Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde
This takes place after "It's a new day, it's a new dawn, it's a new year"
The story continues…
M rating
Thank you Margaret for not thinking my title as stupid as I did (think Pac man) and thank you for reading ahead as my Beta. :)
Chapter One — The Ghost in the Machine
"Babe, did you have a chance to think about the house we were in last night?" Ranger asked, setting breakfast down in front of me.
"The old Victorian?"
"Yeah Babe. What do you think; should we buy it?"
"I think it may have ghosts. It's been on the market for a long time."
"Are you afraid of ghosts?"
"Um… Sort of."
"What if we renovated? I like the privacy of the place and it would be easy to secure it. But if you really think it's haunted, we can keep on looking."
"I'm perfectly content here Ranger," I said so I wouldn't have to explain my theory; ghosts don't care if you renovate…once they're there, they're there. And before I could figure out how to nicely change the topic, my cell phone rang.
"Stephanie what am I hearing?" my mother said, in lieu of hello. "Eleanor Barone's daughter wouldn't get engaged and not call her family."
How the hell the word got out, I'd never know. Ranger and I went straight from the beautiful, but maybe haunted, Victorian his real estate agent has been trying to sell him, right back to Rangeman. Right back to his comfy bed with its 1,000 count sheets. Not that I was counting, I was too busy doing other things.
"Ranger and I were going to come over this afternoon. Uh, Mom, I just need to ask…who told you?"
"Frances Albergetti's niece Antonia worked at that house last night and saw the whole thing. Your dinner for two, Ranger's proposal…"
"Mom, I don't want to hear anymore, that was private. How could she?"
My mother had no answer to my question, but we hung up knowing Ranger and I would be over in a few hours to share our news with her, my dad and my grandmother. Although at this point it was hardly news anymore. This stuff spread like wildfire in the 'Burg.
If my mother knew, Joe's mother knew. And if Joe's mother knew, Joe knew. Unfortunately Joe was one of the phone calls I wasn't interested in making right now so I sat staring at the egg white omelet Ranger just gave me instead.
"Babe, what's the matter?"
"That was my mother. It seems like one of your wait staff already told half the 'Burg about last night."
"Are you having second thoughts Babe?"
"About marrying you? No never. It's just that I know that Joe knows and since he's been acting so irrational lately, I'm not sure what he'll do. Part of me says that I should just call him and tell him and a bigger part says I should just let it all blow over for a couple of days. I have to call Mary Lou though. She'll never forgive me if she's hears this through the grapevine."
"From what you just said, she probably already knows. And I think, as much as you don't want to make that call, Morelli needs to hear this directly from you."
I knew he was right, but instead of doing anything, I put my phone down and took a bite of his egg white omelet.
"Mmmm. Onion…peppers and…mozzarella?"
"Only the best for you Babe. After breakfast call Mary Lou and Joe. Ok?"
"I know. I will," I said taking another bite and mentally freaking out.
"I'll go downstairs so you can have privacy," he said, thinking my apprehension had to do with his being there.
"Ranger, we have no secrets, you said so yourself. And I'd actually rather you didn't go downstairs. I'm just trying to figure out what to say to Morelli; I don't want him going crazy on me."
"Call Mary Lou first, you can practice on her."
We both finished breakfast and I helped Ranger load the dishwasher. I guessed I ran out of excuses so I went over to my brand new iPhone that I left on Ranger's breakfast bar and scrolled down for Mary Lou's number.
"Mare?" I said when she answered on the first ring.
"Is it true? Gail Mangianni called me a couple of hours ago. Are you and Ranger…?
"Yes Mare. Ranger surprised me with a very romantic evening last night…"
"I'll say. From what I heard you two had the old Sweeney house all to yourselves."
"We didn't have it all to ourselves." And it seemed to me that one of the hired help had a big mouth. "But yeah, Ranger asked me to marry him and I said yes."
I looked down at my ring and then over at Ranger and I smiled at him. That was all he needed. He came over, took my phone out of my hand and put it back down on the breakfast bar. He pulled me to him and his lips came down on mine, kissing me as if his life depended upon it.
