Read Aqua - Christmas in New York City (Aqua Romance Travel Series) for Free Online Page B

button and hung up. She tapped her fingers on the coffee table, then picked up the phone again and just listened to the dial tone. The sound represented a possibility, a chance at reconciliation if her fingers could move on the keypad.
    She stared at eleven gifts still underneath the tree. Harry had disguised them in different shapes so she had no clue what she was opening. One gift box he had wrapped in gauze so it looked like a ball, another was suspended from the ceiling in a translucent heart.  
    She picked up a gift that was wrapped in a hexagon shape, opened the flap and read Harry’s few words over and over again. ‘For our thirteenth day of Christmas.’ Our.
    How could she let her father get between the two of them? Casey sighed. It wasn’t fair to blame her father. He was simply a catalyst, a convenient scapegoat for anything that went wrong in her life. She could always dig deep into the past and blame him.
    If she were to be honest with herself, he represented the fear of having a child. As unwarranted as it was, her father represented everything that could go wrong with parenting.
    It wasn’t that Casey thought either she or Harry wouldn’t be good parents. The contrary. Harry was a patient man, and caring. It more had to do with her notion of being a mother. A mother without breasts. It was irrational but it meant she wasn’t perfect for her children and she wanted to be. She would bring a child into this world without breastfeeding.  
    “Some women would be grateful for that,” her longtime friend, Trish, had told her. “You won’t have your breasts hanging halfway down to your stomach.”
    “But there’s that connection when you breastfeed, right?”
    “That’s an evolutionary purpose. We can nourish infants in other ways, and the connection is just there if you hold them.”  
    “Then I’ll be the mother who’s a freak without breasts.”
    “You’re a gorgeous woman no matter what.”
    Casey burst into tears.
    “It’s natural, Cass.”
    All Casey could do was sob.
    “Want me to come over?”
    “No.”
    Trish waited till she caught her breath. “I just don’t know how it will be.”
    “I know.” Her gentle voice soothed. “What does Harry say?”
    “I told him he should get someone on the side.”
    “That’s ridiculous, Cass.”
    “That’s what he said.”
    “So he’s good about it?”
    “Yeah, but who knows how he’ll react. I’m going to look Frankenstein-ish with a big scar across my chest.”
    “He’s not Roger! It’ll be fine with Harry.”
    “But I’ll be different.”
    “Your body will be. That’s it.” Trish hesitated. “Look, we’ve been through this but if you’re worried about the feminine aspect or how your kids would react, then get breast reconstruction.”
    “But there can be ongoing issues with pain, nerve damage, scar tissue buildup and-”
    “Millions of women go through it.”
    “But the implants go under the pectoral muscles. That’s like a rope wound tightly your chest all the time.” She circled her fingers around the base of her breast as she talked. “It’ll be like a suction cup.”
    “You’re being a professor now. Cass, stop researching this and reading up on it. Just think, you could have bigger breasts. You always complained yours were too small.”
    Casey forced a short laugh. “But they’re cold to touch. There’s no blood flowing through there, you know. I mean, I wouldn’t feel anything.”
    “Just trust in the doctors and whatever happens will happen. Harry will be there by your side and that’s what counts.”
    Harry. He would be there. Casey toggled the flap on her gift back and forth between her fingers. Our.
    She peeled back the paper to reveal a painting on an easel. It was a replica of the one Harry had done with melted chocolate on their outdoor balcony on the Aqua, when he used her naked body as a canvas. She closed her eyes and remembered how he had reached for a chocolate-covered fig from the tray and