Chapter 25

It's wasn't but a few minutes after hanging up the phone with Lexie that there was a knock on the door. Going over he looked through the peephole to see Stephanie and Aaron. Opening the door he was nearly mowed over by Stephanie who launched herself into his arms.


"Oh daddy, I missed you so much." She cried.

Jon knew how dramatic Stephanie was, she was at that age that where everything was upped to the nth power where feelings were concerned.


"I missed you too princess, but it's only been a few weeks." he tried to get her to laugh.

"It feels like ten years. Please daddy don't make me go back." She looked up at him with big blue eyes and he caved.


"Why don't you and Jakey go put your stuff in the bedroom on the right and let Aaron and I talk." he ruffled Jakey's hair and smiled down at him.

"Sure daddy." She said taking Jakey's hand and then turned to Aaron and grabbed their suitcases. She didn't look back or thank Aaron for bringing them to her dad.


Aaron waited until the door closed between the rooms he walked into the room and handed Jon an envelope.

"I got my lawyer on this, it was hard, but Doro signed it, giving you custody."


Jon shut the door and followed Aaron into the living area. Motioning him to be seated he went over to the desk and pulled on his reading glasses. Opening the envelope he read the legalese...

"This says this is just temporary." Jon said closing the papers and putting them back into the envelope.


"Doro and I talked it over and it was her idea this change...temporary as it is." Aaron told him watching him get up from the desk and walk over and sit opposite of him.

"She wants to see if I can handle it." he said. It was a statement not a question. They had been together so long he knew how she thought, and in the last two years of their marriage, how she felt. "She thinks that once the new CD is done and promotions and tour, I will fail at this the way she thinks I failed our marriage."


Dorothea had warned Aaron about his temper. That it would flair up faster than normal. Trying to defuse the problem he moved the subject away from The custody and to Jesse.

"I'm trying to get my parents to drop the charges against Jesse." He told Jon.


"My lawyer is at the Detention center as we speak, working with J.J." Jon informed him.
Jon had called his lawyer to get the ball rolling so he could get his son out as soon as possible. A quick call as he was loading the car to head up here, Hank had told him that it was all taken care of.

"Do we need to bring lawyers in on this Jon?" Aaron had been told that Jon worked fast when it concerned his kids and his band. "Doro said..."


"J.J. has been booked and processed and sitting in Juvenile detention, he has a record that will follow him through the rest of his life. Yes I think we, or I need to bring in my lawyer to get this removed off his record." Jon interrupted him. "Your job is to get your parents to drop all the charges...I doubt they will ever see them again so i am sure they;ll see that dropping the charges is for the best."

"Now Jon, they are the kids step grandparents and they''ll see them on holidays..." He started to make his stand on what was happening.


"I doubt J. J. or Steph will ever want to see them again and Jake is traumatized enough." Jon told him not mixing any words.

Graham had to agree that things got off to a really bad start. Not a great way to start a marriage or a family.


"Let me go tell Steph we're leaving I want to head to the detention center to see my son and check on what the lawyer has come up with." Jon got up and left the room not giving Graham any option but to agree.

He knocked on the bedroom door and walked in when he heard Stephanie tell him to come in.

"Listen princess, Graham and I are heading to the detention center, you make sure the door stays locked until I get back. We can have dinner when I get back." he went over and sat on the bed beside them.

"Daddy, you going to bring J.J. back to us?" Jakey asked his father.


"I'm going to sure try sport If not today then tomorrow after it's all done." he rubbed Jake on the back.

"Daddy, He only grabbed that cane to keep her from hitting me with it. He wasn't going to hit the woman with it, just trying to save me he ends up in jail." Tears started funning down Stephanies face.


"Honey it isn't your fault and I am sure Hank will want to talk to you about what happened." Jon pulled her into his arms. "Romeo is waiting for you all to come home."

"Okay daddy." They both said.


The ride to the detention center was quiet. Jon looked around at the homes that the Soul had built in the area and the playground that had been finished just last month.

Hank met them in the receiving room and he filled Jon in on what he had accomplished. J.J. was being released into his custody and will be in court for the hearing. Jon handed him the paperwork that Graham had given him. Then they were allowed to see J.J.


"Dad!" Jesse said softly as he was escorted from the holding room. Keeping himself in check, not wanting to look like a little kid and run into the shelter of his fathers arms, he walked to stand in front of his father and his new step father. The emotions he felt looking into his step fathers eyes, he could feel the disappointment radiating from him.

