Chapter 4 - The Sky Is Torn

As she crams a pair of shoes into her carry on bag, Beth yells down the hallway, "Kids, hurry up - we gotta go."   

Jon left three days prior to honor his contracts, to make things right with his fans.  Beth stayed home with the kids, not really wanting to do the road life anymore - but she missed him.  She missed him more than she thought ever possible.  While she sat at the breakfast table with the twins and Romeo, she had the idea to surprise Jon and just show up.  She checked his schedule, making sure where he was and for how long.  Sometimes he's have days off between shows and sometimes he'd do back to back, city after city.  When she seen that they were going to be in St. Louis for two nights, that's when she decided where they were going to go.  

She chartered a plane and made all of the necessary arrangements that she needed to so her could take the kids and go to St. Louis.  Pete was going to stay at the house and keep an eye on Cooper.  All Beth needed to do was wrangle the kids and get them in the car that was waiting for them.

"Come on, come on.  We have to go.  The car is waiting."  she says to all of them walking down the hallway.  

She stops in the doorway of Jacob's room, hiking her carry on over her shoulder, "Are you ready?"

The young man looks over at her as he takes his phone charger from the wall, "Yeah."

"Well, come on, let's go." she winks at him as she steps away, "Get Jesse and I'll see you downstairs."

Along the way, she stops into the twins suite and sees that they are ready to go.  They're sitting in the middle of their bedroom floor, blissfully listening to Lupetta read to them.  She pauses, soaking in the sight that she sees.  Her two blessings from above, with their big blue eyes and their curly blonde hair.  In her mind, they are spitting images of their dad.  The Italian in them is subtle, but it's there.  

Brianna, leaning on Pete's leg as she listens to the story, habitually holds the stuffed dolphin that her daddy brought her from one of his many trips.  Jon Spencer is sitting on Pete's lap tenderly rubbing her wrist.  A habit that he's had since her was very young.  Beth smiles.  "Are you little rugrats ready to go see your daddy?"  She startles all three of them.

Both kids are excited and bound to their mom as fast as their little feet will take them.  

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The plane ride from Teterboro to St. Louis was quick.  The children, all very excited to see their dad are bouncing in their seats wanting to get off the plane.  Beth prepares them for landing and that gets them even more excited.  

"How long are we going to be here, Beth?"  Jesse asks as he fastens his seat belt.  He sat next to Beth on the trip.  The older he has gotten, the more he likes Beth.  

"Just for two nights." Beth responds looking over at the young man, with a smile.   "Why?"

"I need to get some shopping done before I head back to school, thought maybe I could hit a mall out here?"

"We can do that, Jess."  

"We're only here for two nights, and both nights dad has shows."

"There is the day time, Jesse."  Beth reminds him with a laugh.   

"That's dads time to spend with you guys."

"And you."

"You know what I mean.  Dad isn't going to want to go shopping with the little ones in broad day light." he states, with a slight eye roll.

"We could stay a day or two after your dad, ya know?  Just because he leaves, doesn't mean we have too.  You don't go back to school until next week.  We have time."  Beth taps his leg.  "We can do whatever we want."

"Without Pete?" Jesse fires back, knowing that Beth and the twins in public might not go so well.

"Yeah without Pete."  she replies, with a quizzical look on her face. "What do you mean by that, anyway?"

Jesse chuckles, "You, the twins with Jake and Romy, now this ought to be fun."

"I can do it." she grins.

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The show is well underway.  They can hear the fans and all of the cheers as the car gets closer the the venue.  Lights flicker over head from surrounding choppers catching the monumental event of Bon Jovi selling out the brand new stadium in St. Louis, opening act.  Not a soul cared that it was pouring rain.  

The car pulls up to the rear entrance and one by one the clan files out.  They are escorted in through a maze of wires and road cases, to where they take their place, on the first level.  They are in a section of seats that weren't sold to the general public, they were held for family, friends and fans of a particular persuasion.  They are out of the rain

Beth gets the twins in their seats, and as she stands behind them, she rights herself; paying attention to what the boys are doing.  Jesse checks his phone, to only be disappointed by crappy reception in the arena.  Jacob's attention goes right to his dad.  He has always loved watching his dad on stage, has always loved the way that Jon and the boys could get a crowd going.  He's in a trance, watching the magic.  Romeo is very fidgety.  He's not one for big crowds, loud noises and bright lights so he takes his seat and waits.  Jon Spencer and Brianna are in their seats, bouncing around looking at everyone and everything that's around them.  Beth, well, her eyes make way to her husband.

The band is finishing up with When We Were Beautiful.  The lights come up and Jon just happens to see his family to his left.  His smile reaches his eyes and the crowd high switches to family high.  He had no idea they were coming.  His surprise is genuine.