Chapter Forty-Six
Stephanie POV
Everything changed the night I read the letter from The Dick. Yep, all my respect for the recently departed vanished instantly, and Richard is back to being The Dick.
The will was finally settled after six weeks of probate, or whatever Mr. Manoso called it. The entire estate was valued at just shy of five million and two-hundred-and-fifty thousand dollars after Mr. Manoso sold the New York building. I had no desire to live in it or become a landlord. Under the terms of New York law, I received the first fifty thousand dollars and half of the remaining estate. The other half went to Zoë, Henry, and Alex.
I met with Debra after the meeting with the lawyers who executed the will. She was technically not entitled to anything because their marriage was illegal, so I offered her half of what I received. To my surprise, she declined my offer. She said she was satisfied with what her kids received and didn't want anything else from Richard.
I thought long and hard about The Dick's parents and brother. I was still angry about Robert's deception, but I couldn't be angrier at him than Richard himself.
Zoë and I drove to Maryland on the morning of Christmas Eve after the will was settled. I had missed Thanksgiving, preferring to spend it in my new house with my friends. We planned to spend the entire day with him, and I'd drive home after dinner to wake up in our own house on Christmas morning. I had a fantastic Christmas day in store for Zoë to make up for how drastically her life had changed.
I offered his parents a quarter of a million dollars. Robert didn't come to lunch with us, but I asked them to extend my offer of twenty-five thousand for him. They accepted both of my offers, and I wrote them cheques in addition to the gifts we brought them. Janet got an iPad and a set of Air Pods. Victor was so much harder to shop for. I didn't know much about what hobbies he enjoyed, so during a phone call to them when I called to wish them Happy Thanksgiving, I asked Janet afterward what Victor might like.
I ordered him a deluxe cigar humidor and a customized whiskey decanter set. He seemed to love both, and I shot Janet a grateful look.
We had a lovely visit, and before we left after dinner, I promised to visit in the next couple of months.
When we got home after our long drive back, Zoë was sleeping. As I carried her from the car to the house, Ranger opened the front door. I was momentarily surprised to see him, but I took Zoë down the hall to her bedroom, changed her into her pyjamas and tucked her in.
When I returned to the living room, Ranger had a cup of herbal tea waiting for me.
"Thanks," I said as I took a sip. "I thought you went to your parents' house for Nochebuena?"
He smiled. "I did. It's over now, and I wanted to spend some time with you on the holiday, too."
Ranger and I had begun something resembling a relationship, though we hadn't discussed it and hadn't had sex. Yet. We had kissed, sometimes made out, every time we spent time together and found reasons to touch each other constantly.
With a new year coming up, I wanted to have that conversation. I was finally ready to put Richard completely behind me with the help of all the tools I had accumulated in my therapy sessions with Dr. Yang.
"Ranger, we should talk," I began. He had just leaned forward to kiss my neck in a way that made me shiver.
He sat back, his blank face slamming into place. "Don't do that, please. I hope this isn't a bad conversation." His face softened, and I continued. "I think we should talk about what's been happening between us."
"Are you unhappy with the direction our relationship seems to be going, Babe?"
"No." I smiled. "I like how it's going. But I'm not sure what you're thinking. I don't know if you only want a friends-with-benefits thing or what. I have Zoë, and I don't want to bring a man around Zoë, only for whatever this is to turn sour, and then we'd stop hanging out together, and Zoë would be heartbroken." And so would I.
"Babe, you have to know that whatever relationship you and I have, I will never abandon you and Zoë. You're family. And I love spending time with both of you. Secondly, I think you have the wrong impression of me. While it's true that I used to be a man who didn't want anything longer than an evening, I've changed. You've changed me. I want whatever I can get with you." He leaned forward on the couch and kissed me. "If you give me a chance, Babe, I'm all in."
I studied his expression for a few moments. I didn't see anything but honesty and affection, and I melted. I pushed him back into the cushions and straddled him, my arms snaking around his neck. "Okay," I said.
He wrapped his arms around me, settling his hands low on my back, somewhere around my ass. We kissed for several long minutes until I pulled back, breathless. "I think I still need to take this slow. Are you okay with that?"
