Chapter 34 Stephanie's POV

I am still shocked at how much has happened in the last few weeks. It's hard to believe that about a year ago, Dr. Mitchell was retiring, and I was unemployed. I was content with being a single mom, not really looking for love, and desperately trying to provide everything I could for my twins. Then, John came along and helped me get this fabulous job with Rangeman, which in turn, allowed me to reconnect with the one and only man I ever loved, Carlos.

Today, I'm an engaged woman planning my wedding in Miami, which will take place in June. Initially, we were planning on getting married here in New Jersey. Still, after everything went down with my mother, Joe, and Val, we decided that it would be better to be as far away from the Burg as possible. After that, who knows which annoying busybody from Trenton would try to ruin my day. Ella has a counterpart in Miami, Jenny, who is just as efficient as Ella. So, I barely need to do anything other than okay their plans between the two women.

My first wedding was predominantly planned by my mother and ex-mother-in-law and did not reflect who I was. I wasn't happy about it, but being pregnant, I was grateful to be able to rest and not fret over the minutiae of the day. In the long run, though, I had a dress that I hated, didn't know most of the guests, and was overall miserable. Anything I suggested or requested was shot down as "inappropriate" or not "the Burg way." I still shiver when I think about their constant lectures. However, this time, my dynamite team of Ella and Jenny listens to what I have to say and asks my opinion. They are not taking over the event but helping me plan the wedding that I want that reflects who I am as a person, who Carlos is, and who we are together. It's fabulous.

Personally, I can't wait to get married. I want to have at least one more child, and I hope that Carlos gets to experience all the firsts that he missed with the twins. While I don't want to change how my life turned out, I regret that Carlos didn't experience his children growing up. I know that if Carlos knew about the twins, his life trajectory would be so different. I don't believe that he would be the CEO and owner of Rangeman. I am confident that he would not have chosen to participate in black ops. I'm not even sure he would have gone through with the Rangers. A part of me believes that if we got together at that time, we would be divorced by now, with both of us regretting the other.

It took the Burg about three weeks to stop mentioning my mother, sister, or Joseph Morelli ten thousand times a day as it was the biggest scandal to hit Chambersburg since…well, since ever. It was a shock when my father told me the news the evening of mom's arraignment.

"Stephanie, your father's here," Carlos informs me as I get out of the shower. I nod to him and quickly enter our bedroom to get dressed. First, I pull on a support tank, a stretchy t-shirt, yoga pants, and my comfy slipper socks. Next, I run some product through my wet hair and let it air dry, hoping that I won't have a massive mess in the morning. Then, I quickly run down the stairs to find dad and Carlos sitting in the living room, drink in hand.

"Daddy, what's wrong? Is it grandma?"

"No, Pumpkin, your grandmother is okay. It's, well, it's your mother."

I pause, curious about what he means. What could possibly be wrong with my mother? "Did she escape or something?"

"No, she's, she's dead, Pumpkin."

"What?" I say, before sitting on the couch, Carlos immediately at my side. "Dead? How? We just saw her in the courtroom a few hours ago."

"Yes, and from what I've been told, she was brought back to a cell at TPD. She was placed with a bunch of prostitutes who were having an altercation when she seemed to have a heart attack. Carl Constanza and Eddie Gazarra saw her holding her chest before she collapsed and quickly entered the cell, providing her with CPR and using the defibrillator, but they couldn't revive her. After that, I guess the shock of everything caught up with her."

"What about Valerie and her girls?"

"They know, but Valerie is forbidding me, you, or grandma from attending any services for your mother. I don't know how she did it, but somehow, she got her boss, Albert Kloughn, to marry her, and they are moving to Delaware, closer to Albert's parents. Albert said that he would take responsibility for Valerie's unborn child. Still, if the rumors are true, that child is his, and not Morelli's, like Valerie would prefer to believe."

What? Valerie is pregnant with her boss's kid? What am I missing? Have I been out of the Burg grapevine so long that I didn't hear the rumor?

"Frank, how sure are you?"

"Well, Edna told me that she found out from Rita Fanucci, who is one of the nurses at Valerie's obstetrician's office, that she needed some type of shot because the baby had a different blood type than she did. She also said that Joseph Morelli and Valerie have the same blood type. So, therefore, the baby cannot be Joseph's baby."

Oh, Valerie is Rh-negative. That makes sense. "Wow, I can't believe Valerie was sleeping with both men."

"I reached out to Steven and discovered that it was Valerie who cheated, not him. After he confronted her, they agreed to an open marriage, whatever that it is. When he accidentally got their babysitter pregnant, he realized that he didn't love Valerie and didn't want to be with her anymore, so he filed for divorce. The babysitter was 21, but they had used her since she was sixteen. Valerie would tell everyone that Steven was having an affair with the babysitter since the beginning, and he would go to jail unless he gave up Angie and Mary Alice. But now, he's looking into getting the girls back, seeing that Valerie is an unfit mother. I told him he had my blessing, but I will not interfere. He needs to do this on his own since he never should have slept with someone else while being married. He and Valerie should have gone their separate ways years ago."

