Disclaimer: The characters belonging to Janet Evanovich are used strictly for entertainment purposes.
A/N: Only two left and I might decide to combine chapters 29 and 30 since 30 is just an epilogue. We'll see. Either way, I'm planning posting chapter 29 on Thursday and 30 on Saturday if I don't combine them. If I combine, it might be Friday for the final chapter! Thanks so much everyone. I hope you enjoy the end!
...
Chapter 28
I ran past the SUV Ranger and I had ridden in and screeched to an abrupt halt when Tank opened the door and said, "Steph, he's here."
He stood outside the back passenger side door and I walked awkwardly toward him, forcing myself to breathe slowly. "Okay."
I nodded and looked at the open doorway. He stepped back and said, "Go on. Cute kid. Lula's already half in love."
"I heard that," Lula's voice called from within, only it was in sing-song style, the way some people talk to babies.
"Oh God," I whispered. In some ways I wasn't ready for this, in others, I couldn't wait. The thought of seeing him evoked memories and regrets about what I'd missed, how much of me he'd missed, I didn't know if I could handle them all. On the other hand, knowing he existed had created a physical hole inside of me I hadn't understood until now.
"You'll be fine," Tank said softly.
I climbed into the truck and sat beside Lula. Carlo was just as I remembered him, if not a little bigger and fuller. He'd continued to gain weight, as babies do. His little round cheeks were dimpled from his gummy smile. Wide, bright blue eyes stared around, stopping at shiny objects and Lula's colorful pocketbook. Chubby baby fingers clutched at her shirt. He was utterly and completely real.
"Steph, I have to say. You and Batman made one hell of a little man here." She was smiling about as big as a person could and not split her face in half. "His hair's so soft and he's got Batman's skin. Damn, you're gonna have to lock this boy up when he's older."
I shook my head. Trust Lula to grow him up overnight. "Can I have him?"
"All you had to do was say so, girl! Here, little man," she said, lifting him up and passing him over to me. "Go charm your momma."
I settled him in my arms, front to front so I could look at him and my throat convulsed with the effort to hold off a sob. Shit. Mom. I was his mom. I had to take care of him. No, that wasn't it. More like … wow. I was allowed to take care of him.
Carlo and I stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity. Then he reached up and touched my cheek. I hadn't realized I was crying until his fingers interrupted the flow of my tears. He brought the other hand up to the opposite side and pulled my face toward him, touching his mouth to the tip of my nose.
I laughed, said, "Eww", and leaned back to rub away the moisture. He smiled at me and then laid his head against my shoulder with his grasping fingers tangling at the hair resting along the base of my neck. He seemed at peace, almost as if he remembered me. I had no idea what a baby would or could remember.
Like in my dream, I lifted his little hand and put it over my nose, kissing his wrist. His fingers flexed and curled around the ski slope tip and I could feel his soft nails scraping gently on the skin. He hefted a little sigh and tugged my hair. I smiled. Just like his father.
Tank reappeared with an infant seat and a suitcase. "Lester and I grabbed some clothes and his car seat. We're going to a hotel to keep things quiet and calm for you and the baby. Ranger will come when he's done."
It took a few minutes, but he secured the base unit into the center of the back seat and snapped the carrier in, then looked at me.
"What?"
"Strap him in."
"I don't know how!"
He grinned and shook his head. "Just try it out."
I disentangled Carlo's fingers from my hair and laid him in the seat. I looked at the buckles and latches and slipped his arms through, snapped in the metal prongs, and clipped the chest clip. "Okay, he's in."
Tank silently reached in and tugged on a small strap protruding from the seat between Carlo's feet and adjusted the chest clip. "Has to be snug."
I eyed him. "How do you know?"
"Got two nephews."
He shut the door and climbed into the driver's seat and took off down the road. He drove us to a Westin in what seemed like the center of town and when we got to my room, he put the suitcase on a luggage stand and produced a bottle from another bag I hadn't seen. I had Carlo out of his seat lying on the bed. His short terry cloth covered legs kicked out and he made pleasant gurgling noises. My God he was sweet.
"Do you need any help?" Tank asked.
