I'm alive. Thanks for your e-mails. I scratched my cornea over two weeks ago and have been wearing my 'dreaded' glasses. Icould use new ones, but wear contact almost all the time. My daughter is having Algebra problems and giving me headaches over it since I don't figure it out her way. And, for my really good news. I fell in love with a shelter dog picture on 'PetFinder', but she was in Kentucky and I'm in Pennsylvania. After much soul searching, many e-mails and telephone calls, Jovi will be arriving by a dog rescue transport here after the beginning of March. Thanks for all your priior reviews and 'wondering' where i have been. Lee Anne
Simple Hearts
Chapter 6
An internal groan went through Ranger's body when Stephanie's Subaru made a corner, there sitting in the parking lot of her row house was a familiar black Hummer. They were coming back from morning church and Reilley's Sunday school class at St. Agnes.
"Look's like your ride is here," Stephanie hoped to sound chipper, but she was sad her Christmas guest would be leaving soon. "How did he know where we lived?" She questioned realizing there was no call for directions.
"Tracking in my cell phone," Ranger explained thinking he was going to need to pitch it now when he came to Wilmington. Those three goofs could now find the boss.
Seeing the approaching blue car-truck, Tank jumped down from his company vehicle and waited by his front bumper for Ranger to park. He watched his friend get out giving a 'Thank God!" seeing Ranger's hair was his shorter version he wore since Stephanie first cut it. "No new do's to send the office in an uproar."
The dark Cuban eyes were trying to intimidate his big friend, but the memory flash of after Christmas made him chuckle. "Just me."
"It's the really big Black Army Power Ranger," Reilley called running in Tank's direction. The big bald guy smirked seeing the small Rangeman ball cap on his head.
"Only me, Little Power Ranger," he replied looking down at the extremely impressed small boy.
"Wow! Two Power Rangers. We're lucky, Mommy."
"We are, Reilley. Come on in," Stephanie said to the new guest.
The black and orange patched cat was in the same spot as when they left in the front window, but the green eyes were intent on the new person walking up the front steps.
"How was the job?" Tank asked Ranger.
"Too long, hot, and sandy," he replied to the question, "but we found the problem and it was dealt with appropriately." Ranger chose his words carefully. It was a long trek and the terrorist gang was eliminated swiftly and completely when they were found into many small pieces over sandy, mountainous terrain.
"Good job." Tank was surprised stepping into the row house Stephanie rented. It was simple inside, comfortable and unpretentious. Everything the complete opposite he would define of Ranger's penthouse apartment. It was darkly masculine like the man who lived in it, but Ranger was comfortable in the sparse surroundings. Tank noticed how at home he draped his jacket over the banister when he removed it.
"Please come in, Tank, and make yourself comfortable," Stephanie offered disappearing through the doorway.
Reilley ran over to Tank taking a seat on the blue lounger. "Big Power Ranger, you should have seen. Power Ranger scared the tarantula away!"
"Tarantula, Ranger?"
He was chuckling with that all-knowing arched eyebrow. "I didn't want it on my hand."
"He gave Nellie the Power Ranger look," Reilley said demonstrating his version of the Bad Ass stare with wide blue eyes. "It ran up the teacher's shirt."
The big hands were covering his face laughing at his friend using the Ranger glare on a spider. "The poor spider!"
Stephanie came out with fruit salad, warm ham and Swiss roll slices, and ice tea.
"You need something to hold you until you get to Trenton."
"Babe, it's fifty miles," he chuckled. She was a 'Burg' hostess.
"I drove," Tank spoke up taking a slice of the warm sandwich roll and spooning fruit salad on a small plate. "I need energy for the drive back."
Ranger flipped him Cuban eyes. "My butt."
"My vehicle. You can ride on the bumper!"
She clapped her hands to get the males' attention. "Fight nice, Boys!"
"Babe." Ranger gave a sexy arched eyebrow as comeback.