Jon took the next step and pulled him into the shelter of his arms.

"I'm so sorry you had to go through this J. J." Jon spoke softly so only his son could hear.

"Dad, I wasn't going to hit her, just didn't want her to hit Stephie." Jesse told his father. "Don't make me go back to that house dad."


"You won't, Your coming home with me tomorrow. Steph, Jakey and you will be with me for a while." he told him.

"Jesse, I need you to sign some papers for me." Hank spoke breaking the tention in the room.
While Jesse and Hank were in the Wardens office, Jon turned to Graham.


"Thanks for bringing me here. I'll make sure he is at court tomorrow. Will you and Dorothea be attending the session?" Jon shifted through the folder that Hank had handed him when he got there.

"Yes, we'll be here. I have to bring my parents to testify." Graham seemed un easy about his parents and Jon being in the same room.


"Good." Jon said as he turned as the door opened. "Hank will take us back to the hotel, I know he want's to talk to Stephanie. We'll see you tomorrow then." he turned his back on Graham and went over to where Hank and Jesse waited.

Graham knew he had been dismissed. It still hurt that Jesse ignored him the whole time he was in the room. They had started to get close before the honeymoon and now that was distroyed. He left the Juvinal Hall and headed back to his parents to tell Dorothea what had happened.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The car arrived back at the hotel. Hank and Jesse were headed to the elevator with Jon following when the Hotel clerk called out to Jon.


"Mr. Bon Jovi, this letter came for you while you were gone." He held up the envelope for Jon to see it. "We signed for it and held it for your return."

Jon walked over and took the envelope and handed the clerk a tip. The envelope was plain with no return address on it. As he followed his lawyer and his son into the elevator he slip the envelope open and pulled out the single sheet of paper. What he read caused him to stop short almost being left in the lobby by the closing elevator door.


"What is it Jon?" Hank asked him as he and Jesse stepped out of the elevator to wait on Jon to read his letter.

"Blackmail Hank...I'm being blackmailed." Jon said looking up at the lawyers shocked face and that of his oldest son.
　

Chapter 24

It's wasn't but a few minutes after hanging up the phone with Lexie that there was a knock on the door. Going over he looked through the peephole to see Stephanie and Grahan. Opening the door he was nearly mowed over by Stephanie who launched herself into his arms.

"Oh daddy, I missed you so much." She cried.

Jon knew how dramatic Stephanie was, she was at that age that where everything was upped to the nth power where feelings were concerned.

"I missed you too princess, but it's only been a few weeks." he tried to get her to laugh.

"It feels like ten years. Please daddy don't make me go back." She looked up at him with big blue eyes and he caved.

"Why don't you and Jakey go put your stuff in the bedroom on the right and let Graham and I talk." he ruffled Jakey's hair and smiled down at him.

"Sure daddy." She said taking Jakey's hand and then turned to Aaron and grabbed their suitcases. She didn't look back or thank Graham for bringing them to her dad.

Graham waited until the door closed between the rooms he walked into the room and handed Jon an envelope.

"I got my lawyer on this, it was hard, but Doro signed it, giving you custody."

Jon shut the door and followed Graham into the living area. Motioning him to be seated he went over to the desk and pulled on his reading glasses. Opening the envelope he read the legalese...

"This says this is just temporary." Jon said closing the papers and putting them back into the envelope.

"Doro and I talked it over and it was her idea this change...temporary as it is." Graham told him watching him get up from the desk and walk over and sit opposite of him.

"She wants to see if I can handle it." he said. It was a statement not a question. They had been together so long he knew how she thought, and in the last two years of their marriage, how she felt. "She thinks that once the new CD is done and promotions and tour, I will fail at this the way she thinks i failed our marriage."

Dorothea had warned Graham about his temper. That it would flair up faster than normal. Trying to defuse the problem he moved the subject away from The custody and to Jesse.

"I'm trying to get my parents to drop the charges against Jesse." He told Jon.

"My lawyer is at the Detention center as we speak, working with J.J." Jon informed him.
Jon had called his lawyer to get the ball rolling so he could get his son out as soon as possible. A quick call as he was loading the car to head up here, Hank had told him that it was all taken care of.

"Do we need to bring lawyers in on this Jon?" Graham had been told that Jon worked fast when it concerned his kids and his band. "Doro said..."

"J.J. has been booked and processed and sitting in Juvenile detention, he has a record that will follow him through the rest of his life. Yes I think we, or I need to bring in my lawyer to get this removed off his record." Jon interrupted him. "Your job is to get your parents to drop all the charges...I doubt they will ever see them again so i am sure they;ll see that dropping the charges is for the best."

