Chapter 84: Mimi X

A Game of Chain Reactions

Disclaimer: I know nothing at all! This is all fiction. And the Governor of Colorado in this story and his three daughters are an absolute creation of my own.

Chapter 84: Mimi X

"Patrick, darling," Michele said as she slid into a fresh blouse. "Remember that impossible task I told you I sent Pascal on when he approached me last week?"

"The Governor’s daughter?" Patrick said from the bathroom where he was fixing his hair. "That task?"

"Mmhmm," Michele said and then she paused, holding her breath.

"Well?" Patrick asked.

"Well," Michele answered and then she closed her eyes. "Pascal is... well he says that he’s working on all three daughters, and has already been for a long time..."

"What!" Patrick exclaimed and she could hear him drop something in the bathroom. Within the instant he had dashed out into the bedroom. "How do you know?"

Michele peeked at him through her fingers, she knew she was blushing. "He e-mailed me on Friday night describing his amorous adventures with the trio. What counts is Christine, and the other two are just... well.."
"Rubbing salt into the wound!" Patrick snapped. "Does he have any proof?"

"I replied," Michele said. "I told him that we would need some very persuasive evidence or the bet is null and void... I know he is cocky but he just may pull it off."

Patrick remained rooted in position but his irritated expression soon melted into a smile. "That boy is..."

Michele shrugged. "He won’t do it," she decided. "He won’t... Let’s not think about it."

"What? The possibility of losing?" Patrick said. "We just might on this one."

"We won’t!" Michele said. "I just told you because I thought I should."

Patrick shook his head and blinked slowly. "Well... it would just be for one night..."

"Evening!" Michele said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "I doubt he could go on for much more than that."

Smiling, Patrick went back into the bathroom and Michele called after him. "Oh, Patrick, there’s another thing."

Patrick peeked his face out. "Yes?"

Michele smiled. "Pascal informed me that he had been writing the e-mail on the derriere of a prostitute. I thought that was cunning...."

Patrick narrowed his eyes and ducked back into the bathroom. Michele laughed and flopped backwards onto the bed. He wasn’t planning on telling her then. There were some things he kept to himself. Pleasures on the side were not hard to resist, and she decided that she would let Patrick have what he felt he needed to keep secret. It’s not as if she ever told him everything either, a marriage was never as open as people would ever like to make it. Never.

Michele closed her eyes and yawned. In a couple hours the house would be full, there would be the dinner, and there would be the loud voices and children. At least there would be other women to bring the extra food, which gave her some small semblance of a rest.

"Mommy come play tag!" Jana called from in front of the Maple tree in the backyard. It was after three and as soon as Michele had come home with the children, she was surprised to find Danny, Cecile, and Alex already at the house. It was a pleasant surprise because that meant that they could more than easily keep the three occupied for the late afternoon. It would be great for Jonathan as well, he had been a nervous wreck ever since the minute Elena had accepted his invitation, and it was getting tiring trying to keep the boy from going insane. "Pleeeeeeeease!"

"Non, darling," Michele said, "I will watch you."

"I’m IT!" Jana squealed and she sprinted at full speed after Danny.

"You ain’t getting me!" Danny laughed and he darted across the lawn.

"Eeeeeeeee!" Jana shrieked and then as soon as Danny slipped on a pile of leaves and hit the grass, she jumped on him. "Got you!"

"You little..." Danny snapped in mock anger and the girl rolled off him and sprinted away.

The rest of the boys were scattered over the lawn as well, and the game soon became a noisy, raucous mess. It became even more wild as soon as Gigi was tagged IT and as everyone scattered, the puppy began chasing them down. Her snarls sounded so ferocious and convincing that no one wanted to get snagged by her, and suddenly the game really was life or death.

"Oh God!" Tangers screamed and he hopped onto a tree branch to escape the puppy.

Michele laughed and looked at Cecile who was sitting near her at the outdoor table. The girl had a large smile on her face and she was leaning her chin on her hand. Michele could see her gaze was entirely fixated on Danny. "Why don’t you join the game?" Michele said. "You’re always so quiet!"

Cecile flinched and looked at Michele. "Oh..." she shrugged. "I’m not very good at it."

Michele laughed. "There is no catch to it, my love. It is simple enough. Run until you’re caught and then catch someone else. Truly, it is merely a game of chain reactions, touching one and the one touches another who touches another."

"A lot like life," Cecile said calmly. "You never know how far the ripples are going."

"Oooh," Michele said. "Now we’re taking the fun from it. A child’s game."

"Cecile!" Danny gasped breathlessly, stumbling onto the deck and holding his hand to his chest. "Hon, you gotta come play! Jana’s the only girl, help her out!"

Cecile lifted a black eyebrow and looked around Danny as Jana vaulted herself off a tree branch to ambush Tanguay. "I think you boys are the one who needs help!"

"Awwwww," Danny said, "Come on Hon!"

What a drip! Michele thought. The girl was born to be dull.

"Nope," said Cecile.

Undaunted, Danny fell to his knees, and he stuck out his bottom lip. "Pweeeeeeese, I love you!"

