J.R. reads chapter 29 of "Forever Amber" and tells Mom all about it. There's a fight between Amber and her step-daughter, Jemima Dangerfield, over Bruce, of course. Mom says "You don't mess with Amber," which is a good point. I mean, she only POISONED A DUDE. Anyway, there's a big wedding planned between Jemima and Joseph, but Bruce is back in town and Jemima is in love with him. Amber has told Bruce that she's pregnant with his child, which he doesn't really seem all that troubled by. They already have a kid, so what's one more, right? Bruce is all about America. He sees it as a place where he can make and keep a fortune. Amber is completely bummed out by this and she tells him, you know this is crazy. Why don't we get married? He tells her why that's a bad idea — he doesn't love her. There's a big scene at the docks as Bruce is loading up his ship— THE DRAGON — and Amber comes to see him. He hides her in his stateroom and she overhears Jemima tell Bruce that she wants to meet him in the same room where they have met before. Amber has sex with Bruce in his room even though she knows all about his relationship with her step-daughter. YIKES.

Then, as I say, things get real.

Jemima confronts Amber because she knows that Amber was at Bruce's ship since Bruce gave Amber's glove to Jemima thinking it was hers. Then, FIGHT! Things calm down a little for a couple weeks, then, while Jemima is being fitted for her wedding gown for her marriage to Joseph, she faints because she has morning sickness because she is pregnant, too. Amber nurses her and breaks down some hard truths for her. She tells Jemima that the best thing to do is to go ahead with the wedding, then pass off the baby as Joseph's.

Mom drinks eucalyptus and mint tea (which I call "quite a scam") and I drink hot water with lemon and honey (which is totally not a scam, for what it's worth).