"Now Jon, they are the kids step grandparents and they''ll see them on holidays..." He started to make his stand on what was happening.

"I doubt J. J. or Steph will ever want to see them again and Jake is traumatized enough." Jon told him not mixing any words.

Graham had to agree that things got off to a really bad start. Not a great way to start a marriage or a family.

"Let me go tell Steph we're leaving I want to head to the detention center to see my son and check on what the lawyer has come up with." Jon got up and left the room not giving Graham any option but to agree.

He knocked on the bedroom door and walked in when he heard Stephanie tell him to come in.

"Listen princess, Graham and I are heading to the detention center, you make sure the door stay's locked until I get back. We can have dinner when I get back." he went over and sat on the bed beside them.

"Daddy, you going to bring J.J. back to us?" Jakey asked his father.

"I'm going to sure try buddy If not today then tomorrow after it's all done." he rubbed Jake on the back.

"Daddy, He only grabbed that cane to keep her from hitting me with it. He wasn't going to hit the woman with it, just trying to save me he ends up in jail." Tears started running down Stephanie's face.

"Honey it isn't your fault and I am sure Hank will want to talk to you about what happened." Jon pulled her into his arms. "Romeo is waiting for you all to come home."

"Okay daddy." They both said.

The ride to the detention center was quiet. Jon looked around at the homes that the Soul had built in the area and the playground that had been finished just last month.
Hank met them in the receiving room and he filled Jon in on what he had accomplished. J.J. was being released into his custody and will be in court for the hearing. Jon handed him the paperwork that Graham had given him. Then they were allowed to see J.J.

Chapter 23

It didn’t take him long to get to the hotel and checked in. Richie would have offered his condo, but the hotel was near the court house and this would be easier all around. He had just gotten into his room when his cell rang again. It was Stephanie.

“Hey daddy, where are you?” She asked.

“I just checked into the Sofitel” He told her tossing his bag onto the bed.

‘Daddy can I come and stay with you tonight? I can’t take it anymore here.” She was crying again.

“Honey, is your mom there?” he asked. Granted he would love to have her stay with him.


“Yeah she’s here and I really do not want to talk to her. But For you and me getting out of here I’ll go get her.” Stephanie went to get her mother.

“Daddy wants to talk to you.” She said handing her mother the phone.

“What do you want now Jon? I have a son still in jail and now you want to talk?” She nearly yelled into the phone.

“I know where our son is that is why I am here in town. Stephanie has asked to come and stay with me. I know we are to meet with the lawyer in an hour but I’ll come and get her if you’ll tell me where I can pick her up…better yet I’ll come and get Jakey too.” He calmly told her his plan.

“So now you want to be a father? What no tour calling your name…Richie not pulling you away from your family?” He wasn’t shocked by the venom she spewed.

“Dot…I need to know where I come to get the kids and I will be at court for Jesse and if the judge will grant me temporary custody I will bring him home with me.” Jon manned up and put his foot down.

“Jon…Listen let me meet you somewhere and I’ll bring everything.” Greg had taken the phone if anything to calm Dorothea down.

I’m at the Sofitel downtown.” He told Greg.

“Your right near the courthouse. I’ll meet you in the lobby say in thirty minutes?” he said as he hung up the phone.

Jon just stared at the receiver. Shrugging his shoulders he closed the phone and then called down to the desk to let them know he was expecting company. Putting his stuff away he waited to get the call. Closing his eyes he let his mind calm…Alex’s face came into focus….He needed to be grounded. Pulling his phone off the end table he called the penthouse.


The phone was ringing as there was a knock on the door.

“I get it!” Romeo yelled out as Alex came down the stairs from putting her things up.

“No, little man…I’ll get it.” She made a grab for him just as he turned the knob and let it swing open.

“Now that is the kind of welcome I need?” Richie laughed as Alex had Romeo tucked under her arm. Then he jumped back as the little ball of fur that was hopping around the Sexy brunette’s feet bared it’s teeth at him…”Whoa…someone grab the killer?”

“That’s no killer Uncle Mookie…that’s Snowball!” Romeo laughed.

Lexie put Romeo down who in turned picked up Snowball.

“See uncle Mookie, her loves me.” He giggled

“I see little man.” Richie patted him on the head then looked into the greenest eyes he had ever seen. Granted he was more a lover of blue eyes, but he could see why Jon had lost himself in this woman. “You must be Lexie…I have heard absolutely nothing about you.” He laughed.