"Steph?" my name came from the phone that I suddenly realized was no longer in my possession.
I got control of myself and reached back for my phone, slightly out of breath from the kiss.
"I'm sorry Mare."
"It sounds like you have more important things to do right now than to talk to me. Though I hope you called your mother?"
"I didn't. She called me. But it's ok; Ranger and I will go over there later and straighten it all out."
"Just let me know when your wedding is so I can get a babysitter for this brood."
"Ok Mare. Thanks."
And we hung up.
"See Babe it was easy," Ranger said, full-on 200-watt smile in place.
"Easy for you to say."
"Call Joe."
I still had my phone in my hand, so I scrolled through until I got to the 'J's.' I took a deep breath and pushed down on the 'Joe' button.
What was it with people in the 'Burg? Didn't they have anything better to do than to sit around with their phones in their hands? Joe answered on the first ring.
"Cupcake?"
"Joe, I have something I need to tell you," I said breaking right into what I wanted to get off my chest.
"He certainly moves fast," Joe said, somewhat bitterly.
"I haven't even told you yet?"
Ranger got a call from the fifth floor while I was on the phone with Joe. "I have to go downstairs Babe," he mouthed to me, picking up my hand and kissing my fingers.
I nodded that I was ok, but as soon as I did the conversation went south.
"My mother called me at 7:30 this morning. Rumor has it that you and Ranger got engaged last night. I hope you know what you're doing Stephanie, because I won't be there for you to fall back on when he breaks your heart."
Somehow I found my voice and my ability to talk back to him. "No Joe, I don't expect you will." I was thinking more like you'd be with Terri or whoever else has caught your eye at the moment. "But you know what? Ranger will never break my heart."
"Just keep believing that. You're living in a dream world."
"What are you saying Joe?"
"You expect Mr. Alpha A. Male to hang in there for you?"
"Listen Joe, it looks like this conversation is going nowhere. I have things to do today and you're keeping me from them. Call me when and if you want to have an adult conversation about this."
I knew Joe was wrong. Ranger took out all of his alpha aggressions on the bad guys, but I sat there thinking about what Joe had said anyway.
"Babe, what's the matter?" I didn't hear Ranger come back into the apartment and I didn't know he was in the room, so I jumped when his voice took me out of my daydream.
"You scared me."
"I'm sorry. You always seem to know when I'm around; I didn't think I had to announce myself. Did something happen?"
I guessed I looked a little out of it because Ranger came over and put his arms around me protectively. And then he kissed me gently on my forehead.
"Babe?"
"I'm sorry. Joe just said that a man like you wouldn't be able to stay with someone like me for too long," I paraphrased.
"Morelli's an ass and he's still playing his manipulative games with you." He paused and then caught my eye. "Stephanie, look at me."
I did.
"I love you. And I've loved you pretty much since the moment I met you. I am not interested in any other woman. Not now and not thirty years from now. You are it. Dios, I've denied my feelings for you for so long, I'm not going to let him fuck this up."
"But Joe said…"
"Joe said what?"
"Joe went into a tirade about you being an alpha male and that I wouldn't…"
"Stephanie, Babe. If I wasn't ready to settle down and have you as my wife, I wouldn't have asked you. He's done such a number on you that it's easier for you to mistrust than it is to trust. Dios. What happened to my glass is half full, roses without thorns woman?"
Shit. I didn't have an answer. As far as I was concerned I was still the half-full kind of girl, but I understood what he was saying. Someone must have really screwed with my head.
Guessed it was Joe…and my mother.
I wasn't sure what I was feeling. I looked at Ranger and I felt helpless. I reached out for him and he took me in. He held me tight and cooed in my ear in Spanish.
When he switched to English I picked up, "I love you and no one will ever come between us."
And then my cell phone rang.
It was still in my hand where I had been clutching it tight after my call with Joe. I looked down at the display and saw it was my sister Valerie.
"Steph? What's going on with you?" she asked when I answered with a hello.
"Hey Val. Whatever you heard is true," I said boldly.
"I haven't heard anything, but mom just called and suggested I call you. Are you and Joe pregnant?"
