Chapter 85 - The Bird On The Wire

Beth and the kids were all finally asleep, after a long day of walking the streets of Milan, everyone was exhausted.  Beth dozed off with the twins as she laid with them, getting them to wind down.  

Jon was compelled to take their picture, so with his iPhone he went snap happy  After he made his rounds through their suite, he grabbed his stashed cigarettes and a bottle of wine, no glass, and went out onto the patio.  One drink turned into a guzzle and then he pulled a cigarette from the pack, lighting it - he scrolls through his contacts and finds Dorothea.  

The phone rang 3 times before she answers it.  In a sleepy voice, "Hello."

"What are you up to?" he fires at her.  "What the hell are you doing now?"

"Jon?" she whispers, "What time is it?"

"It's time for you to leave us the fuck alone."  he inhales deeply, feeling the burn of the smoke that is followed by a sudden light headed feeling, "You need to get your asshole boyfriends in check and leave us alone.".  

Dorothea sits up in bed, she's certain that Jon can hear her heartbeat through the phone. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm not going to fuck around with you this time.  You have done enough and your consequences have been minimal.  If you and Brain do not leave Beth and me alone, I will prosecute both of you and you will never see these kids again."

"What are you talking about Jon?  Have you been drinking?" she asks with sarcasm, "YOu have lost your mind."

"Listen, you're lucky that we got on the plane and went on our honeymoon.  I'm sure Beth had other ideas, but we did what was best for us and the kids."  Another gulp of wine, "And if you don't start putting the kids first, I swear to God I'll take them away." 

"You're paranoid."

"Where is Brian now?" Jon gets louder, with each syllable that comes from his mouth.  "where have you had him hiding all of this time?"

Dorothea clears her throat, feeling the pressure and a little bit of fear, "Brian who - what are you talking about?"

"I'm done with this shit." he stands and starts to pace.  "you have done too much to us and it's going to stop now. You need to tell me how you know him and how you met him, and I'm not fucking around, Dorothea."

"Jon........." she climbs out of bed and starts to look for Brian.  When she went to sleep, he was next to her, but now he's gone.  "I don't know what you want me to say."

"I want you to tell me the goddman truth and I want you to do it now."

She putters through the apartment, "The truth about what?"  He can hear that she's playing dumb, and he can hear that she's walking. 

"When you find him, put me on speaker phone."

"Jon!" Dorothea whiles at him, "Find who?"  She reaches Brian.  He's in the kitchen eating a bowl of ice cream.  She taps him on the arm and points to the phone, mouthing the words It's Jon.  Brian looks at her and smiles, like he has finally won.

"Where and when did you meet him?" Jon is exhausted from the conversation already.  "Is the asshole even out of jail yet?

Dorothea spoke without thinking, "Yeah."  Right then she was busted.  She covers he mouth and gives Brian an oh shit kind of look.  "He's out."  She knows that she can't play stupid or that she can't avoid it anymore.  Not only was Jon on the verge of killing her, she busted herself and knows that things could get ugly.

"How did he come into our lives?" Jon snaps, "How did you meet him and why did you drag him into us?"  His patience is worn thin and his nerves are raw.  If anyone knows how to get to him, she does and right now she is right on target.

"Aren't you on your honeymoon?  Didn't you just marry the woman that broke up may family?  Didn't you just marry the girl of your dreams?'

"DOROTHEA!"

"Screw you Jon.  I didn't do this - you did.  You did when you left me and the kids."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Jon barks at her, "I left you years ago, and because OF YOU!"

"Well........" she replies, snidely.  "I guess you're getting what you deserve."

"What's that?"

"Someone in your life that you don't like.  Someone around your kids that you don't care for."

"How did you meet him?" he yells at her.  "Why did you bring him into our lives?"  His hand goes through his hair and with a deep breath, he asks, "Did you know that he was engaged to Beth?"

"YES!" she blurts, sitting next to Brian.  Brian puts his hand on her leg, giving her a little security, "I knew that he was going to marry Beth."

"And you think that this is okay?"

"What's not okay?"

"Dorothea, he was engaged to my wife - that is okay to you?  If it is, why have you huis him all this time?"

Dorothea wasn't ready for this conversation, she didn't have pre - thought answers and she really wasn't prepared.  She also didn't plan on Jon being as angry as he is, as soon as he is.   "We can talk about this when you get back from your honeymoon.  Go be with your new wife and your perfect family."

He has hit his breaking point, "Why are you doing this? Why?  Was I that bad to you?  Did what we have mean nothing to where you always feel the need to hurt me?"  He plops down in a chair and grabs the bottle of wine.  Another gulp.  "Do the kids deserve this and all that craziness that you have put me through?"

"Did I deserve you walking out on me?  Did I deserve your absence when I was at my lowest point?  Did the kids deserve burying a brother and sisters?  Does that bitch mean that much to you?"

Jon doesn't know what to say.  He's hearing things from Dorothea that he never thought would come out of her mouth, and as she was talking, he had replies at the ready but when she asked if the kids deserved burying siblings, his gloves came off.  "For one, I left you because you were unfaithful.  For tw, our children are better off now that we are not together and for you to ask me if they deserved to bury siblings - who on God's eart deserves that?  Does anyone deserve to bury their children?  You have lost your damn mind, and honestly - I have grown tired of all of your craziness and your paranoia.     

"It sounds like your're the one with paranoia Jon."

"OH, really?  A man that we thought was dead just happens to show up at our wedding, and I"m being paranoid.  When I learn that he has been around Romeo, I'm paranoid?  You really have no idea how stupid the things that you do are?  Do you ever put the kids first?"

"Always!" she snaps at him, pacing the kitchen of the SoHo apartment, Brian watching,, getting satisfaction.  "Unlike you Jon, I don't act unless I run all scenarios through my head."

"And how did this work out to be okay in your mind?" he shouts at her, "How is any of this okay Dot?"

"What do you see as the problem here, Jon?  That I have a man in my life and you knew nothing about it?  That I have a man in my life and Stephanie Rose couldn't run back and tell you.  Or is it that you have no control over what I do now?"

"You have mysteriously hooked up with Beth's DEAD ex-fiance, bring him around my son and into the house that I pay for and you really don't see what's wrong with this picture?  How did you meet him?"  he's loud and heated.  The wine bottle still in his hand, he takes another large swallow.  As he's about to stand, he sees Beth coming his way.  His heart jumps at her 'sleepy beauty' and he wonders if he woke her up.  Covering the phone he asks her, "Did I wake you babe?"

Beth walks out to him and sits on his lap. shaking her head no.  "Who's that, at this hour?"

"Dorothea."

Beth gives him a look.  A long hard look.  "Really?"  she is not happy.  "Did you call her?"

He nods his head yes.  Beth takes the phone from his hand and in one deliberate swing, the phone smashes all over the patio.