Chapter 5

Grandma and Val ran into the living room to catch me. Grandma hugged me. "That was the best dinner conversation we ever had. Wait right here while I get your dessert to take with you. Cake goes good with tears."

Val said, "Stephanie are you okay? I know you've been through a lot. I'm actually proud of you. There are times that I wish I had the guts to talk back to her. I know we're not that close but I would like us to be. Call me, okay?" I nodded. Grandma handed me a go bag and I looked up to see Dad standing in the dining room doorway smiling at me. I gave him a little finger wave and left.

I got in the car. Where the hell did that come from? Turns out pregnancy hormones are like liquid courage. Who'd a thunk it?

Saturday, we were getting ready for our little party. Some of the guys were helping me decorate the rec room and everybody had something to do. At noontime I checked in with Ella in her apartment and she was almost finished with the last costume. I bagged them for each guy and then I helped Ella decorate a really cool Halloween cake. Ella was so much fun; it reminded me of being a little girl and staying at Grandma Mazur's house.

We were going to make some punch and spike it for the guys and then Lester and Bob were going to grab the beer. We had decided to just make it easy for the food and had placed a big order for Pino's pizza.

A couple of hours before the party, I delivered all the costumes. Each guy had grabbed his bag with a grimace. It was hilarious.

I went to my office. My costume was true to the way I had been feeling lately. I was a witch and not a sexy witch either; a wicked witch of the west.

Ella and Luis were in the rec room when I got there and they were so cute. Ella had simply sewn what looked like half of a red bikini top on to hers and Luis's white t-shirts. She was the left and he the right and they put a big ball down their shirts. When they stood side by side, they were the whole bikini top with big boobs. Luis was the more serious type and they were a total crack up.

The first guy in the room was Woody as Tarzan. Holy jeez, was he hot in his little loincloth. Now I know where he got that name. I was trying to pull my eyes away when Bobby walked in. I chuckled, "Bob here is your date," and pointed to Woody.

Bobby was dressed in a loincloth, a matching bra and a blonde wig. Bobby being a good sport came over and winked at Woody and put his arm around him, "Hey big guy. Are you my date?"

Woody crossed his arms, "Don't even fucking think about it Jane." Then Hal walked in wearing a leotard with a pink tutu and they both bent over laughing. Next came Lester. He was wearing an adult diaper with baby pins in it and a pacifier around his neck and a baby bonnet. I laughed, "You're rockin' that diaper Les. You look hot!" He beamed and stuck the pacifier in his mouth. Bobby guffawed, "Man you messed up, Santos."

Tank came in as a sumo wrestler. Hector came in as a fairy and flipped everyone the bird. I giggled, "Hector I didn't pick that one for you. You drew it buddy. You so make it look good though." He glared at me and cursed in Spanish again.

Junior came in as a cheerleader, Ram came in as a maid, and Cal came in as the Bride of Frankenstein. Each guy's costume was sillier than the next and they laughed until they cried at each other. That was the point. It would make for some great home movies and they got to have a lot of fun.

I asked for volunteers to relieve the guys on the monitors so they could visit and have a bite to eat. Woody and Bobby locked arms and volunteered and sashayed out of the room. Bobby wiggling his butt. Tank came over to me and said, "Man, I can't tell you what Ranger would do if he knew that Tarzan and Jane were running his monitors." I giggled at that.

We ate and danced and laughed. Lester wouldn't stop squeezing Luis's boob. We had dressed Jake as a little devil and he was running around in circles and barking at every one. However, the night was over shadowed by the fact that someone we cared about was not there.

Ella and I were cleaning up after the party and she whispered to me,

"Stephanie, you go on home. You look so tired. I'll finish up here."

"Thanks Ella. I am pooped."

Over the next few weeks, Tank had taken over showing me how to do job contracts and write proposals and I went out with Hector and some of the other guys doing security installs so I could see what was involved. I was still puking sometimes morning, noon, and night. It was taking a toll. I had lost so much weight since Nash died that my clothes were falling off me. Never thought I would have to worry about being too thin.

Little Jake was already growing and he was everybody's buddy at Rangeman. They all took turns taking him out and playing with him. I had to snap a picture of Hal one day as he was following Jake with a pooper-scooper. Then one day I heard Hector's cubicle erupt in a string of Spanish curse words and I went to check it out. He raised his boot to show me the problem and glared at me. I laughed so hard I cried. Jake had left him a little present under his desk.

I had been pushing boring contracts and papers around on my desk all morning until I was sleepy. I laid my head down on my desk.

Tank came in and gently put his big paw on my back. "You okay Bombshell? Me and the boys are kind of worried about you.

You don't look yourself and haven't seen your friends or family much. You just stay here in your office all the time."

"I'm fine. What's up?" He just looked at me a couple minutes and sighed. "Just wanted to let you know that Ranger got us a message.

He's okay."

"Well there you go. I was hoping something good would happen so we would have something to celebrate for thanksgiving. We'll be thankful for that, Tank."

After Thanksgiving Ella and I went shopping and went all out buying decorations for Rangeman. This place had never had a real Christmas. The guys were really excited and offered to help us decorate. Lester and Hal and I had gone out on a Saturday to a tree farm and we picked out a couple of trees and Lester did a good impression of "Paul Bunyan" and chopped them down for us so we could drag them home. He offered to take off his shirt so we could admire his fine physique while he worked.

I said, "Not a good idea you'll freeze your nipples off." He thought for a minutes and said, "You're right I'm especially fond of my right one." Hal mumbled something about Lester being crackbrained.

My morning sickness was better but I was feeling tired sometimes and my nerves were all over the place. Don't I love those Hormones!

Tank came in and caught me napping on my desk again. He snuck in and put his paw on me and scared the bejeezus out of me.

"Shit, Tank! We need to put a bell on you or something! You're cat creepy like Ranger sometimes. I can't feel you coming like I can him."

He grinned. "Now you know I ain't gonna' wear no damn bell!"

"Actually, the reason I came in here is because you got some mail from the foundation," and he handed me the envelope. I opened it and read.

"They're having a dedication ceremony next week for the foundation and Nash. They wanted Ranger and I to be there."

"Tank, do you think that you, me, Lester and Bobby could be away for a couple of days at the same time?"

"Yeah, I think we could. In case of emergency we can be reached and we have bosses at the other two offices that can make key decisions on the fly."

I had been neglecting Lula and Connie and I put a call in to them at the bonds office. Connie put me on speaker phone. Lula said, "Where the hell you been girl. You ain't even returning no phone calls."

Connie said, "You okay Steph?"

"Things are just complicated right now. Ranger's on a dangerous mission and other stuff. Maybe we can get together and go shopping or have a girl night during the holidays. I gotta' go right now though. I just wanted to tell you I miss you." They both said the same and we said goodbye.

The morning before the dedication in Virginia I opened the bottom drawer of my dresser and pulled out a box. I opened it and pulled out the pretty black dress and the earrings and bracelet Nash had bought for me. I wanted to wear these tomorrow for him.

I held the dress and the tears fell as I remembered the night I wore them and how Nash held me as we danced. His eyes had shone as he smiled and laughed with me. Oh God, how I missed him. Then I guess the hormones kicked in and I lay across my bed and sobbed.

I cried until I fell asleep.

TBC