All familiar characters belong to Janet. I had a slight issue that complicated writing and typing this, so I apologize in advance if there are more mistakes than usual.
Despite being told to just walk in, I rang Mary Lou's doorbell when we'd reached her front door. The only spaces I enter unannounced are the ones I own, or the ones my FTAs are trying to hide out in. Respect people's boundaries and they'll respect yours back, is a motto I live by except when it came to Stephanie. Her boundaries I tried to get around, under, and through, any chance I got.
The door opened and we saw that Mary Lou's eyes were being held hostage by a look of apology.
"Don't you dare apologize for her or for calling me, Mare," my wife warned her.
"I wasn't. Not really. I was going to say don't be mad," she told us in a hushed voice.
"The only way I'd be mad is if you're going to plead her case for her."
She shook her head. "I definitely wasn't going to do that, but I did sorta threaten her with Ranger ... telling her she should go because she won't want to be here when Ranger shows up."
My wife relaxed and slung an arm around her best friend. "Why would we be mad about that? Ranger loves being used as a threat."
"It wasn't much of one, since Mrs. Plum didn't believe he'd show up here."
"She's been out of my loop for so long, she doesn't realize that after Morelli turned monster, and Mooch tried to follow his lead, it was a mutually-agreed-on decision that Olive and I don't venture into the Burg alone. Is she still on the couch, or did she move to the kitchen to assume some semblance of her old power?"
"You're scary, Steph. You know exactly what she's going to do," Mary Lou told her.
Stephanie sent a grin my way. "I'm not scary, I just come from a long line of scary women. Isn't that right, Ranger?"
"It's getting truer by the day, Babe."
By the second in Helen's case. The brief flare of her muted-blue eyes was all Helen would let show of the surprise she felt at seeing me here. She likes to point out that I'm nothing like the male population of the Burg, as if I'd be insulted by that, not celebrate it. Yet she still believes I'll act the same way as all the men she's known over the course of her life. I put my hands on my wife's shoulders and rested my chin on the top of her head. Steph can do all the talking she needs to, but I'll provide some 'touch therapy' for her while she does.
"What are you doing, Mom?" Steph said, in the same 'I can't believe this shit' tone she'd used on Morelli when his behavior began to escalate.
"I'm trying to talk to my daughter, but your grandmother refused to give me your new phone number."
"Because I told her not to, and she unlike you, respects my wishes. Maybe you should consider some bumper sticker philosophy like ... 'New Year, New You' so no one would feel like they have to keep their number out of your hands."
"First my granddaughter, and then your telephone number, and now you're trying to keep my husband away from me."
Steph pulled out a kitchen chair and sat down in a classic 'make them pay attention to you' move. I followed her, but stayed standing behind though slightly beside her.
"I'm not doing anything to my father, except try to get to know him," my wife informed her mother. "His attempt to do the same with me is a slower process, but at least he's making an effort, so I don't mind meeting him halfway."
"Halfway is not on some boat in the middle of nowhere."
"It's a pretty big 'boat'. And I'm sure the captain Ranger hired, who was in the Navy for twenty years before turning yacht captain, knows exactly where he's going ... and it won't be nowhere."
"This is no time for your jokes, Stephanie. How could you do this to me?"
"Stephanie didn't do anything except reach out to her father," I told Helen. "You may consider that a high crime, but I assure you Frank and Stephanie do not."
"You tell her, Ranger!" Mary Lou shouted, before adding a "Sorry" when we all glanced over at her.
Steph and I were smiling. Helen definitely isn't.
"Do you mind?" She said to Mary Lou.
"This is Mary Lou's home, Mom. She can do whatever the hell she wants to in it. You're the uninvited guest here."
"I wouldn't be here if you hadn't invited your father on some fishing trip."
"Yeah, I can see the connection between going fishing and storming Mary Lou's house. Though she does make a mean Tuna Melt."
"Can you please be serious?"
"Can you please stop being so selfish? Maybe Dad just needs a break from his life for a few days. If you'd stop thinking about how everything affects you, you'd start to see how your behavior is affecting everyone else around you. Newsflash, Mom, it's not positively. You seem hell bent on destroying your life by trying to remain the puppet master in it, but in case some part of you genuinely wants to salvage your almost forty years of marriage, I'm going to give you a little piece of advice. If you don't support the life Dad wants to live, you're going to lose him during his search for it."
"Who are you to lecture me about marriage? Little Olivia was months-old before you married him," she said, with a chin-nod my way.
"Nice try, but saying stuff like that doesn't hurt or insult me because I'm as in love with my life as I am with Ranger. Do you know why I got married after the fact and poor, put-upon Helen Plum had to bear my non-existent shame?" When Helen went to say something, Steph cut her off. "No, it wasn't because Ranger didn't ask. He asked me to marry him many times before, during, and after, my pregnancy. I missed out on a solid year of being able to call him my husband because you made the idea of being someone's wife feel like the equivalent of a life sentence of baby-making, indentured servitude. I would have actually done things in the Burg-approved order, had I realized how wrong you were sooner and married Ranger the very first time he asked. Not that I would change anything I did if it meant we wouldn't have Olive. I will never wish my baby or her birth away."
"Not that you care or will ever understand, but that's how a mother should feel about her child," I informed my mother-in-law.
