482Chapter 36 Return to the Beginning
Sunday May 30th
Newark NJ
Mama pulled Rachel and Ron aside and said that she would like to take all three kids for at least one week over the summer and they could go on a vacation for themselves. Saying that now she has gotten to know them they are family too and she can't go years without seeing them again. Rachel dabbed at her tears and agreed.
I went up and thanked the captain and co-pilot for their services and told them a bonus would be coming. My family had slowly been getting off the plane and my men from the SUV's had been unloading all of the luggage and loading them up into the vehicles. I led Stephanie off the plane and went out to make sure the Martine's and Abuela Sanja's luggage stayed on board the plane.
With the low hanging smog and grey skies, I couldn't tell if it was going to rain so I checked my phone and found a 30% chance of rain for the area. We found Tank in the first SUV, I helped Stephanie in the back and climbed up into the front. Below my feet were the two cardboard boxes of phones, ID's and cards. I picked up my checkbook and I started writing out checks., one million dollars to each woman. I was doing it to make them all feel better, to put it towards their retirement but also so I could give Stephanie a million dollars of her own and she would have to accept it.
There was nothing new in Trenton to discuss and I talked with Tank about having a private meeting after our workouts but before the 08:00 morning meeting. I told him about my ideas to expand and that we need to do some more major hiring and training. We were quiet for a while and Stephanie broke the silence.
"So Tank how was everything in Trenton while we have been traveling all over the world?"
"Fine, nothing to report. How was your trip?" Tank answered.
"Fantastic. If you don't mind heavily muscled men in black following you everywhere. Seriously though the shorts and tank tops helped a lot. It was much better than the black pants they normally wear, making them look like they were on vacation too and I think most of the guys had fun with everything that we did." Stephanie was light.
"So where all have you been for the last two weeks?" Tank asked like he didn't know.
"Florida, California, Alaska for pretend and a cruise in Hawaii."
"Sounds like a good vacation." He continued the conversation.
"It was the best vacation I have ever been on. I got to meet Carlos' family and spend a lot of time with Julie and Look!" She held out her hand. "We got engaged." Tank looked over at her hand and raised an eyebrow at me. I guess I had never showed him the ring.
"What was the best part?" Tank continued to probe.
"Universal Studios in California was the best. We went on so many rides so many times. Julie, Becky, Maggie and Cassie were with us one day and it was the most fun. Watching Carlos kick all his men's asses on the beach. You know three on one he still won, it was amazing to watch. Hawaii was all around amazing. We did so much stuff once Carlos came back, saw volcanos, climbed down a gorge to swim at a waterfall, went zip lining and yesterday he took Julie and me skydiving. That was unbelievable! What a rush! I've never been so high before and we stepped out on the ledge and I was going to tell the guy to go back in that I wasn't doing it and suddenly he jumped and we were flipping through the air and then he spun me a few times and it was so amazing. Then Carlos caught up with us and went down part way with me. Then he pulled the chute and we drifted down together before the ground came rushing up at us. I thought we were going to crash for sure and then we slowed up and just landed on our feet." She took a deep breath and was flushed again just like she was after the jump.
"Sounds like you had fun."
"Tank we had so much fun. Carlos' family had fun too and Carlos' mom is helping me plan the wedding. Oh Tank you have to come to the wedding, it's going to be beautiful."
"I think I'm going to be the best man so yeah little girl, I'll be there." I'm glad he remembered, I hadn't formally asked him again. But we had made a pact years ago when we were in the armed services and Rodriguez got married that if we ever got married (again for me) we would be each other's best man.
Stephanie was chattering on about the decorations. "There are going to be balloons everywhere. You should see what they can do with balloons these days Tank, arches and elaborate table decorations and wheels, and tall stands of balloons. It was Julie's idea to use balloons and I have been shocked at how much they can do. The wedding colors are going to be blue, black and white but now that I have been looking at more decorations I have been debating changing it to silver. Carlos what do you think? White or silver?"
She brought me out of my musings and I gave her the most diplomatic answer I could. "I think you need to ask my mama and sisters. They decorate for these things, they will know better than me. I just want you to have colors you are happy with."
Finally we were pulling up in front of my parent's home and because we were first we got to park right out front.
"Tank pull up a ways. Let's let my sisters with all their kids park in front of the house." I suggested.
We didn't have to get luggage out of the car, so I helped Stephanie out and collected the boxes and checks and waited for my parents to get out and unlock the house. Slowly my family migrated into the house and I waited patiently in the living room for everyone. The mothers all collected their little ones into the family room and set them all to reading and playing with the understanding that we weren't going to be here long enough to watch a movie.
When everyone was gathered back into the living room I got their attention.
"I'm going to pass out your old phones. You are welcome to keep your new phone but take them to your carrier and transfer your old number to them. If you're not going to keep them I would like them back." I walked around the room passing out phones and collecting the new ones. Overwhelmingly the women wanted to keep the new phones except Angelia and all the men except Julio wanted their old phones back. My dad gave me the satellite phone and told me he would have felt lost without it but it turned out he didn't really need to be in touch with the office every day.
I got the box of credit cards and went back around collecting up the RangeMan cards and fake IDs and giving them back their own cards. Then I got to the checks.