“Well Mr. Uncle Mookie I have heard a lot about you.” She laughed then heard her phone’s missed call signal. ‘That is either Jon or my editor. Come on in and make yourself at home. Romeo, why not take Snowball to your room and see if she left her ball in there.” She went over and picked up her phone.

“Editor…You write?” He asked as he set his guitar case and suitcase on the floor.

“Yes…I do” She said paging to the missed call section.

“Jon?” he asked as he did as she said made himself at home.

“Yes, I hope everything is okay.” She said walking over toward the windows to call him back.

“Hey you, all checked in?” She asked when he answered.

‘Yeah, Waiting on Graham to bring Stephanie and Jake to the hotel.” He said as he paced the room. “He’s supposed to call when he gets here. How are things there?”

“Good, went and picked up some things for me and Snowball and Uncle Mookie just got here.” She told him.

“Rich is there, Can I speak to him?” He asked

She turned to Richie who was still standing near the door watching her.

“He wants to talk to you. Let me take your suitcase upstairs while you two talk.” She handed him her pick Blackberry and picked up his suitcase.

Richie watched her head upstairs with his suitcase once she was at the top he remembered the cell phone in his hand.

“Hey Frank…Ah…Who?” He just couldn’t wrap his head around the strange woman in The penthouse.

“Her name is Lexie and …” He started to tall Richie about her.

“Lexie… as in the same Lexie… that was at the cabin Lexie?” He cut him off.

“Yes the same Lexie from the cabin…her name is Alexis Madison…” He started to say when Richie interrupted him again.

“Alexis Madison… the Alexis Madison the mystery writer… Alexis Madison…” Richie finally let the words soak in. “I love her books.” He looked back up the stairs where she had taken his suitcase.

“Yeah I know. Listen I hope to be home tomorrow after court. Long story short J. J. has been arrested and I’m bringing all the kids home to live for a while.” He sighed and sat on the side of the bed. “I came up early and got a call from Stephanie and she and Jakey will be here in a few minutes, I’ll know more later.”

“Listen bro, you do what you have to do. I’ll go stay at mom’s…”He started to say.

“No, stay there, we can work when I get back…the tape is in the studio already in my guitar case. Romeo knows where to find it. The lyric sheet is in with it with the cording on it.”

“Okay, but we can worry about the song when you get here. Give the kids my love and if you don’t think it would be too much on Lexie, I’ll stay here.” He told him.

“I’m sure…” he laughed. “I got to go Graham will be here any second.”

“Okay bro…You take care of the family and I’ll keep your Lexie company till you get here…who knows she might put me in her next book.” He laughed

Chapter 22

It was decided that Lexie and Romeo would take Snowball back to her condo to be fed while Jon headed to Philly. Making sure that the doorman had her on the list of people allowed in the building, Jon gave her a kiss and left her with the key to the penthouse and the codes for the locks.

Romeo held onto Snowballs leash as they walked up Mercer to her condo. Passing by Bloomingdales the doorman pulled out the little bone he always had for Snowball.

“Well hello Snowball, you have a new friend?” He bent down and ruffled Romeo’s hair.

“Hi Stan, this is Romeo.” Lexie smiled at the doorman. When she had moved in and was out walking one day they struck up a conversation.

“Well hello Romeo, any friend of Snowballs is a friend of mine. Do you like magic tricks?” Stan asked Romeo.

“Hello Mr. Stan, yes I love magic tricks.” Romeo ever the polite child smiled up at Stan and held out his hand to shake hands with him.

When Stan reached out his hand to shake Romeo’s he reached behind Romeo’s ear and pulled out a sucker.

“Now Romeo, I thought we washed out all those suckers out from behind your ear this morning.” Lexie chuckled.

Romeo reached behind his ear to see if there were any more behind it.

“Wow that’s neat Mr. Stan, Thank you for the sucker and the magic trick.” He smiled up at the man.

Moving on up Mercer they came to her building. Putting the key in the door lock she held the door open for Romeo. Bending down she picked up Snowball and they headed to the elevator.

“You live really close to Daddy don’t you Lexie?” He asked as they rode up to the sixth floor.

“Sure do.” She told him.

“But you don’t have a Tommy like daddy does.” He waited for her to open her door.

