A/N: All recognizable characters belong to Janet Evanovich. I use them for fun and not profit.

Chapter 19

Ranger's hands were in my hair. He used gentle leverage to move my face up to his. The roughness in his voice made my heart catch. "Are you regretting this marriage, Stephanie?" There was an edge to his voice that might have been fear.I opened my mouth to respond, but found I had no words.

My hesitation heightened the emotion I saw on his face.

"No," I said in a rush. "I'm not regretting our marriage."

"Then what is your hesitancy, Babe. Why do you not want to move from your apartment? It doesn't feel like you're totally committed."

I didn't know how to respond. I pulled away and took a couple of steps turning my back to Ranger. What I was going to say would hurt him and I didn't want to do that, but I also knew it had to be said.

"I'm not regretting our marriage. I want to spend my life with you. I love you, but Ranger, I'm angry and I'm frightened." He came to me and put his arm around my shoulders and we began to slowly walk the perimeter of the empty room. Not looking at him I continued. "When you left me I was devastated. Looking back on it I'm not sure how I got through it. The pain from losing the baby was far greater than I could imagine and not having anyone to share it with was unbearable."

His arm tightened around me, "Babe, I…"

I interrupted him. "I got through it. Each day I prayed for the next day to be better and eventually I got to the point where the days were okay. Amazingly, no one seemed to realize how close I was to just not being able to go on. I can't do it again, Ranger."

"Babe, I'll never leave you again. Do you believe that?"

"I did when you told me you'd give me babies. I do when you tell me you love me, but then, when I'm alone, I wonder what is in store for us. What will happen that we can't even begin to imagine. What could make you change your mind?"

I turned to look up at him, "And what happened that made you change your mind this time and come back to me?"

"When we were standing on the courthouse steps and the bullets started to fly," Ranger said softly, "my only thought was to keep you safe. Then, before I could fully realize what was happening, our baby was gone. I knew pain too, Babe. But instead of staying and sharing our grief, I knew I had to leave. I couldn't live with myself if something happened to you. You are the most important thing in my life and I'd threatened your existence by pulling you into my world."

"Ranger," I protested. "I told you the doctor said the shooting had nothing to do with the death of our baby. The doctor called it fetal demise. You didn't even stay to get the news with me. When I had an explanation for what had happened you were gone and I had no one and that's when the anger began."

"I can't say anything to take away that anger," Ranger said, "because I feel the same anger toward myself. I left because I was sure it was the right thing to do. But, Babe," he grabbed my arm and swung me around to face him. "It wasn't an easy thing for me to do. It was torture being apart from you." I saw the truth of his words on his face.

"Tank kept this place running," he continued. "But time after time there was a need for me to be here, so basically I commuted between here and Boston. A month or so ago I made the decision to come back. Tank has been keeping me apprised of what was going on in your life. I knew you weren't with the cop or anyone else and I didn't plan on becoming part of your life again. But then you called and I heard your pain and I couldn't stay away."

I ignored the last of his words and focused on the first part of what he'd said. "You had Tank spy on me the entire time you were gone?" I wasn't surprised, just a little shocked I'd been under surveillance and totally unaware of it.

"I did," he said without any sign of guilt. "Lula helped inadvertently. She was concerned about you and she shared those concerns with Tank. She knew you were suffering, but she thought it had to do with the cop. She was just at the point of making an effort to get you to open up when you seemed to get better."

This news set me back a little. I hadn't hidden my anguish as well as I'd thought. I know Lula and I have a true friendship and I'd just been given more proof of it. She'd quietly been there waiting for me to ask for help. When I didn't, she continued her support without being intrusive. I was lucky to have someone like her in my life.

Ranger leaned into me and kissed me, breaking my introspection. It was a soft searching kiss, an attempt to make a connection. The uncertainty I felt in it turned my heart over and I responded. I kissed him back and wrapped my arms around him. We stood silently hugging and taking comfort from each other's nearness. Passion wasn't a part of the embrace.

"I realized," Ranger said, "that being away from you wasn't the answer. You seem to survive and find trouble on your own, even when I'm gone. I decided to get you back in my life on a permanent basis, if it wasn't too late. I can't change what's happened. All I can do is make sure nothing like it happens again. I'm here for you, forever. Can you trust me? Babe, can you forgive me?"

