Everyone and anything familiar belong to Janet. Mistakes are mine alone.
"So … which one do you think I should pick?" Stephanie asked us.
Julie, Olivia, and I had taken up residence on the king-sized bed in our bedroom, with Mado behind us on my pillow and Gunny and Mo crowding the foot of the bed, while we watched Stephanie try on the different styles of rose gold bridesmaid dresses Celia had delivered yesterday. While Julie was already visiting, my sister decided to take advantage and get a few steps ahead in her and Arlen's wedding plans by having her bridal party's gowns decided on.
The event supposedly isn't scheduled to happen for a while, but everyone who knows Celia, understands that she wants every detail nailed down like the ceremony's set to take place any moment. It's probably good that she's marrying an attorney, they can take turns being the one micromanaging their days.
"This is the last one," Steph continued. "Do you guys prefer the dress with the halter top, the strapless one, one-shoulder, spaghetti straps with the 'V' neckline, or this off-the-shoulder dress?"
"I'd like Celia to put in an order for a rose gold parka for you," I told her, not kidding at all.
All that soft skin on display will not only be distracting, it may distract someone who isn't me ... and then Celia will attempt my murder for killing someone ogling my wife during the ceremony.
"I'm sure your sister will appreciate your input into her wedding plans," Stephanie replied.
"All of them are really pretty," Julie told her, "but I like the halter-style dress, Steph."
"Wrong answer," I said to my daughter. "That one has no back."
"So? The church will be heated," my little spitfire shot back.
So will my blood, I thought, but I would never worry my daughter by saying something like that out loud.
"Okay, so that's one vote for the backless dress and one for a winter coat," my wife said. "This morning has been very helpful. Remind me to call in Ella and your mother for a few more constructive opinions."
As if her cell reacted to her mentioning using it soon, it rang from where she'd dumped it on the bed. No surprise, it had migrated from the pillow Mado wasn't shedding gray fur on, to under Olivia's fuzzy, pink cammie-covered body. Steph assumed 'playing Barbie' wouldn't take too long and decided our baby could stay in her pjs until the mini-fashion show was over.
My wife raised her eyebrows at me, giving me permission to check the number and decide whether or not they're worth an interruption. I didn't even get to the phone number after reading the name above it. A red mist of rage suddenly clouded my vision.
"Why is a Morelli calling you?" I bit out.
Both Julie and Olivia went still. Even in my rising state of rage, I noticed our dogs went on high alert too. Mado just snored on, oblivious to the fact that my temper is barely holding on.
"It's not what or who you think," my wife said softly, talking me back from the ledge. "Concentrate on the first name of the caller, not their last. The only Morelli that I've given the okay to call me is Cathy, you-know-who's sister. Let me answer that and then I'll answer any question you have. Okay?"
It killed me to do it, but since Joe is already dead … I did what my wife asked me to and handed her the phone.
"Cathy? Hey, what's going on?" Steph said, moving closer to me and resting a hand on my shoulder, trying to squeeze the tension out of it.
While she was talking, Julie's instincts and curiosity kicked in. "Who's 'you-know-who'?" She whispered to me.
"That police detective who was stalking Stephanie and endangering her and your baby sister in the process."
Like it's something everyone does, she paused and ran through a mental list of all the people she knows who've threatened my wife.
"Oh, I remember. He died in a diving accident when he was on vacation, right?"
"Right."
At least that's the story I'm sticking to.
"And his sister stays in touch with Stephanie?"
"Evidently," I answered, trying hard to hear both sides of the conversation, not just Steph's end of it.
Stephanie continued to sound calm while not saying very much, but the way her fingertips dug into my shoulder joint had me bracing for bad news. The call ended two minutes later and I was already standing before she'd glanced down at the dress she's still wearing as if suddenly realizing she can't just rush out of here.
Which I was happier about than I'd admit to.
"Crap. I need to change," she said to herself.
"You need to tell me what this Morelli wanted," I informed her.
"She has a … sensitive issue," she replied, after a quick glance at the bed and our daughters, "that requires a little help handling."
"If you think you're going anywhere near that family without me, Babe, you are seriously mistaken."
"It's not that kind of problem. She just needs a calm head and some advice."
"Then Dad has to go with you, Steph. He's the calmest guy I know. Well, he was until he saw the name of that caller."
