Chapter 10
"Babe," Ranger said, stroking Stephanie's face. "Wake up, my love."
Stephanie opened her eyes and smiled. "Morning, Batman. Are we landing soon?" Stephanie asked.
"We are. You have to raise your seat," Ranger whispered. Stephanie nodded and got her chair in the upright position. She looked across the aisle to see April getting Julie to do the same. "The flight attendant woke up April."
Julie and April sat in the back seat of Ranger's Porsche Cayenne. April noticed Stephanie was fidgeting. "Steph, are you nervous?" April asked.
"A little. I haven't seen the guys in two years. They're going to be shocked when they see me," Stephanie confessed. She twisted her fingers together as she chewed on her lip. Ranger gently tugged her lip free. He stroked his finger along his lip.
"Babe, they love you. All the men know Bianchi attacked you. They assume he successfully killed you, but they also hope you will come home. Many theories circulated Rangeman," Ranger explained.
Stephanie liked how much Ranger had talked to her lately. He was never this chatty before she disappeared. "Who was closest to the truth?" Stephanie wondered.
Ranger glanced into the rearview mirror before replying, "Hal."
"There's no way," Stephanie said, shocked that Hal could come up with an elaborate theory.
"He got everything right except the location," Ranger added.
"Told you, Steph. Hal is naive, not dumb," April stated. She stuck her tongue out at Stephanie. Julie couldn't stop laughing.
"Oh, man. You two are so funny," Julie laughed. "April, you are just like Stephanie when I first met her.
Stephanie mumbled, "She never even met Hal, and she's defending him."
Julie pulled her phone from her pocket to call Tank. "Hey, uncle Tank. Can you have Hal meet dad and me in the garage?" Julie sweetly asked. "We're a few blocks away."
"Will do, Jules," Tank replied and hung up.
Tank smirked, realizing Julie was plotting something. Hal was on monitor duty. He approached Hal and barked, "Hal, report to the garage."
"Make a little noise, man," Hal said after he jumped in his seat.
"I'll take over on the monitors," Axel, a contract worker, said as he took Hal's chair. His friend Rob took Cal's chair after telling Cal to get up.
"All full and part-time Rangeman employees, please report to conference room three," Tank announced over the intercom.
Hal took the stairs to get to the garage. When he exited the stairwell, he saw Miss Brighton from the photograph. She was more beautiful than her picture. He barely noticed Stephanie holding Ranger's hand.
April felt someone watching her and turned to see if anyone was around. Her mouth popped open as she stared at the gorgeous man standing near the door. He was tall, blond, had blue eyes and was muscular. The man blushed when she looked at his face.
Julie tugged April towards Hal. "April, meet Hal Evans. Hal, meet April Brighton," Julie said before returning to Stephanie and Ranger. She grabbed Stephanie's hand and tugged her towards the elevator. "Come on, Steph, dad. We need to get upstairs. Hal can lead April to the right room."
Ranger left their luggage in the car. Someone would grab it later. When they got in the elevator, Julie said, "Hal and April look cute together."
Stephanie laughed. "I agree. They blushed the same too." Julie tapped her finger against her lip, pretending to think before she laughed. "Did you scramble the cameras, Carlos?" Ranger nodded. He waited a few minutes before opening the elevator doors. Stephanie walked behind Ranger, keeping herself hidden from view.
"Men!" Ranger demanded when he entered the room. "I have a few announcements." He waited for the men to quiet down before he said, "I got married in Hawaii."
The men were outraged. Tank, Hector, Bobby and Lester stood at the back of the room wearing shit-eating grins. When Stephanie heard someone ask, what would happen if he found Stephanie, she stepped out from behind Ranger and said, "He married her." She laughed at their shocked expressions.
Ranger shoved Stephanie behind him when they rushed towards her. Stephanie appreciated the gesture, but she had to face her demons. She was not going to cower. Tank whistled, getting everyone's attention. "Men, stand down!" Tank ordered.
Stephanie stepped towards Cal. She touched his tattoo. "Flamin' Fred. I missed you," she whispered. Cal hugged her, too overwhelmed with emotion to speak. She hugged Manny next. "Hubby, I missed you," Stephanie whispered.
"I missed you too, wifey," Manny replied. Stephanie hugged each man and said that she missed them.
Hector moved in front of Vince to hug Stephanie. He brushed a tear off her cheek. "Don't cry, Angel," he whispered. Stephanie leaned into him to kiss his teardrop tattoos. He kissed her cheek before letting the next man hug Stephanie.
Bobby approached Stephanie. He smiled when she tugged his braid. "I'm glad to see you face to face. I missed you, Bomber," he whispered.
"I missed you too, Bobby," Stephanie automatically replied.
Lester whispered, "Beautiful." He hugged Stephanie tight.
Tank lifted her and said, "I missed you, Little Girl."
She rubbed his head. "I missed you too, Big Guy," she said before busting a gut laughing. Ranger tipped back his head and laughed. Julie giggled the first time Stephanie said she missed someone.