"Sergio gave me money as an apology for the trouble he caused and I wanted to share this money with all of you, the women he threatened."
I walked around the room handing checks out to Angelia, Oshanna, Leyla, Isabella, Mama, Stephanie and Abuela Rosa. As I walked Angelia asked, "How much money did he give you?"
"I walked away with over 50 million." I explained.
"Fifty million and I am only getting one? Shouldn't it be split a little more evenly?" Angelia suggested.
"Yeah, there were ten women. We should be splitting the pie equally." Oshanna insisted.
"Girls be thankful for what you are getting." Papa scolded.
"Why should we each only get one million and Carlos gets to keep forty million?" Angelia questioned.
"He probably said we were only supposed to get one million each." Isabella offered.
"How much of this was really for us and how much of this money was for you?" Oshanna demanded of me.
"He didn't actually specify who it was for. It was for the pain and suffering for all of the women." I answered.
If this was only about my spoiled sisters I would be firm, but the more I gave to them the more I could give to Stephanie. Hell I would give Stephanie one hundred million dollars just to see what she would do but I don't think she would take it. But if I give my sisters each millions of dollars I couldn't very well leave Stephanie out.
"Fifty million dollars divided by ten women is five million dollars each." Angelia said smugly.
"Don't be greedy girls." Papa admonished. "Carlos is being very generous with you. He didn't have to tell you about the money or give you anything."
"Carlos is being selfish. He is keeping most of the money for himself and only giving us a little bit so he doesn't feel guilty." Angelia continued her rant.
"Fine" I interrupted. "I have plenty of money. I don't need this money. Tear up your checks I will write you new ones. My checkbook is in the car. I'll be right back."
I was smiling to myself as I walked out to the car. Stephanie followed me out and rummaged around in the back digging through her luggage. I had to manage this right. I debated with myself the whole way out to the car. There was over three hundred million dollars left in the business account. Not counting the three billion eight hundred million in the personal account. I debated as I sat waiting for Stephanie to find what she was looking for. I could set my whole family up for life, but I don't know if I would be doing them any favors. I would rather give them a small amount now and let them learn how to manage it. Then continue to give them more money throughout their lives.
I know Oshanna, Angelia and Julio will be inclined to spend all the money they get, so giving them a lot now would not help their futures. If Stephanie gets too much I think she would be afraid of it and not touch it but if I give the same amount to all of the members of my family she will have to accept. I walk back in quickly and Stephanie walked beside me carrying leis and necklaces she got for the girls.
I sat down on the couch next to Angelia, who had to scoot over to make room and started writing new checks. This time for five million apiece. I wrote the first one for Abuela Rosa and handed the check to Angelia. As I tore them out I passed them to Angelia who passed them around the room so everyone could see them. I wrote the next check for Mama, then Leyla, Stephanie, Isabella, who was sitting next to me in the chair, Angelia and lastly Oshanna. As I did this Stephanie went around the room putting leis around everyone's necks and letting them choose necklaces. She asked Leyla to pick some for Becky and Maggie.
"Hey bro, seriously I didn't make a big deal when you gave all my sisters thousands of dollars but you can't give them millions of dollars and not give anything to me." Julio asked hopefully.
"There is only three million left, do you want it?" I asked, knowing I had planned to give him money but not sure of the excuse I was going to use.
"Sure" He looked relieved. I wrote him out a check.
"Hey wait a minute. My check is made out to Maria and Javier Manoso." Oshanna whined.
"That's right. Mama, Papa, I didn't ask you but I am giving you Oshanna's money to manage. You can help her invest it and spend it. I would like to see you go back to college Oshanna. If you quit your job and go back to college they can set you up a monthly amount for your bills but I am not giving you five million dollars to blow. You'll quit your job, move into a big nice apartment in Manhattan and spend it drinking and partying and in three years have nothing left."
"Would not." She pouted.
"Good then you can explain that to Mama and Papa as you show them how wisely you will spend it. Now I want everyone to look closely at their checks. Does anyone notice something odd?" I asked. There was quiet as everyone stared at their checks.
"They are dated for next week." Leyla spoke up.
"Yes they are dated for next week. Do not try to deposit them this week. The money is coming from overseas and is not in my business account yet. So wait until next Monday to deposit them. I am running the money through RangeMan and paying you like a paycheck that I did not withhold taxes from. You will need to talk to a CPA to find out how this will affect your taxes for the year. If the taxes are too high I can pay you in smaller amounts over the next 10 or 15 years. I can even keep the money and invest it for you. I have a great investment guy that I'm going to get on board full time and he can invest your money for you."
"Carlos are you giving us all your money?" Isabella asked concerned.
"Isabella none of this is my money so I am glad to give it to you. I just want to see all of you invest it and make it count for your future and your kids' futures. Honestly I was only planning on giving you some of the money now and then invest it and give you more as time went on. Ultimately the money was going to be all for you but it's a lot of money for each of you and I would like to see you able to create a good future with it."
"Thank you, Carlos." Leyla said. "You didn't have to give any of us anything. You are the one who did all the work. You went all the way to face Sergio and you would have been well with in your rights to keep all the money for yourself."