"Yeah. Your Dad doesn't care for most members of that family. That would be my fault, since their hobbies were to bad-mouth or put curses on me."
"That's weird," she said.
"Weird doesn't even cover half of them."
"Which is why I'm driving," I told her.
"Alright. I know there'll be no changing your mind. Call Ella or Tank while I go put normal clothes on, so someone will be here with the girls."
"Guys," Julie began, after I called and spoke briefly to Tank. "I can watch Olive. I'm old enough to. Plus, I think I've shown that I'm pretty good at taking care of myself … even under some 'pressure'."
I nodded. "You are, and you have. You're so mature, I've even trusted you to watch Stephanie. But you're here to visit, not work."
"I hate when you do that."
"Do what?" I asked her, as Steph grabbed some clothes - jeans and my Rangeman sweatshirt - and disappeared back into the bathroom.
She did have to change, but she's also avoiding this battle of wills.
"You're too nice when you tell me I can't do something," my daughter explained. "It makes me feel bad for wanting to argue my point, so I usually don't."
"You've learned my secret … I kill your goals with kindness."
"He's not kidding, Jules," Steph said, coming back into the room. "He tricks you into not wanting to hurt his feelings or tell him no. He's freakin' Batman, yet we still try to protect him from us." She risked getting dizzy by tipping her head and following Olivia's active little body as she jumped up and down on the mattress. "Daddy clearly lost control of the troops while I was busy changing."
"Only one of them," Julie replied. "I'm still sitting here being mostly quiet."
"Olivia and the bed are fine," I told my wife. "If you haven't broken it so far, a toddler won't be able to."
"Ewww … Dad!" Julie all but shrieked. "You can't say stuff like that. Olive may not understand it, but I do."
"First, who do I have to kill over your sudden 'understanding' of things? And you wouldn't have misunderstood what I said if you'd ever seen Stephanie get really excited about something. She jumps up onto the bed and performs a modified gymnastics routine to work out her energy and more than a few 'I told you so-s'."
I met my wife's narrowed eyes and raised her an eyebrow until she caved. "I want to say your Dad's exaggerating, Jules, but he's annoyingly right in this case. I'm Italian, I emote … enthusiastically." She watched Olivia land on her butt and then crawl back towards Gunny before turning to me again. "Who'd you call, since I know you're not going to make Julie play parent while Olive just plays?"
"Tank. He claimed all Olivia-watching-time since she pointedly ignored him whenever he was standing with Mabyn at the party, yet stayed completely enamored with Hades while the puppy was there."
"I should apologize to him for that. My baby holds a grudge as ruthlessly as I do. Okay, Mama's gotta go," Steph told Olivia, "but I need a kiss and a hug before I do." She glanced at Julie. "From you too. Your Dad and I should still have a couple more years before you completely ignore our existence."
Our eldest laughed, but did hug each of us and give us both a kiss on our cheeks.
"You'd better stay okay or I'm gonna get started on the ignoring-you part of adolescence," Julie warned us.
"We will," my wife assured her. "The worst has already happened."
Olivia's temporary goodbye took a little longer than Julie's because she didn't understand why she couldn't come with us.
"Me go you," she pointed to herself before trying to beat us to the front door to prevent our leaving until we change our minds about her coming along.
"You can't come with us this time," I said to her as gently as I could when I picked her up. "Mama and I need you to stay here with Julie and GodTank. If I'm not mistaken, kid and dog cookies will soon be brought up by Ella too."
"We'll have fun, Olive," her big sister promised. "We can play with all those pretty dresses."
Steph's head immediately started shaking in the negative. "No, you won't. Your Aunt Celia will have two cows and a giraffe if anything is destroyed on her wedding-watch."
Julie shuddered for affect and then reached for Olivia. "Okay, so now we'll have to figure out something else to do. Maybe make a cake?"
"Yes," Steph said as I said "No".
"Just stay out of trouble and listen to Uncle Tank," I ordered our daughters.
"We'll all be good," Tank promised, as I let him into our apartment.
It's clear to all of us that he was trying to restrain himself from pushing Steph and I out the door he'd just passed through.
"Is he going to let us in when we get back?" Steph asked me, when the door did close behind us a minute later.
"Depends on how much adoration the girls shower him with."
She sighed as we stepped into the elevator. "I wish you were kidding."
