To Serve and Protect Pt. 02

Author's notes: If you haven't read To Serve And Protect, you will miss out on lots of character build up. This story if fictional.

I am still Kyle deJong, a Whatcom County deputy Sheriff, in Northwest Washington State, and have been going on six and a half years.

A little over a year ago, I met, fell in love with, and married Melissa Ann Charles. At the time we met, with me and three other deputies arresting her and her mother, she went by the name Misty, an up and coming hip hop singer from Los Angeles.

Just about seven months after our wedding, our daughter, Catherine Ann deJong was born and made our lives even better.

We were quite a unique couple, with me being a blond Dutchman, and Melissa being part African/American and part white. Even though our daughter's hair is on the curly side, her skin color is fairly light.

While I was busy keeping the citizens of our county safe, Melissa was the director of the recording studios at Western Washington University, located in Bellingham, while recording and producing records for herself and other artists.

With our jobs both on the rise, and Melissa having released a new Country album, things were looking up, and we started talking about purchasing a home. This was both for more room, if we wanted to add to our family, and to make sure our daughter had some outdoor playing space, as soon as she started walking.

Whether we were ready to expand our family or not, hadn't been decided, yet, but we kept in fairly constant practice, with a very active sex life.

With Catherine sleeping through most nights, we were very rarely interrupted.

Coming home from work, one afternoon, I saw our daughter sleeping in her playpen, with a little sign on her sleeper.

"Daddy, I need a little brother or sister, please!"

I complemented my wife on her subtlety, and just grinned as she jumped into my arms. I guess it was time to try expanding our happy family. We made sure we kept in practice at every available moment.

One afternoon, I knew my wife, daughter and nearly 18 year old sister were going to lunch and shopping, while I was getting caught up on paperwork at my office.

Breaking the office silence, I heard a 9-11 call from the restaurant where my family was eating. Instantly, I bolted to my squad car and raced down the road, about a mile from our station.

I could hear shouting as soon as I exited my patrol car. The language I heard, turned my stomach, and the racial slurs were being hurled at my wife and daughter. A couple of people inside were helping shield my family, and as I entered, two young men doing the harassing, looked me in the eye and yelled, "get your zebra stripped family out of where we are trying to eat!"

I quickly gave my wife a hug, along with my daughter, and made sure my sister was doing OK, too. Looking at these two racist pieces of shit, I moved towards them, telling them to back off, if they knew what was good for them.

"Oh, Mr. Bigshot, you going to draw your gun to scare us?"

"If I draw my gun, one or both of you will be shot, now turn around, you are both under arrest."

I cuffed one, and zip tied the other, and put them both into the other squad car, at the scene.

Securing them in our lock up at our station, I started the paperwork to send them to the County Jail. Just as they were being transported to jail, their grandfather turned up and started yelling they should be rewarded for trying to keep our county 'pure'.

I asked him if he wanted to join them in jail, and he just turned and left. I decided not to tell my wife about his comment, as she and our daughter were very well accepted by the vast majority of our community.

It just so happened that the racists we arrested, went to high school with me. One in my class and the other, two classes ahead of me. Both of them were dismissed from our football team for disparaging remarks about two of our Hispanic players.

We soon started our house hunting, as we really wanted the extra room, and didn't want to keep renting. Our area was growing with several new developments near enough to our jobs for us to choose from.

With our daughter starting to pull herself up, and almost standing on her own, we couldn't move quickly enough.

One night, after a great night of sex, Melissa quietly told me while laying in my arms that she was stopping the pill, so we were seriously trying to add to our young family.

During the week, my wife received a text from her mother saying her father was moving back to LA, and back into mom's house. WOW, we knew they had been talking reconciliation, so this made us so happy, we could hardly contain ourselves.

Narrowing our house choice down to two nearly identical houses, we just had to pick the best location.

Putting in an offer, with Melissa telling me she was putting in a healthy down payment. We had discussed her finances, at length, agreeing that we wanted a sizable nest egg, to ensure our own financial future.

As our choice was made, an offer put in on a 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom house, with enough room, both inside and outside.

