Part 4

It was all Ranger could do to not laugh. Bobby had turned to look out the windows because he was on the verge of laughing. Lester looked so defeated and Ranger knew he couldn't let it go on anymore.

"You didn't lose her. I've seen her and know that she's safe where she is at, and we'll discuss this more later. Right now I want to talk about something that I've been thinking about for a long time."

"What? You know where Steph is at and she isn't lost?"

"Isn't that what I just said? We'll discuss Stephanie later. Right now, I want to talk about the future of Rangeman. I'm now officially retired from the army and there will be no more government sponsored jobs. I've done a lot of thinking and feel that we, as a company, are ready to expand to another section of the country."

There was no chatter among the men. They knew there was big changes coming ahead for the company and for them individually.

"I want to expand to the Midwest. There are four metro areas all within a 300 mile radius of where I've decided I am going to move to."

Lester started to say something but Bobby smacked him on the back of the head. Ranger continued, "My time away from here has shown me that this company doesn't need me to be in the office for it to run efficiently. I will be moving and opening a local office in the town I'm moving to and it will serve as a satellite office for the main office in the metro city we decide to open. Any questions?"

They all sat quiet for a minute and then started speaking at once. Ranger whistled to get them to shut up and then he told them a bit more.

"Bobby, I want you to lead the research on the metro cities in the area, you know which ones I'm talking about and once you get a report put together, we'll meet as a team and make a decision. Once the city has been decided, I will let you help decide which location. I will need to have a manager for that location, as well as a few other main staff members. I plan to hire most of the staff once we get there.

"Now, about Stephanie. I have seen her and spent some time with her in the past week. She is fine and well and wants me to pass along her hellos to you all. She left town, as you know, shortly after I left on my last job, for a reasons that only she will share with you. She has no plans of coming back to Trenton to live, but perhaps someday to visit. Her friends and family do not know where she is, just that she is fine. That's how it's going to continue to be, she will reach out to them when she's ready.

"I will be loading up a truck at the end of this week and moving my belongings, both personal and business, and moving out to where she is located. If you want to help with the move, please let me know. I will be driving a moving truck and I have two cars of my own I will want to have driven out. That's all for now and please remember that this is confidential information about the expansion, and about Stephanie. I will inform all of the staff, in all of the buildings, when it's finalized. Bobby, please stay behind. Dismissed."

With that, Tank and Lester headed back to their offices. Lester hoped that Steph would call him soon, he needed to question her some more about her whereabouts. Tank headed back to his office and sat thinking about if he wanted to move.

Hector was slow to leave the room. He looked at Bobby, who was still seated, and Ranger, who was still standing in the room. "Ella es Michelle Sandman, ¿no?" Bobby looked at Ranger and saw that he was okay with telling. "Sí, ella es Michelle Sandman. Y antes de preguntar, no, ella no está viviendo en el área de Atlanta." Hector just smiled and walked back to his office.

Bobby motioned for Ranger to sit down and pulled out his laptop and showed him what he's found so far for each of the metro areas. They went through each one and over the course of the next hour, they narrowed it down to Chicago or St. Louis. Ranger said he'd plan a trip to each city and meet with a local bonds office to get the feel of the area and if the company would prosper there.

"How is Steph and the babies doing?"

"She's doing well, as well as can be expected with her due date closing in on her. I want to get through everything here in the next few days so I can make a quick trip to Miami to see Julie and get a few things from my house there that I want to move. We found a house on the edge of your town that Steph fell in love with and using your friend the realtor, we bought it. We've put the basic furniture in it right now so it's livable until I get back with the rest of my things, but I would feel better if she would stay with your mom until I get back. Can you make that happen?"

"Sure, I'll call my mom when I get back to my office. She can use her mother's guilt and get her to stay a few more days. I know I was just there, but can I be part of the caravan back?"

"Wouldn't want to do it without you, man. I owe you a big thank you for your help with Steph and her flight from town. I know that without you helping her, she would have come back here eventually and would have had to deal with her family about the babies. I assume you'll be asking for a transfer to the new office? I know you like being close to your mom and I've heard rumors of a certain, lovely obstetrician that lives in the area and who peppered Steph with questions about you at the appointment I went to with her."

Bobby just smiled and said, "Yes, to everything. How are Robert and Roberta doing?"

Ranger just laughed and said, "They are good, really active, especially at night, which makes Steph tired. We will NOT be using those names. Save them for your own kids."

