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Chapter Two

The very next morning, Stephanie and Joe had visited the birthing center for a routine checkup. Both mother and baby had been given a clean bill of health, and a firm order to stay out of trouble and to rest on occasion. Joe had reluctantly dropped Stephanie off at the bond's office so she could share with her friends the latest sonogram print, and now Connie, Lula and Stephanie stood hovering over Connie's desk, peering down at the black and white photocopy of a tiny miracle.

Squinting her eyes and pushing her lips together in concentration, Lula said, "I don't see nothing."

"There," Stephanie said, pointing at the small nub of a nose, "Look."

Lula shook her head, still unable to tell apart all the shapes and colors.

"Wait," Connie said. "I think I see it."

Connie pointed at the print.

"Right there."

Stephanie looked at the place where Connie was pointing and grimaced. "No, I think that's my bladder, or maybe a kidney. Here, let me show you."

Stephanie tore off a section of plastic wrap and placed it over the print. Then, with a fine point black permanent marker, she drew the outline of the baby's profile as she had remembered it from her doctor's appointment earlier that morning.

"Oooh," said Connie and Lula in unison.

"Damn," Lula said, taking a closer look, now that she knew what she was supposed to be seeing. "If that's what I think it is, he's definitely a Morelli."

Stephanie giggled. "That's an arm," she said, though she couldn't disagree with Lula's assumption of her husband's above average endowment.

A rush of cold air floated through the bonds office and they all three turned to look at the door. Ranger was standing in the doorway, his black hair slicked back and his windbreaker glistening with rain. He nodded at them each in turn and kept his distance to keep from getting anyone wet as he handed Connie a file.

"Wow," Connie said, obviously impressed. "Tracy Clark. I just gave this to you yesterday. How did you find him so fast?"

"I got lucky," said Ranger on the cusp of a shrug. "What are you looking at?"

Stephanie picked up the sonogram picture and laid it on Ranger's open palm. He looked down at the print and his half smile turned into a full fledged smile.

"Been a while since I've seen one of these," said Ranger, passing the print back to Stephanie. "How's Morelli adjusting?"

Stephanie slipped the print back into its protective covering in her wallet and shrugged.

"About the same as me," she said. "I go back and forth between being scared to death and singing at the top of my lungs!"

"Babe," said Ranger, and Stephanie could tell he was genuinely happy for her. It meant a lot to her that they had been able to overcome all the hurt feelings on both sides and remain friends, and she smiled at him appreciatively.

The moment of peaceful silence was broken by Ranger.

"Can I see you outside?"

Stephanie gave him a look of utter confusion, but nodded her head in agreement and they both stepped outside. Ranger took off his windbreaker and draped it over her shoulders.

"Get in," he said, pressing a button on his keyring to unlock his truck.

"I don't think that's a good idea," said Stephanie, shrugging into the windbreaker to protect herself from the cold.

Ranger looked down at her. "We're not going anywhere. I promise. I just don't want you to get sick in this weather, in your condition."

Stephanie knew he had a point, but she still didn't want to press her limits. It had been many years since she and Ranger had shared so much as an inappropriate brush of the hands, but she was married now and he had a girlfriend. She didn't want the Burg rumor mill to start churning out fabrications which some might believe to be fact.

"Babe," said Ranger, motioning to the truck.

"Okay," Stephanie said, getting colder by the second.

Stephanie climbed into the large cab of the truck and shed Ranger's windbreaker while he walked around the front of the truck and got in behind the steering wheel. He inserted the key into the ignition and the truck came to life, showering them both in warm air.

Ranger twisted in his seat to look at Stephanie and said, "I'm going out of town for a few days. A week at most. But I need to ask a favor of you before I go."

"What kind of favor?" Stephanie wanted to know.

Ranger took a moment and thought about what he was going to say, wanting to make sure it came out just right.

"There's a meeting on Thursday," Ranger said after a moments pause. "I would like it if you would go with me."

Stephanie looked down at her hands. As Ranger's sponsor, she'd been to AA meetings with him before, and she had no objection to it. But Olive was Ranger's girlfriend now, and she had in the past felt threatened by their friendship. Ranger had never elaborated on the reason Olive felt this way. Certainly nothing had gone on between the two of them to make her suspect she had any reason to be insecure, but Stephanie had deduced, by way of woman's intuition, that perhaps something in Olive's past relationships (which she knew to have been volatile) had left her with low self esteem, not unlike Ranger himself.

Ranger sensed the reason for Stephanie's hesitance, and laid a hand on her shoulder.

"I've talked to Olive about this," Ranger said to Stephanie. "She is okay with it. In fact, it was her suggestion."

Stephanie was relieved. She smiled at Ranger and nodded.

Letting out a relieved sigh, Ranger smiled and said, "Good. Thursday, 6:00. Do you want me to talk to Morelli?"

Stephanie shook her head.

"That won't be necessary. We support you. Both of us."

Ranger looked down at the small bump forming where Stephanie's waste had once been, and said, "Don't you mean all three of you?"

Stephanie rolled her eyes and stifled a laugh.

"I have to say, I never saw you as being a mother to anything other than a hamster or maybe a cat, but only after the hamster died."

Stephanie quivered her bottom lip in a mock pout. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, really," said Ranger, staring reflectively out the window, one arm draped over the steering wheel. "I guess sometimes things change. That's all."

"Yes," Stephanie agreed, slipping into her own reverie. "I think you're right."