"Sir, the plane landed," the elderly woman said, shaking Vince's arm. Her short hair bounced as she used her strength to wake up the man.
Vince opened his eyes and glanced around the cabin of the airplane. "Oh. Thanks for waking me. I didn't mean to trap you in your seat," Vince replied, feeling remorseful for confining the woman in her spot beside the window. He worried that the woman had to use the washroom, and he prevented it from happening. Vince quickly checked the floor for urine.
"It's not a problem, dear. The passengers are just disembarking," she said with a giggle. She noticed Vince checking for pee saturation. "Do you mind grabbing my bag?"
Smiling, Vince reached into the overhead compartment to grab her carry-on bag. She patted Vince's cheek. "Where are you heading?" Vince asked. He talked to the woman during the flight until he got too tired to stay awake. She visited her family in New York for a month and was anxious to return.
"I've got to catch another flight to Florence. My neighbour is watching my dog," she replied. "I'd ask her to pick me up, but the poor girl is pregnant and can't fit behind the steering wheel of my compact car."
"I'm heading to Florence. My mother left a car at the airport. I can give you a ride home if you don't mind catching a ride with a stranger," Vince offered. "I'm Vincenzo Bianco."
The woman laughed. "I'm Isabella Marconi," she replied. "Are you the Bianco Winery Bianco?" She narrowed her eyes at Vince. Isabella was friends with Maria Bianco. They attended the same grade school, and their families were friends for generations.
"Yes, Ma'am," Vince replied. "My grandfather took ill." Isabella's lack of surprise took Vince aback. Someone had already informed Isabella of his grandfather's health.
"I'm sorry. Antonio lived a full life. When's the funeral?" Isabella asked.
"He's still alive," Vince replied, raising a brow. "How sick is my grandfather?"
"They don't expect him to live much longer, I'm afraid. Your grandmother didn't want you to come home, but your mother insisted," Isabella explained. "I'm a close friend of the family. I was supposed to stay in New York for another month, but Maria needs me."
~~~~~
Stephanie was in the backyard of the neighbour's house. The dog bounced joyfully around the yard, happy to be on his home turf. Bruce's ears flopped as he ran away from Stephanie to catch the ball, then back for her, dropping it at her feet to toss it again.
"Good boy," Stephanie said when Bruce dropped the ball at her feet the second time. "It's getting kind of difficult to bend over, Bruce. Drop it in my hand next time."
Bruce was a Spinone Italiano dog. He was bred as a hunting dog and had to be around people. His coarse hair was wavy, resembling a poodle. Bruce was adorable and reminded Stephanie of Bob, Joe Morelli's red-haired dog. She tossed the ball, sending Bruce deep into the yard to retrieve it. He waited for Stephanie to open her hand to deposit the slobber-covered tennis ball into her palm. Bruce barked, losing interest in playing fetch, when the gate latch squeaked.
Stephanie turned to see why Bruce barked. The gate opened to reveal Isabella and Vince. "Merda," Stephanie swore. (Shit). Vince stared at Stephanie. He couldn't believe his eyes. Why was she in Italy? Did she have family in Florence? Vince tried to recall the intel Ranger gathered on Stephanie when she started working part-time at Rangeman. He couldn't remember any of her Plum relatives living in Italy. The last known address for her grandparents was in Canada.
"My have you expanded during my absence," Isabella said, breaking the tension in her backyard.
"Mmhmm," Stephanie replied, hugging Isabella. "Vince, why are you here?" Stephanie asked, finding her voice. She was afraid it was time to move again. Stephanie hoped the others weren't close behind. It would be her luck for Ranger to find her before she prepared to confront him.
Vince held his hands above his shoulders, symbolizing he wouldn't hurt her. "I'm here to help with the Bianco vineyards and winery," Vince replied. "Steph, I'm alone. The others are still in the States." He gently pulled Stephanie into his arms. She wrapped hers around his waist and cried into his chest, relieved the others wouldn't crash her solitude.
Stephanie raised her chin to look into Vince's eyes. "Please, don't tell them you found me," she begged.
"I'll go inside with Bruce. Come in before you leave, dear," Isabella said, touching Stephanie's arm. Stephanie nodded without taking her eyes off Vince.
"How far along are you?" Vince asked when they were alone. He assumed Stephanie was near the end of the pregnancy. It was difficult to determine how much longer a woman had by appearance. Every woman carried the fetus differently. Stephanie stepped back, then grabbed Vince's hand. She led him to the bench by the pond.
