116 - Settling Dust

“So what the fuck, man?”

Jon rolled his eyes toward the ceiling at David’s nontraditional greeting.  Trust Lemma to start a conversation like they’d left off in the middle of one five minutes ago. 

“Care to elaborate on that?” he drawled, kicking back in one of the mesh office chairs in front of the soundboard.  While Sheridan was on the treadmill or playing with her potions downstairs, he had been playing with some mixes of the tracks that had been laid down on the new songs.  It wouldn’t be long now until he was going to have to pull in the cranky little Cubano that wasn’t ready to start the merry-go-round again. 

But not today.  Today he was merely using work as a distraction for unanswered questions.  He wouldn’t admit it to Sheridan last night, but he was just as infuriated about this chick as she was and the real topper had been her presence in their home.  That pissed him off to no end, but he’d repressed his own feelings in an effort to keep his wife calm.  She had already been furious and he didn’t need to add fuel to the fire, preferring to keep her calm for the babies’ sake. 

The woman had already betrayed three of his babies – the twins and Romeo.  He wouldn’t let her impact their lives any further. 

Unfortunately, tempers hadn’t gotten any better when the police had called shortly after Hal.  The cops had no answers as to why, nor did they need the Bongiovis’ presence for anything.  In fact, they had told them to specifically not come to see Elizabeth Miller.  Jon and Sheridan’s permission hadn’t been necessary to press charges against the woman, as HIPAA laws were above and beyond the scope of making their lives the focal point of the tabloids.

That actually relieved Jon, because it might actually keep Sheridan from charging the police station.  Himself, he would never actually go face-to-face with the woman.  He had no need.  His lawyers would take care of piling a mile high stack of civil charges on top of the criminal charges she was already facing.  Revenge for him would come in knowing that this broad would never have another financially solvent moment in her life.

“I’m talking about Sambora-gate, Wedding-gate, and Baby-gate all tumbling down with one news report.  A medical transcriptionist?  I repeat:  what… the… fuck?”

“Screwed up, isn’t it?”

“Ya think?  I mean, for fuck’s sake!  Makes you think twice about what you tell your proctologist.”

“No shit.  The cops say she’s looking at some major fines and jail time though.  Quarter mil for each ‘incident’ and maybe ten years in the clink, and that doesn’t count the civil charges that we’re filing.   This bitch is going to regret ever knowing the name Bongiovi.”

“So why you?”

Jon blew out sharply.  “Fuck if I know.  It’s driving Sheridan nuts.  If I can keep her out of this woman’s face, it’s going to be a miracle.  Do you know that this ballsy broad was in our fucking house?”

“What the…?  How the hell did she get in your house?”

“She was part of the catering staff for our housewarming party.  The bartender.”

“The one who kept dropping shit?”

“Yeah.  Explains why, doesn’t it?  She should’ve been fuckin’ nervous.  If I’d known…  Well, she’s just damn lucky I didn’t know.”

For the first time during their conversation, David laughed outright.  “Why?  You would’ve punched the bitch out?  Because you have that violent tendency toward women and all…”

“Fuck you.  I would’ve turned Sheridan loose on her – or one of our female family members.  I’m tellin’ ya that shit would’ve come to a quick stop.”

“Mm.”  The keyboardist went quiet for a moment before musing, “I guess I owe Richie an apology.  Or rather, Grace.  I pretty much told him I thought she was the one responsible.”

“Nobody could’ve guessed this.  Not just one doctor’s office, but two?  Un-friggin’-believeable.  I do wonder if Rich has heard about it, though…”

❧❧❧

“Hello?”

Her voice was breathless, giving Richie a moment of unease.  Maybe he shouldn’t have called her directly.  He probably would’ve been better off just to call Jon, but he was of the opinion that a man faced his problems head-on. 

Most of the time.

“Hiya Stormy.  Did I catch you at a bad time?”

There were a couple of electronic beeps in the background and a mechanical whirring that he hadn’t realized he was hearing went silent.

“Hello, Richie.  I was just getting off the treadmill.  Jon’s in the studio, if you’re trying to reach him.”

The crow in his throat was sticking to the point that he had to cough.  “No.  You were the one I wanted to talk to.”

“Okay...  What can I do for you?”

He tapped his thumb against the rim of his “Penny for your thoughts, nickel if they’re nasty” mug on the kitchen table.

“Me?  Nothin’.  I just saw a bit on the news about you guys and wanted to call.”

“Fact or fiction?” was her wryly amused question, making him smile.   She really was pretty cool.  If he could find a woman with good sense, beauty, elegance, and the ability to write soft porn…  Well, he’d get him some of that in a hot second. 

