Disclaimer: Janet Evanovich is one clever lady. Characters and everything you recognize are hers. I'm just playing.

Chapter 7

I held onto Ranger's free hand as much as possible on the drive over to Pino's. He was stroking the back of my hand with his thumb, soothing me while otherwise seeming to be completely in his zone.

We parked, as close as possible of course, and Ranger turned to me and gave me a kiss. And boy what a kiss it was, almost made me forget what was coming. He stared into my eyes, "we don't have to do this today if you don't want to."

"I want to, let's do this. Just promise you aren't going to take it back no matter what happens in there!"

"Babe."

Right, not going to happen. I reached down for my purse and unbuckled my seatbelt, with Ranger opening my door before I could even put my hand on the handle inside. He helped me out of the car and wrapped a protective arm around my waist, hand resting on my hip. He quickly scanned the parking lot as we walked in, and I think we truthfully both relaxed a little realizing that we didn't see Morelli's SUV in the lot.

Before I knew it, Ranger was opening the door for me and ushering me inside and to a table in the back. I could see cell phones popping out around us as we walked and I was grateful for Ranger's forethought when I saw Tank, Bobby, and Lester already in place at the table. We sat down side by side, me in between Lester and Ranger with our backs to the wall. I was surprised that Tank didn't have his back to the wall, but I guess he we wouldn't have fit three across with him on the bench.

The waitress stopped by and dropped off a couple pitchers of beer and I looked over at Bobby, "we went ahead and ordered, not like we didn't know what you wanted, and this way we can start celebrating sooner!"

With that beers were poured out, and we all raised our beers in a silent toast. Somehow words didn't really need to be said in that moment. These guys were Ranger's brothers and at some point they had become like mine. I knew they were happy for us; the smiles on their faces were a dead giveaway. That's right, I said smiles.

I rested my head on Ranger's shoulder making small talk with the guys, slowly sipping on my beer and trying to ignore the whispers and obvious picture-taking going on around us. I was hoping that our food came out soon- especially before I got too far into my beer. Suddenly I felt Ranger tense up and noticed the other three go onto higher alert as a hush fell across the restaurant.

I closed my eyes not really wanting to know which one of them it was, when I heard it.

"What the hell, Cupcake?" I still didn't open my eyes, maybe if I ignored it, it would go way.

But as if that wasn't bad enough, "Stephanie Michelle Plum! What is going on here? What are people going to think if you go out in public with this group of thugs and cozy up to them?"

I sighed and felt Carlos squeeze my knee under the table. With the added courage that gave me, I opened my eyes and looked at the scene in front of me. Joe's eyes were bugging out and his face was red; he seemed to be focusing on Ranger's hand that had moved up to be visible higher on my leg.

"Hands, Manoso! You fucking bitch, you said you weren't sleeping with him! You really are a cheating whore, aren't you! You mark my word, Manoso, she's probably doing the whole building when you're wherever the hell you go."

At this, Ranger got up, as did Bobby and Tank. Lester was stuck on my other side, but I could tell, he was planning routes of action if necessary.

"Joe, I didn't cheat on you, whether you believe it or not, it's true. And really, that's rich coming from you since you DID cheat on me!" I was trying to keep my own voice level and not fly into a rage and cause any more of a scene like we used to when we fought.

My mother, who had been nodding along while Joe said those horrible things to me, just scoffed at my words. I looked over at her.

"I'm sure if you leave now and you apologize to Joe, he'll consider taking you back if you'll just behave. I mean, he's really not asking very much?"

"Oh, he's just asking me to change everything about who I am, quit my job, leave my friends, and turn a blind eye when he cheats on me! Why would I want that when I have Carlos?"

I got up behind Carlos and put my hand on his shoulder trying to soothe a little of his tension, not wanting the scene to get ugly. I had noticed that when the guys stood up, several of the cops in the crowd started inching closer as well. Ranger practically vibrated with anger and I knew it was taking everything in his power not to hurt Morelli in some way. Ranger reached his hand up to mine and patted it.

Joe must have noticed our rings as he followed the motion because when Ranger turned to look at me, Morelli lunged at us.

"I'll fucking kill you both! How could you do this, Cupcake! Why would you possibly want to be with him, he's an unhinged nutcase!"

Before Morelli could connect with Ranger, Tank and Bobby had him pinned on the ground. Carl and Eddie had shown up at some point and they quickly moved forward to take Joe from them. I thought I noticed Eddie clip Joe on the jaw in the process, but I couldn't be sure.

I turned Carlos around to face me and pulled his head down to mine. "Just let it go, please." I said, staring into his eyes. "It isn't worth it; he's in the past. Let's just move forward."