The fish Stephanie added to the pond skimmed the surface to catch the bugs that dared to land on their water. Stephanie smiled and removed the lid from the food bowl. "Almost thirty weeks," Stephanie replied, tossing some food from the plastic container into the water. "I learned about the pregnancy one week before I left to come here." Vince had assumed as much. He was pleased Stephanie provided the answer before he asked the question.
"Is it Ranger's baby?" Vince asked. Stephanie nodded. Vince knew when Stephanie broke up with Morelli for good. He witnessed the occasion. Stephanie smiled when her son stretched. She placed Vince's hand on the spot. "I felt that," Vince said, awed by the experience.
"I hoped you might," Stephanie said. "How many people are looking for me?" Stephanie both wanted and didn't want to know the answer. She feared too many people would find her as quickly as Vince had.
"At least three," Vince replied. Stephanie instinctively knew Lester, Hector, and Manny would look for her. "Is the baby why you left?" His question, though expected, took Stephanie a few minutes to respond honestly.
"Partly," Stephanie confessed. "Mainly, it was so I didn't have constant reminders of what I couldn't have." Vince understood what Stephanie meant. She left everything behind to forget about Ranger. Her heart needed time to fall out of love with her mentor.
"I heard there was a price on your head. Well, not exactly a price per se. Some enemy of Ranger's was threatening your safety if you were his girlfriend," Vince explained.
Stephanie snorted. "That's not true," Stephanie replied. "Are they thinking Matias Lopez was threatening me?" Vince was shocked. The name and Lorena Smith were mentioned several weeks earlier by Hector. Lester and Hector were attempting to connect Lopez to Smith.
"What do you know about Lopez?" Vince asked.
"Tank's dad killed him a little over two years ago," Stephanie replied. "I saw the emails on Ranger's computer with the threats. Is that why Ranger dumped me? Have they determined the emails originated from Dickie Orr's computer?"
Vince was shocked. They couldn't find the email origin. "But…how?" Vince got tongue-tied.
Did Vince know anything? Stephanie rolled her eyes. "Joyce Barnhardt is after Ranger's money. She got Dickie to help her. I wouldn't be surprised if she fucks Ranger, then claims she's pregnant. Vince, I wasn't born yesterday."
"I think you should explain how you stumbled across this information," Vince said. "Lester thinks Lorena Smith met Matias Lopez."
Stephanie explained with a dramatic eye roll, "Lorena Smith overdosed nineteen months ago. Her corpse got buried in the cemetery a few miles outside the Pine Barrens. The scheme reeks of Joyce Barnhardt's cheap perfume and sex lubricant." Vince laughed at Stephanie's description.
"Do you know anything about my father, Frank Plum?" Stephanie asked.
"General Plum served over forty years in the Army. He was part of the Rangers. I heard rumours that he retired, but I don't believe it. A retired soldier doesn't make trips to Fort Benning to run training exercises," Vince replied, making Stephanie smile. He didn't buy into the retirement explanation Ranger and the others provided. Frank Plum knew too much not to be active.
"Have you heard of Ghost and Shadow?" Stephanie asked. She patiently waited for Vince to search his memory for the familiar names.
A slow smile appeared on Vince's handsome face. "Was your dad Ghost?" Vince asked. "I heard legends about him from my commanding officer. Your father trained him. He hero worshiped Frank Plum."
Stephanie smiled at Vince. She wondered if he made the next connection. "And Shadow?" Stephanie asked. Vince noticed her eyes twinkling. He had always suspected there was more to Stephanie Michelle Plum than what she shared. She claimed to be an open book, but that proved untrue.
Vince remembered that Shadow was a hacker everyone assumed to be male. He hacked through the computers to access the military database when it got digitized. It necessitated building firewalls to protect the data. Shadow got asked to hack into the systems several times per year. Vince never realized Stephanie's disappearances aligned with Shadow's hacking attempts.
"Good Lord, Steph. Why didn't you tell us?" Vince wondered. He was impressed with Stephanie. "You are truly Wonder Woman."
"I have a dark web presence," Stephanie confessed. "Hector figured it out the first time I worked at Rangeman's search desk. He keeps my secrets. Please, Vince, I need you to keep mine." Stephanie chewed her lip, wondering if she could call Vincenzo by his preferred name. She found it in his employment records, but everyone called him Vince.
"Ask," Vince begged, wanting to know what entered Stephanie's mind to cause the lip-biting habit. He gently tugged Stephanie's lip free from her teeth, then stroked his thumb over her bottom lip.
