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Realigning Destiny
By TT

Sometimes chance intervenes in our lives and causes destiny to jump the tracks. When this happens, fate steps in and realigns destiny’s course to bring us to where we need to be. But, as with the course of true love, the road of realignment doesn’t always run smooth.

Part 40 - Nosebleed

Stephanie stopped the car outside of Mandy’s house and sighed.

The discussion with Jed had gone much better than she had initially thought it would. The easy with which he took over coordinating things, contacting Bob and finding out what was needed spoke of far more experience than Stephanie would have believed.

With the situation now in Jed’s hands, he had chased Stephanie off to fulfill her duties for the day.

Fortunately, today had been busy enough to pass quickly.

Now, though, that she was here, she couldn’t help but dread the conversations she would be having and the potential reaction she would face. A part of her wished the day had been quieter so she could have thought out what to say.

Taking a deep breath, she exited her car and walked to the front door, knocking softly, only a little surprised no one had been there to meet her. Normally, Charlie would burst out the door and come running. That he didn’t, worried her a little.

“Hello!” she called in.

“Steph?” she heard Mandy call, her voice slightly muffled. A moment later she appeared from the kitchen at the back of the house. “Hey,” she greeted, moving to the door.

Stephanie was a little surprised when Mandy stepped outside and guided her a few steps away from the house.

“I just wanted to give you a heads up,” she said, her relaxed manner easing Stephanie’s worry. “Charlie and Foxx came back a few minutes ago. Charlie’s nose was bleeding. I have him in the den right now, resting and waiting for it to stop. When I asked what happened, the boys exchanged a look and all Charlie would say was that he had a nosebleed.”

The concern that had abated slightly came back combined with curiosity. “Foxx didn’t tell you what happened?” she asked. She knew Charlie wouldn’t always share things with others.

Mandy shook her head. “Foxx started to say something when Charlie cut him off. He hasn’t met my eyes since. I can probably get him to tell me, though.”

“No, that’s all right,” Stephanie assured. “Charlie will tell me when he’s ready. Or when I go in and ask him,” she amended. “Oh. I need to talk to you about something before Charlie and I go. Do you mind if I talk to Charlie alone first and then I’ll talk to you.”

Mandy’s eyebrows rose, betraying her curiosity. “Nothing bad, I hope?”

“No. At least I hope it’s not bad,” Stephanie replied. “But it is important.”

“Sure,” Mandy agreed. “I’ll have Foxx help me with dinner. Do you and Charlie want to stay?”

Stephanie smiled. The smile faded to embarrassment when her stomach growled. “I’d love to, but I still have guests,” she admitted.

A wicked smile appeared on Mandy’s face. “I heard about your guest,” she said. “And if what I heard is true, and I was single, I’d be racing home to eat there, too.”

A quiet laugh escaped Stephanie. “Oh, you don’t know the half of it,” Stephanie assured, silently adding, yet.

Having reached the den, Mandy called her son and then closed the door as they left.

“Hi, Mom,” Charlie greeted, his voice flat.

Stephanie looked at her son. He looked completely dejected. Moving across the room, she sat down next to him and put her arm around him. “So, you just randomly got a nosebleed, huh?” she asked.

Charlie shifted uncomfortably.

“Would you feel better if you told me?”

A sigh escaped the boy.

Pulling the towel away from her son’s face, she checked to see if the bleeding had stopped. Satisfied that it had, she carefully wiped away the last remnants of blood before folding the bloodstains to the inside and dropping the towel to the floor.

Silence reigned for a few minutes before Charlie finally broke it. “Foxx and I were playing and might have wandered a little too far,” he admitted, shooting a look at his mom.

“Might have?” Stephanie asked, fighting a smile, as she knew full well the boys knew where they were.

A loud sigh escaped Charlie. “OK. We knew we were out of bounds,” he admitted. “But nothing happened. We were just playing and then we got to a stream and, well, crossing back I sort of slipped and fell and hurt my nose,” he finished, his voice almost a whisper.

Stephanie tried hard not to laugh. She wouldn’t admit it to Charlie, but she was thrilled to see he was getting into normal little boy trouble. With everything else going on, this one bit of reality was a welcome relief. “You know you weren’t supposed to go there without adult supervision, right?”

“Yes, ma’am,” he agreed, sounding completely dejected.

Hugging Charlie to her for a moment, she said, “We’ll discuss your punishment later.” Ignoring the groan of protest from her son, she leaned back on the couch and snuggled him to her side. “In the mean time, I need to tell you a few things.”

“Is this about Mr. Ranger?” Charlie asked.

Stephanie chuckled, loving how perceptive her son was. “Among other things,” she agreed.

Charlie shifted until he was looking directly at his mother. “OK.”

Stephanie took a deep breath, getting her thoughts in order. “First, my real name is Stephanie Plum. Mazur is my mother’s maiden name – her last name before she married my dad. You know I used to live in New Jersey, right?” When Charlie nodded, she continued, “I lived in Trenton and was a Bounty Hunter.”

“Like Dog or the girls in Miami?” he asked.