He stroked my cheek. "We can go at whatever speed you need, Babe."
"If I ask you to spend the night and Christmas morning with us, will you take it as an invitation for sex?"
"Babe."
I took that to mean no and settled happily in his lap. He flicked on the gas fireplace, and we soaked in the ambience. I revelled in the romance of the evening, and I hoped everything would work out.
We put out the Christmas presents I had been hiding in my walk-in closet and placed them under the tree before retiring to my bedroom for the night, and I left the lights on the Christmas tree, liking how they danced around the darkened living room.
After I had a shower, I changed into my normal pyjamas of a tee shirt and boxer shorts. Well, I usually wore just panties, but I felt like that was a bit much for my first sleepover with Ranger, especially when I wasn't yet ready for sex. He was already lying in my bed when I came out of the bathroom, and I shyly got into bed and faced him.
He pulled me closer and kissed me. I moaned and intensified that kiss, my tongue caressing his. We stayed close like that for a long time, hands and mouths roaming each other's bodies. Before things went too far, he kissed me on the forehead and turned me so he was spooning me with one arm around my waist and the other above his head. Our bodies fit together perfectly, and I settled happily against him as I fell asleep.
The following morning, I made French toast with bananas and Nutella before waking up Zoë. Tank and Gigi were coming over for the day and arrived while I was in Zoë's room, and Ranger let them in. Ranger set the dining table and served breakfast, setting down the last plate as we entered.
We enjoyed breakfast together before retiring to the living room to exchange gifts; of course, we spent most of the time watching Zoë open presents from me and only a couple from Santa. I went all out for her with new clothes, toys, and craft projects.
I thought a lot about what to get Tank and Jeanne Ellen, too. For Tank, I bought a telescope, and I got Jeanne Ellen a Ralph Lauren crossbody camera bag and a new fancy camera. I had no idea what the salesman sold me, but he assured me it was fantastic, and I hoped Gigi would like them. She had been a great photographer when we were teenagers, but she had eventually gotten too busy with the Army to keep up with her hobby. They both seemed excited with their gifts and hugged me tightly.
I bought Ranger a present before we changed the nature of our relationship, but that might be better. I stopped by the Harry Potter store on my last trip to New York to settle The Dick's estate. It was a joke, but not really, when I got him the complete BluRay movie collection and the set of books with the black covers. I also got him a fancy bottle of wine he said he enjoyed once. He kissed me when he opened them, so I guess our relationship status is public, at least with Tank and Jeanne Ellen.
After all the presents were opened, Zoë took one of her new Lego sets to her room, George on her heels, and Jeanne Ellen said, "We have some news. It's a bit early, but we wanted you to know first." She stopped and looked at Tank, who smiled encouragingly, and suddenly I thought I knew what she'd say next. "We're having a baby!"
I squealed, leapt up and hugged her tightly. "Congratulations!" I cried. "That's so exciting!" I hugged Tank next and said, "Congratulations, Daddy!"
Ranger shook their hands and congratulated them too.
"How far along are you?" I asked after we all sat down again.
"Ten weeks."
"Nearly done with the first trimester, then? Have you had much morning sickness?"
She laughed. "My morning sickness came at night. But it stopped a couple of weeks ago. It wasn't too bad. I remember you telling me about yours, and I thought mine would be worse, but I got lucky."
"Are you keeping it secret for a while longer?"
"Yes, for at least two more weeks. I want to wait until I'm in the second trimester before I announce it."
I nodded. "Val's coming over with the girls in about an hour. Are you going to tell Val?"
"No. I only wanted you to know. And Ranger's fine to know, too," she added. She grinned at Ranger. "So…you two, huh?"
He nodded once and looked at me. "Yes. It's also new," I confirmed.
She said, "I have a good feeling about it."
"I do, too," I said, smiling.
A/N: I like knowing details, so here are the details of how The Dick's money was distributed after everything shook out.
Steph received $2,647,376. She gave The Dick's parents $250,000 and his brother $25,000. Since Debra refused any money for herself, Steph was left with $2,372,376. In my fictional world, there's no such thing as estate and inheritance taxes because the research is not worth it!
Zoë, Henry, and Alex received $865,792 each.