Chapter 78 - I've Been Danglin' From A Hang-Man's Noose

 

 

 

 

It has been a while since they made love and if you asked Beth, she'd tell you that it was long overdue.  Her lover, her best friend knew what she liked and he took all morning to do it.
 

 

Jon and Beth made love to one another until they were both exhausted and sexually satisfied.  Both laid on their backs with heavy breathing and covered in sweat.  It was almost as if it was timed, as soon as Beth laid still long enough, the baby woke up and started to kick.  "She's awake."  Beth tells him, rolling her head to look at him.

 

 

Jon rolls on his side and lays his hand on her belly.  He smiles when he feels the kick and loves that she's so active.  "She's pretty strong."

 

"She's a Bongiovi."  Beth places her hand on Jon's.  "I would love a cigarette."  She admits, knowing that it wasn't going to happen.

 

"You would?" he was surprised by her statement, it was as random as random could get.  They both quit smoking a long time ago.  "Was the sex that good?"

 

Beth laughs, "Of course it was that good, you were there." 

 

"I can't tell you the last time I thought about smoking, I don't even miss it." he replies

 

"Same here, but I had a flashback to one of the first nights we were ever together. I remember laying in bed in Vegas, smoking a cigarette after marathon sex."

 

"That seems like a lifetime ago."

 

"It was, look at what we have been through since then."  She says, looking at the ceiling.  "So much heart ache and drama."

 

He takes his hand and slides it from her belly up over her breast and landing on her cheek.  Turning her head to face him, he looks at her and says, "If we didn't have all that, we wouldn't be right here.  Those are your words."

 

"You know better than to use my words against me, I have a whole different set of rules."  That made her laugh, she knows that he's right.  "There isn't any place that I would rather be right now, other than in heaven with my girls."

 

"I know." he rubs her cheek with his finger, "I know."

 

Beth takes a deep breath and changes the subject, "What do you want to today?"

 

"Nothing.  I want to stay right here in bed with you all day."

 

Beth looks at the time, "Romeo will be walking in at anytime."  She sees that it's 8am.  "I can't believe that he slept this late."  She makes sure that she is covered with the blankets, just in case.  Jon's hand goes back down to her belly, the baby has settled down. 

 

"Are you ready for some decaf and breakfast?" he asks her, willing to go get her what she wants.  Beth turns over, with her back to Jon.  Jon slides in and holds her tight.

 

"No, I want to stay here until we HAVE to get up, with you right where you are."  she yawns.  He hears that and knows that if her rubbed her long enough, he could put her to sleep.  She's a creature of habit, and the one trick that he's learned over the years is to give her full body orgasms and rub her butt and she will fall asleep pretty quick.  He lays there with her and rubs all that he can reach, listening to her fall asleep.  When he's content that she is sound asleep, he works his way out of bed, wanting to prevent Romeo from waking her up.

 

He puts some running shorts on and goes to peek in on the kids, closing and locking their bedroom door behind him.  He poked his head in on the kids and they all were still sleeping.  Happy that all of his family is under the same roof he bee bops down the stairs and makes himself some coffee.  His mother had given them a Keurig and he loves it.  Fresh hot coffee in just seconds.  With his cup of coffee, he goes to the front door and grabs the newspaper off of the front step.  Paper and coffee in hand, Jon decided to read the paper on the back patio.  The sun is shining and it was going to be a beautiful with his family.

 

There they are, on the front page of the Post.  In the middle of the headline, there's the picture of Baby Girl Bongiovi.  The headline reads Will the BonJovi empire crumble after their next loss?  The reporter wrote a blurb that Beth was allergic to girls and that the chances of her losing the baby were greater than the changes of her carrying full term.  The source that gave the picture and the information chose to not be identified.  The reporter also claimed to try to contact the Bongiovi's.  Jon reads that and shakes his head, while saying out loud, "That's not true."

 

He pushes the paper up on the table and sits back in his chair.  His bare feet go up on the chair that's opposite him.  Closing his eyes, he lifts his head, letting the sun beat on his face.  This morning was perfect for him, the sun on his face, fresh coffee, the peace and the quiet.  It wasn't long lived before he is startled by Jesse. 

 

"Hi dad." he says as he walks up behind his dad, scaring the hell out of him.

 

"Hey, Jess.  How'd you sleep?" his dad ask, as he sits in the chair next to him with a glass of orange juice in his hand. 

 

"Not bad.  I was pretty beat."

 

"Yeah, we all were."  Jesse sits his OJ on the table and picks up the newspaper.  He quickly reads the story about his baby sister and looks at the picture..  "Pay no attention to that."  Jon tells his son.

 

Jesse puts the paper back on the table and asks, "Did Beth see this yet?" he looks at his dad.

 

"No, she's still sleeping."

 

Jesse chuckles, "No she's not.  She's in the kitchen making Romeo scrambled eggs."

 

"She is?"  Jon sits up in his chair, and reaches for the paper.  He folds it and tucks it next to him in the chair.  "Are Jake and Steph up?"  Jon's wondering how long he's been out on the patio.  Did he lose all track of time, or did everyone wake up as soon as he sat down?

 

"Jake is.  I haven't seen Steph." he tells his dad, getting up to go in and eat breakfast.  Beth is making him eggs too.

 

"Where are you going?"

 

"To eat.  Bet said to tell you to come in and eat."  That makes Jon jump to his feet.  She doesn't need to be cooking, she needs to relax.  He grabs his cup and the paper and follows Jesse into the house. 

 

Entering the kitchen he sees Beth at the stove and Jake and Romeo are at the island drinking juice, playing with their napkins.  Beth sees Jon and Jesse walk in and she says, "Good Morning babe.  Do you want eggs and sausage too?"