As we started to move in, Melissa looks at me, with 'that' look. I just stared at her, with my big kid smile, she jumped into my arms, telling me she is late for a second month.

After getting settled in, she went to her Doctor, who confirmed what we were hoping. About 9 weeks along, but we were waiting to find out the sex of number two.

Things were going very well, and when Melissa walked in from work, with her phone in her ear, I could tell it was something important.

All I heard was a very loud "mom you've got to be kidding me!"

I gave her a look, so she held the phone away from her mouth and said, "my 47 year old mother is pregnant!"

"Are you serious?"

All she did is nod her head, and kept talking to her mom, while I picked up our daughter, shaking my head in disbelief.

After hanging up, she looked at me, saying she couldn't believe she and her mother were pregnant, together.

Things with both our jobs kept improving, with Melissa having produced two more singles, moving up the charts, and me taking the Sergeant's exam.

On a bright, sunny afternoon, we all found out just how dangerous my job can be.

I was moving around a parking lot, with another deputy, just on the other side of the lot, when the two Koopman brothers, who had harassed my family, walked out of the woods, drew pistols, and fired, once each. The direct hits knocked me backwards off my feet, taking my breath away.

When I woke up, in the ER, surrounded by medical personnel, my partner was holding my kevlar vest in his hands, were the two holes were very visible.

While being worked on by the ER doc, I heard several very familiar voices. Running in as fast as she could, Melissa threw her arms around my neck and just sobbed, uncontrollably.

"Shhh, Shhh, this looks worse than you think."

"Kyle, my God, why did this happen? Was I the cause of this?"

Holding her as close as my broken ribs would allow, I whispered, I'm not sure, and definitely not.

My parents and sister were standing at the door, with mom holding our daughter. After the medical people assured them all that I was going to be fine, with a lot of bruising, I quietly asked them to make sure my pregnant wife was OK, too.

I might add, here, that my partner reacted fast enough to shoot both brothers, neither fatally. They were in the jail wing of the hospital.

After my parents took our daughter home, Melissa just sat with me, on the corner of the bed, softly caressing my face. Yes, the tears would come and go, but I was doing my best to allay her fears.

Just as I was asking if I could go home, the head ER doctor came in for one more exam. My heart and lungs both sounded good, and he told my wife that I would be very sore for a week to ten days, and the bruising would get far worse, before getting better. Just after telling us I could go home, he did tell us that the older Koopman, would never walk, again. I just couldn't have any sympathy for him.

Our Sherriff came to our new house, the next day, telling us that I was to take an entire week off, and another two weeks just doing desk work.

Laying in bed, I very gingerly approached the sensitive subject we had been avoiding, since this incident.

"Do you want me to quit my job, honey?"

"Not if makes you miserable doing something you don't like."

As she answered, I could feel her body shaking, and hearing soft sobbing. I knew I had to give this some serious thought.

I was going stir crazy doing desk work for that first week, but on Friday afternoon, our Sherriff came in and announced that I passed the Sergeant's exam and was being promoted to Sergeant. More working in the office, but with far more authority, and far less dangerous. I couldn't wait to get home to let Melissa and both families know.

Into our 6th month, with Melissa still barely showing, she got a call while at work that she was being asked to perform at the CMA award show in two weeks.

It was being held in Las Vegas, so we called her parents, so they would be there, too.

When I asked my wife why the short notice, she said the producers told her it was because of how well her album was doing along with two of the other records she produced.

Just after putting our daughter down for the night, we got a call from her grandmother, telling, not asking us that we were to bring Catherine with us, as she was the designated babysitter.

Wow, all I had to do, now is tell my sister she was being replaced, as she had volunteered for that duty. Oh, well, my parents and she would be there, anyway.

Getting off the plane in Las Vegas, our troop was met by a 12 passenger bus to take us to our hotel. If I was in awe of Los Angeles, I was overwhelmed by our short ride to our hotel, on The Strip.

I had a difficult time taking in all the glitz and glamor.

Getting to our rooms, we found my in laws were right across the hall from us. We quickly let them all know that all my bruising from the shooting had finally cleared up.