“Fact,” he responded with a quiet chuckle.  “The cops got your tattle-tale.  The story’s on every station in one way or another, spinning off more stories about keeping medical records secure.”

“Oh, that.  Yes.  They called us last night.”

“I, uh…  I bet you’re pretty relieved to have that over with.”

Get to the point man.  Stop being a pansy-ass and beating around the bush.

“We are, yes.  I’m sure you are, too.”

The door doesn’t open any wider than that.  Walk through it, Sambo.

“Yeah, that’s actually why I called you instead of Jon.”  He sighed and gave up on finding the easiest words to choke out, choosing to bite the bullet and do the right thing.  “I’m sorry, Sheridan.”

“Richie, that’s not why I-“

“I know it’s not,” he cut off her remorseful objection.  “But I’m all about calling it like it is.  I was a fucktard.  Pussy is a powerful drug, and I thought J.B. had hooked up with a helluva dealer there for a while.  I didn’t trust him and I sure as hell didn’t trust you after that night.”

“You don’t have to do this.  I put it behind us ages go.”

“But I was wrong,” Richie continued, paying her no mind.  “Sometimes it’s easiest to lash out at the people who care about you, ya know?  Because you know they’ll still be there when all is said and done.  So… bottom line is that I consider you family and I’d trust you with my life.  Someday, I hope you’ll be able to feel the same way about me.”

A soft huff found its way to him from the East Coast before she quietly responded, “Thank you.  I hope so, too.”

Her confirmation of his vaguely posed idea that she didn’t necessarily trust him stung a little bit, but he respected her for it. 

Nothin’ like honesty, I guess.

“Alright then.  Tell J.B. to call me sometime, will ya?  Take care of yourself and those little ones, Stormy – and keep an eye on my buddy, too.”

“Of course, and you take care of yourself.”

Hanging up, he dropped the phone on the table and found himself staring absently into his nearly empty coffee cup. 

Yeah.  I think maybe I will. 

❧❧❧

Mommy and Me

May 2, 2012

Hello my sweet babies.  I’m sorry Mommy hasn’t checked in for a few days, but there’s been a lot going on in the world outside the belly.  Good things. 

Remember the man who was supposed to help me keep you safe?  Well, he came through.  There’s a huge ruckus going on that, oddly enough, doesn’t even involve us, but the person who was causing us trouble won’t be doing it anymore.   There was a woman telling secrets on our family, you see.  Those were secrets that nobody was supposed to know and she was telling them to people who spread them all over the world – literally. 

It seems crazy that people all over the world would have any interest in us, doesn’t it?  `You’re probably wondering why we’re so special.  Well...  Your daddy is very, very famous so that makes everyone around him famous by association.  Daddy tries very hard to keep us out of the spotlight, but that really means that we get to live life in a fish bowl for everyone to see.   I’m only now starting to get used to it.

Confession time, Poppies.  Mommy worries about you.  A lot.  I don’t want you in a fishbowl.  I don’t know how to keep you safe in a fishbowl.  Aunt Riley says we’re rich, so I should just hire security to do it for us, but that doesn’t appeal to me.  Your life should be as normal as Mommy and Daddy can make it. 

Daddy tells me I worry too much.  He tells me it’s the Daddy’s job to protect his family and give them a good life.  Mommy is just supposed to let him do it.  After all, he says, your brothers and sister have done fine so far.  He will make sure you’re fine, too.  He promised.

So I have to stop worrying about it.  He promised, after all, and your daddy always keeps his word.  Always.

Speaking of your brothers and sister, I’ve forgotten to tell you how they feel about two new sisters.  Stephanie is a little sad that she won’t be Daddy’s only girl anymore, but she also feels a lot like Mommy does – it’s time to even the Bongiovi score with a little more girl power. 

Jesse...  Well, Jesse is a teenage boy and he’s going through his own problems.  He just broke up with your cousin Mandi and is busy looking for a replacement girlfriend.   (I told you that wouldn’t last long, but it wasn’t an ugly breakup from what they both say.  There’s still peace in the family.)  He’ll love you once you get here, but right now he’s more interested in lacrosse and much older girls. 

As for Jake and Romeo...  Well, they said it didn’t matter.  They could teach girls to play football as well as boys.  I didn’t bother telling them that my two little girls weren’t putting on a helmet and getting tackled.  They’ll figure it out soon enough, and I’m sure they will be protective big brothers once they realize you aren’t going to be linebackers. 

*yawn*

Mommy’s getting sleepy, so I’m going to go find Daddy and have him tuck us in since we have to be up early in the morning.  Tomorrow is Story Time at the library and Uncle Matt is reading for us.  I just hope I can convince him to just read to the children.  The last time he came for Story Time, he let the boys and girls climb him like a tree.  Wish me luck!

Good night, Poppies.  I love you.