Thanks to all the reviewers who were vocal in wanting an extra chapter. Steph and Ranger's grandmother agreed with you. :) All familiar characters belong to Janet. Mistakes are mine.

Chapter 2

First, I heard a strange buzzing in my head. And then I felt Ranger's breath on my ear and his voice teasing its way inside it.

"Better close your mouth, Babe, before I take advantage of it being so open."

My lips snapped back together now that he snapped me out of my shock, and I saw Ranger wince and his mother's dark brown eyes narrowed at him.

"Behave, Carlos. Do not embarrass her any further," Mrs. Manoso told her son, and separated me from him. "Come with me, Stephanie. We have a party to get to."

Despite the unspoken instruction to release me, Ranger laced his fingers through mine and held on so we wouldn't be divided … and no doubt quickly conquered.

"I thought this was supposed to be my party," Batman said to his mother.

She tied Grandma Mazur's spot on the top of my 'Want To Be Just Like' list when she sighed before saying … "I gave the world you, my dear Carlos, so this is as much my day to be celebrated as it is yours."

My eyebrows were raised high as I looked up at Ranger.

"Sorry, Babe. My family only gets more annoying from here."

"Annoying?" I repeated with my eyes bugging out a little in disbelief, completely stopping our progress into the living room. "I was going to ask if there's room for me in the family. I already like this one way better than mine."

"Be careful what you say," he warned. "This house has ears everywhere listening to everything you say."

"He's not wrong," I was told by I'd guess one of Ranger's sisters who has the ability to appear out of nowhere too. "Carlos being the oldest of the boys, you get dibs on our Abuela's engagement ring if you do decide to become family by marrying our brother. I don't know why you'd want to, though. He thinks he knows it all and loves telling you that he does."

My head was spinning again. I didn't know what to comment on, ignore, or argue with first. "I can't take anyone's ring," was what popped out.

What I meant by that even I don't know.

The Manosos' home had to be big enough for eight people to live in once upon a time. And while it is a lot bigger the house I grew up in, the first floor being totally open from the entrance hall to the glass doors I bet lead to a killer patio, gave the place a roomier feel than the actual square footage number. Unfortunately, that open floor plan had me realizing every party goer had stopped talking as my words were heard and immediately shared. It was like the Burg grapevine on steroids.

"Are you saying you can't accept a ring from Carlos?" Another Manoso sister or maybe a cousin asked. "Or you're just worried about wearing a family heirloom?"

"Ummm," I said, surprising myself by actually thinking those through, not immediately jumping to my usual answer whenever a wedding question comes up … that I'm never getting married again.

"Do not answer that, Babe," Ranger said to me but was facing the entire first floor of his childhood home filled with his friends and family tonight.

"Listen to the Boss, Steph," Tank seconded. "They'll have the two of you hitched before you make it to the backyard if you're not careful."

Laughs rippled throughout the crowd, but I didn't hear a single person disagree with Tank's assessment.

"It helps that there's a Judge in attendance as well thirty plus witnesses!" Someone near the kitchen shouted.

"Ignore them," Ranger said, definitely not whispering.

"Maybe me being your date wasn't the best idea," I told Ranger. "This is taking too much attention away from you and your birthday."

"Which is why I told everyone that you'd be here."

Now I narrowed my eyes at him. "You really weren't kidding that you wanted to torture me and Zero, were you?"

"I was joking. They're teasing us as a type of initiation. When we get married, it will be our decision on our timeline."

When, he said … not if.

"That's what you weren't joking about? You actually discussed marrying me with your mother?"

"He didn't discuss it at all," Mrs. Manoso was back to say, handing us each a glass of wine. "After what you did for our Julie, he just stated that he'd make it happen …"

"Someday," I filled in.

"Yes. Something tells me this isn't the first time you've heard about this."

"The 'someday' part is reoccurring, but marriage wasn't on the table before we showed up here tonight."

"On your end maybe," she said with a wink towards Ranger. "He said when we finally meet you is when we'll know he's serious about making himself a home in Trenton."

"Is this actually happening? Or am I just having a really weird dream right now?"

"A little of both," Ranger answered, taking the glass out of my hand and putting it along with his on a side table. "This isn't a crowd you want to be tipsy around, and you're a lightweight when it comes to alcohol."

"Someone better feed the girl then," a guy who could be an uncle said behind us. "She'll need a reason to want to come back."

"Oh … I'll be back," I replied, "whenever I'm invited. This has been … enlightening already."

"You see why I'm neutral on birthdays?" Zero said to me, appearing with Bobby at our side.

I like to think they were closing ranks around us to protect us from the crowd. Thankfully, I no longer think that kind of protection is needed.

"I told Ranger that I'll take the birthday cake he'll try to refuse to eat," I mentioned to the guy who wanted me fed.

"This one's a keeper," an older man, the rumored judge maybe, said to Ranger while smiling at me.

"Everyone I know would disagree with that, but thank you," was my response.

"We decided to keep you," Bobby reminded me. "Otherwise, we would've just let you get blown up all the times you were in danger."