"Leyla I'm not the one who got threatened with kidnapping, rape and torture. I'm not the one who had to take my kids out of school and your husband out of work to run and hide for your lives. It would have been easier if he had come after me and not you. But it was you that he came after and the money is the least of what you deserve."
"Well at least let us pay for the vacation we just had. That had to cost you a pretty penny and it was a lot of fun for us. My kids loved it. They have never been to California or Hawaii before and chances are before this trip and this money we probably would never go. This year we were planning to take them to Washington, DC. Educational but not nearly as much fun as Universal Studios and Disneyland." Isabella suggested.
"I'm glad that the kids had fun on the trip. Even though you always had big men in black following you around." I qualified.
"Don't get down on your guys, Carlos, we love your men. Hal and Tony were wonderful with the kids. All of your guys were so hard working hauling our luggage everywhere, carrying the little kids when they were asleep, they were quiet but when they talked they were very polite." Leyla said.
"They protected us, leading and following always silently, our saviors and sentinels. We're very grateful for all of your guys. Cal and Red were wonderful. I'm going to want to know when their birthdays are because we are not going to forget them." Isabella elucidated.
"I want to do a special party for them. They made us feel safe and made our trip much more relaxing." Mama elaborated.
"Thank you for getting Lester and Sport to be my bodyguards they were both very good with me." Oshanna encouraged.
"They were just doing their job." I explained.
"They did more than their job, they helped us every step of the way." Mama insisted.
"Well I'm glad you appreciated all they did. They worked hard." I confirmed.
"They saved our lives, more than once." Leyla finished and I had to acknowledge it was true. From the beginning protecting them till I could get them out of town, finding the trackers in the luggage and shoes, the midnight ambush on the island, the attack in California that took six of the women, the gunfire in Hilo was the deadliest direct attack that could have taken many of my women. I shuddered, all he would have had to do was level that rocket at the middle vehicle and the blast would have killed all the women and a good number of my men. I don't play what if games in my mind, it is a futile exercise, I focus on what IS and I quickly banished that thought and focused on the women in my mother's living room.
"Let's have a big party and invite them all. Maybe one with black and blue colors, a pretty white dress and lots of balloons." I suggested.
"We aren't going to turn your wedding into a thank you party for your men." Mama scoffed. "They worked hard and we need to show them we appreciate it."
"I gave them all a paid week off in Hawaii with a nice bonus to thank them for all their hard work." I replied, thinking what else did they want?
"Carlos, we'll throw a family party, where they can come and relax and eat some good home cooked Cuban food." Mama said. "It's the least I can do after all they did, putting their lives on the line day after day to protect my family."
"Fine Mama, you ladies plan it and I will make sure my men have the time off."
I walked over to Stephanie but faced my family. "My men will drive everyone back home. I promised you to return you safely back home and you are all now safe to return to your lives." I finished. I took Stephanie in my arms and said. "Ready to go home Babe?"
She looked down at the check she was holding in her hands and nodded to me. Mama got off the loveseat and hugged me and Stephanie and the whole room turned into one big hug fest. I said goodbye to Abuela Rosa and told her I would help her with all that money. She told me she didn't need the money, she would save it for the nietos. She hugged and kissed Stephanie and in the first English I had ever heard her speak she said. "Welcome to the family Estefania." (grandkids, Stephanie)
Tank had been leaning against the wall and led the way out to the SUV. Stephanie was surprised when I got in the back seat with her. It was a quiet drive back to Haywood. Stephanie kept staring at the check in her hands.
"What are you going to do with the check Babe?"
"Well I'm not sure. I need a new car, but with my car luck I don't want to buy a new, new car. But maybe something nicer than I have bought in the past. And I saw a new cage for Rex that I was thinking about getting him for Christmas that has tubes and things for him to crawl in."
"That's nice. Rex will like that."
"It would be nice to have a house to live in and not be in a little apartment all day, but a little apartment is about my level to easily keep clean."
"Babe no matter where we live I will hire Ella to clean and cook for us."
"Maybe if I had my own washer and dryer again I would do my own laundry. I used to do mine and The Dick's laundry when I had my own machines."
"No need. Ella has industrial washers in the building. She can do your laundry with mine."
"So I don't know what I'm going to do with it all."
"Well realize now that a big chunk is going to be taken for taxes. You'll have about three million left."
"Wow, so I will have money to invest."
"Babe my guy Steve is a master at investing money. He has helped me build up quite the portfolio. He can help you too."
"Okay… This just feels weird. Usually I'm just grateful for being rescued and feel like I owe you for rescuing me. This time you rescued me, took me on a whirlwind vacation and then gave me millions of dollars. Doesn't seem fair to you."
"Babe you are going to be my wife and I'll always be fair and honest with you."
"Yes so what are you trying to say?"
"Sergio didn't give me money willingly. I took it from him and I took a lot more than 50 million dollars. That's just what I felt good telling my family about so that they don't know I am the greedy bastard than I am."
"So how much did you take him for?"
"A lot more than 50 million."
"How much?"
"Tomorrow Babe, we will go to the bank and get your accounts all situated. Then I will show you everything."
