Chapter 94 - If I Never Told You



Beth and Dani walk into the Capital Grille and Beth quietly asks the hostess where Jon was seated.  She didn't want to draw attention to herself or to them once she's seated. 

The hostess plays along and says, "He's at a table in the back.  Follow me, please."  And the waitress leads the way.  When they get to the door, the waitress opens it and stands in front of it, holding it open.  With a swoop of her hand she adds, "He's right back there, through that door."

Beth looks at her funny, and she's thinking what the hell is he way back there for?  "Thank you."  Beth replies and walks to the door.  When she opens it, it's dark.  But she can hear things.   "Jon?"  as she reaches for the light, "Are you in here?" 

She flips the switch and is startled when the room yelled, "SURPRISE!"  Directly in front of her are the kids. Stephanie, Jesse, Jacob and Romeo all walk up to her, hug her and tell her Happy Birthday. Then it was Jon's mom and dad, after them it was Tony and Matt.  The entire time Beth is looking for Jon and McKenna and once Tony and Matt step out of the way, she can see them. 

Jon and Beth make eye contact and she smiles, he can see that she was truly surprised and she was thankful that he went through the trouble.  She walks up to him and McKenna and kisses them both hello.  She gives them each a few extra kisses before she whispers, "Do you know that I forgot it was my birthday."

Forehead to forehead he says, "Well, I didn't and this time I went all out."

"I see that."  she looks up at the atrium ceiling and sees all of the balloons.  He did go all out.  Free food and open bar for everyone.  Decorations to celebrate the day that the love of his life was born were everywhere.  All so elegant and beautiful.  Her cake was three tiers and her favorite.  Chocolate cake with vanilla frosting, her all time favorite.

"You better go say hi to everyone.  As you can see, the band is here, as well as Tammy and Amanda."

"Are they really?"  She looks around, gently rubbing the top of her daughters head.  "How is she doing?  Does she need to eat?"

Jon laughs and knees her with his knee, "She just ate, go say hi to your friends."

"Come with me?" she grabs the elbow of his shirt, "Where are the girls?"

She looks around and isn't able to see, that might be because she is being blocked by the likes of Richie Sambora.  "Hi Richie."  She hugs him and kisses his cheek.

"Happy Birthday Gorgeous.  What are you, 21 now?" he jokes.

"I wish.  Thank you for coming."

"Wouldn't have miss it for the world."

"Ava or Heather here with you?" Beth asks, and Jon answers.

"Heather is right over there with Tony and Ava is probably off somewhere with Jesse."

Beth keeps looking, she really wants to see the girls.  Her heart is still racing from the surprise and she is amazed that Jon did this for her.  She can't believe that he remember and she forgot.  "Have either of you seen Amanda or Tammy?"

Richie pipes up, "Isn't Tammy that hot assistant that you had?"

"Yeah."

"I seen her at the bar getting a drink with Matt just a few minutes ago."

"OH NO!  I hope they don't hook back up." Beth says as her fingers go to her mouth, "That would be all bad."  She can't help but laugh.

"Why would that be bad?"  Jon wonders.

So does Richie, "Nothing with that girl would be bad."

"Richie!" Beth barks, turning to face Jon.  She holds out her hands to take the baby and Jon passes her off.  "Does she need to be changed maybe?"  She asks hoping her baby might need her for something soon.  She missed her while she was at work, but daddy had it all under control.

"Sorry babe, her daddy takes care of her." he winks at her when he tells her, "She's in great hands when she's with her daddy."

Beth leans into him, "I love you." and she kisses him.  It was her intent to just give him a quick little peck, but his arms were too quick for her.  He wraps his arms around her, holding her and his daughter he kisses her back, a birthday kiss that went on long enough the crowd gathered and cheered it on.  Beth was getting embarrassed but it felt so good, she didn't care.  When Jon let her go, she looked over the crowd and smiled at everyone. 

Dani walks up to her and gives her a hug.  "I didn't know it was your birthday.  Happy birthday."

"Thanks Dani.  I forgot it was my own birthday."  Beth laughs at herself, feeling like a dork.  "It's a good thing Jon remembered or it would have passed uncelebrated, imagine the horror."  McKenna fusses a little bit, exciting Beth, she hasn't seen her daughter for most of the day. 
'Hey baby girl."  Beth kisses her cheeks.  McKenna sees her mommy's face and smiles.