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Coming down the stairs with his duffel in his hand, Tank noticed the slightest slump in the shoulders of the straight Army posture of Ranger. He didn't want to leave and Tank knew it. After Stephanie left on New Year's Day, the jovialness wasn't there fully in his friend. He made half of an attempt at the joking, but his heart wasn't in it completely. Even the managers in the offices commented that the boss was off. He wasn't his usual gruff business self, but he stayed more to himself than everyone expected, then he went rushing out of Miami when he got the government call. Lester flew down with his duffel to meet Ranger at Fort Stewart before boarding the government plane. Tank hoped the two of them figured out a solution, because this friend wouldn't be the most pleasant to live and work with until he saw Stephanie and her son again. The fifty miles separating Wilmington and Trenton would be a blink of an eye to Ranger flooring it in his Porsche. He pitied any cop stopping the speeding sports car.
"Bye, Power Ranger."
"Bye, Spider Boy," Ranger laughed a sad laugh poking the Tarantula on his
T-shirt kneeling down in front of the little boy. Standing up to look into the adult blue eyes rimmed with tears. He sighed. "I'll be back, Babe. I shouldn't get anymore calls for awhile. I may need to make a fast visit to Miami to finish my year-end evaluation that was interrupted, but I intend to see you at the end of the week."
"But," Stephanie began to speak, Ranger stopped her. Tank figured sooner than that.
"I'll be here. If you need anything, call me. I'll deliver milk, cookies, even dental floss if you run out. And, if this new boss gives you a difficult time, I can use a little Bad Ass pressure to make him see the error of his ways," he chuckled.
The blue eyes crinkled and Stephanie giggled at the image of Tony being creamed a few times. "You can't beat up my new boss. I need my job."
"He could take a sudden wildlife adventure tour."
Her fist tapped his sculpted chest. "You!"
His lips kissed the tear on her cheek wandering to her inviting lips. Tank thought the houses he saw out the front door had nice shapes after he picked up Ranger's duffel for something to do while his friend necked. "Bye. I'll call you."
"Have a safe drive back to Trenton," Stephanie told the two men picking up Reilley stepping onto the porch watching them walk to the parking lot. "Bye," she mouthed just as Ranger did before he turned the corner. Seconds later the black Hummer was going the way it came down the street.
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"Turn here," Ranger instructed Tank. "Did you bring what I asked?"
"In the glove compartment," Tank pointed making a right.
Ranger found an envelope in the glove box slipping it out. He never glanced inside because Tank would follow his directions to a 'T'. "Another right and into that church lot."
St. Agnes' parking lot was practically empty with just two cars parked at the end. The driver pulled into a spot having his choice.
"I'll be back," Ranger said jumping down with the envelope. The church door which he had come out of earlier was unlocked; Ranger stepped through it and listened to the quiet church. He picked up a noise and went right into the sanctuary. Father Francis was up at the altar moving things after the final mass of the morning. He turned sensing someone was watching recognizing the muscled form of Ranger. "Carlos."
"Hello, Father."
He stepped down meeting the man at a pew. "Is there something I can help you with?" Father Francis asked. The man coming into the church had an aura emanating from him which told the priest he was in control and nothing would sway that.
"Yes," Ranger said quietly sitting down next to the priest. "I need a favor. I am heading back to Trenton and my business. I will be back to see Stephanie and Reilley."
Father Francis nodded knowing that was true. Witnessing Stephanie, Carlos, and Reilley together, he saw the connection.
"I don't want Stephanie to worry about money," he continued. "Here." Ranger placed the envelope in the priest' worn palm. "I'm hoping with this, the church could decrease Reilley's daycare cost. Her rent is going up and Stephanie is very concerned about her job with the new owner of the salon. You told me on Christmas Eve she cut the hair of the shut-ins."
The priest understood Ranger's train of thought. "One of the parishioners made a donation on her behalf."
"Yes," Ranger agreed. "She is independent and would not accept this from me or allow me to pay for Reilley's daycare if I offered. The money Miss Fitch left her gave Stephanie some monetary security. I want her to spend it on 'fun' stuff for her and her son."
Father Francis admired this quiet man. He may have started out as very cold and cynical on Christmas Eve, but underneath all that toughness and brooding was a man who cared deeply about the people in his life. Carlos just did it quietly in his own way. "I hope I can be convincing, Carlos," the priest laughed aware of the New Jersey determination Stephanie possessed.
"Thank you. If Stephanie or Reilley appear upset, call me. I need to confirm a few things, but I hope eventually I can convince Stephanie that she and her son need to be in Trenton permanently." Ranger handed Father Francis a business card.
