Chapter – Epilogue

My life and that of those close to me have changed dramatically in the past few years.

Soon after Connie moved out, she and Scott became an official couple. He took her to Italy, as he'd promised. She had finally found the husband she was seeking when they married in a small chapel in her family's home town, then conceived the first of several children they would share. Jokingly, they would say that the first was made in Italy. The second child, was conceived while on vacation in Cancun, Mexico. There was serious planning in the works as to their next vacation destination and where their future child should be 'made'.

With Connie's ex-husband's house sold, and the deed to her grandmother's home in her hands, thanks to Uncle Ray and Robert Trapula, they completely renovated her childhood home. Their children will grow up in the home she had enjoyed as a young girl. There is even space for Uncle Ray since he can no longer care for himself. They are extremely happy and very much in love. I see it in them daily as they both still work for my company.

During one particularly emotional midnight phone conversation, weeks after the calls I'd made to her family and Morelli when I'd basically written her off, Stephanie admitted to me that she had a problem and would willingly accept whatever help I could give her. I gave it one more shot. Joe and I worked together to get her into the best drug and alcohol program the FBI could provide. She's still struggling daily but she's come a long way. The old Stephanie is back and she's fighting her addictions every minute with a zeal and determination that she can be proud of. We're together again and that pleases me.

"I knew I'd find you up here. Here. I brought you some coffee." Stephanie says, pulling me from my reveries as I take the steaming cup from her hands. She sits beside me on the wooden park bench we placed on our rooftop getaway. It is a place we both come to, in good or bad weather, together and separately for a moment's respite, to think or clear our heads. She wraps my mother's quilt tightly around herself, tucking her legs under her, then leans her head on my shoulder, as she settles in with her own brightly colored mug of java.

"What are the boys up to this morning?" I ask. My father has taken an apartment on the fourth floor. He, Luis, Stephanie's father and Uncle Ray have become great pals, getting into mischief like four toddlers.

"Your father came up to watch TeleMundo or something then called Luis to join him. Mom is bringing Dad over in a little while. She and Ella are going shopping. They want to go too so they can meet up with Ray for lunch."

"That doesn't sound good. Nothing ever goes well when that group gets together."

It brings to mind one of the first times they joined forces. They were at the mall when they were arrested. Four old men in sunglasses: one with a cane, one in a wheel chair and a scantily clad mannequin. I'll never know the whole story. I never want to know the whole story. Only that the arresting officer begged me to: "Just get them the hell out of here before I shoot one of them."

"Thank you." I say after I take a long sip of my coffee, then lift the cup to thank her after I gently place a kiss on the top of her head.

"No. Thank you, Ranger."

"For what, mi amante?" My love.

"Everything. Taking care of me. Helping me." Tears appear in her eyes. I know they are there. I brush them away without even checking. We've had this conversation before.

"Are you happy, Ranger? With me, I mean?"

"Of course I am, Babe. How could I not be?"

She vacillates for a beat, as she always does. So unsure about her own self worth.

"Yes, but are you really satisfied with us and the way your life has turned out? It's not the life you had planned for yourself. Are you at least content?"

"Babe. Haven't we had this conversation before? Many times, in fact?"

"I know but I want to be sure that you're, you know, still okay with the path you've taken because of me and my... problems." It takes great effort to say the word 'addict', even after all of this time in recovery. "Don't you ever think of what might have been? If you had, you know, married someone else?" I always know where this conversation leads and where it ends. But I'm patient with her. I need to be for her sake and ours. I have to let her speak and get it out of her system.

"Babe. Woulda. Coulda. Shoulda. It's over. All in the past. I didn't marry Connie or anyone else because I was saving myself for you." My lip turns up slightly as I glance down at her.

Stephanie punches my arm playfully.

"You know what I mean."

"Yes. I do know what you mean. Would I have married someone else if I couldn't have you? You know the answer to that, too. Probably not."

"Probably?"

I smile. She always picks up on my faux pas. I do it deliberately, realizing some time ago that it brings levity to the conversation and a quicker ending.

"Definitely. Definitely not." I clarify for her. "Better?"

"Yes." She adds with a squirm and a giggle."

"Babe. I have everything I have ever wanted and more right here." I tap her leg and give it a gentle squeeze. Stephanie smiles. I can feel the change in pressure on my arm. "I couldn't be more proud of you and everything you've accomplished. Plus," I continue in a whisper, "It doesn't hurt that I'm madly in love you." I feel her pinch my arm and snuggle closer.

"I'm in love with you too, you know?"

"Strangely enough, I do know that. I'm a very intelligent man. I figured that out a long time ago." Stephanie laughs. A sound that strengthens my resolve and lightens my burdens in life.

I think back to a time long ago when I was much younger, when all I wanted out of life was a different woman every night. A new war to fight in a foreign country the next morning. As time passed, I satisfied myself with my new business ventures and the occasional lust filled tryst with a different female from the parade of women I encountered and the one I feared I could never have. Subsequently, whether by accident, or kismet, or fate, as I helped a nemesis in need, I stumbled, a slight misstep, I fell madly, hopelessly in love with the amazing woman sitting beside me, all over again,

"A life with you was what I wanted all along. I know that now. I just didn't know it back then."

Our lips touch and I feel that same spark that I felt the first time we kissed and again during our first time making love together so long ago, and every time since. How I never want our time together to end. I rise from the bench and reach for her hand. The hand that now bears the golden band, with a yellow stone. She knows what I'm after but I ask anyway.

"Come to bed with me, Babe? Let me make love to you. Let me show you how much I care for you."

The blanket falls from her shoulders as she stands then snakes her arms around my neck and smiles. She warms my heart and my nether regions. She always has. Our lips meet again as the heat between us elevates. I swing her up into my arms to carry down the steps and into our bedroom. She squeals like an excited little girl until we reach our preoccupied chaperones and tiptoe past them. I lay her gently on our bed after I shut then lock the door with a click.

Stephanie is my friend, my lover, my soul mate, but most of all, she is the keeper of my light.