Once Bobby left, Ranger put a call into Julie and it was decided he would go down in two days for the night. He told her he wanted to talk to her about a few things and wanted to do it in person. He also assured her that it was nothing traumatic, just news that he wished to share in person. Once his call ended, he headed up to his apartment and started sorting through his belongings. He called Ella and filled her in and she showed up with a stack of moving boxes, bubble wrap and tape. He left most of his kitchen belongs behind, as he wanted to pick out new with Steph. Ella helped him box up his personal items from the shelves, as well as his books, music and videos. She wrote on the outside of each box what room it should go into, as well as a short list of what was inside the box. The worked for about three hours and had most of the apartment packed. He had marked a few pieces of art work he wanted to take, as well as some of the furniture. He was leaving a lot of the furniture behind, as this apartment was part of Rangeman and could be used by whoever stayed behind as the manager for this building. He knew that most, if not all, of the core team would want to move once they found out he was moving to be with Steph. She had a way of bringing them together. And once the company found out about the babies, he might have a problem keeping anyone in this building.

The next few days went by quickly, He pulled the core team together and told them about the two cities he had narrowed the search down to and they each batted around pros and cons for each. He made the quick trip to Miami and Julie was beyond excited about Steph and the babies. They called her and Steph was glad to hear from them. She told Julie that the house had a bedroom for her and when she comes to visit the first time, they will go out shopping so Julie can decorate it however she wishes. Before Ranger headed back to Trenton, Julie gave him a plastic jug that she had filled with sand from the beach. She said she knew that Steph loved the beach and thought having some Miami sand would make her not miss it so much.

Ranger got back to Trenton and found the guys all waiting in his office for him. He quirked an eyebrow at them and Tank said, "We all want to go on this trip with you. We can divide up the driving and drive straight through if you don't want to stop for the night and we can help with the new location search."

"Ok, that's fine. Get packed for about 2 weeks away from here and we'll leave at 6 am tomorrow."

All except Bobby left the office and he walked over to Ranger. "Are you going to warn Steph that the whole gang is heading her way?"

"I told her to expect the core team at some point, but I better call and let her know it's going to be sooner rather than later."

The next morning at 6 am, the core team left on the journey. Ranger was driving his Porsche, with Hector. Tank and Bobby were in the moving truck and Lester and Hal were in Ranger's truck. Ranger had finally told them where they were headed and that he had spent some time there with Bobby's mom after bad missions and had come to like the area. He made no mention of Stephanie. When he talked to her the previous night, she asked him not to let on that she was there yet. He planned to have the guys go to the house and not to Elaine's right away. He wanted to get the truck unloaded before setting them loose on the farm, and Stephanie.

Fifteen hours later they pulled into the driveway of the house. They got the truck unloaded and then Ranger told the guys to camp out in the house for the night. He stepped outside and called Steph to tell her they were at the house. He said he'd bring them over for breakfast, so if she could tell Elaine to be ready to feed the group. He'd pack her up and move her back into the house after breakfast.

The next morning, Ranger got the guys up and they drove over to Elaine's house. Bobby got out and led the way into his mom's house. Elaine was in the kitchen, but Steph was nowhere to be seen. He looked at Elaine and all she said was "Dudley." Ranger went out the back door, heading to the barn. Steph was standing there talking to Dudley and the horse was nuzzling her belly again. Ranger could see the babies moving around and stopped walking, totally mesmerized by the scene. She looked so beautiful, looking like she belonged on the farm. Dudley gave a snort and Steph laughed. She turned around and saw Ranger. He got to her in a few steps and pulled her into his arms. He kissed her and then dropped down to kiss the babies. "Babe." "Ranger, man of so many words! I missed you and you were only gone a week. Did you bring the guys?"

"They are in the kitchen, probably eating everything Elaine made and not leaving any for us. Should we go in and see them?"

"Sure, I missed them so much and can't wait to see them. Especially Lester."

Ranger walked her into the back door and saw the guys were all seated at the table, heads down, chowing down on a breakfast feast. He nodded to Steph and they each fixed a plate and sat down at the two empty chairs at the table. None of the guys looked up until Ranger said, "Babe, would you pass me the syrup?" She took the bottle of syrup and handing it to Lester, said, "Les, would you pass this down to Ranger?" "Sure thing Beautiful." And then it hit. "Beautiful?" Steph started laughing and the rest of the guys looked up and automatically started smiling. Lester looked at her with a big grin on his face and pulled her in for a hug and kiss on the cheek. He looked down at her belly and said, "You seem bigger than I remember. Did you put on a bit of weight?"