"No, I've got it." Even if I didn't remember being a mother, I had taken care of Lisa before and I knew the basics. Tank had requested a bassinet from the hotel for Carlo and it was set up near the bed. With the exception of Ranger being gone, we had everything we needed.
I took him to the bathroom and filled the sink with warm water that felt good to my elbow. Lisa usually got sleepy after her bath and, even though I'd love the chance to play with my son, it was the middle of the night and he needed sleep. Tank handed me some soft washcloths from the suitcase and a bottle of baby wash.
Carlo was a bath master. He slapped his hands against the water, and smiled while I cleaned him up and talked to him. I told him about my parents, his cousins, my sister and Kloughn, the Rangemen, and all about Ranger. Every touch on his silky skin made tears pop up in my eyes. He was so sweet, so soft, so innocent. What we'd endured with Adriano made me appreciate him that much more.
Bath done, I wrapped him in a towel and took him out to the bed to put on a fresh diaper. Lula—who knew she could be so domestic?—had a bottle ready for him. We settled into a big, fluffy chair by the window and I fed him. I noticed that his eyes were shaped more like Ranger's, even if the color matched mine. He stared at me as he drew on the bottle, his eyelids lowering more and more until they were closed and the sucking motion stopped. I tucked him into the bassinet and stretched out on the edge of the bed, stretching my arm out so my hand could stroke his silky hair.
I woke when the door clicked and figured it was Tank and Lula leaving. When I opened my eyes, the room was dark and Carlo and I were alone. I nearly panicked, but then I sensed Ranger's presence in the room.
He came over to the bed and sat on the edge by my knees. I clicked on the bedside lamp and he leaned over and kissed me. It was full of emotions I'd never felt him give off before and I wasn't sure I could identify them all. Certainly, he was happy. Fatigue and love were there. Beneath it all, I recognized the unidentified element as a nervous tension.
"Everything okay?" I asked.
"All settled," he said, all the while looking at his son. Oh, that was it. Even though he was already a parent, he had never actively been involved in a baby's life. He was in the service when Julie was born and by the time his tour was over, so was the marriage. She was practically a teenager now and not a part of his life. That was by design, though, the way he'd talked in the past made me think he'd like to change it, but didn't know how. Perhaps Carlo could help him bridge that gap.
He leaned forward, studying Carlo for several minutes. Then he reached out with a finger to trace it down the baby's soft cheek. Carlo stirred, his sleep-flushed face wiggling beneath the finger, and Ranger spoke to him in Spanish, his voice soft and gravelly. The words were close enough to Italian that I mentally translated what he said into: "Go back to sleep. You're safe."
Carlo settled back to sleep, as if by magic, and Ranger turned to me. "He's a good baby."
"He looks like you." I sat up and hugged him. "What happened with Vinnie?"
"Jail." He'd killed his wife, so of course he'd be in jail, but he'd also saved my life. Vinnie was a pest, but he was also a victim in all of this. "I'll help him however I can, but he'll serve time."
I nodded. "So what now?"
Ranger pulled back and looked at me in sincerity with the hint of a smile on his face. "Figure it out together."
Love and happiness melded into a squishy spot in my heart. I kissed him, pouring all of that emotion into it. He laid me back down on the bed and kissed his way down my neck and I pushed up on his shoulders. "Ranger, there's a baby right there."
"Babe, he's only four months old. He's asleep. And we both need this."
That was reason enough for me. Dear God, how much I needed it.
The next morning, I woke to no sign of Ranger or Carlo. I sat up lightning fast in the bed and looked out the window to the ocean. The curtains had been drawn. Ranger's cap sat on the desk across the room from the bed. The baby stuff was all here. I laughed and shook my head at myself. Apparently, I didn't wake up on the carefree side of the bed with a baby in my life now. That was a fast change.
The door opened and I pulled the sheet up to my chin. Ranger came in with Carlo in his arms. The baby had a hold of his bottom lip and Ranger, again, was silently staring at him.
"Hey," I whispered.
"Morning," he said around baby fingers. He looked at me, his eyes softening at the edges. He was happy, but I detected Business Ranger was in the house.
"What's going on?"
"Going home."
I climbed out of bed and dug through my suitcase for a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. "When do we leave?"