"I love my children," Mrs. Plum declared.
"Then start acting like it and stop blaming my wife for everything wrong with you," I told her.
"And if you love Dad, stop trying to own him and control everything he does. You saw how hard I fought that crap in the past," Steph added, "and I don't want that to be part of anyone's future."
"Your father's and my relationship is none of your concern."
Even Mary Lou took a step back on that one.
"Ohhh ... so personal relationships are suddenly off limits?" Steph asked. If I weren't who I am, I'd be worried. "Maybe you've forgotten that you spent more time planning my wedding to the Dick than the marriage lasted, after months of pressuring me to get married because you decided that I only have a certain number of years to reproduce. And wasn't it you who told Dad to put a combination lock on the back door of the house because you were sick of me bolting every time I was invited for dinner and I stupidly showed up to find myself part of a blind date-ambush?"
"One involved a serial killer if I'm remembering the end scene correctly."
"Your memory is as photographic as it's always been. What's scary, is he wasn't even the worst of the guys she tried to set me up with. And no one can - or will let me - forget Joe. Who you decided was my last shot at respectability even though he was crazier than a bed bug. I now believe I'd be the one dead if I'd actually married him."
"But you're not, and we all know who killed him," Helen said, trying to side-step Steph's point.
"If you honestly believed that, you would be worried that you're next," I added, just to give her something else to discuss.
"You don't know squat, Mom. You and the Burg biddies sit around gossiping about what could've happened that drunken night, trying to ruin other people's lives while yours are all imploding," my wife said. "You're always letting the bad guys' behavior pass so you can feel better about being so wrong about them. You're also dead wrong about Ranger too, but in a totally different way. Not that he, Olive, or I, care because we're lucky and know the truth about what an amazing man and father he is."
"I know the truth too," Mary Lou shared.
Steph and I gave her a grin. "Thanks, Mare. We appreciate the support," Steph told her, "and we love you back."
"Since you all like each other so much," Helen said to everyone in the kitchen "You should invite her family to go fishing and leave mine at home where he belongs."
"As a matter of fact, we did invite the Stankovics," I told her.
It's clear by the immediate tightening of everything from her lips to her spine, she understands that she's the only person we didn't invite.
"But they have their own plans for their school vacation week," Steph continued. "As for that 'my family' comment, Dad, as the name suggests, is my family too. I know you believe everything is about you, but I asked him to come so Val and I, and my nieces, can spend some time with him and also to see if he even wants that. I didn't ask just to piss you off, though I know that's what you'll always believe. If you guys want to stay married, that's not really my business. If you both decide to get a divorce, I'm not going to comment on it ..."
"Good. Children should not be meddling in the affairs of their parents."
"And some mothers should stay the hell out of their children's relationships unless they're asked to give their opinion. Let the record show that from that long list I just mentioned, I never once asked for you opinion. You just gave it to me with both barrels every frickin' time I saw you. I could 'meddle' in your marriage for a little payback, but I'm not you. I only want to see Dad happier than he is right now. I think you're also wrong about a child's role in the family. I want Julie and Olive's opinions on everything, even when it comes to their Dad and I. If Jules hadn't believed I meant that, and she'd been afraid to speak her mind to either of us, it may have taken us even longer to get together."
Every one of Helen's features withdrew in displeasure. "Remind me to thank her for what she's done."
"Sorry, you're not getting that honor. My job is to protect my girls ... not torture them. And as a wife, you should treat your husband the way you want him to treat you, not create separate rule books that both benefit you. Since Grandma warned me that she accidentally/on purpose spilled the beans about the trip, I'm guessing Dad hasn't made up his mind about it, but he should be allowed to decide if he's coming with us or not without being made to feel guilty for needing a break."
"I told Frank he can do whatever he wants," Helen stated.
"Yeah, I'm sure he actually believes that when you use that tone. It's clear that nothing anyone says is going to get you to see that you and your behavior are wrong, and pretty twisted too. So I'm going to end this by saying, if Dad wants to be part of what we've built over at Rangeman, I'm not blowing him off to make you happy. And if he talks openly about something he's struggling with, even if your name comes up, I'm going to try to help him any way I can."
"I knew you hated me, Stephanie."
"I don't hate anyone except Barn-bitch and the Dick she Orr'd repeatedly."
"Not that you haven't given Stephanie plenty of reasons to hate you if she were a different kind of person," I told Helen.
"But since I'm normally a very pleasant person," Steph said to her mother, "I'm giving you a friendly head's up. You need to leave now and don't even think of bothering Mary Lou again or anyone else in order to get to me. If you do, I won't be showing up ... either Ranger will be polite and send one of our guys to remove you, or I'll call up Eddie myself and ask him to do it in an 'official capacity'."
She sounds like the Badass Babe she is, but knowing how deeply she's been mourning the mother she'll never have with this woman, I pulled my wife close as she severed this branch of her family tree with one final cut. It's not possible for me to love my daughters and mother more, but I've become even more grateful to Julie, Olivia, and Mama Manoso, for letting Stephanie see and experience what true mother/daughter love is.
"I really hope fighting so hard to keep the life only you enjoyed is worth it, Mom," Steph said as Helen stood up to leave, her purse and keys still clutched tightly in her hands. "You will never know what you've lost in this battle."