BPOV

The party I planned to celebrate Steph's divorce being final was a done deal. It took a little sweet talking, but I finally convinced her that it would be a good thing for her. She was getting so much better and stronger bit by bit each day that passed. I was so proud of her.

It was taking place at Rossini's tonight at 1900 hours, or 7:00 pm for those of you who don't know military time. I rented out the largest party room at the restaurant until well past closing if need be and arranged for all of Rangeman to cover cleaning up behind ourselves so as not to inconvenience the staff there.

Everyone at Rangeman said they would be there and I had also invited Connie, Lula, Mary Lou and Lenny; Steph was trying to get her friendships with them back on track just as she was doing with the rest of the guys at work. I feared her relationship with her parents would be beyond repair. Her mother especially was upset about her leaving Morelli. But maybe that was for the best. Her mother never was her biggest supporter, unless she was doing things Helen's way. That did not show a mother's love in my opinion.

The loss of her grandmother hit her the hardest. Mrs. Mazur may have been eccentric, okay a little nuts; but she was still the only person who showed her any unconditional love and from what Steph told me, she also voiced her concerns about Steph marrying Morelli. Ms. Edna was wise beyond her years.

I took Steph to visit her grandmother's grave a few days ago. She knelt down in the grass after placing a bouquet of white lilies down and talked to her grandmother for nearly an hour. She poured her heart out catching Ms. Edna up on the news in her life. I knew by the end of their chat that her grandmother would have been very proud of her progress, just like I was.

Steph brought me out of my thoughts by appearing in the living room, where I had been reading through the newest medical journal, and told me she was going to start getting ready for the party. I glanced down at my watch and noticed it was just after 4 pm. It was getting late in the afternoon, so I was not surprised she was starting. Even though I thought she didn't need all that time. She looked beautiful to me even when she was in sweats and an old t-shirt.

I assured her that I heard her and she took off toward the bathroom. While I heard the shower running I went into my closet and got myself some clothes to wear, dropping them off in my office to put on later. I don't want to disturb Steph's getting ready rituals by doing so later on.

When I returned to the living room I picked up my cell to call Ella. She confirmed that everything was ready to go with only last minute details left to do, and with them done all would go off without a hitch. Ella was amazing. She provided most of the food and beverages. I had nothing against Rossini's cuisine, but Ella insisted on pitching in and I could not and would not ever refuse her anything.

Two hours later I felt it was time for me to get dressed. I decided to go with comfortably casual with a pair of tan slacks and a red polo, along with leather loafers. It took me all of ten minutes to pull my clothes on since I had taken my shower earlier in the day.

When I got back to the living room I was expecting to see Steph there, but she wasn't. She was still in the bedroom. The clock on the wall said it was 6:40. I was about to yell out to check on Steph when I saw her walk into the room. She was stunning.

She was a vision in a forest green blouse and knee length black skirt. On her feet were classic black pumps. Her hair was tumbling around her face and neck in loose curls and she wore a minimum of make-up. "You're stunning." I told her as she stopped a couple of feet in front of me.

"Thank you. You look very handsome too." She returned the compliment.

"Are you ready to head out?" I asked her while bringing my arm up bent at the elbow. She looped her arm through mine and smiled broadly up at me before she spoke.

"Yes. I'm ready to spend some quality time with my Merry Men."

I chuckled at her nick name for our co-workers. She's been calling us that for a long time now so I should be used to it. I made sure the house was locked up and the alarm was set, then we were on our way.

The whole room got quiet when we walked into Rossini's. My arm went around Steph protectively. Les was the first to make his way over to us in his normal larger-than-life fashion. He hugged her and held her tightly to him for a few seconds before he let her go and spoke up.

"You look beautiful, Beautiful."

Steph blushed slightly, still not used to heart-felt compliments; especially from the guys. Even though we all told her that she was the light in our dark lives. She still had trouble believing us. I intended to keep working on that low self-worth of hers; till the day I die.

The rest of the guys took their time, one by one, greeting her in their own special ways. The last two left with us were Hector and Colin. Colin re-enforced Les' earlier words with some of his own.

"You really do look exquisite tonight Steph." Hector nodded his head in agreement, then added his own words. "Si Angelita."

"Thank you. I really do love all of my guys. You're good for a girl's ego." She giggled.

"Honesty is not the same as stroking your ego." I informed her. She blushed and lowered her head marginally.

