Author's Note: Okay, here's the answers to your questions about the mysterious Mr. Manoso. Thanks for reading and keep reviewing! I love getting great reviews.

Not mine

Chapter 20: Revealed

Mr. Manoso looked over at me and his face lit up. "Es que la mujer hermosa que su madre ha venido diciendo acerca de mí?"

"Si, papa. Esto es Stephanie."

He turned to me. "It is nice to meet you, Estephanie."

"It's nice to meet you too, Mr. Manoso."

"Por favor, call me Ric."

Ranger and Ric had a conversation in rapid Spanish that I couldn't follow at all. I began to look around the room. There were pictures of the entire family. They were mostly of Ranger and his other siblings with a few of Ric and Maria thrown in. I heard Ric say that Grandma Rosa was out of her mind, and it made me chuckle. Maybe grandparents and fathers don't mix.

"That was taken right after I joined the Rangers." Ranger said, bringing his arms around my waist.

"You look handsome." I said. And that was an understatement. Ranger in military uniform? Yum.

"I still have that somewhere."

"Does it still fit?"

"Maybe…" He wolf grinned at me.

Oh, I bet it did.

"Carlos, ¿cómo esta tu madre?"

"Esta bien. ¿Qué?"

"No importa."

I could see the look in his eye. He loved Maria very much and was saddened that he was so far away from her. I bet he feels exactly like I do when Ranger is called away.

Ranger's phone vibrated and he stepped out of the room. I took his chair.

"You love my son, no?"

"I do, more than I could ever imagine."

"You make him happy. I haven't seen him this happy in a long time. Take good care of him. He has had the weight of the world on his shoulders for far too long. No father should see his son like that." He looked away from me.

"I will take good care of him." I promised, taking his hand. He fell asleep shortly after. I stared at Ric until I felt Ranger come back into the room. He nodded that it was time to go and I gently slipped out my hand.

The ride home from the nursing home was silent. I wasn't going to ask any questions until Ranger wanted to open up.

"Twelve years."

"Huh?"

"That's how long he's been in there. Twelve years."

"If you don't want to talk about it…"

He looked at me and then back at the road. "He used to work for the military. He was away on a mission. He wasn't supposed to be on any more missions, but this was for a General friend. The mission went badly and he lost some of his memory, motor function and his IQ dropped tremendously.

"The military changes you. For him, it made him too damn proud. Too damn proud to let his family take care of him. He practically lives in that bed. He can barely walk, barely feed himself, can't clean himself, and can act like a petulant child. Today was a good day.

"He decided it was better that complete strangers take care of him instead of feeling the guilt of have having my mother change his diapers. So he checked himself into that place and that was it. We tried to declare him incompetent, but could never prove it. So we try to go over there and visit him. It's hell on my mom.

"When I got back from Ranger school and being overseas, I got a second job to help my mom pay the bills and take care of the family. We could barely stay afloat.

"Then the bills started to pile up, so when I started making a significant profit at RangeMan, the checks he wrote out from his cashed life insurance policy and stocks go back into my mother's joint account and I pay for it. I doubt that he even knows that I'm paying for it."

He has had the weight of the world on his shoulders for far too long, the words resounded in my head. I placed a hand on his thigh. "He knows."

"How do you know?"

I looked at him. "A father knows. You were young and became the father figure for your family. That must have been hard on you."

"Someone had to step up. I did some shitty things during my youth and I wasn't going to let those kids do the same thing. Miguel, Marisol and Elena all resent him. Celia refuses to see him, so my mother and I are his only visitors."

I didn't know what to say. There was so much of Ranger's past that haunted him, I didn't know what would be the right thing. I rubbed soothing circles with my thumb. He picked up my hand and gave my palm a kiss and held it the entire way home.

I could see how tired he was so when we arrived home, I pushed him onto the bed, stripped his clothes and climbed onto of him. I set a slow pace. When we finally climaxed together, it was the most emotional orgasm I've ever had. I collapsed onto his chest until we could breathe regularly again.

I kissed his neck. "You're going to make a great father one day."

He sighed. "Babe, I carry around four weapons."

"Just make sure the safety is on when you're around them."

"Babe."

"Goodnight, Carlos." He tried to shift me. "What are you doing?"

"Babe?"

I snuggled closer and he wrapped his arms around me and I wrapped my legs on either side of his waist. He kissed my forehead and we were instantly asleep.