Chapter 11
Sorry for the delay. I have two other stories in motion. My mind needs to remain on a single track.
Thank you all for the notes and reviews. You've helped me straighten out my thinking...I think, LOL!
"Is this Frank Plum?" the caller asked.
"Yes."
I'm Carlos Manoso, you knew me as Ranger in Trenton. I'd like to talk to you."
"Ranger…I thought you were…"
Ranger interrupted, "Sir, I have many questions and I image you have some was well. Instead of speaking on the phone, I'd like to come to Melbourne and speak personally."
Frank hesitated,"Can you come when my granddaughters are in school?" Frank wasn't sure where Ranger was calling from or what he wanted to discuss.
"Yes sir, I can be there any time."
"Thursday Edith spends with her lady friends, she leaves the house at 9 and returns about 3. Anytime in there would be fine.
"Sir, I can be there at 10 am Thursday."
"Plan on having lunch here. Nothing fancy, just salad," Frank said.
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The Plum house was a one story grey stucco ranch style with white trim, less than 10 years old. The front yard lawn was dichondra and the azalea shrubs against the house clipped into perfect, if not boring rectangles. No cars were parked in the driveway, Frank apparently used his garage.
Ranger angled out of his black Porsche Panamera. His beloved 911 Turbo was still too confining for his body plus the 180 mile ride would wear on his healing body.
Frank answered the door quickly, "Ranger, come in please. May I get you coffee or water?"
"Coffee would be fine, just black please." Ranger noted Frank looked different. He had lost weight, about 30 pounds and was trimming up.
"We could sit here in the living room or at the table," noting Ranger was using a cane.
"Table would be fine, sir."
As Ranger walked towards the back of the house he noted the white tile floors, raised ceilings, plantation blinds on the windows, a Florida home. The walls were a soft grey almost like silver. The furniture was neutral, no florals or stripes. He approved. In the corner of the living room sat a Christmas tree, a six foot artificial tree with minimal ornaments. "This is quite different from the Burg."
"Hell yes. I can breathe here. Edna and I pooled our money and bought this. It's 100 years younger than the Burg house, 25% larger, four bedrooms, 2 ½ baths, 3 times as expensive, but the taxes are half what we were paying in Trenton," Frank explained.
"No pool?"
Frank scoffed, "All the girls' friends have pools, let their parents tend them. I don't need the extra insurance costs."
Both men sipped their coffee but didn't speak for a while. Men are not big chatters.
Finally Frank began, "How did you find me?"
"I saw the Buick in Little Cuba and followed it to the Marriott. I called the new owner and he said you, Edna and your granddaughters live here now."
"Not all the granddaughters. Lisa is with Albert in Trenton. It's been about ten months now." He looked at Ranger and saw his granite face, a face he himself had perfected years ago when he was in the Army. "Do you know I wore a Green Beret? 1972-75 Viet Nam and Laos."
Looking at the Frank Plum now, he could believe it. "Tough times."
"I survived the jungle but came home and died. In the Burg heritage was important; Italian or eastern European. Anything else was considered alien. I married Helen, got a job with the Post Office and figured that was my life. But it was empty. We had Valerie and Stephanie within two years. We were only going to have two children, one of each. Though we couldn't afford it, we had a third, a boy, Anthony Franco. Helen didn't do well through the third pregnancy, Anthony was born premature and Helen hemorrhaged. His lungs never formed properly and he died after several months." Frank paused, got up and brought the coffee pot for refilling his and Ranger's cups.
He sat down and continued, "Helen couldn't have more children. I accepted I wouldn't have a namesake but Helen was so set on one girl for her and a boy for me, she became depressed. The depression grew to animosity towards the extra girl, Stephanie. I'm sure you saw it. I didn't. I was in pain; Viet Nam, losing a son, losing a wife to depression or PTSD, but we didn't have those terms back then."
Ranger was beginning to see the dysfunctional Plum household in a new light.
