Chapter 84 - But You Didn't Know, Baby

The silence woke her from a sound sleep.  She laid there and looked at the ceiling for what felt like forever, wondering if Jon tried to call or answered her text. 

She was in no hurry to reach over and grab her phone; he heart tells her to save the energy.  As she laid there, in the deafening quiet, the baby woke up and started to play.  Beth looked down at her belly and watched her roll around, kick and punch.  “Good Morning baby girl.”  Beth says to her daughter that’s in utero.  “How did you sleep?  Mommy slept like the dead.  I wonder what your daddy is doing.” She let out a big yawn.  She can feel something poking her in the ribs, so she turns a little to watch.  The baby is very active this morning. 

Beth watched her as long as she could, but with the growing baby – the bladder holds a lot less, so she needs to get up and use the bathroom.  She does what she needs to do in the bathroom and after she splashes water on her face and pats it dry, “Let’s see if your daddy tried calling.”  She walks to her bedside table and grabs her phone.  No missed calls and the only messages were from Dani and a couple of the guys getting her offices ready in the city.  Grabbing her robe off the hook, she heads down stairs for her morning cup of decaf.  With coffee in hand, she walks out to the back patio and sits in the sun, soaking up the beautiful morning and the fresh air.  She answers the texts from her contractor’s; they were letting her know that they were done and that the guy at security would have her keys.  Simple thank you and check is in the mail was all she needed to reply.  Then she answered Dani’s ‘Good Morning, I hope your day is going well.  Call me if you want to do something.’

‘I’m going into the city to check out the offices, do you want to go with me?’ she sends that and then puts her phone on the table.  With her feet up on a chair, she cups her coffee cup with both hands and sips it as she watches the geese on the riverbanks.  She loves living on the river, she loves the house she lives in – but most of all she loves the people that she lives with. 

Fondly she takes a short trip down memory lane until she is interrupted by the vibrating of her cell phone.  It’s a reply from Dani.  ‘I would love to, should I come to you?’

‘Yeah, I need a shower so give me like a half an hour.’

‘See you soon.’

Beth takes that as her cue and gets up to go take a shower.  As she makes her way upstairs, she’s torn on whether to call Jon or not.  She wasn’t happy with what’s gone on over the last couple of days, and for him to be with Dot and not tell her about it, hurt more than it upset her; it’s one of those double whammy kind of things.  She decides not to call and not to text.  He’s with Paul, or so he says and she knows that he needs time and space, so she’ll give it to him.  She just hopes that he doesn’t expect her to sit home and wait for him, because that won’t happen. 

Dani showed up right at the half hour mark and Beth was ready.  They got into Jon’s Denali and headed into New York City.  Beth, being from Chicago; having lived in L.A. and N.Y.C. knows how to navigate and get through the mean streets of the city.  She could see out of the corner of her eye that Dani made several attempts to use her imaginary break, laughing Beth asks, “Are you okay?  I see you trying to use your break over there.”

“I hate this city traffic.” She admits, “I was in an accident a while back on the Cross - Bronx and I’m now terrified of it.  I know, it’s silly.”

“I get that.  Trust me.  I was in a zip line accident a couple of years ago and I’ll never do another one.” Beth laughs.

“You did a zip line?”

Shaking her head yes, Beth says “It was on a company retreat, the line was over a huge canyon in St. Bart’s.  I zipped just fine, but I fell off the landing platform and rolled down a big hill.” 

“Oh my god, were you hurt?”

“Broken leg, broken ankle, concussion, black eyes, bump and bruises.”

“What did they do for you in St. Bart’s.  How was the medical care down there?”

“I spent some time in the hospital, for the concussion and a small brain bleed.  I was finally released and on my way home, when I went unconscious and had to be helicoptered into San Diego.”  Beth smiles, remembering how important she was to Jon back then.  She can recall that he flew to her in the middle of the night to save her, to take care of her.

“Why would you need to be choppered into San Diego if you were in St. Bart and lives in L.A?  That sounds crazy.”

“That’s the best part of the story.  Jon flew to me after a show one night and took care of me.  When I was able to go home, now mind you, our relationship was just weeks old and he flew to St. Bart’s to be sure I was well taken care of.”

“And?”  Dani feels like Beth is reading her a story from a book.  She couldn’t wait for the next page to start.

“When I was able to go home, Jon didn’t want me to fly.”

