Chapter 11

By the time Lester returned with the extremely large order of Chinese food, all of the families had arrived and everyone was upstairs in the new family's apartment. The food was set out on the kitchen island and plates were handed out. People were scattered around the kitchen and living room eating their dinner and talking about the wedding, the court date and the remodeling of the apartment. Julie was talking with Angie and Mary Alice about school and made plans to go school supply shopping for Julie the next day.

Steph gave her mom a big hug and thanked her for keeping the dressing table. They both had tears in their eyes talking about its history. As people were finishing up eating, Ranger got everyone's attention. "Steph, Julie and I would like to thank everyone for their help with the wedding and the remodeling of the apartment, especially Julie's room. We know that the past week has been a whirlwind and appreciate the way everyone worked together and helped us get things accomplished. We have a long road ahead of us her and in Miami, but with our families behind us, we know things will work out. First thing is to get Julie enrolled in school and settled in with everything. Please make sure you get all that you want to eat before we turn the leftovers over to the vultures downstairs. Enjoy everyone."

Once some of the families started to leave, Julie took the other girls into her room and shut the door. Ranger looked at Steph and just sighed. "Ranger, a teenage girl needs some privacy, believe me. They will be fine, they are in a secure apartment, in a secure building that has more guns and ammunition than the Pentagon. Stop worrying."

"Babe…"

They cleaned up the kitchen, putting the dishes in the dishwasher and throwing all of the empty containers away. Lester and Tank had already taken the leftovers downstairs so there was no food to put away. Steph had told Val that they would keep the girls overnight since they were all going shopping together in the morning. Ranger locked the apartment up for the night and they headed towards their bedroom. They stopped at Julie's room and knocked. She yelled at them to come in and they opened the door. The girls were watching a dvd on the tv and had pulled the trundle bed out so they all had somewhere to sleep. Steph told them goodnight and Ranger told them not to make a lot of noise and to go to bed when the dvd was over. All four of the girls rolled their eyes at Ranger and then Julie pushed him out of her room and shut the door. A loud burst of giggles could be heard through the door and Stephanie just laughed at him.

By the next morning, Ranger was glad that they now had more than one bathroom. Julie and the girls were in one bathroom, and had been in there for over an hour. He had gotten up first and started the coffee and started to put out some cereal, yogurt and fruit for breakfast. All of the girls, including Stephanie, came out about the same time and looked at the selection in the kitchen. Steph gave a groan and told the girls to grab their stuff and they would stop for donuts on the way to the mall. Ranger looked at her and just sighed.

"Ranger, girls need donuts before shopping, not health food. We'll be back in a few hours. I'll let you know when we're done and maybe you could meet us for lunch."

Ranger pulled out his wallet and handed over a couple credit cards. They both had her new name on them and she squealed when she saw one of them was for Macy's. "Ranger, thank you, but you didn't have to get these for me. I have my own you know."

"Babe, please take these and use them, especially for things you buy for Julie. My money is now your money so feel free to spend it like I know you can."

Steph gave Ranger a kiss and then ushered the girls out of the apartment. Ranger called out to her and when she turned around, he through a key fob at her. "Take the SUV babe so you have room for all of the stuff you buy. See you later. Love you."

Ranger headed down to his office and found the info the guys had put together so far on Ron's disappearance and Rachel's prior arrest. He started reading and before he got too far, his phone rang. He saw it was from one of his Miami guys he had contacted about Rachel's arrest. As he answered the phone, he got up and shut his office door.

Steph pulled into the parking lot of the bakery and herded the girls into the store. They were trying to decide what to get when the door opened. Steph turned around when the girl working said hello to the person who came in and smiled when she saw who it was.

"Joe"