Simple Hearts
Chapter 12
"Daddy, we'll be back." Stephanie reassured her father. "Reilley and I have a place to live and I have new jobs."
"That snake of a landlord better give you your deposit back. No excuses!" Frank Plum pointed a finger at his daughter. "It was a disaster when you rented it. I still have the pictures."
"I'll remind him of it, Daddy. Don't get upset."
"I'm not," Frank said quieting down. "I hated it when you and Reilley moved away. I know you did what was best for you, but I still hated it. You're my little girl and he's my grandson." Mr. Plum was hugging Reilley as if his mother was going to have to unlock him in his grandfather's arms. "You are coming home, it's not the 'Burg', but dammit I can drive there quickly." He liked the house from the pictures she had taken on her digital camera. One thing he was certain from being in Ranger Manoso's company, the house would be secure and solid. It was also a very nice section of Trenton.
Stephanie kissed her father 'good-bye'. "No speeding tickets, Daddy," she teased.
She bent down to pick up the bag which she just placed on the floor, it was gone, but she felt a tingle. "I know you are here, Ranger!" She never heard him.
"Babe" came the voice. The body followed coming out of hiding around the door frame.
Reilley hugged his grandfather slipping down off the bed. "Bye, Grandpa."
"Drive careful, Pumpkin, and hurry back."
"We will, Daddy."
Frank made an eye movement that Ranger caught before walking Stephanie and her son out. He acknowledged with a blink of his eyes.
"Bye, Mom. Bye, Grandma," she said hugging Ellen and Edna Mazur.
Mrs. Plum hugged her younger daughter tight. "You and Reilley made this whole thing easier to deal with by being here."
"I didn't do much, Mom. Someone shuttled us back and forth."
Ellen extended her hand to the tall Cuban man. "Thank you, Ranger. I appreciated your help. As long as I've been married, this is one of the very few times my husband has been sick. It's not something I'm accustomed to."
"I'm glad I could help, Ellen."
"Just wait," Grandma announced, "my grandbabies will be home soon. It will be hot in the city again! I'm still working out the quirks in that reality show."
Reilley hugged his grandmothers. "Oh boy, Great-Grandma, I'm getting my tan."
"Me, too."
Both Stephanie and her mother rolled their eyes at the same time laughing at the little boy and the not much bigger elderly lady in bright yellow. "Call me if Daddy has any problems."
Carrying the cat down the steps Stephanie had a light load, Ranger had the all the other luggage except Woody, Reilley carried his buddy.
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"Bye, Power Ranger," Reilley said hugging the Cuban man before his mother buckled him in his car seat.
"Bye, Blue Power Ranger."
Arms were immediately around her after her son was secured in the back seat. "Babe, I meant it. I'll help you pack if it gets you here faster."
One hand was on his taunt neck and another tapped his shoulder. "You have a company to run, Ranger," Stephanie tried to reason. "I need to go through our things picking what comes and what goes. You have more important things to attend to than wrapping dishes. I'll take care of it and make arrangements to move Miss Fitch's things with her attorney. Once I drop the unsigned lease off with my nasty landlord and collect my final paycheck, I'll figure on a moving day."
His acceptance of her plans was a kiss. And another. And a very long one.
"I'll let you go so you and Reilley can get back here faster," Ranger said quietly walking Stephanie to the driver's side holding her hand.
She said looking forward to coming back to Trenton. This was where her life was taking her and her son. "We'll be coming home soon."
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Once Stephanie's Subaru was out of sight, Ranger walked back up to the Plum's house to speak with her father. Edna Mazur was in the door smiling at him. He considered running to his Porsche and calling her father.
"Back so soon! Hot Damn, I knew you missed us!"
"Your son-in-law wanted to speak with me," Ranger explained.
Grandma was all ga-ga over the visitor with stars in her blue eyes. "Go on up. After he's done with his birds and bees speech with you, come see me and I'll explain how it really works."
He was really unsure now. "Thanks."
Walking up the stairs, he heard a click. Edna Mazur photographed his ass with her cell phone camera. "Damn, what an ass! Stephanie is lucky!"
"I've tried to do something about her, but my wife always finds out. "Children are a great comfort in your old age - and they help you reach it faster, too. But no one ever warned me about her in my long awaited retirement." Frank groaned walking back to the bed. He had a brown envelope in his hands. "I need you to look after something, Ranger, since I can't drive for at least a week. I have no doubt you will get it done."
