All familiar characters are Janet's. Mistakes are mine alone.
"Ahlow," Olivia said into the receiver of my desktop phone. "Olib tawkiz."
Of course she's speaking into the wrong end so the call wasn't as successful as my little secretary had intended. But this scene is something to take note of. As a way of spending more time together and with our daughter, Steph and I have handled more and more of our business over the phone. Our pint-sized mirror has clearly been taking notes and lunged from my lap to the landline as soon as it rang.
Her forehead and tiny nose wrinkled in total confusion when she heard no voice in her ear. "Ohhhhh noooo. No talkeze."
I flipped it in her hand, more curious about what she's going to do or say next, than about who's on the other end of the line. An obvious perk to having a profitable empire that can withstand a hit or two without feeling it.
"I be Daddy," she told her caller. She paused and tilted her head in consideration of the person's reply, making her wrapped-pigtails, which my wife calls her mini-cinnamon rolls, look like they're now stacked up and down instead of sitting neatly across from each other.
I sat her little body on my desk and gave her my emptied stapler to play with while I took care of business.
"Carlos Manoso," I said to the caller.
"Now there's no need to be so formal, Carlos. I carried you for close to ten months and then gave birth to you in the natural way. I think that merits a more familiar tone."
"Hello, Mama," I told my mother, providing Olivia with a roll of tape to destroy while her grandmother and I talked.
Office babysitting is a unique experience, but if I didn't want Steph returning from Edna's and seeing that our baby had dismantled our apartment, I had to be creative as I worked while watching Olive.
"Your father has risked a visit to the grocery store, so I thought I'd take a minute and call to say how much we enjoyed watching the girls."
"Olive and Julie enjoyed their grandparent-time too," I told her. "No doubt Olivia would have preferred a repeat performance over helping me run Rangeman."
"Nonsense," my mother scoffed. "That girl idolizes you. Stephanie told me how little Olivia smiled in her sleep when you both came back from your rooftop date and gave her a kiss goodnight."
"My wife gives me too much credit."
"Stephanie and I don't agree with you there. Is mi nienta fielding your phone calls for you?" She asked.
"It appears so. It rings and she automatically reaches for it. One thing she has not inherited from her mother."
Mine laughed. "What is Olivia doing now that she's not talking to me?"
"Taping a stapler shut and now to my desk."
I gave thanks for small mercies that I only had Scotch tape on hand, not something as strong as duct tape. As much as I appreciate my baby's efforts, my desk doesn't need a permanent sculpture attached to it.
"How adorable," she decided. "If I hang up and call again, do you think she'll answer?"
"Probably."
"Okay, then that's what I'll do. It'll be at least an hour before your father returns, I don't mind using that time to play with Olivia from here. I love you, mi hijo."
"Love you back," I managed to get out before she'd disconnected.
The phone rang for a second time and my baby abandoned her art project to lunge for it again.
"Ahlow," she said into the correct end this time.
She was listening intently to whatever story my mother was telling her when Stephanie returned from coffee with her grandmother and father on four.
"Boy, you weren't kidding about Rangeman being a family business, were you?" My wife asked me. "I hope you know that Olive gets paid for any work you get out of her. She needs to know her worth early-on."
"Issen, Mama," our daughter directed, holding out the phone for her Mama to take.
She kissed our daughter's head where the baby fine hair had been parted for the pigtail-rolls, and took the receiver.
"Hello." Her teasing smile widened when she realized my mother is the one on the line. "There's no topping your son's new secretary, is there?" She asked Mama Manoso, listening for a moment before speaking again. "I admit, I can't resist her either. She's as charming and loveable as my hubby is. Wait, hold on. Apparently Olive has more to say to you. I'll put her back on."
"Mammom, iza talkin'," Olive told her grandmother, as if that weren't already clear to her 'grammy-mom'.
Our daughter's a mixture of sweet baby girl and miniature badass today … jean skirt and black tights, pink sweatshirt with a textured unicorn head on it, paired with pale purple, glittered combat boots. She could kill just by being so adorable or by stomping you to death, just like my wife. When Olivia is old enough to add relocating testicles to her arsenal, she's going to be unstoppable.
As my mother continued to entertain Olivia, Steph sat on the corner of my desk inches from Olivia's seat, leaned forward to kiss me with no small amount of relish … and proceeded to completely fuck up the relaxing morning I had going.
"Grandma Mazur's gossip source told her that my Mom has 'inquired' about obtaining a lawyer who could get a court to send Grandma back to my parents' house," she told me.
I refuse to scare her with my initial response to hearing that news, so I shut my emotions down and remained the rock she needs right now.
"You do know that with my legal team, she'll be shut down and bankrupted before she can even get a complaint filed."
To my relief, she smiled and didn't appear too concerned about the outcome of this. "I had a feeling you'd say that, so I tried not to get worked up ... yet."
"You don't need to worry about this. Just give me the name of who she contacted and I'll make this disappear. Edna is a functioning, fun-loving adult, not a pawn in any of Helen's games."
