Ranger and I had just put the girls to bed when Tracy called. "How did it go?" I said.

"She's a bitch and I never want to talk to her again", said Tracy with tears in her voice.

"What did she do?"

"She cursed Eli. Eli didn't understand that was a curse, and he thought it was a new way of greeting someone. So he did the same thing back." I snorted. I would have liked to have seen that. "Grandma Bella didn't think that was funny. So she did it again and screamed Italian words at him. He didn't realize it was another language, so he did it again and screamed gibberish at her."

I started laughing hard. "I know that I shouldn't be laughing, Trace, but I can just see that happening. With the innocence of children, he wouldn't understand that she thought he was making fun of her."

She snorted. "It was horrible, Steph. After he screamed at her and Joe started laughing, Grandma Bella screeched, jumped up and tried to attack Eli. Eli thought she was going to attack me, so he placed himself in front of me to protect me. I put my hand on his shoulder and he was shaking hard. He was so brave though. Joe stepped in front of Eli, told Grandma Bella that we were leaving and we wouldn't be back until she apologized for her appalling behavior, turned to his mother and told her that he wouldn't put up with any more of his grandmother's bullshit, and he picked up Eli and guided me out of the house. Eli was crying because he thought he did something wrong, and Joe drove us home, got out some ice cream, gave us each huge bowls, and sat down to talk to Eli. He explained that his grandmother wasn't a very nice person and he was sorry that he had to subject Eli to her. But now that she had seen the person that hopefully would become her great-grandson, they didn't have to see her again. He said that Eli had done nothing wrong and that we were very proud of him. And then Joe said the thing that he was the proudest of was that Eli tried to protect me. He said that we would try to protect him just as much as he tried to protect us, and that was what family was all about. Since Grandma Bella didn't understand that, she was no longer part of our family. If she changed her attitude and apologized, we would give her another chance. However, until she did, she was dead to us. Joe said that you have to act like family to be a part of our family."

"What did Eli say?"

"He swiped away some tears, got off his chair and climbed on Joe's lap, cuddled in and said 'thank you'. He sat for a moment, and Joe looked so happy to be getting the cuddle from him, and then he asked Joe if the rest of his family were equally as mean as Grandma Bella. Joe said no, but he didn't spend a lot of time with his family. He said his family was nice, but they had different views than him on things and he personally found that hard. So we had created our own family with Tank and Amelia and Hal and Nick and Dirk and Cindy and Miguel and Kate and you and Ranger and all the kids. You are the people who will be his aunts and uncles and cousins. You are the people that we'll get together with for functions, and you are the people who will stick by us through thick and thin. He said that sometimes you had to make your own family, and that was a good thing to do. So Eli asked whether that meant that he would be able to play with Alix and Ethan often, and Joe told him that we usually see each other once every week or two. Eli pulled over his ice cream, grinned, and said, 'good'. And then Bob ate his ice cream."

"Oh no. What did he do?"

"Eli laughed. Bob tried to pretend that he hadn't done it, and Eli laughed again. He said next time we should give Bob some of his own ice cream, because even though Bob looked different than us, it didn't matter. He was still part of the family. Just like him."

I smiled. "God, I love that kid. Is he in bed now?"

"Yes. He said that he's never had his own bedroom before. Joe and I decided that, when we adopt him, we'll decorate the room the way he wants it done. Steph, I don't know what I'll do if we aren't allowed to adopt him."

"I know. One thing at a time. Right now you are creating bonds with him, and that has to mean something in the courts."

Tracy was silent for a moment. "It was pretty funny when Eli was copying Grandma Bella."

"Serves the old hag right. She can't walk around hurting people's feelings and not have any ramifications for it. She has gotten away with it for much too long, and I am proud of Eli for teaching her that it wasn't acceptable. And I'm proud of Joe for not taking it and for protecting Eli. Eli is just a kid and shouldn't have to put up with that bullshit."

"Eli has had so much to deal with in his life. I put bubbles in his bath tonight, and we made bubble sculptures together. We had a lot of fun. But Steph? His body is a mass of scars and bruises. No child should have to go through that. It made me want to cry again. I washed him off and called Joe in to dry him so that he could see the damage. Joe got mad and Eli thought he had done something wrong. He luckily asked him, and Joe luckily told him the truth. He explained that people had treated Eli badly. Eli was a good person and the gang members had hurt Eli. Joe explained that it made him upset because it was not Eli's fault at all. Joe said he wished he had been there and had been able to hurt the men in return. And after Joe helped him into his pajamas, Eli gave him a hug and said that it was okay, because Joe was there now. Joe cried and gave him a big hug and told him that he loved Eli. Then he helped him brush his teeth and we read him a story and tucked him into bed. Eli fell asleep with a smile on his face, and his arm around Bob. Joe is down in the basement now working on the heavy bag."

"How are you doing?"

"Better now that I have talked to you. Eli is an amazing kid, and I think Joe and I were far more upset about what happened this evening than Eli was. His reaction was that we didn't treat him like that, so it was okay. I'm just glad that he understands that we would back him through anything."

"I think he is getting that idea."

"I'm going to make an appointment to take Eli to the doctor to get him tested for STIs. Are there any days that I shouldn't take him?"

"Just tomorrow and the next day. Those are the days the ERTs are doing the captures. However, after that I am open to take time off. Just let me know and I'll work around your schedule."

"Thanks. By the way, I never congratulated you on your promotion."

I laughed. "I am so not looking forward to telling my sister." Val was the manager of a clothing store, but she thought her talents were more suited to working in head office as the President of the chain. She was jealous enough of my Director title. She would be even more jealous over my Vice-Presidency. I knew that I was going to pay for it.

Ranger would particularly have fun with it. When Ranger and I got married, Val was verbally abusive to me. She thought that she would be the better wife for Ranger and was quite vocal about it. She told me that Ranger would leave me, that he was only marrying me because I was pregnant, and that I was a loser who didn't deserve to have someone as great as Ranger love me. Through her comments, I realized that the crush that she'd had on Ranger a few years before hadn't gone away, and she was taking out her venom on me. Ranger, when he found out, was furious. What made it harder was that I was suffering from depression at the same time, so instead of getting angry I took her comments to be truthful. Spending time with her made me cry. While I don't cry around her anymore, I still take her comments far more to heart than I should. Nobody could get me to question my own goodness like my sister could.

Ranger had been furious about Val's treatment of me, and as a result he was happy to stick it to her as often as he could. That wasn't why he gave the Vice-Presidency to me. However, in his mind it was a nice side benefit. I purposely hadn't told my mother of the promotion because I knew that Ranger would want to tell Val himself. He was always happy to see her suffer from being attacked by the green-eyed monster. He figured that was suitable punishment for the vindictive comments that she had frequently said in the past and, since I wouldn't let him do anything else, he tried to make her as jealous as he could.

Tracy laughed. "Val will be hitting you up for a job again."

I groaned.