"Tut, tut, pick that head up Gorgeous." Colin said while he rested his finger under her chin. She looked up again and smiled shyly so he continued. "Now I know you're saving your three favorite guys a dance tonight, more than one we hope?"

"For you three? Absolutely. Everyone else will have to fight you for the chance I think." She laughed out loud. It was such a lovely sound coming from her. I would never get tired of hearing it.

"How about some food first?" I asked just as her stomach made it's presence known. I chuckled.

"Well you heard the beast, let's go." She answered.

Ella's delicious food was set up buffet style, with the desserts set up to the side on their own table. It was almost as large as the one for the main food. I guessed Ella wanted to leave Steph with plenty of options.

We made our way through the line filling up our plates along the way. I raised an eyebrow at the amount of food piled on Steph's plate. I just had to tease her a bit.

"You know you can come back later. You don't have to eat your weight in food on the first go around."

"Yeah, but with you and the rest of the Merry Men around I wanted to make sure I got some first. Just look at the their plates." She stated.

I looked down the line at my coworker's plates, I could see her point. Those guys could eat a horse, if you would let them. They never could refuse Ella's food anyway. But then again, it was what she lives for; to take care of her 'sons'.

We sat down at a table in the corner of the room, joined by Hector and Colin. The next several minutes were quiet as we all ate, except for Steph's occasional sigh. It looked like she still hasn't opened up enough to let one of her trade mark moans break free yet.

Steph sat back and patted her stomach lightly just as Les sauntered over to our table. He sat down beside her and kissed her cheek. "Do I get the first dance Beautiful?"

"Give me a few Les. My food needs to settle. Since you asked so nicely, I'll let you be the first." She replied.

True to her word, 20 minutes or so later she accepted Les' hand when he held it out to her. I tamped down the twinge of jealousy that showed up in my heart when they walked away hand in hand.

SPOV

I was looking forward to a night of dancing and fun with my Merry Men. And of course, wouldn't you know it, Les had to be the one to start my evening with his playful attitude. He was always the one who made me laugh the most. All of the guys could make me smile, but Les seemed to want to corner the market on the title of jokester.

We danced for a couple of songs before my sweet, shy Hal cut in. The blush on his face seemed to deepen and the heat coming from it seemed to flow from his personal space easily. He took the classic 'personal dance space' rule seriously as he never let less than six inches or so ever come between us.

Cal interrupted our dance with a tap to Hal's shoulder. I guess it was his turn now. Cal was surprisingly light on his feet. You would have thought with a big flaming skull tattoo in the middle of his forehead that he would be as intimidating as he seems. That just wasn't so.

My next partner cut in with a gentlemanly bow to Cal as he asked for permission to dance with me next. I lost the first few seconds of our first dance calming my heart rate down from the jolt that hearing his smooth Southern drawl had brought on. This man had moves too. Of course he once told me that if it had a beat, he could dance to it. He just loved to keep proving it to me.

After three dances with my favorite southern gentleman, I had to take a break. Woody escorted me back to the table as soon as the words left my mouth. I needed to get a snack and a drink in the worst way. So I parked my butt in the chair beside Bobby, swiftly picked up his beer, and guzzled half of it down in one breath. Bobby raised his eyebrow at me as if to say 'thirsty much'? I only grinned back up at him.

I quickly shifted my attention to the rest of the guys at the table, but Bobby returned my gaze back to him by sliding a plate with a slice of Ella's mouth watering red velvet cake on it to the empty space in front of me. I sighed in satisfaction as I brought the fork to my mouth for my first bite.

It didn't take me long to finish the treat off. I was tempted to lick the crumbs from the plate, but decided against it; just barely. Ella's baked goods tasted that wonderful.

I now had the energy required to dance some more with my favorite men in black. I looked across the table wondering who would be my next victim. I smiled internally when I saw his chocolate brown eyes staring right back at me, as if he knew.

"So you ready to show me what you got on the dance floor Mr. Bortelli?"

Vince didn't hesitate to speak up. "It would be my pleasure Bella."

After a couple of songs in Vince's arms, I wasn't surprised to see Ram eager for his time to cut in. The Rangeman weapons expert was like all the others, a fabulous dancer. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with him. It seemed too short a time before the next Merry Man in line showed up.

Hector may be technically the smallest man employed at Rangeman, but he was by far the fiercest and the scariest. Even though, I knew I had no reason to be scared of him. He had never hurt me or allowed me to be hurt. He was devoted and loyal to those he deemed worthy enough of his brand of protection. I felt privileged to be among the few he graced with that honor.