The priest shook his hand watching Ranger walk away without a sound as he came. He opened the envelope he sat on the pew. He began counting out hundred dollar bills ending with a total of $5,000.
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Restless was how Ranger felt after returning to Trenton and the quiet in his apartment was all around him. A pin dropping would have been a welcome sound. The answer Ella provided regarding a resale shop bothered him. She liked to go in them to snoop and maybe find a bargain. When she explained that many resale shops sold used clothing and household goods, it was more than Ranger wanted to know or hear. The four walls were closing in around him as various thoughts were jumbled in his brain pertaining to Stephanie and Reilley. He grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator and his Porsche keys, he needed to think clearly.
Pulling out of Rangeman, he had no real direction so he drove. It wasn't long when streets and houses had a subconscious familiarity that began to register in his brain. He wasn't fully aware he was in Newark until he parked in his parents' driveway. The house looked the same since he was here over two years ago. The shutters on the windows were now black, not green.
Ranger waited at his parent's front door for either his mother or father to open it. He heard footsteps approaching and it was his father at the door. "Ricardo."
His height was from his father, but the skin tone, facial features and dark silky hair was from his mother's ancestry. "Hello, Poppa. It's nice to see you."
The older Manoso opened the door wider for the son he hadn't seen in a very long time could step into the house.
"Max, who is it?" his wife called from a hallway as she approached. "Ricardo!" She ran in a fast shuffle to hug her son. He hugged her back, but her mother's instinct told her there was something troubling her youngest son. "What is wrong?"
He studied his parents for a moment then all the photographs of his siblings, nieces, and nephews on the wall. "How did you do it? Raise six children on only Poppa's paycheck?"
Both of the Manosos were quite taken back by the question. "What is this about?" Maximo Manoso asked. His son drove from Trenton to ask an unusual question.
"It wasn't easy with a large family, but we did it," his mother told her troubled son. "Your sisters being close in age helped because when one outgrew something, another would fit into it and I did sew a lot so it helped to keep my children in clothes. You children grew so fast!"
"What about food?"
She thought these questions had to do with someone else and not her son's childhood. "Does this have to with that beautiful young mother, Stephanie, and her adorable little boy?"
Ranger blurted out, "She shops in resale shops and sale racks. I've never been in a resale shop or knew there was such a thing a layaway!"
"Don't be a snob, Ricardo!" Lucia smacked her son's hand. "A lot of people shop in used or consignment stores. Young children may fit into something today and next week have outgrown it before it is even worn. There is nothing wrong with it! I've found a couple of dishes to my mother's china in them! And layaway is a lifesaver particularly at Christmas. It was nice making small payments over time, it didn't break my budget I had."
"Momma, you shop at used stores?"
"Just about everyone does. It's very chic now. Just a minute."
He watched his mother disappear towards the direction of his parent's bedroom. She came back out with her purse, a plastic bag, and a very attractive gold suede jacket with black buttons.
"Momma, that is very pretty on you," Ranger complimented his mother. The coat colors flattered Lucia's skin and hair.
She spun around in her suede swing coat. "I saw one like this is a designer magazine. It was very over priced I thought." Her dark eyes shone with pride.
"Guess where I bought this, Ricardo?"
Stunned at the realization, he muttered, "A resale shop, Momma?"
"Yes! It still had the tags on it! Some stores donate out-of-season merchandise. I took it to the cleaners and 'Wha-la!' I have my designer coat." She linked her arm with her son's. "Maximo, Ricardo and I are going shopping."
Ranger's head turned between his mother and father. "We are?"
Maximo Manoso kissed his happy wife's cheek and patted his confused son's back. "Have fun, You Two." He had to laugh watching the black Porsche pull away from the house; this would make his wife's day.
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"Here, Ricardo," Lucia Manoso pointed to a door walking up a sidewalk with her tall, handsome son. He held open the door to 'Treasure 2 You' Thrift Store for his Momma.
"Lucia!" A woman hanging up clothes from a rolling rack greeted the people coming into the shop.
"Hi, Marti," Mrs. Manoso waved and pulled Ranger by the hand over to her. "This is my youngest son, Ricardo. He drove from Trenton to go bargain hunting with me!"
Ranger's eyebrow went up before she shook the woman's hand. Marti was about his mother's age wearing black glasses decorated with rhinestones on the corners. It crossed his brain those would look perfect on Stephanie's crazy Grandma Edna. "Hello, it is very nice to meet you."
