All In: Betting on a Full House (Gambling With Love)

by Lane Hart

  I'm sure the media had told it all by now. Oh and I bet Tyler hated his parents finding out what he'd done. He had so much stress on him and I'd gone and shut him out because he’d hurt my feelings in a momentary outburst of misdirected anger.

  I rolled over to face Tyler and watched him sleep. He was so beautiful he could've easily been a model instead of a policeman. There was a crease between his eyebrows like he was thinking too hard in his sleep. His short blonde hair was messy and sexy, and his perfect full lips were parted. He'd come to bed still in his uniform last night, and fell asleep before taking it off.

  I started working on undoing the buttons of his shirt. I ran my fingertips along the badge that was over his heart, then the "Evans" on the nameplate on the right side of his chest. His job meant so much to him, and I didn't want him to be forced to give it up.

  I finished with the shirt buttons, spreading it open to show his white cotton under shirt, then headed for his pants. Undoing his belt I slid his zipper down and popped the top button. My hand teased his sexy stomach up under his t-shirt before dipping into his boxers. Sure enough he was long and hard, just like every morning. My touch woke him up, and his hips thrust forward into my grip. Those dark blue eyes I loved blinked at me a few times before he grabbed the sides of my face to pull my lips to his. He kissed me frantically, pressing his body against mine as he pushed me onto my back.

  "I'm so sorry. I love you so damn much," he said between kisses.

  "I know. I love you too," I told him.

  Tyler's hands went urgently to my panties, jerking them down my legs then sinking his cock into me, all the rest of our clothes remaining in place while we made love. It was a reminder of how right it felt to be together, no matter what challenges or obstacles we faced.

  As we caught our breath, he was still in me when the nausea suddenly hit. I pushed against his chest and he finally realized what was wrong, moving away for me to run to the bathroom and lose all the contents of my stomach.

  "Oh baby, I hate seeing you sick," Tyler said, when he kneeled down behind me and held my hair back while I hugged the toilet. "Why don't we ask the doctor at next week's appointment if they're something they can give you to help with the morning sickness?"

  I nodded and grabbed toilet paper to wipe my face before standing up to turn the shower on. While the water warmed I brushed my teeth, then Tyler pulled my nightshirt over my head. I pushed his uniform shirt down and then pulled his t-shirt off. He worked off his pants and boxers, then we climbed into the shower together. We took turns washing each other, and then dried off to climb back into bed.

  Since Tyler was in trial he didn't have to report at six a.m. like usual. We had until nine-thirty before we had to be in court, three hours from now.

  We laid on our sides awake and facing each other, content to just be in each other's arms.

  "I'm sorry Joe brought up everything yesterday. But even with all that they're going to find Richardson guilty. Everyone knows he's a lying sack of shit," I assured him.

  "I hope so."

  "Besides there are seven women and only five men on the jury. The women have been checking you out the whole time, even when you weren't on the stand."

  "So you think that's why they'll find the asshole guilty?" he asked.

  "No, they'll find him guilty because he is guilty, but it won't hurt that they think you're hot."

  "Like that will matter, now that they know what I did to my best friend."

  "That doesn't have anything to do with the shooting."

  "The judge thinks it does, since he made me answer the questions."

  "Don’t worry about it, it's going to be fine, you'll see. The interns at work think it's a lost cause for our client, but he didn't have anything to lose going to trial. That's why Joe's representing him."

  …

  The jury started deliberating later that afternoon and the judge gave them the weekend off, adjourning until Monday morning. By lunchtime on Monday afternoon they had a verdict. The bastard was guilty of course.

  Our client was taken away to a long, long prison sentence. Tyler's job was perfectly safe, and on Tuesday we headed back to the doctor for the twelve week chromosome abnormality ultrasound.

  "So Mr. and Mrs. Evans, are you ready to see your babies again?" the cheerful technician asked. She had short dark hair and was older than the last woman that'd done our ultrasound at around nine weeks. On a side note, I loved being referred to as Mr. and Mrs. Evans.