‘Nope, sure don’t.” She let him into her small but cozy condo. “Roe, why don’t you go into the kitchen and get Snow’s water bowl and food bowl and put then in a bag for me.” He headed to the kitchen while she went into her bedroom and pulled out some things for the night and the next day. She figured Jon would be back by tomorrow afternoon and she’d be coming home. Going into the bathroom next she got her cosmetic bag and tossed a few things in it for the night. She was coming out when she heard Romeo talking to Snowball.

“You going to come and spend the night Snow. Daddy gone to see that mean lady and get Steph and my broders. They going to like you, but you my puppy.” He was sitting in the floor holding snowball to his face.

Lexie smiled and grabbed her laptop case and dropped a few jump drives in the pouch and zipped it shut. Going back into the kitchen she added several cans of dog food for Snowball. They were heading back to the Penthouse when her cell rang.

“Hello, Oh hey, is every thing alright?” She smiled, Jon must have gotten to the Turnpike.

“Yeah, I forgot that Richie is dropping by to pick up the music that I worked on while we were in the mountains and I forgot….” He said.

“Not to worry, where did you put it?” she asked him.

“My guitar case, I put it in the studio, Roe will show you where the studio is, just open the case and the music will be lying on the bottom under Black Beauty.” He told her then swore. “Stupid asshole this isn’t the brickyard five hundred.”

“Look you pay attention to the road; Roe and I’ll find the music and have it ready for him to pick it up.” She waved to his doorman and they headed to the elevator. Inserting his key into the penthouse button they headed up.

“Listen he might want to work in the studio for a while. Tell him I’ll be home tomorrow, he might crash there or go back to his mom’s.” He told her.

“We’ll take care of everything, you drive safe and we’ll see you tomorrow.” She handed the phone down to Romeo.

“Bye daddy, Give Stephie and Momma a kiss for me and tell J. J. and Jakey Snowball is mine!” He smiled up at Lexie.

“We’ll talk about that when I get home Roe, be good for Lexie and Uncle Mookie.” He told him.

‘Sure Daddy. Bye.” He handed the phone back to Lexie.

“You lost a dog, you know that don’t you?” he chuckled.

“Yeah he was telling her a while ago that J.J., Jakey and Stephie might like her but she was his dog.” She chuckled.

“Listen Lex, the traffic is getting bad and I’ll call you when I get to the hotel and checked in.” He told her. He pulled off the turnpike and was heading into Philadelphia.

“Okay, Romeo wants to show me his room. I’ll talk to you later, be careful.” She laughed a little to herself they sounded like and old married couple.

“You got it, Ah hell I missed my turn.” He laughed and signed off the call.

Sorry

I promised someone I was going to post today, but got called into work. I have been under the weather since Monday and I promise more tomorrow.

Chapter 21 Yippee

Lexie felt the bed dip and something warm snuggling to her back. This snuggler was larger than Snowball so that must be Romeo had joined them in bed. Lifting her head she looked over at the clock, six am was too early to get up. Her meeting with her editor was at ten. Shifting some in the bed, she was glad that she had gotten up around four and went to the bathroom and put on one of Jon’s Soul shirts and her underwear just incase like at the cabin he joined then in the early morning. Those last few days in the cabin, she and Jon had snuggled on the huge sofa only to be joined by Romeo.


“You awake?” Came the larger warm body in the bed.

“Yeah, again.” Yawning she cuddled closer to Jon’s chest. “We have company.”

“I know snowball is in the bend of my knee.” He tried to shift and lift his head to look over her shoulder. “I need a favor, how long is your meeting today?”

“About an hour, just go in and let him tell me what promos I have to do and get some press packets to go over, why?” She watched his eyes cloud over.

“That call I got was from my ex, I need to head to Philly.” He reached over her and tenderly brushed a curl of sandy blond hair on his son’s brow.

“I take it that call wasn’t just to say hi were home?” They shifted in the bed so that they could get out. Looking back at Romeo and Snowball in the huge king size bed they slipped out into the hallway.

“You could say that. Seems like we were having a nice time at the cabin, my kids were learning the hard way what it’s like to get new grandparents.” The lead her down to the kitchen and started the coffee pot. “Can you watch Roe for me today while I go to court?”

“You have to go to court?” She about dropped the cups she was taking to the table.

“My son got arrest for protecting his sister. From what I got out of my sixteen year old daughter an her new grandparents don’t approve of her clothes and when she talked back decided to invoke punishment of the spare the rod spoil the child theory.” He slammed his hand on the counter.

Lexie jumped when she heard him hitting the counter.

“Why didn’t they call you before now?” She asked.

