Tis the Season to be Gabby
By
JerseyGirlinOxford
Gabriella, Stephanie, and Ricardo Carlos Manoso, Jr
Would like to announce the arrival of
Ricardo Carlos Manoso, III
Born December 23, 2009
8 pounds 3 ounces, 21 inches long
God Bless Our Family
Part One
Ranger and Stephanie watched their new son as he slept in her arms. Little Ricardo Carlos Manoso, III, was born 26 hours prior. The only negative to their joyous moment was that Gabby wasn't present. Due to the Swine Flu epidemic, no visitors under the age of 18 were allowed in the hospital. Ranger started to contact the Hospital Administrator to complain, but Stephanie stopped him. "I'm doing fine, and so is the baby. I'll ask the doctor if we can go home today. It's not worth the risk," she explained. Ranger had to agree.
"As long as your doctor says that it's okay, Babe, then I'm all for going home today. Besides, it's Christmas Eve. We've got to get our tree decorated. I don't want to disappoint Gabby. Ella helped finish wrapping the gifts and putting up the other decorations. It's going to be a quiet Christmas at home this year," Ranger told her. Stephanie smiled.
"I'm all for that. I don't think I'll have the energy for much else. And, we'll keep the visitors to a minimum. I don't want Little Carlos getting sick," she said.
Once Stephanie got the okay to leave after lunch, Ranger called Lester to bring Gabby when he came to pick them up.
Lester immediately headed up to the 6th floor to get Gabby. She and Ella were making Christmas cookies for Stephanie and Santa…..'cause you gots to leave Santa some Christmist cookies, Uncle Lester, duh! Lester smiled at the memory of Gabby's explanation that came complete with a spot-on replication of her mother's eye roll. Lester entered Ella and Luis's apartment and headed for the kitchen. He had to admit….the cookies smelled really good. Gabby stood on the step ladder to reach the counter as she shook green and red sprinkles on the sugar cookies. He put a finger to his lips so Ella wouldn't give away his presence. He grabbed Gabby from behind and listened to her squeal in delight. He loved to hear her laugh. Unfortunately, the holiday sprinkles flew in every direction but the sugar cookies….including his eyes.
"Uncle Lester! You surpriseded me!" He rubbed the confection out of his eyes with his right hand as he scooped her up with his left arm. "How come your eyes is all red and green?" Because you blinded me with that shit, he said to himself. She threw her arms around his neck and smacked on his lips. "I love you, Uncle Lester." Okay…she's forgiven.
"I love you, too, Princess. Are you ready to go and pick up your new brother?" Her little face lit up like a Christmas tree as she bobbed her head up and down.
"Yea! My baby brudder is coming home with Mommy and Daddy. I miss Mommy and Daddy." Lester tugged on one of her pig-tails.
"I know, Princess. But, you'll see them soon." Ella rubbed her back.
"And Mommy and Daddy and your new little brother will be so happy to see you, too," Ella soothed. "Plus, we'll have all those Christmas cookies ready. I'll make you a little baggie so you can take some to the hospital for Mommy…okay?" Again, Gabby nodded and smiled.
"Mommy loves Christmist cookies…just like me." Ella placed a sample of all their hard work into a Zip-lock baggie. Lester put her back on her feet. Out of the blue, Gabby gasped and her little hands flew to her mouth.
"I forgots to gets a present for my baby brudder!" she exclaimed. The bottom lip protruded and began to quiver. Lester knelt down and pulled her close to him.
"Don't worry, Princess. What did you want to get him?" She rubbed the newly formed tears from her eyes.
"I w-wanted to gets a Snoopy f-for him. I know he w-wants one," she sniffled. Lester kissed her cheek.
"How about we stop at the store first? We go buy him a Snoopy, and then go to the hospital. How does that sound?" Lester offered. Ella bit the inside of her cheek and just shook her head. It was Christmas Eve. She would be willing to bet that none of the Merry Men had ever entered a store on Christmas Eve….let alone attempted to pull into a shopping center parking lot around the holidays. Gabby's face lit up the room again.
"Yea! We gonna go to the Snoopy store! They gots lots of kinds of Snoopys there. I gots to gets him a little one a 'cause my baby brudder is little." Lester held out his hand for Gabby to high-five him. She giggled as she smacked his hand.
"And we're gonna get him the bestest one, Princess. Go get your coat and let's go." They watched as her feets that gots lights on them bounded into the living room to grab her coat. Gabby wiggled into her coat then ran back for Ella to zip up the front. She handed Gabby the baggie of Christmas cookies. Lester took her other hand and led her to the door.
"See ya later, Ella. When I come back, I'm gonna be a big sister!" Gabby told her as they left. They took the elevator down to the garage. Ranger already brought the car seat up to the room, but he had to make sure he took the SUV that had the base part already tethered to the back seat. He pulled Gabby's booster seat from the Cayenne and got her set up and buckled in safely.
"Oh…where is this Snoopy store, Princess?" He hoped it wasn't some place in the ass-end of space.
"At the Caker Ridge Mall. The one where Mommy goes all the time," Gabby told him. He smiled to himself. Luckily, he knew were Quakerbridge Mall was, and it wasn't that far.
