The characters belong to JE. Only Allie Jo, Addison Rose, Maria, and Javier belong to me. I receive nothing from this, but it sure is fun.
Chapter 1
SPOV
I look down at my watch, I'm so late. I was supposed to meet Allie Jo at the Rangeman gym over a half hour ago. It's not my fault that I'm late. Well, not entirely, I was at the station dropping off Lorenzo Paladino when Joe asked to speak to me in his office.
My name is Stephanie Plum-Manoso. I have uncontrollable curly brown hair and blue eyes. I am a part time bounty hunter for my cousin Vinnie, who owns Vincent Plum Bail Bonds. I also work for my husband's security company, Rangeman, with his band of Merry Men. The Merry Men are mostly ex military men that work for my husband. More importantly, they are my family. We may not share blood, but we are definitely a family. Even my mom has adopted them. She has a least one or two of them over every week for dinner. Mom has decided that since I married nine months ago, that she would make it her personal mission to find 'Burg girls for each of the Merry Men. They won't admit it, but I think that they are enjoying my mom playing matchmaker for them.
"Steph, can I see you in my office for a second?" Joe asks.
I walk into the office and sit down in the chair across from Joe. Joe shuts the door and says, "I want to show you something."
"What's up, Joe?"
Joe reaches in his desk and pulls out a small back ring box. There was a time that this would have caused me to hyperventilate and break out in hives. He opens the box and shows me a simple princess cut one karat diamond set in gold.
"Does Jenny know that you have this?" I ask with a grin. Jenny has been Joe's girlfriend for a little over a year. She is a totally sweetheart, and is a great shopping buddy. She always knows where the best sales are.
"We've been talking about it for a few months now, but no, she doesn't know that I went out and bought her an engagement ring." Joe tells me.
"It's beautiful. She'll love it." I grin.
"I was hoping that you would say that. I plan on asking her this weekend. I'm taking her to New York. I thought I would ask her at dinner on Saturday night."
"I'm really happy for you Joe."
"Thanks. Is he back yet?" Joe asks as he places the ring back into his desk drawer.
'He' is my husband, Ranger, also known as Ricardo Carlos Manoso. To the world, he's Ranger, but he is my Carlos. I still call him Ranger in public, but when we are home or with family, he's Carlos. Carlos is former Special Forces with friends in high places. He doesn't go 'in the wind' anymore, so he rarely leaves Trenton unless I go with him. He's currently playing bodyguard for a CEO of a multi-million dollar company's family who are in Columbia helping to build a free clinic for the people there. I miss him, but he calls every night which makes it easier.
"Ranger should be back any day now. Tank and Bobby are with him. Lester stayed behind to help Allie Jo with the baby and to run Rangeman until the rest of the core team return." Lester is Carlos' cousin and member of the core team at Rangeman. He met and Allie Jo when she came to Trenton to visit her cousin, Woody. I think it was love at first sight for both of them. Lester's wife is one of my best friends. We look so much alike that when Allie Jo would put in blue contacts the Merry Men couldn't tell us apart. Allie Jo and I could pass for twins, with one exception, I have blue eyes and she has green eyes.
"Do you think that you and Ranger will ever do the kid thing?" Joe asks interrupting my thoughts.
"I dunno, maybe."
Actually since Allie Jo had her baby, I've been thinking about it a lot more. I have never been the white picket fence with 2.5 kids, kind of girl, but now that the baby is here, my maternal instincts are beginning to kick in. I haven't talked to Carlos about it yet since he's been gone the last three weeks. Carlos already has a daughter Julie, who lives in Florida. I'm not sure how he will feel about having more children. I'm not even 100% sure how I feel about it. When he gets home, I plan on talking to him to see how he feels about it. I don't have to be a mother to be happy, but a miniature version of Carlos running around would be nice.
"You should. I know that you were never wanted kids with me, but what you and Ranger have is different than what we had. Besides, if you had a child with Ranger, it would have a 50/50 chance of the kid not rolling around in garbage on a regular basis." Joe laughs.
I stick my tongue out at Joe, which makes him laugh even harder. "Congratulations, Joe. I am so happy for you and Jenny."
"Thanks, Steph. I'll let you know her answer."
"I already know her answer. I've seen the way the two of you look at each other." I smile before saying good bye.
I quickly drive my Dark Blue Metallic Porsche Cayenne into the underground garage at Rangeman. I quickly pull into my parking space and take the elevator to the fifth floor to meet Allie Jo.
