All familiar characters are Janet's. Mistakes are solely mine.
"I have your jacket, Olive. Your cousins and Uncles are waiting for us. We've gotta get a move on!"
I herded our daughter through the kitchen and towards the front door where her Mama is calling from. Me, being today's 'Olive-pit' crew member, was tasked with getting acceptable shoes on Olivia. Our baby wasn't feeling the hot pink Chucks Steph had put by the door, so our daughter - and then I - went in search of a substitution ... sequined buckle shoes was what she'd wanted to wear today, probably just to show Lisa even though we'll be a parking space apart at the drive-in style movie.
Steph glanced up at me after we made it through the dog pile to where she was standing. "I've gotten so used to staying home all the time, I'm even worse than usual at judging the time it takes to get us somewhere else."
I bent down and kissed her curls. "We have plenty of time. The movie will start with or without us."
"Yeah, but I was hoping to talk to Val and our guys a little before it started. Plus, the movie's site still warns that their parking lot is functioning at half-capacity and it's first come, first serve."
"If there's no room, we'll all just come back here and tailgate in the underground garage," I reasoned. "I doubt Olivia is going to care much about the movie, it's the people she'll be seeing that will hold her interest."
She sighed. "Thanks. I needed a rational reminder. We're going to have fun no matter where we are."
That is true, so she doesn't need to know that I paid in advance to have our four spots reserved for us. Whenever we do show up isn't a concern to anyone except Stephanie. Not only are the Kloughns our guests for a much-anticipated night outside of our respective homes ... Tank and Bobby are getting treated to a kid movie to act as protective bookends to our two-car party.
Steph had invited Frank and Edna to also join us, and although she hid her confusion well, I could tell she was concerned about the two having other plans. Since no one has ventured further than the Rangeman gate in months, there's only one reason the two of them would be together without us, especially when more of the family will be present. As reopenings loom on our horizon, Helen won't remain only a bad dream any longer. Frank needs to shore up his defenses and figure out how he wants to live the rest of his life. Developing actual relationships with his daughters has already begun to happen, but before he picked open that past-neglected wound for all of them, my team of professionals called in the big guns by placing a call to Edna.
"Grandma Mazur is helping Dad, isn't she?" Steph asked me, zipping Olive securely up into her coat. "That's the only reason I can think of why they wouldn't come just to see Val and the girls if nothing else."
Before answering, I picked up the two rubber chew toys that I had pre-filled with a beef mixture and kept in the freezer, and I handed one to Mo and then Gunny so their night can be enjoyable as well.
"Who knows your mother and her behavior even better than you do, Babe?" I asked in return, while the three of us watched Gunny and Mo's tails disappear as they retreated - likely to our bedroom - to get busy getting all of the frozen meat paste out of their toys.
"Grandma Mazur," Steph answered.
I nodded. "And since your mother chose not to agree to come here to support your father and work on their marriage, who's the one that can shed some light on why your mother did or said what she has?"
"Grandma," she said again. "Now this is making some sense. Grandma will call 'pig pucky' on anything my Mom used to hurt him or us just so she could get her way again. Now that I'm thinking about everything, she's even able to predict with ninety percent accuracy what my mother is going to do next."
I looked down at the little face looking up at me. I softened my features that had been tightening in response to the damage my mother-in-law has done to my family, and I purposely smiled at my baby. I couldn't resist picking Olivia up and holding her close when I know she probably preferred walking out of our apartment under her own steam. I briefly buried my nose in the spot where her two little braids met to inhale the scent of her baby shampoo and then I glanced back at Steph who was watching us with an expression I have no trouble reading. I know she loves me more than she'll ever love herself, but how unafraid I am to love our daughters will always outweigh even that in her mind.
I sent a silent 'thank you' to my mother's God for the three of them, and for the fact that Olivia can't fully understand what we're discussing. I thank my wife everyday and in every way I can for being as diligent as I am in making sure Olive never experiences the shit her Mama had to live through.
"Exactly," I answered into my baby's hand, which for reasons all its own had decided to physically catch my words inside it. "Before Frank faces you and Valerie, he needs to be able to differentiate between what he was thinking and feeling, and what your mother manipulated him into doing … or not doing in your case."
She sighed. "What a mess. You'd think it would be a heck of a lot easier and less exhausting to just live a life that makes you happy."
I filled my free arm with her body and pulled her to us. "You'd think that, Steph, because you're a kind and caring person, but people like your mother get off on creating chaos. Drama's their drug of choice and they aren't happy until they get their daily fix of it."
She moved in closer and pressed her lips to Olivia's temple as she digested that. "I hear what you're not saying. My Mom is going to come out of this quarantine swinging and she's not going to care who gets knocked down in the process."
"She isn't going to let any of this go ... you keeping your distance from her, our vacation with Frank, he and Edna self-isolating here. It'll be better for you, Valerie, and your father, if you work out your issues before your mother comes around and tries to cause new ones on top of what hasn't even been allowed to scab over yet."
