Chapter Forty-two

33 weeks

Friday Sarah was at work at the hospital, all her colleagues and friends were getting exciting about the baby being born soon. Many said they had bought gifts for the baby and encouraged Sarah to throw a baby shower but Sarah had plans of another kind of party.

She wasn't ready yet to announce it and kept it quiet with her boss, she didn't want too much hassle about it.

One way she felt bad for leaving everyone but when Noah and Caleb were babies, she was the only one working and supporting a family of four. After divorce, when she became depressed, she had been home all the time and spent every day with them but for Sammy she wanted to stay home. To see the baby grow. She wanted to be there for every little thing and now she had the possibility to. A job hadn't been necessary for her, she didn't need to work to earn money, she had a loving and supporting husband.

After work she went home, feeling not too bad. She'd work another week before Richie left for Europe. That way they could still spend a week together before being separated. they both weren't looking forward to it in that way but Richie had a great opportunity to tour for his solo album. Sarah was so proud of what he had accomplished with it. The album was amazing and the tour would be too. Richie was very excited about it.

Arriving at home, the house seemed empty, the kitchen and the living room were deserted.

"Richie? Honey?" She called up the stairs as she walked up. Passing their bedroom, she quickly glanced in but Richie's swearing made her turn around to see Sammy's room.
"Fucking thing! Fit!" Richie ordered the wooden planks.
Sarah chuckled and walked in, seeing him sitting on the floor trying to put the bed together. Something inside her changed, all of a sudden she saw how handsome her husband was. His beautiful face, his luscious lips, his body, so manly. "You look so sexy." She stepped closer.
Richie looked up, thinking he had misunderstood her. "What?" He asked confused and started to explain what he was doing. "I thought I'd put the furniture together as a surprise. It all arrived this morning." He said as he got up to greet his wife with a kiss but Sarah didn't leave it as a greeting kiss and soon deepened the kiss, pulling her husband close against her.

She could feel his arms around her, his big hands stroking her back.

Finally Richie could pull back from the kiss. "Are you okay?" He asked a little surprised by the sudden turn of events.
"I've missed you." Sarah answered before pulling him back for another kiss.

Already she could feel Richie hardening against her. The man loved sex and was always ready for it. It had already been a month, but now she needed him and knew he needed her too.

Carefully Richie pulled back again. "Bedroom?" He asked, taking Sarah's hand and crossing the hallway to their room and shutting the door behind them.

Once the door was closed, he pulled his shirt over his head, he wasn't letting this opportunity pass. He helped Sarah out of her work clothes and soon enough they were both naked in bed.

"You're so beautiful." He let his fingers gently stroke over her belly.
Softly Sarah smiled at him, raising her hand to cup his cheek and run her thumb along his jawline. "So are you." She reached up to kiss him again as her hand traveled southwards, her eyes followed soon. "Haven't seen him in a while." She referred to his penis.
"Don't you see he missed you? He's very excited to see you."
"I see but he's always excited to see me." Her hand wrapped around it and started stroking.
"Let's not waste time with that." Richie pleaded. "I want you." He leaned back in to kiss his beautiful wife.

Gently he pushed her so she laid on her back again. Carefully Richie moved over her, breaking their kiss, he tried to keep most of his weight off of Sarah's pregnant belly, supporting on his arms. The thought of not being able to kiss in that position left both their minds as Richie entered her.

It had been to long. At first Richie maintained slow and long thrusts so Sarah could enjoy every second and every move they made together but soon passion took over, along with his arms getting heavier.

Richie thrusted faster but by Sarah's soft moans and whimpers, he knew she needed it just as much as he did.

They both had reached a high quickly. All of last month's bottled up emotions and desire.

Sarah moaned louder and tightened around him, the combination of it made Richie plunge over the edge. A few more stroked, he emptied himself inside her and rode out her orgasm before moving off of her and laid down by her side.

After catching her breath, Sarah spoke. "That was so amazing." She turned to her side to snuggle.
Richie wrapped his arms around her, pulling the sheets over them. "It was. I love you so much." He smiled as he found her lips for another sweet kiss.

Together they enjoyed the bliss of sex, letting silence surround them.