"I'm so sorry, I'm late. I called the control room to let you know I was running late. I didn't want to call you and wake up Addison Rose."
Addison Rose is Lester and Allie Jo baby girl. Allie Jo insists that everyone calls her by her first and middle name as a reminder of her southern heritage. I'll never forget going with Lester and Allie Jo to the doctor to find out the sex of the baby. When the doctor said that it was a girl, Lester fainted. When he came to, be began mumbling that his mother said that one day he would get payback for his player ways.
Carlos purchased the building next door and converted it to apartments for the Rangeman employees. It is a seven story building, just like the one that houses Rangeman. Carlos and I live on the seventh floor of the new building in a much bigger apartment. We now have a three bedroom apartment with an office that Carlos and I share. We needed more space since Julie's mother Rachel decided to let Julie visit for a few times a year. Tank, Carlos' second in command lives in our old apartment, which only had one bedroom. Lester and Allie Jo have the 6th floor apartment in the new building, and Bobby opted to have to stay in his apartment on the fourth floor so that he could be close to the Rangeman clinic. Carlos had the wall between Lester's and Bobby's apartment removed so that Bobby would have more space.
"Cal met me at the elevator when I walked over from our apartment, since Lester is out picking up a skip. Addison Rose is napping so Ella is with her until we get back." Allie Jo smiles when she mentions her daughter. "Now go change so I can lose this baby weight."
"What baby weight? You lost most of it the day you had Addison Rose." I laugh. "I have a change of clothes in Carlos' office. I'll be right back."
I quickly change in Carlos's office, and Allie Jo and I head down to the Rangeman gym. Allie Jo stayed in shape during her entire pregnancy. She toned down her workout, which was fine with me. It made it easier to keep up with her. She continued her early morning runs, but switched kickboxing for yoga. We also switched our running time from mornings to late afternoons. Since Addison Rose tends to like to keep her mom and dad up most of the nights.
I have to give Lester credit. He is a very hands-on dad. He gets up with Allie Jo to help her with the baby almost every time. Sometimes he will tell Allie Jo to go back to sleep and he takes care of Addison Rose. Last Saturday night Lester had the night off, so I took Addison Rose for a couple of hours so that they could have some alone time. When Allie Jo came to get her, I asked how her evening went. Turns out it didn't. They were both so tired they took a nap.
Allie Jo and I were running on the treadmills, while she was telling me about her the new outfits her parents had sent from Arkansas, when I suddenly decided to interrupted.
"Do you think Carlos would consider having a family?" I ask.
"You'll have to ask him, but I'm sure that he would. Lester told me that he mentioned that he thought that you would be a great mom once."
"Carlos said that he thought I would be a good mom?" I ask uncertain.
"Yeah," she said. "Have the two of you ever discussed it before?"
"Sort of. Not really, He once mentioned that he wasn't husband and family material. But he changed his mind about being a husband. He may have changed his mind about family. Julie gets to visit now and he really enjoys the time he gets to spend with her."
"Are you saying that you want to have a family?" She asks.
"Let's just say that I am seriously thinking about it."
"Steph, you need to talk to Carlos when he gets back. Just think, this time next year, you could have a miniature version of you or Ranger. I can't wait. Addison Rose will have someone to play with around Rangeman." Allie Jo says excitedly.
"Don't get too excited. I'm not sure exactly how I feel about it, but having Addison Rose around is definitely making me think about the possibility of having a family."
Once we finish our workout, Allie Jo calls Ella so she can bring the baby over to the main building. Since Carlos has been away, Allie Jo and I have dinner with Lester in the break room on five. This way she can spend some time with Lester, before he has to go back to his office to finish paperwork.
I carry Addison Rose back the Rangeman apartment building while Allie Jo carries the diaper bag. We decide to call Connie, Lula, Mary Lou, and Jenny to plan a spa day sometime next week.
When we step into the elevator, I ask, "Do you want me to watch Addison for a couple of hours, so you can spend some time with Lester?"
"I appreciate the offer, but Lester said that he shouldn't be more than a half hour. I think that a little family time may help him unwind."
Allie Jo and Addison Rose get off on the sixth floor and I ride up to seven. I immediately call the girls and set up a spa day for Wednesday. I also call my mom and ask her if she would like to watch the baby for Allie Jo. My mom adopted Allie Jo, quickly after we were both kidnapped over a year and a half ago. Mom quickly agrees to babysit. Once I have everything planned, I quickly shower, put on my pajamas, and settle down on the couch to watch Ghostbusters while I wait for Carlos to call.