Epilogue

One Year Later…

“No.” 

Clouds hanging heavy over the sky outside the nursery windows had cast shadows in the room and across Jon’s face, Sheridan discovered when the single belligerent word prompted her to look up from brushing the light blonde of Nicky’s flyaway hair.  Her reward for being concerned about her husband’s mood?  One sharp hit of his infamous stink-eye before he shifted his gaze sharply to Noelle. 

“Nicky, stop that!  It hurts Mommy,” she admonished her son, who had taken to biting with the appearance of his very first tooth.  As it was this time, her shoulder was most often his chosen victim, but he wasn’t picky – the shoulder of anyone holding him would do just fine. 

Like father, like son…

She turned her attention to the father then, still unsure as to what he was being surly about.  “’No’, what?”

Jon lifted his eyebrow at her as though she should know perfectly well what had prompted his pissy face and flicked another look to their daughter.  “Change her into one of those cute little pink, frilly things she has.”

Following his line of vision, Sheridan smothered a smirk.  The little girl was toddling around the nursery, her pink leggings bunched around her bare ankles.  The ruffled, leopard-print tunic edged with pink lace swirled around her pudgy knees as she separated her stuffed sheep from Nicky’s cars on the tiny table in the center of the floor.

“That IS pink and frilly.”  Sheridan smiled innocently at her annoyed husband.  He absolutely could not stand the sight of leopard print on Noelle, because his mind forever associated leopard print with his sex kitten and he wanted his daughter as far from sex kitten as he could keep her.  Honestly, sometimes Sheridan did it just to push his buttons.

“Oh bullshit,” he muttered, striding for the blue-eyed baby who grinned wide when she saw him, immediately stretching out her little arms so that he could swing her onto his hip.  “Just get the damn thing and I’ll change her myself.  Why did you buy this?”

“I didn’t.  It was a birthday gift from Riley.”

“Your sister is the devil in a bra,” he grumbled under his breath while plopping himself and Noelle down in the white upholstered chair next to the windows. 

Sheridan couldn’t help but chuckle as he stripped the offensive tunic off of their daughter and distastefully flung it toward the crib.  That earned her another stink eye when she passed him a pink t-shirt and pants that closely mirrored Nicky’s blue shirt and pants.  It was what she had planned on Noelle wearing all along. 

“I’m going to go change clothes,” she informed him, dipping in to plant a quick kiss on his temple and then dipping lower to blow on Noelle’s bare tummy.  “Will you keep an eye on the twins?  Hal will be here for the interview in about twenty minutes.”

One hand curled firmly around the squirming toddler, his other snaked into her hair and vivid blue eyes went from surly to sultry.  “Can’t we postpone this thing?  I’d rather take a ‘nap’ with you.”

It gratified her beyond all reason that this man still lusted after her like a horny teenager, even in her post-pregnancy state.  Regardless of how hard she tried, things just weren’t as firm as they’d been before she simultaneously carried two babies.  Despite that gratification, she still had to disappoint him this time around.

“We’ve put the poor man off for a year, Jon.  Business first, ‘nap’-time later – after the twins are asleep.”

He huffed only slightly before shooing her away.  “Then go already so we can get this over with and put the rugrats to bed.”

Slowly shaking her head and snickering, Sheridan heard him jabbering quietly to Noelle as Nicky banged one of the sheep with a truck.  “What the hell has mommy done to you, huh?  Tell her my little girl is an angel, not a kitten and I won’t put up with that nonsense.  No I won’t....  Nicky, be careful, buddy.  Don’t smash your fingers.”

Shaking her head with amusement, Sheridan slipped out leaving her son, daughter, husband and whole heart in the nursery.

Two years ago she never would’ve believed herself to be happily married to a rock star and loving every minute of mothering twins.  Was it easy?  No, but easy had never been her thing.  She liked the challenge of motherhood and the challenge of keeping up with her overachieving husband. 

Jon rarely sat still, even during his typical August vacation in the middle of the tour, and kept himself involved in a number of humanitarian projects at any given time.  His drive and ambition kept them both busy as she sought to support him and his endeavors in every way she could. 

He returned the favor and support by being a very hands-on father when he was home.  On more than one occasion, he’d sent her for a day out while he took care of the babies.  It didn’t matter that he usually ended up employing Amy or Margaret to help him do it.  He handled it without her and something that little that meant the world to Sheridan at times. 

Pushing into the master suite, she took a glance out the window and saw that the clouds were parting to let the sunshine push its way into the summer afternoon.  That moment reminded her of her life, in a way.  A Jamaican storm had rolled in a bevy of thunderclouds only to have them part way for the brightness of her happy future.

If you can just get through the storm, there’s a whole new world to be discovered after the rain.

What About Now?

Hal Bugliotti

It’s the name of the latest Bon Jovi album, and it’s everyone’s (my) question to the band’s front man, Jon Bon Jovi as he takes a break from his worldwide tour to return to his New Jersey home and celebrate his twins’ first birthday.

One year ago, I brought you the inside story on how Bon Jovi, 51, and his wife Sheridan King Bongiovi first met and fell in love.  Now the couple has graciously opened up their home so that readers can get a sneak peek into one of the most closely guarded private lives in rock and roll.

Upon arrival at the Bongiovi home, I am greeted by a staff member, to no surprise, but she didn’t escort me to the formal living room as one would expect.  Instead, she guided the way up the nearest staircase, saying that the Bongiovis were awaiting me in the nursery.

That’s when I knew this wasn’t going to be a typical Jon Bon Jovi interview, and I said as much to him when we shook hands.

“Yeah, well, there’s not much typical about me when I’m at home,” he responded glancing affectionately at the two toddlers playing in the middle of the airy, pastel room.  “Those two don’t allow for typical.”