"I didn't want to ask because I didn't want to know because I know you made it seem like Sergio's still alive to your family. But I need you to be honest with me."
"Yeah?"
"Is Sergio still alive?"
"Sergio is lost and will never be found."
"What does that mean?"
"It means I don't want my family to know the truth, so I don't want to tell you because then you will have to lie to them."
"Oh okay. I know what you are trying to say."
"I'll never lie to you Babe but knowing the truth may make you have to lie to others on my behalf and I don't want to have to ask you to do that."
"Alright I'll let it go."
"So tomorrow we can get boxes and pack up your apartment."
"Tomorrow?"
"Unless you want to do it today?"
"No, I just want to go home and unpack."
"We can do it tomorrow after the bank."
"Ranger there is something that you're not telling me. You have been looking at me with that intense expression on your face like you need to tell me something but you don't know how."
"Babe"
"Don't Babe me. I know it is something important."
"We've never discussed your safety going forward."
"What safety?"
"As my wife there will be threats made on your life. At least for a while you are going to need to have a guard go with you where ever you go."
"You mean for work?"
"For work, for Pino's or Shorty's, for lunch at Cluck-n-a-Bucket, for the mall. Everywhere but inside your parent's house. They can stay outside if you go visit your parents."
"That's just because you know my grandma will molest them if they go inside."
I smirked but said "Babe this is serious. I carry two guns and a knife for a reason. I always keep my back to the wall and take back up when I go out to work. We are going to have a threat level chart for you like yellow, orange, red and depending on the threat level you will have to take precautions and that includes men to protect you."
"So what is yellow?"
"We can discuss it in detail back at my office tomorrow. I don't have them all memorized and it will be easier to discuss if we can see it all."
I needed time to work out how I was going to break it to her. She knew I was putting her off but I had a good reason. I wanted at minimum a pair of men on her all the time but if that was my yellow she was not going to like my orange and red and she may bring up that there was no white, blue or green on my scale.
We got back to Haywood and carried my one clothing bag, leaving the box of electronics and Sergio's go bags behind so I could help carry Stephanie's bags. Then to my surprise Tank took her big bags and I grabbed the box of electronics, piling the phones and credit cards on top.
Ella must have been made aware of our arrival because my apartment was readied and had fresh flowers when we arrived on seven. She was waiting in the foyer to greet us and take our bags. Dinner was in the oven staying warm while she took the luggage to the bedroom to unpack. Stephanie followed her in, insisting that only half her clothes were dirty and wanting to handle them.
Ella, understanding that Stephanie was used to doing things herself, offered to go serve up dinner while she put all her dirty clothes in the hamper. Stephanie was still in the bedroom unpacking when Ella came out with two plates of baked tilapia with a light crust and seasoned sautéed vegetables with wild rice. She returned with two glasses and an open bottle of wine to let it breathe. Then she went into the bedroom to investigate what Stephanie was doing.
"I'll unpack those things dear." She told Stephanie to take her mind off trying to figure out where to put everything. "Besides I know what room I have made in his closet and bathroom for you."
Minutes later a flustered Stephanie came out and I pulled out her chair so she could have a seat.
"I feel weird having her do things for me." Stephanie finally broke the silence.
"It's easier to let her. In many ways she thinks of this apartment as her own to take care of. She knows where she wants everything kept and organizes it so that it is easy to find but has its own place. I'm sure she just wants to get your things settled into the places she has organized for you. She knew you were coming to stay so she probably already made space in my bathroom and closet for your things." My reiterating what Ella had said calmed Stephanie a little.
After dinner I went in my office to do some work and transfer all the money I needed to cover all the expenses and checks I had written from the out of country accounts. Stephanie took a walk through the closet and bathroom to see where everything was put. She walked back through the kitchen to talk to Rex, give him some crunchies, a grape and tell him a little about her trip.
When we got to bed she was wearing the red lacy number. Ella had put the box I had yet to give Stephanie on the top shelf of my closet. I climbed into bed with her and pulled her close. It had been a long and grueling day of travel and I just wanted to hold her for a few minutes. It didn't take long for my body to start reacting to hers and I began to kiss her intensely but she turned away from me.
I don't know how the cop had managed it but she really dislikes having sex on her period and there was no way I was going to skip having sex for five days in a row every month so this was something that I was going to get her over quickly. I got a towel and laid her out on it to make her more comfortable and began making love to her again.
This was our first night in what was going to be our real bed, our marriage bed, and I wanted to christen it spectacularly. But after the second round Stephanie passed out, falling fully asleep and I pulled her to me and in her barely conscious state she wrapped around me. I was contented to have her in my arms, in my bed, from this night till forever.
Monday May 31 05:00
It was so great to be up at my normal time doing my usual routine in the gym. I hit the weights hard to get my body back in shape and was pleased to find it responding to my usual workout as if I hadn't missed any days.
At 07:00 I met with Tank. We discussed the money I now had and how to best invest in the company to make it grow. We needed commanders and we discussed who within our current ranks at different branches had the makings of running a branch. We looked at the finances and started contacting my current partners to work on buying them out of the company.
