AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I did it, okay?” he shouted, sounding unrepentant. “Woman’s a stupid bitch, and I knew I could get her to do what I wanted her to do.”
He likely had no clue how much he’d just fucked up, but as we smothered our laughter, we absolutely did. See, only twenty minutes previously, someone who’d come in to watch the case out of curiosity had ignored three warnings over outbursts that involved expletives. Judge McKlinsky had said clearly that any further instances of cursing or loud interruptions would be treated as contempt of court.
“Why, I do believe he just swore,” Harry whispered over his shoulder. He’d turned up just minutes before the person had been led out, but it’d still been an hour after the session had begun. Now I knew what he’d been up to.
He and Laura still argued like cat and dog, and even without discussing it first, we’d agreed to keep them apart today, just in case they both got arrested for pissing each other off. She was six years younger than Harry’s thirty years, but regardless of that age gap, the flames were definitely burning. Neither of them wanted to admit it, though, so it was just a matter of waiting for one of them to cave.
My bets were on Harry.
Sure enough, McKlinsky banged his gavel and cited Randall with contempt of court, ignoring his lawyer’s insistence his client hadn’t known what he was doing. He even went as far as to claim that Randall was having a moment of temporary insanity.
“Then it’s just as well he has you to represent him, isn’t it?” McKlinsky replied, pointing toward the door. “Best go and get on that.”
It wasn’t as cut and dry as that for Connie, though. There was a lot of evidence to be submitted and reviewed, as well as a ton of red tape, but five weeks later, she was released back to her family.
It’d take a little bit longer for Euan and Chloe to get their heads around her reasons for doing what she’d done back then, but it’d happen. With Eva and Laura acting as the diplomats in the family, there was no space for any other outcome.
But when we all walked into the courtroom six months later for Tyson Randall’s court case, the family was back together, holding each other up as we were told everything that’d been found on his computers and in the box of notebooks he’d assumed had been shredded.
Given the overall value of his crimes, the lengths he’d gone to to make them happen, the identity theft, false identities, banking fraud, blackmail, etc., he was given a sentence that made him cry. He literally burst into tears as the judge read it out and made it clear he wouldn’t be eligible for parole. The irony was one of the charges that added a good chunk of time onto his sentence was tax evasion—the one charge they’d tried but had never been able to truly pin on Connie.
Karma. It was just such a beautiful thing.
EPILOGUE 2
SIX YEARS LATER…
Timing was everything—that was the saying, wasn’t it? Well, see, some might say the timing of my proposal had been wrong, given that it’d happened as we’d stepped out into the sun after Randall had been sentenced, right on the steps of the courthouse, but it was a happy moment for us and had just felt right at the time.
Just in case Eva wanted a romantic story to tell her friends, though, I’d done it again, this time with a ring, on our first night in Mexico two days later.
She hadn’t wanted to wait a long time for it to happen, and we’d all taken a trip down to Vegas a couple of months later with our nearest and dearest and had been married in a little chapel off the strip.
He’d only been in her life for five weeks by that point, but both her dad and Connie had walked Eva down the aisle, the smile on her face sparkling brighter than the crystals on the chandelier above us. Our reception had been bigger and was held in Shingles, but that was purely for our friends who hadn’t joined us for the wedding. We’d still enjoyed the hell out of it, though.
We’d been married for just over five years now, and my timing was still off. See, it was my thirty-sixth birthday, and I was running late for dinner. Eva had called me to check what time I’d be home so she could have it ready, but I’d forgotten about a delivery being dropped off that was a surprise for her. Her thirty-third birthday was in three weeks, but it hadn’t seemed right to withhold it from her when it’d bring her so much happiness, so today was the day.
Just after the wedding, we’d bought a new place together after selling our old ones, and as I let myself in through the front door, I scanned around the open foyer to make sure she wasn’t around before I released the surprise.
“Go find her.”
The red Labrador puppy’s ass swayed from side to side with the force of its wagging as he raced toward where the smell of something delicious was coming from.
Praying I hadn’t pissed her off or caused her to burn it, I walked slowly behind him, giving him time to meet her and also sweeten her disposition in case it wasn’t all that sweet with my tardiness. I hadn’t experienced it that often, but I also wasn’t a complete newbie when it came to her anger.
In all of the possibilities I’d imagined, her reaction being a blood-curdling scream had never cropped up. I don’t think the puppy had been prepared for it either because it started barking and growling at her, making me break into a sprint as I made my way toward them.
“Eva,” I shouted over the barking as I rounded the corner, skidding to a halt when I noticed her lowering the pan in her hand. “He’s for you.”
Her head shot up, her lower lip quivering, before she burst into tears and screamed, “I’m pregnant, you asshole. I thought a mutant rat was attacking me, so I covered my stomach with a fucking pot with cold water in it.”
Sure enough, she was soaked from the waist down. Then what she’d said sank in. We’d been trying for a year by this point, and I’d bought the puppy as a distraction because every month of disappointment hurt her deeply.
Were puppies safe to have around babies?
Still crying, she snatched the little red devil up off the ground and hugged her tightly, “No way. He’s mine, you’re not taking him back.”
* * *
There’d been so many moments since I’d met Eva that I’d thought my feelings for her couldn’t get any stronger, but as she pushed our daughter out into the world eight months later, I swore this time it was true. It didn’t feel like my heart could expand to love any more than it already was, but she’d already proven me wrong again, and I had no doubt she’d continue doing it.
