Ranger sat in his apartment atop RangeMan Trenton. His thoughts wandered to Stephanie and their daughter. He wondered what she looked like; did she have Steph's curly hair or his straight hair? Did she have blue or brown eyes? So many questions yet he knew he didn't have the right to ask.
Picking up his keys, he ran down to the garage and tore out of the parking space. He knew a few of the guys had gone to Shorty's for dinner and he decided to join and hopefully take his mind off of Steph and Sophia.
As he walked in, he spotted Tank, Lester, Bobby, Ram, and Junior. Pulling up a chair, he sat down next Tank. The guys all looked at him and nodded. "We need to talk. I need to know they are safe and taken care of."
Junior placed some bills on the table, pushed his chair back, and stood up. "I'm suddenly not hungry." Before he turned to leave, he leveled a look at Ranger, "Leave them alone." He nodded to the rest of the guys and left the restaurant.
"I'm not looking to start trouble," Ranger said. "I just want to make sure Steph and her daughter are okay."
"We are not discussing this," Lester said. "You gave up rights and now you don't need to know anything. Stay out of her business. If you want to discuss Rangeman, we can talk."
Ranger looked at Lester and took a deep breath, "I know what I did, but I also have a right to know about my daughter and Steph." Realizing he was getting louder than he meant to, he lowered his voice. "I just need to know they are okay."
When Ranger got loud, a few people turned to see what was happening. When he quieted down, they went back to their meals.
Junior slammed the SUV driver door after he slid behind the wheel. Not wanting to waste time, he picked up his phone and hit speed dial two.
"Hey you."
"Hey Steph. Just wanted to let you know he's asking about you and Sophia. Wants to see how things are going and if you are being taken care of."
"Son of a bitch. What does it matter to him? He didn't want her so what does he care? I gave him a chance to be in her life and he didn't want it."
Junior could picture Stephanie pacing back and forth in her living room. "Do you want me to come over and stay in case he decides to show?"
Stephanie thought about it and while she really didn't think Ranger would show up, she was one hundred percent certain. "Yes. I think that would be a good idea. If for nothing else, it will keep me from shooting him."
Junior started he engine as just before he put it in drive, the passenger door opened. About to say something, he looked and saw Les getting in. Shutting the door, Les said, "Let's go see Beautiful."
"How'd you know?"
"Dude, we both know he will end up at her place. He's in there drinking right now. Tank is trying to stop him, but he's drowning himself. I'm sure that even if Tank drives him back to the office, he will still take off in the middle of the night."
Stephanie, Junior, and Les were sitting in the living room playing MarioCart on the Wii when her phone rang. Reaching for it, she smiled seeing it was Mary Lou.
"Hey Mare, how's it going?"
"Ohhhhh, it could be a lot better." Stephanie knew Mare had something to say so she waited. "Oh sweetie, I don't know how to tell you this, but everyone knows."
"Everyone knows Ranger is back in Trenton? Doesn't surprise me." Les and Junior looked at Steph to see what was going on.
"No. Well, yes, they know that, but I mean everyone knows about Sophia."
Junior saw Stephs facial expression change to one of pissed off. "What happened?" he whispered to her.
"How?" was her only reply.
"Well, I heard from Cheryl, who heard from Cindy Lou, who heard from Melanie, who heard from your cousin Shirley who was in Shorty's when Ranger and the guys where there that he was asking about you and your daughter."
"Shit. Okay, well … not how I wanted everyone to find out, but not much I can do about it now. Thanks for letting me know, Mare."
"Of course. Let me know if I can do anything," Mare said before hanging up.
Les and Junior each took a hand and waited for her to talk. "Well, thanks to Ranger's little episode in Shorty's, everyone now knows about Sophia."
"How? It's outside the burg?" Les wondered.
"My cousin Shirley was there getting food when it happened. So, the cat is out of the bag." Stephanie stood up and walked to the kitchen. Grabbing a beer from the fridge, she popped it open and took a drink.
"Um, Steph, should you be drinking that?" Junior asked.
"Relax, I have enough pumped milk that Sophia can have a few bottles. I'll pump and dump a few times before nursing her again."
Junior hugged her and apologized for questioning her, "Didn't mean for it to sound like I thought you were going to do something you shouldn't. I should have known you'd have a back up plan."
She hugged him back and smiled, "Thanks for looking out for her, though. I appreciate it." Taking another swig, she looked at the ceiling, "Now, what do I do about Ranger?"
After moving the SUV into the garage, Junior and Les ended up staying the night; Junior slept on the couch while Les camped out in the recliner. Both had their guns next to them within reach. Stephanie didn't think Ranger would do anything stupid, but still she felt more comfortable with Sophia in bed with her. She placed pillows along Zip's side of the bed and threw the blanket over them so Sophia wouldn't roll and suffocate in the crease. Zipping Sophia up in her sleeper, she placed her hand on Sophia's back and drifted off to sleep.
Around four in the morning, Les heard the front screen door open. He grabbed his gun and kicked Junior's foot. Junior sat up quickly and reached for his gun while looking at Les. Les put his finger up to his lips and pointed to the door. Both guys had their guns trained on the door but down where, if they did fire, they would only wound the person trying to come in.
They heard the locks tumble and the door open; before they could see who was coming in, the person entering froze as he flipped the light switch and saw two guns pointing his direction. "You want to lower the guns and explain why you are about to shoot me?"