I showed him the market research I had and we decided that Las Vegas, Los Angeles and San Diego were ripe and ready markets for new branches. We discussed a more ambitious nationwide expansion but I made it clear that maintaining the high RangeMan standard was more important than fast expansions. He reminded me that the Army trained hundreds of new Rangers a year and that was not counting the SEALs, Green Berets or Delta Force. There was a huge pool of men out there who could be tapped for this kind of work and needed jobs.
I put forth that we would start with these three branches and then reevaluate. Right now if the four branches we had could train twenty to thirty men in two months that would be one hundred and twenty men and we could open three branches with forty men each in three months. We discussed the specific needs of account researchers like Rodriguez that finds all our accounts for each office and decided to hire three for each new office to grow the accounts faster than we had in our current branches.
We discussed opening our company to hiring women. There was no ban on women, just the only few that had applied didn't meet the company standards. After all there are female Army Rangers and we decided that would continue to be a case by case review. Company policy is that they would have to pass all the same requirements as the men and we passed a company policy of no dating within the workforce.
"Good thing that you are marrying Bomber now, otherwise she couldn't work here."
"She doesn't seem to want to work here anyway."
"Yeah but she has worked here on and off for the last two years. You couldn't keep dating her under these new rules."
"I think that Bomber is exempt from all rules and I am going to write that into company policy because I want her to work here in the future and I am never going to require her to meet company standards for fitness and the fire range. I will make requirements that I think she can live up to and when she does finally join the company I will work with her to meet those standards."
"Like she has to eat at least two donuts a day?" Tank harrassed.
"Like she has to spend thirty minutes on the treadmill four times a week and spend thirty minutes lifting weights three days a week and she has to spend time on personal defense training thirty minutes three times a week. The men are required to spend six hours a week in the gym I will make it four for her."
"Not to discount your math but you just set up five hours a week for her." Tank added.
"I will let her pick and choose what she will do but this will make her do cardio, weight training and personal defense every week and she will feel more in charge because she gets to pick when she does what." I clarified.
"And the gun range?" Tank questioned.
"Half an hour of fire arms training twice a week not including time to clean the guns."
"The men have to do an hour a week so that is fair for her and them. She has to be kept to a standard reasonable for her and the company and I think those requirements will keep everyone happy." Tank agreed.
"I'll start making the morning meetings when things are settled with Stephanie. For the next few days I am here and available but I am going to be spending all my time getting her settled in. I need a rotation for Bomber patrols starting Wednesday or Thursday."
"Weekends too?"
"Schedule every day and then we will see. I'm used to working weekends but that may change. If she is taking Sundays off from the bonds office I may start taking Sundays off."
"She's still going to be working at the bonds office?"
"Until she decides she is done with that job. I've always supported her in it and I can't tell her she can't do it anymore. I'm just hoping that with some support staff that are better trained than Lula she won't get in as much trouble."
I called Ella to bring up breakfast when she was ready and let her know that I hadn't gotten Stephanie up yet. I was surprised to find Stephanie awake when I arrived back on seven. Sitting on the side of the bed looking at the check like it was an alien in her hands that was talking to her.
"Getting any answers?" I asked as I walked in the room.
"No, it just doesn't seem real."
"It's real Babe. What are you going to do with it?"
"Save it, invest it. I don't know. I've never had more than a few thousand dollars to my name at a time. I don't know what I will do with it." I took it out of her hands and laid it back on the bedside stand.
"You don't have to decide today. Just let it burn in the back of your mind and you will come up with answers."
"I think I want to pay for Lula to finish going to night school if she wants and set up college funds for my sister's kids and maybe buy them a house."
"All good things. I know the longer you have it the more things you will think of." I encouraged as I took her hand and led her to the shower.
I was finally able to show her how good I can be in the shower again. The shower on the cruise ship did not have enough space to work in. When we finished and got clean, breakfast was waiting for us on the dining room table. Fresh fruit and scrambled egg bake in a covere glass dish. The scrambled egg bake had vegetables and cheese but was delicious as Stephanie let me know, moaning her way through the meal.
It was a regular sunny morning in Trenton with the smog beginning to build over the highways and city. We drove hand in hand to the bank. Stephanie had her check in her other hand even though she couldn't deposit it yet, she didn't seem to want to let it out of her sight. We were waiting at the bank as they opened the front doors. We got an accounts specialist who added Stephanie Plum to my bank account and then opened up a special checking account we named The Manoso Wedding and added my mama so she could have a debit card for the wedding. Stephanie gasped as I transferred half a million dollars into the account.
"I told you one million dollars Babe, so I will transfer the rest of the money when we get home."
'Carlos we don't need to spend that much on a wedding."
"It's at your disposal. I'm up for whatever you choose. I'll leave that money in there and if the balance starts running low I'll add more."
"I'm thinking this wedding won't cost more than one hundred thousand dollars and I think even that is a little high, so we won't need more than that."
I showed her the balance in my checking account, only about twenty thousand dollars.
"Babe most of my money is in investments. I'll be honest I cleaned out one account for this trip we just took but I will transfer it all back soon."
"Carlos I can give you some of the money back. I don't need all the millions you gave me."
"That is all your money Babe. I didn't take any from my sister's and I'm not taking any from you."
"But Carlos."
