Chapter Eight: Twenty-five minutes after Ranger and I met his ENTIRE family at the Manoso hotel

"FUCK!" Carlos slammed the penthouse door. "Un-fucking-believable!"

"Yeah, that could have gone better…" I sniffed as my voice wobbled. "Can we go back to the apartment at RangeMan? I just don't want to stay here now."

"Babe." And he kissed away my tears. Ten minutes later, we were on the way back to RangeMan.


Meanwhile, in Trenton, in the 5th floor conference room, Hector, Lester and Bobby sat at the long conference table, each with a receiver to his ear. Hector was on the phone with Abuela Rosa, Les was trying, with minimal success, to calm Ranger's mother, and Bobby had Tank on the line, complaining that the attack of the Manoso sisters was worse than being in combat. There was mention of a need for hazard pay.

"Tia, please tell me you didn't ask for a DNA test…" Les accepted the bottle of Maalox Bobby pushed across the table. "Tia, was it only Tank with the family… How many of our staff watched this display?" He rubbed his temple and wondered if this is how you felt before an aneurism burst. "And Celia asked them all to leave the room… This was before you asked Carlos how he could be sure she wasn't trapping him?"

Hector signaled for the bottle as he answered, "Abuela, ella es una niña encantadora." Nobody at the table believed Ranger's grandmother was buying the "nice girl" comments Hector was trying to sell.

Tank told Bobby that Julius had married an evil woman with a bad temper, "Ana called the Bomber a gold-digging slut, well she used the term puta but Stephanie understood… It went downhill from there."

"Fuck." Bobby dug a bottle of Excedrin Migraine from his Medic bag and poured glasses of water for each of them. What a fucking nightmare.

Les was shaking his head, "Tia, she and Carlos love each other… I know it doesn't take love to make a baby… No Tia, it won't be like that. Carlos was young when Julie was born…"

"Por supuesto que puede casarse en la iglesia católica… Sí, pero murió el verano pasado." Hector assured Abuela that since Stephanie's first husband had died, she was indeed able to marry in the Catholic Church when the time came. He wisely omitted that Ranger, as a divorced man with a living ex-spouse, could not.

"Then Ana's daughter, who is all of nineteen, pipes up about the double standard of Carlos shacking up with his side piece when her boyfriend was forbidden to join them." Tank was outraged and he wasn't the only one.

"Tia, you need to realize how serious this is- Carlos is going with the team in what could be a matter of days. And Stephanie's family will be in Miami in a couple of days to meet our whole family… Well, Tia, they welcomed him into their home and were overjoyed about the baby…yes, that is something to consider… yes, I think you should talk to both of them…I love you too, Tia." Les hung up the phone and banged his head on the table.

"Abuela, ella lo ama. ¿Que mas importa?" Hector was right. Stephanie loved Ranger, and nothing else mattered. And then he reminded her that her favorite grandson was having a baby in February. "Centrarse en el bebé." Hector ended the call and rubbed his temples.

With the other calls ended, Bobby put Tank on speakerphone and asked how it all ended.

Tank hesitated before saying "Stephanie… Bobby, she absently wiped away the single tear that got away from her and rubbed hand over her belly, and Ranger bellowed "ENOUGH!" and they left. He took her to the penthouse. Bobby, he was so angry…" Bobby told Tank he would call to check in with Stephanie in the morning. None of them wanted to try and talk to Ranger tonight.

After Tank hung up, the three men in the conference room looked at one another. Bobby and Les both looked battle worn. "It's not like we don't have enough on our plate and now my aunt, cousins and grandmother blow up the whole family- crazy Cuban women and I am stuck here in Trenton."

"They are under a tremendous amount of stress with Julius taken." Bobby pointed out.

"That is no excuse! There is no way they can justify that attack on Beautiful. She worked round the clock with Hector to trace Julius for us." Les thought of something. "Hector, you need to lock down the video of the whole argument…" He did not want any of the men watching this trainwreck. Ranger might actually kill them.

"Ya esta hecho." Hector was a step ahead, as always.

FUCK!


Carlos and I lay together, our bodies in contact from shoulders to knees, on the wonderfully soft sheets on the king-sized bed, both silent and staring at the ceiling. I was not prepared for the Manoso women to be so angered by Carlos choosing me. And their husbands bailed with the RangeMan when Celia cleared the room, saying this was a strictly family discussion. Thankfully, Tank ignored her, but then again, he heard all the terrible things they said. He even understood Abuela Rosa's rapid fire Spanish rant. I think I am better off not knowing what she said. The others were bad enough.

As my thoughts whirled around in my mind and Carlos remained perfectly still, I felt it- a tiny flutter. Sitting up, I moved his hand to just below my navel and smiled at him. "The baby just moved- I felt it."

Now sitting up, he moved both his hands gently across my belly, and his lips barely touched mine. "I love you, Stephanie. And our baby is going to be so loved."

My hand went to his cheek and I felt the mistiness in my eyes. "I love you both." We lay down, spooning with his arms wrapped around me and I fell instantly asleep.