"Stephanie was always a tomboy and could have been the son I wanted to teach to fish and hunt but instead I ignored her, leaving her to Helen's venom. I closed my ears and eyes. That poor girl suffered terribly under Helen, retreating to her grandparents for solace. Helen began drinking about the time Valerie married and moved to California. Her perfect daughter was gone, her crazy mother had moved in and Stephanie, her great disappointment remained."
Frank got up and went to the glass doors and gazed out, seeing his past not his Florida back yard. "Helen arranged the marriage to Dickie Orr. Edna knew it was wrong but held no sway. When the marriage died, Helen blamed Stephanie for her prudish attitude towards sex. An attitude Helen herself helped form. Nothing Pumpkin did after that was acceptable.
I don't know if I thought Joseph Morelli was a suitable husband or I just parroted Helen. I could see you treated my daughter with more respect, never criticizing her, at least in front of us but Helen was convinced you were a convict. Maybe I thought you were in the same mental shit hole I was in those many years ago. Most likely I just didn't think.
When Joe presented Stephanie with a ring, Pumpkin was still desperately trying to gain her mother's acceptance, thirty two years she had been trying. When you left town for good, Stephanie lost her spark. She became a Burg zombie. A big part of her heart died. I saw it but thought it was best; after all, that's what Helen was saying she needed to become.
What I didn't know was Joe never intended to marry her; he just wanted a bed whore and to one up the all-powerful Manoso. Male egos, pissing contests to see who can pee the higher up the pole. Joe said they'd marry within 2 months, the months passed and he refused to set a date. Helen and Angie Morelli were going crazy trying to pin down VFW halls and all that crap. Nobody knew was he punishing my daughter for her love for you. He would come home and beat Stephanie forcing her to have sex, just like his father and uncles. She started wearing makeup to hide the bruises."
Frank paused, "Ranger, years ago when I was still a man, I would have killed the SOB, but I was frozen in my own self-hatred."
Ranger spoke quietly, "I saw her a few weeks ago in Atlanta. She said Stephanie died. I don't understand."
"She was growing more and more distant, depressed. Helen and Angie ragged on her to name a date but she deferred to Joe each time. Christmas Eve she was having dinner at the Morellis before going to mass. Joe got an apparent call out so dropped Stephanie at our house. Helen raged about Pumpkin leaving the Morellis, not going to church with them, improper manners or Burg behavior, improper church attire, and other garbage. Stephanie quietly said she'd go home and change. What she didn't say is she didn't have a car, Joe dropped her off. She walked back to apartment, at night, four miles. Thank God she arrived safely only to find the apartment building had no heat or water. Red Cross evacuated everyone but there weren't enough motels for pet owners. She called Rangeman and thankfully they came and got her even though you left orders she was not to be given any further aid. The next morning one of the gentleman was returning her to Joe's house when they saw Joe and Terri Gilmore in an amorous clutch at the front door. Everyone's car was covered in the overnight snow, it was obvious Joe's callout was to screw Terri. Neighbors took pictures and within an hour the whole Burg knew about Joe and his Christmas Eve adultery. The Rangeman driver offered to return Pumpkin to her apartment, but they found the whole building engulfed in flames from an electrical fire. Suddenly Pumpkin had nothing; no Joe, no apartment, no aid from Rangeman, and a family that never supported her.
Stephanie broke down, leaping from the car and running away from her life. The Rangeman men tracked her down and got her help. I don't know where they took her.
Joe didn't seem to notice or care she was gone until Helen started badgering him. Suddenly Pumpkin calls Eddie Gazarra and Connie Rozelli saying she was no longer in New Jersey, but didn't have money for college to study criminology so was enlisting in the Army. They didn't know what to think.
About Valentine's Day Vito Grizolli was having a party at Marcello's. In the middle of the festivities, in walks Stephanie, hair cut short, lean and hard. She walked up to Terri and put down the engagement ring Joe gave her and said, "Here, it's yours now, by the way, it's a fake." She had a picture of the ring on her hand as well as a professional appraisal showing the ring was worth less than $100. Joe had been making a big fuss she should return his very expensive ring. That notion died that night and Joe became the laughing stock of Trenton. Looking at her that night, all present thought the rumors of her being in the Army were true except those of us knew she would still be in basic training, probably in Oklahoma.