"Stephanie let's talk about this more when we get back home." I admonished, cutting her off but not wanting her to feel bad. I just couldn't keep discussing such things in front of the customer service lady who was looking too interested in our conversation.
We finished the banking and I took her to the super store where I bought twenty five boxes in three different sizes and packing tape. I loaded them up in the back of the Cayenne, which I specifically drove today to get her moved. I held her hand again as we drove and she was quiet in thought as the air conditioner blew keeping us cool even as the day heated up.
Upon arriving at her building, we talked to Dillon her super. She had forgotten because she hadn't had to sign any paperwork but her lease automatically renewed in April and she had another year on it.
"Damn I was hoping to be done with this place." She whispered.
"Babe actually your apartment is quite nice, it has new carpeting and the walls are freshly painted. What if you lease it to your grandmother for a small fee? Something she can afford like $50 a month and then she can move in and take care of the place."
"Oh Carlos that's a great idea. My grandmother can move in here and my dad can have his bathroom back." She smiled big. "My parents will love it. Speaking of my parents, we need to go let them know we are back and I need to show them my engagement ring and," she sighed heavily, "talk about the wedding."
"Do you want to pack up your stuff first? I mean we are already here." I offered.
"No let's go talk to my parents and grandmother. If everyone agrees we can get my mom to help pack my grandmother. Then we can move her in here and I will get my stuff out of my bedroom, I'll leave everything else here for her. If she doesn't want the place I will move everything out and find someone to sublet it for the rest of the year."
The clouds were starting to gather in the husky sky turning brown with pollution. I have never minded living in Jersey before but maybe in the future we could move somewhere the skies were a beautiful blue all day. When we pulled up at her parent's house her mother and grandmother were at the front door waiting.
"That is too spooky. How do they even know we are back in town much less that we would be coming over to visit?" Stephanie asked before getting out of the car.
"Hi Mom" she said as we got to the front porch. I have always been aware that the Plum family is not a touchy feely family. Where my family would be hugging and kissing on the porch, Mrs. Plum just stands aside and holds the door open for us to pass. Grandma Mazur leads us into the kitchen where she starts getting out coffee cups.
"Have a seat." Mrs. Plum directs us as she gets out the remains of last night's chocolate cake. Stephanie understood this, love by way of food. This is how they communicate their feelings for each other. "So how was the trip?" she asks as she starts a new pot of coffee.
"Wonderful. We all had a good time." Stephanie answered.
"Well that's what I heard. It seemed like a terrible thing you leaving town because men were after you but it's nice that you had fun." Helen said. She set several plates on the table and began passing them out when she stood and looked directly at Stephanie. "So where is the ring?" She asked as if it was not plainly on Stephanie's hand.
Stephanie held out her hand and her mother grasped it and turned it back and forth looking closely at it.
"Well it is definitely beautiful. I heard you picked the ring out all by yourself Carlos." She said bringing over coffee cups and setting one in front of each of us.
Uh oh, she has been talking to someone in my family and I'll bet I know who. My mother probably made first contact as soon as she ushered the last of the family out of her house.
"Yes ma'am." I answered quickly. "If you don't mind I would like a glass of water." I told her.
"Stephanie that ring is a pip!" Grandma Mazur said. "That's a big rock. How many karats is that?"
"Three."
"So how long have you had this ring but you only now got around to asking Stephanie to marry you?" Mrs. Plum the inquisitor was on duty.
"When I bought it she was with Morelli and I wasn't going to break them up. But I was hoping one day when they were on one of their off stages I would get my chance." I explained.
"But then you got her to break up with him long distance. What kind of way is that to break up with a longtime boyfriend? I know it had to be you that talked her into that because she was raised with better manners." Helen demanded.
"Mom I broke up with Joe on my own. Carlos had nothing to do with it." Stephanie insisted.
"But long distance? You've been together for years! The least you could do was wait till you were back home and let him explain." Helen seemed sincere.
"Mom he's been sleeping around with other women. It started when we were broken up but then he got me to agree to have an open relationship where we could date other people if we wanted. Turns out his kind of dating is in the bedroom. I call that cheating but he doesn't see it that way." Stephanie was adamant.
"Well his mother said he will stop once you commit to him again." Helen was persistent if nothing else.
"Mom I'm engaged. I'm not going to give Morelli another chance. Besides the more I look back at our relationship, I realize it was never going to work. I am never going to be the stay at home mother of four that he wants, cooking dinner every night and having it on the table at six. We would only have made each other miserable." I was glad to hear Stephanie be honest about her relationship with Morelli. I knew it would never work because if it was going to work it would have been working and not constantly breaking up.
"Are you certain? Because even after all you've done running off with Carlos here, he is willing to take you back." Helen continued.
"I'm positive. It is over. Carlos is the man I love. He is the only man for me." Stephanie stood up for me and our relationship.
"In that case, Maria said that we can order save the date cards right away and get them out by next week, then we can get your invitations ordered. Those take a few weeks and then we will have a month to get them out. We have already been counting up all the family and there are well over two hundred people." Helen was cutting cake, handing a piece to Stephanie and had instantly switched gears. All her previous questions made it seem like she wanted Stephanie to get back together with Morelli and I was about to speak up but now she seemed totally into planning a wedding. I took Stephanie's hand and held it, letting her know I am here for her.