 

Jesse sits at the island with his brothers, Jon walks up to Beth and kisses her, "Good Morning."  his hand reaches over and tried to take the spatula from her hand.  She's too quick for him.

 

"Sit down, I'll make breakfast."  he tries, but it doesn't work.

 

"Can you get me some plates, the eggs are almost done." she asks Jon, winking with a smile.

 

He turns to get her plates from the plate rack.  "Babe, sit down.  I'll finish breakfast."

 

"Breakfast is done.  Sit down."  she commands him and he does what he's told.  Beth leans over the counter and pushes the button for Stephanie's room on the intercom.  In it she says, "Rose, it's time to eat."

 

"Not hungry." the girl yells back from her bed.

 

"Sausage, eggs, toast and fruit." Beth says back.  "It's going to be cold."

 

"I'm really not hungry Beth." she says.

 

"Okay."  Beth then sits next to Jon at the island and the 5 of them have breakfast together.  "Where's the newspaper?  Did you read it already?'  She asks Jon.

 

Jesse jumps in and says, "There's a story about you and......."

 

Jon stops him, "Jess."  with a shake of the head.

 

Beth looks at Jesse and then to Jon, "Are we in the Post?"

 

Jon nods his head and gives her a look that he hoped would convey, Don't worry about it.  But he knows better.

 

"Where is it?" she barks.

 

Jon gets up, "I'll go get it.  It's just trash babe."  She watches Jon walk over toward the dining room.  He disappears for a second and comes back and hands her the post.  She unfolds it and sees the picture of the baby and the heartless headline.

 

"Who leaked this?" Jon can see that right now she is more pissed than she has in a long time.  It was just 2 days ago that they learned of the baby's sex, how can the whole world know about it now?  It was a thing that was shared with family and only family.  Someone in their family leaked all of the information and the picture.

 

"I don't think it matters at this point.  It's out there, the world knows.  Now we just need to do damage control if there is any fallout from it."

 

"Fallout?  I don't care what the world thinks about it." she states.  Reaching over, she drops the newspaper on the floor.  She shakes her head and decides that this will not ruin her day, this will not consume her. 

 

Jake quietly asks his dad, "Can I have more berries dad?"  Jon looks at his son, Jake is always the quiet one.  The shy one that rarely speaks out of turn.

 

"Of course you can."  Jon grabs the bowl of fresh strawberries and spoons some onto his son's plate. 

 

"Thank you."

 

"You're welcome."  Jon then looks at Romeo's plate and sees that all of his are gone, "Romey, do you want more?"  Romeo shakes his head no.  Jon winks at him. 

 

Jesse, being such a fine young man, waits for the right time to say, "Dad, why don't you and Beth give an interview.  Tell the world the truth to avoid all of this?"

 

Beth looks at Jesse, then Jon and starts to say, "Jess..............."

 

Jon was a little louder than her and when she heard him speak, she stopped.  She won't like what comes out of his mouth.  "Jess, we aren't telling the world our business, our personal and painful business."

 

"They already know, but they're making it ugly."  he explains to his dad, "I seen last night on one of those entertainment news shows that there are people that think Beth should give the baby up.  Dad, they think she should have an abortion."

 

Beth almost choked and spit the food that was in her mouth all over her plate.  "What?" she asks.

 

"There was a lady on there that says you should have an abortion because you don't know what kind of pain the baby will go through." says the 16 year old that is wiser beyond his years.  He's smart and inquisitive, just like his dad.  Learn all that he can when he can and ,  believes that there are two sides to every story.

 

"No one is having an abortion, and please don't watch that stuff.  It's all so biased."  Jon tells his son.

 

"I know dad.  It was a commercial for the show, it caught my attention cause they said Beth's name."

 

"An abortion because the baby could be in pain? That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard."  Beth says shaking her head.  She can't eat now, she's too upset.  She scrapes her plate and puts it in the sink.  Jesse can see that she's upset, and he apologizes.  "Jesse, it's not your fault, I'm not upset with you."

 

"She's upset at the situation."  Jon tells his son.

 

"Then why don't you go on the record and set everyone straight." he questions, knowing the answer.  "The old way obviously isn't working dad.  The Bongiovi Code of silence may not work this time.  I mean, look at what people are saying now, and it's only been out a couple of days."  he gets up, finished with his own breakfast.  He scrapes his plate and stops in front of Beth.  Looking at her with his daddy's eyes, he reaches out and gives her a hug.  "Don't pay any attention to what they say or do."

 

"Thanks kiddo." she says, as she hugs him back.  "It's hard sometimes."

 

Jesse leaves the kitchen and Beth looks at Jon, "He is your mini me."

 

"He's a good kid."  he says, after he gulps his orange juice down.  "Did you look at the schedule for today?"  knowing that he didn't until he walked in for breakfast.  Today is Dot's mom's birthday and the kids are getting picked up at noon.  It was a tentative date, with her dad just dying and all.  "Kids are getting picked up at 12."

 

Beth looks at him squinting, "For what?"  She's not remembering what today was.  So, Jon explains it to her.  "I completely forgot about that.  I guess I'll go wake Rose up."

 

"I can do that.  Why don't you go watch TV or something?"  Jon says to her, knowing that she needs to take a minute to herself and deal with what Jess just dropped on her. 

 

"I think I'll go for a run, is that okay?"

 

"Yes.  Go!" he says, getting up from his spot and holding her.  "Take your time, I can handle things here."

 

Beth gets ready and take off for her run.  Jon walked her to the front door, kissed her and went about the business that he needed to attend to.  The kids were getting dressed and getting ready to go with their mom.