J. E's characters I'm borrowing. 'Twelve Sharp' is my favorite book in Stephanie's adventures. None after I feel have lived up to continuing the story after "One Ranger is all you'll ever need". This picks up somewhere after that. The Prologue is short so chapter 1 is included. As I said in 'The Good Witches', I saw a set of old wooden blocks in an antique store in Ligonier, Pa on my weekend travels.
Cross Roads
&
Building Blocks
Prologue
(Current)
Every fork I've ever used had three prongs. My life is like that. There was the Joe prong. He wanted me to marry him, have babies, and I could be a model 'Burg' housewife. Nope. Not for me. We broke it off none too quietly.
There's the Ranger prong at the other side. I wanted him. I loved him. I still love him with all my heart, but he doesn't want me in the same way. He loves me in 'his own way' whatever that means, but no real commitment to us I think. My type of commitment once I defined it doesn't need a priest or minister sanctifying it, mine is someone who will be there for the good and bad, lending support, but mine. We've been friends, more than friends after Scrog, but he still held me at arms length with that blank face I felt sometimes.
There's the third prong in the middle. The Stephanie prong. I wanted more from my life I finally realized. I grew up. I took the one less traveled in the middle, the Stephanie path. It was about time. I've been scared. Been unsure. I've been lonely at times, but along the way I'm happy in my choices. In my cross roads as I hold my daughter, Sophia Rose, only minutes old.
Chapter 1
(Sometime after the Scrog incident)
Walking out my parent's door after my mother's birthday dinner, both Ranger and I were aware of the quiet. There were the normal neighborhood noises of cars going by, maybe a radio too loud, birds chirping, and even a dog barking somewhere for his supper, but nothing like the chaos through my parent's front door. Angie and Mary Alice were fighting about her middle niece still pretending to be a horse and galloping through out the house. Lisa was getting into everything and throwing tantrums if she didn't get her way like I was told terrible twos do. Valerie was yelling for the girls to settle down and announced at the dinner table she was late. Albert was telling his 'Cuddle Umpkins' not to worry as she might be pregnant again. Mom was in the cupboard more times than I wanted to count. Grandma was eying up Ranger since she was between squeezes. And, my dear father tried his best to ignore it all and took Ranger out to the garage for a cigar to escape the birthday disaster. My mom loved the flowers Ranger brought and the cookbook I picked up at the book store, choosing to let her comment about my lack of cooking skills go over my head since Ranger had Ella.
We sat in the Porsche enjoying the noiselessness before he turned the ignition on. His head was shaking. "I'm glad it's just us, Babe. I couldn't handle the bedlam of kids if I had to deal with that everyday."
"Yeah, my family can be over the top at times."
The Cuban eyebrow went up, "That was too up-close and personal to insanity within those four walls. Let's go home to peace and quiet."
"Mkay," trying to quell the churning in the pit of my stomach.
Talk about not being aware of my surroundings. Ranger had pulled into his usual spot in the garage and shut-off the engine and I was still lost in my thoughts. So much was rattling around up there.
"Babe, we're here. Everything OK?" He was tugging on a curl to get my attention.
I looked out seeing all his black vehicles in their spots and realized we were in the Rangeman garage. Smiling back at those dark eyes studying me, "I guess I got lost in the silence." Probably, this wasn't a good time to tell Ranger I was pregnant after the torture at my parent's.