Chapter 37 - If I Was Your Mother

 

 

 

 

They had just about finished their run when they are stopped by a car at the top of the street.  "Excuse me?" yells a woman out the passenger window. 

 

 Jon looks at Beth, Beth looks at Jon and they stopped.  The lady is in a luxury car and they thought that maybe she was lost.  The neighborhood has roads that run all different directions and people often get lost in the area.

 

Jon leans in the window and says, "How can I help you?"   Beth is pacing in a circle, keeping her heart rate up, not paying attention to the woman.

 

"I'm looking for Jon Bon Jovi's house.  Do you know where it is?" she asks, unaware that she was talking to Jon Bon Jovi.  His aviator glasses and ball cap can fool the ones that aren't familiar with his routine and disguises.

 

"Why do you need to know where he lives?  Do you have his address?" Jon asks, with a slight attitude.  It pisses him off when people invade his privacy or feel that it's okay to go take pictures of his  house.  They always had to look for photographers and such when they would scurry the kids in and/or out. 

 

"I'm trying to find my daughter, I hear that she lives with him on this road."  Jon's heart drops.  He's talking to Beth's mom and has no idea why she's in town or looking for Beth.  Beth cut her parents out of her life years ago.

 

Jon said, "Excuse me for a minute." and he walks to Beth.  With an arm on each shoulder, he gently tells her, "This lady is your mother, she's looking for you."

 

"What did you tell her?"

 

"Nothing.  What do you want me to do?" he asks her.  "She's looking for my house because she heard that you live with me."

 

"Fuck." she blurts.  Her pace picks up and her nerves are raw.

 

"What do you want me to tell her?"

 

"Tell her to pull off the road." Beth is pissed.

 

Jon walks over and tells the lady to pull over and then he would help her with getting to Jon's house.  The lady does what he told her to and walked back to Beth.  "Okay, didn't see this one coming.  What do you want to do?"

 

Beth doesn't know what to do, she wants to run and hide having no desire to see her mother.  As far as Beth was concerned, she's the woman that gave her life - that's it.  There is no relationship, hasn't been one in over 20 years, what could her mother possibly want after all of this time.  Beth's urge to run is thwarted by her promise to herself and to Jon to not run when the shit gets heavy, but to face it all head on together. 

 

Beth walks up to the driver side, takes off her sunglasses and hat and says, "What do you want, Jennifer?"  Her heart is racing and she would rather be anywhere but where she is right now.

 

Beth's mother removes her own sunglasses and says, "Beth, is that you?"

 

"What do you want?"

 

"I came to see you.  I heard you were living with Jon Bon Jovi, who's this guy?" Jennifer asks, pointing at the guy on the other side of her car.

 

"That is Jon Bon Jovi, what do you want?  Why are you hear?" Beth demands answers.

 

Jon jumps in and says, "Hey babe, have her pull into the driveway so the neighbors stop looking, okay?"  And he points to the main drive of the house.  Beth shoots him a look over the car, but she knows that he's right.  She doesn't want ANY attention drawn to her mother, ever.

 

"Pull in right there." Beth points and walks away from the car.  Jennifer does as she was instructed and pulls into the main driveway.  Gathering her purse and glasses, Jennifer gets out of the car and waits for Jon and Beth to reach her.

 

When they get to where she is standing, Jon hangs back and Beth lights into her, "What are you doing here?  How did you find me?"

 

Jennifer, a little surprised by Beth's reaction, says "I wanted to see my daughter, isn't that reason enough?"

 

"What do you want?  Money?  What will make you go away?"  Beth isn't playing nice and has no plans on changing.  She wrote her parents off years ago and is very skeptical about why her mother has shown up now. 

 

"Beth Ann, that is no way to talk to your mother."  Jennifer snaps back, trying to look hurt by what her daughter just said. 

 

Beth, even more pissed now says, "If I had a mother, I wouldn't talk to her like that.  I have a Jennifer that doesn't even deserve THAT respect.  Why are you here?"  Jon can sense that Beth has reached her limit and he needs to calm her down.  He walks up behind her and puts his hand on the small of her back.  She looks over her shoulder and can see the concern in his eye, but she waves it off.  "I'm okay, I can handle this."

