Chapter 20

The ringing phone brought me out of the dream that I was having. In my dream, strong hands were massaging my back as I listened to soft music. There were candles and scents filling the room. I was floating in the sensations. The ringing abruptly stopped.

Ranger arm was around my stomach. He had reached up to the nightstand to reach his phone. He now at it against his ear.

"Talk," he grunted.

I turned to watch his face as the caller apparently responded. His eyes were wary. There was stubble on his cheeks. We had celebrated his purchase of the Vinnie's business until early this morning. At first I wasn't too thrilled by the purchase. I didn't want him to spend any more money on me, but after listening to his plans, it all made sense.

"No, we'll be in later. Plan the briefing for 1100," he replied and hung up.

"Trouble?" I asked him.

"No. Closure," he replied, pulling me close.

"Closure?"

"That was Tank. We found Martinez. He was a victim in a car accident outside Newark last weekend. That explains why we couldn't find him. He was burned beyond recognition in the accident and his identity was only just confirmed last night."

Ric pulled me on stop of him. "Now, that we're awake, want to celebrate some more?"

It wasn't really a question, because he had already decided for both of us, but hell, who was I to complain?

We later showered and ate breakfast before heading to the office. At the briefing, the confirmation of identity of Martinez was discussed as was the acquisition of the bonds office.

"Steph will run the office and will select the manpower required based on discussion with Tank. Connie will continue as Office Manager and Lula will continue as a BEA, after more training. The name will continue to be Plum Bail Bonds, just Stephanie Plum instead of Vincent."

"What, no Manoso?" chided Lester. "Hey, Steph, what about Manoso Bail Bonds?"

I looked at Ranger, hoping for guidance. "Ranger can call it anything he wants. Doesn't matter to me."

"Well, it just seems like this would be a good time for you two to make everything official and carry out your wedding plans."

I probably blushed. Ric and I hadn't talked seriously about setting the date. The last time we actually talked about marriage seemed so long ago, but it really wasn't.

"What to you say, Babe? Vegas? We can be there tonight." He flashed a brilliant smile at me.

"Las Vegas? You want to get married in Las Vegas?" I was kind of shocked at the suggestion.

"I want to do whatever would make you happy. As far as the business, it can stay Plum Bail Bonds. You don't have to change your name."

I smiled at him. Leave it to Ranger to figure out a compromise. "We should get married here, at the house."

The team assembled all seconded that idea and it appeared that the guys were going to have all the plans made without may input. I noticed that Ranger was just standing there looking at me. Suddenly, he crossed the room and knelled before my chair.

"Babe, is this okay with you? Do you really want to get married? If you don't, we can leave things the way they are now." He stared into my face.

So many emotions must have played their way across my face. I was thinking about how wonderful it felt to be loved by this man; about how fortunate I was that he cared about my feelings; about how sure he seemed to be in our relationship.

"Ric, marriage is a promise. A promise to love, to share, to be for each other. I have no problem making that promise to you," I whispered before reaching out to kiss him.

The room was suddenly very quiet. It seems that the guys decided to give us some privacy after all.

"Babe, you'll need to talk to your family and I will deal with mine. You have four days to find a dress and get yourself ready. Then we have four weeks to honeymoon before you come back to take over for Vinnie."

"You seemed to have thought this out in detail."

"Never doubt it. I always have a plan," he said with a grin.

The next couple of days were simply a blur of activity. Between Rangeman business, taking care of the legal agreement between Vinnie & Rangeman, and planning the wedding, Ric and I didn't really see each other much except to fall into bed at the end of the day totally exhausted. I joked that by the time we actually got that honeymoon, my hormones would be more than ready for it. Ric tended to agree with me there.

I wasn't told where we were going for the honeymoon, just that my packing was already taken care of. I didn't care about the menu for the reception or the flowers for the wedding, so the mothers took care of that. They grumbled, of course, about the lack of notice, but appreciated the fact that Ranger's money could solve any scheduling problems that might have arisen. The only task I had to complete before the wedding was the purchase of an appropriate dress. Having done the white gown wedding before, I knew that I didn't want that. I wanted something more me. I finally settled on a brilliant blue number that closely matched my eyes. I decided to wear my hair down, knowing it was Ric's favorite style. Lula found a fantastic pair of FMP's that set off the dress perfectly.

"Babe, what color is the dress?" Ric asked the day before the wedding.

"Why do you want to know? It's supposed to be a surprise."

"I wanted to get you something to wear with the dress," he explained.

I had to frown. He had already given me too much in the way of jewelry. I didn't want anything else. "I would prefer you didn't know."

He seemed to accept that and never brought it up again.

The house was utter chaos. I was glad that we would be leaving after the wedding. I sure didn't want to see what a mess would be left after the big event. It was funny, but I wasn't as nervous as I thought I would be. Ric and I had addressed the big things. We weren't going to have kids. He would allow Elena to go with Gina to Washington, although what choice did he have really, and it would give us a great excuse to go to the West Coast. We wouldn't tell our parents about the no grandchildren plan. Why tempt their wrath. Let them think that they could get their fondest wish after our honeymoon.

Elena did arrive in time for the wedding. She looked just as I imagined, a female mini-Ranger. I could see how she had him wrapped around her finger in the first five minutes, but once I got to know her, I totally understood.