Dad left shortly after that conversation, and I didn't know what to think. A few days later, I reached out once again to my sister, against the advice of Grandma Mazur, Dad, and Carlos. Once again, she shot me down and refused my assistance. Well, I finally washed my hands of her, as she made her bed a long time ago. I only hope that my nieces, Angie and Mary Alice, manage to escape her fate.

Trenton PD reached out to the FBI to have Joe extradited from Italy back to New Jersey to stand trial. Vito Grizoli tried to interfere, and thanks to what the feds and TPD had on Joe, they were able to arrest him as well. It appears that Vito will not be escaping charges for the first time. The FBI reached out to Rangeman for help in capturing Joe. Before Carlos decided to assist, he spoke to me. After everything that Joe has done in his life, both to me and others, he deserves whatever he is going to get, and I gave my blessing to Carlos to go after Joe. In some ways, this is payback for how Joe mistreated me when I was a teenager, too naïve to understand what a predator he was.

It took only five days for Hector to track down Joe and two days for the team to assemble the plan in play. Rangeman and the Carabinieri developed a method to catch Joe and Terry, who was also knee-deep in her uncle's business. The team stormed into the villa where they were staying outside Agrigento and took them both into custody without much of a struggle, helped along by the fact that they were in the process of bedroom gymnastics. Needless to say, Joe had to hear a lot about his pencil-thin dick. It didn't seem that small when he entered me all those years ago, but then again, since he was my first, it probably felt larger than it was.

They arrived home two days later, and the most surprising news was that Terry was not pregnant! She somehow found out that my sister was, and didn't want to lose Joe to Val, so she faked being pregnant to force Joe to marry her and join the family business. Boy, did that blow up in her face? Once Joe discovered that Terry tricked him, he sang and sang like a thousand canaries. Needless to say, he will be entering into witness protection since there is a bounty on his head. Rumor has it that Mrs. Morelli and the rest of the Morelli clan are also looking to relocate out of New Jersey, afraid their families will be targeted thanks to Joe's stupidity.

So, in the aftereffect of all that went down, I have once again become the center of attention. This time, with people pitying me rather than ridiculing me. Which is why we are getting married in Miami.

"Babe, are you sure you want to stay here in Trenton."

I jumped, started at the interruption. "Damn it, Carlos, make some noise. You scared me half to death."

"I'm sorry, Babe, I thought you heard me. I did slam the door."

"No, I was lost in thought. What did you say?"

Carlos walks over to me and pulls me out of my chair, giving me a panty-melting kiss before leading me to the couch in my office. "I asked if you are sure that you want to stay here, in New Jersey. With the way that everything went down, are you sure this is your home?"

I sigh and shake my head. "Yes, Carlos, I'm sure I want to stay here. I can't leave here. It took me years to get to this place in my life and leaving now would make all of my hard work for naught. I understand why you can't wrap your head around why I want to live in this toxic cesspool, but it's my home, the only place I've known. I also don't want to uproot Lucia and Alex. They have lots of friends, which is the only place they know. Your family is nearby in Newark, which gives them so much more. Maybe someday, when they are off to college, I'll consider relocating, but until then, I want to stay here in Trenton."

"If that is what you want, Babe, then we'll stay here. But you must understand that you have nothing to prove. You are more than what Trenton thinks of you, so much more. I hate how everything you do and every move you make is dissected under the Burg busybody microscope. You shouldn't have to live your life constantly glancing over your shoulder at who could be watching what you are doing, who will call whom, and post it on the internet. It's no way to live your life."

"I know, but it's the only thing I know. Besides, the interest in me will die down now that Mom is gone, Val has moved away, and the Morellis are on their way out of Jersey. My mother and Mrs. Morelli were the two biggest gossips when it came to me. Dickie getting disbarred only made my former mother-in-law the laughingstock. No one is around to fuel the fire anymore, and I'm sure they will move on to a new victim. Besides, we only work in Trenton; we don't live here."

Carlos sneaks his hand up my shirt, cupping my breast as his lips touch my neck. I feel his breath against my ear as he speaks, "Babe, I'm putting up with snowy, cold winters for you; you better make it worth my wild."

"I know the perfect way to make you warm, Mr. Manoso."

At that moment, there's a knock on my door. "That will be Binkie. He's here for his session. I'm sorry, Carlos, but I must get back to work. Ranger would be upset if he knew we were fraternizing on the clock."

"Mmmm, don't worry, I can handle Ranger," Carlos says as he gives me one final kiss. "I love you, Stephanie. Don't ever forget that. I will do anything and everything in my power to make you happy. You are my everything."

I smile, "Right back at you." Carlos leaves my office, letting Binkie in as I get back to work. Yeah, life is good.