The thought sent waves of nausea through me and I gagged. I handed the phone to Ranger and rushed to the bathroom to throw up my breakfast.
I knelt down over his bowl until the wave finally passed. I was flushed and breathing hard so I leaned against his sink for support while I rinsed my mouth and washed my face with cold water; hoping to wash away the mental image as well. I came back out to the living room to find Ranger still on my phone.
"…so in answer to your question, yes, I did give her a ring. If Stephanie's feeling ok, we plan to go over to your parents' house this afternoon to talk to your family in person." "No it's not sudden at all, but we've both been in denial for a very long time." "Yeah, like three years." "Thank you, maybe we'll see you later too? Do you want to talk to Steph?" he walked over to me, kissed me on my forehead, and handed me Val.
"I'm sorry, that was the last thing I expected to hear." "Yeah, I'm ok now. Did Ranger tell you our news?" "Thanks Val. I'm glad someone is happy for us. Maybe I'll see you later."
Once I hung up with Val I looked over at the man who was going to be my husband. "Thank you Ranger. I'm sorry. As soon as my sister asked me if Joe and I were pregnant, my stomach turned."
"I sure hope you're not pregnant. It would be really weird to be marrying me and to be expecting his baby."
"No. I haven't been with Joe since before my last period. There's no way I can be pregnant. And you keep insisting on double protection. We really don't need to use condoms you know. I take my pills religiously."
"I think we should both get tested and if we both get negative results we can stop using them."
"Why Ranger? What are you worried abou…? Oh shit. Joe's been fucking Terri, you don't think?"
"Babe, I try not to play games when it comes to my health or yours. It's a simple blood test. Bobby can do it for us."
I wasn't nervous about any kind of STDs before, but suddenly I felt almost sick to my stomach again.
"That son of a bitch," I yelled out to make myself feel better. "Son of a fucking bitch."
"Babe, we're probably both fine. Let's just take the test to make sure. I'll see if we can schedule some time with Bobby this morning. It will take a few days to get results back."
"I can't ask Bobby to give up his New Year's Day just because I had a panic attack. Tomorrow is fine. Besides, the sooner we head over to my parents' and let them know about our engagement, the better."
"On the way back can we stop at the Sweeney house? I still have the keys and I want you to take a look at it in the daylight."
"You know they never leave, don't you?"
"What are you talking about Babe?"
"Ghosts. Once they've made up their mind that this is the place they are going to haunt, you can't get rid of them. Well maybe you can excommunicate them or something."
"Excommunicate? Are you trying to tell me we need to bring in a priest to exorcise that house if we decide to buy it?"
I was biting my lower lip. Exorcise, that was the word I was looking for. I nodded my head up and down slowly. "Unless you know another way?"
"Santos' parents' house used to be haunted. I think his mother had a heart-to-heart with the ghosts and they left."
"They don't leave that easy."
"Babe, how do you know this?"
"I just do."
"We can talk to Lester. Maybe he can meet us at the house later. Would you feel better about that?"
"You can't kill them either. They are already dead."
"I didn't mean for Lester to shoot them. He has experience living with 'spirits.' Maybe he'll get a feeling or something. And if you both tell me to pass on the house, I will. I just like the locale and it's already gated; setting up a security system will be easier than starting from scratch."
I didn't want Ranger to think I was narrow-minded, so I agreed and he called Lester. Like the rest of the guys, Lester would do anything for Ranger, so he said he'd meet us at the house after our visit with my parents. I guessed Les would be the first Rangeman to find out about our engagement too.
"Babe, I think we should head out now if we want to look over the house while it's still light out."
I nodded and went into his bedroom to get dressed.
"Ranger, where did these dresses come from?" I called out, seeing a couple of very pretty dresses with tags still on them, hanging in my corner of his closet.
"Ella likes to shop, so I asked her to pick up a couple of things for you. I hope you like them."
I knew Ella shopped for Ranger, but I didn't want to be an added burden.
"They are beautiful, but Ella can't shop for me. She works for you."