  "Yes, we can't wait," I told her.

  "Alright, here we go," she said, moving the paddle around on my growing belly.

  "At least it's not a vaginal ultrasound. That thing was scary," Tyler joked.

  Soon our two babies were showing on the screen, even bigger than before.

  "So how does everything look?" I asked as she measured various parts of them.

  "Great. I don't see any apparent chromosome abnormalities. Do you want to know the genders or is it going to be a surprise?"

  "Oh we definitely want to know," Tyler told her.

  "Well in that case, meet your daughters."

  "They're girls? Both of them? You're sure?" I asked, completely stunned. I thought it was too early to tell.

  "Yep, girls. And I'd say my guess is about eighty-five to ninety percent accurate. I've been doing this longer than the other techs and haven't been wrong but once or twice. Boys that were late developers."

  "Oh my God," Tyler said. "We're having two little girls!"

  "You're okay with girls?" I asked him.

  "Of course I'm okay with girls. They are going to be a helluva lot easier than boys," Tyler said with a kiss.

  "Girls. Wow," I was still in shock when the ultrasound tech handed us the roll of pictures and left the room for me to get dressed.

  "You okay, baby?" Tyler asked. "I thought you were sort of leaning towards wanting them to be girls."

  "I-I was. I'm happy they're girls."

  "So you're just still in shock?"

  "I'm ready," I told him.

  "Okay, let's go. I can't wait to tell everyone."

  "No, I mean I'm ready. To take out charges. Have my father arrested. We're having girls and I don’t want to bring them into a world where a man like him is free. I wouldn't want to bring boys into the world with him free either, but I feel like I need to do this before they're born. What if he was to find us? I’ll feel safer with him locked up."

  My dad deserved to be punished for what he did, and even though I knew it was going to be a tough road, it was one I was finally ready to take. For my and Jon's sake, and our girls. Our sweet, innocent girls. I wouldn't be able to sleep knowing my father was out there and could find us, or them. I knew Jon would feel safer too, and was almost certain he still had nightmares. Maybe seeing our father go off to serve a long prison sentence would give us both the closure we need to finally put our past behind us.

  Tyler hugged me tight. "I'm so proud of you. I know it's going to be like being in hell all over again, but he shouldn't get away with what he did to you and Jonathan."

  "Will you go with me? To talk to the prosecutor?" I asked.

  "Of course. I'll be there the whole time, through it all, okay? And we can meet with one of the female prosecutors if you think that'd make it easier for you."

  "Yeah, I think I'd rather talk to a woman."

  "Then I'll set it up for late one afternoon, so you won't have to take time off from work."

  "Okay. Let's do it." I could do this. With Tyler's love and support I was strong enough now, and ready to take my father on. I wasn't a scared little girl anymore. I was a mother, and I was determined to do a better job raising and protecting my kids than our mom had done for us.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Tyler

  Once we got to the courthouse the prosecutor and Jess decided it'd be better if I wasn't in the room during her interview. I knew Jess didn't want me to know the horrible things her father had done, but I felt like I needed to know…so
that I'd never do anything that would hurt her or remind her of him. I started reading a copy of the victim statement she'd written out. It began with the Christmas her dad got a camera and told her he wanted to take her picture. I couldn't make it any further.

  An hour later they came out of the conference room.

  "I want to avoid dragging Jonathan into the charges. He's in high school and … I don't want him to have to deal with the kids at school knowing about it," Jess told Katie Albright, one of the sex offender prosecutors.

  "Of course, and we have enough with your testimony to get an arrest warrant and search warrant to see if he still has any of the pictures. It may take about a week to get all the paperwork signed off on by a judge and then we’ll get a team together to go in and arrest him. We'll let you know when it's done and what we find."

  "Okay, thanks," Jess told her.

  "Baby, can you remember any of the computers or cameras he used?" I asked when they were finished.

