Chapter 25

Epilogue:

Stephanie's POV

It was warm for the fourth of July, and in deference to the day and the heat, Lester and Tina had volunteered their home for the picnic that RangeMan put together to celebrate the day. The picnic had become a tradition over the past ten years—usually taking place at the park that Ranger had had built adjacent to the building for when the children were there so they'd have a place to play.

A team had been hired to come in and set up the canopy, tables, and chairs. Ella, Angie, and Grandma Mazur had spent the past couple of days getting all of the food ready, and there was quite a spread. Right now we were waiting for the finishing touches to be made so that we could eat. Tina, Lula, Rina, Celia, Alex, and I were all seated around one of the tables sharing war stories…of the motherhood variety.

We were all laughing at the story Lula had shared of Darnell knocking a ninth grader on his butt for making Sheena—his sister—cry. Sheena was a tiny nine-year-old, and Darnell was seven. Most people thought Darnell was the older of the two because he was twice the size of his sister.

Lula shook her head. "That boy came walking into the house with his head hanging down, thinking he was gonna get a whipping. Apparently the principal told him that if he was his daddy, that's what he'd do and he'd be real disappointed his son did such a thing. When we finally got outta him what happened, Tank looked his boy in the eye and told him he done hisself proud and they'd be no punishment coming his way from us." Her eyes brightened as she went on to say, "On the other hand, that principal put in for a transfer."

Tina was the first one to laugh. "What did Tank do?"

Lula's eyes widened. "Do?" She chuckled. "He went to that school when they was having a real important meeting and walked right on in." By now, she was laughing almost hysterically, which had the rest of us laughing, even though we weren't one hundred percent sure why we were laughing.

Tina hit her hand on the table and took a breath. Biting her lip to keep a straight face, she asked, "Why are we laughing?"

Lula doubled up laughing even harder. Her words were broken up between howls of laughter as she said, "That…principal…asked…Tank…what…he…thought he…was…doing…and…" A burst of laughter broke free, and it took her several seconds to get herself back under control so she could continue. Trying to keep a straight face and keep her laughter under control, she finished, "Tank…told him…he was…there to mutilate…the moron who told his son…he was getting a whipping when he got home."

The last was said in a big rush, and then she was off in another fit of giggles.

By now the rest of us were holding our sides because we could just picture an irate Tank dealing with the hapless principal.

Lula finished with saying, "Tank took a step toward the little creep, and the guy jumped up and started flapping his arms and squawking. When the door opened and this little old lady stepped into the room and asked what was wrong, Fried Fred—the principal, pushed her in front of him and told Tank he was intruding and if he didn't leave, his secretary was going to have to escort him out. Well, now all the people in that meeting are grumbling and not liking what Fred said or what he was doing."

Tina shook her head. "I hope he pounded the scum into the ground."

Lula grinned. "No…but when the principal took a swing at him, he lifted him by the neck of his shirt into the air and shook him before tossing him back in his chair with the comment he hoped it shook some sense into him. And then Tank told him if that bully went after his little girl again he'd be sorry. Well then Fred piped up and said that his boy wasn't a bully."

Lula fanned herself. "I can just imagine the steam coming out of Tank's ears as he strode toward Fred. Upshot of it was, one of the members of the board spoke up and asked Tankie who he was. When he told him, the man looked at Fred and shook his head and then told him he was a poor dumb bastard taking on one of Ranger's men. Of course, Fred has no clue who Ranger is or what Tank is capable of, so he said something snide. I tried to get Tank to tell me what, but he said it wasn't fit for a lady's ears. Anyway, upshot of the whole shebang is Tank carried Fred in a fireman's carry out in front of the school and ran him up the flag pole before getting in his SUV and leaving. None of the people in the meeting would let him down, and his secretary said she quit on her way out. It was over three hours later when the cops were called and Fred got hisself arrested by Gaspick for causing a riot."

I grinned and turned my gaze to where Tina was nursing Lily. Just as I was getting ready to make a comment, Savi came running up to her mother in tears.

Tina sat forward and asked, "What's wrong, baby?"

Savi looked up at her mother, her chin wobbling. "Caitlyn stole my Barbie doll and ripped her head off. She said only babies play with dolls."

I could see that anger flashing in Tina's eyes as she raised her voice and called, "Santos!"

Lester came over along with the rest of the guys. "What's up, gorgeous?"

Tina nodded to Savi, but before she could say anything more, Gabriel sauntered over and handed Savi the very Barbie she had been talking about.

Her eyes rounded as she said, "She's all fixed. How did you do it?"

Gabe ducked his head as his cheeks turned pink. "It was nothing."

Savi threw her arms around him and said, "Thank you, Gabe. You're the best."

The color deepened for a second, and then he seemed to enjoy the hug.

Lester held out his hand, and the two did a complicated handshake. "Thank you for looking out for my little girl."

Gabe nodded. He turned back to Savi and said, "You won't have to worry about Caitlyn. I don't think she'll be giving you problems anymore."

Kye frowned. "Why do you say that, son?"

Gabe grinned up at his dad. "Well, when I followed her to get the Barbie back, I caught her playing with her own Barbie and took a picture." He shrugged. "I told her that unless she wanted it posted all over school, she'd leave Savi alone."

Kye frowned. "I'm not sure…"

Gabe handed his phone to Kye and shook his head. "I was bluffing…but she doesn't need to know that."

Kye gave him a nod. "All right."

Ethan and Remy came running up to us, and they both bent over to catch their breaths.

Tina frowned. "What's up, you two?"

They looked up and grinned. Remy said, "We followed Gabe." They turned to their friend. "You'll never guess who stopped by to see Caitlyn after you left."

Gabe's eyebrow rose. "Who?"