I looked up at him, this perfectly handsome, imperfect man. He loved me, there was no doubt. I loved him or he'd never have been able to hurt me like he had. Ranger had always lived his life by his own moral code and I knew hurting me had not been on his agenda.

"I don't want to be angry any more. I thought I'd worked through it, so I'm surprised to find it's still there." I took in a heavy breath and let it out. "It's helped to hear you talk about it."

I reached up and traced the line of his brow with my fingertip. My hand dropped to his chest where I felt his heart beat, slow, steady and strong. "I love you. I want a life with you. I trust you and I believe you when say you'll always be here for me."

I took another deep breath, and gathered my courage. "So. You made a vow to me a few days ago and now I make a vow to you. I love you, Ranger. I will be a good wife to you. And I forgive you. Our life is about our future now, and while I can't forget the past I won't dwell on it."

His arms tightened and his mouth again found mine. The connection he'd been searching for with his last kiss had been made. I'd married a wonderful kisser. His lips gave pleasure and took pleasure from mine. His hands roamed my body starting little fires that threatened to consume me. His erection was straining against my abdomen.

He whispered in my ear, "Let's go back to the apartment, Babe."

"No," I said. "The other day you said you were going to start as you meant to continue. Let's stay here and make love in our new home."

"Babe," he glanced down at the cold tile floor.

"Get creative, Batman," I said as I ran my hand low over his arousal. He did.

Hours later as our passions cooled, the coldness of the room was beginning to sink in. Ranger was sitting with his back against the wall, legs spread. I was nestled in between his legs with my back against his chest. His arms were around me, warding off the cold as best he could. I wasn't sure my legs would work, but I knew we should get up and go back to the apartment. The light from the west windows was gone and the temperature in the space was dropping by the minute. I heard the buzz of Ranger's phone vibrating for at least the third time. He'd ignored the other calls, but this time he answered.

"Yo," he said hitting the speaker phone button.

Tank's voice echoed in the empty room. "Where the hell are you? Your GPS says you haven't left the building."

Ranger looked from one end of the room to the other. "I think I'm in my bedroom." I looked over my shoulder to see a grin on Ranger's face. He stroked my hair and placed a soft kiss on the top of my head.

"The hell you are!" Tank responded. "I just sent Bobby up there and he said no one was home."

"I assure you, I'm in the building. What's up?"

"Morelli called. Blanco made bail."

Ranger remained silent for a heartbeat. "Details," he demanded softly.

"I don't have them," Tank said. "Morelli wants to meet with you two tomorrow. I told him to be here at nine and he said that'd work. He just wanted to make sure you knew she was out."

"We'll both be there and have Lester and Howdy on the premises as well. Put a RangeMan escort on Steph."

"Speaking of premises, where the hell are you?" Tank asked. Ranger disconnected. I stood and turned, holding out my hand to Ranger. He let me help him up off the floor.

"What are we doing here?" I asked. "There' s a perfectly comfortable bed next door."

Ranger wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close. "Babe, we're beginning as we mean to go on." I looked at him and saw the faintest lip twitch. I smiled back.

The next morning Ranger, Joe, Tank, Lester and Howdy were sitting around the conference table when I walked into the room. I was moving a little slowly, not wanting to admit the tiled floor of our future bedroom maybe wasn't such a good idea. If anyone noticed my limp no one said anything.

Joe stood and all eyes turned toward him. "Here's what we have so far. Shirley Blanco freely admitted to addressing the envelopes. She denies any knowledge of threatening photographs or messages, but we were able to arrest her based on the evidence of her fingerprint on the business card. Also, the handwriting on the warning notes is hers, as was the print we got off the door. The evidence is fairly conclusive, but we're still investigating. Today we'll be canvassing the apartment building where Steph lives, uh, lived. Hopefully someone will have seen Blanco in the building."

"How'd she make bail so quickly?" Ranger asked.

"And what was she doing with Mooch, Joe?" My question caused him to flush a little and I could see he was uncomfortable in his present role.

