde clearly had never heard of a GED and Meg was sure she was too proud to ask what it meant.
Not so Amelia Anne. In a soft voice she asked, "Is that some sort of honors program?"
For Meg it had been.
She nodded. It had been a major accomplishment. She'd dropped out of school at sixteen— not that she'd attended regularly. When she was ten, the wonderful long-term foster parents who'd taught her to love and to laugh at life's problems were killed in a car crash. After that, it seemed the families who took her in were always more interested in her as a babysitter than as a daughter of their own. She'd always been good with kids. Everyone said so.
The teenage girl lowered her earphones for the first time since Meg had entered the room. "A GED is a test you take to get a diploma when you've dropped out of school."
Meg nodded. It didn't surprise her that the girl followed the conversation under the armor of her music and book. "That's right. It's a General Equivalency Diploma."
"And you said it was an honors program."
Mathilde's accusation rang clear in her voice. Lie about this, lie about anything.
Grandfather slapped the arm of his chair. "Better than not finishing what she started."
Meg smiled at him.
The teenager said, "That's what I wish I could do. Take one test and have the whole thing over with."
"Isolde, really," Amelia Anne said, a hurt look on her face, "you're enrolled in the best school in the city. You'll enter the college of your choice and enjoy a wonderful debutante season. How can you make such a thoughtless statement?"
Without another word, the girl pulled the earphones over her ears and buried her face in her book. Kinky, who'd quit drumming on her head while she spoke, resumed his tapping rhythm.
Amelia Anne sighed.
"What you should ask your daughter," Mathilde said, "is where she learned about a GED. Whoever heard of such a thing!"
Without removing the earphones, the girl said, "Astor's older sister did it after she got pregnant."
"Isolde, mind your manners, please," her mother said in a weak voice, glancing more at her own mother than at her daughter.
"I suppose that nixed college," Kinky said, at last stopping the nervous dancing of his fingers.
Meg wondered whether he referred to Isolde's friend or to herself for "only" holding a GED. She stared at his hands, moving so restlessly. An image
Similar Books
