Chapter 1

It was nine AM on the last Friday of September and Joe Morelli and I were in the office of an old college friend of mine, Dr. Sue Mason who was now an OB/GYN at New York Presbyterian. After three weeks of what I thought was a stomach bug, I had taken an at home pregnancy test and now we are here in an exam room, my left ring finger wearing Morelli's mom's engagement ring, waiting for the technician to turn the monitor of the ultrasound so we can see the baby for the first time.

Joe is holding my hand, standing on the opposite side of the bed from the tech, his eyes glassy and his expression so filled with overwhelming joy that my heart is just racing. To think, at the beginning of May, we had broken up because he wanted me to join him in Sicily- he took leave from Trenton PD to address a property he inherited from his uncle. I was already committed to a job with Ranger in Argentina and Joe blew a gasket about me working with Ranger and in typical fashion, we went our separate ways. Again.

Morelli spent three months in Sicily and Ranger and I, along with his Merry Men, got my FTA. Ranger and I celebrated for an extra night of absolute Ranger magic in Buenos Aries before flying home in what was clearly my last hurrah. Morelli and I got back together two months ago and apparently, we instantly got pregnant.

Since we didn't want the whole Burg to know our news just yet, we travelled to the Big Apple to make sure everything was okay so we could pretend we didn't know a thing till after we were married on the third weekend in October, three weeks away.

The screen was turned to us and Morelli drew in a breath. There was a baby with two little arms and hands and two tiny legs and feet-Joe squeezed my hand and my eyes blurred with tears. The tech stood up.

"Sorry folks, I need to go ask the doctor if she wants additional measurements since you are closer to 16 weeks of pregnancy than the eight weeks you thought."

She left the room, closing the door behind her.

Sixteen weeks… Joe was in Italy until August… OMG!

Joe got there before me. As he slid his mother's ring from my finger, his face hardened and the life and joy in his face just drained away.

His voice was low and steady, which was terrifying because typically he yells and uses his hands when he is angry. "Since I was eight years old, I have loved you. And since I made love to you, the first man to ever make love to you, I have wanted you as my wife. I knew I wasn't good enough for you then, so I joined the Navy and became a better man."

"Joe, I didn't know, I swear it never occurred to me…" Tears slid from my eyes as he stepped away from me. Joe raised his hand and I stopped.

"After you broke my leg, I stayed away, even though all I wanted to do was beg your forgiveness for being such a jerk to you- writing stuff on walls about you to try and keep the other boys away from you. You ran me over and then you married Dickie Orr- cause he's a lawyer and I'm the loser your mom hated."

"Hate might be a strong word…" I whisper but I am not sure Joe heard me.

"I thought I lost my chance with you, and slept around hoping to forget you… He put the heels of his hands to his eyes and pressed hard before continuing. "And then you burst back into my life like a tornado, solved the murder and saved my life. And I was that eight-year-old boy all over again."

"Joe, please…"

"And now… now you try to pass off Ranger's kid as mine. I have to ask why? Because you know he won't marry you? Because he wants a strings-free life? Because he can't offer you all that I have…Or that he won't?" The spite in his voice makes me flinch.

I am frozen. Joe's eyes are so cold. "Joe, I didn't, I didn't do this on purpose… I didn't know… I swear I didn't lie to you…"

Joe didn't acknowledge that he even heard me.

"Goodbye, Stephanie." And he walked out the door and out of my life.

There would be no wedding, no happily ever after, no family dinners. The sobbing took hold of me as I got down for the exam table and wiped the jelly from my belly and got dressed. When the tech returned, I told her there was an emergency and I would have to reschedule.

I fled the building and walked, using my sleeve to wipe the tears away as they blurred my vision.

The baby was Ranger's. And Joe was gone. This time forever. I wasn't getting married. And I had to contact Ranger and tell him. What would he say? Was Joe right about him? Would he want us?

OMG!