"I don't have all the answers yet," Joe said, "but I'll tell you what I know. Her bail hearing was set very quickly after she came in, and she was represented by Dickie Orr. He will turn the case over to a criminal defense attorney before trial. I think you were right, Cupcake. She did call Dickie as a shot to you. He was obviously surprised and did what he could to help her, but indicated someone else would be taking over the case. The judge received a request for an immediate bail hearing from none other than Vito Grizzoli.

"Terry's uncle?" I asked

"The same," Joe said. "He reportedly operates outside the law, but he's influential. He has friends in high places and when he makes a request, he gets listened to."

"Who wrote her bond?" I demanded to know. "If Vinnie did I'll kill him!"

"No one wrote her bond," Joe continued. "She was released on her own recognizance after a large cash bond was posted. There is a court mandated restraining order in place to keep her away from you. If she breaks that restraining order her bail is revoked, with no chance to be rebonded. Here's where it gets interesting. Anthony Fenoglio put up the cash for her and presumably he was the one who asked for Vito's help. The Grizzolis and Fenoglios are old family allies. Fenoglio came, paid her bail fee and took her home." Joe turned to Tank, "Did you have a man on her?"

"Yes," Tank answered. "Cal has been watching her all night. He was just relieved by Woody and is on his way back in so I don't have a full report yet, but I do know Fenoglio took her home and went inside. He stayed for about an hour and then he left. We didn't have manpower assigned to follow him. This morning Blanco left her apartment about an hour ago and went to Baldicott, presumably to work. Fenoglio's car was in the executive lot so we are assuming he's at work as well."

Joe turned and spoke directly to me. "The connection with Mooch is a little tenuous depending on whom you choose to believe. Apparently Mooch met Blanco when he was with Terry. Never one to pass up an opportunity, Mooch got her number and started seeing her. Terry says she was unaware of this. Shirley confessed to Mooch she's in love with her boss. She knew it was hopeless because he was in love with you. Mooch decided to help her get over Fenoglio and began wining her and dining her. He didn't want Terry to know."

Joe looked pained, but he continued. "Here's where it gets fuzzy. Terry claims she was acting as a messenger, carrying information between her uncle and Mooch. Mooch kept bugging Vito for work saying he had connections to the P.D. that could be valuable to Vito. Terry says Mooch kept coming on to her thinking that would solidify his position with Vito. She swears it was all one-sided and, frankly, I don't know what to believe. I'm not even sure if it's germane to this case, but I've turned that part of the investigation over to Brian Simon. I'm in too deep to be objective."

The meeting broke up after that. I knew I'd be on a Merry Man watch until the trial was over. Who knew how long that would be? I was puzzled over Anthony's involvement. Maybe he felt he owed it to Shirley to help her since it was his own bad idea that'd gotten her involved in the first place. I looked up from my musings to see the room had emptied with the exception of Joe and Ranger. Joe turned to Ranger and said, "I'd like to borrow your wife for a while today, Mañoso. I owe her lunch and we have some things to talk about. I'll keep her safe."

"Joe," I said, trying to keep the irritation out of my voice, "You can ask me if you need to see me. I'm married, not in prison." I had no idea what he wanted to talk to me about, but I was curious. "Pick me up at noon, here," I said. "I've been craving a meatball sub."

Joe smiled and reached down under the conference table. He placed a familiar La Perla bag on the table. "I got the okay to return this to you. Fenoglio has admitted to giving it all to you and it's no longer considered evidence in the case. See you at noon."

I looked in the bag as Morelli left. All of the lingerie was there. I pulled out the Carine Gilson thong and let my hands slide over the silk. This was a nice surprise I hadn't been expecting. The thong was pulled from my fingers. Ranger dropped it back in the bag and threw the bag into the trash can.

"Not in this lifetime, Babe!"

"Ranger, you can't throw that out. It's thousands of dollars worth of lingerie!"

"You are not wearing underwear that was given to you by another man." His arms went around me and pulled me close. "I can provide you with all the underwear you want." His expression was resolute.

"Okay," I relented, "but I'm not throwing it away. I'll give it to someone who will get good use out of it." I walked over and pulled the bag out of the trash. I smiled as the plan formed.