We were enjoying our third dance when I heard a commotion coming from the other side of the hall. The raised voices carried over to us easily. Hector's head snapped in that direction and before I had a chance to react he had my hand in his and we were halfway across the room. I recognized one of the voices immediately. Joe! 'Oh hell,' I thought. My heart leapt into my throat and I started to panic. The night was going so well up until then.

"I don't care what you say. I'm not leaving here without my wife!" Morelli was screaming mere inches from Bobby's face.

"Screw you Morelli. She's not your wife, not anymore." Bobby replied.

"The hell she isn't. I don't care what some fucking piece of paper says. She's mine till death do us part!" Joe shouted back. His face was beginning to take on a purplish hue and the veins in his neck were standing out in obvious tension.

I stood partially hidden behind Hector as I watched the scene unfold before my horrified eyes. Hector leaned down to whisper words of encouragement in my ear softly. "Do not worry Angelita, we will never let him near you again. He could never get through all of us, we are too many."

Bobby was clenching his fists at his sides and I could feel the anger rolling off of him in waves. His voice was terse and cold when he responded to Joe's attack. "Just leave now Morelli, before we remove you by force."

"No. Don't leave. Nothing would make my night better than to have to rough you up some Morelli." Les looked absolutely giddy with excitement at the idea.

"Are you threatening me?"

"Damn right I am. And I intend to carry it out too. Just try me!" Les stated proudly.

The rest of the crowd of Merry Men surrounding them growled their agreement but Joe didn't seem to be affected. He proved how stupid he was when he kept right on provoking them by continuing his tirade.

"Where is she? I know she's here. I want my wife and I want her now." This time it was Colin who spoke up.

"You'll have to fight through each and every one of us to get to her. And we have no intentions of letting that happen."

"I know you were the one hiding her from me at first. You will pay for that mistake one day. Mark my words." Joe gritted out.

"You touch any man here and you'll live to regret it." The edge to Bobby's tone was getting harder by the second as was the tension in his large frame.

"I only regret the day she met each of you murderers and the fact that one of your top secret government missions didn't end in multiple suicides." Joe bellowed.

That was too much for me to hear. I gasped out loud at the thought of Joe wishing that one or all of my friends should have been killed while serving our country and protecting the innocent. It was too late. I had given my position away. Joe jerked his head in Hector's direction.

Hector's body suddenly seemed bigger as he tried to shield me from Joe's view. Joe ducked around Hector's left side and spotted me. Before I could blink he had my arm in his iron grip and pulled me forward roughly, twisting my wrist painfully, a split second later.

The next thing I knew Colin was punching Joe. The first blow landed square on Joe's right jaw and the second right on the bridge of his nose. Joe staggered back a few steps but didn't go down. The shock of Colin hitting him forced him to release me, thankfully.

I heard the clicks of several weapons being released from holsters. I scanned the room to see nearly every one of the guys had their guns drawn and aimed at Joe.

Joe glared at each man with a gun trained on him before he huffed out a breath and stomped toward the exit. He called out over his shoulder on the way out. "I'll be back."

We stood there for several moments. Then the reality of what happened hit me. The guys had all threatened Joe, a cop, and Colin had hit him. Joe was going to be furious. I was so scared he would hurt one of my friends or worse, they would go to jail for defending me. The tears fell freely down my face as I sobbed.

Bobby was by my side in a flash and was holding me gently in his strong embrace. He rubbed soothing circles on my back and whispered comforting words in my ear. I felt myself slowly calming down. After several more minutes I drew in a deep breath and exhaled it just as slowly, finally calm enough to speak.

"I'm okay now."

Bobby gave me a look that said he knew better and that he would want to talk about it more later. I nodded, telling him that I would.

The sound of conversation around me got quiet all of a sudden. I looked up to see why. The answer to my question had just walked in the door. My cousin Eddie and his fellow police officer Carl Costanza strolled over to the four of us. Hector and Colin had joined Bobby and I.

They were in uniform so I knew they were on duty and not here for the party. When they halted in front of us, Bobby took the opportunity to address them.

"Are you here to arrest someone?" Eddie nodded grimly. Bobby continued, "Morelli already left."

Eddie looked at me like he wished he was somewhere else and not here at this moment in time. I wondered why he acted so apologetic. I found out why as soon as his words left his mouth.

"Colin Dobri you're under arrest for assaulting a police officer."

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