Everybody and anything familiar belongs to Janet. Mistakes are solely mine.

"I should be going with you," Stephanie told my chest.

She would have said that with a pointed look directed at my face, but me having an opportunity to hold her took precedence over an eye-to-eye conversation.

"Let's go back in time for a moment, Babe. If you knew my father was going to chew me out for getting you pregnant without the benefit of marriage first, what would you do?"

"I'm having a little trouble picturing either of your parents doing something other than calling up everybody they know just to tell them that they were going to be grandparents again."

"Nice deflect, but you know exactly what you'd do, as do I. You don't even need to say it."

She sighed with a fair amount of resignation, which warmed a circle of my T-shirt where her lips are currently residing.

"Fine. I'd do an end run around you and get to your Dad first to explain to him that both the pregnancy and the non-immediate wedding were my doing. You've always acted honorably towards me, I'm the one who wasn't thinking things through either time."

"Unless you've developed the ability to impregnate yourself with no outside help, I'm as responsible for Olivia as you are."

"Damn ... so I should stop patting myself on the back, while saying 'Good job, Stephanie', whenever I look at Olive and start including you in the ritual?"

"Don't stop doing that. You've gone above and beyond for our daughter, especially this year, but 'Yes' to involving me in celebrating her existence … unless you're congratulating Olivia for doing something I wouldn't approve of."

"Such as?" She asked, finally lifting her head to smile at me.

"Teaching her to flare her eyes and stick out her bottom lip when she wants something, comes to mind."

"That's not a way for her to get her way, she just has big chocolatey eyes and an irresistible lower lip that she inherited from you."

I bent my head to nibble on hers. "I don't know, your lips are pretty full and I still find them irresistible."

"And I know what you're suddenly full of … "

"Love for you?" I teased.

"Yeah … that's what I was going to say."

"I know you weren't so I supplied a better answer. You promise that you're okay with letting me handle Helen? This won't come back and kick me in the balls, will it?"

"Your balls are safe in my hands," she flirted, letting her hand wander briefly while we had a moment alone.

"Careful, Babe."

"Or what? You'll order me to keep my hands to myself?"

I drew her close again and put some effort into kissing her, trying to get her mind off giving me a hard time and onto what's going to happen when I'm hard in her hands later tonight.

"You will never hear me say those words to you," I promised her.

I was going back for a second kiss but was thwarted by a slight weight running into the backs of my legs. I looked down between us to see two tiny hands gripping my kneecaps from behind.

"We really have to work on your timing, Olive," Steph said, as I snaked an arm behind us to pick up Olivia. "Mama would've really enjoyed an extra minute of Daddy's time."

"Daddy bine."

"I'm choosing to believe she's trying to repeat what I said, not warning me that you belong to her."

"Believe whatever gets you through the day," I told her, stepping back quickly so she couldn't retaliate.

Not that she would when I'm holding our baby. While I was standing beside the front hall closet now, I gave Olivia the kiss she was after as well as retrieved the fishing toy I'd been hiding so she'd have something new to play with which will hopefully give Steph a break while I'm gone. My wife is going to be anxious as it is.

"Moed, I gots a fissy!" Olivia informed her dog, holding the wood toy set out so he could sniff it before both took off towards the living or our bedroom to play with it.

"You were holding out on me," Steph accused.

"Only about one toy. It was as much for your sanity as Olive's entertainment."

"Yeah, well you'll have made my Dad's day with that choice. He'll be trying to teach her to fish correctly even though it's just a toddler toy. What are we going to owe Celia for borrowing her guy for a few hours?"

"Nothing material. She only made me swear on our mother's Bible that I won't break Arlen while he's with me. I made no promises about what could happen to him on his way home."

"Ranger …" my wife warned.

"I'm kidding … mostly. If he doesn't hurt my sister, I won't hurt him. I do need him to fully grasp what could happen to him if he screws with her, but it won't be today."

"Can you thank him and his Dad for me? I was talking real big about not letting my Mom get to me, but I'm not sure what I'd do if she started in on Grandma or Dad. I hate to admit that it's probably safer for me to keep my distance from her until I've calmed down … like in five or six years."

"You need to be just as protective of yourself as you are towards Edna and Frank."

"I don't need to be. You're protective enough for both of us. Today proves that, saying 'please, let me deal with this my way' so I couldn't say no. Truth is, I just want this over and Grandma and my Dad left alone."

I wrapped my arms around her. "It's about to be over. I'll call you when I'm on my way home."

"Thank you. Since I'm in the mood to threaten people, I'm going to try to distract myself by hunting down the FTAs Woody and Junior are after by phone."

Our daughter reappeared at our side with a string of wooden fish dangling from her hand.

"I coss fisses," Olivia announced.