"Mrs. Plum. I'm so glad you have been in contact with my mother. That is great." I wanted to foster Helen calling my mother instead of Stephanie.
"Yes she called last night as soon as she got settled in from the trip." She offered me a piece but I just put my hand up and shook my head and she put the plate in front of Grandma Mazur.
"Stephanie and I have decided that we are going to leave most of the decision making up to you and my mom. My sisters want to help and Stephanie's sister is welcome to help too. But Stephanie and I are going to take a backseat in the planning. We just want to show up and get married and now that the Church is decided we will let you work the rest of the details out with my mother."
"Oh but it is Stephanie's special day. We have to have her input." she insisted, cutting a slice for herself.
"If you have specific questions text her but we came over here to discuss other pressing matters." I was turning the direction of this meeting.
"Oh, what is going on?" Helen questioned as she went back into the kitchen for the just brewed coffee.
"Well Stephanie has agreed to move in with me, but her lease is not up again until next April." I started.
"Grandma I was going to offer you my apartment to live in for the rest of the year. I'll keep paying the rent so it will be rent free for you." Stephanie offered. They all doctored their coffee as they spoke.
"Damn skippy! I would love that." Grandma said excitedly.
"Are you sure about this Stephanie? Moving in is a big step and one that really should not happen till after the wedding." My mother admonished.
"Mom we really want to start living together but that is not why I am doing it. I am doing it because it is the safest place for me to be. It is a secured, monitored building. Nobody can break in, no one can kidnap me, no one can blow it up. The apartment is locked down, only a few people can get in and I will be completely safe there."
"You will be safe there?"
"Yeah Mom, and I know me being safe is important to you."
"It is. You know I worry so much about you and your job. It will be a relief to know you are safe at least some of the time."
"That will be great. Then I can come over and visit and see the men with all the great packages." Grandma said.
I winced.
"Actually the building is locked up tight. It would be better if Stephanie visited you at your new place. If you want we have some boxes in the car we could get you all packed up and moved over today." I encouraged.
"Grandma the one thing you will have to do is go grocery shopping. I cleaned out my fridge before I left and there literally is no food in the apartment." Stephanie explained.
"No problem, Helen can take me shopping on the way over."
The women continued to make small talk as they ate their cake. I got a stack of boxes out of the car and we all trooped up the stairs to pack Grandma Mazur's room. I mostly stood in the doorway while the three women worked. Carrying out each box as soon as they got them filled. In just over an hour they had the room packed. Then Helen reminded Edna of the boxes of stuff she still had in the garage. We filled the Cayenne full and the back of Helen's car and still there were more boxes. I promised to come back over to get the rest but got the women to agree we had enough stuff to get her settled for the next week at least.
When we got to the apartment we carried up the rest of the empty boxes and I got Stephanie to start packing up her stuff while I unloaded Edna's things into the living room. When all the boxes were brought up Stephanie had only packed three boxes and half her closet was still full. I took a box into her bathroom and emptied everything into the box. I was glad I had packed as much stuff as I had to go on our little vacation because it was less that we had to pack and move now.
We were almost done with Stephanie's things when the women arrived with groceries. I don't know that Edna is use to shopping for one because after they each carried a load I made three more trips of just groceries. Then I made quite a few more trips with boxes. When I was done Stephanie was finished with her packing and I made several more trips carrying her things down while she helped the women unpack and put away the groceries.
It was past lunch time and the women insisted on making us some turkey sandwiches with potato salad from the deli. When all the groceries were put away we said our goodbyes and headed back to Haywood. Once there it was simply a few more trips for Stephanie and me to carry everything up to our apartment. I could have easily had a few of my men do it in one trip but Stephanie could use the exercise and I like to encourage her in all the exercising I can.
We were unpacking her boxes.
"Babe don't be surprised and please don't be offended if Ella moves your things around. Like I said before, she thinks of this apartment as her responsibility and she will move everything wherever she thinks is best."
"Maybe I should just let her unpack these boxes then. I still have three left and I don't know where I am going to put everything."
"Are there more things that you don't need or wear that you can get rid of?"
"I've already started another box of stuff to give away but-"
"Babe you're going to want to leave room in your closet for all the new shoes and clothes Ella is going to buy for you."
"New clothes?"
"Yeah, all I let her buy for me and my men is black. Black uniforms and black dress clothes. When she realizes she can buy you pretty dresses and shirts in a variety of colors your closet is going to explode."
"She's going to buy me new clothes?"
"You can count on it. So get rid of any old clothes and make room for new clothes." I encouraged.
Fifteen minutes later she had two boxes of stuff to get rid of and was throwing away a lot of the old products and stuff that had been under her bathroom counter.
I got a beep on my office phone. "Sir there has been a delivery by personal messenger from your lawyer's office."
"I'll be right down."
"Babe I have to get something from the front desk." I told her as I left the apartment.
I could have had a man bring it up, but the front desk was always supposed to be manned during business hours and everyone else is busy doing their work. I'm just hanging out with my soon to be wife and this paperwork is part of what is going to help me get her settled.