"Soon as you're ready."
Quickly, I went to the bathroom and turned on the shower. "Where did you go?" I asked when I saw that he'd followed me into the room.
He looked away briefly and then back to me. "I needed to see Tank."
I grinned knowingly at him. "Needed his baby expertise?"
"Babe." I took that to mean 'yes'.
After my shower, I dressed and went out to see that Ranger had changed Carlo into a t-shirt and baby jeans. Ranger had also changed into everyday wear — the stuff normal people wore, that is. We would look like a regular family flying home. Well, except that the dad was incredibly muscled and well-defined in a skin tight t-shirt as opposed to most dads who wore looser clothing to hide the slightly rounded stomachs they'd grown over time. I had a feeling Ranger was the type of dad who wouldn't let himself go. Holy Hell, I was a lucky woman.
"Keep looking at me like that and Carlo will get an early life education."
"Yikes."
Two hours later, I held Carlo on my lap during the flight. That is, when someone didn't swipe him from me. Between the guys, Lula, and me, he wasn't short of seating options. Lester had smiled at him, but Ram had seemed shell shocked.
"That's it," Lula announced before handing him back to me. "I'm in love. Sorry, Tank. There's a new man in my life and he has the cutest cheeks ever." She looked down at Carlo and said in a higher pitch, "I wanna squeeze 'em. I just wanna squeeze 'em."
He flashed her a wide, gummy grin and Tank and Lula smiled at each other for a long time over his head. Uh oh, I thought. I glanced at Ranger and saw nearly the same expression in his eyes. "Maybe Carlo will have a friend soon," he whispered.
I pressed my forehead to his bicep and smothered a grin. "Don't make me laugh, they'll know what we're talking about."
We took time to really talk about the future and how we wanted to handle it as a family. It seemed weird to use that word in reference to us, but it's what we were now and it felt right. Especially now that we'd met Carlo.
…
When we landed, Tank dropped us off at our hotel and we got ourselves settled and the baby gear set up. We finished just before eleven and I looked at Ranger. "If we hurry, we can make it to my parents' for lunch."
"Good plan, babe. After, we'll need to head to Rangeman. I want to fill everyone in on what we're going to do and about your job."
We changed in record time. Even Carlo was ready faster than I'd expected. Either Camila was still imparting her wisdom on me or I was more of a natural with babies than I thought.
"Ready for this?" I asked when we were all loaded up in the Cayenne. We had to take it to accommodate Carlo's infant seat.
Ranger grimaced. "This is going to be messy."
I bit my lip to keep from smiling. Ranger didn't do messy, but it couldn't be helped where my family was concerned. "I know."
Too soon, we were there in front of the house. My mother came out to the porch with a smile on her face.
I climbed out and Ranger came around and opened the back door. He pulled the seat out and my mother's jaw dropped when he turned around. "Oh my God … FRANK!"
Ranger lifted an eyebrow at me. I smiled over at him and winked. "At least you excel in cleaning up messes."
…
"I need a drink," my mother said later after we'd relayed the whole story about Carlo's existence, kidnapping, and retrieval. She got up from her chair and went to the kitchen. That was another thing that changed since I've been gone. She used to drink in private, now she was announcing it. I wasn't sure whether or not to be concerned and wondered if I should follow her, but decided to give her a few minutes to digest everything.
My father, however, looked at Carlo the way he always looked at mom's famous lasagna. Eager, only without the knife and fork. "Fine looking boy," he said and looked at me. "Make sure you raise him right. Baseball games, American cars, and spending time with his Pop."
"Wouldn't have it any other way," Ranger said, reaching over to lace his fingers with mine. It struck me how surreal the moment was. Time had passed and changed the people I knew and loved, but I couldn't be upset with the end result now. How could I be with Carlo and Ranger in my life?
Ranger had accompanied me to several meals over the years and my father barely gave him a passing glance. Now he was staring at him in a way I'd never seen him look at anyone. It was disturbing. Without looking away from Ranger, Dad said to me, "Go talk to your mother, pumpkin." Uh oh.
