Chapter 34 - I'll Take This One On The Chin

It was a beautiful afternoon on the east coast and Beth was feeling restless.  Jon was in the studio doing what he does best and she wanted to, she needed to get out of the house. 


She decided that she would take a drive, maybe down the shore or maybe into the city to do a little shopping.  She has a renewed sense of freedom and wants to exercise it.  She walks out to the Shoe Inn and waits a minute for Jon to finish what he was doing.  She's not sure when David showed up, but when she seen him in the booth, she waved and he winked back.  When Jon was able to break, he came out of the sound room and kissed her, "Mmmm, what are you up to gorgeous?"

 

She kisses him back and tells him, "I'm restless, I'm going to go for a drive or maybe go shopping, is that okay?"

 

"Do you want me to go?" he asks her.  She knows that he would go, but he looked like he was enjoying what he was doing and she didn't want to pull him away from it. 

 

"No, I won't be long.  I just need to get out."  she takes his hand, "After being on the phone all morning with Vincenzo and contractors, I need a break."

 

"Do you have a contractor?" he asked, surprised that she mentioned the word contractor.  They have only been home for two days and with Dalton no longer being a problem as of yesterday, she dove into getting her vineyard the way that she wanted it.  "Tony did some checking for me and I think we have narrowed it down to two.  I'll go out there in a week or so and see what's up."  She kisses him again, "We can talk about this later, get back in there with Dave.  I won't be long."

 

He smiles at her, he loves the fire that's back in her eyes and the pep in her step.  She's been through hell and he never thought that she would have a passion for anything again.  Losing the twins took all of the wind out of her sails and Dalton sunk her ship.  "Do you need money or a card?"

 

"I'm good.  Do you need or want me to get you anything while I'm out?"  he reaches for her and pulls her in. 

 

Resting his head on hers, he tells her, "No, I'm good. Have fun and please be careful."

 

She looks up at him, smiles and says, "I promise."

 

They kiss and they both say at the same time, "Until next time."  And she leaves the studio.  Jon and Dave get back to what they were doing and as Beth walked away, she liked what she heard.  It was a song about being Happy Now.

 

She went back into the house and grabbed her purse, glasses and keys and she was out the door.  When she made her way up to Route 35, she had no idea which way she wanted to go.  With a horn honking behind her, she decided that she would go into the city and do some shopping.  She made her way into the city.  She's almost to her Manhattan apartment, where she would park to go shopping.  From her building, she'd catch a cab to Times Square and shop that way.  As she is about to pull in, she has the bright idea of heading out to the Hampton's.  It had struck her as she was going back to the place that her and Jon made love for the first time after their year long break that if Dot wanted to fight for him, she would too.  Even if she didn't have too.  She turned the car around and headed out to the Hampton's.

 

Beth knows that the kids are out there and has no intention of creating a scene, she just wanted to talk to Dorothea.  She also thinks that it's best to do it on Dot's safe ground as opposed to talking to her somewhere else, somewhere that would put Dot on the defensive.  Beth could make million dollar deals in her sleep and handle the stress of high finance - talking to her boyfriends soon to be ex wife should be a walk in the park.

 

The hour and a half drive out there was very relaxing for Beth.  She loved being out in the Hampton's and was in no hurry.  Traffic in and out was a pain, but as she crept into town, she was able to plan the shops that she would stop at on the way home. 

 

Turning onto her street, Beth's palms started to sweat and she was getting a case of the nerves.  She's not there with any ill will, she just wanted the record straight for herself.

 

She rang the bell, with huge butterflies in her stomach. A few moments later, Dot answers the door.

 

"Beth, what are you doing here?"

 

"I'm sorry to just drop in, but I need to talk to you.  Do you have a few minutes?" Beth says, as pleasant as she could.  Everything that Dorothea ever did to her flashes before her eyes and she stops her blood from boiling.

 

"Um, I was just taking the boys to the beach, can we talk there?" Dorothea responds, with kindness in her voice.  But Beth doesn't fall for it.

 

Beth smiles, "That would be great."

 

"Come in while I get them ready."  Dot holds the door open and Beth steps in.  They are greeted by Romeo and Beth's heart skips a beat.  There's her little buddy and she knows that she should contain her love for the little guy in front of his mother. 

 

Dot walks away and Beth leans over and hugs Romy. She whispers in his ear, "Hey buddy."  he smiles at her and runs off to get his beach toys.  A few seconds later he comes back and has his pail and shovel I his hands.  That makes Beth's heart smile.

 

Dorothea returns with the boys, Jesse says, "Hi Beth, what are you doing here?"

 

Jacob copies his big brother and says, "Hi Beth."

 

Dot steps in and says, "She's hear to see me."