"I was going to tell you something but you distracted me." Sarah finally said, breaking their silence.
"Me? How did I distract you?"
"By looking so sexy and hot. So manly while putting furniture together."
Richie laughed out loud. "That's your new turn on? Me putting furniture together? I should have waited with all the rest then."
Sarah chuckled and kissed his chest.
"So what were you going to tell me?" Richie wondered.
"I'm quitting my job." Sarah said. "I want to enjoy our time before you tour, then I want to enjoy the rest of my pregnancy and I want to be there for Sammy afterwards." She felt like she had to justify her choice.
"It's up to you honey. If that's what you want, it's perfectly fine."
"Thank you." She showed her appreciation with another passionate kiss.

Chapter Forty-One

31 weeks

Next Tuesday was Sarah's next day off but she didn't plan on spending it leisurely. Richie had left to bring everyone to school as Sarah cleaned up the kitchen and went to get ready upstairs. She took a quick shower and dressed.

By the time Richie walked in to the front door, Sarah was ready to go.

"Going out?" He asked confused when he saw Sarah standing ready.
"We're going out." Sarah clarified.
"Where are we going?"
"The Little Red Barn, Drool maybe Babys R Us and Babyland." Sarah listed the stores as a way of answer.
"Shopping for Sammy?" Richie asked, already turning around, ready to leave again.

Sarah followed him.
"Yeah, we had a busy summer, we haven't been able to get anything yet and you'll be leaving in a few weeks."
"Off we go then. Which place first?"
"The Little Red Barn."

With satellite navigation they easily found the shop. Richie helped Sarah out of the car and together they walked into the store.

A lot of the baby furniture on display was very classic and mostly simple. Sarah pointed everything out that she thought was cute until a store assistant walked up to them to ask if they needed any help.

Together with the shop assistant, Richie and Sarah picked out a crib and a wardrobe, both in white. As mostly everything in the store, the two pieces of furniture were classic but child's safety wasn't neglected.

Picking out the bedding, they stayed neutral with the colors, which was hard for Richie to do.

They paid for the order and arranged for everything to be delivered before the weekend.

"Too bad they don't have a rocking chair." Sarah said as they walked out of the store again.
"You want one? Maybe at the next store." Richie opened the car door for her and helped her in.
She waited for Richie to get in the car too before continuing. "Yeah, to rock Sammy to sleep or to cuddle."
Richie nodded understanding. "We'll find one."

At the next store, Richie helped Sarah out of the car and took her hand in his as they walked into the store.

Again a lady came over to help them, she lead them to a corner where a few rocking chairs stood and informed them there were more than what was on display and left them alone.

Sarah sat down in a white chair, gently pushing off her feet so the chair rocked. Richie sat down in the chair next to her, it had a rocking foot chair to go with it but he wisely kept his feet off and watched his wife. Sarah was still rocking gently, her hands resting on her belly.

"Isn't this perfect?" Sarah asked, catching his gaze. "Just this, rocking. Sammy's calm."
"How about the chair? Want that one then?"
Sarah nodded. "Yeah, it fits with everything else too."
"What about a playpen or a bassinet? We're not done yet." He reminded her gently. Richie got up from the chair and held his hands out to pull Sarah up from the chair.
"I'm fat." Sarah complained, being so big she needed help to get up sometimes.
"No you aren't, you're pregnant, carrying our baby in there. Our flesh and blood." Richie pointed out.

They found a playpen that would fit in the living room so Sammy could be with family during the daytime. It was big enough to play and sleep in. Sarah hadn't picked out white wood but a color that would blend in with the rest of the living room.

The play pen they agreed on would even be useful as Sammy grew up, they could lowed the platform once Sammy would learn to roll over and sit.

It was almost noon by now and Sarah was getting tired but she'd rather finish the job than have to start over the next day she wasn't working.

At the next store they picked out little clothes. The offer was immense but they knew a tiny baby wouldn't fit the same clothes it wore the week before and because Sarah didn't know the sex yet, they decided on simple colored onesies that would work with a boy and a girl. The baby needed something to wear but they also decided not to overdo it and keep the cute outfits for when Sammy would be able to wear it at least twice before growing out of it.

Even though he tried, Richie couldn't resist a shirt with a guitar on it.

"It works for both, girls like guitars." He claimed.
"Girls like the guys that play guitar." Sarah pointed out.
"It still works." He added the guitar shirt to the cart and went on to add a purple shirt.

Sarah watched him pick out clothes, one item would make her think Sammy would be a girl, the next, a boy. It was confusing and she gave up as they went to look at bed sheets.