"Hey! That's not something I want Ranger's family to hear. I haven't been near an exploding car in weeks. Weeks! That's a personal record for me."

"Be proud then," a different man said. He looks like Ranger will in twenty years, so I'd put money on him being Batman's dad. "We celebrate small victories along with the big ones in this family."

"Steph, this is my father. The sane one who keeps my mother grounded."

"I have your baby books on standby, Carlos," his Mom warned, "be careful what you say."

"Love you too, Mama."

"I can hide all your gifts somewhere where you'll never find them."

"First off, you'll hide them in the treehouse no one except you use as a studio now. And I don't need anything. I have everything I want," he answered, his eyes sliding my way.

I don't doubt that he doesn't need anything. He can buy or 'obtain' whatever he needs, but I now know there is something he wants that only I can give him.

"Did someone say there's a ring with my name on it?" I asked the Manosos.

"Babe ..." Ranger began.

I turned towards him. "I don't mean you have to pull your Abuela's ring off her finger. I'm just saying that yeah … I do want to marry you. It doesn't have to be tomorrow, but I want you to know that I'm not going anywhere. I can count the number of people I love on one hand, and don't tell Mary Lou this … but you're the one I always think of first when I hear someone say they're unconditionally loved. If you're sure you want me, I'm yours."

Without acknowledging our audience, he pulled me to him and kissed me. It was quick and stayed mostly PG-13 because there are grandparents, parents, and siblings in the room, but this kiss was more devastating than the ones I enjoyed in the gym. To me, it felt like it sealed who we are to each other.

"Ahhh," the sister I know is Celia said, "I hate to interrupt, but Grandma Rosa has something to say."

"Haces feliz a mi Carlos. Usas esto para él," Grandma Rosa said to me while she slid a ring off her finger and passed it to Ranger.

She put her hands on my shoulders, raised herself high enough to kiss both of my cheeks, and then stepped back … waiting for her grandson to pick up where she'd left off. Although I don't speak Spanish, I recognized the words 'happy' and 'Carlos'. And giving Ranger her engagement ring didn't require a translation.

I don't think I really believed it before this moment, but I do make Ranger happy. Even his grandmother can see it. And all I want to do is continue to do that for the rest of my life.

"Are you sure about this, Babe? I don't want you to feel pressured to do something you're going to regret tomorrow."

"The only thing I regret is taking this long to tell you that I am all yours … have been for longer than even you realize."

"See, Carlos? You don't know everything after all. Told you so," his little sister teased.

"If I wasn't in the middle of something important here, I would retaliate," Batman warned.

Her sudden grin made her look like she's still in her teens, but I know all his sisters except Celia are in their twenties.

"But you can't do anything to me. Stephanie's waiting for her ring."

I was enjoying the interaction, since I know Ranger would never hurt his family, but I quickly learned that I underestimated Batman's vengeful side. He cut his eyes to Tank and gave him a brief nod. Tank pulled a silver balloon from the floor-to-ceiling arrangement that was set across from the fireplace and gave Ranger's sister a noogie with it until her dark hair was full of static and standing straight up off her head.

"Stop it, Pierre! OMG, my hair! Ohhh, you are going to pay for this!"

"Where were we?" Ranger asked, ignoring the shrieks, snickers, and threats happening all around us.

If his sister hadn't been laughing as she plotted Tank's demise, I may have stepped in so the two of us together would be more of a match against someone the size of Tank. Since this seemed like an everyday occurrence between siblings, I focused on Ranger and his grandmother's ring.

"I think we were in the process of officially getting engaged," I told him.

"So we were," he said, picking up my left hand and sliding Grandma Rosa's diamond onto my finger.

She's at least four inches shorter than I am, but it fit like it was made for me.

I was surprised when I heard a round of applause echoing throughout the Manoso home. The Rangeguys topped the noise with eardrum-shattering whistles.

I try to avoid crying in public, so I started blinking fast so no tears would form and then fall. This is a pivotal moment for me and Ranger but having his family as happy for us as we are for each other, is causing PMS levels of emotion in me.

"We did it," I whispered to Batman.

"We did. If you're still worried about wearing my grandmother's ring, we can get you a different one once we leave here."

I jerked my hand away and tucked it protectively against my chest. "No. Grandma Rosa blessed this one. I'm keeping it for as long as she lets me."

I wasn't lying about feeling good juju being passed to me through this piece of jewelry. That isn't the only reason why I'm in love with it though. It has a large but still relatively modest oval diamond that's beautiful yet not as showy as what I'm sure Ranger would pick out. But what got me is the delicate scrollwork in the triangular areas that attach the center stone to the white gold band. The thin lines of decorative metal appear to be forming a cursive 'W' on each side of the diamond. My inner Wonder Woman took that as a sign that this is not only the right move for us as a couple but also validating the fact that my life is finally going in the right direction.

I finally managed to move my eyes away from my left hand over to Ranger's face. "I'm not a fan of having trackers put on me or my things, but you need to have Hector create one that'll fit on or in here. I don't want to ever lose this."

"Consider it already done, Babe, because I don't plan on losing you."