"Good job, Olive. You'll have to show Mama how you caught so many fish."

"There are four different games to play within that set," I warned Steph.

"Guess I'll be hunting and fishing this afternoon. Bounty hunting and toy-fishing. No question my day's gonna be a lot better than yours."

"No question," I agreed.

After another kiss to each of my ladies' heads, I left the building and drove with a purpose to the Burg. Arlen and Thaddeus Boyce are going to meet me at the Plum house, but I'd arranged to pick up Eddie Gazarra on my way there. I know Helen's first instinct will be to call the Trenton police department, so I went proactive to allow myself the couple minutes I need in order to shut her and her threats down.

Eddie was all but running out of the house before I'd even pulled to a complete stop in front of his place.

He literally hopped into the passenger's seat. "Drive," he said while he was busy buckling up.

I pulled away from the curb and saw that his front door was open again and Shirley and an older woman were standing, with arms crossed, in the doorway.

I cut my eyes briefly to him. "Shirley wanted to come," I said rather than asked.

"Yes. She and my mother. I had to promise to keep my phone on so Shirley can listen in, or she was going to have the boys tie me to the couch again so I couldn't leave."

"You live an interesting life," I told him.

Beads of sweat suddenly broke out along his hairline as he revisited a particularly torturous memory. "You don't know the half of it, Man. I'd tell you to speak in the direction of my pants and say hello to Shirley, but that sounds too weird even for me."

"I'll send you both another thank you gift and call it even."

The only pants I'm interested in addressing - or undressing in her case - are Stephanie's.

Arlen and his father pulled up a beat after we'd arrived at the Plums' house.

"I can't believe it's come to this," Eddie murmured, watching the two men slip out of a steel-gray Lexus Hybrid.

He knew who we were meeting and why.

"She's been given every chance to prevent this, and Helen proceeded to thumb her nose at every one of them. A month ago, hell a week ago … Frank was still considering returning here and to her. She blew it. She doesn't deserve any sympathy."

"Didn't say I had any for her. I've been friends with Stephanie since we were kids. That woman has never cut her daughter any slack. I don't expect Mrs. Plum to be treated with kid gloves after everything that's come out. Mr. Plum and Grandma Mazur seem happy where they are."

"Good. We understand each other." I palmed my keys and slid out of my Cayenne to greet the Boyce men. "Thank you for agreeing to do this," I told Arlen, giving him a grateful nod instead of my usual handshake.

I had given him a head's up on the possible reactions he'd be subjected to from Helen. Celia initially described him to me by saying 'picture a Latino Johnny Depp', which in theory should make him attractive enough to skate through life, but seeing him through my mother-in-law's eyes … I know he'll still appear too ethnic for her liking, even being dressed in an immaculate dark suit today.

The genes in his family clearly favor the Boyce side, since his father could be considered his clone except for the addition of a few 'I've seen some shit' lines bracketing his eyes and mouth, and hints of silver snaking through the otherwise coal-black hair. Thaddeus has less to prove to the world, so he opted for just black dress pants and a button-down shirt under a cashmere sweater for this meeting. I made a mental note to keep Edna from meeting the two in person. Controlling Helen is child's play, controlling Edna is damn near impossible.

My searches have them coming from old money, and while they do exude power and wealth, they aren't hitting anyone over the head with it. Another thing about the men I can respect. My vehicles and resources say I do alright financially, but I don't brag about what I have except to Stephanie when I want to see her nose wrinkle in annoyance at a reminder that we're wealthy.

"Don't tell your sister this," Arlen confided, "but I wouldn't have a hope in hell of getting her to marry me if I didn't do what I could to help you and Stephanie. Believe me when I say that she loves you both."

"I warned you not to rush the girl," his father advised. "If you romanced Celia right, she's already yours. The proposal will just be a formality."

The way Arlen's eyes shot heavenward in exasperation, I know would have made my wife laugh. This has apparently been an ongoing discussion between father and son.

"Celia doesn't allow a lot of people in," I told the younger Boyce, "or discuss her family with them, so the fact that you've already heard about our current legal issues, means you're closer to obtaining all things formal than you think."

My words had him suddenly standing taller. He's now ready for battle and is hopefully going to win the hand of my sister … eventually … by bringing home a win for the Manosos.

"This really is a family operation," Eddie said to me.

"It is. I plan on doing everything I can to keep Stephanie's together. I'm not going to be pleased if things take a wrong turn today. You know you're here acting as the TPD's representative today, but I'm counting on you, Shirley, and Mary Lou, to get the Burg seeing Frank's side. When this pandemic is over, he's going to want to go back to the lodge and possibly resume his cab-pickups. Helen's not going to ruin that for him too."

"You don't want a lot, do you? Just everything."