There she found the most adorable baby blanket with Winnie the Pooh on it. It would be perfect for the playpen. Winnie The Pooh was a classic and popular with boys and girls. In the ends they had two sets of sheets, clothes and stuffed animals, all Winnie and his friends.

They added a few more baby toys, blankets and a comforter and made the last big purchase of a chair that would let a baby lay back and a sitting baby sit, all the way to the age of toddler and a special car seat that could be used to travel.

"Is that it?" Richie asked when they concluded their shopping.
Sarah thought hard, crossing things off her mental list. "Bottles, breast pump and pacifiers, maybe diapers."
"We should wait with diapers but lets get the bottles." Richie suggested.

And instead of checking out they turned back around into the store to find the last items.

"I'm beat." Sarah announced when they finally arrived home.
Richie reached to hug her. "Go up to bed and nap, honey. I have to pick up everyone from school anyway." He gave her a short kiss..
"Wake me up when you get back?" She asked when her lips were released.
"I will."

Sarah went upstairs to bed as Richie unloaded the car, relieved that all the large items would be delivered later that week. He had a big car but it wouldn't have fit all of that.  They had spent a very large amount of money but he couldn't be happier about it. Everything Sammy would need, Sammy would get.

Chapter Forty

31 weeks

"I've missed this." Sarah said as they sat down at their table.

Richie had reserved a table at a beautiful restaurant. If it had any stars, didn't matter to Sarah. The restaurant had a romantic atmosphere, tables with white linen, candles on every table and a small vase with a single red rose stood in the middle.

She could always depend on Richie to find the most romantic places to go.

"Going to a restaurant?" Richie asked. "We went to Pizza Hut last month."
"No, romance."

A small smile formed on his lips as he looked at Sarah. She was right, the romance had been cooled down during the last month. He understood Sarah was going through a rough patch with the lawsuit going on. Besides that she was in the last two months of her pregnancy.

He loved how large her belly was now, knowing his child was growing there. Only two more months before Sammy would finally really be there.

Sarah wanted a daughter, she had told him a lot while they were still trying to get pregnant a year ago but since she was pregnant, she hadn't mentioned it anymore. He wished he could tell her but he had promised to keep it secret and was determined to do so.

Now that the lawsuit was behind them and everyone was back in school, their lives should turn back to normal.

"We have a lot of other things to do now. We still need to decorate a room for Sammy." Sarah reminded him.
Suddenly Richie realized it too. "We haven't even decided which room the baby would get."
Sarah smiled at what he said, Sammy was her most favorite topic to talk about right now. "I was thinking the room across of ours or next to us. That way we're always close by."
Richie nodded. "That sounds like a good idea. do you want to hire a decorator for the room?" He asked.
Sarah shook her head. "No, you're leaving soon. I want us to do it together. All of it, decorating, putting the furniture together and go buy clothes."
"Sounds like we have a plan for next week."
"I have another plan for right now." Sarah informed him.
"What's that?"
"Dessert." She smiled at him.
"Good plan." Richie said as he motioned for a waiter's attention.

The waiter cleared off their table and brought them menu's again so they pick out a dessert.

A few minutes later their conversation continued over dessert.

"I was wondering about something." Sarah started, remembering what she had discussed with Noah earlier, but she hesitated now.
"About what?" Richie urged.
"Now that we're having Sammy." She thought about how to go on. "Where do we stand on your wish to have a big family?"
"You mean if we're having more kids after this one?" He asked confused about what she actually meant.
"Not really but lets talk about that too. I think Sammy would need a little brother or sister to play with."
Richie nodded. "I agree. I'd rather not think of it but Ava, Caleb and Noah will go to college and move out and then Sammy would be all alone."
"And that would be lonely." Sarah added in. "So we're having another one after this one?" She rubbed her hands over her belly.
"If there's no medical reasons that object, I don't see why not." Richie scooted his chair until he was next to Sarah and cover her hands with his.

Sarah smiled at the gesture and looked down at their hands, her small ones covered by his. She knew how much he loves Sammy already.

They both pulled their hands away when they felt a kick, then chuckled.

"Guess it got too crowded." Richie shrugged and reached in to kiss his beautiful wife. "Anything else you wanted to know?" Richie looked her in the eye as he asked.

