Chapter 19
We stayed in the hospital for a week. Ranger made arrangements with the hospital for me to be in a private room with my son. He hired a couple of nurses to watch over Mateo and me. Diesel loved the name I chose for our son. Mateo Lars Diesel was born on December 15th and weighed just shy of 5 lbs. I was just under 35 weeks pregnant.
Dr. Brady apologized for delivering Mateo by c-section, but it was for the best. I didn't lose my uterus, but I also can't have any more children because she tied my tubes while I was open on the table. Diesel and I decided Mateo would be our only child.
I got a restraining order from Helen. She does not deserve to have me call her mom. Shirley and Eddie backed up my story of her assault. During her hearing, Helen said she accidentally fell into me. She meant no harm. Thankfully, Judge Wilkins didn't believe her. Helen managed to post bail with Vinnie, and she was still living with Angie.
Valerie was overly apologetic. She was furious that our mom would intentionally hurt me. What would possess her to commit such an act? Helen Plum seriously needs psychotherapy.
Albert decided he wanted to leave Trenton to seek employment elsewhere. He did not want his daughter or stepdaughters to be around the likes of Helen Plum. It was the most mature decision he made since knocking up Valerie.
They moved to Pennsylvania the day after the trial. It was close enough for them to visit Albert's mom and our dad but far enough away that Helen couldn't stop by. Helen got restricted to staying in Trenton, New Jersey.
Christmas was different this year. Diesel and I hosted the meal for our extended family. Valerie got invited, but she politely declined. She was reluctant to travel this close to her due date. I sent gifts for their family with dad. He was visiting later in the day.
I heard Mateo crying over the monitor. "I'll get him, Diesel," I said as I stood up. When I got to his room, he was gone. "Diesel? Where's Mattie?" I shouted. "I heard him crying, but he isn't here." I was trying hard not to panic, but I was failing miserably.
"I've got him," Diesel shouted up the stairs.
"Holy crap!" Lester exclaimed. "Did Mattie just pop into your arms?"
"He sure did," I heard Diesel answer with pride as I descended the stairs.
"Oh boy. Mateo's going to be an interesting child to raise," I stated. "He's only ten days old and already transporting himself."
Diesel laughed before taking in my expression. "Mateo, you shouldn't scare your mommy like that. When we're home, you need to let her lift you from bed, okay?" Diesel scolded our son.
"Mattie," I said as I removed him from his daddy's arms. "You can only transport if you're in danger. If daddy is on a mission, you go to uncle Ranger, uncle Lester or uncle Hector. I'll introduce you again." I motioned the men to come over and explained to Mateo that he transfer to one of his uncles for safety.
"Can he understand?" Lester asked. Mateo wasn't like the typical baby. He is unmentionable like his dad. From the day he was born, we knew he was intelligent.
"It appears as though he can. Do you want to test it?" I asked. Lester excitedly ran upstairs to Mateo's room. "Mattie, can you go to uncle Lester?"
"Holy crap! He understood," Lester said over the monitor.
When he came back downstairs, I said, "Watch your language around him. I don't want those to be his first words."
Hal's grandfather, Herbert Wilkins, stopped by to visit his grandson. He couldn't resist holding my son. "You have an alert child," he stated as he passed Mateo back to me. "He's very handsome."
"Thank you," I replied. Diesel warned me that I would see advanced development in our son. If Mattie is already transporting himself within the house, then he'll be able to travel further by the time he's six months old. I hope for my sanity that he waits until he's over one year old before he attempts to leave the house.
Hal and I were still visiting with Wilkins when grandma showed up to see Mateo. I laughed when Hal's grandfather asked for an introduction to grandma. She was giggling like a high school girl when he commented on her blue eyes.
"We're going to be related," I whispered to Hal. His face turned bright red as he watched his grandpa flirt with my grandma. Ranger and Lester had to leave the room. They were having difficulty suppressing their laughter.
Diesel handed Mateo to grandma for a few minutes. She was more interested in flirting with Herbert than holding my son. It didn't bother me at all. Hal and I excused ourselves to grab a drink.
"I haven't seen grandpa that happy in years," Hal said as he grabbed a beer.
