Sorry for the delay – I've had job applications to do which sucked up my writing time, then something happened where I didn't save the file properly and lost half a chapter and had to re-write. So this chapter is shorter than it otherwise would have been but hopefully delivers what you've been waiting on. This is the end of Book 9 (or what I'm going to cover from it) so that takes us on to Book 10 – which will feature more Ranger for the Ranger fans! (Which, let's face it, aren't we all?)

The delivery day of Plum Stars was a repeat of my last delivery dates – with the build up in product offerings, the garage was full once again. I really needed to look into getting a warehouse space. Our cars were back in the driveway until we'd moved enough boxes out into the dining room. Mary Lou was checking the order against the stock was arrived. She had a clipboard, a pen, and looked as happy as I could remember seeing her in recent years.

"I am going to organise this stock so well," she told me.

"You do you," I told her, and went into my office to work on my marketing campaign. Our sales were going reasonably well, but if I wanted a warehouse space along with an assistant, we needed to step it up a bit. Mary Lou also had the idea that we could open a retail shopfront if we found the right warehouse space. We were busy searching to see if something came up for the right price.

At the same time at the Plum Stars delivery, we were all waiting on another delivery. Val was nine months pregnant and giant. Angie Morelli and our mother were engaged in some sort of housewife battle where they were both providing Val and Joe with casseroles and cheese rich Italian food. Every time I visited there was a new cake on the counter. Val had been walking the girls to and from school in an attempt to get some exercise but now it was summer holidays. We'd talked about going to Point Pleasant for a week, but Morelli wanted to save his leave for when the baby arrived, and Val didn't want to leave the air conditioning.

Val and I sat down at the kitchen table and she cut us both a slice of cake. It was a Saturday, but Joe was on shift. The girls were watching TV in the lounge room. Morelli's house was looking more like a home. The lace curtains on the kitchen were there when Val moved in, but she'd added other small touches like family photos on the walls, a vase of flowers on the table, and a cookie jar on the counter. Bob now had a dog bed to sleep on instead of the couch.

Morelli was also working on converting the basement into more living space. He and Val had talked about using part of her settlement money to renovate the house, but had decided to put most of it into college funds for the girls. I thought that was a good idea since they were unlikely to see any money from Steve in the future. Morelli was a chauvinist at heart but that was working for Val, since he was determined to use only his money to support his family, which left Val with a big safety net, financially speaking. He'd also upgraded his truck to a family friendly SUV and bought Val a van.

I was eating my cake and looking forward to a second piece, since I could still fit into my pants with ease that week, when Val dropped her fork and looked perplexed.

"These Braxton-Hicks are getting really bad," she said.

"Braxton-Hicks?"

"Like practice contractions. They've been building up all morning and now they're getting worse," Val told me. I looked over at her.

"Contractions?"

"They're not real. They'll stop anytime now. I'll get you some more cake," she said, getting up and cutting more cake. That's Val – she's probably going into labour, but she has a guest, and Burg housewife rules state that you need to look after your guest first, so more cake for Stephanie it is. She brought me over my second piece of cake and stopped and swayed.

"Should we call Joe?" I asked her.

"No, he just started his shift. And anyway, they're not real contractions, they'll stop at any point soon," Val said, swaying in one spot. She'd done this twice before, so she was the expert not me, but I was doubtful.

"Anyway I still have three weeks until my due date and I went over with Angie and Mary Alice," Val argued, although I hadn't said anything. "I doubt that I'd go early with this baby and – arrrrgh," she stopped, holding her stomach.

"Are you okay?"

"Arrgh. Maybe we'd better call Joe."

I got out my phone and called Joe. He answered straight away, so murder and crime must have been slow that day in Trenton.

"Hey Steph, what's up?"

"Hey Joe, I'm visiting Val, and she thinks she might be having contractions."

"No wait, it's over, I'm fine," Val called out.

"Now she says she's fine," I told Joe.

"So is she fine or isn't she fine?" he asked.

"I have no idea, she keeps changing her mind."

"I'm fine, it was a false alarm, I have three weeks and to go – argh," she said, moaning and swaying.

"Can you hear that?" I asked Joe.

"I'll come home," he said, and hung up.

"Joe's on his way," I told Val, but she was looking unfocused. Crap. Don't have this baby in front of me, Val, I have no idea what to do. I panicked and called my mother.

"I think Val's in labour, and Joe's on his way home but I have no idea what to do," I blurted out.

"How exciting!" she shouted, and then hung up. What was with everybody's phone manners today? Was I the only one who remembered to say hello and goodbye anymore? Was the Ranger School of Phone Manners catching on? My questions were answered when my mother burst through the door one minute later. She only lived a few streets away but it looked like she'd gotten my dad to drive her over, as I saw his cab disappearing down the street. I guess this was a moment that he wanted to be safely away from. Val was walking in circles around the kitchen. I think her Burg housewife instincts were telling her that the baby wasn't going to be born until the kitchen was properly clean.