Knowing he could read her eyes easily, she decided to be straightforward. A little sigh escaped her before she started. "I know you love Sammy." She looked back at him and saw nothing but love in his eyes.
"You're worried I don't love Caleb and Noah as much?" He cut in.
"No, I know you love them too."
"What's the problem then?" He asked confused.
Sarah sighed again and just told him. "Did you know stepparents can adopt their stepchildren?"
"I can adopt them?" He sounded surprised but Sarah was sure she heard excitement in his voice too.
"You could. Jonathan denied them now, so you could."
Richie smiled, thinking it over. "I'm sure my lawyer knows more about it."
"He probably does. You really want to do this?" Sarah asked, surprised how easily he jumped on the idea.
"Yeah, do you think the boys will want to? How cool would that be?"
"I think you'll have to talk to them."

They finished their desserts and headed home.

The house was dark and quiet when they arrived. Even though it was late, they had three teenagers, it would be unusual if they had gone to bed already.

As they walked into the front door, they had been right be suspicious. From the living room they could hear murmuring, some whispers and someone silencing the rest.

Sarah gave Richie a questioning look, asking him what was going on. Richie merely shrugged and took her hand in his, walking to the living room.

As soon as they walked in, everyone's head shot up to look in the direction of the doorway.

A few seconds of quiet passed before Richie decided to break it.

"Hi." He said confused by seeing their three children by the coffee table.
Ava's dog eyeing something as a delicious treat.
"We got you a surprise." Ava said, stepping away from the table and picking up the dog.

Noah and Celeb stepped away too, revealing a simple but definitely home made cake on the table. The icing covering the cake was a little sloppy  but it was clear they had tried their best, with a single candle finishing off the cake.

"You made that for us?" Sarah asked them
"For your anniversary, we thought you'd like it better if we made it ourselves." Caleb explained.
"We love it." Richie said. "But we better eat it before a certain dog gets to it first."

Noah left the room and came back with forks and plates, along with a knife to cut the cake.

They certainly had done their best, the cake tasted great, it was no wonder Rocky wanted it so bad.

After everyone had a piece of cake, including the dog and the left overs were stored in the kitchen, everyone dispersed to their bedrooms.

Once in their bedroom, Sarah wrapped her arms around her husband and stood on her tip toes to kiss him. "I love you so much. Tonight was great. Thanks." She softly smiled up at him.
"I love you too." Richie answered and kissed her again, deepening their kiss.

It had been a while since they had shared such passion and Sarah wasn't going to stop him. Richie's hand disappeared under her skirt, touching the smooth skin of her thighs.

"Lets get ready for bed and then we can continue this." Richie said, pulling back from the kisses.
Sarah nodded softly and let go of him, then lead the way the the bathroom.

"You go on to bed." Richie said as Sarah finished brushing her teeth while he was only getting started.
"See you in a minute." Sarah smiled and softly kissed his cheek before leaving.

After rinsing his mouth and cleaning up, he walked back out to the bedroom that was only lighted by the reading lamps on the side tables.

One glance at Sarah and he knew she was asleep. Part of him wanted to wake her up, the other part knew that she was seven months pregnant and needed to rest.

The latter part won and he quietly got in bed behind Sarah, putting his arm around her so his hand rested on her large belly, softly stroking.

He tried to forget the hard on that had started to develop since they had entered the bedroom. It had been a while, too long according to him but he wouldn't wake Sarah up just to have sex. He'd wait. Then, he regretfully realized it might be months before Sarah was in the mood again.

He'd wait.

Chapter Thirty-nine

31 weeks

Sarah fell asleep in Richie's arms. Thinking she'd had a busy day of worrying and being pregnant, Richie decided to let her nap before their evening out, relieved that Caleb had driven everyone to school that morning.


"Mom?" Noah asked as he walked into the bedroom.
"She's sleeping." Richie said quietly, watching Noah walk over. "What's wrong?"
"Caleb is looking for you, something about guitars."
Richie nodded and looked over at Sarah.

She woke up hearing Noah's voice but it took a few seconds for her to realize it and really wake up.

"What's wrong?" She asked.
"Nothing, I think Noah wants to talk to you in private." Richie said gently. He gave her a soft kiss and got up from the bed.
"What?" She sat up a little and looked at her son.
"Nothing bad." Noah insisted and got on the bed next to her, waiting for Richie to close the door behind him before going on. "It's about me and Caleb and about Richie too."
Sarah frowned, hoping he'd continue.
"Since that first day in court, Caleb and I've been wondering about something..." he hesitated," and I did the research so I know it's possible."
Still confused, Sarah asked him, "What?"
Noah looked down, obviously it was hard for him to tell her but he had to tell her. "I read that stepparents can adopt their stepchildren." He said, still looking down.