“How did he think you were going to get home?  Drive?”  Dani laughs at the silliness at that question, but there was only one logical way to get to LA and that was by plane.

“Well, I woke up on the day I was going home, and out in the ocean, just off the beach was a yacht that he borrowed from a friend.”

“He borrowed a yacht?  Who does that?  That is awesome.”

“It was amazing!  The yacht was everything you could imagine it to be and then some.”

“What happened on the yacht?”

“My brain started to bleed again and the only way to get me to the hospital was by the Coast Guard.” Beth tells her, a little embarrassed that she needed to be ‘rescued’.

“For real?  You had the Coast Guard pick you up off of a yacht?”

“Yep.”

“My story is boring compared to yours.”

“What happened with you?” Beth is genuinely interested.

“I was going too fast, came around a curve and a construction truck was stopped.  The one with the big weight on the back that protects workers in front of it, well, it did its job.  I hit it head on.  Totaled my car.”

“Were you hurt bad?”

“Several facial lacerations, broken nose and eye socket, broken collar bone from the seat belt, broken ribs and it shattered an ankle.  I was pretty scary for a while.”  Dani laughs about it now, neglecting to tell Beth that she did it on purpose.  “My recovery seemed to take forever, how did you do?”

“I did alright.  I had great help.”

“I bet.” Dani states, as she can imagine what it’s like to be ‘taken care of’ by Jon Bon Jovi.

Beth pulls the Denali into the garage of her building and parks in the spot that is designated for her.  The ladies walk in and continue their conversation.  “How long ago was your accident, I can’t see any scars on your face.”

“It was about a year ago, I’ve had several surgeries since then, trying to get back to me.  It’s expensive.”

“Were you alone?”

“Yeah, it was after McKenna died.”  Beth watches her friend and she feels for her, she really does.

“Dani, I’m so sorry that you had to go through all of that alone.  I wish we had met sooner.”  Beth puts her arm around her as they exit the elevator on her floor.  Beth Adams Investments owns the whole floor.

“Me too.” 

Both women were amazed at how awesome the office looked.  It is just as Beth demanded that it be.  Her color schemes and flawless designs are perfect.  She has a state of the art, top of the line investment firm and with Warren Buffet and Jon Bon Jovi as her biggest clients, she was destined to be even more successful than she already is.  Pointing to the half circle reception desk she tells Dani, “Well, that’s where you’ll work.  Do you like it?”

Dani sits in the chair and scopes it all out.  She can see that no expense was spared when it came to anything; Beth had the best of the best.  “This is gorgeous.  Thanks again for the opportunity, I won’t let you down.”

Beth takes a few steps back, “I’m checking out my office. I hope they hung the art work right.”  She disappears into her office. She had the best office, the walls were glass.  It was beautiful.  She had artwork that the kids made her framed and placed nicely on book cases.   There is a picture of her and Jon from their commitment ceremony on her desk, and on an easel in the corner of the room, there sat an original painting from Tico Tores.  Dani follows her in and Beth says, “Go out there, I want to show you something.” Dani steps outside the door and Beth hits a button on her desk.  When she does, the glass goes smoky and Dani can’t see in. 

“That is cool.  I have never seen that before.”

“It was Jon’s idea.  He seen it in a magazine and thought it would be cool.”

“Privacy for when you want it.  That’s pretty neat.”  Dani walks around Beth’s office and checks out the pictures.  “OK, who are these people?”

Beth walks over to the book case and looks at the pic that Dani is asking about.  It was a picture of the whole family.  “That’s Jon’s mom and dad, his brothers Tony and Matt and my favorite people, these are Jon’s kids.  Stephanie Rose, Jesse James, Jacob Hurley and Romeo Jon.  He’s my buddy.”  Beth points to Romeo.

“They are gorgeous children.”

“They have great genes.” Beth replies, with a big smile on her face.  She misses having the kids around all the time, now that Dot is better, the 50/50 really gets to her.  Beth is in a little daze, a little daydream when she hears Dani get excited.

“Beth, are these your girls?” she points to a photo that sits on the credenza behind her desk.  Beth pivots on a foot and looks at the picture.

“That is Rowan and that’s Spencer.”  Beth tells her. 

“This picture is amazing.  It’s probably the most beautiful thing I have seen.”  Dani bends over to look at it closer, “They are gorgeous.”