  "I don't know the computer brand, he wouldn't let me near it, but the only camera he ever used was a Fuji. He kept it in the top of his closet if that helps."

  "I'll let the officers know," I told her.

  "Evans, you're staying out of this, right?" Katie asked.

  "I was going to go with the team but just observe."

  "Don't. We can't have him alleging you planted evidence or anything else to jeopardize this investigation."

  "You're right. I'll stay out," I agreed. I didn't want to do anything that would let the bastard off on a technicality.

  ...

  The next week was Thanksgiving, which helped keep our minds off of Jess's dad. Especially since we finally told our family and friends we were having girls, wrapping two pink onesies in a box that my mom opened after dinner. To say she was ecstatic would be an understatement.

  The Monday morning after the holiday break I got the call.

  "Sarge?" I answered as I rode around on patrol.

  "Evans, we've got him. He just went into custody, and he still had what we are pretty sure is a hell of a collection," Sergeant Allen told me.

  "I'm on my way," I replied, turning my cruiser around to head back to the station.

  I went inside and headed straight for the evidence computer lab.

  "So what all did you get?" I asked Allen and our forensic man Rogers when I walked in and pulled up a rolling chair.

  "A Fuji camera, a Dell desktop computer, a laptop, about five flash drives, and a stack of CDs. We're going to start with the flash drives."

  "Alright. Let's get on with it."

  "Evans …" Allen started, going to try and talk me out of it again.

  "I'm staying."

  "Okay," he said in an exasperated sigh. "Here's the first one."

  Rogers plugged a flash drive into the computer and opened up the list of files that’d been saved on it.

  "There's at least two hundred pictures on this one," Rogers said.

  I couldn't tell what they were from the tiny thumbnails, but when he clicked on the first one and opened it … I threw up my lunch in the trash can beside the desk.

  "Close it!" I yelled as soon as I was able to speak around the retching.

  "Evans, this is why it’s not a good idea for you to be in here," Allen grumbled.

  "I'm not going to let you look at pictures of my wife like that … being …"

  "This is our job. To look at the evidence, summarize it and give it to the prosecutor to lock the bastard away. You know that we won't tell anyone the details, and they won't come out unless we have to go to trial."

  That son of a bitch didn't deserve to live after what he did to her. I jumped up from my rolling chair and headed for the door.

  "Evans, no," Allen said, grabbing my arm to jerk me to a halt. "You can't look at him, much less touch him. It'll give his defense attorney all he needs to get him out, and that's not what your wife needs. So for her sake, stay the fuck away from him and this investigation. Let us do our jobs to send him away for as long as possible."

  "How could he … she was just a little girl. For six fucking years he did this shit to her," I said rubbing my hands over my face, trying to scrub the image I'd just seen away. It wasn't working.

  "I can't imagine how horrible it was for her, but it's over, and now we're going to make damn sure he gets what he deserves. But this investigation has to be done the right way, following the law to the letter, and not making a single fucking mistake," Allen urged. “Every one of us shares your pain. Every. Single. One. There is nothing lower than a child molester, and we will see this done right.

  "You're right. I know. It's just … Fuck!" God, closing my eyes I could still clearly see a smaller and even more innocent looking Jess asleep while some dirty old man put his hands on her body.

  "We get it. You love her, and you can't stand to see someone hurt her," Rogers offered.

  "Yeah," I said on an exhale, my stomach still churning.

  "Now, we've got a lot of work to do, so take the rest of the day off. Hug your wife and tell her he's locked away, and will be for a long damn time. His case may very well get picked up by the federal prosecutor, and under their statutes he'll die in prison before he gets to the end of his sentence."

  I nodded then did what Allen said, knowing he was right. It was unlikely that the bastard would ever see daylight again.

  Chapter Thirty

  Jess

  The weeks leading up to Christmas passed in a blur. Tyler was on the night shift for a while, so we didn't get to spend much time together. Work was busy for me too, with thefts and embezzlement cases on the rise before the holiday season. At least we'd all get to spend the week of Christmas together.