Months went by, nobody knew where Stephanie was. Joe and Helen made complete assess of themselves calling the media to Rangeman to search the building convinced she was being held against her will. The big guy, Tank, came out and allowed only me to search. While I searched I talked to the men and realized what high regard they had of my daughter and their fear for her welfare. Nobody knew where she was.
It was late spring when a Rangeman with the tear drop tattoos came up to my cab and told me she had recently moved into the Haywood building, so I went to visit.
She came through the conference room door and I thought how we looked after Special Forces training. She was thinner, at least 20 pounds thinner. Her face was chiseled into hard angles, her hair cut short, and her body muscled. Only her blue eyes remained and they bore into me like cold steel. She referred to me as Mr. Plum, she disavowed her family. How she knew about baby Anthony, I don't know. When I explained Helen went crazy for a while, Pumpkin perfectly nailed it: Helen had been crazy for 33 years punishing her for being the wrong sex.
What she told me next woke me up. First was the abuse from Joseph at six and the rape at 16. I didn't know about them. Helen refused to take her to the hospital for fear of the family or Helen's reputation. Instead she kept her locked up all summer making sure she menstruated on time and wasn't pregnant. Now I understood why she purposely hit that bastard with the Buick two years later, she should have killed him," Frank muttered.
"I was devastated when she told me she was now Michelle, detesting the name her mother and father had given her, and when she earned enough for legal fees she would change her family name so we wouldn't have to be ashamed of her any more.
It then hit me; the broken woman in front of me was destroyed by our abuse. Valerie was the perfect daughter and became her mother's mimic. Valerie was treating her daughters the same way Helen treated hers'; favoring one, abusing the other.
I asked Pumpkin if the rumors were true, she was in or going into the military. She said one of the new Rangeman had just left the service and gave her a pretty grim picture, she was too old to compete against the younger men and woman, but she was keeping the option open for support services.
When I tried to apologize she wouldn't accept it. She said it was time for me to step up and protect my granddaughters since I didn't do it for her. I left your building a broken man but one with rapidly clearing eyesight. The next day I filed for divorce and warned Albert he's better wake up because Valerie was destroying her daughters the way Helen destroyed mine. Helen was drunk as a skunk at our divorce proceedings. After the divorce when the court learned a very drunk Helen was taking care of the girls including baby Lisa while Valerie worked, Albert filed for divorce and custody of Lisa and I got possession of Angie and Mary Alice as well as permission to leave the state. Helen had a lousy attorney and only got the house, I got my pension and savings. Edna had quite a bit of money set aside for her granddaughters and great granddaughters but rewrote her will, took the money and made a major deposit on this house. Angie and Mary Alice are in far better school system, Edna is having the time of her life and I'm a soccer grandfather and proud of it. The girls are blossoming, happier than I've ever seen them. They only thing they want for Christmas is a visit from their Aunt Michelle, not their mother. That says volumes."
"Will they get their wish?"
"Yes, she's coming for a few days, it's a surprise."
Frank got up, went to the water cooler and filled two glasses with water returning with one for Ranger. "It's nearly lunch time, I have a salad already made. Will you join me?"
"Yes sir, thank you."
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They ate in silence mostly. "You still drive those German cars?"
Ranger chuckled, "I guess some things will never change. What are you driving?"
"Buick Enclave. I'm finding sedans are getting to be too low for my knee, jungle injury."
"Yeah, my Turbo is a bit low right now too, same reason."
"Carlos, why do you use the name Ranger?"
"Street name when I got out. I was doing bail bonds. Ranger sounded fiercer than Carlos."
"How long were you in service? Frank asked.
"I was in the Army 6 years, officer, Ranger. Four continents, one shit hole after another. My company was good, one platoon within the company was exceptional even for Rangers. As a result we got tagged for the worst of the worst. I loved living on the edge, not knowing if I'd be dead before day's end. You know how it eats you, though."
