Love, Bullets, and Badges Ch. 02

"Chocolate, bad boy," the girl tittered.

"No thanks," Darren smiled.

Since Elise wasn't in the car, Darren was free to ogle the girl's round ass as she skated away.

"Damn; would love to just..." Jack muttered.

"Then why don't you ask," Darren said. "They love a guy in uniform."

"Yeah," Jack agreed.

"Just don't cock-block me," Jack said as the girl skated back, two soft serve cones in hand.

"Oh, I'll just sit back and let you fuck yourself like you always do," Darren laughed, pulling out a five dollar bill.

The girl quickly agreed to a date and gladly gave Jack her phone number.

"Just checking, Sweetheart, but how old are you?" Darren cut in.

"Nineteen," the girl assured him.

X.X.X

"But suppose the bad people come there?" Jennica asked as Elise readied herself for her date.

"Then Paw-paw will beat them up!" Henry assured his 'sister.'

Elise put down her eye shadow brush and picked up the small girl.

"Would I ever leave you someplace I wasn't one hundred percent sure was safe for you?" Elise quietly asked the girl.

Elise had intended to sleep on the couch but the child's terrified screams had woken her up. To reassure the child, Elise had lay down on the bed with the sobbing girl. The second night had the same results, as did the third night.

Now, they shared the queen sized bed every night.

Elise would put Jennica on her side of the bed, and then crawl into the other side. During the night, though, Jennica would wiggle and squirm her way over to Elise's side of the bed.

"No ma'am," Jennica said, unconvinced.

"And, guess what?" Elise smiled.

"What?" Jennica asked.

"You'll be sleeping in the same room I used to sleep in when I was a little girl," Elise said.

"Really?" Jennica asked, excited by that prospect.

"Now, who's going to take Sam out for his potty break?" Elise asked and both four year olds ran out to be the one that got to play with Sam.

X.X.X

"Wow, La Scalia's, huh?" Carmen said as Elise ushered Henry and Jennica into the house.

"Yeah, said it's our 'two month anniversary,'" Elise smiled.

"Hmmm, how many anniversaries I have to have before YOU'LL take me to La Scalia's, Honey?" Carmen teased Dick.

"Huh? What? Didn't hear you; that 'Selective Hearing' keeps kicking in," Dick said.

"Miss Maw-maw? Miss Leesey said I get her room; where is it?" Jennica asked.

"It's right up them stairs," Carmen smiled.

"That's not Miss Maw-maw; that's just Maw-maw," Henry declared.

"All right now; y'all behave for Maw-maw and Paw-paw; I get a call that y'all are being bad, there's going to be some real unhappy children," Elise threatened.

"Yeah? What are you going to do?" Dick teased her. "Make them pancakes?"

Once, when she was only fifteen, Elise had tried to make pancakes for Carmen, Elaine, and Dick. The smoke detector alerted the family of Elise's attempts.

Jennica and Henry, not even knowing the history of Paw-paw's statement, thought that it was the funniest thing they'd ever heard and squealed with laughter.

"Okay, give me kisses," Elise demanded when Darren knocked at the door.

X.X.X

They were seated right away; Elise glanced around the dining area, having never eaten at La Scalia's before.

"Oh, look, there's Judge Johnson," she whispered to Darren.

"Oh, how about that?" Darren asked, glancing over and nodding in friendly greeting to the judge.

The room was large, full of patrons and staff. Even as full as it was, though, the plush carpets and padded ceilings absorbed the lively conversations.

Both Darren and Elise declined ordering a before dinner drink; Elise really didn't drink and Darren preferred an ice cold draft beer but didn't think it'd go well with the rich Italian cuisine.

They ordered and continued to chat; Elise mainly about her disappointment and Darren about his day of patrolling the quiet suburb of Bender.

"Oh man, this is good!" Elise said as she ate the shrimp scampi.

"Finally!" Darren said. "Finally got something nice out of you!"

"What?" Elise asked, surprised.

"All night, all I've been hearing is 'The judge was too busy,' or 'I really wanted to have all of the adoption stuff done' and I'm sitting right here and this meal is costing me almost as much as my rent but am I hearing anything about that?" Darren asked, wadding up his napkin and tossing it on the table.

"Honey, I'm sorry," Elise gasped. "You're right."

"And maybe, just maybe the judge was too busy to sign your adoption papers because they weren't filled out right," Darren snapped.

"I checked everything on that form; they were filled out perfect," Elise argued.

"I looked at them, Elise," Darren snapped back. "You left out a pretty big chunk!"

"What? Huh? What'd I leave out, huh?" Elise angrily demanded.

"My name," Darren said, standing up. "My name isn't anywhere on any of them papers!"

