Great reviews! You guys are shooting me questions honestly, faster than I can write. We're going to see the great man in black laid open a little in this chapter.

Alix33 has been coming up behind me and cleaning up my punctuation. Thanks girl!

Chapter 10

Before Betina had left, she had reminded me that there were a few items in my Mercedes that needed to be put together the next day. I thanked her and told her that I would take care of it or call a couple of my men over to do it.

I looked in the room that I'd told Betina to set up as a nursery before bed, and it was mostly empty. So I knocked on Stephanie's door right next to it. "Stephanie, I just wanted to check on you and Angel."

I heard footsteps and she surprised me and opened the door. She was holding Angel and the room was scattered with shopping bags and a box or two containing some of the new baby items. "Babe, I'll set up the crib and other stuff up next door tomorrow. You can use that room as a nursery. How is Angel"

"No, thank you. We'll stay in this room, but we would rather go back to New jersey."

"Stephanie, there is no future there for either of you, and you know that. You could barely protect yourself, and how much longer before that pimp got to you through her? Did Lula's behavior today not remind you again that there are consequences when you make a bad decision? How were you going to handle the news that she may be deaf, denial?"

She kissed the top of Angel's head as tears spilled from her eyes. "I...I know that you're right. She's just...she's all I have, and I'm afraid that if I stay, I'm going to lose her. I couldn't handle the..."

I didn't know what all she'd been through, and I felt sympathy for her. "Stephanie, I'm trying to work things out where you can keep her, and help you get back on your feet. You want to find out about this hearing loss, and if there's something that can be done about it, then do what's necessary."

"Why are you helping me? I thought you hated me now?"

"I've been disappointed and angry with you for a long time, but I've never hated you."

She averted her eyes, and her lips began to quiver. Then the conversation was suddenly over. "We're tired now. Goodnight." She closed the door.

I was exhausted, but as hard as I tried, sleep wouldn't come. I got up and went downstairs to pour myself a stiff drink, and went out on the deck to sit and think. This mess had stirred up more than just the problems with Stephanie and the baby she'd found.

The last time that I'd given my future serious thought was before Bobby was killed. I'd had an idea and a dream of a future, and it hadn't been a future alone. I had ironically, wanted it to be with Stephanie. The hardest thing I ever did in my life was send her back to Morelli after I made that deal. It was fucked up, and the idea that I would sleep with her guilt-free and just get her out of my system had backfired. I had made love to her, woke up confused, and ready to run. I knew I wanted her, but at that time I was in no way ready for a relationship, and my life was a dangerous mess.

Then later, maybe my biggest mistake had been focusing on trying to keep her within my grasp, rather than doing the right thing for both of us or, the right thing for her.

The only person that I had ever voiced my thoughts for the future had been with Bobby. During a physical exam, he had expressed concern for me over the missions. I was almost thirty-four years old and my war wounds and injuries were already giving me hell certain times of the year. The last time I'd been in the jungle, I'd suffered the last days of the mission. Eventually, for the pain, and my safety, he'd begun giving me steroid injections before leaving on the missions.

Bobby wanted me to give them up. He'd said, "Ranger, Rangeman is a successful company, you're a rich man, you've had a successful military career. Hell, you're a military legend, but don't you think that Uncle Sam can find a new hero now. You need a new goal for your future. One that won't end your life."

I'd grinned at him and jokingly said, "The one I'm thinking of, could likely still do that. Tank does call her Bomber, and she is dangerous as hell."

He'd laughed. "I knew it, man. As much as you try to deny it, I knew you'd got with her. So, when are you going to make your official move? That Morelli thing is never going to go anywhere, and you know why? I think she's been waiting for you all along."

I'd shrugged. "I want her to make a decision about him, and stick with it. I had hoped that would happen after Scrog, it didn't. I gave up hoping Morelli would just fuck up and move on. So, I've been waiting for the right opportunity to present itself again, then maybe..."

I guess I'd been vain, but I'd planted the seeds, and invested, and felt confident that she would eventually choose and come to me. The opportunity that I'd been waiting for had presented itself not long after that conversation. As soon as I'd gotten that call from Hawaii, I had moved. The confrontation with Morelli, and the injuries had been worth it. But when we'd come home, it didn't take long for her to go right back to him. I had been angry, and for the first time, hurt, and I didn't like that feeling. That was when I knew that it was time to change my future plans.

Contrary to what she'd always believed, I don't have ESP. In that closet after we'd returned, in the dark, I had made love to her and sent her a message straight from the heart. I loved her, I wanted her, and she was the only one that had ever owned my heart. She was the only woman that I'd ever made love to. I'm a sexually sick man, and my appetites before and after her are proof. I had never felt anything, but total satisfaction and fulfilment with her.

I haven't felt that since.

Finishing my drink, I shook the remnants of those uncomfortable feelings away again, leaving behind only the cobwebs in the dark shadows of that now empty space. Then headed back up the stairs to my room. When I reached the bedroom, then the bed, I closed my eyes and grabbed the bedpost as a flash of memory hit me, and shot straight to my groin. I shrugged down my lounge pants, and grabbing my cock. Dammit. Those memories still affected me. Why did I allow myself to visit that place again?

