Luck of the Draw

By K. A. Jordan and I. C. Talbot

Stella's husband, Rolf, is a professional poker player, traveling the country, following the game. While Rolf always says that he has 'the luck of the draw' - Stella has her doubts. 

 

With Rolf mostly gone, Stella and her four children live in a 20 foot camper, traveling from town to town. Sometimes Rolf wins big, showering them with gifts and money, sometimes he takes what little they had to stake the next game. 

 

Then one morning Rolf returns, handing Stella the deed to a lakeside property in Ohio. She races to claim the house, thinking their luck had finally changed for the better...instead, the house is hidden in a jungle of weeds and ramshackle old buildings.

 

Determined to make this grim, lifeless old house into a home,  Stella digs in her heels and battles weeds and wild animals, finding unexpected allies along the way. But in the end, Stella must decide just how far she is willing to go to keep this home for her family.

 

I. C. Talbot left a lifetime's worth of short stories to her daughter when she passed away. K. A. Jordan edits these tales and publishes them.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Icy Road Publishing
• Release date: Nov 12, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393989646

K. A. Jordan

K. A. Jordan was a refugee from the Rust Belt who escaped to the Blue Grass Kentucky in 1992. She writes and blogs from 'Jordan's Croft' a small farm where she lives with her husband, three horses, three dogs and a herd of alpacas. She says of her writing: "There are no 'ripped bodices' in my novels, but you will find charming criminals, wounded heroes, mad artists and the occasional haunted motorcycle." Her debute novel "Let's Do Lunch" spent 10 weeks on the Amazon UK Romantic Suspence Best Sellers list, peaking at #3, in December 2011. She followed that success with "Swallow the Moon" and "Horsewomen of the Zombie Apocalypse."  She holds a degree in Applied Science, spins her own yarn, gardens and can often be found on the back of her husband's Suzuki M109 motorcycle.

Book preview

Luck of the Draw

by I. C. Talbot

Stella's husband, Rolf, is a professional poker player, traveling the country, following the game. While Rolf always said that he has 'the luck of the draw' - Stella has doubts.

With Rolf mostly gone, Stella and her four children live in a 20 foot camper, traveling from one campground to the next. Then one morning Rolf returns, handing Stella the deed to a lakeside property in Ohio.

Is this the break that Stella has been waiting for? Or is it another pipe dream? In the end, its just the luck of the draw.

This novella is 34.5k words.

Luck of the Draw

By

I. C. Talbot

&

K. A. Jordan

Published by Icy Road Publishing

Copyright © 2018 by Icy Road Publishing

All rights reserved.

This is a work of fiction. Some of the places are real.

All the characters are products of the author's imagination.

Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead is entirely coincidental.

Electronic Edition, License Notes

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Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Wake Up!

Wake up, baby!

Stella smelled cigars and liquor, which meant her husband, Rolf, was home. She rolled over, careful to not wake her two youngest children, tucked into bed beside her. Hi honey. How was the game?

Great! I had the luck of the draw tonight! Unshaven, dressed in a rumpled suit, he sat on the edge of the bed, white blond hair in disarray, his blue eyes glittering with excitement, or maybe it was caffeine. I drew the three of diamonds to fill an inside straight.

Rolf needed a haircut, his blonde hair fell over one eye, he needed a shave, too. Otherwise he still had the same perfect surfer looks, as when she'd married him a dozen years ago.

Oh, but they were a long way from their post-honeymoon life. They'd gone from two jobs, a nice house, and two kids, to her living in a 20 foot camper with four kids in just five years.

Now, it looked like his luck had changed once more.

Stella made herself smile as if she shared his delight. It won't last, she thought with a sinking heart. It never lasts. How much did he win this time? Will he give me enough to buy the kids new clothes or just enough for groceries?

He hugged her hard, nearly in tears, trembling in his excitement. Then he let her go and shoved a wad of paper towards her. Honey, I won us a house! The house we always dreamed of — here's the deed!

Oh honey! She held out her hands and he laid the sweaty papers in her hands. Really? A house? How did you win a house?

He put the house up to get a stake, so I staked him. When I won, he signed his house over. He crowed with delight. It's on the water and everything! He kissed her hard and for a moment she threw her arms around his neck. But she pushed him away before the kiss could get more physical. She'd been fooled before and had two young children to show for it.

A house, a real house?

Mommy? A little voice in the next bed pipped up as her toddler daughter, Cassie, stirred. Daddy?

Yes, darling, Daddy is home. Stella smiled at Cassie. Around her the other children stirred, including twelve-year-old Jeremy and ten-year-old Julie. Little three-year-old Stevie sat up and rubbed his eyes.

Hi Daddy, Julie smiled sleepily. Are you home to stay?

Rolf's smile froze for a heartbeat, then he looked over at their ten-year-old girl. Just for a little while, pumpkin, I've got another job to go to.

Oh Rolf stay, please? Stella begged. We haven't seen you in days!

I'm on a roll baby, I can't stop now. I've got to get to the next game.

But we're out of food! We're eating rice and oatmeal. Stella grabbed his arm. Please Rolf! Stay with us.

I can't. I've got just enough time to get to the game in Nashville. He pulled a fat envelope out of his jacket. Take this. This should be enough to get set up at the house.