Carlos gave me a quick kiss then turned back around and stepped forward slowly stalking toward Joe. I noticed now that there was even more Rangeman black spread around Pino's. I wonder when they all showed up. Carlos stopped short of Joe by a couple feet and looked him in the eye. "Morelli, I get that this was a shock, and we're in the middle of celebrating our wedding, so I'm going to let that go this one time. But you will not touch Stephanie and you will not speak to her that way ever again. Do you understand me? You were always a moron for letting me get close, not to mention cheating on her. You have to have known that she would never go back to you after that. It's over. You need to let her go."

Surprisingly, Morelli tried to lunge at Ranger again, cursing obscenities, but the cops around him just dragged him out of Pino's and a wall of black moved between us. Alright, one down, one to go.

At this point, my mother just stared at me. "How could you let this thug speak to Joe that way? And what is he talking about- what wedding?"

"Ma, he has a name and you know it. This is Ricardo Carlos Manoso and he's a respected businessman and my husband. And how could you possibly side with Joe? Did you not hear that he cheated on me? And what about those names he called me?"

"Why me? Why do I have to have a daughter who marries criminals? No one else's daughter marries criminals! And I'm sure Joe didn't say anything that wasn't true. You were never the daughter I wanted. You find a way to make this so-called marriage go away. It probably isn't even real or legal anyway. And then you find a way to fix this with Joe, you'd be lucky to have him. And don't bother coming home until you've married the right man!"

I could hear gasps from some of the crowd observing around us, but I just held my head high. "My home is with Carlos now, and he is without a doubt the right man and a better man than I deserve."

"That's not true, Babe, you're extraordinary and I'm lucky to call myself your husband. Come on, let's get out of here. I'm sure Ella would be more than happy to fix you whatever you want for lunch AND dessert."

Ranger full-on kissed me until I almost forgot my own name. And with that I turned my back on the woman I used to call my mother, and I walked out without once looking back.

We climbed back into the Turbo and I let out a deep breath while resting my head against the headrest. We sat in silence as Ranger drove back to Haywood and I leaned against Ranger in the elevator, surprised when it stopped on the third floor. Carlos was nibbling on my ear and whispered, "Just come with me for a second, I need to grab something from the conference room, and then we can head up to seven."

I nodded and followed him, but when he opened the door with a hand on my back, I was shocked at the sound of squealing and the sight of a banner that read "Congratulations Newlyweds!"

I was wrapped in a big hug by Mary Lou who whispered in my ear, "forget your mother, she's always been a bitch. The people who know you and love you are happy for you. I'm so happy for you."

Connie and Lula were next, I couldn't even really make out what they were saying because they were screaming so fast and interrupting each other pretty much every word, but I caught the words "married" and "Batman" so I figured they were all caught up and were happy for us. I just returned their hugs before moving on to Ella.

Ella had tears in her eyes as she wrapped me in a hug and rocked me back and forth, "you're so perfect for each other. This is wonderful news, congratulations." I looked at her and sniffled starting to cry a little wishing that my mother was capable of giving me even a fraction of that support. She just wrapped me back in her arms until I'd composed myself again then wiped off my eyes and said, "none of that, we're celebrating!"

I got another round of Rangeman hugs and then Ranger pulled me over to take a seat with him, he had a plate of food for each of us. Mine had a little bit of salad, along with a delicious looking pile of sausage alfredo and a big hunk of pineapple upside down cake. His plate had a giant pile of salad with a little bit of grilled chicken on the top. What can I say, I love him anyway.

We bantered around for a while, joking with the guys and just relaxing. After twenty minutes or so, Eddie walked in. He sat down in an empty chair next to me and said, "Steph, Ranger, I'm so happy for you both. I think you'll be great for each other. You should know that even once we dragged Morelli out of Pino's and back to his house, he wasn't calming down. Some of the guys are sitting with him for now, but you'll want to be careful of him. If anything happens, call me right away, and I'll help you press charges," He was looking at me the whole time, but paused and looked at Ranger and added, "or with whatever else you need." They nodded at each other, and Eddie stood up and ruffled my hair. "Congratulations, I'd love to stay and celebrate, but I've got to get back to the station."

I turned to look at Ranger and said, "Carlos, don't worry, I'm sure it will be fine once he gets over the shock."

"I'm not so sure, Babe, but we'll handle whatever comes up."

Mary Lou, Connie, and Lula made their good byes shortly thereafter and promised to do what they could about the gossip mill. I didn't hold out much hope that they'd be able to do much of anything, but I appreciated in the gesture.

Ranger looked around and said, "back to work! Those of you who are off-shift tonight can meet us at Shorty's at 1900 for pizza if you'd like."

In my ear, he whispered, "I believe we have a date on seven in the meantime."

I shuddered then grabbed his hand, dragging him behind me and heard him chuckle when I hit the staircase instead of waiting for the elevator. What can I say, it is definitely worth four flights of stairs to get to a Ranger-induced orgasm even sooner!