Simple Hearts
Chapter 5
"What was the magical draw?" Ranger questioned slipping behind the steering wheel of Stephanie's Subaru. Stephanie and Reilley were smiling silly singing about pancakes.
'Mix a pancake,
Stir a pancake,
Pop it in the pan;
Fry the pancake,
Toss the pancake,
Catch it if you can.'
They were going to IHOP for breakfast before the Tarantulas. He forgot his mode of thinking temporarily; Stephanie and Reilley didn't eat out much. This was a special treat for them and from their happy faces loved pancakes. "Give me directions, Babe."
"Mommy, look!" Reilley shrieked loud enough for the next vehicle to hear passing the Natural History Museum near the pancake house. There was a huge banner hanging from the roof of the building advertising the exhibit. "TARANTULAS: ALIVE AND UP CLOSE" it read with a hairy black and red spider above the lettering. On the ground was a huge black inflatable Tarantula in front of the entrance to walk under and another was waving an orange and black striped leg to welcome the guests into the museum.
Stephanie had a ghastly look upon her face. "After pancakes, Spider Boy."
"Those was big! Power Ranger, did you see ones that big?"
"No," Ranger chuckled. It was his opinion that was going to be an adventurous day.
Eating with an excited four year old was an experience. "Sweetheart, the spiders aren't going anywhere. Take your time eating." The little boy was barely chewing his pancakes. Stephanie had a syrup covered Belgium waffle she was enjoying. Ranger opted for a vegetable omelet, but he did taste a piece of waffle Stephanie kept tempting him with twirling it in front of him. 'Mmmmmm'. He caught it and ate the bite.
Ranger swore that was the quickest bathroom visit he ever witnessed as he paid the bill. Reilley was back out before he signed the credit card receipt. Probably most of the restaurant could hear him singing 'Itsy Bitsy Spider' and there was a spatula tapping in the kitchen to the rhythm.
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"Mommy, hurry!" he called running as fast as his small legs would go up to the big 'welcoming' spider with his black Rangeman ball cap on his small head.
Stephanie and Ranger quickened their steps to catch up. "Reilley, the Tarantulas aren't going anywhere!"
She snapped her little boy posing by the inflatable. The one she snapped with Ranger holding Reilley up so he could shake the waving leg was precious. Next, he stood under the Tarantula arch. The security guard took a photograph of all three of them under the arachnid before entering the museum. They figured he did that a lot during his shift.
The 'free' family pass from day care was given to the woman at the ticket desk.
"I bet you're here to see the Tarantulas," the attractive busty woman named Margaret asked. "Wait till you meet Nellie, she's a friendly one." Reilley was handed a spider 'discovery' bag for his visit.
"Wow! Power Ranger already met some!"
Her brown eyes peered over her half glasses at the muscular man with his perfectly layered hair. She was intently checking out the cut hair.
Ranger nodded at Stephanie. "She's the hair stylist."
"Look at this!" A large blue eye through a magnifying glass was watching Stephanie and Ranger. There was a base ball size card with a Tarantula on it and facts on the back, a spider pencil with a hairy topper to do the mazes, a spider ring already on his finger, and a Tarantula lollipop. "I'm putting that under my pillow. I'm keeping this forever. Will you put it my memory box, Mommy?"
"Yes, I will." Without a glance next to her, she knew Ranger's eyebrow was cocked at an explanation. "I've kept a box of special things for Reilley since he was born and we add to it."
"I'll show you, Power Ranger."
"Got it, Spider Boy!"
There was a path of colorful spiders on the floor leading through the museum to the 'Discovery' room. Reilley was pulling Stephanie and Ranger was the third tail holding her other hand. He chuckled at the deep breath the little boy's mother took into her lungs before they took a place in line waiting for entrance to the 'Tarantula World' as the sign read. There were grandparents and parents lining up with their excited children. Three families were in front of an exuberant Reilley.
"Do you still place this above paperwork?" Stephanie questioned. She swore every female melted and each man stood straighter when they took their place in the procession.
The eyebrow crested in a sexy arc. "Babe, the paperwork will always be there, but the Tarantulas will only be here for so long. This is a special event." He peered down and Reilley was nodding in agreement.
Before Stephanie could even roll her eyes, he leaned in for a kiss.
The door opened, a short man in a khaki shirt and pants stepped out. He was only a head or two above some of the older spider enthusiasts. "Good Morning, Tarantula Visitors!" He spoke with a lot of energy in his voice. "I bet you came to see the Tarantulas!" As he greeted them he pushed his round glasses in place.