"Why would your name be on...?" Elise yelled, also standing up.

"Because I'll e your husband," Darren said, dropping to one knee and holding out an engagement ring.

Elise sat back down hard, staring at the ring. Finally, she looked into Darren's eyes.

"What?" she finally asked.

"I want to be your husband," Darren said, smiling. "I want to be your husband and I want to be Henry's dad, and Jennica's dad and Sam's dad and..."

"Sam?" Elise laughed. "Sam's a dog!"

"Shh, don't tell him that!" Darren said. "Honey, yes or no? Huh? My knee's getting kind of sore here."

"Yes," Elise whispered, nodding her head.

A few tables nearby applauded as Elise and Darren kissed.

"And here are your amended adoption papers, signed and notarized and just put my stamp right here and..." Judge Johnson said, stamping a sheet of paper and handing it to Elise. "Congratulations you two."

"What? How'd you...?" Elise stammered as the judge walked away.

"Went and saw him yesterday; had to pay for his dinner here to get him to agree to it," Darren smiled.

"You?" Elise sputtered. "You set that up? I went down to the court house expecting..."

"I know, I'm sorry, I really didn't think you'd get that upset," Darren apologized.

He kissed her fingers and again admired the engagement ring on her finger.

"I just wanted, Honey, I just couldn't think of a better way to let you know, to show you, I'm in it," Darren said. "I am in it. All the way. For better or for worse, all of it. I really do want to be Henry's dad and Jennica's dad and take them to the zoo and to the park and..."

"Compliments of the judge," the waiter said, putting a bottle of champagne and two flutes on the table.

"Remember when I took that picture of you? With my cell phone?" Darren asked after trying a small sip of the champagne.

"The... Oh God! That one?" Elise asked, horrified.

"You in some ratty old top, sweat pants look like someone died in them, hair all messed up," Darren smiled.

"God, please tell me you deleted that picture," Elise begged.

"It's my desktop on my computer," Darren said. "I've never seen a more beautiful woman in my life.

"Oh no it is not!" Elise argued. "Oh Darren! Why?"

"Just told you, Darren smiled, finishing his lasagna. "Most beautiful woman I've ever seen."

"I hate you," Elise hissed as she finished her meal.

"And..." the waiter said, setting down a large slab of raspberry cheese cake with two forks.

"Um, we didn't..." Darren said.

"Compliments of Judge Johnson, sir," the waiter smiled.

"Better get started," Elise said, grabbing one of the forks.

X.X.X

"Oh?" Dick said, squatting down to look into Jennica's terrified eyes. "Miss Leesey didn't tell you? This is a special bear."

"A special bear?" Jennica whispered.

"That's right; a special bear," Dick affirmed. See? Bah bear looks like any other old bear, doesn't he?"

"Uh huh," Jennica agreed.

"But, when you fall asleep, he wakes up," Dick explained why Bah Bear was a special bear. "So, while you're sleeping, he's wide awake, looking all around to make sure you're safe. He won't let anything come get you."

"He won't?" Jennica asked.

"Then, when you wake up, he goes back to sleep; he knows you'll be okay," Dick explained.

"Cute," Carmen said as Dick wearily came back into their bedroom.

"Next time that kid screams YOU go get her," he grumbled.

X.X.X

Since Darren was driving, he did not drink any more of the champagne. Elise, however, had the entire bottle.

"Hey," she drunkenly slurred, leaning heavily against Darren.

"Hey," he agreed, trying to open her front door for her.

"Um, listen," she whispered in what she hoped was a seductive voice. "The kids are at my parents' so..."

She planted a hot, wet kiss to his neck.

"Want to come in? We could..." she said, grinding her crotch against his leg. "Get a little crazy!"

She giggled and rubbed her breasts against his chest.

"We could see what's for dessert," she sang teasingly.

Darren grimaced; his cock was throbbing in his jeans.

"Baby, no," he said, opening her door and walking into her home; not an easy task as Elise was still hanging on him.

"No?" Elise asked, incredulous. "I, you don't, no?"

"Baby, yeah, I do want to see what's for dessert, but you're drunk and I really, I would never be able to look at myself in the mirror."

"Here, I'll show you what's for...." Elise said, unzipping her dress.

"Sam needs to go out," Darren said, indicating the large crate where Sam whimpered for attention.

"He can..." Elise said, letting her dress pool at her feet.

"Son of a bitch, please, Elise," Darren groaned.

She wore a lacy bra which held up her 36 C breasts beautifully and a pair of French cut white panties, obviously a matching set. Her lightly tanned skin made the white lingerie appear to gleam.

"Fuck!" Darren hissed.