Michele raised her eyebrows as Cecile sighed in a rather over exaggerated fashion. "Well, if it means that much to you..."

"Oh it means everything!" Danny cooed.

"No it doesn’t," Cecile said. "I couldn’t mean that much."

Michele’s mouth fell open a little bit and she was very close to making a disbelieving face. The girl was goading Danny into a very fine display here.

"It means everything! I promise!" Danny smiled and he leaned forward kissing her softly and tenderly on the mouth. Michele could hear the faint tracings of a whisper as he leaned near her ear and Cecile laughed.

"OK," she exclaimed. "OK, I’m going."

The grin on Danny’s face was close to irresistible and Michele actually felt a twinge of pain when she saw it directed at the girl. He gripped her wrists firmly in his hands and he pulled her to her feet, then swung her in the air, setting her gently on the grass. "Stop that I hate it when you do that!" Cecile cried but there was a glowing smile on her face, she was anything but annoyed by it.

And then those emerald eyes met Michele’s, just briefly, making sure who was watching. Michele couldn’t help but smile back at her. This was too much! The girl was a kitten and there she was, trying to put her in her place. "Have fun my sweet!" Michele sang, waving her fingers at them. "Little bitch," she muttered to herself, closing her eyes.

"I think I may change my mind on Cecile," Patrick said, his voice close to her ear. Michele opened her eyes. "Pardon?"

"I told you that I wasn’t interested in the girl," Patrick said. "I’ve changed my mind."

Michele smiled as he sat down next to her smelling of aftershave and toothpaste. "Wonderful!" she exclaimed. "The girl is too sweet to pass up, nes pas? Oooh just the other night, she had such a nightmare to wake up the house and as I was comforting her..." Michele leaned against him, her cheek on his shoulder. "I thought to myself, what a pleasing, innocent little thing... I almost wished I were a man at that moment... such a treasure."

She closed her eyes and with a slight twinge in her stomach, she felt again the tearing thrill that Patrick could inflict upon her body. Cecile should be thanking her...

"You tart," Patrick said in a good-natured voice.

"What made you decide this way?" Michele asked.

"When I saw her mother," Patrick said. "That’s when I knew."

"Her mother?" Michele said. "What’s so special about her? What a dull woman, I had lunch with her on Saturday and all she spoke of was... I can’t even recall."

"When I was in Granby I knew her," Patrick answered. "She was married to, Alain Danceny, he owned a piece of the team."

"What?" Michele exclaimed. "She doesn’t sound French... and Cecile, how could she know nothing of hockey? Pauline certainly pretended an ignorance of it. How could she not remember you?"

They were quiet for a spell as they watched Cecile chase down Jana, tagging the girl and running away. She was actually a pretty good runner, Michele was a bit impressed.

Patrick’s sighed. "I doubt she would admit remembering me if she does. She wasn’t French either. She hated hockey and hockey players and she would be quoted as saying how each and every one of us were worthless dogs in the papers. She was very influential in the religious community. That part wasn’t so bothering. It’s the other things. She would harass us, all of the time, she would appear out of nowhere, point her skinny finger at us, throw her bible around, and yell at us. It got to the point where she would actually hire snoops to spy on the team and inform the coaches of any small infraction that could get us tossed off, just to make us nervous. She would have our families called, embarrass us."

"How annoying," Michele said softly. "Is that all?"

"She was a hypocrite," Patrick said. "She would sleep with the players, the younger ones too, and then tell them she would get them yanked off the team if they told anyone. She had a few regular ones, but she wouldn’t allow them to have girlfriends, a very jealous woman."

Michele thought of the woman she had had lunch with and she frowned. "And you?"

"No," Patrick said. "Not me, but I knew what was going on. Alain died and she must have left the area, I haven’t thought about her at all since then until I saw her. I just thought it was amusing to see her flaunting her daughter as a pinnacle of virtue, that’s her new project then is to see the girl become something different than she was? I’m curious to see how well the girl has been trained, it would be something to return the girl to her as something worse than Pauline ever was."

"That is lovely!" Michele exclaimed. "But I don’t recall ever hearing you speak of her."

Patrick laughed. "Well you knew her sister."

"I did?" Michele said, trying to fish her memory for any clue. "When?"

"Volanges," Patrick said, and a dart of electricity flicked through her. "Corinne was her sister, she was married to the team’s equipment manager in Montreal."

The picture came into her mind of Corinne, green eyes, black hair. She made a half grin, "What a small world," she said quietly. "She had a little daughter, didn’t she? Same as her with the emerald eyes?"

Michele looked at Cecile again; the girl was laughing and pinning her long hair back into a bun. Even from the distance she was at, Michele could see her green eyes.

Patrick nodded, "Yes, I thought you would have picked up on that a lot sooner."

Michele laughed. "Does Cecile know?"

Patrick frowned. "I didn’t even know Pauline and Corinne were sisters until Corinne had told me. I don’t think they liked each other at all."

"How odd," Michele said. "Things seem to cycle back so quickly. It’s a little frightening, is it not?"

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