“This was taken by the funeral home.  They took quite a few pictures of them, once they were able to.  When Jon and I seen them, we about died.”  Beth sits in her chair and notices the framed picture of the girls in their pink outfits.  “This is one that was taken when they were in their casket.  This is how they were buried.”

“Awwwww.” Is all that Dani can say.  What do you say to that?

Beth tells her, “Jon and I thought that it was best.  They were in the womb together, so they were going to go to heaven together.” Beth traces their little bodies in the frame, with her finger.  She thinks to herself, Jon has to be behind this being here.  She can’t help but smile and miss him.  Without even thinking, she takes her phone out of her purse and takes a picture of the picture and sends it to him with Thank you!!

Snapping out of her daze, she asks Dani “Do you think you’ll like it here?  At first it will be slow and we’ll wish for something to do, but trust me – this place will be hopping in a couple of months.”

“I look forward to the challenge and the opportunity.  I can’t thank you enough!” Dani puts her hand on Beth’s shoulder, “Really, you have no idea what this opportunity has done to my spirits and my outlook.  I might be homeless, but once I get a paycheck I’ll find a place.”

It takes a moment for that to register with Beth.  “Homeless?  What are you talking about?” she asks, “How long have you been homeless?”

“I was evicted and was out last weekend.”

“Why didn’t you tell us?”

“Because it’s embarrassing.” She admits, feeling like a tool for not telling Jon and Beth, after all they are the nicest people that she has ever known.  “I didn’t want you to think less of me, or think that I was after something.”

“Jesus Christ Dani, you come stay with us until we can find you a place.” Beth insists, not having the slightest idea what Jon would say about it.  

Dani smiles at her, “I can’t do that Beth.  You’ve already done so much for me, you have no idea.”

“It’s not open for discussion.  We have plenty of room, and if you don’t feel comfortable in the house – we have a mother in law above the garage.”

“I really can’t do that Beth.  You have done enough for me already; I can’t wait to start working.” 

Beth looks at her and totally understands that her pride might get in the way of her agreeing, but Beth won’t let a friend or an employee be homeless, regardless of the circumstance.  “Then how about this, you can rent one of our apartments here in the city’ for next to nothing.”

Dani’s heart started to race, “What’s next to nothing?  You know who I work for and how much I get paid.”  She laughs at that dry attempt at humor.

“You cover the utilities and it’s yours.”

“For real?”

“Yeah, why not?  They both sit empty and have for months.  They are for sale, so there may be a realtor going through from time to time, but other than that, you can even pick what one you want to stay at.”

Dani is literally speechless.  She starts to tear up and that makes Beth a little uncomfortable.

For being a grown woman and having gone through the heartache that she has, Beth won’t let anyone kick her, again, while she’s down.  Jon and Beth are blessed, separately and jointly and Beth can’t believe that Dani was brought to her for no reason.  There has to be a plan from a higher power in play here.

They hung out at the office and checked a few things out, when they were done and headed down to the car, Beth suggested walking to the apartment building so Dani can take a look at both.  Dani didn’t care, she had no place to be and no one waiting on her.  “Isn’t Jon waiting for you?  You’ve been away from him all day.”

Very happily Beth replies, “He’s away on business for a few days.  He’ll be back the beginning of the week.”  To hide the sadness that it really brings her.

“Well, don’t you want to talk to him about me camping out at one of your places?”

“I will.  Just don’t know when, you let me worry about Jon.”  Beth jokes, “I can handle the big and bad Jon Bon Jovi.”

When they get to the apartment building, they go to Jon’s apartment first.  They look around and Dani says, “You can tell that a man lived here.”

“He bought it like this actually.  It was completely furnished; all he needed to do was bring food and clothing.  The rest was here.”

“A move right on in kind of thing?”

“Yeah.”

Beth is walking through the apartment looking at the personal stuff that he did add to it before the house on the river was finished.  There are pictures of her, the kids, his brothers and his parents.  Pictures that he took himself.  One catches her eye, that she never seen before, even the last time that she was in there.  It’s a picture of her sitting at the dining room table helping Jesse with home work.  In the picture she’s sitting at the head of the table with Jesse to her left.  She has one foot on the chair with the other one tucked under her butt.  She has on a pair of yoga pants and a t-shirt, it’s just a profile shot, with the back of Jesse’s head.  Beth has a smile on her face and she looks so peaceful, that the picture of herself took her back to that time.  And it made her smile all over again.