"I mostly am, but right now you need to focus on filling me in on everything that's going on. I've waited too long as it is to hear the details."
"First, let me tell you that Cathy Morelli was nice to me. I think being a daughter in that family was as hard as being a girl dating one of the boys. She never turned 'Burg' on me, then or now, or blamed me for Joe's death. Through Mary Lou, I learned that Cathy was even telling Joe to stop fixating on me, stop screwing around, and just concentrate on being a good cop. I know you don't trust any of them, but she's not her dad, Joe, or like Mooch. She's tried hard to break the cycle."
I got all the doors to the building and my vehicle so she wouldn't get sidetracked and stop talking, but she went quiet in the garage.
I had to re-prompt her. "Why did she call, and what does it have to do with you?"
"She called because she knows I've cracked the code on how to get the Burg to tell the story I want it to hear. The rest has nothing to do with me. Her husband was just assaulted and is refusing to go to the ER. She doesn't know who she can talk to without the neighborhood knowing her business. The downside of her brother being a cop is that most of the TPD believe they can say and do whatever they want when her name comes up."
I waited until I started the Cayenne to ask. "What happened to the husband?"
"He took a baseball bat to the head, swung by the husband of the woman he's screwing on the side. Cathy's husband was friends with both Bianchi's … but clearly much friendlier with the wife."
"Ouch."
"Yeah, but what hurt both men more is Mrs. Bianchi got pregnant … and someone else's husband is the father. Cathy Morelli's husband to be exact," she emphasized.
"So the Morellis will be back in the grapevine headlines," I said, seeing the bigger picture.
"Yeah. Cathy will be dragged through the mud for something her rat bastard husband did. No one will care about his cheating, or a kid on the way with the wrong father. They'll just bully her about how she made her man cheat, and then give her tips on how to reel him back in … as if she'd want to. I've been there and hated that. I'm not letting her go through what I did with Dickie."
"You can't save everyone, Steph. Isn't that what you always tell me?"
"Yes. But I only want to make sure the offending parties pay, and in a way that the innocent ones get to back away from the drama unnoticed."
"You didn't cause Morelli's death," I reminded her, knowing where her mind just went. "His actions did."
"I know, but …"
"No … if you want the 'bad guys' to pay, you can't scratch that asshole off the list. He could have killed you or our daughter, or both of you in one shot. That's not something I can forgive or ever forget."
"Like I can? I just don't want Cathy punished for a case of bad judgment like I was."
"So how would you like to handle this?" I asked.
"I'm not sure. I want both guys to get what they deserve, along with the women at the center if the triangle." She shrugged. "But since she's pregnant, I guess sense can't be beaten into her."
"That would be an accurate call."
"So I guess you and/or our guys will have 'a word' with Mr. Bianchi to decide if he should be arrested, with the details of his crime somehow getting hushed up or sealed, or if this really was just a one-time lapse in common sense. I want to be sure he can't and won't hurt anyone again ... especially the bundle of joy coming in a couple months. I trust your instincts and I'll back you up no matter how you choose to deal with him."
"Alright, but I can't say I blame him. I just spent the last hour worried that I'll ruin Celia's wedding by killing anyone who was over-appreciating you and your body in any of those dresses. Except I wouldn't stop until there isn't enough of a body left to hit."
"Thank you for still believing I'll look good enough to attract that kind of attention, but even if someone was dumb enough to eyeball Ranger Manoso's wife, I wouldn't even notice because I'm always staring at you. You're pretty cute."
"Cute is a testosterone killer, Babe. Find a new word."
"You don't have to worry, you have plenty to spare, but you remain the hottest freakin' man I've ever seen and the only guy I'd want to reproduce with."
I was grinning internally thanks to her words while I put in a few calls, and called in a favor, before even reaching this Morelli's home.
"Thanks for coming," Cathy told my wife when she opened her door. "I didn't know who else to call."
"You were smart to call me. Ranger's going to handle the crime and drag your husband to get checked out to make sure nothing's damaged beyond repair. And I'm going to play your advocate instead of the devil's. Please let this be an eye-opener for you, Cathy," Steph told the woman. "You deserve so much better than this … than him."
Her eyes dropped to the carpet and the sigh she released sounded like it'd been held inside her for years. "Yeah, I'm starting to see that. You and your husband may be my only way out of this life."