"How long ago did your grandmother pass away?" I asked.
"When I was in high school. Your grandma is a spitfire like my grandma Lacey. I can see why he wanted to meet Edna," Hal replied.
"Do you mind if he dates my grandma?" I wondered.
"If it means she stops pinching my ass, then I'm all for it," he said with a chuckle. I didn't think he should discount her need to grab a firm ass.
Hal and I returned to the living room with our drinks. Grandma and Herbert were heading towards the front door. "Leaving so soon, grandma?" I asked.
"Herb here is taking me out for dinner. Isn't he a pip?" she asked as he helped grandma put on her jacket.
"He sure is," I smile. "Have fun. Don't do anything I wouldn't do."
Grandma cackled, "Woot. That opens the door to everything." I slammed my head against my hand.
"Good Lord," I groaned.
Diesel wrapped his arms around me after passing Mateo to Hal. He whispered, "Should we kick everyone out so we could start our debauchery?" Diesel was joking since he knew we were on a sex hiatus for another five weeks.
Hal's face turned bright red after hearing Diesel's question. I saw Ranger and Lester laughing across the room. Either Diesel didn't whisper, or someone stuck a microphone onto his shirt. When I checked my husband's shirt, I found a microphone attached to the collar. His words got heard through the baby monitors we had in every room of the house.
"You are so dead, Mr. Santos!" I growled.
"Um. Thanks for inviting us for lunch. I have to get to Rangeman for my shift," he said before bolting from the house.
Ranger kissed Mateo's forehead before hugging me. "Babe, I need to relieve Vince," he said after kissing my cheek.
Hal carried a sleeping baby back to his room. We listened as he sang to Mateo before laying him down. My hormones were still close to the surface. I cried as I listened to his song.
"A friend of mine is a healer. Adeline helps unmentionables, their children and spouse. She asked if you were interested in her services," Diesel said as he pulled me onto his lap. "It would clear us for sex in less than a week."
"Sign me up," I stated. Diesel contacted Adeline and scheduled for her to visit in a few days. "What is Adeline like?"
"She's in her fifties and kind. Adeline is a lot like you. The two of you will get along extremely well," Diesel attempted to explain.
A few days later, Adeline arrived at the house. She just popped into the kitchen as I grabbed a cup of coffee while making Mattie a bottle. He should be waking up soon.
"Hi, I'm Adeline, and you must be Stephanie," the kind woman introduced herself. "I hope you don't mind me just popping into your kitchen. Diesel said you wouldn't mind."
"I am. It's a pleasure to meet you. My husband said you'd be arriving any day. I'm used to Diesel just appearing next to me," I replied. Adeline helped herself to a cup and sat with me at the table. We talked for a few minutes while we drank coffee.
"Hey, Addie," Diesel greeted as he carried our son into the kitchen. "Sunshine, our little man is hungry."
"His bottle is in the warmer. It should be ready for him," I directed. "For a newborn, he's on a rigorous feeding schedule. I've never seen anything like it before."
"Unmentionable children have a precise built-in schedule. We don't know why it happens, only that it does. It's a great way to detect which children are one of us," Adeline explained.
I rinsed my empty mug and placed it into the dishwasher. Adeline followed suit. "Where do you want to do this?" I asked.
"Somewhere private where we won't get interrupted for a few hours," she replied.
"I've got Mateo," Diesel said as he plucked the bottle from the warmer. He left the kitchen to sit with Mateo in the rocking chair.
Adeline followed me up the stairs to my bedroom. She shut the door and asked me to lay on my bed. "Can I see the incision?" Adeline asked.
I pushed my yoga pants down to expose my lower abdomen. Adeline took a close look before removing the effigy from her purse. "What are you doing with the doll?" I wondered.
She drew a line across the lower stomach to replicate my scar. It was still healing and tender to the touch. "It takes the sickness or injury from your body. Once your body is healed, the effigy disappears," Adeline explained. "I used to absorb the ailments, but it wasn't safe to continue. The dolls make it easier to treat everyone."
Adeline washed her hands before placing one on my abdomen and another on the doll. I felt the tingling in my stomach as the healing began. Within a few hours, the c-section scar faded, but the model didn't disappear. "I feel healed, so why is there still a doll beside me?" I asked.