Now she nodded. "Okay. I'll warn Val today, or by phone tonight, that we'll be needed sooner rather than later. I was happy to stop worrying so much about my role in Dad's therapy, but I get that the clock's ticking now and Val and I are actually key in him not being manipulated any more."
"Nothing can change until you're ready for it to," I reminded her. "You can't force a recovery for Frank's benefit. Remember that. You can help, but this isn't your day to save. If Frank ultimately chooses to stick to what's familiar, you can't stop him."
"I don't intend to, but I want to do what I can to help fix this for Olive … and for Val and my nieces."
"They'd better deserve you," I said, getting the door for her.
"I can't worry about that. My focus is squarely on being the wife and mother you, Olive, and Julie deserve. That's all I can control … my own actions."
"You save yourself a lot of pain and frustration once you learn that," I said, suddenly feeling like I need to up my game to deserve her.
She hit the elevator button for the garage and then stared hard at Olivia and I. "I'm trying. I've committed myself to helping my Dad any way I can, while also preparing to let him go like I have my Mom in case I lose him all over again."
She said that while fingering the sea glass bracelet he'd given her not long ago. I leaned down to kiss her, reminding her that she's not alone. Olivia, Julie, and I, plus the entire Manoso clan are hers regardless of how a showdown with Frank, and more likely than not Helen, goes.
"Mama isn't going to lose us. Isn't that right, Olive?"
Olivia smiled at her Mama and tapped her lower lip with a baby finger. Just like that, the mood in the elevator changed. Steph did as requested and kissed our baby and had a smile lurking for the rest of the night. It was only a six minute drive to the drive-in and Stephanie and Valerie had their windows powered down by the time I parked the Cayenne beside the Kloughn mobile.
"Guess what?!" Steph called over, a much safer than six feet apart distance between them. "There's going to be a little RangeMan in a couple of months!"
"Oh my God … you're pregnant?" Val asked, her eyes as wide as dinner plates. "Way to put a quarantine to good use, Steph."
"No, not me. Cal and his wife Kenzie are expecting. But they're part of our extended family so their baby boy will be ours by proxy. It's a good thing Kane and Harp have Angel so Olive's out-grows actually have a place to go to be worn or played with."
"Spoiling someone else's kiddo is definitely the safest route, or you'll wake up one day and find yourself a mom of more than just one of them."
"Don't say that," my wife teased through her window, "you'll scare Ranger."
I could hear Valerie's snort clearly. "Like anything can scare him."
"I believe you're the one who would be scared of another positive test, Babe. I've been trained to handle far more disastrous scenarios or results than that."
"I want nachos with cheese," my wife suddenly decided, wanting and maybe needing to change the subject.
I let her and lifted a brow at the new development. "You usually have popcorn when you watch a movie."
"I know. I was going to put in an order for a side of popped-corn. Do you think Olive can have anything here? Or should we all just stick to what we packed?"
"I'll look at the options while I'm there."
"If you aren't going to let me go instead, remember … mask and gloves go on."
I grinned. "I promise I have both on me."
She turned playful, or maybe thoughtful is the better word. "You know, if we were always this careful with protection, we wouldn't have Olive."
"One gave us life, the other continues to threaten to take it away. I wouldn't change the first so I'm careful regarding the second."
"Albert," I heard Valerie say, "why can't you say sweet things like that?"
"Like what?"
My sister-in-law sighed in resignation. "He's lucky he's so darn cute."
Steph and I exchanged glances, not seeing any of the 'cuteness' Val was referencing. Albert loves Valerie and he does try to be a man once in awhile, but I'll always hold a grudge against him for once delusionally believing he was worthy of the woman meant to be my wife. No matter how much I've accomplished in my life, I've repeatedly questioned my worth in regards to Stephanie, so the fact that he automatically assumed he was good enough for her still pisses me off on a purely primal level.
"I'll be right back," I informed my wife, but she started shaking her head.
"No, don't go. I'm good. I really don't need anything. I'll just free Olive from her car seat and we can bust out her snacks. My body will likely thank me for skipping the nachos."
"Will your body be up to extracurricular activities without them?" I asked.
"If I were married to Kloughn … NO. Since I'm fortunately married to - and loved by - you, I've learned to live while being on a constant simmer. I don't require a food or booze-boost to get anything going where you're concerned."
"Hey!" Valerie called out. "I heard most of that."
Steph gave her a weak smile. "Sorry. I'm not used to being heard by anyone except Ranger, Olive, an our dogs, but I stand by Ranger being completely irresistible to me and Kloughn being acceptable to you."
I watched, still amused, as my wife hurried to get Olivia out of the backseat and sitting on her lap in the front seat as the opening credits for the movie began to roll.
"Olive, can you blow Auntie Val a big kiss for me? Mama sorta stepped in it again."
Olivia stood up on Steph's legs and bent her body nearly in half over her Mama's hands once she realized that her Auntie Val and RangeUncles are all nearby and waving to her. Making up for lost time, my daughter blew kisses to all of them … her Aunt, cousins, and Uncles, and she only gave up on making funny - yet oddly adorable faces - at them fifteen minutes after the movie began.
