All familiar characters belong to Janet. The rest and any mistakes are mine.
"My heart's got a little stick to it," Edna said to Stephanie, as soon as we walked back into my building, "but that don't mean you gotta leave me out of all the action. Hey, Frank, you finally saw Stephanie do her thing. 'Bout darn time too! Unless a car blew up, you didn't hear about it."
"She was ... impressive," my father-in-law said. "Scared the hell out of me, though."
"Good. You need to be shaken up every once in a while. Now, about you not taking me along to help with some butt kickin' ..."
"I promise, Grandma, Dad and I were only going for a walk with Olive and the boys."
The boys are as displeased as Edna is at being kept away from 'the action'. Gunny and Mo were going over the three of us like they're bomb-sniffing dogs determined to find explosives somewhere.
"Jeez, guys," my wife said, trying to move herself and Olivia away from a particularly intrusive dog nose. "We're home and we're all okay. Please just take my word for it and relax."
"All of us being okay remains to be seen," I told her.
"No, it doesn't." She bent forward just enough for our daughter to kiss both dog heads in hopes that contact will satisfy them.
"Guess we don't get a hero's welcome," Bobby said from behind us, "being late to the party and all."
"You guys are already heroes, today doesn't change that," my wife told them. "Just you showing up put Olive at ease and saved me a third telling of the story when you handed the guy over to Eddie. Thank you for that."
"We showed up for you," Tank said. "No other reason."
"I know. And I love you guys for it. Can you make sure someone checks on that lady? I would call myself, but you guys ... even Eddie have a way of getting around every rule the hospital has in place."
"I'll take care of it."
"Stephanie, I'm …" Frank began, but Steph interrupted.
"You wanting to turn the corner to get Grandma something, did not cause this, Dad, so don't blame yourself for this or feel at all guilty about today. Imagine what would've happened if we weren't there. The guy would've gotten away and the woman would likely still be lying on the street trying to get someone to help her. We were in the right place at the right time."
As terrified as I had been for the few seconds I didn't know if my wife and daughter were alright, I had to agree with her. I'm pissed that she went after someone on her own, but proud as hell of her for not hesitating.
"Thank you for saying that, but I know what you're thinking …" Frank tried again.
"That's some party trick you got there then," my wife told him, "because I don't even know what I'm thinking."
"Yeah, right," Bobby said. "You're thinking you were pretty f-ing awesome taking that guy down and saving the day."
"If I'd 'saved the day', I would've kept him from hurting someone, not just prevented him from leaving the scene after he did."
"You did good, Babe. You should be proud. I know I am."
"Nice try, but I can just polish off my coffee in the morning, and you'll be proud of me."
"And that's as it should be."
"See, Dad? Even Ranger agrees. Grandma didn't get her coffee and snack, but we helped out someone who needed us."
As Stephanie had guessed earlier, Frank had something else occupying his mind. And despite the chaos that had hardly calmed down, he was ready to address it.
"What did you make of Mrs. Lakin?" He asked his daughter.
"Who?"
"Aideen Lakin. The woman who owns that coffee shop."
"Oh," my wife said uneasily. "We didn't have much of a chance to talk, what with the assault and all, but she did offer me free coffee whenever I stop in. That was nice of her."
"Do I get a Grandma discount?" Edna asked.
"I don't know, but yours is automatically paid for regardless, Edna," I replied.
"If you don't stop that kind of sweet talkin', you're gonna make my granddaughter jealous."
"I'm good," my wife said. "The only women I need to worry about when it comes to Ranger are our daughters. After hanging around me, normal everyday women are far too sane and tame for him. He needs a bit of crazy to keep him on his toes."
She was kidding, but I thought back to how crazed and obsessive Morelli became before he accidentally/on purpose became dead. He proved that there is no getting over her. Orr may stick his dick wherever there's an opening, but he has never remarried after Stephanie or even hinted at wanting to. Those who called my wife crazy became the ones with serious issues in the end.
"Maybe we could go somewhere and talk?" Frank spoke up, sensing his goal slipping from his grasp.
"It's going to be somewhere inside this building," I warned him. "I can watch Olivia while you do."
I reached for my baby, who hasn't wanted to let us go even when Steph lowered her down and put the soles of her pink heart cowboy boots on the sidewalk so she could walk back home with us like the 'big girl' she wants to be. But our daughter turned stubborn and tightened her legs around Steph's waist, not willing to budge. My ladies were content to just cling to each other after that.
Olive would have come to me, but Frank's words changed my direction. "I'd like you to join us," he told me. "You've had to become involved in my marriage and the end of it after all."
"So have I," Edna told him. "I wanna know what's going on too."
"Nothing is going on," he replied. "But there are a few things I need to say to Stephanie. We'll meet up for cards afterwards."
"Works for me," Bobby said, dropping an arm around Edna's bony shoulders, effectively stopping a potential confrontation. "Now I can monopolize Edna's time and tell her all about how brave I was today."
Steph rolled her eyes at him so I didn't have to and I was able to mostly play along. "For watching Tank cuff a guy Stephanie had already tackled?" I asked.
"Hey, I took off running ... believing my girls were in danger."
He accomplished his mission. Edna patted his chest soothingly. "And I know Stephanie appreciated you rushing out to help."
"They're my girls. It'll be life-saving to remember that. Let's go," I told Frank. "I can't listen to more of Brown's crap. I hope your words involve a little less BS than his."
"Fine," Grandma Mazur told us. "Go on ahead without me, since I got me a date, but I want an update and to see the picture of that flower girl dress Celia sent you for Olive. Don't think I don't remember you mentionin' it. There ain't nothin' wrong with my brain."