Sarah watched him, was he asking for Richie to adopt him and Caleb? Was that what they wanted? Would Richie want that?

"If their biological parent denies them, the stepparent can adopt them and since Jonathan doesn't want us," he explained, "and we don't want him." He quickly added. "Maybe Richie wants us." His voice sounded softer and quieter as he said it.
"Would you like that? For Richie to adopt you two?" Sarah asked, making sure she was understanding what he was asking.
"I think so, me and Caleb talked about it during the summer and now we decided to ask for your opinion."
Sarah nodded, she was touched that her sons thought so much of Richie that they would want him as their father.
"Remember that night me and Richie had a fight, the night you passed out and had to go to the hospital and found out about the baby?" Noah asked.
"Yeah."
"We had a stupid fight, Richie and me." He went on. "I told him he wasn't my dad because he was telling me to go do my homework and he said he was a better father than any father I've had... And that's true, he is."
Even Sarah had to agree with that.
"I know he's got a closer bond with Caleb because they both play guitar but I still like him a lot too. He's helpful, he's nice to us, teaches us stuff, he tries to do everything for us and I think that's what a dad is supposed to do, right?"
As Sarah looked at him, she saw the emotions had gotten to him. She reached out and hugged him.
"Jonathan doesn't want us so maybe Richie does."
Sarah let go of the hug and made him face her. "He would, he loves you, both of you."
"But I'm too scared to asked him." Noah confessed.
Understanding how hard that must be to ask a stepparents, Sarah hugged her youngest son again.

She didn't know what to do either, she could suggest it to Richie or hint something about to see how he would react and go from that.

He loved both her sons, she knew that, he might not have said it with so many words, for which he had his own reasons but she was sure he loved them as his own sons. The same way he'd love Sammy.

"Would you like me to talk to him first, just to see if he'd consider the idea?" Sarah asked her son.
Noah nodded. "If you could."
"I'll ask him tonight, just bring it up but I won't ask it straight out, I think you and Caleb should do that."
"I already asked you, Caleb can ask Richie." Noah decided quickly.
"You're both sure you want to do this?" Sarah asked. "No backing out later?"
Noah shook his head. "No, we're sure. You know Caleb wants to change his name as soon as he's 18."
Sarah nodded, she knew all too well. "Okay, I'll talk to Richie."

Afterwards their conversation turned to a lighter subject until Sarah had to start getting ready for her date.

While she was picking out her dress, Richie walked back into the room.

"Everything alright with Noah?" He asked, looking at his wife in the dressing room.
She looked up and smiled at him. "Yeah, he's fine, he just needed to talk, you know how he is."
Richie nodded. "Yeah, I know."
"You don't mind, do you?"
"No of course not, he loves and trusts you so of course he wants to talk to you."
Sarah frowned and walked over to him. "You know they love and trust you too."
Richie smiled. "Yeah, I know, I love them too."
Carefully Sarah reached up and kissed him. "Thank you."

Chapter Thirty-eight

31 weeks

The beginning of September was as beautiful as ever, a small dip in temperature but it was still hot and gorgeous outside. School had started and the house was quiet.

Sarah wasn't working today and hoped Richie wouldn't either, but she knew better than that. He was very busy arranging everything. Immensely proud as she was, she was as also sad she couldn't see him perform. By the time Richie was leaving for Europe, she would be in her last month of pregnancy. The thought of him missing the baby's birth had crossed her mind a few times but Richie would be back two weeks before Sammy was due. If Sammy stuck to the due date.

She spent most of her day strolling around the house, whenever she sat down Sammy protested until they walked again.

As long as Sammy would behave tonight, she thought she'd be alright.

Tonight, they would celebrate their anniversary. It was hard to believe a year had gone by so fast but she was also incredibly happy with everything that had happened in that year. Her life had changed so much and for the better.

The feeling of having a husband that truly loved her was amazing, surrounded by a happy family was all that she could wish for. She had always dreamed of this. Only, she had imagined it when she was 25, not at the end of her forties.

But that was how it was and she wouldn't change anything anymore, her past had made her stronger, she knew that, she had just proved it in court.