"Not everything, just what normal couples go through with the dissolution of a marriage. That shouldn't involve trashing someone's life and reputation."

"It usually includes some of that when only one spouse is interested in getting divorced," Gazarra pointed out.

"We both know that if Helen loved Frank at all, we wouldn't be having this conversation right now."

He saluted me in a touché gesture. If Frank felt even slightly loved or respected, he never would've defied his wife and agree to come on our yacht vacation in the first place. A crack started forming between the two the minute he found out that Helen was controlling the information he was allowed to hear. The rest just ripped open the last of the threads holding their marriage together.

The three men followed me up the sidewalk and waited silently while I rang my mother-in-law's doorbell.

She answered as I was reaching out to ring it again. Her eyes went wide and her hand shot up to clutch the cross pendant she was wearing … the visual epitome of a helpless woman at home alone with criminals poised to break in. I'd seen her eyes dart towards the driveway before she'd reacted, so I wasn't buying it. She knows my car and she'd recognize Eddie anywhere.

"Drop the act, and don't even try for the phone," I ordered her. "The masks we're wearing are for protection-purposes, not to cover our features in order to rob you. I spoke to him yesterday, so I can say with confidence that the Chief won't appreciate having to waste the limited resources they have on a non-emergency call. The station really frowns upon those."

Her eyes narrowed, showing her fear was all for show. "Where is Stephanie?"

"Working," I answered, shouldering my way inside.

"If my daughter is 'working', who's watching little Olivia?" Her face briefly twisted into more unflattering angles than usual. "Oh, let me guess, that's why she wants her grandmother living in that place. She will always have a convenient babysitter with my mother handy."

"Not that I need to explain anything to you, but we want Edna living close by because we enjoy her company while we also make sure she's well taken care of. Olivia is busy right beside her mother. We're the only ones raising our daughter. If you were a different kind of person, you'd be proud of how much Stephanie is loving being a mother, wife, and businesswoman without needing to give up one to have the others."

As usual, she just ignored what she didn't like hearing.

"Edward Gazarra! What is the meaning of this? Why are you here with these men? Do I need to call your mother and have a talk with her?"

"I'm afraid both my wife and my mother threatened me with severe punishments if I didn't stand up for Grandma Mazur and Stephanie here."

"What does my mother and daughter have to do with you?" She asked.

"I'm here acting in an official/unofficial capacity on their behalf. You went way too far this time, Mrs. Plum."

I gestured for the Boyces to sit if they'd like, as Eddie has already done, perching on the sofa opposite of Helen. Both men shook their heads in the negative. They're standing with me and I liked them more for it. They understand that this is not a social call. It's more like the moment a guilty verdict is set to be read to the court.

"I'll make this quick," I told my in-law. "This is Arlen Boyce and his father Chief Justice Boyce of Jersey's Supreme Court. Arlen is here to deliver some papers and Chief Justice Boyce came along as a reminder that the courts aren't the place for petty tantrum-throwing. Edna is a grown woman who knows where she wants to live. And it isn't here. I'm not sure how you've convinced yourself that trading the life of one human being for another's is legal or okay, but you're the only one who isn't angered and appalled by it."

"You've been served," Arlen deadpanned, handing Mrs. Plum a business-sized envelope.

When she refused to take it, my potential brother-in-law just slipped it between her clenched hands and the knees they were sitting on. She had no choice but to acknowledge it then.

"What is this?"

"Those are divorce papers. You miscalculated and went with the wrong threat. Frank didn't care for your blackmail attempt any more than Edna, Steph, or I did. He has filed for a divorce from you, and I want you to sign your name to the documents and agree to let him go. This ends today or I promise I will end you. You may be used to lawyers functioning slightly above Albert's level, but aside from knowing and almost being related to the two men beside me, I have a legal team at my disposal who will spend every minute on the clock dismembering your life here."

"You can't do this," Helen said after a moment. "Eddie, don't just sit there. This man is threatening me! Do your job and arrest him!"

"If I did that, I'd have to look into the claims of you threatening legal action, which sounds disturbingly like you wanna swap your mother's freedom for the return of Mr. Plum's presence here. I'm not a lawyer or a fancy judge like these two, but as a cop … that reeks of criminal to me."

"Think real hard about what you're willing to lose here," I advised Helen. "If you agree to sign the papers and meet Frank halfway with peaceful divorce proceedings, you'll likely be able to keep living in this side of the duplex and walk away with enough in spousal support to live on. If you don't … I will personally see to it that you end up broke, homeless, with nothing to live on except for whatever skills you have can bring in. Is continuing to be referred to as Mrs. Frank Plum more important to you than having a house to live in and food to eat? I've seen too many people end up with nothing after making one bad decision, I don't recommend this be yours."