The boys looked at each other and grinned even more before Ethan continued where his brother left off. "Ivy. Caitlyn was giving her all of the information about the winning science project." They both burst out laughing.

Tina's eyes narrowed, "All right, you two, what are you up to?"

The boys gave the appearance of trying to look innocent. It was Remy who answered her by saying, "Uhm…gee, not a thing, Mom."

Tina's eyes narrowed. Sarcasm dripped from her tone as she said, "Right. I believe that all right."

The two laughed, and then Ethan said, "Well, the only one that's supposed to know all of that is Caitlyn's mom because she's the teacher. She can get in a lot of trouble if people knew that she told Caitlyn."

Tina's eyes narrowed even more. "Keep talking."

They lowered their heads and kicked around at the ground.

Tina said, "Spill it."

Ethan looked up, glaring at his brother before turning to his mother and saying, "Well, Miss Johnson was out walking her dog, and we sort of engineered it so that she came over and heard the two girls talking. Since she's on the judges' committee, she went up to the house and told Caitlyn's mother that she couldn't be on the committee anymore and she'd make sure she wasn't on any others as well. When Miss Johnson left, Caitlyn was called into the house, and we heard her being grounded for six months. Then Mrs. Barnyard…I mean Barnhardt told Ivy she couldn't come over anymore."

I could hear Ranger's chuckle, and then he leaned down to whisper in my ear, "For ten-year-olds, they're pretty sharp."

I grinned up at him. "If you think these guys are something, then what about Ryker and Sophie?"

He kissed me before saying, "Yeah, and if the trend continues, I can't wait to see what Jax and Lily come up with."

Lester looked at us with a narrowed-eyed stare. "What are you two talking about?"

We turned to him with blank looks on our faces as if we had no clue what he was talking about.

Les laughed and said, "Ethan Shepard, Remington Lee, Savannah Yardley-Rose, Ryker Emmanuel, Sophie Jane. Come here and gang up on your Uncle Carlos and Aunt Stephanie." He turned to us and made a funny face. "I'd add Jaxon Ryan and Liliana Grace, but since they're only three months old, I'll give them a pass."

Ranger chuckled wryly as he straightened. "That's all right. I think Julie, Miranda Rose, and Derek Adam can take them."

Lester grinned. "More like become the ringleaders, and then we'd all be in trouble."

Cam playfully pushed Lester aside and made his way over to where Alex was sitting. His eyes got round as he took in the glass of water she had in her hand. "Uhm, honeybun, that isn't water from Les and Tina's kitchen…is it?"

Alex laughed. "You don't really believe that, do you?"

Cam looked undecided. "Well, the last three times you were pregnant, it was six weeks to the day after we'd visited these two when you found out."

Alex looked at the glass in her hands a bit dubiously before turning back to Cam and weakly protesting, "It's impossible to get pregnant from drinking water."

Thor threw back his head and laughed. "That's what Rina and I thought eight months ago."

We all looked to Rina, who was exactly eight months pregnant.

Alex's eyes widened. "That's right. It was just six weeks after the last get-together when you came to see me." She bit her lip and looked at Cam.

Cam's eyes widened a bit more. "What's that look for?"

Alex looked at the water in her glass, and then her face paled as she set it down. "I'm suddenly not feeling so great."

Tina threw back her head and laughed. "Now why would you be saying that?"

I couldn't help the smile that was plastered to my face. Glancing up, I caught Ranger's questioning glance, and then the other shoe dropped and my eyes widened.

Lula started laughing. "Oh, that's just priceless. If you are pregnant, you might end up with an even dozen. Although the chances of having four sets of triplets is a bit high."

Alex smiled weakly. "Not as high as it should be. I'm a triplet myself…and I have nine brothers and two sisters."

Lula's eyes grew round. "Oh, boy!"

Celia shook her head. "I don't think any of you realize the ramifications. It wasn't just Alex that had a glass of water six weeks ago when we got together for Lily and Jax's christening."

I had already connected the dots when I saw Ranger looking at me with a questioning look. I turned to look at the others and saw that they were starting to realize the magnitude of what might be happening.

Lula's mouth was opening and closing like a fish, but no words were coming out.

Tina looked at the rest of us smugly. "Lucky for me, I'm immune for a while." She looked down at Lily. "At least for a few more months."

Alex chuckled. "Why would you say that?"

"Because I'm breastfeeding. I can't get pregnant while I'm breastfeeding."

Once again, the rest of us were smiling as we looked at her.

Her gaze went to Alex, and she looked almost panicked as she demanded, "That's right, isn't it?"

Alex shook her head. "Sorry to burst your bubble, but it's very possible to get pregnant when you are breastfeeding. After all, Stephanie did."

Tina looked at me with almost a pleading expression on her face.

I smiled. "Alex, if you have any openings this next week, I think the lot of us would like to make an appointment."

Alex nodded. "No problem. I'll fit you all in just as soon as I see whether or not I've been a victim of the water."

Julie came over to join us, and her eyes lit up when she spotted the pitcher of water on the table. "Oh, great! I'm dying of thirst."

Ranger moved with lightning reflexes and tossed the contents of the pitcher onto the grass. "I'm sure there is juice or soda in the fridge, but whatever you do, never drink the water at Uncle Lester's."

She looked at him kind of funny but shrugged and said, "Okay. I'll go and grab some from the fridge."

As she moved off, Ranger took a relieved breath before he shook his head. "She's too young to have a baby, and I'm too young to be a grandfather."

Everyone laughed.

And they lived happily ever after…

Oh, and Tina was in fact pregnant with another set of triplets, as was Alex. Rina had a little boy, Celia had a daughter, Lula had a son, and Stephanie…she had one of each.