"Okay…Caker Ridge Mall…here we come!" He pulled out as Gabby cheered and headed to the shopping mall.
Ranger and Stephanie had dozed off while waiting for Gabby and Lester to come and get them. Looking at his watch, he was surprised to see that it was after 3:00. He immediately called Lester. "What's taking so long?" he barked into the phone before Lester could say saying.
"Uh…Gabby wanted to buy something for the baby. The mall was a fffu…uh..zoo. ETA 5 minutes," Lester explained.
"Uncle Lester….you're not aposta talk on the phone and drive at the same time. Duh!" He heard Gabby scolding him in the background.
"Gabby says I gotta get off the phone. We're almost there."
"Affirmative," Ranger said and disconnected. Stephanie looked at him with raised eyebrows. "They're on their way. Lester said Gabby wanted to buy something for the baby." Stephanie smacked her forehead.
"That's right. She's been asking me all week to take her to get a Snoopy for the baby. With trying to get ready for Christmas….and labor….I forgot all about it," she told him. Ranger looked down at the little sleeping bundle in the crib. He kissed the top of her head.
"I think we'll forgive you, Babe." Ranger helped Stephanie up, and they began to get their things together.
Lester was sitting on a couch in the lobby with Gabby across his lap. They were listening intently to a woman arguing with the receptionist. Apparently, she was very upset with the new visitor policy restricting kids under 18. She had what looked to be a 10 year old and a 14 year old with her. She went on and on about the hospital policy and vaccines. They didn't see the nurse wheeling Stephanie and the baby towards them with Ranger right behind.
"Hi Sweet Pea," Steph told her. Gabby whipped her head around, and Lester caught a pig tail in the eye.
"Jesus!" he exclaimed as Gabby jumped off his lap and ran to her mother. He rubbed his eye for the second time that day.
"Mommy!" Gabby climbed onto the side of the wheel chair and smacked on her lips. "I missed you this much." She swung her arms out wide. Ranger knelt down beside them. "Daddy!" She leaned over and kissed him as well.
"This is you new brother, Gabby," Steph said. She held up the baby for Gabby to see. Gabby scrunched up her little face.
"He looks like Diego." It was Ranger's turn to scrunch his face.
"Diego? Who the hell is Diego?" Ranger asked….well…more like demanded. This was his son. Who the hell was this Diego?
"Daddy…you said a bad word," Gabby reminded him. Stephanie tried not to laugh.
"Diego is one of Gabby's favorite cartoons," Stephanie explained with a smile. My son does not look like a friggin' cartoon, Ranger muttered to himself.
"Yeah, Daddy. Go Diego Go. Duh!" Ranger was really starting to hate that word. It was becoming her favorite. That, and she really knew how and when to use it. But, it was better than penis, shit, and mofo, he reminded himself.
"I heard that Uncle Lester took you to the store," Stephanie broke in. Gabby bobbed her head up and down. She ran back to Lester to get the red gift bag. "I gots Diego a Snoopy." She pulled out the little white beagle and held it up for the baby to see. "I gots this for you 'cause you're my baby brudder, and I love you." She stepped onto the foot rest to boost herself up and gave the baby a gentle kiss on the cheek. A tear ran down Stephanie's face. It was such a beautiful Hallmark moment. And it was…until Gabby spoke again. "When we gots to the store, Uncle Lester and me had to wait for some fat-ass to move her car. We waited a long time and sumbinna bitch! Some mook in a little shit-can taked our parkin' place. But don't worry. Uncle Lester let the pixies outta his wheels. Right Uncle Lester?" They all turned to Lester. "How come you all red again?" A sheepish smile appeared on his crimson face as he jammed his hands in his pockets.
"Pixies?" Stephanie asked. Gabby nodded.
"Uncle Lester said he was a mean man that was keepin' pixies in his wheels. So Uncle Lester screwed the caps and let them all fly out. He saved all of those pixies 'cause all the wheels was empty." She looked up at her father. "Pixies are good, Daddy. They're like Tinklebell."
"You let the air out of his tires?" Ranger questioned him through gritted teeth.
"That was my space, Ranger!" Lester insisted. "It was a friggin' mad house there. Jesus! I think everyone in Jersey was at that mall. I had to schmooze some cave woman with a beard to find out where she was parked so we could get her space. She took forever putting her bags in the trunk because she had to stop and look at everything she bought. And then wait till she squeezed her fat-ah…uh…behind into her car. Then…that sneaky little muh….um..man stole that spot!" Gabby and Stephanie looked back and forth between Ranger and Lester.
"See…" Gabby interrupted, "Uncle Lester taked me to get my baby brudder his first Snoopy to show him that I love him this much." Again, Gabby swung her arms out wide. That did it. Ranger melted. He felt like the Grinch whose heart grew three sizes that day. Ranger picked her up and hugged her.
"You're right, Gabby. Uncle Lester was just helping out." He gave a short nod to Lester. "Get the truck so we can go home." He turned back to his family. "We need to decorate the Manoso Christmas tree and get ready for Santa."
"Yea! I love Christmist!" Gabby's eyes grew wide. "Jesus! I forgots Mommy's Christmist cookies in the truck!"
TBC………