 

Beth says, "Hi boys."

 

They have all that they need for the afternoon at the beach.  Dorothea pauses and asks Beth, "Do you want a bathing suit?"

 

Beth shakes her head no and says, "No, I'm good, but thank you."

 

The whole crew walks the block to the beach and decides on a spot east of where they entered the beach.  It's a little more secluded and where they are is the end of the public part of the beach.  Everyone claims their spot with a towel and the boys are off to a dead run to the water.  Dot yells, "Jess, keep an eye on Romy."

 

Dorothea and Beth sit down, Beth brushes the sand off of her hands and waits for Dot to start, like she knows that she will.

 

"What brings you out here?" she looks at Beth out of the corner of her eye.  "Why did you drive all of the way out here, without Jon?"

 

"He doesn't know I'm here and I came to talk to you about what happened in Peter's office on Monday."

 

"What about it?"

 

Beth wasn't going to beat around the bush, she just came right out with it, but she did it with sensitivity.  "What makes you think that a reconciliation is possible?"

 

"He told you about that?" Dot is shocked.  She assumed that Jon would keep that from her, to avoid her being hurt.

 

"He tells me everything, Dorothea.  Can you tell me why you think that it's possible?"

 

"Why do you want to know?"

 

"Well, for one - I'm in a relationship with him and plan on going no where.  I just want to see things through your eyes and try to understand."

 

"Understand what?" she says with a little sarcasm.

 

"I need to understand how and why you have hung on so long, is he giving you false hope?"

 

"Beth, while you were gone, Jon and I started to have a great relationship again.  We did things together with the kids and I could see that he missed me, he missed having me around.  We reconnected."

 

"To what degree?" she's not sure that she really wants to know.

 

"When you left, he was beside himself.  And when you added the loss of his daughters, he was a mess.  He was a recluse for a while.  Would only leave the house to go out to the studio.  He got to the point that he needed to talk to someone, so he came to me one night."

 

"And?"

 

"He cried all night long and so hard, he fell asleep in the backyard.  He didn't know what to do.  He lost you and his daughters and felt he no longer had a purpose, forgetting that he had four children that needed him.  He fell into what I would call a deep depression and the only thing that snapped him out of it was Richie stepping in and telling him that he was being selfish."

 

"So, Jon confiding in you gives you hope?"

 

"It's more than that Beth.  You're fighting a 20+ year relationship.  We have so much history and  connection."

 

"Then why does he want a divorce?"

 

"Because you're the greener grass right now.  Why do you think he fell into the arms of another woman and never told you about it, until it was too late?"

 

"Jon loves me and we are going to be married.  Please let him go." Beth looks at her with her poker face and Dot just stares back.

 

"You have put him through hell.  I look at him and I see that he's aged years just being with you.  You have that accident in the Bahama's, then the blood clot and after that you had your car accident, lost your twins and then you were attacked  by your ex boyfriend.  You have put him through so much, his life with me was much simpler and easier."

 

"But you know that's not what he wants."

"He doesn't know what he wants, he's so smitten with you." Dot barks at her.

"Do you need to be reminded of what you have done to him........"

Dot interrupts with, "Gave him 4 beautiful children and many years of my life."

"You conspired with my brother, attempted suicide and then put him on pins and needles while you were in the mental hospital.  What you did was a direct hit at him, the things that have happened to us were accidents and unforeseeable - so how can you even compare?"  Beth sits up a little straighter, feeling a little tense, but she was okay.  This talk was long over due and it will be that last one that they have.  Beth is going to say what she has to say, whether Dorothea likes it or not.

"Beth, you just don't get it.  How can you be so smart, yet so stupid?  Jon and I are meant to be together , and we will be.  In time, he'll see and he'll come home."

"How can you be so stupid, Dorothea?  Prolonging this divorce is only going to make him resent you even more than he already does.  Stop with your antics, if you love him than you have to let him go."  Beth half assed pleads with her.  "If he wanted to be with you, he would be here, you know that."

"It's only matter of time."  Dot says as she stands up, looking out at the water, checking on the boys.  All present and accounted for and having a great time.  "The two of you will hit another bump in the road and you'll run off again.  He'll get lonely or feel sad and he'll call me.  Just hide and watch."

Beth laughs at what she just said, "How can you even think that that is possible?  Because he did it once?  Jon and I have been hit with anything that God or anyone could throw at us, and today we are stronger than we have ever been."

Dot spins on her heels, "You keep thinking that, Beth.  Jon and I have a bond that goes much deeper than what you two have, we have children together.  We had a life together."

"That's just it, you HAD a life together and now that I'm back, you need to know that I am not going anywhere.  There isn't anything that could happen to us, that would be worse that what we've been through - so don't put your life on hold waiting for me to run off."