"I pay her well and she enjoys shopping, but if you don't like her taste, that's a different story."
"No Ranger, they are…they are beautiful." And very pricey, I said to myself. I could always keep the tags on and return them tomorrow. "I'll try one on and wear it to my parents. After all this is an occasion."
I found myself really drawn to the navy Donna Karan cowl-neck dress, so I slipped it on, but not before noticing the price. It was $1,495.00. Oh my God. Ranger shouldn't spend that kind of money on me.
I thought the one pair of Jimmy Choo's I owned would actually look good with this dress, so I looked down to the floor of his closet for them. Yes, they were still there, but so were three new pair of shoes and a beautiful pair of boots…all in my size and all very expensive.
"Ranger?"
"What Babe?" Ranger said, coming in and wrapping his arms around me.
"You're spending too much money on me. These shoes and dresses are expensive."
"I told you before Babe. No price. And I think you need to get used to me buying you things. It makes me happy to see you look beautiful. And you do look beautiful in this dress. Dios. If we don't leave soon, we may not leave," he said as an afterthought, his eyes darkening with desire.
Ranger was wearing black dress slacks and a light grey silk shirt. He looked absolutely edible and he was right, if we didn't get out of his closet now and put our coats on, we weren't heading out of the house today. His bed was just too close by.
And as much as I would have rather stayed and enjoyed Ranger, we grabbed our coats and headed down to the garage. Ranger fobbed open his turbo and then opened the passenger door for me. I'd never get used to all this attention, but it really did make me feel special.
Once I was buckled in to his liking he got into the drivers' side and we headed out.
My parent's house is only about seven minutes away from Rangeman, so we were there in no time. Ranger had just parked in front of the house when my mother and grandmother appeared at the door—so much for making a stealth entrance.
"Stephanie, Ranger, it's so nice to see you," my mother said opening the door for us and shooing my grandmother away from Ranger's ass at the same time.
My mother took our coats from us and as she was hanging them in the closet, I noticed Ranger's eye's go to something near my neck.
"Babe, you left a tag on," he whispered.
"Uh, no. I just didn't cut it off," I said.
"Mrs. Plum, do you have a pair of scissors?"
Shit. I was busted. And no way would my mother let Ranger cut a tag off of me in her house. I was double-busted.
"Please call me Helen. Steph, come with me into the kitchen and I'll cut that off." My mother paused and looked down at my hand before ushering me into her domain. "Oh my, that is some ring."
Yeah and wait until you get a load of the price tag on this dress.
I was sure my mother read the label as she cut the tag from me, but she said nothing and simply threw the tag into the garbage. We both came back out to the living room so that Ranger and I could properly announce our engagement to my family.
Ranger put his arm around me and nuzzled the top of my head. My family is not very affectionate, so I was sure that little PDA made everyone uncomfortable.
"Mr. and Mrs. Plum. Mrs. Mazur," Ranger began, looking at my family one-by-one as he formally called them by name. "We came over here today to let you know in person that I asked Stephanie to marry me last night. And she has graciously accepted."
"Congratulations," my grandmother said, pulling both of us in for a hug. And I was pretty sure she copped a feel of Ranger's ass in the process.
"Pumpkin, I hope you'll be happy with this guy," my dad said jokingly, getting up from his chair and offering his hand to Ranger. "Congratulations to both of you," he continued, pulling us in for a hug.
"Yes congratulations to both of you," my mother added. "Can I open a bottle of champagne?"
"I'll get that Helen," my dad said making his way into the kitchen. "Ranger, want to help me?"
"Let me see this ring," my grandmother ogled being anything but tactful. And when I showed her my hand she let out an exaggerated wolf-whistle. Of course my mother went in for another long look and I wondered just what she was thinking.
Thankfully Ranger and my dad came out with an open bottle of champagne and five glasses before I was asked any further questions. Ranger handed out glasses as my dad poured.
"Congratulations Ranger and Stephanie!" my dad led the toast once everyone had a little bubbly in their glass. 'Yes, congratulations!" came the reply. Somehow now it seemed real, although I wondered how come no one pulled me aside to ask about Joe.