I squeezed Ranger's hand and went to the kitchen with Carlo. I didn't want to know what my dad was going to say to Ranger. My mother was seated on her footstool with the bottle of Four Roses on the floor between her feet. She had her head down, her elbows on her knees, and her hands laced loosely together in front of her as she leaned against the cupboard where she kept her pots.
"Hey," I said and sat down in the wooden chair by the back door.
"Don't think I'm not happy to have another grandchild," my mother began. Her voice was distant as if she wasn't aware she'd said anything. "A grandson, too."
I propped Carlo up on my shoulder and kissed the satiny skin of his neck, breathing in his scent. Amazing how quickly I adapted to that habit.
"I missed everything," she said. "All of it: pregnancy, giving you advice to help you feel better through morning sickness, and the chance to see for myself if Ranger is right for you."
I practically did a double take at her statement. "What does me having a baby have to do with Ranger being the right one?"
She leveled a look at me. "Stephanie, you can tell a lot about a man when he goes through the childbirth experience. I don't know him. He never talks." She sighed. "A mother should be there for her daughter, especially when she has a baby. And gets kidnapped. For God's sake, Vinnie had to save your life!"
Seeing my mother's vulnerability would have made me feel embarrassed for her before. It seemed emotional moments were a new habit and another thing I'd need to get used to in my changed world.
"Mom," I said, getting up and bending to grab her bottle of whisky. "You didn't let me down or fail me." I put the liquor back into the cupboard where she kept it and handed her the baby. She looked even smaller than normal sitting on the 12-inch high stool, knees bent, and legs over to the side in a ladylike position.
Her blue eyes looked over her grandson's face, a soft smile playing on her lips. "He really is a handsome little boy, Stephanie." She smiled wider and blew a raspberry on his cheek. "No one can deny you make beautiful children."
"Child, mother. A beautiful child."
She let my comment go. "What are your plans now that you have a child's welfare to consider?" Leave it to my mother to find a way to push marriage and that's exactly where we were headed.
"Oh, I can go back to my job at Rangeman easily enough. Vinnie closed up shop, so bounty hunting is out unless Sebring wants to hire me." I resisted a laugh when I saw my mother's shoulders stiffen and her back go ramrod straight. I figured she must not know that Rangeman did bonds now. "I'm sure I could keep him with me at work as long as Ella's there to help out." I didn't say that I'd be working from 'home' in Washington D.C. or that Ella lived there, too.
"Stephanie, I understand your need to work and make your mark on the world. But taking a baby into that office with all those men wearing guns?" She held Carlo up and I took him while she got to her feet, then promptly took him back and pointed a finger toward the living room. "What about Ranger? What are your plans with him? You have a child together now."
"Yes, we've been discussing things."
"And?"
I sighed. Here I didn't have to tease. Was I holding out for a ring? Maybe not. Did I want a more stable life now that Ranger and I had a kid? Yes. "I'm not sure. I'll keep you posted."
"Stephanie…"
My groan cut her off. "For once, mom, let it be good enough that we're madly in love and staying together. Permanently. Okay?"
"Doesn't he want to get married?"
"Mother!" Exasperated didn't begin to cover how I felt. I'd been gone for ten months, she'd thought I was dead, and now she was pushing marriage. As usual. "I know you want me to be happy. Read my lips: I am happy. Incredibly so. Ranger and I will figure out our future together."
She nodded and stroked Carlo's cheek. "I won't bring it up again. You know how I feel and, while I don't understand it, I know how you feel. I don't like it, but I'll respect it." She kissed Carlo's head and murmured to him in a soft whisper. "He's sweet."
"Yes." And he was. I'd heard him whine just once and it was because he'd been woken from his nap when the plane landed. At least Vinnie and Lucille had taken good care of him. "We have to go in a few minutes. We have business stuff to take care of and I want to say goodbye to a friend before he leaves town."
"Okay. Dinner tonight?"
"Sure." I took a deep breath and said, "Invite Val, Albert, and the girls. They can meet Carlo."
"I will."
We stared at each other for a few heartbeats and then we simultaneously hugged each other with Carlo in the middle. "All right, we've got to get a handle on this emotional stuff," I said.
She laughed and drew in a shuddering breath. "I'd better make a cake for tonight, then." Now this was normal: food instead of feelings.