"I wish I was twenty years younger, Lucia. He's handsome," Marti acknowledged her son with a broad grin on her powdered face.
Lucia strained her neck to see her youngest son's expression. "Sorry to disappoint you, Marti, but Ricardo is smitten with a young woman in Delaware."
"Just my luck," she snapped her fingers. "I just put out some new shirts in the last few days."
"Thank you," Mrs. Manoso called with Ranger following her to a back corner which indicated 'MEN'. "I've learned, Ricardo, your father will never put those caps on his ink pens and has ruined a lot of good shirts," she explained checking out the sizes of dress shirts and handing a white and blue one to Ranger to hold.
"Momma, you buy Poppa used shirts for his office?"
"Yes. If it gets ink stained and I can't get it out, then I don't feel so bad. This is better than me having to keep charging new ones at the department store. He doesn't know! Your father thinks I'm a miracle worker when it comes to the laundry and I'm not going to spoil it!" She showed Ranger the tags; two she picked off the rack had blue tags. Lucia pointed to a sign at the front of the store: "BLUE TAGS ½ OFF".
Ranger flipped the tags over, each of the shirts were marked $3.99.
"$1.99, Ricardo! These are not even worn!"
His mother went through the long rack selecting five dress shirts for her husband and moved over to "WOMEN". Ranger began to trail after her but stopped at the displays which children's clothes were hanging on. Some of the items showed a little wear, but most appeared in perfect condition. He discovered a small dress with a 'Macy's' price tag. He was shocked at the original price for something that small. Ranger didn't shop for his own clothes; Ella knew what he liked and did it for him. He never questioned the price of his custom-made Armani suits. Stephanie's excitement over the sale racks in D.C. flashed in his mind. A store like this he understood would stretch her budget especially in clothes for a growing little boy.
"Look, Ricardo!"
Ranger turned to find his mother holding up a chartreuse blouse. "It's silk and blue tag!"
His mother made his laugh. "You will look beautiful in it, Momma."
When they reached the check-out register, Lucia had a 'Princeton' T-shirt for her son since Ranger did attend college there for two years before entering the Army. "Blue tag, Momma?"
"Of course."
He handed Marti a twenty and received change back with his entire mother's finds. Ranger carried the shopping bag for his happy mother.
"Next stop, Ricardo, is the Senior's Center," Lucia informed her son.
That was only a few blocks from his parents' home. Walking into the old yellow brick building, Ranger noticed his mother had a plastic grocery bag with something in it. All eyes turned when Ranger walked in with his mother. She went directly to a small room with ladies sewing around a table.
"Carol, I have shirts for you. The shirts with the ink stains I bring here, Ricardo.
Carol and the ladies take the cotton shirts apart and reuse them for quilt squares. They are recycled into blankets for homeless people."
His mother shocked him. "Momma, that is wonderful!" He saw there were a few patched quilts completed on a chair with various colored squares. Some were plain white and blue he saw.
The chicken fajita dinner Ranger had with his parents was very enjoyable. It was just the three of them. His father was planning on retiring in the next year or two depending on the swinging economy and Lucia gave all the latest gossip on the neighborhood and updated him on his brother and sisters since Christmas. He answered his mother's question regarding his visit with Stephanie and Reilley and did admit he wished they were in Trenton. That was the closest he admitted to wanting an actual relationship with her. Ranger had never done that before in the sight or within the hearing of his mother. That pleased her and she expressed it many times before Ranger left to drive back to Rangeman.
It was late by the time he did return, he didn't call Stephanie for fear of waking her, but would tomorrow to check on the first day with the new owner. The shopping in the thrift store put things in a better perspective for Ranger. He did wonder if his father knew about his dress shirts. Ranger thought he did and wasn't about to take the fun out of it for his wife, so he played 'The Miracle Laundry' card. Listening to his mother talk about raising six children on his father's paycheck, the hand-me-down clothes his sisters wore, and 'new' bicycles his father had repainted, sanded, and re-oiled for his six children, Ranger appreciated his happy childhood. Each one of his siblings was treated as special and he always felt loved. He saw that in Stephanie's love for her son. He would gladly be stuck in that same snow storm again for his heart to experience the warmth the mother and son brought to him.