He could see a slightly dark shadow in the front of her panties. He wanted to peel the panties down, expose the pubic hair.

Elise looked on in drunken shock as Darren suddenly bolted from the house.

X.X.X

Elise came to, sprawled across the couch. Sam lay at her feet, soundly asleep.

"Oh, holy cow!" she groaned as a knock sounded at the front door.

Sam went ballistic, screeching at the door.

"Sam!" Elise yelled, and then regretted yelling. "Damn dog! Shut up!"

She opened the door to find a grinning Eric standing on her door step.

"Well, if I'd known we'd be working in our undies today..." Eric teased.

"What?" Elise shrieked, looking down at herself. "Oh no!"

"Hi Sam!" Eric said, squatting down to pet the dog.

"Oh God!" Elise groaned.

"Go get ready; I'll take Sam out into the back yard," Eric said.

"Thanks," Elise said, beating a hasty retreat to her bedroom.

"And do something with that hair, huh?" Eric teased as he opened the atrium door.

"Oh yeah, like I bet you just roll out of Ed looking gorgeous," Elise shot back.

"Lawrence says I roll out of bed looking good enough to fuck," Eric responded and took Sam out the door.

"Like I really wanted to hear that," Elise grumbled as she grabbed her uniform blouse.

Chapter 14

"August forth? That's..." Carmen said as she and Elise discussed the wedding.

"Lala's birthday," Elise said quietly. "I know."

Elise looked up, her eyes wet with tears.

"If she was here, Mom, she'd be my maid of honor. We'd be planning all this stuff together; she'd be going all out and..."

Elise put her head down.

"But she's not. I couldn't think of any better way, though, of making sure that my big sister's right here, with me, forever," Elise said.

"It's a great day for a wedding," Carmen agreed.

"Oh God, are y'all looking at all that junk again?" Dick mock-complained as he came into the kitchen.

"It's not junk!" Jennica shrilled. "It's beautiful!"

"You tell him, sister!" Elise encouraged.

"And me and Carmy's flower girls and you better not laugh at us and you better be nice!" Jennica went on, waggling a finger at Paw-paw.

"Well! Yes ma'am!" Dick said.

"I see someone's been eating all her spinach!" Carmen smirked at the four year old girl.

"That Dr. Leblanc's been helping a lot," Elise agreed.

X.X.X

Darren stood at the altar, looking resplendent in his dress blues. Elise had actually toyed with the idea of getting married in her own dress uniform, but the idea of wearing a beautiful white gown won out.

"You look, oh my God, I remember when you were just a little squirt," Dick said as her mother and Iris and Becky fussed needlessly over Elise.

"Knock knock everybody decent?" Connie Edwards, the photographer asked, sticking her head in.

"Afraid so," Dick teased.

"Can I have the ring bearer and the flower girls out here for just a minute?" Connie asked.

"It's all right; she'll bring you right back," Elise promised Jennica as the small girl looked to her for confirmation.

"Gosh, the bride sure is beautiful," Connie praised. "And you all look so nice today! Must be a very special day, huh?"

"Yes ma'am," the three children agreed.

"That's my Mom," Henry said proudly.

"Me too!" Jennica shrilled at Henry.

"Aunt Leesey's my Aunt Leesey," Carmen told the woman.

"Oh, okay, I think I got it," Connie said solemnly. "Okay, how about some big beautiful smiles for the camera, okay?"

"Cheese!" the three children said and Connie snapped off a series of shots.

"Okay, thank you," Connie said and herded the children back into the small room.

X.X.X

Jack Vogel was a little hurt that Darren did not ask him to be Best Man; they were partners, after all. Melinda sat next to him in the pew, looking much more mature than her nineteen years of age. She wore a pale blue skirt and matching jacket with a beige blouse, very appropriate, very proper

Jack found out that her dress was not the only thing mature about her.

(Jack had picked her up at her mother's home; Melinda insisted that he get out of the car, come to the door, and meet her mother before they left for their date.

Melinda insisted on knowing what their date would consist of before they left her mother's home.

"Chinese; I assume we're talking about Hop Kim's in Kimble" Melinda said. "Then all the way back here for bowling? Why don't we just eat at Manny's? It's right around the corner? But it's your gas, not mine."

In front of Mrs. Fontenot, Jack did not want to say 'because the Hotel Acadiana is right by Hop Kim's.'

"Don't know, just had a hankering for Chinese," Jack lied.

"She is to be home no later than eleven o'clock," Mrs. Fontenot ordered. "If you are late, you better have a very good reason. 'Oh, we just lost all track of time' is not a reason."

At dinner, Jack made a crude comment; his previous dates either laughed his crudities off, or gave as good as they got.

