...r this weekend?” “I would love to.” Jake was fed up with the cat and mouse games that so CHAPTER 9 49 A COURAGEOUS BATTLE many women played, and he l... ...ay. He sighed. “All right, all right. I’ll phone.” “HE SENT ME for a chest x-ray and took blood,” Jake said, when he came home from the doctor’s offic... ... the pain she could not cope with in her real life. She resumed her bridge games, and arranged family func- tions. Jake tried to take part in these an... ...so I thought it might be pneumonia. When I went to the clinic they took an x-ray and it showed a mark. Then they sent 102 SUSAN BRACKEN me for a scan... ...g her fists, Lacey recalled the fear she had felt when the doctor said her x-rays showed a suspicious mark. She could not get lung cancer could she? N... ...I don’t feel like beating around the bush, Jana. I’m too old to be playing games. Lately, I’ve been questioning my bach- elor status. I find you attra... ...as an unspoken reality in the family. Lacey lived comfortably, but without os- tentation, and she had tried to teach her children that the road to the...