I then looked my father in law in the eye and asked him if he forgot what makes babies. After our laughter subsided, they both told us Chris was having a son. In turn, we told them daughter number two was on her way to our house.

We all realized that Catherine was about to have an uncle younger than her, by about 17 months.

The CMA award show rehearsal was the next day, and I was allowed to bring my family to watch. I couldn't believe how many of Country's biggest stars were there, and how down to earth they were.

Several of the husband and wife teams came up to us and talked just about children. It really helped that our daughter was as wide eyed as I was. How many 14 month olds can brag that they got held by and talked to by the greatest ladies in music. They all wanted to know what both my wife and mother in law were having, and mentioned how brave Chris was for having a child at 47 years of age. Her response was, "not so much brave, as careless!" This was said with a laugh and smile.

Watching my wife rehearse was as exciting as I imagined. This small, multi racial girl from LA singing her newest country hit. When she finished, those of us in the crowd cheered her performance. Just a few seconds later, the group of studio musicians backing her up, started the opening riff of her biggest hip hop song, so, being the total entertainer she is, she broke out singing. Wearing jeans, tee shirt and canvas slip ons, my pregnant wife was doing the song that made Misty famous, hip hop dancing and all. Pregnant or not, she still had all the moves.

With our daughter clapping right along, I just couldn't contain my pride when these megastars of music cheered and whistled as she finished. All the women told her to take it easy, reminding her she was pregnant.

The next night, I fit right in, wearing my hat and boots, with a string tie, too. Melissa wore this gown that made her look even more beautiful than she already was.

When it was her turn to perform, I just couldn't contain my pride. Neither could both sets of parents. My sister must have snapped a thousand pictures with her phone. I had to admit, when the crowd gave her a rousing, standing ovation, I was in tears. Tears of joy. I had a feeling there wasn't going to be much sleeping, tonight.

Back at our hotel, Etta must have sensed that, too, as she gave us a wink, asking if we wanted her to keep her great granddaughter for the night. We thanked her for the offer, but knew Catherine was a very sound sleeper.

"Wait a minute, do you want your daughter's first words to be 'fuck me harder, Kyle'", she said with another wink. "I'm not as sound a sleeper as you two might think," she added, elbowing me in my ribs.

I wanted to crawl under the floor, I was so embarrassed.

Coming down from our high from the show, we made love as slowly and sensuously as could be. The second go round was more of just touching and a fantastic session of 69'ing.

On our flight back home, I was thrilled to have my wife's head on my shoulder. "Can I ask what you and those ladies were talking about, as we left the concert hall, last night?"

"I asked them both if they had any objection to naming our new daughter after them."

"Are you thinking Trisha Faith or Faith Trisha?"

"I'm not sure, yet, but you've got the idea." Neither of us could believe our good fortunes, lately. Our second child on the way. Our new house. Melissa getting to perform in front of the world. My surviving that attact virtually unscathed.

Returning back to work, we noticed an even larger fan base for my superstar wife. She did, however start taking things easier as our second daughter's birth approached.

Our sex life slowed to just some oral and manual stimulation. Both of us were not left lacking in either department.

Just about her final month of her pregnancy, the trial of both Koopman brothers was starting. I told Melissa that her presence wasn't necessary, but she insisted, with my mother watching Catherine any time we needed her.

The trial was delayed when we got to the Courthouse, due to their grandfather suffering a massive heart attack overnight. I couldn't came out and say it, but I was hoping he wouldn't survive.

As the two defendants were led back to jail, there was a line of uniformed Sheriff's deputies on either side of them. They were not very popular in our department.

That night, as I was on the floor, playing with our daughter, we get a phone call from the Prosecutor telling us they both wanted to plead guilty, so we wouldn't be needed the next morning, either. Great news, as my wife didn't need that added stress.

Our biggest debate was, do we build a second crib, or try Catherine in a big girl's bed. We already had a bed for her, so we tried it, at least once. As we were laying in bed, the next morning, who should appear at our door, but a grinning, little sneaker. Not only could she get off her bed, safely, she did it very quietly, too.