  Tyler, Jon and I loaded up the SUV with presents and headed to the coast. Carol and Rob had invited us, along with Caleb, his dad, and Lauren to stay at their beach house through New Year’s.

  Jon and I had only been to the beach once about a year ago when we could finally afford a short trip. Lauren had never seen the Atlantic Ocean, so she was really excited. Because of Caleb’s work schedule they'd decided to come down the day after Christmas. I was glad to get to spend the holidays with my best friend and our big new family.

  "This is it," Tyler said when we pulled into the driveway. The house on stilts was huge, dark blue and two-stories with white trim, even bigger than their house in the mountains. The name of the house was posted beside the door, "Jewel by the Sea."

  "Wow, this is beautiful," I told him. It was oceanfront, and I bet the rooms had incredible views and acoustics of the waves rolling in.

  We grabbed some of our things from the trunk and made our way up the steps to the first floor entrance. Tyler walked right on in without knocking.

  "Mom? Dad?" he called out to them. "They must be upstairs. I'll go find them and let them know we're here."

  The house smelled nice and warm, like coffee, cinnamon and vanilla. Happy, cheerful Christmas music played from the stereo speakers. The living room was huge with vaulted ceilings and tall windows lining the wall that faced the ocean. The gas fireplace was all lit up with stockings hanging over it, and a tall, beautifully decorated Christmas tree sat off to the side of it. Presents were stacked up under it, wrapped perfectly.

  The whole place was like something out of a holiday movie or a Christmas card. Jon and I had never had anything close to this sort of perfect scene growing up. Since we'd moved out on our own we'd never done more than put up a small fake tree in our apartment and exchange a few presents.

  I set the bag of gifts I was carrying underneath the tree to take my coat off and look around. The fire warmed me, and when I turned toward it I finally noticed the names on the red and green matching stockings. The first one was Dad, then Mom, followed by Ty, Jess, Jon and two blank ones hung on the end, waiting for the names of our two little girls. I blinked furiously to hold the tears at bay, but the pregnancy hormones and sweet gesture were just too much to overcome.

  "Oh, sis. Did you turn on the f
aucets again?" Jonathan joked from beside me.

  I didn't miss his quick swipe under his own eye, but I pretended like I hadn't noticed. Instead I just gave him a hug. I still couldn't believe how big he'd gotten. It seemed like he was getting taller every day. Tall like our dad. At least we both resembled our mom rather than that evil man. I'd hate to have to see him in the mirror, or when I looked at Jon.

  "Is it weird that Carol and Rob treat us better than our own parents ever did, and they just met us a few weeks ago?" he asked quietly.

  I shook my head against his chest. "I think that’s what parents are supposed to be like, instantly and unconditionally loving us. We just never knew it before now."

  "Make yourselves at home, and I'll be right back after I get the rest of our things in," Tyler said, when he returned and headed back out the door to the SUV.

  "Merry Christmas, sweeties!" Tyler's mom said when she came down the stairs. Jon pulled away from me and turned his back to us to wipe his face.

  "Merry Christmas, Carol," I told her with a smile, and then her arms were around me before she hugged my brother.

  "Hey guys, how was the drive down?" Rob asked.

  "It was good, not much traffic at all. Your house is amazing," I told them, then headed out onto the deck overlooking the ocean.

  The calming waves, combined with the salty air was an instant stress reliever, at least for me. Not so much for our girls. I'd been feeling the fluttering of their movement for a few weeks, and it seemed like at the moment they were both practicing to become Chinese acrobats.

  "Merry Christmas," Tyler said from behind me when he joined me on the deck and wrapped his hands around my waist.

  "Merry Christmas. Thanks for this," I told him, meaning for everything.

  "Oh my God!" he suddenly exclaimed then moved around to stand in front of me.

  "What? What's wrong?" I asked.

  "I just felt one of the babies," he said in awe. "Right here. Is that where they're moving?" he placed his hand on the lower left side of my growing bump.