But Rolf… Stella's heart fell, because she knew that he was going to leave and she couldn't stop him. Sure enough, he leaped up and away, rummaging through the little camper for clean clothes and his spare suit.

All four kids were watching their father with despair in their little eyes.

Just trust me, baby. I swear everything is gonna be all right. File the deed, move into the house and get settled in. I'll be back when I've got enough for us to live on. My luck's running hot. I've got the luck of the draw. It only took him a few moments to scoop up what he wanted and get to the door.

Please Rolf — don't go!

Get the deed filed, and don't worry about me — I'll keep in touch if anything happens. You'll either hear from me, or I'll be there soon. I love you all. 'Bye. He blew them a collective kiss, closing the door behind him.

So, once again, Rolf was off and running, leaving her to cope, as best she could. At least she wasn't pregnant, and she didn't have a new baby, nor was she completely destitute. She might be living in a twenty-foot travel trailer with four children, but all of them were healthy.

She had to settle the children again. The two littlest ones went right back to sleep. Twelve-year-old Jeremy rolled over and pretended to go back to sleep.

Jeremy was the one who could best remember living in a house with two parents and a normal life. He understood that there was something wrong with this father, though he didn't understand addiction.

But Julie took Rolf's absences to heart. She cried for her Daddy, curling next to Stella, who rubbed her back. Stevie and Cassie were born into this life. This camper was their home, and Rolf was little more than a stranger who came and went, leaving chaos and heartbreak in his wake.

When all the kids were settled and sleeping, Stella sat at the little camp table, to look over the papers. She turned the deed over in her hands, checking the bill of sale and the quit-claim paperwork. In the bottom of the envelop were five keys on a chain, two old and worn, three new and shining. Then she opened the bulging manila envelope to count the money.

He'd left her five hundred dollars in small bills. There was also a fistful of plastic gift cards.

She shuddered as she touched the worn plastic cards. This was usually all he gave her, the smaller bills and the gift cards. Just looking at them brought up memories of desperate times. There were Trac-Phone cards, swipe cards from American Express, Wal-mart gift cards, a Sprint card, and several Amazon gift cards.

It wasn't much, but some how she was supposed to make a life for herself and her kids on this? I can't live on crumbs forever, she thought as she smoothed the bills into piles. But after five years following a man addicted to gambling she'd gotten damn good at it.

The first year had been the hardest. The four of them had lived in a big SUV, alternately staying in fancy hotels and camping in a tent, wandering south in the winter.

When Stella got pregnant with Stevie, the bills piled up.

Rolf took off with the SUV, coming back with this old camper and the old Dodge truck that pulled it. The camper had been in shambles, little more than a shell. She'd twisted plastic shopping bags into yarn that she crocheted into curtains, pillows and mattresses for the kids. She recycled coffee cans into canisters, cut down cardboard boxes to use as drawers, glued fruit crates together to make shelving units, and pallet wood shored up the sagging floors.

At first, Rolf had risen to the challenge. He stayed home during the week, they traveled as a family, the whole thing had been a lark again. He was home for Stevie's birth and for a couple of weeks, he talked about settling down again. But Stevie was a colicky child, his wailing had echoed in the camper, and Rolf started gambling again.

Things came to a head one night, he came home from a local game with a news of another game in a different state and they had a horrible fight. He left that night. Stella told him to never come back again. She threatened to divorce him, told him she never wanted to see him again. He sent money, pleaded with her to take him back, sent gift cards, toys for the kids, wrote her love letters. She got a job as a waitress and saved money for an apartment.

When Stevie was nine months old, Rolf had come home a big winner. He'd showered them with dollar bills, champagne and promises — only to leave in a few days — off to another big game — leaving Stella pregnant again.

But this time, Stella was smart. She refused to leave her job or the campground, signing up for food stamps and Medicaid, staying put until Cassie was born.

When the campground closed for good, they were forced to pull up stakes again.

Cassie was a year and a half old now. Stevie was three. Rolf came home a few days a month and Stella had grown adept at making do while he was gone. They kept in touch with text messages and occasional phone calls.

Things had gotten better when she started stealing Rolf's winnings and hiding little stashes of small bills around the camper. That got her enough money to visit a family planning clinic. They gave her a solution to the baby problem that was supposed to be good for ten years.

Stella had lived from hand-to-mouth for so long it was second nature. She home-schooled the kids the best she could, but Jeremy and Julie should have school friends and actives that living in a campground couldn't provide.

She brought herself back to the present when she saw the small envelope in with the quitclaim deed.

She opened the small envelope and nearly gasped. There were several one hundred dollar bills nestled inside. More money than he'd ever left before. How much had he won this time? Then her jaded brain kicked in — I'll bet he didn't mean to leave this behind. He didn't have time to stash it.

Rolf often stashed cash in the camper. She knew where a few places were, and she raided them if he didn't come home or she ran out of money, or the kids got sick and needed medicine.

Well he's not getting this back, she thought grimly. I'm gonna need every penny to transfer this house into my name. She could barely pronounce the name of the county, let alone the lake.

Ashtabula Ohio? Pymatuning Lake? Where the hell is Ashtabula?

#

Find the Way

Getting to Ashtabula County and getting the camper set up took most of the day. Finding the place