Frank nodded.
"I got out after 6 years but not clean. My elite platoon and I continued working, contracts for various agencies who would disavow me in a second if I got caught. The money was great. I was able with some of my best men to set up Rangeman Security in Trenton. The company was to give my men a job after service while I continued contract work. As we grew, we took in other returning servicemen, especially Special Forces with the training we needed. We also took in gang members and convicts who wanted new starts so your wife, ex-wife, wasn't too far off. We have Rangeman in several cities; Miami, Atlanta, Boston, and Trenton. All doing very well.
I was preparing to leave Trenton and move to Miami to finalize this office when I met your daughter. Since I was still doing contract work, never knowing if I'd live through them and making enemies who could come back on me, I was not a good candidate for a relationship let alone marriage. I was such an ass, I fell in love with her almost immediately but kept pushing her back to Joe thinking she'd be better off with him."
"You saved her life," Frank muttered.
"More times than you know, sir. Joe was never there, only after to yell and chastise her. Maybe that's another reason I stayed, to protect her from Joe. About 14 months ago I got word that one of my enemies had resurfaced. We had tried to take him down ten years ago, but failed. In return he killed my commanding officer, his wife, 2 children and in-laws in Missouri. I had to kill him before he came after me, the rest of the team and maybe Stephanie. That's when I left her and Trenton. He had to be stopped. He's been eliminated, but we came back badly bloodied. I've spent the last 7 months in rehab. I was dead inside, Stephanie was gone to Joe and I saw no reason to continue living, except for my 13 year old daughter who pulled me through.
"Your daughter?"
"One night stand after Ranger school. I married the mother to give the child a birth certificate with both parents' name, though I'd never be a part of their lives. I figured I'd be killed within a year. When the baby came I'd divorced the mother as she was in love with another man. The mother and husband have been raising her. She was safer with them than carrying the name Manoso, just like Stephanie."
Ranger got up from the table and went to the same back door looking at the small back yard of dichondra and a few shrubs. "I thought I was leaving Stephanie in better hands. I was hoping being married to Joe, the bastard looking for me wouldn't know about her. Once again I hurt her. No wonder she was so cool to me in Atlanta."
"Ranger, she's changed. Yes, Christmas Eve my daughter Stephanie finally broke down. I don't know how badly, your men won't say. I understand they had to take her someplace. She returned, reborn. She's hardened up physically, mentally, it's like she went through Special Forces training. She's out from under her mother's grindstone, maturing, and coming to grips with life. We have a ways to go to patch up our relationship, but her coming for Christmas is a first step."
Ranger looked off, "I hope I can find something with her again as well. I've been so wrapped up in myself…"
"From what I saw in Trenton, your crew is taking good care of her. If I were you, I'd be afraid she'll fall for one of them."
Ranger turned and looked at Frank, "She says she's remaining celibate until she gets her head straightened around."
"And the men respect that?"
"Contrary to your ex-wife's and Morelli's opinion of Rangeman, the company operates with strict rules of behavior. Tank maintains order on the mats."
Frank looked skeptical, "Even the guy with the tattoos under his eye?"
"He's gay."
"Are you sure? He obviously loves her."
"Yes he does." Ranger was silent for a long time. "He lost a sister years ago. Babe reminds him of her."
"Carlos, advice for someone who is also bogged down in this quagmire, if you dare take it; start slow, you both are hurting. Start your relationship over, anew. See if there's a small cinder that can be nurtured back into flame."
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Frank and Ranger lost track of the time. They compared experiences at Ft. Benning, weapons, deployments, and other stuff military men talk to one another in private.
"The girls will be home soon. If you want to beat the traffic, you probably want to leave now," Frank said.
Ranger nodded no, "I'm staying in town."
"Then why don't you stay for dinner? I know Edna would love to see you and the girls too."
"Does Edna still have the fastest hands on the East Coast?"