"That's sorta what Grandma said, but a little more colorfully. My Mom hinted that Grandma Mazur's heart thing wouldn't have happened is she'd been living at 'home'. My mother also believes One Shot is dangerous and a 'potential danger' to Grandma. She thinks she's finally found a way to ruin the life we have going here."
"I would never let that happen, Babe."
"I know you won't, but that doesn't stop me from being so pissed that once she ran out of people at home to control, she fixated on how to torture us from a distance. You'd think it'd take less effort to pretend to be a normal person that others don't need to run away from."
"It would be nice if she were that rational, but I'm afraid that's a pipe dream at this point. When our daughter is done telling her grandmother about her day, I'll call the head of the firm I use and bring him up to speed in case she doesn't drop this."
"Thank you. I know there's no judge or court out there brave enough to tell my Grandma what to do, but I like knowing there are options."
There are more options than she's aware of, but she doesn't need to know how far I'll go to keep the family she loves together. Morelli was child's play to what I'd put her mother through.
"Options won't be needed," I assured her. "Can I ask you for a favor?"
She waved at Olive and returned her finger-kiss before she turned a surprised look on me. "You never ask for favors beyond asking me to stay in the building if you're worried I'm in danger."
"I save my requests for important matters."
"So what's this one?"
"Can you not tell Atlas that he's one of the excuses Helen is using to try to maneuver your grandmother and father back to the Burg? He believes he's helping you by keeping your mother away. I don't want him to start thinking that he's causing problems instead of fixing them."
She studied me for a moment without speaking. She surprised me with what she said.
"I wouldn't jeopardize him like that," she admitted. "I know he's at a critical point in his life and a bit fragile. I'm only saying this out loud because you already know I'm a sucker when it comes to helping at-risk people, I do appreciate what he's done for me. I'm just having trouble letting go of what I keep picturing him doing to you if he had been better back then."
"Look on the bright side, Babe, he would've offed me long before we met."
"Look on the down side, Batman, I could be married to/trapped by psycho-stalker Morelli right now if you hadn't lived long enough to meet me and then help make this little cutie," she said, cutting her eyes to our daughter.
She has a point, as painful as it is to imagine. My life could have been over many times, in many different parts of the world, but I wouldn't have one worth a damn if I hadn't survived in order to have her enter it.
"Maybe I should wipe the gym floor with Atlas at least once," I contemplated.
Steph cupped my face in her hand and leaned forward to kiss me again. "You're sweet. You don't have to do that, though. This is more my issue than Atlas'. If I were who I was just three years ago, I wouldn't be so proud of myself, so I shouldn't hold his past against him if he has been working everyday to become someone better."
"There is no one better than you, Stephanie," I said, meaning it more than my words could convey.
"There are plenty of people better than me … you, the woman talking to Olive, our guys. You've all changed me, and hopefully Atlas will be smart and take advantage of who he's been allowed around and work hard to deserve them like I have. If not … then you can wipe the floor with him as many times as you want."
I rewarded her with a genuine grin. The moment between us was broken when Olivia dropped the phone and made a break for the opposite side of my desk.
"Nice try, Olive," Steph said, already up and moving to block our baby's escape attempt. "Not only can you not jump off Daddy's desk, you shouldn't leave Mammom Manoso hanging like that."
She got an arm around our daughter and set her on her feet so she could run after Gunny. She picked up the receiver Olivia had dropped and resumed the paused conversation. "Sorry about that," she told my mother, sitting down on my lap as she did. "Olive saw Gunner poke his head around the corner and then take off. She probably thinks he's holding out on her."
I wrapped my arms around my wife's waist and just listened, thankfully that with my mother she gets to experience one who loves her unconditionally.
"We were happy you wanted to watch the girls for us." She curled her fingers around one of my hands. "It was really nice to spend time with your son and not have to worry at all if our kids were safe and having fun."
She relaxed against me as she wrapped up the call. Thanking her Mom-in-law for once again amusing Olivia for us. I can imagine Mama Manoso's response to that. Few things she'd choose to do over spending time playing or talking with her granddaughters.
"I love that woman almost as much as I love you," my wife shared.
"I can tell you that she does know that." I stood up with her in my arms and set her on her boots as she'd just done with Olive so we could go see what she and the boys have gotten into.
Her arm came around me as we walked through the kitchen. "I used to wonder if not being able to tell my mother that I love her added to what made her hate me so much. Now I know it has nothing to do with me, or with what I did or didn't do, but I still want your Mom to know how I feel about her."
"Good. It's past time you let some of that shit go. You aren't your mother, nor are you in danger of ever becoming anything like her."
She smiled as I let her go ahead of me into the living room where Olive, Gunner, and Ammo, were piled on a couch covered in dog toys. She stopped and turned towards me, placing her hands below my rib cage … her thumbs extending to caress the muscles rippling under her touch.
"How about the next time you feel the urge to buy me a diamond necklace or swap my car out for the newest model, you instead give Ella a hefty bonus and ask her if she can put those fifteen words on a pillow or something just so I can read and repeat them every day? For the first time in my life, I feel like I actually believe them without needing to think about it first."