Now for our next surprise, she starts running, and jumps, head first onto our bed, as if it was nothing.

We looked at each other, saying we need to child proof our house, again, learning how acrobatic our big girl was getting. My wife told me that wasn't from her side. I remembered my parents telling me that I was a climber, and into everything, from floor level upwards.

Into her ninth month, Melissa gets a call from her dad, telling us both they are headed to the hospital. It seems as if my new brother in law wants out of his nice, warm cocoon.

Just over four hours later, we get a text and a picture of Melvin James Charles, the 3rd. I never knew my father in law was a Junior. Now I know. Weighing in at 6 pounds 14 ounces, and 19.5 inches long, and just a very light bit of medium brown hair, we were told mom and baby were both doing fine.

All we had to do now is wait for his niece to be born. Each morning, Catherine would walk up to mommy and put an ear to her tummy and whisper, come out and play. She would stand back grinning, expecting an immediate response.

We both would tell her she will come out when she is good and ready. And that started to happen just 15 days after her uncle was born. Driving to the hospital, Catherine seemed to be the most calm of the three of us. My parents were already there, to watch her while her sister was making her appearance.

Gowned up and walking aside my wife's gurney, we all were ready. Melissa grinning up at me, telling me how much she loved me, and me telling her the same.

Just over an hour later, Patricia Faith deJong made a very noisy entrance into our family. 7 pounds 2 ounces, and almost the exact same hair as her new uncle. They could nearly pass as twins.

Getting everyone cleaned up, and presentable, with Trisha in my wife's arms, we slowly made our way out to our waiting family. My mother, holding Catherine in her arms, leaning her over to say hello to her sister, with both mom and dad giving my wife a kiss on her forehead. All our older daughter said was, "She's awful small, I hope she grows."

We all assured her she would. After texting my in laws, their reply was just what we noticed. Little Melvin and Trisha looked close enough to be twins.

One thing we both decided, sitting in Melissa's room was, if Patricia was going to be Trisha, then it was time for Catherine to be Cathy. Done.

Cathy just couldn't take her eyes off her new sister. Neither could I.

We both knew this was icing on the cake. I took all my girls home, the next afternoon. In case anyone reading this remembers, I had long since traded my old pickup in for a nice SUV, just before Cathy was born.

Settling in to our new routine, our good fortunes kept getting better. Melissa was notified that she had been nominated for four Grammys, three for her recorded music, and one for producing that music. It was three months away, but it was in LA, her family's home town, and where she grew up.

We figured with our girls being nearly 2 years old and 4 months old, we all would go. We decided to take at least a week, since we really never had any sort of vacation.

Several times, while resting from whatever sexual activities we were doing, my wife would look at me and ask if I was interested in trying for a son.

"Let me put it this way," I said. "What are we going to do when our 4th or 5th daughter is born?" I continued by saying I did not need a son to feel whole, as I was overjoyed with our daughters. Besides, I continued, I don't want to wear your beautiful body out, trying for something that can't be guaranteed.

We defiantly kept in practice, even after we convinced ourselves that two was it.

I just couldn't believe all the stuff we needed to take, just for a week in LA. When there are two adults, one toddler and a four month old, we needed a van to get us to our airport and we rented another van in LA. I just wasn't sure about me navigating those crazy freeways.

Finding Chris and Melvin's house proved to be easier than I had thought. Unloading my brood, the first thing we did is put Trey, Melvin the 3rds nickname, and Trisha next to each other, and admire how much they looked alike.

The night of the Grammys, we were dressed as true Country folks. Boots, hats, and I had my string tie, not one that had to be tied.

Song of The Year. Not Melissa. Album of The Year. Nope, again. New Artist. The winner: Melissa Charles! I must have jumped two feet in the air, cheering and hugging my wife. Every country artist there, shared in her victory!

In accepting her award, she made sure to thank me and our girls, as well as her parents and all the behind the scenes people, from her hip hop beginnings to her move to country and western. Neither of us could stop grinning the rest of the night.