"Anything, Frank." He stood beside the bed waiting for him to get comfortable again.
"Here," he said handing the man in black the envelope. "I know the building owner will give Stephanie a difficult time with her lease and her security deposit. There are copies of pictures in there of the place when she and Reilley moved in. It was one of the few places within her budget and I felt safe even though it was a dump. She wouldn't accept anything from Ellen and me to help with her living expenses. In was late Fall after they moved there, the furnace didn't want to come on when she turned it up. That's why she has that fireplace heater. She called the landlord; his words were 'When he got to it.' Then it wouldn't come on at all. She moved that heater into the kitchen, blocked the doorway into the living room to keep the warm air centralized when they were there. She and Reilley, he was a toddler by then, slept on an air mattress with a sleeping bag and an electric blanket. She called crying, she was trying everything to keep her apartment warm for Reilley. He landlord wouldn't return her telephone calls. That was my daughter and grandson cold there, I called Joe Juniak for some help because I was ready to drive there and make Mr. Orwell take care of it my way." Frank cracked his knuckles as he spoke still angry after three years about it. "Joe made a call to the Health Inspector in Trenton and she called the one in Wilmington. The Health Inspector dragged Mr. Orwell from a steak dinner in his warm house to my daughter's cold one. The repairman Wilmington had at Stephanie's determined the furnace needed replaced. With every complaint the man issued, his fine went up and had the nerve to blame her for it! From that moment on, he has been on Stephanie calling her if the rent check wasn't in the office by the 1st. She began mailing it five days in advance or dropped it the slot so it was there before the due date. I know as I am talking with you he will give her headaches about her deposit and lease or find an excuse not to give it to her!"
"Stephanie will have her deposit," Ranger waved the envelope. "I'm not a Bad-Ass for nothing."
"Good, I knew I picked the right man."
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The paperwork on his desk from the last few days Ranger decided to tackle since Stephanie was on her way to Wilmington. She was practically at the Delaware border the tracker indicated. He omitted from telling her that one was placed on her half-car half-truck. All Rangeman employee vehicles had them. She didn't have one and knowing the independence of her, she wouldn't accept one. Ranger was trying to prepare for the future battle over the rent; he didn't need one over a black Rangeman vehicle, too. The discussion over the Rangeman house would be one more than he wanted to experience with that 'Burg' girl, he didn't lose very often but it was one he figured would result in battle scars.
He picked up the brown envelope Mr. Plum had given him. The first pages were the lease with copies of cancelled checks. One was the first months rent and the second a deposit. Frank described the row house as a 'dump' when Stephanie rented it. He gave her a discount on the first month's rent of $100 dollars because it needed a little work.
The pictures MOST certainly didn't do it justice as a dump, it was worse! A photograph showed a hole in the wall and another was of stained paint. Dirty spot on carpeting and missing stair treads. That was downstairs. The bathtub appeared a batch of mud was mixed in it. There were cracks in the plaster in both bedrooms. There was also the story about the furnace. Ranger was beyond calm rage. The pen on his desk was snapped in two. He threw the photographs down heading down to the gym.
Tank watched his friend beat the stuffing out of the punching bag, but his last few punches were controlled. His body was drenched in sweat. The anger had turned into plotting of some sort. He could see the wheels turning in Ranger's head and he believed it had something to do with the mother and son whom came into his life.
"I want in," the bald man told his best friend wiping the perspiration from his face.
Ranger said coolly, "I don't know what you are talking about, Tank."
"I know you and I know the look of scheming. It's written on those Cuban features. What did someone do to Stephanie and her son?"
Ranger knew he was caught. If anyone knew him, it was Tank and how he thought when he was in Bad-Ass mode. "Stephanie's father believes her landlord will cause problems when she informs him that she is moving. He's a real piece of work."
"I bet you plan on paying him a visit and will need an extra enforcer," Tank chuckled with a wide grin. He was smacking his knuckles against his palm.
"Her former boss doesn't make my nice list either," Ranger added. "Bill paid him a visit for me. He neglected to pay some taxes, but he's caught up now."
Nodding, the second in command agreed their former Army buddy was a really good IRS agent. "Two for one. I like it. Once we pay visits should I make arrangements for vacations to the desert spa?"
"Yeah," Ranger smirked, "a little R&R will clear up their attitudes. Olga will be happy. We haven't sent her any new help in awhile."
"Makes my day."