Mrs. Bongiovi apologized for the unorthodox setting of the interview, stating that it was easiest to keep the children contented in their own space and that she was all about keeping the children contented.  Of course, my mind immediately wondered where the nanny was.  All of the rich and famous have nannies, right?

“No,” Sheridan said with a firm shake of the head.  “My children, my responsibility.  If they turn out to be a menace to society, you’ll know exactly who to blame.”

To which her husband arched a skeptical eyebrow and uttered a dry, “Me?”

There was a bit of good-natured bantering between the two before I was offered a seat in a comfortably stuffed white armchair by the bank of windows that looked out onto the Navesink River.  Jon settled himself into the wooden rocker, while Sheridan perched on one of the tiny toddler chairs at a matching table to gently referee her son, Nicholas (often referred to as Nicky), and daughter, Noelle.  Nicholas insisted upon ruining his sister’s neat row of little stuffed animals with a rampaging Harley-Davidson motorcycle.

With the children now contentedly playing, I considered it time to get serious about my interview before time slipped away. 

HAL:  Jon, how is it being a brand new father again at the ripe old age of 51?

JON:  Ah, yanno, it ain’t all that bad.  But I’ve been on tour the last few months, so I’ve missed out on some of the hard part – midnight feedings and all that.

SHERIDAN:  Not all of it, though, since he took me and all six kids to Europe for a couple of weeks in June.  That was fun. 

HAL:  The way you roll your eyes, I have to ask how so?

JON (snickering):  My keyboardist, David Bryan, is a monumental pain in the keister.  Practical joker through and through and he kept bugging Sheridan about not having a nanny.  Said he couldn’t understand why she wouldn’t want to sleep through the whole night. 

SHERIDAN:  So I made HIM my nanny.  The twins spent a night in his hotel room and came back to me more spoiled than ever.  He taught Noelle to play the maracas like her daddy whenever she hears “Keep the Faith”.  The only problem is that Nicky wanted a turn and she didn’t want to share, so she whacked him in the face with them.  The black eye lasted long after our trip to Europe.

HAL:  Jon, what do your older kids think about the twins?

JON:  They love ‘em.

HAL:  But weren’t they shocked at first?  I understand that this wasn’t exactly something the two of you had planned out.

JON:  No, this wasn’t a finely executed plan.  My kids needed time to adjust, just like we did, but now Nicky and Noelle could be any more cherished.  My kids take care of each other and the twins are no exception.  Romeo’s happy not to be the baby anymore. 

HAL:  Speaking of shocking, Sheridan...  You had a bit of a sideline career at the beginning of the marriage.  Some writing for Cosmopolitan Magazine? 

SHERIDAN:  I did.

HAL:  And... Are you going to continue with a writing career in that vein?

JON:  Sheridan writes strictly for personal pleasure now.  MY personal pleasure. 

SHERIDAN (smiling):  My career is my family.  Whatever keeps them safe and happy is my job.

HAL:  So nothing outside of your family then?  No pet projects?

SHERIDAN:  I didn’t say that.  I’m very involved with the local library and some other organizations that are dear to my heart and Jon’s.

HAL:  Yes, that’s right.  You’ve recently become involved with efforts to improve the lives of autistic children.  A one-on-one individualized reading program geared specifically to those who are unable to live with their families.

SHERIDAN:  That’s right.  They seem to benefit from the auditory contact.

HAL:  How did you become drawn into that area?  Does it have anything to do with Elizabeth Miller?

Elizabeth Miller was recently convicted of violating a number of HIPAA privacy laws.  Those privacy laws impacted the Bongiovis specifically, placing them in the media spotlight a number of times during the past year.  The Bongiovis originally filed civil charges against Miller, but later withdrew them.  Miller’s son is autistic.

SHERIDAN:  Children’s reading is my passion and always has been.  I owned a chain of bookstores for a number of years whose primary focus was children’s literature.

JON:  The “Sit, Stay, Read” program is another of Sheridan’s involvements. 

“Sit, Stay, Read” has school-age children improving their reading skills by reading aloud to dogs.  Jon revealed previously that seeing Sheridan do a news interview about the program on the news was a key factor in their early relationship.

Noticing that Jon has begun checking the face of his ever-present watch, I know that he’s growing weary of the questions.  My time and opportunity is drawing to a close, but I can’t let it pass without taking the money shot that every journalist in the world would long to take.

HAL:  So the two of you have nothing to do with an anonymously funded scholarship at Fernhill Academy?  Of which Elizabeth Miller’s son is the recipient?

Fernhill Academy is a residential school for children with autism, where Miller’s son is living while she serves her sentence.   It was only a fleeting change in expression, but from the look on her face, Sheridan Bongiovi had no idea that any such scholarship existed.  Jon, however, didn’t blink.

JON:  I won’t say I’m familiar with the name, but there are a lot of anonymously funded scholarships out there.  People in a position to do so want to help someone besides themselves, without any accolades.  I say more power to them.

At that point, little Nicholas toddles over to his father, holding up the motorcycle with a wide four-toothed grin.  It’s difficult to understand the boy, but the words sound a lot like “dada” and “poo”, and I can’t keep a sly smirk off my face as Jon keeps his son at a slight distance.

HAL:  It looks like you’re a hands-on dad, then?  Changing diapers and all that?

JON (grimacing before turning a charming smile toward his wife):  I can.  But I give her an obscene check for every one she doesn’t make me change.

And that, ladies and gentleman, is the real inside scoop on Jon and Sheridan Bongiovi.  Poopy diaper bribes among the rich and famous.  You heard it here first.

We hope that you've enjoyed Jon and Sheridan's story and we appreciate you!  Thanks to you for your ongoing support.  

~♥blush & Audra