Melinda did not. She put her hand on his, looked into his blue eyes and asked him not to do it again.

He made a remark about her body, comparing how she looked in jeans to how she looked in her Clark Drive-In outfit.

"Jack, I know I have big old boobs and I know I have a big old butt," Melinda said quietly. " But I also have a very big heart and right now you are breaking it. I would like to go home now, if you don't mind."

Jack sat back and stared at her, mouth open in shock.

"And maybe I did give you the wrong impression; I can get kind of flirty," Melinda continued. "But I did ask you to stop."

"If you won't take me home, I will call my mother," she said, putting her napkin on the table.

"I am sorry," he said quietly.

"I asked you earlier to stop," she said as she stood.

"I am sorry," he stammered again. "Um, please, can we, give me another chance?"

"One more," she said, holding up a finger. "One more comment about my boobs, or my butt and I will not wait for you to take me home; I will call my mother. Is that clear?"

They did go bowling; Jack mentally thanked Darren for that suggestion. He could freely look at Melinda's very nice, round rear end in their snug jeans and got to see her bounce up and down when she managed to knock anything down.

"Boy this is a noisy sport, huh? She laughed.

Outside of her mother's house, Melinda smiled prettily at him.

"Well, I liked the second half of our date," she said.

"Think we could do it again?" he asked.

"Okay," she agreed. "My next night off is Thursday; give me a call."

"Damn, I work the midnight to eight shift," Jack said.

"Oh, well, um, I'm off during the day on Saturday; I don't go in until four," she said, opening the car door.

"That's it?" Jack said as she waved to him from the front door of her mother's house.

"That's it?" he asked again as she closed the door of her mother's house. "Not even a good night kiss?"

"God damned cunt," Jack spat as he started his car. "I better get a fucking blow job next date; that's all I got to say!")

"Aw!" Melinda's sigh brought Jack out of his reverie and he actually smiled as Carmen, Elise's three year old niece came walking up the aisle, throwing hands full of flower petals high in the air.

Carmen was followed by Jennica, who was also hurling the flower petals.

"Aren't they cute?" Melinda asked and chanced a quick kiss to his lips.

Her small kiss went from his lips to his heart and his crotch. Jack was amazed at how much the five foot tall blonde now controlled his life.

("You're twenty five? And you still live at home?" Melinda asked.

"You still live at home too!" he defended.

"Because I'm in school, Jack," Melinda explained. "You're a grown man, with a job. But I suppose you are saving a ton of money, right?"

He had to confess that he was not.

"What? Why not? What are you spending your money on?" she asked.

Now Jack was living on a budget.

On a budget, driving his gas guzzling 2010 Dodge Challenger from Bender to Kimble back to Bender and down to Jazz Beach was out. Gas cost money and his car was not cheap. Her tiny Toyota was much more economical, so they drove that.

A few of their dates didn't even count as dates, as far as Jack was concerned; he came over to the Fontenot house and Melinda and her mother cooked a simple meal, then they got out the Scrabble board and played.

"Ha!" Melinda would cry out. "Add 'd' to your 'core' to make it 'cored' and spell 'dive' and that's..."

:You can do that?" Jack asked her mother.

"Afraid so; you are going to have to really be on your toes you ever think you're going to beat her," her mother said.

Sex was completely off the table.

"My mom gave in to some ass hole, some Glen guy," Melinda said when Jack complained of his blue balls. "Next thing she knows, she's knocked up and he's out of there. Believe this? He was married. Married! No sir, that's not happening to me. You want s. e. x? Put a ring on it."

She cuddled up close to him.

"Jack, there's more to life then just sex," she said. "I mean, really. Don't you think I get all hot and bothered too? You ARE a man in uniform, you know?"

She kissed him hotly.

"You do like being with me, don't you?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said in a strangled voice.

When the wedding invitation came, Jack planned on getting Darren and Elise a gift card for fifty dollars. Melinda shook her head 'no.'

"This is their wedding," she patiently explained. "Probably one of the biggest days of their lives. We need to get them a gift that every time they look at it, they'll say 'we got that at our wedding' and they'll remember that it was Melinda and Jack that got that for them."

She found a stained glass picture frame and framed the beautiful wedding invitation.

Jack had to agree with Melinda; it was an appropriate, mature gift.)

"Oh boy!" Melinda giggled as Henry carried the pillow, stern expression on his face. "That's one serious young man!"

The music picked up in tempo and Orville Jackson and Becky Yuma came down the aisle.

"What a beautiful dress!" Melinda commented.

She turned to Jack.

"Usually, bridesmaid's dresses are so God awful ugly!" Melinda explained.