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Part 8

Stephanie had the sweetest smile on her face that would make the coldest heart melt, her blue eyes sparkling with mirth, and a painted fingernail tapped the chiseled Cuban nose, "Ranger, you entered my world freely and you created this monster, so live with it." For emphasis, she stuck out her tongue.

"Babe, I gladly live in your world, but do the characters sometimes have to be so far outside the lines of bizarre?"

The front door flew open, "Pumpkin, I could have sworn Lorenzo just passed us in his catering van full of, I think, midgets and they were singing through some loud speaker gadget 'Ding Ding the werewolf will be dead' going down the road! What the HELL is going on? I saw flyers warning about werewolves on telephone poles. He's a fruitcake!" Frank Plum stepped into the hallway with a pineapple upside down cake in hand and went right for the kitchen not waiting for an answer because he knew it would be something crazy.

"I'm telling you, Ellen, werewolves are just extra hairy men who have a problem with their pictionary gland gone wild. Even their packages are hairy I bet. I could tame one of those beastly suckers just like that!" Grandma trying to snap her fingers.

"Mother!"

"I could. I wear him out by making him put out all night long for a few nights in a row, maybe a week would do. I'd be satisfied with hairy putty in my hands."

Frank and Ranger were shaking hands, "Glad to see you're back. The old bat is still crazy. Frank Plum, welcome to the asylum," shaking hands with Ranger's parents who he had yet to be introduced to since arriving.

"Alvarez Manoso and my wife, LaLine," Mr. Manoso introduced them cautiously, but all eyes were on Grandma Mazur.

"Grandma!"

Edna twirled around, "Hi, Baby Granddaughter. I went shopping in one of those vintage stores Lorenzo gets his stuff at that he wears. What do you think?" spinning again and almost tripping over her white go-go boots.

"You look like Twiggy," Stephanie giggled at her grandmother's green and yellow print block dress and big white round rimmed sun glasses tucked in her curls, a long strand of big white beads around her wrinkled neck, and a mood ring on every finger.

"I should have bought this stuff a while ago. Look," pointing a bony finger, "he's back. Did you tell him about my good fortune?"

"No, Grandma. I figured I'd let you do it," Stephanie gave Ranger a sugary grin over her beloved Grandma mouthing, "Paybacks."

"Babe," he mouthed back.

She clomps over and looks up at Ranger, "I was playing the nickel slots at the Trump's Taj Mahal and I hit for the biggest nickel jackpot ever. I was pictured in the newspaper and all. I won $3 million dollars in nickels. I bet you still got more than me."

Trying not to laugh, "A little more. That's a lot of nickels, Edna."

"I was just at the track with the girls and I plunked down $500 on a horse called 'Edna's Pleasure'. The odds were 184 to 1 and it won its very first race ever. It was a gypsy sign now that I think of it. I played the tri-fecta also on that race and won with second place going to the 'Dark Package' and 'The Night Beast' coming in third. That's freaky, huh, with what's going on around here?"

"You could say."

"Edna Mazur," shaking LaLine and Alvarez's hands, "you got a good kid here. He was a little slow getting his act together with my Baby Granddaughter, but they made one cutie of a baby," tickling Brody in Frank's arms.

"Brody's is gorgeous," LaLine concurred.

"This is Ellen, Stephanie's mother," her mother introduced her daughter.

Stephanie's mother and Ranger's parents exchanged "Hello's" before Ellen took over organizing the kitchen and the food.

Frank called to his daughter, "Stephanie, what about these werewolves that Lorenzo thinks are lurking about your neighborhood?"

Ranger was glancing up at the ceiling.

"Ask Ranger. He started it all," she was standing between the dining area and living room staring at him with her hands on hips.

"Fine," Ranger huffing feeling those blue eyes boring holes in him, "I didn't want his poodle using the grass out front for it's bathroom so I scared him."

"You had night vision goggles!"

"The loon thought I was a werewolf."

Frank chuckled, "And I bet you didn't correct him."

"No," he was shaking his dark head, "but since I own the security company that provides security for some of the units, he thinks I can scare off the monster."

"So," Alvarez concluded, "you have to catch yourself."

"Something like that," Ranger couldn't help but laugh at the insane thought.

"Ranger scared Lorenzo last night shaking branches from the loft, the frightened man fainted in the street, then gave him a cake this morning for protecting him and Fluffette," Stephanie added details that her man left out.

"He left a necklace of garlic on the door, Babe!" pointing to the door.

"Carlos," his mother was laughing, "you terrorized that poor unbalanced man. For shame!"

"Momma, he wears feathered satin slippers to walk his dog."

"Just wait until you see him in the pink quilted bath robe or their matching yellow slickers and boots when it's raining," Frank enlightened him.

The werewolf was going to have a field day with those outfits.

Things had calmed down and he heard it, all sweetness calling him, "Carlos Dear?"

"Yes, Stephanie Dear?"

"Would you go start the grill?"

"Yes, Babe."

"Thank you."

Coming through the back door, "White Girl, that's freaky! Batman starting a grill and livin' in a condo."

Everyone stopped in their tracks again and were looking at Lula in a bright fuchsia spandex tank with black studs spelling out 'Yes, They're Real. No, You Can't.' on top of pink and blue striped tight Capri pants. She had pink streaks in her ponytails that Ranger didn't know she had.

Lula saw the unmistakable Cuban parents, "And parents. Batman got parents!"

"Lula," Stephanie took the initiative, "this is Alvarez and LaLine Manoso, Ranger's parents. This is my friend Lula." She gave them credit, neither screamed nor ran when her friend held out her hand with fuchsia matching nails with little sculls on them.

