The dog bite required several stitches along with some shots. Since I did not have any way to get home ,I had to call my brother, Anthony. When he finally showed up and I explained what happened , he could not contain his laughter. I had told the medical staff that a stray dog had attacked me. There was no that I could risk the Burg grapevine spreading gossip about me.

When we drove up, I noticed Stephanie had her car parked in the driveway. Her trunk and all of the doors were open. She had several bags on the porch and trunk was half full. I grabbed some boxes from the car and limped into the front door. Cupcake was nowhere to be found. Quickly I limped back to the front porch and brought her bags back inside the house.

"What do you think you are doing Joe !" Stephanie yelled.

"I 'm bringing my wife's things back inside the house where she lives."

"Stop it Joe ! Go move in with the new Mrs. Morelli," Steph grumbled.

"I told Lula this would happen if she interfered in our marriage. "

"Me catching you with your other family has nothing to do with Lula."

"Sure it does. I know Lula could not wait to run and tell you she saw me with Rosalina."

Stephanie raised an eyebrow at me and shook her head.

"Then it must have been Tank. Why can't he just worry about his own wife! "

"It wasn't Tank! I saw you, Joe," Stephanie shouted!

"I know you saw me at her house but..."

"No , I saw you on the way back from the airport. That shuttle that was on your car bumper. It was me. When I told the driver my cheating husband was in a minivan with another family, he was happy to follow you. Lula was the first person I called when I got home. She and Tank drove right over so I could catch my cheating husband with is women and kids."

"You are not leaving me Cupcake."

"Get out of the way Joe," Stephanie told me as she moved toward the front porch.

"I love you Cupcake,"I yelled as I grabbed her suitcase!

"I bet you love her too, huh, Joe."

She stopped and leaned against the porch railing waited for an answer.

"Yes, I do," I admitted.

"I gave up everything for you Joe!" she shouted.

The neighbors were now beginning to come out to see what all the commotion was about. People were staring at my now irate wife.

"Let's go back inside and talk about this Cupcake," I whispered.

"What's wrong Joe, you don't want the neighbors to find out you have another family hidden across town?" Stephanie screamed at the top of her lungs for everyone to hear.

Then she grabbed her suitcase and headed for the car. I limped after her. When I got to the trunk I took the suitcase out and hurled it across the front yard. Then I went to work unpacking the rest of the car. The next thing I knew, I heard the sirens.

"Back away from her," a voice called.

I reached into my pocket to flash my badge at the officer.

When I did he yelled "Gun! Keep your hands where we can see them." His partner tackled me hard from behind. The police officer landed on my injury causing me to scream.

"Morelli?" he said as he rolled me onto my back.

" Garret ,what are you doing here? I know my wife did not call the cops on me", I protested.

"No, but your neighbors did. People said there was some sort of domestic disturbance here. They thought you might hurt your wife," the officer explained from over my shoulder.

"I'm a cop I have better sense than to beat my wife in the front yard in full view of the neighbors,"I yelled!

"So you normally beat her in the house?" he said frowning at me.

"Who is this guy?" Tell him I am not like that !"

"Joe this is my new partner. Trevor just transferred from Newark. Before that, he worked at Philly PD."

I noticed Stephanie reloading her car and lunged at her.

"Stop IT! You're my wife ! You live here with me. Put your stuff back in the house. NOW," I screamed.

"Jeeze Morelli, you are going to need to take it down a notched while we talk to your wife. If you weren't a cop, we would have already arrested you."

I watched them have a conversation with Stephanie. Then they both grabbed a suitcase and headed to the car. That is when I took her car keys and shoved them in my pocket.

"Give her the keys Joe! Now!"

Then I pitched the keys downs the street.

"Are you kidding me, man, "Trevor said as he reached into my pocket to see if I had really just thrown my wife's car keys. That is when he started laughing at he looked at the keys and handed them back to my wife. I had sent my own key flying , not Stephanie's.

"Enough Morelli! Now we are going to have to call this in. You should have just let her go, man,"said the other officer.

After they radioed the station, there were soon almost a dozen cops in my yard. They told me to sit on the porch in a chair and not to move. Everyone had a huge chuckle at my expense when the saw me sit on the rubber orthopedic pillow they hospital had given me. Then I watched them help Stephanie pack up her car. When they were finished, my wife drove away.

I decided to take some time off from work to let my injury heal. When I returned everyone knew my story. During my absence, Steph had quit working for the Trenton Police Department. Without Stephanie , the Records /Property, and Evidence office just did not run as smoothly. My wife had left before they even had time to find anyone new to fill her job. This left the department short-staffed and backed up. Everyone blamed me.

My Captin heard about the two incidents with both Stephanie and Rosalina. To keep out of trouble I was required to attend anger management classes and take mandatory drug test. Everyone knew. The whole Burg was talking about me cheating on my wife with a poor unsuspecting vulnerable woman. Philly PD made sure to fill everyone in on details.

My wife had me served with divorce papers from an attorney on the job. She did not want a single thing from me. Stephanie had disappeared and I had no idea where to find her. To make matters worse, Rosalina had done the same thing. She had packed up the kids and moved backed to Italy with her family. It seemed like just like every other Morelli man I had made all the woman in my life angry with me. My mother told me I was just like my father. Even my grandma was mad at me. She never even like Stephanie.