A Full House

Fiona smoothed out her dress while she waited in the elevator. The interior was covered with mirrors into which she gazed pensively at her reflection while caressing her stomach. She would start to show soon, but for now, she looked ravishing and she knew it. She exited on the penthouse floor, walked down the corridor and up to the man in the pinstriped suit. He opened the door for her after she supplied the correct code word.

Heads turned and eyes stared upon her entrance. Three poker tables with ten seats each were set up in the center of the room and lit by a large crystal chandelier. The otherwise dimly lit room was adorned with supple Italian leather furniture and crimson silk drapes that climbed the tall, narrow windows. A lone woman in a throng of men, she strode across the room and slid into an unoccupied chair.

Fiona knew she wasn't the most skilled player there, but when it came to poker, skill didn't always determine the victor. She, for one, was in it to win. She felt pairs of wandering, skittish eyes catching glimpses of her, trying to pry off her slinky red dress. She smiled, confident in the effect she was having on the group, hoping it would last throughout the night and throw off the competition's concentration.

She took the bank check out of her purse and placed it on the table. Admission here came with a high price. Spending so much money made her uneasy, but the baby was arriving in seven months and the mortgage statements were piling up. And as she had often heard, you had to spend money to make money.

"Sam Kenner," said the man with greedy and eager eyes next to her, holding out his hand.

"Julie Madison," she said, shaking it. She flashed her best seductive smile, entranced him with her perfume. She gave him a quick once-over and could tell that he would be an easy man to manipulate and defeat--the sort who did the majority of his thinking below the waist.

"I haven't seen you here before."

"First timer," she lied, still armed with that warm and welcoming smile. "I don't even know what I'm doing here!" she added with a giggle. Men liked it when she giggled.

"It's good to see a new face."

"Any tips?" she asked, twirling a strand of her auburn hair.

"Full house beats a flush," he said.

"I'll keep that in mind."

"I'm full of great ideas."

"I have a few of my own, too," she said, leaning in and placing her hand on his thigh.

Pregnancy had come with unexpected calls of nature and feeling one coming, Fiona excused herself from the table. As ladylike as possible, she hurried to the restroom only to find it locked.

"I'll just be a moment," called out a muffled voice.

The door opened.

"Fiona?"

In the doorway stood a man in a dealer's vest wide-mouthed in shock. His name was Jason, a poor graduate student with a growing family for whom he was trying to provide for by secretly moonlighting as a dealer at illicit poker games. He was also Fiona's husband.

"What are you doing here?" Fear crept into his voice since she could be asking him just the same thing. He had told her he was going to be at Mark's.

"Shh!" Fiona looked around quickly and pushed her husband back into the restroom and locked the door behind them.

"And what the hell are you wearing?!" exclaimed Jason, who was not one to be shushed. He hadn't seen her wear that dress in a long time and never had it fit so well.

"I can explain..."

"Please."

So she explained and Jason did the same.

They left the restroom in less than amicable terms. She was mad that he lied to her; he was mad that she spent two thousand dollars of their nest egg--money they could not afford to lose.

"We'll talk later," he grumbled as they parted.

Composure was a lofty, if not unattainable goal at this point for Fiona, flustered being a severe understatement of her current condition. Back at the table, Sam resumed small talk but it went in one ear and out the other.

Dealers came to the tables signaling the start of the tournament and she breathed a sigh of relief to see that Jason wasn't assigned to hers. This, however, was short-lived. Moments later, he tapped their dealer on the shoulder. They whispered some words and swapped places.

Unwise as it may be, she tried to catch his eye. She needed to know that everything was okay. But he wouldn't meet her eyes.

The first hand was dealt and Fiona lost a quarter of her stake. The next several hands yielded similar results, dwindling the chip stack yet again. Sam continued to chatter on obliviously while she ignored him. Sufficed it to say, things were not going well. Normally she'd be flirting with every man at the table already, each of them wrapped around her fingers, a puppeteer to their marionettes. Now she was just trying to survive.

Fortune finally smiled on her with good hole cards, so she went in strong. It was now or never if she wanted to stay in the game. As he dealt the last community card to the table, Jason glanced furtively at her. When the card dropped, Fiona allowed herself the tiniest of smiles.

The last round of bets were made. Cards were shown and one thing was clear: her full house most definitely beats a flush.