Stephanie jumped back right into Ranger and his arms came around her when a black hairy spider came crawling across his head out of nowhere. "I'll protect you, Babe."
"My name is Walter Greene and I am an Arachnologist. I study spiders and this is our mascot, Nellie. She is a friendly and very docile pink-toed Tarantula." He held his hand up to his hair, Nellie walked into it to be properly introduced. "So that everyone has a chance to visit with the Tarantulas, small groups will be permitted into the Discovery Room at a time." Stephanie saw the little man gulp at the intense glare of a certain muscular Cuban Man. "The next group will be after the t-tall man," he stuttered. He looked like Henry Gibson's twin brother.
The first in the door was a little girl with her grandparents, a mother and father with two young boys, and then Stephanie, Ranger, and Reilley. Walter closed the door after the Rangeman was inside the room.
The other mother whispered to Stephanie, "Are you as excited about this as me?"
"Yes," Stephanie tried to sound happy for her son.
There were posters all around the room of different Tarantulas. Stephanie expected any one of them to jump out at the guest; it was like 'spider overload'.
Walter had a big stuffed Tarantula he picked up after he placed Nellie in a tall cage with branches in it for her to crawl up. "Let me show you the parts of a spider. Tarantulas like all spiders are called arthropods. They have an external skeleton." He removed a black hairy wire form from the spider. "Two body parts and jointed legs." All eyes were on Walter pulling apart the Velcro sections of the poor stuffed spider and passing them to the children. Ranger was chuckling for someone who made a living studying spiders, he pulled it apart with vigor.
He brought out of cages the most docile tarantulas to show the children and adults walking near them. Stephanie stayed back snapping photographs of the different spiders for her son. There was a Chilean Rose Hair tarantula, a Costa Rican Zebra tarantula, a Green Bottle Blue Tarantula, a Honduran Curly Haired Tarantula, and Mexican Red Knee and Red Leg Tarantulas. Ranger steadied Stephanie when Walter rolled out a big aquarium housing a Goliath Bird Eating Tarantula. Because of the aggressive nature of that type of arachnid, it remained behind the glass. All the children were fascinated by the extra large spider.
"Who would like to feel a tarantula?" Walter jumped with excitement in front of the muscular man, Ranger took a step back from the guide's exhilaration. The little girl and the boys were jumping with the hands in the air yelling 'Me!"
"Come along the table and put a hand in the sand!" This had to be Walter's favorite part because he was practically giddy.
Reilley took a spot. "Come on, Power Ranger!" Stephanie's son left room for him to step in beside him. No other adult stepped forward with a hand. Nonchalantly, he placed his left hand down next to Reilley's. The father of the two boys hesitated, but placed his down between his sons' hands. The grandparents stood behind their granddaughter "Just stay like that and Nellie will walk over your hand."
"Wow! Mommy, that's great!"
'It is, Reilley," Stephanie said tensely with her camera poised.
Walter placed the pink-toed Nellie down in the sand by the little girl's hand. She did have nice pink toes Stephanie thought from a distance. The spider slowly walked in the sand and over the giggling little girl's hand. Nellie walked over one little boy's, the father's hand, and then the other son's. The Tarantula was creeping towards Ranger's hand. Those intense chocolate eyes were on the spider; it stopped for a second, and walked around Ranger's fingertips in the sand only to crawl up on Reilley's. It stopped long enough for Stephanie to photograph it on her son's hand.
"Nellie's never down that," Walter shrieked picking up the pink-toed Tarantula to sit in his hand, "avoiding someone's hand."
"It's the Power Ranger stare," Reilley explained.
The arachnologist leaped back a step under the intense Cuban eyes and Nellie ran up his shirt sleeve making Walter wiggle at the retreating spider's movements. "Oh, that tickles, Nellie!" He was quickly unbuttoning his shirt to retrieve the hairy bug.
The guests were rushing out the other door as Walter was unbuckling his pants, he was hopping around yelling, "Nellie, come here!"
"That poor man!" Stephanie batted Ranger's shoulder. The grandparents, mother, and father all were laughing at the man trying to catch his tarantula.
"Babe, I didn't do anything," Ranger said innocently. He couldn't hold back a chuckle or two.
They heard a museum worker tell the waiting Tarantula visitors Walter would be right with them after he put things back in place. The children were laughing at the tickling Nellie as they colored pictures of spiders on a table as a woman was reading a book out loud about an interview with one.
Stephanie was showing Ranger the photographs on her camera of the spider adventure. She was quite taken with the one showing Reilley and Ranger's hands side by side in the sand. One was so much bigger than the other, but because the Cuban one was before her son's it was protectively against Reilley's. Just as if it was natural.