Stephanie gasped. Her lip tingled where Vince touched. She thought somebody had broken her senses. "Do you mind if I call you Enzo?" Stephanie shyly asked.
"Sweetheart, you can call me anything you want," Vince replied. He returned Stephanie's grin. Without thinking, Vince kissed Stephanie. She moaned as he deepened the kiss. Suddenly, she pushed him away.
"I'm sorry, Enzo. I can't get involved with you when my heart still belongs to Ranger," Stephanie whispered, looking into his grey-blue eyes. She saw his emotions within the depths. Stephanie wanted to reciprocate, but she needed more time.
"I'll wait until you're ready. Do you need a ride home?" Vince asked, gently wiping the tear threatening to cut a track into her cheek. Stephanie shook her head. Her grandparents lived a few houses up the road. Vince stood, then tugged Stephanie from the bench. She stretched and entwined her fingers with his when he grabbed her hand.
They walked to the back door leading inside Isabella's house in companionable silence. She was waiting at the kitchen table with snacks and juice. "Take a seat," Isabella demanded. "Little girl, you're in the middle of this ride called life. Everything will be just fine."
Stephanie and Vince grinned. "Do you like Jimmy Eat World?" Stephanie asked, giggling.
"I might have heard that song from my grandson," Isabella confessed. "He loves music from the eighties and nineties. It's an appropriate line from the song. You may think everyone is looking down on you or leaving you out. Stephanie, my dear, that couldn't be more wrong. You're experiencing a few bumps and knocks on the path you chose. Do what's best for you and your son. Nobody else matters."
"You're having a boy?" Vince asked. He couldn't believe it. Manoso was having a son. Ranger had a potential child to carry his namesake for future generations. He gave it up for what? An email he never bothered to confirm its source? Manoso was a fool. It was reasonably sloppy for a man in the security business. Stephanie didn't leave it to chance. She figured out what was happening.
"Enzo, the sex of my child is irrelevant. Ranger doesn't want us. He decided without consulting me. I want more than being someone's obligation or second thought," Stephanie replied. "My son will have my last name."
"Wouldn't he find you that way?" Vince asked.
"No," Stephanie replied, smiling. It was her best secret yet.
"Why do I feel your last name isn't Plum?"
"Because it isn't," Stephanie confessed. "When my great-grandparents emigrated to New York, the records keeper heard the name Plum. It's Palumbo."
Vince started laughing. It was hilarious. "Lester, Bobby and Tank searched for Stephanie Plum with various spellings of the last name, hoping to detect where you were hiding. Man, that's too funny," Vince said. "Would you have made that rookie mistake?"
"Never," Stephanie replied. "It's amazing what you can find on Google these days. All you need is the correct word to search."
"Come on, Steph. I'll walk you home," Vince said. He looked Isabella in the eye. "Thank you for the juice and snacks."
"No problem, Enzo. Stop by whenever you're in the area," Isabella said. She winked at Vince, knowing he would be in the neighbourhood frequently to visit Stephanie.
Vince walked Stephanie to her grandparents' house. She unlocked the door and hollered, "Nonna, Nonno, are you here? I have a visitor."
Caterina wiped her hands on the dishtowel to remove the flour from rolling out the dough. She was making homemade ravioli for Stephanie. Francis met her in the hallway. "Hello, son," Francis said, extending a hand to Vince.
"Sir," Vince replied. Francis wasn't what Vince expected. He always assumed Stephanie resembled her mother. Stephanie had her grandfather's blue eyes and curly hair. The only feature Stephanie inherited from her mother was her nose.
"Nonno, Nonna, this is Vincenzo Bianco. Enzo, my grandparents, Francis and Caterina," Stephanie said, introducing everyone.
"Oh. You're Maria Bianco's grandson. She mentioned you were coming to Italy. Are you moving here?" Caterina asked.
"That's the plan," Vince replied. "I should probably head over to check everything. There's a bit of a learning curve."
"One minute," Stephanie said. She walked away from the group in the foyer. A few minutes later, slightly out of breath, Stephanie returned with a folder. "Can you take these marketing strategies to your grandma?"
"You're handling the marketing and advertising?" Vince asked. "Nonna said it was a close family friend."
"Maria and Aria love me," Stephanie replied.
"Thanks," Vince said, waving the folder. He glanced over his shoulder as he walked away. Stephanie stood in the doorway, staring at his ass.
Vince couldn't believe his luck. He stumbled upon Stephanie without looking for her.