"We'd have it a lot easier if there was," Frank said under his breath.
Unfortunately for him, Steph heard that. He was standing near the arm not holding our daughter so he got one of his daughter's famous elbow 'nudges'.
"You want me to take little Olive with us?" Edna asked. "I'm sure Bobby can handle the two of us together."
"I can't, but I'm always up for a challenge," Brown told her.
"Normally, she'd love torturing an Uncle," Steph said, "but she's still not over what happened. I think we'll just head to Seven so she can have us, her dogs, and all her stuff around her. We'll all swing by before your card game starts. Maybe have dinner together?"
"Hot damn! I got me a full dance card today."
"I told you right before your heart-diagnosis that if you have nothing serious wrong with you, you'd be rewarded for sticking around," I reminded Grandma Mazur.
"I ain't goin' nowhere, except the control room kitchen with hot stuff here." Bobby offered her his arm and she snaked hers through it. I know he's as careful with Grandma Mazur as he is with Olivia, but I still worried he could snap her arm if he flexed his. "Dinner's at six, don't be late. That includes you too, Frank."
We all watched them walk to the elevator and then disappear from sight. "I've asked myself over and over again since we moved here, how that woman can possibly be Helen's mother, but then she'll say something like that … and I can see it."
"Except Grandma wants us around because she loves us, not to use us as cover to boost her status," Steph told him.
He started to respond, but I cut him off. "Wait until we're upstairs. I have a feeling this conversation is going to require less noise and a place to sit down for one of our group."
I was right. As soon as I got Olivia a sippy cup of milk and an Ella-approved banana/oat mini-muffin, she sat down in-between Mo and Gunny on the couch with a toy and book nearby. The three settling in even attracting Mado, who stretched out along the back of the sofa … close but not close enough to get licked or sniffed. Our cat is actually smarter than a lot of people I've met.
We chose to stay close to Olivia even with the seating in the living room now being limited. Our family closing ranks after a stressful event is nothing new to the seventh floor of my building.
Frank showed progress by jumping to the heart of the matter instead of needing to feel out his audience or overthink what he wants to say. My wife may have been uneasy about the subject matter, but she approved of his newfound confidence.
"Let me just get this out ... I regret how I spent the years I was married to your mother, Stephanie. I regret that I was so busy protecting myself, I couldn't protect you and Valerie. And I regret that I didn't deal with Gioele's death before you and your sister were born so I would've had more to offer. But I do not regret marrying your mother because she gave me you and your sister. I would never change that."
"I appreciate you saying that, Dad, but …"
"No, there are no buts with this one. I made my choices just as your mother has. Do I wish I could've done things differently? In some ways, yes. Would I go back in time and not marry Helen? No. I promise you, I would not choose any option that didn't include you, your sister, and the granddaughters I have thanks to the both of you. You and Valerie are the only thing in my life that I'm proud of. You don't want me to blame myself for today, well I'd like you to stop blaming yourself for your mother's and my decisions."
My wife sighed. "I'm trying, but I know you stayed because of Val and I."
"I stayed because I love the two of you, but I also loved your mother in the only way I could back then. I understand that what I was feeling wasn't love the way it's supposed to be … what you and Ranger have, what Valerie and Albert share. I'm walking through my life with new eyes now and living it with conscious intent."
My lips tilted up on one side. "Looks like Dr. Paice can speak even when he isn't here."
Frank's eyes crinkled. "I went from hardly talking at all to parroting his psycho-speak."
"Are you trying to tell me that I have nothing to worry about with this Aideen lady?" Steph asked her father.
"What I'm trying to say is that everything I do now, I'm doing purposely … not because it's easy or because someone is telling me to. I needed time and space to think, and her coffee shop gave me a destination. In five minutes time, I was telling her all about Gioele when I'd never spoken about him at length to anyone before."
"Because she had a kind face and can make good coffee?" Steph asked.
"It was a little more than that," he admitted. "One day I was feeling good and decided to wear my Vietnam Veteran cap out ... and she noticed."
"And wanted to thank you?"
"Yes and no. She came over to me and shared that her late husband was also a Vietnam Vet."
The puzzle's becoming simpler to solve, Steph and my eyes told each other's.
"Where you shipped to the same place?" I asked, knowing how those conversations go.
"No, but I did learn that Aideen's husband died by suicide just as Gioele did. Talking to her became easier and more frequent after that."
"So you accidentally found another source of therapy," Steph said.
"I suppose so. We both know how it feels to lose someone we cared about … and all the guilt, shame, and loneliness that followed. It's something I haven't discussed outside of my sessions. I have to say, it felt good … normal."
I studied his face and could see that he's discovered what I had when I befriended his daughter. He's met someone who understands him like no one else has up to that point. That's the reason Stephanie knows she can trust me completely. In the thirty-years I'd been on this earth, I'd never met anyone like her. And I know I never will again, so I'm not about to fuck up my relationship with her.
"You've always been normal, Dad. You just needed some help seeing that. I'm glad Ranger, Val, Grandma, and I could be part of it. If Aideen becomes more than your coffee dealer … um ... I'm happy for you. Or I will be when I get used to the idea of my Dad … dating."
"I'm only interested in seeing what life has to offer, I'm not committing to anything new right now."
I could feel my wife's eyes return to me. As if she were whispering it in my ear, I could hear her response to that despite her not saying a thing. She didn't want a partner when it came to apprehensions, but she began calling me automatically before she'd leave for one. She was worried about entering a committed relationship with me, and then we made Olivia. She was afraid to commit to marrying me on paper, but she did and in front of my entire family. If Frank is anything like his daughter, what he fights will end up being the thing he fights the hardest for.