 

"Your father passed away, a few months ago and I'm trying to locate all 3 of you.  I'm sorry that the sight of me upsets you."

 

"Why would it do anything else?  You found me, now please go."  Jon starts to rub the small of her back and she needed it.  With him behind her, she reaches back with her left hand and slips a finger under his watchband, she needed that security right now.

 

"Why can't we bury the hatchet and have a real mother daughter relationship, Beth?"

 

Beth laughs, "You're decades late Jennifer.  I have no room for you and all of your baggage in my life."

 

"But I have grandchildren that I want to meet and get to know." Jennifer pleads with Beth.

 

Jon can see that this reunion isn't going to end soon, he can see where Beth gets her stubbornness from and  knows that they should take it inside.  "Let's go inside and have a cup of tea and you two can talk."

 

"I love that idea." Jennifer says, extending her hand, "I'm Jennifer Adams by the way, your future mother in law."  Jon shakes her hand and just smiles. 

 

"She's not going in our house." Beth snaps, with her finger still tucked into his watchband.  He knows when she does that, that she is in a state that he needs to stay.

 

"Then let's go into the studio." he suggests and Beth's mom likes that idea.

 

"Are my grandchildren here?" Jennifer asks, as if she has a right to see anyone she pleases.  Her question stung Beth's ears.

 

"What grandchildren are you talking about?" Beth inquires, trying to see what she knows about her life with Jon.

 

Jennifer chuckles and says, "The twins of course."  Beth's hand broke free of the watchband and her hand swung and slapped her mother across the face.  Jon had a face drop and wasn't even able to react.  He's stuck on what Jennifer said too.

 

"You stupid bitch, get in your car and get the hell out of here before I call the police and have you arrested for trespassing." Beth screams at Jennifer, "And don't ever come back here."

 

Jennifer, holding her face, looks at Beth with question and says, "I can't see my granddaughters?  Dillon was right.  You are a little bitch."

 

"Dillon?  I should have known he was behind it.  I should have known.  Well you tell that asshole of a brother to keep you're scheming ass away from me, and if I see either of you ever again - it will be the last time." Beth can hardly control her rage.  Her mother shows up and has the nerve to mention Dillon, didn't they do their homework or was Jennifer just there to be mean?  Beth didn't care, she wanted her gone and she wanted her gone now.  As she stands there and wishes she could shoot daggers at her mother with her eyes, she asks Jennifer, "How can you afford a car like that?  You're a nothing, with nothing."

 

"Your brother gave me a bracelet last year for Christmas that was too gaudy for me.  I sold it and bought this."  referring to the Lexus that was parked in the driveway.  Beth knows that the bracelet that she was talking about was the one that Jon had given her, the one that Dillon had stolen when he robbed her in New York. 

 

Jon had heard enough and seen enough to know that this situation is going to go nowhere fast and that it was time for Jennifer to leave.  "Miss Adams, you need to leave now.  Beth and I no longer want you here and I ask that you please go quietly."

 

"Or what?" she blurts back at him.

 

"Why do you want to do this to your daughter?  Don't you think that she's been through enough, and not only that, don't you think that if she wanted to see you she would have tracked you down?"  Jon says, in his most serious of tone with a little bit of Jersey attitude added for good measure.

 

"I want to see my grand daughters."  Beth couldn't take it anymore.

 

In her mother's face, she screams "Get the hell out of here, NOW!"

 

Jennifer just laughs in her face, "I'll leave after I see my grand daughters, Beth Ann.  I'm their grandma, I have rights."

 

"Bitch, you don't have anything and you never will.  You're a train wreck waiting to happen and I want you to remove yourself from my life and never come back.  My daughters would never have known you - you don't deserve it, you don't deserve anything except the pathetic life that you live.  You're alone now and you'll die alone." 

 

Jennifer just chuckles again, Jon is shocked at Beth's behavior but he's very proud that she's finally standing up for herself.  "Jennifer, you aren't going to see any of the children that live in this house, I have asked you nicely to leave - please leave!!"

 

She shakes her head no and Beth did the next logical thing.  She walked into the studio and called 911.  When she finished with the call, she went back out by Jon and told her mother, "The police are on their way."