Ranger noticed the picture, too. He placed his hand down next to Stephanie's son's hand without a second thought; he didn't want the little boy to be frightened. He knew the spiders were making Stephanie's skin crawl so he did it for the little boy. The unconscious effort made him think back to the tour of Rangeman and how easily he fell into the role of the little boy's teacher in the firing range
After crawling through a spider burrow, Reilley led Stephanie and Ranger to see the dinosaurs. There was a visit to the museum store; a certain Cuban man insisted Reilley needed a T-shirt like the banner hanging at the front of the building and a small spider balloon. He bought Stephanie a candy bar for her sweet tooth.
It was a nice morning for February so they walked on one of the nature trails behind the museum before leaving for lunch. Reilley and his balloon were in front of the couple holding hands as the casually strolled behind.
"Thank you," Stephanie said low. "I don't know if I could have handled all the creepy and crawly with just me and Reilley."
"It was fun," Ranger smirked.
"After you scared Nellie!"
"Babe, my Power Ranger's powers don't go that far."
"Right!" she said rolling her eyes.
"Hey, Spider Boy!" Ranger called. "Let's go have lunch!"
Reilley ran back to his mother and the man with her. "Let's go, Power Ranger."
There was a pizza buffet, 'Sal's Pizza Buffet', the little boy chose near their house. On the way driving back, Ranger saw the place for dinner, a brew house.
Stephanie noticed how all the eyes, particularly females ones, were on them as they walked to a booth. One of the college girls missed her pizza slice; it ended up in her lap.
"Can you see?" Ranger asked the little boy whose eyes just made it over the counter height of the buffet.
The blue eyes looked up. "Mommy knows what I like."
"OK."
This was Ranger's kind of place with an extensive salad bar. He loaded his plate with garden greens, tomato slices, broccoli, bean sprouts, peppers, mushrooms sprinkled with balsamic vinegar and olive oil.
Stephanie carried back a tray with their plates. There was a plate of their own Caesar salad and cottage cheese, another had slices of pizza and pizza sticks.
"Power Ranger, where's your pizza?" Reilley leaned on the table checking out the plate of salad with no pizza.
"I'll get some after my appetizer."
He checked out the large personally made salad again, then forked a little of his mother's salad plate.
Ranger had to chuckle at the red fruit punch grin across the booth as he ate his pizza sticks.
"Do you always eat all the healthy stuff?" Stephanie questioned comparing her small salad with a slice of mushroom and buffalo chicken pizza.
"I try. I've done it for so long that its second nature to me," Ranger explained, "and I've been in a lot of areas that fruits and vegetables where the only foods compared to the freeze dried Army stuff."
"I'd take the fruits and vegetables, too," she agreed giggling as she bit into her buffalo chicken piece.
To satisfy Stephanie's son, Ranger visited the buffet again and decided on a slice of vegetable and Hawaiian with pineapple. It was pizza! They finished
lunch sharing warm chewy brownies that were just placed on the buffet. She gave Reilley two quarters for the gumball machine so he could get a small car and he was quite happy with the miniature red truck that popped out. When Ranger parked Stephanie's car in the lot next to her row house, Reilley was asleep in his car seat.
"I'll carry him if you unlock the door," he told Stephanie watching her gently unbuckle her son. Walking up onto her small shared porch, Ranger saw the sad expression cross her features seeing the empty windows next door. Pudding was in her front window sitting and watching for birds he guessed.
"Babe, Miss Fitch appreciated all you shared with her and being her friend."
"I know," she agreed. "The stroke she had was too much. The man who delivered from grocery store found her on the floor through the window. The only real family she had was a great niece and a lot of friends."
"She was lucky to have you and Reilley."
Ranger carried the sleeping boy up into Stephanie's bedroom following her up the stairs. She placed his buddy Woody beside him, removed his Rangeman hat, and covered him with 'Snuggie'.
Her bedroom reflected the simplicity of the rest of the house. The walls were ivory. The beige carpeting on the floor was showing wear Ranger noticed in some spots, but she had navy throw rugs by the bed. There was a pretty yellow, white, and navy striped and patched long quilt covering her simple wood bed. There were bright yellow drapes on the two windows. Reilley's head was resting on navy blue shams. The two small painted nightstands and chest of drawers weren't on the same design, but were stained brown to appear that they did. The only really extravagant item Ranger noticed were the etched glass lamps beside the bed. It was bright, warm, and simple.
