Chapter 71 - Stuck At A Stoplight

Jon and Beth go in the house and pamper the little ones before Beth puts them in their swings, while she starts dinner. 

Jon checks his messages, sitting at the counter talking to Beth.  He can't let the vineyard subject die.  "How much did you offer for the land down in Egg Harbor?"

Beth is up to her elbows in raw chicken, cutting off some fat and rinsing the breasts, "I under bid it.  I thought that they were asking too much for it."

"What were they asking?" he looks up at her, while still paying attention to his iPhone and the messages that he's tending too.  "What did you.....shit." He jumps up, "I'll be  right back."  Beth watches him dart from the kitchen and head toward his office.  She just laughs, thinking to herself that she dodged that bullet and she thanks whoever has him worked up now.

The chicken is cleaned and lightly breaded with gluten free bread crumbs.  Beth places it in the oven and checks on her babies. 

In the living room, the twins are sound asleep.  She leans on the door frame and watches them rock back and forth, silently thanking God for her blessings.  With a smile on her face she traipses off and locates Jon. 

Walking down the hallway that is lined with family photo's, Beth runs her finger along the wall, "Oooohhhhh rockstar?" she quietly calls out to Jon.  "Oooohhhh rockstar, where are you?"

"In here." she hears him answer from his office.  Reaching his office door way, she is greeted by a big smile on his face.

"What's that smile all about?" she asks, with a shyness in her voice, "That's your naughty smile."

"I can't remember the last time you called me rockstar.  You used to call me that all the time."

"At some point you moved out of the rockstar light"  Beth walks to the corner of his desks and sets on the  corner, "And into the daddy light, I guess."

"I missed it."

"What made you run out of the kitchen in such a flash?" Beth asks, looking over his desk wondering if she can see a clue. 

Jon stands, kisses her forehead and says, "It was an email from Paul.  We have to reschedule a couple of dates."

"Why and where?"  Beth is surprised by that, the Bon Jovi machine usually runs like a fine tuned machine, cancelling or rescheduling was rare and only done under certain circumstances.  "You never reschedule."

"The venue is having issues, nothing that I can control." he tells her, walking over to the bookcase that holds a few awards, a few books and a few dozen framed pictures.  He reaches up and grabs a leather bound book, one that Beth has never seen before.  He turns and walks back to her and hands her the book. 

Beth takes the book, looks at the cover and looks up at Jon, "What's this?"

He takes a deep breath and starts, "I found this when we were in California the last time."

"Okay?"  Beth starts to flip the pages of the book and is shaken by what she sees, "Where did this come from?"  She drops the book on the floor, it lands firmly on the ground, making a loud sound.  "Jon, where did that come from and why are you giving it to me now?"

"I found it in on the side porch of the house when we went out there."  he starts to explain, leaning on his desk top next to her, "I didn't give it to you until now because I didn't think you could handle it."

"And you think I can handle it now?"

He nods his head, "I think now better than before."

"Why are you even giving it to me at all?"  she's almost faint.  Her breathing has increased and she's getting upset.

"Because it's going to go public."

"WHAT?"

"Peter called me yesterday and told me that he received a copy and that it was going to public."

"Can we stop it?" she snaps at him, she barks at him, "We have to stop it."

"We're trying."

"Why didn't you tell me this before now?" she starts to pace his office, running her fingers through her hair, "You should have told me, Jon."

Jon walks into her and embraces her tightly, kissing the side of her head he whispers, "This is why I didn't tell you.  I knew this was going to happen."

"Where was this in our house?"

"It was delivered to the house.  I grabbed it off the porch."

"Who sent it?" he can feel her going weak in the knees and he can hear that she is starting to cry, "Who would send this to us?"

"It's obvious who sent it."

"But why?" her hands slide down his back and he feels the her knees give way.  He braces himself and stops her from falling onto the floor.

"Babe, come on.  Stand up."


"How did we not know about this?  How can this go public?  Jon, how can this be happening?"  she steadies her stance and takes a seat on the high back leather chair that's closest.  She puts her head in her hands and just stairs off into space.  Jon sits next to her on the arm of the chair.  He reaches over and takes a hand, she pulls away.


"I'm doing all that I can to keep it out of the public, but I don't think it's going to happen.  Peter is doing all that he can, but when we only had a few days notice, our hands are kind of tied."


"This can't go public."  she looks up at him, tears rolling down her cheeks and landing on her legs.  "Will you go check on the twins please."  She leans back in the chair.


"Of course.  Do you want me to get you anything?"  he bends over and kisses the top pf her head, rubbing her neck, "We have what it takes to get through this too, Beth.  It's not the end of the world."


She looks up at him, "I wanted this to never happen.  I want it all way way way behind us."


"Give me some time." he says as he walks to the living room, to check on the twins like she had asked him.  His precious little miracles are still sound asleep in their swings and he too smiles when he watches them. 


Beth comes up behind him and rests her head on his shoulder, "They are so peaceful.  When I look at them, all of my troubles seem to disappear."


He turns his head, kisses her nose and says, "They do that for me too."


"I gotta check dinner."  She kisses his cheek and leaves him standing there watching their babies, his pride and joy.  He secretly hopes that one of them wakes, so that he can take care of them, hold them and kiss them.  His time is limited as the next leg of the tour is looming, quite close.  He stands there until he hears Beth banging too loud in the kitchen.  He needs to go see what's up with her.


He enters the kitchen and sees her leaning over the counter, her head hung low.  As soon as she feels that Jon is close she mumbles, "How bad do you think this is going to be, when it goes public?"


He takes his place next to her and rubs the small of her back, "I think there will be damage, but it will be easily controlled and it will die quick."


"Do you really think so?" Beth questions him, not seeing how what he's saying could possibly be the outcome.  "I think it's going to be a disaster."


"Babe....."


"Is this why you need to reschedule those dates?"


"No.  This as nothing to do with that.  Two separate issues." he assures her, seeing how she may and how she could ask that.  "They are not related in anyway."


"And Peter called you to give you a head up that the book is going public?"


"Yeah.  He received a copy last week with a note and tried to preempt is, but isn't having much luck.  He called me when he seen that we needed to know and that we needed to prepare."


"Of course we need to prepare.  Life was going too good for us."  She throws her hands up in the air, "God forbid that Jon and Beth can have more than a couple of months of total bliss."


"It's not the end of the world and we will get through it, babe.  Let's just wait and see what happens when it's released and then we will plan our course of action."


Beth, with one swoop of her arm, clears the counter of the drying baby bottles, baby dishes and the pieces of a breast pump, "This is really a bunch of shit.  The book that accounts the details of our life with McKenna and her death.  How can Melissa and Dalton do that?"


"It looks like they self published."


"From prison?"


"It looks that way." he tells her, with a heavy heart.  "They have more rights in prison than what they would out here in society."