Chapter 20 Steph's Decision
"Okay I need to lay down for a little bit." Stephanie left the living room and stomped up the stairs to the bathroom.
"Okay little one you are going to learn your first escape route from Grandma's house she said to the baby."
Just then Grandma Mazur came into the living room.
"Just to let you know Stephanie is climbing out of the bathroom window again."
"What!" Ranger ran past Diesel and toward the back yard and saw Stephanie climbing down a tree.
"What are you doing?" Ranger yelled and started to climb up after her.
"I needed some time to think, there is something not right with this situation Ranger. Diesel showing up here saying that he is family when we both know he is not. Me being pregnant and becoming Julie's mom, I just needed to get away." Stephanie said as she followed her future husband down the tree.
"Stephanie look at me." Ranger told her. She looked into his dark eyes, and knew that she was making the right decision marrying him.
"We don't have to stay here, we can go some where else, I have other houses. We can take Julie and go away from this place right now. I don't want you stressed because of the baby or the other situation. We will figure this out."
Carlos bent his head and gave her a deep passionate kiss under the tree where she use to climb out of under a full moon.
When they got back inside Helen had a spoon in her hand, which she hit stephanie on top of the head with. "What were you thinking? Do you have any idea how stupid that was you could have hurt the baby."
"Really mom is that all you care about is your grand child you have three of them from Valerie all ready. Besides I am fine mom thanks for asking. I think it is for the best if both Ranger, Julie and myself stay somewhere else for the time being."
Stephanie walked to the front door of the house with Julie who was half asleep.
"Carlos where are you going?" Helen begged, "Please stay"
"Sorry I think this is for the best right now. I can keep Stephanie calm and cool some where else, I will let you know we are safe." Carlos followed Stephanie and Julie out of the Plums house.
"Hey there boss, what is going on?" Tank asked them.
"We are leaving to go to the castle" Ranger told him.
"Understood" Tank started the car he was in and followed Ranger and Stephanie to the castle which he knew too well.
They were on the road, when Ranger started to talk, "Babe about the castle, the reason I call it a castle is because it is a castle. It has the high tower in the back of it and a steeple in the front when you enter. I had it redesigned to look like a house but kept some of the original work on the outside."
Ranger had just finished speaking when they drove up a long hill that looked down at the burg. When they got up to the top Ranger took out a key card and slid it into a card reader. The gate opened and they pulled into the driveway of the castle.
"Wow it is a real castle like in Beauty and the Beast." Stephanie said out loud.
"Wait until you see the inside babe." Ranger said. He looked in his rear-view mirror and saw Julie was sound asleep.
"Carlos she is like you, strong and stubborn she will get through this we all will." Stephanie told him.
He smiled at her.
They parked in the driveway and Ranger picked up his daughter and carried her inside. He flicked on the lights and the hallway lit up brightly.
"Wow" was all Stephanie could say. She looked and then ran up the spiral staircase to the third floor. She walked in the first room she saw which was a master bedroom. It had Ranger's scent in it. She clasped on the bed and was asleep instantly.
She woke up the next morning, not realizing what happened was real. "oh yeah the castle."
She got dressed and went down the spiral stair case and heard Ranger yelling somewhere in the basement.
She walked around and tried to find another stair case. She remembered that this was an old castle so she started to feel the walls and found a switch in one of them off and too the right of the fireplace in the living room. She flicked the switch and a stair case appeared.
"Huh okay bat man." Stephanie told herself. She slowly went down the stair case and could hear Ranger's voice getting louder.
She knocked softly when she got to the door that was closed. She could hear Ranger's voice yelling at Tank.
"Hold on Tank, Stephanie is knocking at the door" Ranger told Tank. Ranger shut off his head set and took it off. He opened the door. Stephanie could tell he had been up all night working. He was un shaven and looked like he had the world on his shoulders.
"Babe how are you feeling?" he asked her.
"Better then you please tell me you got some sleep." She asked him as she ran her hand on his rough cheek.
"I fell asleep on one of the chairs in the locker room over there. So yes I did get some sleep. You look very tasty." He took her into his arms and gave her a deep passionate kiss.
While he was kissing her an alarm went off.
"What the heck?" he asked. He then turned to the security camara and saw Diesel and Morelli standing outside the gate trying to get in.
"Shit, we can't get away!" he yelled.
"What?" Stephanie asked him.
"Morelli and Diesel are here trying to get in."
"Can we get rid of them?" Stephanie pleaded.
"I was thinking that we have our wedding at Dove's Park in the Burg. We can have our wedding reception there too at the restaurant they have." Stephanie tried hard to ignore the alarms and the pictures of Morelli and Diesel trying to get in.
"I would love that, just give me one second Babe." Ranger picked up his headset and turned it back on.
"Tank can you please get rid of Morelli and Diesel for me they are at the front gate and we don't want to see them" Ranger told his friend
"You got it boss" Tank hung up and then Ranger picked Stephanie up and took her toward the locker room, which was really a spare bedroom.