Her hand smoothed a corner of the quilt. "I thought this was a find at the resale store. It's from a designer collection and the original tags were still attached. One from a department store would be outside of my budget."
"It's cheery, Babe," he said kissing her. Making a mental note, he had to check with Ella about resale shops when he returned to Trenton. Coming down the stairs, Ranger's hand went to the pistol tucked under his shirt when there was a knock at Stephanie's front door. She glanced at the weapon from nowhere in his hand. "Security."
She rolled her eyes. "I own everything a burglar wouldn't want." Opening the door, a man close to her father's age was standing on the small porch in a shirt, tie, and tweed blazer just out of a college classroom. He was familiar looking, but Stephanie couldn't place him.
"Are you, Stephanie Plum?" he asked. "I'm Burton Grove, Melinda Fitch's attorney."
"I'm her." At the mention of the missing neighbor, Ranger noticed her blue eyes were becoming misty.
"May I speak with you for a moment?"
She opened the door wider, she remembered him now from the funeral and the small gathering recently Father Francis led when her ashes were placed in the 'Quiet Garden' beside St. Agnes Church she and Reilley attended. "Please, come in."
The lawyer glanced at the tall man. "From Melinda's description, you must be the Christmas guest?"
Ranger extended his hand after replacing his weapon. "Yes, Carlos Manoso."
Mr. Grove shook it. "Melinda thought you had potential."
Brown and blue eyes locked on each other hearing Miss Fitch's assessment.
"This won't take long."
Stephanie offered him a seat on her lounger. "Can I offer you something to drink? I'll put a pot of coffee on."
Burton Grove shifted his hand so the young woman didn't fuss. He opened a leather binder he carried and placed a bag down. "I am not only Melinda's attorney, but a long time friend and I want to express to you how much she appreciated your friendship. She told me when you moved in and how everyday you waved at her in the window even though she never opened the door. It was weeks before she even spoke to you and your son."
Even though Stephanie thought it strange, she kept up waving at the small woman who peeked out the window when she moved into the row house and eventually learned her story.
He pulled something out of the brown binder. "Melinda wanted you to have this." Burton Grove presented Stephanie with a cashier's check for $15,000 and the large bag. "I was instructed to set up a college fund for your son, Reilley. There is $10,000 in it which my office will manage and invest until he turns 18."
Her astonished blue eyes went from male face to male face. "This is from Miss Fitch?" Stephanie unzipped the quilted bag. "Her quilts she made."
"Yes, and here is a list of all her inventoried furniture and personal possessions. Her instructions are that anything you want of her things, you have first choice. The remaining items and a monetary donation go to St. Agnes Church. Father Francis was given detailed instructions. The money she bequeathed to the church is to assist in the purchase of a building near it so a permanent 'warming' shelter is always available to anyone who may need a place to stay."
"I can't believe this! What about her niece?"
"Melinda left her money, but she's not interested in her old aunt's things. Look over the list and my office telephone number is on it. Oh, this she specifically said was to go your grandmother, Edna Mazur." He produced a small box from his tweed blazer.
"It's her cameo isn't it?" Stephanie accepted the box knowing what was in it. Miss Fitch wore a brooch that reminded Edna Mazur of one her own mother had, Stephanie's great-grandmother's was blue and the one in the box was a rose-pink.
"Yes, her stories made Melinda laugh."
"My grandma likes bingo and the slots. She always seems to know what is going on no matter where she is."
Ranger chuckled because Edna Mazur was in the middle of things at times.
"I can't believe she did this." Curls were swishing attempting to comprehend her timid reclusive neighbor. "She had an old enamel top kitchen table with two chairs and a mantel clock that chimed. They were her mother's."
'I can have those put aside and delivered. If you want to look over Melinda's things someone from my office will open the storage locker."
"No," Stephanie told him. "I want to remember Miss Fitch and her 'treasures'
as they were. I don't have much storage room."
"Babe, anything you want can be stored at Rangeman. We have room." Ranger said hoping she would accept his offer and if the things were in Trenton, maybe eventually she would want to move back.
She picked up a pen going down the inventoried list checking off a few things. The indicated items were the pieces Miss Fitch treasured from her parents, the enamel table, mantel cloth, a set of Yellow ware mixing bowls, her mother's dishes, and a wrought iron washstand she had in her bathroom.
The attorney glanced over the list returned to him and he smiled. "Melinda was going to give you these items in her will, but she didn't want you to feel obligated to accept them."
"Her mother's things were very important to Miss Fitch. I loved how she would gently wipe the enamel table top her mother used to make bread. It's not that they are antiques now, it's the memories and ties to the past that make them special."