"What's so funny, Beautiful?" Lester asked.
Stephanie took a few minutes to calm down before saying, "I was telling everyone that I missed them, but I didn't remember any of you until eleven days ago." Hector grinned.
"You had amnesia?" Vince asked.
"Yes. It took me a year to remember my name, and I didn't remember anything else until I bumped into Julie eleven days ago. Did you guys take bets on what happened?" Stephanie asked through narrowed eyes.
"Well," Lester said as he looked at his feet. "It gave us hope that you were still alive."
"Who won?" Tank asked.
"Hal," Ranger replied. "Everything except her location was correct."
"You mean she was kidnapped, stripped, wrapped in a blanket, flown in a plane down the coast, shoved inside a cheap coffin, moved to the middle of the ocean on a shipping barge, beaten, tossed into the ocean and saved by dolphins?" Lester asked, reading the information from his notebook.
"There's no way she went through all of that," Bobby stated.
"Grab some snacks and take a seat. I'm going to tell you everything that happened," Stephanie said. The men grabbed food and listened as Stephanie walked them through everything Anthony Bianchi did. April and Hal entered the conference room when Stephanie began her story.
They couldn't believe Stephanie had survived the horrific ordeal. Julie sat on Ranger's lap, her face buried into his neck as she listened to the story for the second time. April pulled a medical file from her purse. "Who gets Stephanie's medical file?" April asked.
Bobby leaned forward, "I do. Bobby Brown, Rangeman's medic."
"Nice to meet you. All of the injuries are in the folder. The doctor included photographs," April said, passing him the file.
"Not here," Ranger said when Bobby opened the file. He nodded and closed it before excusing himself. Hector followed Bobby when he left the room. Ranger checked his phone when it chimed, then gave it to Stephanie to read.
She smiled, then whispered, "Is Hector recording us?" Ranger nodded. She grinned.
"Why are we here, Frank?" Helen asked when he parked inside the Rangeman garage. She looked around the garage at the line of black cars. Helen pulled her purse tight against her chest, afraid that someone would open her door and grab her pocketbook. Her lips pinched together as uneasiness settled in her stomach.
"Manoso asked us to drop in today. He has some important information regarding Stephanie to share," Frank replied.
"She's dead. What more does that man know? I knew he got my baby killed," Helen snapped. Frank rolled his eyes. He helped Helen from the car and guided her to the open elevator. When they got in, the elevator immediately ascended. "You didn't push the button. Why is the elevator moving?" Helen asked, scared.
"Someone in the control room is moving the elevator, Helen. Manoso is expecting us," Frank answered. Hector said they would be in the large conference room on the right after exiting the elevator. They walked towards the room at the end of the hall. "In here, Helen."
Frank opened the door for Helen to enter the room first. "What are we doing here with all of these thugs?" Helen whispered. Helen's eyes settled on Stephanie. Her mouth dropped open, and her eyes opened wide. She was shocked her presumed dead daughter was alive.
"These thugs are my friends, mother," Stephanie stated. "Hello, Stephanie. How are you? I'm fine, mom. Thank you for asking. What's wrong, mom? Are you surprised to see I'm not dead?"
"How could you? I buried you a year ago. Why me? Why can't my dead daughter stay dead?" Helen whined.
"Excuse me?" Stephanie asked, approaching Helen. "Did you really say you wanted me to be dead? Wow, mom. You have hit an all-time low. What do you think the neighbours would think? HMM?"
"But. But. But that's not what I said," Helen attempted to backpedal.
"Please tell us what you meant. I would love to hear what you have to say and why you easily gave up," Stephanie said, crossing her arms across her chest.
"Your father and I waited for you to come home for one year. But you couldn't be considerate enough to call. Everyone kept asking why we didn't grieve or when we would have the funeral. You would have called your father if you were still alive," Helen explained.
"I think I understand. You did what your Burg friends expected you to do. Do you know what I went through?" Stephanie asked. Helen squared her shoulders and raised her head but did not admit that she acted hastily. It was Stephanie's fault, not hers.
"I was kidnapped. My captor was thoughtful and removed my clothes. He wrapped me inside a moving blanket so tight that I thought I would suffocate. I got shoved into a plane, where I got tossed into the back like a bag of trash. When the plane landed, he shoved me into a coffin where the lining was so itchy that it gave me a rash. I couldn't see where I went next, but I know I got moved to a shipping barge. What felt like days later, I was removed from my confined space, handcuffed, shackled and beaten within an inch of life. I prayed for death, mother. Do you know how that feels? To have every inch of your body punched and kicked. Both of my arms and legs got broken from the bar that he used to hit me. My cheekbones got shattered, and my jaw was broken. After getting hit in the head, I passed out. I woke up when my body hit the water," Stephanie said as she moved closer to Helen, their noses almost touched.
"You could have called," Helen stated, taking a few steps back. Helen couldn't understand why Stephanie didn't call home. "Surely you could have got someone to notify your family if you couldn't talk."