"Hello," both greeted the Spandex Queen.

She turned to Tank who was hugging his friend's parents. "Tank! Did you see that? I shook the hands of the Bat parents," Lula gave a little hop waving her hand in the big man's face. "I ain't ever washing this hand! This is right up there with shakin' that Queen Latifah impersonator hand in that disco club we went to in New York."

"Anything for you, Sweetie," chuckling at his main squeeze's animation.

Bobby and Lester come through the back door announcing, "We're here! And beer too!" They were right ahead of Mary Lou, Lenny, and boys coming in the front door.

The Bad-Ass behind them hissed, "What do you want a medal or something?"

They ignored him, "Let's eat. We're hungry."

After the picnic buffet of hot dogs, hamburgers, roasted red potatoes, corn-on-the-cob, Southwest baked beans with a little 'Lorenzo' kick, pasta salad, nachos, vegetable tray, and fruit kabobs, Brody opened his presents with Stephanie's assistance before it was cake time.

All circling the highchair situated on top of plastic sheeting, they sang 'Happy Birthday, dear Brody. Happy Birthday to you' while Frank videotaped it. Stephanie saw the moistness in Ranger's eyes as he sang to his son.

"Ready. Blow out your candle, Baby Boy," his mother set the big blue cupcake in front of him and helped blow out the candle. She barely got the candle out of the small cake when he had the red car in one hand and the other was squishing blue icing.

"Da."

Ranger looked at his smiling son with a blue face, cake crumbs stuck in the icing covering him, his dark hair was greasy and slick with his birthday cake, and he was holding out his arms to him.

"Brody, are you in there?" Ranger asked not deterred by the messy baby picking him up.

Cake encrusted fingers were put to his father's mouth, "Da," offering a taste. "Yumm."

"It is," wiping blue icing off his Cuban cheek.

While the birthday boy was getting an early bath to return back to normal, LaLine pulled her son aside. "Carlos, you aren't going to make this a habit are you?"

"What, Momma?"

"You had a child in Florida. Now an absolutely adorable son on the upper East Coast. You aren't going for the four corners are you?"

"Only if Stephanie wants to move west. I love her, Momma. Brody wasn't planned, but he's perfect."

His tall thin Mother was giving intense dark eyes to her son, "You could try keeping that thing zipped up until you put a ring on her finger."

He gave his mother a very good 'Burg' eye roll like that was going to happen, "I just got back a few days ago, let us settle in as a family and, hopefully, Stephanie will agree to marry me."

LaLine Manoso studied her youngest child for a moment knowing he meant what he said to her, "All right, for now," patting his cheek. "I want my baby boy to be happy and do you think you could get me the recipe for that luscious bundt cake since you are connected with Lorenzo?

"I am. Happier than I have ever been." Ranger couldn't help the chuckle, "I'll see what I can do about that recipe."

Everyone was gathered in the backyard on the back porch or lounging in chairs in the grass eating leftovers, drinking beer, or sampling Lorenzo's orange bundt cake. A radio was playing and a song filtered through the air. Ranger had an arm around Stephanie and Brody's sleepy head on his shoulder enjoying his little family, their family, and friends.

"You are the world within the world that I exist

You are the touch that just won't fade

You are the end and beginning of each and every day

You are the reason I stay sane

It's hard to see beautiful

Oh, it's hard to see beautiful

In your own eyes

But you make me beautiful

For the very first time

Does anybody know what it's like

To feel larger than life

To look deep in your soul

And know you're not alone

Does anybody know how it feels

To find something that's real

And make it your own

That's when you know that you found home

Home

You found home

Home

And when the strings inside me

Unravel to the ground

You are the hand that gathers me up

And when I'm laughing so hard

That I can hardly breathe

How do you know just when enough's enough

Oh, it's hard to feel beautiful

Oh, it's hard to feel beautiful in your own skin

But you make me

You make me beautiful

Over and over again

Does anybody know what it's like

To feel larger than life

To look deep in your soul

And know you're not alone

Does anybody know how it feels

To find something that's real

And make it your own

That's when you know that you found home

Home

You found home

Home

Don't let me down

'Cause I've waited all my life

To find, yeah

Does anybody know what it's like

To feel larger than life

To look deep in your soul

And know you're not alone

Does anybody know how it feels

To find something that's real

And make it your own

That's when you know that you found home

Home

You found home

That's when you know that you found home

Home

You found home

Home

The words fell in to place for Ranger with Stephanie in one arm and Brody wrapped in his other, "It's good to be home, Babe, for always."

The End

P. S.

A few nights later, Ranger captured a very hairy werewolf that resembled a little like Lester and 'returned' it to the Pine Barens. Lorenzo baked Ranger a caramel apple bundt cake for capturing the 'Werewolf' who just gave him and Fluffette the willies. But, it just happened at the full moons, Ranger had always new equipment to test and the werewolf reappeared some how.

Ranger, Stephanie, and Brody continued to in live in the patio home after their romantic Hawaiian beach wedding with Lula and Tank a street over until Brody's baby sister Arianna came along shortly before their third anniversary. They bought a bigger house not too far from the little neighborhood. It seemed once a month that Ranger had to visit Tank to discuss new equipment on the full moon, but Stephanie let him have his fun as long as Lorenzo didn't get hurt and that lone werewolf always returned to it's place in the outlying Pine Barens.

'Home' by Katharine McPhee

P.S. 2

Grandma means pituitary gland but in her own way it's 'pictionary' gland.