"Someone placed a hex on you," she explained. "It's an old gypsy curse."
I patiently waited as she attempted to work her magic. She was struggling to counteract the hex. "My grandma Mazur always said she's part gypsy. Should Diesel invite her over?" I asked.
"It wouldn't hurt," she replied before sending the message to Diesel.
Fifteen minutes later, grandma entered my bedroom. "How can I help?" she asked. Adeline explained the issue. We traced my unlucky streak to my first day of grade one.
Grandma was furious. She used her phone to call Helen. "What possessed you to place a hex on your five-year-old child?" Grandma put the phone on speaker so we could hear her response.
"Stephanie wouldn't conform to behaving like a young lady. I put a spell on her to redirect her actions if she placed a toe out of line," Helen defended.
"Why?" Grandma asked.
Helen replied, "I wanted a son, not a tomboy. If she stopped acting like a boy, she wouldn't have experienced so much hardship."
"That's a poor excuse if I ever heard one, Helen," grandma admonished.
Mom decided to take another tactic, realizing she would not win this battle. "I'm different," she said as a final excuse.
"You're different, alright, a different kind of stupid," grandma said before hanging up the phone.
Grandma grabbed an old leather-bound book and a sprig of sage from her purse. She chanted some words as she lit the bundle of sage on fire. Between grandma and Adeline, they removed the hex Helen placed on me many years ago. I watched as the effigy vanished.
"Could she replace the hex?" I asked.
"No," Grandma stated. "Once the hex gets lifted, it never can be replaced. My chant removed the hex as it protects you from further curses."
I thanked grandma and Adeline for healing me. They visited long enough to tell Diesel, Vince, Hal, Manny, Ranger and Lester what happened. Lester was furious. The only time I've seen him this angry was after he heard the terms of the DeChooch deal. "Helen needs to pay," Lester said between clenched teeth.
"Lester, she'll eventually get what she deserves. Karma can be a royal bitch," I reminded him. I didn't want anything to happen to him.
Unfortunately for me, karma did not bite Helen in the ass. A sympathetic judge gave her community service for assaulting me. Otherwise, Helen would only spend a year in jail. The cosmos must have a bigger plan in mind.
It was mid-April when Helen messed up for the final time. Valerie asked if we could go for a walk in the park with our babies. Lisa was three months old, and Mateo was four months old. I was happy Valerie extended the invitation this time. She kept declining mine. "Mateo is a quiet baby," Valerie stated. "Lisa keeps me up most of the night."
"Mateo slept through the night all along. He sleeps around six hours before waking up," I confessed.
"We're lucky if Lisa sleeps for two hours." We were having a decent conversation discussing our children. I never told her about Mateo's abilities.
As we pushed the strollers towards the parking lot, Helen appeared from her hiding spot behind the tree and positioned herself between the babies. "Hi, Lisa. You're such a beautiful little girl," Helen gushed. She gently lifted Lisa from the stroller to hold her. Helen's attitude seemed too friendly. My spidey sense was going off the charts.
Valerie took Lisa back when the baby started fussing. Helen jerked the blanket from the stroller and lifted my son into her arms as Valerie laid Lisa into the stroller. She moved so fast that I couldn't stop her from taking my son.
I heard a popping noise, like someone bursting the blisters on bubble wrap. Helen ran back and demanded to know where my bastard son was.
"Please be with Lester," I chanted inside my head. Diesel was away on another mission. He left a few days ago after warning me to be careful.
"I can't believe you did this to me again, mom. First, you invite yourself to Steph's baby shower to hurt her, and now you try to kidnap her baby." Valerie was furious. "How dare you!" Valerie screamed. "I hope they lock you up and throw away the key."
Eddie and Robin arrived to arrest Helen. She didn't know I always wear a body cam when I leave the house with Mateo. My phone chimed the song, 'I'm sexy, and you know it.'
"Hi, Lester," I greeted when I took the call. He must have changed the ring tone.
"Just letting you know Mateo is with me at Rangeman. We'll stay here until you arrive," Lester stated.
"Thank you. I was worried Mattie would go to his father," I said with relief.