The next morning I threw on some jeans and a girly t-shirt that I had left at Joe's house, swiped on some mascara and headed out to my S-10. My ring glinted in the sunlight as I locked the front door and I couldn't wipe the smile off of my face. I drove right to my mom's house. Grandma Mazur was waiting at the front door when I pulled up.
"Stephanie, I'm glad you're here. I'm going to the Bianchi viewing at 5:00pm and I need gossip. I heard you chased a guy through a chicken coop yesterday and I need details. You know how everyone looks to me to keep up with the news of the neighborhood." Grandma said as soon as I walked through the door.
I found my mother in the kitchen starting on the pineapple upside down cake for dinner. "Stephanie, I wasn't expecting you this morning. Is everything ok? Did your car blow up again?"
"Relax mom, I'm here with good news today" I said as I raised up my left hand flashing the bling.
My mother and Grandma launched into simultaneous screeches that I'm pretty sure only dolphins can interpret. "Joe asked me last night and I said yes!"
"Does this mean you are finally going to stop working for your cousin and start a family?" my mom asked.
"Not quite yet, mom." I explained. "Joe and I want to spend some time adjusting to be married before we add kids to the mix. And I'm not ready to give up my job either. I like my job. Actually, I need to get to work. I just wanted to stop by to give you the good news."
"Well bring Joseph by for dinner tonight at 6:00pm. I'm already making pineapple upside down cake. Your sister is coming over with Albert and the kids. We'll have a celebration and can start talking about plans."
I agreed to dinner headed off feeling light and excited about my day. I stopped off for celebratory doughnuts on my way into the office and ate two Boston creams while I was driving.
By the time I walked in the front door of the office, the news had already spread. Lula launched herself off the couch as me the second I opened the door and grabbed my hand, almost making me drop the donut box on the ground.
"Girl its true. After all these years Morelli finally put a ring on it." She shoved my hand into Connie's face with such force I don't think she could even get her eyes to focus.
I set down the box of doughnuts and helped myself to a custard filled long john while I told them the story.
Lula looked surprised when I told them about cutting ties with Ranger. "You're going to give up Mr. Tall Dark and Handsome? What if you have to catch a real slippery skip? I mean, I'm not always available to help you, so it's nice to have him around as backup for when I'm busy."
"Joe said he would help when I needed him to. And I have to say, it isn't totally unreasonable for him not to want me to spend time with him."
At that time, Vinnie threw the door to his office open and shouted out into the main room, "Steph, I heard your good news. This doesn't mean you're leaving me in the lurch, does it? I don't want to have to call Joyce Barnhart. I'll never get any of my money back."
"Don't worry Vinnie, I'm not quitting any time soon. I'm not quite ready to give up my life entirely. I'll let you know if or when we get there."
"Well then what are you doing standing around? We've got 3 skips in the wind that aren't going to just walk themselves into court" Vinnie said as he turned around back into his office shutting the door behind him.
Last I knew, there was only one skip remaining after I brought in the guy from the chicken coop, so a few more must have come in yesterday. I wasn't having any luck tracking the other one down. His house was vacant, friends hadn't seen him, and he hadn't shown up for work. I thought he had probably left town. Connie handed me the new files as she and Lula talked about plans for my wedding. I wasn't quite ready for wedding plans so I looked over the files.
Jessica Russo was arrested for theft. File said that her fiancé ended their engagement when he knocked up his secretary and took back the ring. She snuck into his house while he and the secretary were both at work, using the key he had given her, and took the ring back. Apparently, she decided that she should get to keep it since he had given it to her and then he decided to end it. Having coming newly into the possession of an engagement ring, I could understand how she felt. Her ex-fiancé; however, was less understanding and pressed charges for theft.
The other file was for Nathanial Jackson. His file was thick and he had been arrested many times in the past for everything from assault, to drugs, to trafficking. This time, Vinnie had bailed him out for gun possession. Which I suspected he had been arrested for because the cops couldn't get evidence to support the charge they wanted to give him, since everyone in Jersey carries a gun and the cops rarely arrest anyone for it. Well, everyone but me. Guns make me nervous so I usually leave mine at home in my cookie jar. I looked at the address and it was Stark street and based on the street number, it wasn't on the good part of Stark. This one I was less excited about going after. Morelli might be getting a call sooner than expected.
The door to the bonds office opened and the entire room electrified. I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up and I knew who had just walked in. I couldn't hear him move but within seconds I felt his hand on the back of my neck. His hands trailed down my arm until it reached my hand and then he lifted my hand as I turned to face him. "Babe" was all he said as he looked down at the ring on my finger. As I looked into Ranger's eyes, I couldn't help the feeling that ran through me that I was betraying him but I quickly pushed it away. He knew I wanted to get married and have a family someday and that was never going to be an option for him. So, he must have known that I would someday be getting married to someone else and he had to expect Morelli.
"He asked me last night" I said, by way of explanation.
"So I heard" was his only response.
"The news reached you already then? Is that why you're here? Or do you have business with Vinnie?" I asked, nervously, as I wasn't quite prepared to have this conversation with him yet.
"I heard a rumor and decided to stop by and verify it before I started by day. I was in this part of town anyway." He answered, face giving away nothing.
"Well, I'm glad you're here, because I need to talk to you. Can we step outside?" I said as I started walking toward the alley behind the office. I figured that would give us a little privacy as there are no windows and the only person who goes back there is Vinnie when he comes in or leaves. Ranger followed me out and shut the door behind him.
"He told you to stay away from me." Ranger said, looking me straight in the eyes. It was a statement, not a question.
"Yes" I answered, slightly ashamed "and I agreed. I can understand his point. It isn't like you and I were ever strictly co-workers and if I were him then I wouldn't want me around you either."
"You're going to have to start carrying your gun. And it has to be loaded. If you aren't going to call me for backup you need something other than Lula and your stun gun." His voice was soft but stern.
"Morelli offered to give me backup for the trickier cases." I told him. The look in his eyes he gave in response seemed to say he didn't have a lot of faith in that plan. "I'm not going to be able to do any more Rangeman jobs. I'll be moving into Joe's house after the wedding so I won't need the extra money. I hope you can find someone else to fill in my place when you need. And you need to stop tracking me. If I'm not working for you and we aren't spending time together anymore, there really isn't any reason you need to keep track of me." I said it all in a rush. Desperate to get it over with quickly, like pulling off a Band-Aid.
"Babe" he said softly "I can find someone to do the work you do for Rangeman, but no one will ever fill your place. And I'm not going to stop tracking you. I track you because I care about you. You marrying Morelli doesn't change that fact. 'm going to continue tracking you, but I'll stay out of your way unless you call me. Don't forget, you can always still call me." He then pressed his lips to mine for a soft kiss which quickly grew in passion and when he pulled away I realized I had both arms wrapped around his body pulling him closer. He detached himself from me and then turned and walked away back through the bonds office. I stayed in the alleyway a few minutes trying to get my head around the drastic alterations my life had taken since the previous night's dinner.
When I walked back into the bond's office Lula piped up right away "Well based on his facial expression and the way he stormed out of here I'm assuming he was less excited about your news."
"Let's go check on Jessica Russo" I responded. "File says she lives out by cluck in a bucket so if we can get her to come in, we can stop for lunch."