"I understand. They were very special to Melinda. She cherished her family memories. I did send her family album to Katie, her niece, I hope she appreciates them, but she seems very modern to me. If there is anything else you would want, please contact my office." With that, Burton Grove closed his leather folder and stood up shaking hands with Stephanie and Ranger. "You and your son were very special to my friend and client. Thank you."
Stephanie shook his hand once more before he left. "Thank you."
She breathed a little internal sigh of relief. Her back account was getting another deposit, not going down like it usually did. Maybe, things were getting a little better for her and her son.
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"Manoso," Ranger told the man at the reservation desk of the 'Flat Iron Brewery'. He had logged into the website on Stephanie's computer requesting a table. It was in a renovated warehouse in Wilmington.
The suited man looked at Ranger intently. "Do you know a Manoso in Newark? It's not a common name. I've talked with him at franchise meetings. You look like him. Julio Manoso."
"My brother," Ranger offered.
"Nice guy. I'm Rob, the co-owner," he said picking up menus. He scratched something on his erase board before leading them to a table. "This way."
They found themselves seated in a corner of the polished wood restaurant with tall windows facing the busy street.
'Look at this," Stephanie remarked. The brew house was busy for a Saturday night, but their table was away from the crowded bar area and tables near the big screen TV's on the walls.
"I thought you might enjoy this when I noticed it earlier today," Ranger explained his choice of restaurant. "My brother, Julio, co-owns the one in Newark. Before I became so involved in Trenton Rangeman, the guys and I would drive up sometimes for dinner."
Knowing he had removed himself from his family, Stephanie made a suggestion, "Maybe, you and your friends should pay a visit. You've been away and some male bonding time might be nice and reconnecting with your brother."
"I'll take that under consideration," he replied with an eyebrow that went up. His hand came across to Stephanie's menu flipping a page. "There was another reason for coming here, I thought you might like this."
Stephanie's blue eyes got even bigger and so did her son's seeing the desserts.
"You're the best date!"
Reilley was pointing to a picture of the molten chocolate cake with warm peanut butter center drizzled in chocolate sauce topped with ice cream. "That's yummy!"
Knuckles were rubbing a sculpted chest. "I know."
Rob came back to their table with a tray. "Here's a sample of the beers on tap and something for your son." He placed a round footed dish with shot glass size samples of the house brews between Stephanie and Ranger; the little boy received a root beer float. A dish of appetizers was placed in the center of their table. "On the house," Rob said.
"Thank you," Ranger told him and never corrected him regarding the little boy's relationship to him.
They both tried the pale and red lagers, Belgium ale, and Stephanie's favorite, a raspberry beer.
There was a cheesy smile at the table after Reilley finished his creamy macaroni and cheese. "That was good!"
A portion of Stephanie's fish and chips were reserved for a take-home box so she had room for the chocolatety dessert creation she was looking forward to. Ranger enjoyed his flavorful grilled tuna and steamed rice. His dessert choice was a warm apple crisp.
The first taste of the chocolate cake was shear divinity for Stephanie. It was a moist dark chocolate with a gooey thick sauce and a warm peanut butter center. "Oh, God! This is the ultimate experience of my life!"
"Really, Babe?" Ranger asked with a sexy languid expression in his dark brown eyes.
Meeting his eyes, she basically forgot her name. He was every inch of male sensuality sitting there watching her. Her panties felt damp. "Maybe?" she squeaked. The thought running in her mind at that second was when they made love it would be a night like no other in her life and she was positive of that. She remembered the feel of the man the night before, just the touch of his lips made her melt.
Ranger's voice was low, "Just wait, you might reconsider that thought."
"I know I will."
Walking to her Baha after dinner and chocolate was washed from her son's face, Stephanie and Ranger were holding hands, her son was in Ranger's other arm with ease.
"Thank you, Ranger. This was fun," Stephanie quietly conveyed to him.
Both were aware he would be heading to Trenton tomorrow, but didn't express the fact. He wanted their time together to finish on a light note and was already counting in his head how many hours until he returned. There had to be a way Ranger convinced himself to get this woman and her son to Trenton permanently. He needed to piece that together and he would, or he wasn't Ranger Manoso. "It was, Babe."
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''Pancake Song' by Christina Rossetti (1830 -1894)
From the last chapter, a reviewer questioned in the cherry-caramel wine existed. It does and I found it at 'FiorieWinery-dot-com'. It's a winery in Maryland between DC and Wilmington I found in research.