Frank laughed out loud, "Oh yeah. She's been reprimanded more than once at the senior centers by the staff, male staff."
"As long as she has her eyes, men are in danger," Ranger chuckled.
"And her hands," Frank smiled.
As they started walking to Ranger's car the school bus stopped in front of the house. The Angie and Mary Alice stepped off and glanced at Ranger, then did a double take.
"Ranger?" Mary Alice asked.
Ranger nodded slightly and that's all it took, Mary Alice and Angie rushed to him and embraced him. "Did you bring Aunt Michelle with you?"
Ranger froze, he had never touched or been touched by these two girls yet here they were wrapped around his waist. Frank walked up, "Girls, girls, Mr. Manoso is here by himself."
Mary Alice pulled back, "You came to see grandpa?"
Ranger nodded. He was used to his daughter's touch but not other childrens'.
"How did you know he was here?" Angie asked.
"I saw all of you in Big Blue in Miami," he replied.
Angie thought for a moment, "Do you live in Miami?"
"Yes, Rangeman has offices there." He couldn't remember the girls' names.
Frank interceded, "Angie, Mary Alice go in and change into play clothes, please."
"Are you staying for dinner? Grandpa makes a vegetable lasagna. It's good," Mary Alice stated with conviction. "We never ate vegetables in Trenton."
Frank said, "You haven't said yes or no to my invitation for dinner."
Ranger looked down at the two girls wrapped around his waist, "Yes, Frank I'd love to eat with your family."
"Yeah," the girls squealed and ran off to the house.
Ranger watched them run up the driveway into the house, "They seem happy."
"They really are. Edna and I explained Helen was sick and Valerie stayed behind to take care of her. They never really bonded with Albert. Their lives were not happy after they left California. I'm still learning about their unhappiness and fears in Trenton," he shook his head. "I'm so grateful for Edna, she's helping all of us."
"How old is Edna?"
"Eighty two going on sixteen." he chuckled. "Trenton was killing me and it prematurely aged Edna. The best thing that could happen was her moving down here," he said as they walked into the house. "She's wanted to move here for years but Helen wouldn't hear of it."
Frank walked into the kitchen, "The lasagna is already put together, it just needs to be cooked through. Once a week I allow myself a beer, will you join me?"
"Yes sir, that sounds good."
"If I'm to call you Carlos, please call me Frank."
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Ranger sat in the living room and was immediately surrounded by the girls dressed in capris and colorful tee-shirts. "Have you been to Trenton?" they asked.
"No, not for over a year," he stated without emotion.
Angie got a sour look, "I don't miss it at all except for Aunt….Michelle. You know she changed her name from Stephanie."
"Yes."
"Something happened to her. My friends at school told me she went into the Army but grandpa said no. Do you know why she changed her name?"
"No, it happened after I left."
"Have you seen her?" Mary Alice asked as she snuggled against Ranger.
"I saw her in Atlanta about a week ago. She was in a competition and she did very well."
Angie looked confused. "What type of competition?"
Frank brought the beer in bottles and handed one to Ranger then sat down.
"She works for Rangeman. Every year members for all four offices; Miami, Trenton, Boston and Atlanta get together and compete against one another. Your Aunt Michelle came in second in the agility course and did well in other events."
"What other events?" Mary Alice asked.
"Swimming and she is quite the marksman," Ranger laughed.
Frank looked up surprised.
"You mean guns? Aunt Steph…..Michelle hates guns," Angie gasped.
"She was trained properly and while doesn't love them she is a very good markswoman. It takes excellent hand and eye coordination something she may have inherited from her father."
Angie looked at her grandfather, "Can you shoot a gun?"
"Yes Angie, I was trained in the Army."
"I'm glad she never married Joe. He was a jerk," Mary Alice muttered.
"MA"…..Frank cautioned.
"He was mean to Aunt Stephanie and he didn't like us. He'd yell at us too."
Frank had another look at the girls' lives in Trenton.
Angie cut in, "Friends at school used to talk about her and how she captured bad guys but Joe would yell at her and flap his arms around like a chicken."