"Valerie, you should sit down!" our mother insisted.

"No, no, I'm fine, it's just a false alarm," Val said, starting to moan again. Mom looked over at me and I shrugged.

"She's been like this for about 15 minutes," I said, "It came on pretty suddenly. She was fine and we were chatting, and then this started happening every few minutes."

"That's close together then, she should get to the hospital. Have you called Joe?"

"He's on his way," I told her.

"Good. Valerie, where's your hospital bag? I'll go get it."

"I haven't packed it!" Val wailed. "I still had three weeks! It wasn't supposed to happen yet!"

"Well that's a Morelli for you, they never do what other people want them to. I'll go upstairs and pack you a bag," Mom said. Thank goodness she was here, I'd never have thought of that, and I'd bet that Joe wouldn't have either. Mary Alice and Angie finally looked up from the television and worked out that something was going on.

"Is mommy having the baby?" Angie asked.

"I think so," I told her. "Do you want some cake?" Mary Alice neighed.

"Horses don't eat cake, they eat grass," she told me.

"Wheat is a type of grass and flour is made from wheat," I said. "Horses love wheat."

By the time Joe arrived home five minutes later, Val was pacing again and Mom appeared with an overnight bag.

"I've packed you three changes of clothes for you, three outfits for the baby including the coming home outfit you bought, a spare set of clothes for Joseph, toiletries and other essentials," she said, handing the bag over to Joe.

"I've got a kojak light, I can drive fast," he said, pointing to his SUV.

"You might need to," Mom said, helping Val to the front door. I opened it for them. Val stopped on the way to moan through a contraction. Joe opened the car door for her.

"Mom, don't leave," Val said, clutching her arm.

"Valerie, you'll be fine. Joseph is here," our mother said.

"Please, Mom? I need you," Val told her. Mom looked over at Joe and he nodded.

"Stephanie, you're in charge of the girls!" Mom called over her shoulder as she jumped into the car. Joe stuck the light on top of the SUV and they pulled out of the driveway and headed for the hospital.

I turned around to see Angie and Mary Alice looking at me. Angie looked solemn and Mary Alice had managed to get covered in cake.

"What are we going to do now, Aunt Steph?" Angie asked me. Great. Now they weren't interested in watching TV. I made two phone calls – one to Dickie to let him know that I had no idea when I'd be home, and one to Mary Lou for reinforcements. She invited us over for lunch.

It was too hot to walk so I loaded the girls into my Mercedes and drove the few streets over to Mary Lou's house. Lenny was out in the backyard cooking on the grill when we got there and Mary Lou was preparing everything for hamburgers. Angie and Mary Alice went to play with Kenny and Mikey while I joined Mary Lou in the kitchen.

"That's so excited that Val is in labour! Do you think it will go quickly?" Mary Lou asked.

"I have no idea. It seemed to be happening quickly. Mom and Joe were pretty worried," I told her.

"Well they must have made it to the hospital or we'd have heard something on the grapevine by now. So let's have lunch and see how long you have to wait."

Lunch was served inside in the air conditioned house, and Mary Lou put Mikey down for a nap afterwards while Angie read a book and Mary Alice and Kenny built a complicated blanket fort using most of the bedding from Mary Lou's linen cupboard. Lenny put his feet up on the coffee table and settled in to watch sport for the afternoon. Usually I would have joined him but I was a bit anxious waiting to hear from Val.

"Relax," Mary Lou told me. "It could be hours. My boys took hours." Just as she finished saying that my phone rang. It was Val.

"The baby's here! She's so beautiful. Can you bring the girls in? I want them to be the first to meet her," Val said.

Mary Lou and I rounded up the girls and I drove them over to the hospital. My mother was waiting outside the room for us. I took the girls in and waited at the door. They were excited and rushed over to meet the new baby.

"She's so tiny. Look at her little hands!" Angie said.

"Her tiny feet!" Mary Alice said.

"Steph, come meet your new niece. We're calling her Bella after Joe's grandmother," Val said, calling me in. She handed me Bella and I looked down at her. She was so tiny and I felt like I was holding her awkwardly. How were you supposed to hold a baby, anyway? And how did Joe look like he was going to be a natural at it?

"How are you feeling?" I asked Val.

Joe smiled. "She did great, I've never seen anything more amazing," he said, taking Val's hand. She smiled at him. They looked happier together than I'd ever seen them. Maybe having a baby was good for your relationship after all.

After the girls had a cuddle with Baby Bella, I drove them and Mom home. She was going to keep them overnight at her house while Val was in hospital.

I was exhausted. I rang Dickie when I was on my way home and he said that he'd thought I was going to be home late, so he'd gone to visit his parents. I was happy to miss out on that visit, so I picked up Chinese food on my way home, then got changed into my comfortable pyjamas and put Ghostbusters into the DVD player. I didn't even make it halfway through before I was asleep on the couch.