"You will.  It's your pattern."

Beth stands up, "Believe what you will, Dot.  I came out here to try and put this all behind us and try to be civil to one another, for the kids."

"We never see each other Beth, why is there a need for civility all of the sudden?" Dot snarls at her, but Beth doesn't care.

Beth looks out at the boys and sees them playing and having fun.  She smiles, she can hear their laughter.  "It's important to me that we get along, for them."  Beth points out to the kids.  "They have been through enough and I am woman enough to admit that I have made mistakes and some of those mistakes hurt them."  Beth takes a few steps away and continues, "They go back to school soon and there are going to be events that we all will be at, shouldn't they be able to have everyone that loves them there, without tension?"

"I have no problem with you, Beth.  As far as my children are concerned, they do deserve to have everyone that loves them in their life everyday - they don't deserve someone that runs at the first little hiccup.  You are a wonderful person, you have a great heart and my kids adore you, but you aren't a constant in their life....."

"And you are?"  Beth asks with a look.

"I've made mistakes, but I'm their mother."

Beth laughs, "So that gives you the right to do what you have done to them?"  Beth crossed that line she had drawn in her mental sand.  "I take that back.  I'm not here to compare us Dorothea, I'm here to bury the hatchet, tell you my intentions and let you know that I'm not going anywhere."

"Okay, you've done that." Dorothea states, "What else do you want to say?" 

Beth, not feeling like she wasted her time just asks Dorothea, "Will you just sign the papers so we can get on with our lives?  You can't be happy living like you are."

Dot was caught off guard by Beth's request, she actually said what she drove all the way out there to say.  "I am fine, doing what I do best.  I have spent most of life waiting on Jon.  To come home from the studio, to leave a football field, to come off the road.....most of my life I have waited for him, that's what I do.  And that's what I'll keep doing."

"Jesus Christ Dorothea, don't you want him to be happy?  Isn't that what you want for the people that you love, for them to be happy?"  Beth is having trouble controlling her frustration, she can't believe that a woman would act the way that Dot is acting.  It's quite high school-ish.

"Jon doesn't know how to be happy.  He wouldn't know what to do with happiness."

"Let him go, so he can see it, so he can feel it, because with you he won't have it."

"Beth, if you think that he can be happy with you, how I feel and what I do should have no bearing on it.  If YOU make him happy, what I want and think won't matter."

"Sign the damn papers, Dorothea."

"Beth....."

"Do the right thing for once Dot, stop thinking of just yourself."

"You have never let the fact that he's married bother you before, why the rush for the divorce now, Beth?"

"You know that we want to get married.  We will start a family and be happy, whether he's married to you or not.  He tells me that it's just a piece of paper and that it means nothing to him."

"He didn't tell you that the divorce is halted for 6 months, did he?" She smiles a big smile and hopes to see the shock come over Beth's face.

"I know everything.  He doesn't keep things from me." Beth tells her, having no idea that the divorce was on hold again.  Did the court find merit to Dorothea's claim?  Beth's heart starts to race and she feels her self getting a little warm. 

"That's a shock." Dot makes fun, and that pisses Beth off even more.

"Ya know, I didn't come out here to be nasty to you or to let you be nasty to me.  We need to stop this nonsense and you need to let him go.  He's going to be with me, you need to accept that.  And we all need to get along for the kids." Beth takes a deep breath, "At the very least, we need to get along for the kids."

"You let Jon and I worry about the kids...."

"You're ridiculous, do you know that?  You don't want him and you don't want him to be happy. The biggest problem that you have is that he wants to be with me.  ME, Dorothea - he wants to be with me.  Why does that still burn your ass years later?  What is so hard for you to grasp?" Beth gets loud because she's heated.  "And as for the kids, did you worry about them when you were trying to kill yourself?  Did you think about then when you were trying to have me killed?  Who worried about them then?  Jon and I did.  It was me Dorothea that got up with the sniffles in the middle of the night, it was me that took them to school, it was me that tucked them in at night and told them that their mommy loved them and missed them.  Where were you?"

Dot smiles at Beth and aims for below the belt.  "Who do you think about when my husband is fucking you?  Jon or Dalton?  Or is it your dead boyfriend Brian?"

Beth sees red and gets ready to punch her in the face when she hears over her shoulder, "Mother, you are such a bitch."

Both women turn and there stands Stephanie Rose.  They didn't see her or hear her walking up, their backs were to the parking lot and the bath house.  "Stephanie."  Dot's shocked to see her daughter. 

Stephanie walks up to Beth and says, "What are you doing here?  And why are you letting my mom talk to you like that?"

Dot blurts, "Steph, stay out of it?"

"Wait until dad hears what you just said to Beth."