Chapter 33

Healing truly comes from within and the sooner that Jon and Beth let that happen, the sooner that their lives can get better.  Neither of them want to admit that there are issues still, or elephants as Beth likes to call them.  The trauma and the heartache that they faced alone and together was enough to break even the strongest of couples, but they seem to manage to hang onto one another.

They spent a few days at home with the family before either of them started back into the daily grind of running a large household, several businesses and managing one of the biggest rock bands in the world.  

Sunday's are the best day of the week.  For the Bongiovi clan, that meant lazy breakfast and a day without a schedule.   Jon and Beth are on the back patio having coffee when Beth's cell phone rings.  That's not alarming as her phone rings quite a bit, but the name on the caller I.D puzzled her.  As she picks it up she says to Jon, "Why is Dot calling me?"  She gives him a look.  "She knows better than to call me."

"Gimme it." he demands, with his hand held out and the look of an angry lion on his face.  "I'll take care of it."

Beth hands him the ringing cell phone and sits back to observe.

Jon swipes right, phone to his ear, "This better be good."

Jon hears, "Dad?"  Beth watches the disgruntled look melt off of his face.

"What's up Rose?"  the surprised dad questions.  "What are you doing at your mothers?"

"Dad, something has happened."  the young lady starts to say,  "But everyone is okay."

John sits straight up in his favorite Adirondack chair, alarming Beth.  "Are you hurt?"  The frantic dad brain kicks in.  "Is Jesse hurt?"

"Dad, calm down, everyone is okay."  Stephanie can picture her dad, the brow wrinkled.

"I'm calm, what happened?"  his fingers go through his hair, he reaches for his phone to see if there was something that he had missed on his.  Nothing.  

Stephanie spent the weekend with her mother, after Dorothea made her feel guilty for staying away.  She didn't really want to go, but Dot had a way of twisting the kids and their feelings.  "Mom and I went to Macy's this morning and when we came back, someone had broken into the house.  Jesse isn't here, he's with Todd."

"Everyone is okay?"  he frantically asks, "How's your mother?"

"Dad, we're fine, they just trashed the house.  Mom wants to know if she can stay in the guest house."

"Here?"  His jaw drops.  "This guest house?"  He looks at Beth, a little crooked.  Beth is now starting to get concerned.

"Yeah dad.  She says she won't feel safe in a hotel."  He can hear that even though she thinks it's a terrible idea, he also knows that she's now worried about her mom.  "I'll stay back there with her if that will make you feel better."  His martyr daughter, throwing herself on the sword for her self absorbed mother, begging her over entitled father to show compassion.  

"Steph, you know that's not a good idea."  his butt slides to the edge of his chair, "None of that is a good idea."

"She's my mom!"  Stephanie is about to get upset.  She's looking at her mother, seeing her as almost helpless.  

Ever since the divorce and the final split, Dorothea has made it a point to try to get the world to feel sorry for her, starting with her own kids.  Through the milestones that come in life, Dorothea is stuck back at being married to Jon Bon Jovi.  The man that she's convinced she made.  Without her, he would have/be nothing.  If she could just get the rest of the world to believe that.  Even she forgets that there was another woman in the mix, way back in the day. The mix that was thrown together and made the best rock band ever.  

Jon doesn't like the way that the conversation feels and he knows that he's just seconds away from being Stephanie's hero or her worst enemy and he needs to decide, in a split second, who he can handle being mad at him.  Beth or Stephanie.  

He decides.

"Bring her here.  I'll talk to Beth and work this out."  with every word his heart races and his head drops.  "Make sure everything is locked up tight.  I'll send someone over there to take care of the mess."  He knows he's in a lot of trouble.

"Thanks dad."  the phone goes dead. 

Jon tosses Beth's phone onto the table.  As soon as it landed, "Why is she coming here, Jon?"   He doesn't have the opportunity to respond.  "JON, why is she coming here?  She's not coming here Jon."  Beth stands, stepping into his personal space, looking him in the eye.  "What happened?  Did she break a fucking nail?"  Beth steps passed him, "What did you just do?"

After a long and deep cleansing breath, "Her house was broken into and she doesn't feel safe."

"So the solution to that is to bring her here?"  Beth barks at him, feeling her blood pressure rise.  

Jon knows when to fight and when to wait.  With the history that the two of them share, he knows what she's going to do next, so he waits for his timing to be right.  He knows that after she blows up she'll head into the house and grab the cigarettes that she thinks are hidden.  She'll come back out onto the patio and smoke a cigarette before she mumbles one word to him.  He takes his place back in his favorite chair, in his favorite place with his favorite person.  He waits.  He's tempted to join her, the urge to smoke is quite powerful in moments like this for him.  For her too, but he's able to control his urge.  He loves the way her Marlboro Light smells.  He watches her smoke her cigarette and even though he can see that she's pissed, ready to blow a gasket and ready to kill him, he can't help but think that she's super sexy smoking that cigarette.  

When she has had enough, she tosses the cigarette into a potted plant and then takes a gulp of her orange juice.  She needed those seven minutes to calm her nerves, talk herself out of killing him.  Calmly she asks him, "Why is she coming here?"  she can't make eye contact with him.  She knows what she'll see if she does.  She knows that she'll see his compassion and his forever forgiving soul, and she doesn't need to see that right now.

Jon leans forward and places a hand on her knee.  Quietly he states, "Her house was broken into and she doesn't feel safe there."

"Send the cops." Beth is quick to fire back.

"Then we have the press to deal with." Jon reminds her.

"So." Beth could care less.  She has taken on the press before and she's not afraid to do it again.  "There is no reason for her to come here."  She starts to pace a little, "No reason at all."

"Beth!" he snaps shooting her a pretty deep version of the stink eye, but she doesn't stop.

"She doesn't need to fucking come here Jon.  She can go to a hotel, she can go to hell for all I care." she's on the verge of screaming at him.  She's not sure why, but she went full on bitch in a hurry.  "She has a family that she can stay with."  Beth forgets that Dorothea's family pretty much wrote her off when she got involved with Dalton and his crew.  Dot had burned all bridges, with pretty much everyone she ever knew.  She learned quickly where her allies stood, as she tried to topple Jon and his crew.

"You know she has no one now."  he tries to sternly remind her.

Beth turns on a heel, pointing to him, "RIGHT THERE, correct, she has no one - including us!"  She's louder now.  Loud enough that she was startled by Brianna when she popped out onto the patio.

"Mommy" was all that Beth needed to compose herself.  She walks over and picks up her baby girl, kissing all over her face.  Brianna laughs and tries to get away, "Mommy, stop."  Beth continues to kiss her, laughing.

"How did you sleep, princess?"  she asks the young girl, as she sits her in a patio chair.  "Did you sleep good?'  The controlled Beth asks,

"Yep." the little one tells her mom as she sees her daddy.  She smiles from ear to ear when she makes eye contact with her daddy.  Jon walks over and picks her up, tossing her up over his head.

Kissing her, he tells her "Good Morning."

"Are you hungry, Bri?"  Beth asks her, tucking away her cigarettes and lighter.  "Do you want some pancakes?"