I was back minutes later with the brown envelope and I went in my office to read it over. It was laid out exactly as I had asked. I went back into the bedroom and sat back on the bed watching Stephanie wrestle with the last of her clothes. At this point more clothes were going into the giveaway boxes than into the closet and I was pleased. It was one of Ella's guilty pleasures to shop and I wanted to give her the green light to buy clothes for Stephanie.
"Babe take a break. You can come back to this. I have some paperwork I want to go over with you."
She heaved a big sigh.
"I'm almost done." She insisted.
"Babe you have half a box left and you can work on it while you think about this."
"What is it?"
"Paperwork from my attorney."
"Why do I need to see paperwork from your attorney?"
"Because it is for you. I mean for us." I quickly changed.
"What is it?"
"Just come in my office and we will go over it. Then you can think about it while you finish unpacking."
"Okay." She huffed and followed me back into my office. I sat her down in the chair in front of my desk and handed her the paperwork. She read quietly for a while and then looked at me in shock. "This says I get half of what you are worth and that you are worth seventeen and a half million dollars."
"This is the prenup I promised you. In short if we get divorced you get half of what I have in assets and half my interest in RangeMan and at the time I asked him to draw up this paperwork that was an estimate of what I was worth. If I cheat on you, you get everything except one of my vehicles and a hundred thousand dollars. If you cheat on me and I decide to divorce you, you get everything you came into the marriage with and one million dollars."
"Why? Why would you set it up this way?"
"Because no matter what happens I want you to know you will never be destitute again. I will never leave you with nothing. You will never have to move back in with your parents and squeak by. We would never have a bitter drawn out divorce, the papers will be notarized and legally binding."
"So if you piss me off enough I just have to file these papers in court?" She asked.
"You will have a copy. I've even told my lawyer that if you come to him to file for divorce he has to represent you instead of me. If you want a divorce you will only need to file these papers in court with a reason. The only fight you will have from me is a fight to stay married. I'm not going to just let you divorce me, I will fight for you."
"Oh" That seemed to take the wind out of her sails.
"And the numbers on this prenup are no longer correct. Since Sergio I have a lot more money. You are going to be worth a lot more."
"Like how much?"
"Come here and sit on my lap so you can see my computer." I offered. "Babe I tried to make a deal with Sergio. I tried to get him to pay me off to go away and promise to leave my family alone."
"But it didn't work? He wouldn't pay you?"
"He was losing it mentally. He was no longer sane and he wanted me to pay him a hundred million dollars a year for the rest of my life, for him to remove the hits on my family and for him to continue to leave me and my family alone."
"That's crazy. Nobody would pay that." She said.
"It was crazy. Like I said he was no longer with it. So I threatened to take him for everything he had if he didn't remove the hits and leave me and my family alone."
"and he didn't take it." she offered.
"No he didn't accept any deal I offered him and I offered him several different ones."
"So you took him for everything." She guessed.
"Yes I took him for everything and Babe he was a billionaire."
"Billion like with a B?"
"Billion with a B. Come around here Babe." I patted my lap.
She came around and I pulled up the RangeMan account that had one hundred million dollars in it. I had transfered one hundred million to the Rangeman business account to pay my families checks and to start the expansion.
"This is the account that I am going to use to pay my family and expand Rangeman. I am planning on three new branches in the next six months. I am going to pay Tank a sizable bonus and make him the General Manager over all of the offices."
Then I pulled up the account that had two hundred fifty million left in it.
"This is money I am going to give to Steve to invest. My men will get bonuses out of it and if needed I will use it to continue to expand more RangeMan offices. But honestly once the new offices open RangeMan should continue to be profitable enough to pay for continued expansions. It's just with this money we can buy new buildings outright to expand into."
Then I pulled up the account that had three billion eight hundred million dollars in it.
"Don't get too excited about the amount of money in here." I tried to explain. "When I bring it into the US half of it is going to disappear in taxes."
"Half of it." She repeated dumbfounded by the amount.
"Yes but that will still leave me with two billion dollars."
"And you're still going to work?"
"RangeMan is my company Babe. It provides an important service that people need and want and it creates jobs for ex-military men that might have trouble finding good jobs that utilize their skills. With this money we are going to be expanding across the country and we are going to have a lot of new positions open, especially in the field of customer relations."
"But I hate working in an office. I hate the clothes and the pantyhose. My job provides a useful service to the community. I get bad guys off the street." She defended.
"Yeah but you did it for the money. Babe if you had endless amounts of money what would you do?"
The End.
Kinda…
To be continued in the next story….
A/N: We have finally reached the end of this my first story. I would really like to hear what you think, what you liked and what I can improve upon. Thank you all for your kind word and support and encouragement through this story, they mean more than I can put into words. Your reviews have made me laugh and smile and write harder. Thank you for every one!
Overwhelmingly you wanted me to write a sequel and I have some great ideas in mind so I'm glad to do so. You've been such great readers and reviewers I want to give you a reward. For all my great reviewers here is the first chapter of the next story, currently called Saving Stephanie. Enjoy!
As always big THANK YOU to my beta Sassysaint I never could have done it without you!
Second Big THANK YOU to my sister, Jonelle. Thank you for fixing all my many little mistakes.