In the bedroom, Sarah noticed something unusual. She had kept the rose Richie had given her a year ago when he proposed, it was still safe in its tie box but the box wasn't on her night stand anymore. Checking behind it and not finding it made her panic a little bit. Sure the flower was wilted and mostly falling apart but it had special meaning, she wanted to keep it as a reminder of that wonderful night.

She checked the rest of the room but couldn't find it anymore. Why would anyone take it or put it somewhere else? Everyone knew the meaning of it.

She shouldn't get upset over it, it was only a flower, a dead one even but she couldn't help herself as the tears slid down her cheeks.


Richie arrived home an hour later, he had been gone almost all day but he knew Sarah understood he had imported things to arrange and it had been the perfect time to get her anniversary present. They were having a date tonight, a special restaurant he had picked out and he planned to give Sarah her present during dinner. He was sure she would love it.

He had put a lot of thought into his gift and finally decided this would be a very good anniversary gift. He almost couldn't wait to give it but took it upstairs to the bedroom to put it away for later.

There he found Sarah lying on the bed, he put his gift on top of the dresser and walked over to her. She seemed asleep but when he got on the bed next to her he saw she wasn't. He could see the tear stains on her face. It always made him feel bad when Sarah was upset. He hoped it was because of hormones rather than something to really upset her.

"What's the matter?" He asked gently as he wiped his thumb over her cheek.
Sarah sighed. "I don't know, a mixture of everything I guess."
"What do you mean?" Richie asked confused, still keeping his gentle touch over her cheek.
"I'm pregnant. Sammy wants to do stuff and I just want to lay down, my back hurts, my feet hurt, everything hurts." She sighed again. "It's probably hormones."

Richie moved over to her other side, his hands going straight to her back to massage the pain away.

"What else?" He asked gently. "Does this help?"
"I does, thanks." She could feel the tears burn behind her eyes again. "I lost something."
Confused, Richie looked up but from his position he couldn't see his wife's face. "What?" He asked even though he already had a pretty good idea about what she had lost.
"My rose. The one you gave me when you proposed, remember? By the large rose bushes. It was so wonderful and now I lost the rose."
"Oh." Richie tried to sound worried.
"I just can't find it. I can't believe it's gone." She couldn't hold back the tears anymore and started crying all over again.
"Sarah." He said. "It's alright. You'll find it again." He tried to sooth and hug her but it didn't help.
"It's gone. I've looked everywhere for it."

He hugged her tighter, he couldn't believe she would get this upset over losing a dead flower.

Gently he let go of Sarah and got up.

"Where are you going?" She asked confused.
"Getting something that'll cheer you up."
"But I want you here."
"Just a second." Richie said as he walked back to the dresser and picked up the small wrapped box.

Sarah sat up and watched him in wonder.

Richie picked up his wrapped gift and went to sit next to Sarah again.

"I wanted to give you this tonight but I'll let you open it now." He handed it over even though he wanted to wait til later, he also wanted to see his wife happy.
Sarah took it and looked it over. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah, just open it."

She did as he asked and gently unwrapped the gift, careful not to tear the paper. Inside, she found the all too familiar tie box.

"Richie?" She asked confused, he had taken it?
"Open it." He insisted.

Sarah opened the tie box and noticed the box was entirely full, she turned it upside down and an acrylic cube fell out, the rose preserved in the middle of it. She held the cube and ran her thumbs over the smooth edges.

"I thought you'd like it, that way the flower wouldn't be damaged any more. Now you'd know it'd be safe." He explained.
"Richie, that's so thoughtful and perfect. I love it. Thank you so much." She threw her arms around him and hugged him tight. "I love you."
"I love you too honey, happy anniversary."

Chapter Thirty-seven

31 weeks

"Honey?" Richie walked out of office, excited about what he had just learned, he needed to tell Sarah. He walked through the house and finally found her in the living room. "Honey?" He asked again to get a reaction.