The past was safely tucked away when I woke the next morning, and I felt much more in control. I went for a morning jog to finish clearing my head, and then to my office before showering. I called my Miami document genius, Rodriguez, and told him to get Hector, my Trenton tech man. When they were both on the line, I told them about the situation with Angel. I didn't tell them all of the details, just the circumstances under which she was found and I would soon be guardian to the baby. I asked them if it was possible to procure a birth certificate for her. When I was finished, Hector was the first to speak, "Bien, jefe. Podemos hablar y te llamo?"

I said, "Yeah, you can discuss it, and call me back."

I then called Frank. He said, "Hermanito, I'm getting used to your slinking around the building. Where have you been?"

"I've been dealing with a personal problem, and I don't slink, fucker."

He laughed. "The hell you don't. You scare the shit out of the new guys. This have to do with your call to Grace?"

"Yeah, I need a couple of guys over here that are discreet. Who would you recommend?"

He smirked. "Me..."

"Then get your ass over here."

"I'll be there after the morning meeting."

Frank shook his head. "I thought Grace was up to something, and fucking with me when she told me about your call."

I glowered at him. "I wish I had so little to be concerned with. I would like to go back to the life I had a week ago."

He grinned, "But this is Stephanie. You have feelings for this woman."

"A long time ago, I may have." I hadn't told him everything. All my family knew was hearsay from Lester. Even he didn't know the whole truth about our relationship. Relationship, I thought, what a private joke. We'd pretty much had one since the day we'd met.

We had assembled the crib and were now working in the changing table. He asked, "So, are you seriously thinking about adopting the baby?"

"To help Stephanie keep the baby, I'll have to become the child's legal guardian. At least on paper."

"You said that Stephanie has some mental issues now. You sure that you want to tie yourself to her like this?"

"Frank, I can't just put her out on the street again. Not even her family has done much to help her, and she's quit talking to everyone she knows. She'll get help, get better, and I'll help her with a new start. I'll just be the backup guardian. I have means, I don't mind doing this for a child with special needs."

"A guardianship is a lifetime commitment..."

"I'm aware of that. I'll just be there for her if she needs me, like with Julie."

My phone buzzed and I looked at the display. "Report, Rod. Anything?"

Rodriguez said, "Ranger, we can give the baby an identity. That's easy, but she won't be Angel Plum or Manoso. You'll still have the legal guardian issue. The parents' name on the birth certificate won't be yours. There is such a thing as a delayed birth registration. You would have to apply and either get a midwife to swear she was present for the birth or go to court, and prove the mother was mentally ill and gave birth at home. Problem is, they would likely order a paternity test."

Damn. I sighed. "Alright. Thanks, Rod."

"Yeah, boss. Let us know if there's anything else we can check for you."

Frank was looking at me. I kicked a box across the room. "I have six fucking aliases, and I can't get just one birth certificate for one little person."

Frank smiled and clapped me on the back. "Carlos, you'll make the right decision, and when you do, your family will be here to support you."

Not long after Frank left, Grace called to let me know she'd made an appointment with the two doctors' for Stephanie. One was a cancellation she'd acquired this afternoon. Stephanie wasn't going to like it, but I wanted to be present for the appointment.

She had been in the living room with Angel and Lula while we were in her room working. I asked Stephanie to come into my home office, and when Lula stood, I shook my head. "Stephanie, leave Angel with Lula. I need to talk to you in private for a few minutes."

Lula said, "Go ahead, girl. I got this." Then she reached her arms out for Angel.

Stephanie reluctantly handed her Angel and walked into my office. I shut the door behind her and told her to have a seat, and then took a seat next to her rather than in my desk chair. I looked at her and said, "Babe, I was worried about your health as well as the baby. I asked my sister-in-law to make a couple of doctor appointments for you. One is this afternoon."

She looked horrified. "Does she know..."

I shook my head. "No. I just told her you'd been struggling for a while and haven't seen a doctor."

"Oh."

"This doctor is a gynecologist. I know you, and I'm concerned that you won't be honest with her about your recent lifestyle. I wanted to talk to you and go in with you, but I didn't want you to be upset about it when we get there."

She looked even more horrified. "No."

"Stephanie, I'm sure that you tried your best to stay safe, but I'm aware that there may have been a time that you didn't have a choice or the control at some time. I want you to be tested for everything for your peace of mind."

She lowered her head and I saw a single drop of liquid hit the wood floor. "I want to be there for support, not to humiliate you. Don't you want to know that you're healthy, and have a clear and clean slate for Angel?"

There was a little sob and she said, "Yes."

"Then you'll hold my hand and let the doctor do her job, and thoroughly. I know every inch of you. There is no reason to be shy or ashamed with me."

"She snuffled. "That's so easy for men to say. Again, I don't have a choice."

I said, "Not today, but you had plenty of choices, and the power in the past to make your own decisions. You just didn't choose wisely."

TBC -