Stephanie’s eyebrows shot to her hairline. “Excuse me?” she demanded. “How do you know about those shows?”

Charlie winced as his eyes slid away from hers, knowing he’d just trapped himself.

“I asked you a question,” Stephanie persisted.

“Foxx and I were up late once and saw an episode on television after his parents were asleep.” Dragging his eyes up to meet his mother’s, he continued, “We don’t watch it all the time…”

Stephanie sent a disapproving look at her son. Just because it was a life she lived didn’t mean she wanted him to know about it. “We’ll talk about that later. But you just added onto your punishment, mister,” she advised, satisfied when Charlie nodded his understanding. “Good. As I was saying, I was a Bounty Hunter and sometimes I ran into problems. Ranger was always there to help me out and get me out of trouble. We had started dating,” she paused and rolled her eyes at the disgusted face Charlie made. “Just you wait a few years and you’ll be dating too,” she warned.

“No way!” Charlie protested, revolted by the thought.

Stephanie smiled knowingly, but continued. “Anyway, the last day I was in Trenton, I saw some very bad men do something they shouldn’t have. I was very scared and they told me I would live as long as I left Trenton and never told anybody what I saw. If I didn’t leave, they would kill my grandma, my niece, my friend or Ranger.”

Charlie gasped, horror evident on his face before it changed to curiosity. “I have a great-grandma and cousins?” he asked.

Stephanie smiled and stroked his head. “You have, to the best of my knowledge, a grandma, a grandpa, a great-grandma, an aunt, an uncle and three cousins – all girls.” She laughed at the face he made at the revelation of his cousins being female. “Anyway, I didn’t think I had a choice, so I ran away without telling anyone where I was going or why.”

“They must have been really worried about you,” Charlie observed his face serious.

Tears pricked the back of Stephanie’s eyes as she thought of all of the loved ones she had left behind. “Yeah,” she admitted, before shaking off that emotion and clinging to her determination. “But there was no way I was going to let them get hurt because of me. So I ran away and ended up here.”

Charlie reached forward and hugged her. “I’m glad you did,” he admitted quietly.

Stephanie hugged him back. When she released him, she continued her story. “Your Uncle Bob found some people squatting on his land and called Ranger in to help him figure out what was gong on. It was a big surprise to see him again,” she admitted before shaking her head and ignoring that situation. “He and Bob did some research and discovered that the people who were squatting were very bad men. In fact, two of them are the bad men who chased me out of Trenton.”

Charlie gasped. “You have to stop them!” he cried.

Stephanie smiled. “We’re going to try and do just that,” she admitted. “Or at least Bob, Ranger, Jed and some others are going to. As much as I want to help them, it’s more important I take care of you.”

The blinding smile that split across Charlie’s face at those words warmed Stephanie through and through. She returned the smile with equal love and hugged Charlie to her once more.

When the hug ended, Charlie asked, “Are you going to marry Mr. Ranger when it’s all over?”

Stephanie blinked at her son a few times. “Well,” she began. “We both wanted to talk to you about that after everything was over. I would like him to be in our lives, but that would mean some big changes and maybe even living part of the year away from here.”

Charlie sat quietly for some minutes, his face serious as he thought about the situation. Finally, he let out a sigh. “I like Mr. Ranger,” he admitted. “And I know he makes you happy. You look at him like Foxx’s mom looks at his dad.” Taking a deep breath, he continued, “I think we should try it,” he admitted.

It was Stepahnie’s turn to offer a blinding smile. Leaning forward, she placed a kiss on his forehead. “Thanks, kiddo,” she said softly. “When this is over, the three of us will sit down and talk about all the options and change before deciding what to do.”

“OK,” Charlie agreed. “But, Mom?” He waited for Stephanie to look at him. “Why are you telling me all this now?”

Stephanie smiled slightly at her son’s perception. “Ranger and Bob are calling in a bunch of people to help them take care of the bad guys. Some of the people that will be coming knew me when I lived in Trenton. When they see me, they’re going to recognize me. I don’t know how they’re all going to react, but, however it is, I won’t be able to keep the fact I’m Stephanie Plum a secret anymore. I didn’t want you to be surprised by it when it happened.”

Charlie nodded. “So, does that mean I’m really Charlie Plum?” he asked. Then a sly smile spread across his face, “Or will I be Charlie Manoso?”

Stephanie laughed at his impish comment. “I don’t know if you’ll ever be Charlie Manoso, but, a part of me hopes so. If you want to be Charlie Plum, we can do that, too. After this is over.”

“OK,” he agreed, relaxing back into the couch. He suddenly sat straight again. “Are you going to tell Foxx’s mom?” he asked.

Stephanie nodded in the affirmative. “Let’s go see what Foxx is up to and you can play with him while I talk with Mandy. Everybody will know about this soon enough, but, for right now, don’t tell anyone, not even Foxx.”

“OK,” Charlie agreed standing and heading for the door.

Stephanie picked up the bloody towel and followed after him, hoping the conversation with Mandy would go as well.

Continued In Part 41 - 044. Fragrant

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