Super dad tells her, "That's just gas."  He kisses her temple and walks away.  Beth watches him saunter away and she smiles.  Inside and out. 

"You are so lucky" she hears behind her.  She turns around and there is her trusty loyal ex assistant and friend, Tammy.

"Oh my God."  Beth hugs her.  "I am so happy you're here."

"Can I hold my niece, please?  I've been waiting to meet her."  Tammy swoops McKenna from Beth and kisses her chubby cheeks.  "Hi gorgeous."  Tammy checks her out and says, "My god Beth, she's perfect." 

"I know.  She's a Bongiovi." she smiles at Tammy, "Tam this is my new assistant, Dani.  Dani this is the infamous Tammy you hear so much about."

They say hi to one another and exchange the pleasantries.  Tammy is lost in McKenna.  "Beth, she looks just like you."

"She does not.  She looks like her daddy."

Tammy shakes her head and sits in a chair that was close.  Beth hangs close, talking to her guests and thanking everyone for coming.  There were people that she didn't know and she would ask Jon about them later.  There is a hired photographer taking pictures of the whole evening, making Beth thrilled because she would have been bummed if there were no pictures.  Her aspiring photographer, Jon, was too busy with his band to take pictures of the night.

A few hours in, Jon has her cake brought out, lit with as many candles as she is old.  It's a beautiful cake and she hates to cut it, but it's her favorite and she saved room for cake.  After the room sings happy birthday to her, she cuts the cake and plates are handed out. 

Jon has her sit at a table that's loaded with gifts and cards.  Beth sees the amount of gifts on the table and knows that Jon had planned this for weeks.  If this were a last minute party, there would be a lot more gifts.  She opens gift after gift while keeping an eye on her daughter.  Jon has her back and is standing close by.  Romeo comes and sits by her, "Can I help you open some Beth?"

"Would you please?" she hands him a few boxes.  Together they open all of her cards and gifts, while Dani sits next to her and makes of list of who gave her what.  Beth will insist that thank you cards go out in the mail in less than a week.  All the gifts are open, but one.  She can see the writing on the tag, I love you ~ j

With all eyes on her, and then on him when he gets close, he hands her the gift and says, "There's a really funny story behind this.  And I'll tell you in a minute, but first, "he looks around to find his mom, "Ma, can you take her?"  Mrs. B rushes up and takes her grand daughter from her son.  With his attention back on Beth, he begins again, "Happy Birthday, babe.  I love you."

Blushing she says, "I love you."

"In this package is a gift from me and the kids.  We talked and talked about what to get you and then Jake got the idea so this is what we decided on.  It took many tried to get it right and when I seen this one, I knew it was right because it took my breath away."  He gets closer and takes her hand, "Thank you for giving me another beautiful child, thank you for sticking with me through the messes we have found ourselves in, thank you for loving and taking care of me and my children, thank you for being there for me when I needed you and thank you for letting  me be there for you."  He kisses her hand once, twice, "You have made me the happiest man in the world and when I say that, I mean it.  These last few weeks I have been able to be with McKenna while you had to take care of your business, babe I can't remember the last time that I have felt this alive."

"You're going to make me cry."

"That's okay, cry." he winks at her, "When we lost the twins, I thought that a part of me died when they did and that I would never get that back; I was wrong.  When they delivered McKenna it came to life in an instant and each diaper that I change or each bag of breast milk that I warm for her I feel the connection get strong and that spot that died, is alive again.  Beth you are the love of my life and the only one that I want.  Thank you for letting me love you and thank you for loving me back.  Today is your day and I hope you have enjoyed seeing your family and friends.  I know I needed to make it up to you because I forgot your birthday last year."  The room chuckled at that. 

Anyone that watched the two of them know that they are head over heels in love and that everything they do they do for the greater good of their family.

He hands her the gift and she opens it.  At this point she's the only one that can see it and her eyes fill up with tears.  "Oh my God Jon, it's beautiful."  she slowly peels back the wrapping paper and is unable to speak.  She unwraps it the rest of the way and holds it.  The room is quiet, waiting to see what it is.  Jon kneels next to her and her arm goes around his neck, kissing him she mumbles, "I am the luckiest woman in the world."

"SHOW US WHAT IT IS" Matt yells from the back.  Beth smiles and flips it for everyone to see.  They gasped.........

 This picture is his gift to her.