With Lula and Tank as our maid-of-honor and best man respectively, we knew that the reception and the toasting out be wild and crazy. It felt like everything was coming together too quickly some times and at other times, the pace was agonizingly slow.

Ranger didn't sleep in the master bedroom the night before the wedding. He stayed in a guest room, but called me to say goodnight, yet again.

"Hey Babe, nervous?" His voice was smooth and sensuous.

"Not me, you?"

"Never. For it, tomorrow is the culmination of a dream."

I smiled at the phone. "Really, you never told me about this dream."

I could almost feel his smile over the phone. "It might not come true if I told anyone. I had to keep it to myself. I will tell you this much, I wanted someone to love me for myself. I wanted someone who knows who I am really, deep inside, who can live with the things I have done. I thought I would never find her. I thought she didn't exist. Then I met this wonderful woman in a diner and she ask for my help, stealing my heart without me even realizing it. I'm pretty damned aware of my surroundings, Babe, but that day, I was blown away."

This confession was more than I had heard him speak the entire week. "I had no idea, Ric. I remember being a bit scared, a bit apprehensive. Connie told me you could help me, but she didn't warn me about how you would look or act. I think back to that time and I realize how naive I was, hell maybe still am. You got to me without me realizing it. Even when I was with Joe, you were still there, inside me. Joe once told me that there was three people in our relationship and he was right. I didn't mean to hurt him, but I can see now how unfair it was to him."

Ranger sighed. "There's plenty of blame to go around, Babe, so don't try to take it all on your shoulders. I didn't and couldn't step away from you. I thought I could just be your friend, but my heart wouldn't let it stop there. Damn, I wish I was in bed with you right now."

I could appreciate his frustration. I wanted nothing more than to touch him and be touched by him, but this was a choice he made to honor some sort of tradition that I doubt either of us really believed in.

"I'll see you tomorrow," I whispered. It wasn't soon enough.

"I want you to be Stephanie Manoso."

"I know, I want to be Stephanie Manoso."

"Tomorrow, Babe."

He hung up before I could say anything else.

Epilogue:

I couldn't believe how fast the month flew by. Ric and I honeymooned in the Caribbean, aboard a friend's yacht. We spent our days making love and swimming, playing tourist when the boat dropped anchor. Our nights were spent gazing into each other eyes and more making love. We slept tangled together, dreaming of the day's events.

I had a chance to try out my new credit cards in the name of Stephanie Manoso. I purchased yet another blue dress for a romantic dinner one night. It reminded me of the wedding dress that Ric loved so much. I donned the dress and the beautiful earrings he gave me as a wedding present. They were sapphires and diamonds. They worked with the dress as if they were made for them.

The deal for Vinnie's business went through without a hitch. Plum Bail Bonds was still in action, only it was going to be run by Stephanie Plum Manoso from here on out. Connie was thrilled with the connection to Rangeman, since it nearly doubled our business referrals. My first day in the office was met with a couple dozen roses from my new husband and a surprise visit from Joe Morelli.

"Joe, I haven't seen you in ages," I began.

Joe's cop face took over. "You've been busy. So have I."

"How's Anna and Connor?" I felt guilty that I hadn't inquired about them sooner.

"They're fine. We actually have worked through a lot of our issues, Anna and I. I think we have a pretty good chance of making it. I really want the marriage to work Steph."

Joe and Anna didn't attend our wedding, citing a scheduling conflict. I knew that they didn't come because it was hard for Joe. I didn't press the issue.

"How come you're not calling it Manoso Bail Bonds?"

"Didn't want to attract anymore crazies than I already do. Ric agreed that using my married name might not be the best course of action."

Joe's face momentarily revealed his internal conflict. "Steph, I really am happy for you. I owe you an apology for the way I was the last time you saw me. I should never have drank that much and then come to your home."

"Joe, let's not go there. I want to make a fresh start, with the business and with you. What say we just let it go?"

He looked around the office that once belonged to Vinnie. It was totally remodeled, a gift from Tank and Lester. "I like the new digs. You'll do well, Steph."

"I hope to grow the business. I want to include computer skip tracing and other related services to our business. The Rangeman name will carry a lot of weight and give us some really good publicity. I plan to capitalize on that as much as possible."

Joe smiled. "I thought you'd sink your teeth in the business. It has always been an obsession with you."

I started to object, but he raised his hand to stop me. "I didn't mean anything by that. Actually, I wanted to talk to you about business. I understand from Tank that you plan on adding investigative services to the menu, maybe changing from Plum Bail Bonds to Plum Bonds and Investigations. If you do, I wanted to know if you could find a use for me. Anna would prefer I left the force. As a former cop, she knows what I'm up against to get promoted. Right now, the Captain is thinking I would work better in Vice as undercover. That's a time-consuming job. Anna would rather I look for something else, and I tend to agree with her."

I stared at Joe. He was talking about leaving the force. "You want to work for me? After all the shit you gave me about my job, you want to work for me?" My jaw dropped.

"I know, poetic justice if nothing else, but I am asking you if you would consider hiring me," Joe stated flatly.

I knew what it took for him to ask. He was proud of his role as a cop. He was a damned good cop and an excellent judge of character.

"Morelli," I began, "assuming my business partners done object, you've got yourself a job."

"Who are your business partners?" Joe asked.

"Connie and Ranger."

"Oh hell," was all he could think of to say.

THE END.