At that moment the front door opened and in stepped Edna, "Rick-eee, I'm home," she laughed. The girls jumped up, "GG Edna, look who is visiting."
It was a contest who was more surprised. Ranger stood and stared at what couldn't possibly be Edna Mazur. Her hair was straight, silvery grey, cut in a bob, not permed into sausage curls. While her face was still wrinkled, the makeup was higher quality and a better match for her skin tone. She was still slight, skinny and wearing, as usual, a pastel pant suit, but it was Florida casual. "Edna?" Ranger questioned.
"Ranger?" Edna looked around, "Are you here alone?"
Ranger nodded knowing exactly what she was asking.
She put her purse on a console table near the door and moved into the living room. She indicated she'd hug him but Ranger grabbed her hands, "No pinches on the first date."
"How did you find us?" Edna asked.
"He saw us in Miami in Big Blue," Angie said.
"Who knew my husband Karl's car would be worth so much? It alone was 30% of the purchase price of this home," she said with pride.
Ranger did some quick math and estimated Edna got around $80,000 for Big Blue. He looked at Frank with a raised eye. Frank nodded.
"Your husband is still taking care of you Edna."
"He's taking care of all of us," she agreed.
Ranger had a delightful dinner with Frank Plum and family. He was surprised how relaxed he was when he left unlike previous Plum dinners in Trenton. The girls gave him a hugs, Edna was allowed one light pinch when he explained he still had nerve damage from his "fall," and Frank shook hands, "Thank you for staying for dinner. It meant a lot to all of us."
"Ranger, come back soon," Mary Alice called as he slipped into his car.
"I plan on it," he muttered to himself.
On his way to his hotel he couldn't remember ever enjoying a visit with the Plums. He thought Babe was the oddity in the family but he realized the family oozed love once they were away from Helen and Trenton.
In his hotel suite he poured himself a scotch and sat down on the couch staring out the window at the darkening sky. He tried to blame himself for Stephanie's destruction but he couldn't, not totally. He had to leave her; maybe he was wrong for not telling her why, but that would have muddied the separation. When word came back that he had been killed, her grief would have been dampened by her anger at him for leaving without a word.
Why did she keep going back to Joe? She didn't know happiness. She didn't know acceptance. All her life she had been controlled, dominated by a woman who resented her even being alive. Even the most abused go crawling back to their abuser seeking love or just acceptance. Stephanie was always leery of Joe as husband material and her spidey sense was right, yet her mother kept pushing him back in her face. Was he, Ranger, like Joe, an abuser? He knew she loved him, but like Joe, he abused her with excuses; not marriage material, life is too dangerous, condoms not rings. Whose abuse was worse: Joe with the constant denigration, the Italian emotional outbursts or his own playful sexual encounters either in the alley and stolen kisses or on the 7th floor?
As for telling Rangeman to ignore her, once again it was his way of ending the entire relationship. Joe would make her stop being a BA and Rangeman protection wouldn't be necessary. Apparently the men on Haywood had more sense than he. He was always surprised how much the men liked, or even adored her.
He swired the brown liquid around the glass releasing the aroma. Is she still the woman he loved? Those precious minutes in Atlanta, the kiss sure felt like Stephanie but the outward appearance and the mental attitude were…Mitch. He saw The Deacon's expression when she came in from the agility course, he was infatuated. Had she shown a softer side to him but kept herself closed off from him?
Damn, he wanted to throw his liquor glass across the room! She needed someone who was 100% devoted to her. Too damn bad Hector was gay. Maybe he should leave her totally alone to find her own way, her own love. But what about his needs, his wants, when does he get his turn? He has fought for this country, bled, watched friends die, gave his daughter up to be raised by another man, eschewed a love life for himself to do his duty. If his mercenary days are truly over could he love totally or is he irreparably damaged? She was all he ever loved. She was his life, the one who kept him alive for the last year.
Speculation never solved anything. What if's were fantasy. He needed to go to Trenton.