"I didn't know my name or where I lived. It took almost a year before I remembered my first name was Stephanie. My nurses went through the alphabet one letter at a time, calling me random hames. I didn't recover any memories until Ranger, and his daughter found me on a beach in Hawaii a few weeks ago. Tell me, mother, when should I have called?" Stephanie said, tilting her head to the side.
Helen's face paled when Stephanie said what had happened. "Someone could have taken your fingerprints and got the police to locate your family," Helen sneered.
Stephanie took a step back and muttered, "Unbelievable." Frank walked to Stephanie and hugged her. Helen watched him whisper something to Stephanie.
"Let me handle this, Steph," April said, touching Stephanie's arm when she stood beside her. April waited until Stephanie nodded before taking.
"Mrs. Plum. I'm April Brighton, and I was one of Stephanie's nurses. The doctors thought about using the police to find her family. Without knowing who hurt Stephanie, they wouldn't take the risk of having the men return to finish the job. We read newspapers and watched the news, hoping someone was looking. After a few months, we stopped monitoring the news. Over 59000 US females go missing per year. It takes time to rule out the women fitting Stephanie's description."
Ranger added, "I talked to the Honolulu police chief. Their computer systems only connect to local databases. Even if they received fingerprints, they didn't have access to the programs to uncover my wife's identity."
"Your wife?" Helen screamed. "How could you do this to me, Stephanie? What would the neighbours think? I will not let that man step one foot inside my house. Stephanie, you are no longer my daughter. Why me?"
"I don't give a damn about your Burg neighbours' opinions. I guess it's good that you buried me last year. Goodbye, Helen," Stephanie said, her glare burned deep into Helen's mind. "Guys, I'm tired. We'll visit more later. Thanks for coming, dad." Stephanie raised her hand and drew a circle.
"Isn't this a pip?" Edna Mazur said from the back of the room. Stephanie turned towards her grandmother and smiled. Edna arrived when Stephanie told Helen why she didn't call and felt sad for her granddaughter. Nobody should suffer the way Stephanie had a few years ago. She tottered towards Stephanie before she could leave. "I'm proud of you, Stephanie."
"Thanks, Grandma. Can we meet for lunch tomorrow?" Stephanie asked.
Edna nodded. "Bring your gang. I could use a little entertainment," Edna replied. Stephanie rolled her eyes.
Helen was shocked. Stephanie didn't shrink as she expected. Her youngest daughter stood her ground. Why did she have to speak without thinking? Helen was thankful nobody in the Burg would know what transpired at Rangeman. She had no clue how wrong she was.
"Entertainment?" April asked when Stephanie guided her towards the apartment on four.
"Grandma wants you, Ranger, Julie and me to go for lunch at Pino's. They make the best pizza in Trenton. Anyway, Pino's is the Burg's gossip hub. Grandma loves to stir the shit. You'll see tomorrow at lunch," Stephanie explained.
Stephanie knocked on the door for 4F. Ella opened the door and immediately hugged Stephanie. "Hija, I missed you," she whispered. Stephanie nodded as Ella held on tight. When Ella released her grip, she asked, "Is this beautiful young woman April?"
"Yes. I'm April Brighton. It's a pleasure to meet you, Ella. Stephanie and Julie said many nice things about you." April looked around the apartment, finding all of her belongings unpacked. She walked towards the bookshelf. Her fingers trailed across the spines of her books. Ella and Stephanie watched as she moved through each room. April found her family's photograph on the bedroom nightstand. She sat on the bed after lifting the picture.
"Is everything alright, hija?" Ella asked.
"Yes. It's perfect," April said, tears streaming down her cheeks. Ella held April as she cried. Stephanie felt tears roll down her face. She brushed them away with the back of her hand before she sat beside April.
"I looked for a recent photo of your family, but I couldn't find one," Ella quietly said. Ella suspected that April's family died several years ago.
April gave her the picture frame. Ella looked at the gorgeous family and traced her finger across April's family. "A tourist took this photo for me. It's the last one taken before my family died. I was sixteen," April explained.
"Luis and I have no children. Let me be your mama," Ella said. "I'll be your mama too, Stephanie."
"Okay, mama," April and Stephanie replied.
"Take some time to settle in. My apartment is on the sixth floor. Press the intercom near the door if you need anything," Ella said before standing. She gave April a fob and key. "The fob gets you onto the first five floors. I'll get Hector to add my floor and suite. There's food in the cupboard and fridge."
"Thank you, mama." April and Stephanie waited until Ella left the apartment. "Is Ella always that nice?" April asked.
"She's amazing. I often asked her to adopt me," Stephanie replied.
"It sounds like she already has." Stephanie couldn't agree more. As Stephanie opened the door, April added, "I always wanted an older sister." Stephanie laughed because she always wanted a younger sister.
"Older sisters are overrated," Stephanie said, laughing as she let the door close behind her.