Sarah looked up to him from the couch. "Hey, everything alright?"
"More than alright." He said happily and moved to sit with her. "You know the show in Amsterdam I planned?"
"Yeah..."
"It's already sold out and the German shows are doing so well, tomorrow we're announcing the show in London. I have to set up another one in Amsterdam. Can't believe how fast that already sold out." He said excited.
"All sold out? All of it?" Sarah asked.
"Yeah, isn't that awesome?"
"It is... But if you plan another show, does that mean you have to leave earlier." She asked, her husband was going to be gone for almost a month, she didn't want him to leave earlier and be away from her even longer.
Richie shrugged. "Depends on when there's nothing booked at the same venue. Got a few days before the show in Germany so hopefully it'll fit in there."
"It will, you'll figure it out. I'm so happy for you." Sarah reached over to give him a hug, then tilted her head to kiss him tenderly. "Too bad I can't go with you."
"I know, I'm sorry but I'm gonna do some shows around here too and then we can drive there together and you'll get to watch me. Alone." He said proud of himself.

Finally he was doing another solo, proving how good his own music could be. How good he could be as the front man without anybody's help.

Sarah looked up at him, locking their eyes. "I'm really glad you dyed your hair back."
"You're not the only one." He chuckled. "I got so many tweets about that."
"Twitter. What do you do on that Twitter?"
"Not much, just say what I've been doing, like how my day was and stuff." Richie shrugged.
"And people find you interesting?" She teased.
He pouted, teasing her back. "My fans do."

Sarah couldn't resist that and reached over to kiss him again, this time with more passion. She was glad to see her husband so excited and happy. He really deserved this after all the hard work he had done during the last year. She was sad he would have to leave her but he had to do this and she granted him that.

"There's just one thing we need to do before I go on tour."
Sarah looked at him confused. Ava's birthday was right before he left but why would he mention that? "What?"
"See your doctor again. I want a new picture of Sammy so I can take it with me."
"Oh." Sarah nodded. "I think we can do that."
"And we still don't know the sex." Richie pointed out.
"You do."
"Me, is not we." He pointed out cleverly again. "So do we have names yet?"
With everything that had been going on lately Sarah really hadn't put time in thinking of names yet. "No, we don't."

Looking around the living room, Richie spotted his iPad and got up to retrieve it, he turned it on as he sat down and went online.

"Let's see what the internet says about names." He held his arm open for Sarah to settle against him.

He searched a few webites and came up with lists of the most popular names of the last year.

"Most used for a girl, Sophia and for a boy, Aiden."
"I don't like either, they need more meaning." Sarah said, a name needed to fit the person.
"What do you mean with meaning? I can look up what they mean."  He already started searching another page.
"Like Caleb means whole hearted and Noah means peace or rest. At the time that were very important things for me and that's why I picked them out."
"Sophia means wisdom. Aiden means little fire. Lets not use that, that might mean trouble when he's older."
Sarah chuckled. "We still have time to figure something out."

They continued their search online and pointed out a few more names that they might like to use but nothing really stuck to be sure of. Sarah still didn't know what sex the baby would have and Richie was keeping the secret all to himself, even Ava and Caleb didn't get to know.

"You know what." Richie thought out loud after few minutes.
"What?" Sarah wondered what name suggestion he had next, he had already suggested a few names that she had to turn down.
"We're all alone."
"Yeah..."
"We should do something more fun." He said as he turned off the iPad and put it away.

He pulled his arm back from Sarah, who was confused about what he was doing. He stood up and picked her up and started walking towards the stairs.

"Something more fun?" Sarah asked.

Richie carried her up to the bedroom where he gently put her down on the bed and crawled up next to her.

"Much more fun."
"We already have a baby, you can't make another one." Sarah teased.
"Still need to practice for later."
A little surprised she looked up at him. "Later? We're having more children after this one?" She hadn't even thought of that but it seemed like Richie had.
"We can talk about that later." He ignored the question and bent down to kiss her.

The last month their sex life hadn't been much but with the trial finally over, he had noticed Sarah was in the mood for it a lot more than during the summer. If it was because of the trial or hormones, he didn't care, as long as he got to kiss his beautiful wife and pleasure her all through the night, he'd be happy.

Her lips tasted as sweet as they always did, he could never get enough of it and by the sound of her moans, Sarah couldn't either.

Chapter Thirty-six

A/N I seriously hope I did enough research on all these crimes and if not, it's fan fiction.

30 weeks

That same morning they sat in the same small court room.

Jonathan was already there, still in a blue prison suit with his hands cuffed together, two officers standing close to him.

Sarah was holding Richie's hand thightly, she was scared and nervous. Richie could feel it, his knuckles were turning white but he wasn't going to let Sarah take her hand away and continued to squeeze back, although he didn't do it as thightly as Sarah was.

