Chapter 37: One Ring to Bring Them All
Stephanie Manoso didn't know a word in Spanish (amigo, nacho and Tabasco didn't really count) and Grandma Rosa didn't speak a word in English (yes and no didn't count, either). Most of the time, for women with good instincts, verbal language was not the only way to communicate. But sometimes they really needed it to understand each other.
Grandma Rosa shooed Ranger's mother and four curious elder sisters away and kissed Ranger on his cheeks. She then took one good look at Ranger's bride, and immediately dragged Stephanie into her bedroom and locked the door. Grandma Rosa yelled at her daughter-in-law to stop pounding on the door and go check the stew in the kitchen before it was burnt, and gently pulled the extremely nervous Stephanie to sit down on the bed beside her. Rosa was never the kind of woman who would hide her feelings, questions and doubts all to herself. So she took a deep breath, braced herself, took held of both Stephanie's hands, looked at the young woman's belly for a long moment, and then softly and hopefully asked her in Spanish, "Are you pregnant?"
A dazzling, beautiful smile blossomed on Rosa's face when Stephanie nodded shyly and said "yes" and something else in English. She gathered Stephanie into her arms and said a silent prayer of gratitude. She couldn't wait to tell her whole family the good news and to hold Carlos's baby in her arms. Oh how much she longed for a little boy that looked just like Carlos. Grandma Rosa kissed Stephanie on both cheeks happily. She knew this pretty blue-eyed girl was the right one for her Carlos.
Did Ranger inherit his ESP from Grandma Rosa? He did inherit her smile, that was for sure. Stephanie thought to herself in amazement as the old woman kissed her cheeks. How did Grandma Rosa know she was hungry? Stephanie was pretty sure her stomach hadn't been growling. She followed a happy Grandma Rosa back into the family room and smiled politely as Rosa said something loudly in Spanish. She didn't noticed the rest of Ranger's family suddenly fell silent and turned to stared at Ranger with wide dark brown eyes as she sat down beside Ranger, because her attention was distracted by the smell of hot, spicy food coming from the kitchen.
Stephanie looked at Grandma Rosa expectantly. The heavenly aroma coming from the kitchen was making her drool. Now that she had told Grandma she was really, really hungry, maybe they would start dinner immediately? She always felt hungry whenever she was too anxious and nervous. She had sneaked into the 5th floor break room not 40 minutes after lunch and wolfed down three of Ella's healthy whole wheat sandwiches, and had been about to bite into her fourth when Ranger had finally arrived to save her from bursting out of the beautiful midnight blue satin dress they'd bought in Vegas. They had left for Newark shortly afterward, but now she was hungry again already. She snapped out of her thoughts when Ranger's mother asked him something in Spanish sharply. The whole Manoso family then let out a collective sigh of relief when Ranger wrapped an arm around his wife's shoulders and answered his mother's question almost lazily.
Ranger assured his family he and Stephanie were never going to divorce. But he didn't tell them she was not pregnant. He places a feather light kiss on Stephanie's lips upon hearing her beast growling and gave her a 200 Watt smile. Not yet, anyway.