A/N: Read Chapter 48 of Starting Over before reading this chapter, as it will make a lot more sense.
Chapter Nine
Frank POV (directly after Chapter 48)
"Helen, what the hell was that?" I demanded as soon as the door closed behind Stephanie, Zoë, and Ranger. Morelli and Edna were still sitting at the dining room table, but I didn't care.
"Frank, we have company," she said softly.
"Fine. Mr. Morelli, do you mind telling me why my Pumpkin was so unhappy to see you here?"
He cleared his throat and looked down at his plate but stayed silent.
"Well?" I commanded.
"Um…er…well—"
"Frank! Leave the poor boy alone," Helen snapped.
Edna cackled. "I'll tell you. Stephie told me a long time ago."
I turned to her, raising an eyebrow expectantly.
"Poor Stephie was working at the Tasty Pastry, and right before closing one night, Morelli here came in for a cannoli," Edna began before shooting a malicious look at him.
Morelli started to stand up as if to leave, and I got up, placed my hand on his shoulder and pushed him back in his seat. I held my hand there, keeping him in place. The little pissant would not get to leave before I got my answers.
"He locked the door after he entered, and about ten minutes later, Stephanie was relieved of her virginity, and he was carving another notch in his metaphorical bedpost. She didn't say no, but he didn't give her a chance to say yes, either. That night, he wrote poems about her all over the 'Burg and fled for the Navy the following day," Edna continued.
My hand had started to tighten as Edna recounted the tale until I was digging into his shoulder.
"As if all that wasn't bad enough, when the news made the rounds and Helen found out, she called Stephie a slut and grounded her for the rest of the summer, and the Tasty Pastry fired her. Stephie got a bad reputation, and it never left her. That's why she never moved back home after graduating college."
"Officer Morelli, you are no longer welcome in my house. I will shoot you as a trespasser if I ever see you darken my doorstep again. Do you understand me?" I pinched him painfully, and he winced.
He nodded.
"Good. Stay away from Stephanie, too. Get out."
He didn't waste any time looking at anyone and rushed to leave.
"Edna, can you please give Helen and me a moment?"
"Sure. I'll take my dinner to the living room."
Once she was gone, I sat beside Helen and spoke softly but firmly.
"This is it, Helen. I will never again stand by and watch you treat our daughters like crap. I will leave you again if I ever hear of you belittling or berating any of them, and I won't return. Stephanie was a victim, and to learn you called your daughter a slut and grounded her for it is disgusting."
"But, Frank—"
"Shut up, Helen. I'm not finished. Stephanie is a grown woman with her own family and can manage her own life choices. Unless she asks you for your opinion, you will keep them to yourself. The same goes for Valerie and Jeanne Ellen. Do you understand me?"
"But, Frank—"
"Do you understand?"
"Yes, Frank."
A/N: This marks the end of Morelli in this story—just a minor blip on the radar.