The boys were quiet, nobody had talked much during breakfast or the drive to the court house. They had met up with Mr. Slone and he once again assured them that everything would work out as they had planned it. Sarah hoped so, if not, she had no idea what else could happen, things could only get worse.

"All rise."

They all stood up as the judge walked into the room and sat down, overlooking all off them. He had a stern look on his face, which was set so it seemed like it was how he always looked at people.

Just like last time Sarah found it hard to look up and pay attention to everyone that was talking, the words were difficult to understand and she had to remember to stay relaxed. Richie had done everything to keep the trip relaxed, even vitising her family that lived 6 hours ago. For that, she was glad they had made this trip. The lawsuit was just a down in it but very soon that would be over too.

She squeezed Richie's hand again when the judge started talking, she tried to look down at her feet but her view was obscured by her large belly. Sammy had definitely grown over the last few weeks.

"To start with, the prosecutor changed the charges."

At that Sarah's head shot up, noticing that everyone else did the same.

"What does that mean?" Sarah asked worriedly.
"I have no idea." Richie confessed but it didn't sound like anything good.

There wasn't much time to keep wondering about what was happening and why the charges had changed, the judge continued talking.

"The prosecutor charges Jonathan Gibson with assault that obstained life-threatening injury, spousal abouse, marital rape, child abuse and failing to support children." The judge continued.

"That's good." Richie whispered.
Sarah only nodded shortly.

"For assault obtaining life-threatening injury, the maximum sentence of 20 years imprisonment."

Richie could feel Sarah's hand loosen around his. Twent years was good but there was more to come.

"For spousal abuse against Sarah Sambora, maximum sentence of 5 years imprisonment. Spousal abuse against against Nicole Smith, 4 years of imprisonment."

"Twenty-nine." Caleb whispered quickly.

"For marital rape against Sarah Sambora, sentence of 8 years imprisonment. Marital rape against Nicole Smith 6 years imprisonment."

"Forty-two." Noah wispered too.

"Child abuse of two children, sentence of 8 years combined."

"Fifty, that's as good as life." Caleb whispered again.

"Failing to support two children through paying alimony for 12 years, maximum sentence of 10 years."

"Sixty." They both whispered again, sounding excited.

Sarah couldn't believe what she heard, she was too amazed to listen what else the judge had said. A total of 60 years in prison. If Jonathan ever was going to be a free man again, he would be 107 years old. She smiled at how unlikely that was.

Jonathan's lawyer tried to put a good word in, lower the sentence but the judge wouldn't budge and ended the case.

At the sound of gavel, Sarah looked up again, as they judge rose from their seat they all had to stand up again.

After the judge had gone Richie turned to leave but Sarah hadn't moved, she was watching Jonathan get up. Noah and Caleb waited next to Richie too, he looked over and noticed they were watching their biological father too.

"Are you alright?" He asked carefully.

Sarah nodded, she needed to see this for herself.

The officers escorted Jonathan through the room, passing by them.

"I'm not done with you yet." Jonathan said, directing it to the two boys. "I demand a DNA test!" He said loudly as the officers pushed him away.
"You do that pal." Richie put a protective arm around both teenage boys standing next to him, watching Jonathan and everyone else leave the room.

A minute later they were the only people left in the courtroom along with their lawyer.

"Can he really do that?" Sarah asked.
"He could but I doubt he'll have the resources to do that in jail. Congradulations, we won the trial." Mr. Slone said as he extended a hand to Sarah.
Sarah shook it with a smile.


They said their goodbyes and thank you's outside, infront of the large building. Mr. Slone wished them all the best and returned inside.

Finally Sarah turned to her husband and wrapped her arms around his neck. The happiness she felt was unlike any other feeling of joy. The main reason of all her worries was gone, locked up for good. She could finally continue her life with her family.

All she wanted right now was to finally go home again.

So excited, she pulled out of the hug and kissed him deeply. Not caring who might see them and how indecent it might look. She was happy and she didn't care about anybody else right now.

When she finally straightened up,  Noah and Caleb were still busy with their phones.

Richie knew he couldn't possibly know how happy Sarah was at this moment, he just knew how happy he was about this turn out. Knowing that Sarah's bright smile was finally back, was all the happiness he really needed.


Once in the car back to the hotel, Sarah completely relaxed and rested her head on Richie's shoulder. Right now she didn't ever want to let him go. He had supported her through the last few months, she now wanted to share her happiness with him.