Chapter 10

Sorry guys about posting Chapter 3 over again! Lousy eyes

Stephanie was still undecided about taking the major's offer of the condo in Georgia and delayed another week thinking nine weeks pregnant on her slim figure wasn't obvious. She hadn't stopped by her parent's home for a while. Just in case she found her loosest t-shirt and left it over the top of her jeans. The ploy didn't work.

The moment she walked into the door her mother screamed, "Stephanie Michelle Plum you are pregnant! When are you and Joe getting married? I haven't seen Joe in a while; he must come for dinner tonight. I'll call Valerie."

"Mom, STOP!" Stephanie yelled. Steph froze; she realized she hadn't raised her force to her mother in 20 years. Was the major responsible for putting some backbone in her? Or was it pregnancy hormones? "Joe and I are not getting married."

"You have to. You are pregnant! You'll be living together full time now in Joseph's house."

"No, mom, we are not going to be living together."

"Surely you aren't going to wait for the wedding to move in. What hypocrisy that would be. Stephanie you are pregnant. You need some place safe. You can't live in that horrible apartment where people break in and cause mayhem.

Mayhem, Stephanie throught. What's a few rocket powered grenades, fires, explosions, gun fire, and dead bodies?

"I don't think Joe will want this baby," she said.

Why? Is there something wrong with the baby? It is deformed, have you been drinking and using drugs while pregnant? Of course he will want the baby.

"It isn't Joe's." Stephanie whispered. She was falling back to being submissive.

"What? Are you are cheating on Joe? After all he has done for you."

Stephanie stopped. What has Joe done for me? He fingered me when I was 6, took my virginity at 16 and wrote about it on stadium walls and men's' restrooms, and wanted to marry for sex on demand instead of scrounging around town. In between he has demeaned me, berated me, rarely helped me with my job, but he is pretty good in bed if you consider speed and recovery important. Most of all he has asked her to marry him.

"Joe has been trying to get you to marry him for several years now, but you have to go and spread your legs for someone else. Stephanie Michelle Plum, you slut! You are no better than that black whore you hang around with, Lulu."

"Lula."

You will marry Joe and tell him the baby is his. You will not bring another dishonor into our house by bringing home a bastard."

Stephanie gulped. How many decades ago was the b-word found to be crude and judgmental on an innocent baby?

"The father is one of those thugs at Rangeman isn't it? Please tell me it isn't that big black thug."

Stephanie wondered which black man she was referring. Rangeman employees ran the gamut from blond blue eyed Hal to darker Tank and everything in between. Anything less than pure white or slightly seasoned Mediterranean like Joe was considered black.

Her mother threw her hand to her throat. "Stephanie Plum are you supporting yourself by being a whore to those thugs? Is that what you mean by you work there?"

Stephanie stood with her mouth open. What had happened to her mother? "NO! She screamed. "They are gentlemen. They are big and muscular for their work, they are not thugs. They respect me, they would never touch me!"

"Did they gang rape you?" Helen spat. She was oblivious to everything Stephanie was telling her.

Whoa! Where did that come from? "NO, they've never touched me."

"You probably asked for it just like when you were 16 working at the bakery. You've always been a slut."

Was it the booze? Her mother always tippled, but over the past few years she was drinking more and more. Was it menopause? Surely a hormonal change would not drive her mother this far. Was her mother losing her mind? Her mother was always judgmental, but this was over the top. Stephanie couldn't bring herself to tell her mother Ranger was the father for fear of what her mother would say against him.

Stephanie felt gutted, drawn and quartered by this crazy woman. The mother/daughter love bond was shattered. Valerie was the princess who could do no wrong, Stephanie was the disappointment. She was the daughter to be complained about to anyone who would listen; divorced her attorney husband, lost her job at E.E. Martin, works for the despicable Vincent Plum as a bounty hunter, carries a gun, shoots people, burns down buildings, blows up cars, and now is a whore. The only thing to do was to turn around and walk out the door, probably permanently. If it takes a village to raise a child, that same village can also destroy a child or woman.

Grandma Mazur came running after Stephanie and threw her arms around her granddaughter, "Is it Ranger's?"

"Yes, Grandma."

"Are you going to marry him? He's a fine man." Unlike her daughter, Edna had no prejudices as to color or nationality. Grandma Mazur liked Ranger, mainly for his physique including his package but also recognized Ranger's care for her granddaughter. Edna was the first to recognize Dickie Orr was a horse's pahtoot and recently began looking at Joe with concerned eyes.

"He's working for the government overseas. He doesn't know." There was no way Stephanie could mention the Army and contracts.

"He will be thrilled when he comes back."

She wanted to say IF he comes back. "Grandma, what if he doesn't want a child?"

Grandma Mazur rolled her dentures around her mouth. "Ranger is not a thug, he is an honorable person no matter what you mother says. He will want his child and you."

"Thank you Grandma, that helps."

"You didn't do this on purpose did you?"

"No, no, no. The birth control shot failed big time. Other women in town are showing up pregnant too."

"What are you going to do?"

"I don't know, I don't know, I don't know..." The major wouldn't be pleased with her response.

She thought a moment, "What about Joseph, you could marry him."

"No way! Simple math and he'd figure out it wasn't his and he hates Ranger, no way he'd accept Ranger's baby as his own." Stephanie walked to her POS and drove away from her parent's home, probably for the last time.

On her way home she stopped at Tasty Pastry to settle her nerves. Some people drink, others smoke various substances, the guys at Rangeman beat the crap out of a punching bag or one another, Stephanie goes straight for the gluten and sugar. If possible crème doughnuts but right now she didn't care, even a blueberry muffin would be fine. Grandma Bella, Joseph's grandmother and her personal nemesis was inside buying bread. Before Stephanie could turn and retreat, Bella spied Stephanie's tiny baby bump and pregnancy glow she screamed, "Finally Joseph has put a baby in you! It's a pity he wasted his seed on such trash. There will be a wedding and soon. We can say the baby was born premature. That way we keep Joseph's honor."

Stephanie wanted to run but her legs wouldn't move.

Bella lowered her voice and continued, "You have no honor to keep, you puttana;. You who keep two men's bed warm. You are no better than…..excrementi de cane."

Stephanie heard bells in her head and before the bakery shrunk to the side of a pea, she passed out. When she regained consciousness the paramedics were on the scene. Kathy Kalinsky from the bakery told the paramedics Stephanie was pregnant and on lookers were quick to start the news around town. Before Stephanie got back on her feet the Burg knew Stephanie was pregnant by Joe.

Joseph hadn't been seen since the end of October and Stephanie was surely not 17 weeks pregnant, she barely had a bump at 9 weeks. The Burg expects Joe and Stephanie to marry, raise a new generation of Morellis and that was what was going to happen.