A Christmas Wish
Chapter 2
Seven years earlier…
Stephanie's eye fluttered open and gave them a moment to focus. She awoke in a room she wasn't sharing with Mary Lou, her best friend, in Atlantic City. Her wedding to Joe Morelli, whom she has known most of her life in the 'Burg', was in two weeks. He was away on assignment and her best friend got her out of town for a girl's weekend to calm down her nerves. Her mother was driving her insane over the wedding details. She should choose the antique white linen napkins over the true white ones for the reception at the lodge. Who cares? They were paper napkins! Pink tea roses or white lilies? She didn't really have an opinion about that either at this point and had doubts why she was even getting married.
Ellen Plum had been badgering her to get married since her very short engagement to up and coming attorney Dickie Orr ended even before her body temperature could warm the ring. She broke it off officially 'flushing' the ring down the toilet when he was poking her nemesis Joyce on the new dining room table they bought. It was a ring from the bubble gum machine sheactually flushed that resembled the pricey diamond, she sold the real one and put the proceeds in a savings account she opened for a rainy day. She wondered if the dining room chair she threw through his windshield of his new sports car was still jammed there or if the grass ever grew in where she used weed killer and wrote 'SKANK' across Joyce's front lawn. Neither retaliated against her because she had evidence of their best sides and would publish them if they didn't leave her the HELL alone! She never heard from either of them. You don't mess with a girl from the 'Burg'.
So, she caved after a short stint of singleness and began dating her high school boyfriend who had matured after four years in the Navy and became a cop with the Trenton police department. She was a lingerie buyer with E. E. Martin Department Store in Trenton which Joe wanted her to quit after they were married to have babies. Fat chance on that! Since her broken engagement, she had been saving her money to open one day her own floral shop. Her father's sister, her Aunt Sarah, and Uncle Phil, her husband and a country doctor, ran a small bed and breakfast in the Smoky Mountains near Gatlinburg. She worked there for a few summers and after college until she landed her current job. Her aunt taught Stephanie about arranging flowers and she enjoyed it.
Her eyes rested on the very male form sleeping next to her. He was gorgeous with the muscles that went on forever, silky dark hair, deep chocolate eyes that can peer into your soul. What did he say his name was? Stephanie thought for a moment thinking about the things she talked about in the bar. He did a lot of nodding or gave one word answers. His body movements on the dance floor made up for his lack of conversation. Ranger. That was it! It was a nickname because he and his friends were entering the Army Rangers. He nicknamed her 'Babe' for her blue eyes.
It was almost 7 on the bedside clock she noticed. She let her eyes wander over his naked body peaking above the sheet. She felt the blush creeping over her skin just thinking about last night and this morning. She didn't do one night stands, but she was at her last nerve ending over her wedding. She thought she loved her fiancé Joe but it wasn't something that curled her toes. They were good buddies most of the time and the sex was really good, but it was sex. Last night she made love with Ranger, this stranger next to her. Stephanie wouldn't allow herself to feel guilty about this. She suspected Joe had cheated on her before they were engaged even though they were in an 'exclusive' relationship. Maybe, he was still doing it and probably would even after they were married. His cop job included some out-of-town work he explained. Right, under the covers work more like it!
This would make her mother partially happy and get her off Stephanie's back. It would bring her some peace. But, Ellen was going to be quite disappointed. Her younger daughter had no intention of making her a grandmother again anytime soon. Her birth control pills would prevent that from happening. She wouldn't bring a child into a marriage that she wasn't completely sure of and her trust in Joe would probably always be in question, but she would be married. A child didn't need to be brought into that.
Picking up her clothes and going into the bathroom as quiet as she could be, then unlocking the hotel room door after she was dressed, Stephanie told Ranger a silent 'Good-bye'. She gave his perfect form one more glance then slipped out of the room knowing their paths would never cross again, but they sure made some lasting memories for her.