“All I got was yelling that I didn’t pick up the phone fast enough and the normal lecture from my ex about why I screwed up with and lost my family. Greg asked me to come and after what has happened I need to be there.”

He turned and was leaning back on the counter as he told her about the call and Stephanie begging him to come and take her home with him. How his next to the youngest was hiding under the bed afraid to come out and be arrested.

“I agree you need to be there. Let me call my editor and reschedule my meeting. I’ll watch Roe as long as you need to be gone.” She told him.

“I don’t want you to reschedule…” He started to say but was stopped when she put her finger over his lips.

“Yes Jon, I will reschedule and you head on to Philly. Actually all I need is a fax machine to get the press packets and the promo schedule and I can handle my meeting over the phone.” She left him in the kitchen and when in search of her cell.

Jon followed her into the living room and watched her call her editor. Walking over he took a notepad and jotted down his fax number for her and then went back into the kitchen to pour the coffee.

“Yeah, just fax me what I need and I’ll call you when I get a chance and we’ll go over my promo schedule.” She sat at the piano and ran her finger down one of the keys the soft tone made her smile. Damn why did I screw around an never finish my piano lessons…don’t think Itsy bitsy spider would sound the same as it did on the old upright, she thought to herself as her editor droned on in her ear.

Jon walked back in and handed her a cup of coffee and mouthed he was heading to the shower. Waiting on her to nod he kissed the top of her head and with cup in hand headed to the shower.

Leaning under the hot spray his thoughts went back to the phone call and the sound of his daughter…his first born…his baby girl, begging him to bring her home with him. His heart broke a little. Man how did his life go from being the poster child for the perfect rock star marriage to being the bad guy? For losing half of what he worked for, but it took two to end his marriage, for him it was the long days on the road and fewer days at home, for her it was Greg, always being there, being the kind of husband she wanted to grow old with, not the Peter Pan she had married.

Jon felt the draft and smiled, he had been hoping she would join him in the shower. The shadow on the shower door made it obvious she was joining him. Reaching to the knobs he turned more cold water on and the spay went from sauna hot to comfortable hot.

“Did you get everything set up?” he asked her.

“Yep, and your fax machine is humming along when I left it.” She stepped under the spray and let the water run over her body.

Whishing she had thought to grab her shampoo she smiled when she felt his adding shampoo to her hair. So she would smell like him until she could go home and pack a small bag. It would be best to keep Romeo here where he felt safe than to move him over to her smaller condo. They hadn’t talked about it but she knew this trip he had to take was not going to be an up and back kind of trip.

“Romeo still asleep?” He asked.

“Sawing logs like his daddy.” She laughed.

“Hey, I do not snore!” He chuckled.

“Like a buzz saw on overtime.” She rinsed the soap from her hair.

“Well, at least I don’t talk in my sleep….oh Jonny…Oh yes.” He commented in a falsetto voice.

They both jumped at the knock on the door.

“Daddy, I’m hungry.” Romeo called from outside the bathroom door.

“Be right there son…go get dressed and I’ll fix you some cereal.” Jon stepped around her in the shower and opened the door, which cased Lexie to shiver, grabbing a towel he made quick work of drying off and pulling on his sweat pants.

“Can Lexie do it? You always put too much milk in it.” He called through the crack in the door.

“See you’ve got another Bongiovi male hooked.” He said as she turned off the shower and reached out for a towel for her hair. Holding it just out of her reach, he watcher her feeling along the rod for the towels.

Giving him a grumpy look she reached up to her long wet chestnut brown hair and ran her fingers down a section and then flicked the water at him.

“Hey, I’m dry here.” He laughed and jumped back. He tossed her the towel as she reached up for another section of hair.

“Go help your son, you two need to talk about your plans for today.” She blew him a kiss and began twisting her hair up in the towel. Every morning at the cabin they had set together at the breakfast bar and discussed what they wanted to do that day, it was easy to see why Romeo had not wanted to leave his dad.

Chapter 20 maybe?

Jon was surprised when Stephanie had picked up her mothers phone, he could hear raised voices in the background.

“Hey, your mom there?” He asked even though he heard her raised voice.

“Yeah she’s here, when are you coming to get us?” She asked.

“Sweetheart, you know you live with your mom and Greg now.” He told her.

“Don’t wanna, neither does J. J. or Jakey after these past three weeks.” She told him.

“What happened?” he was almost afraid to ask.

“Granny Graham called me a slut and what did she expect with a dad who pranced on stage,” She told him.

“She called you a what?” he almost yelled into the phone.

“A slut daddy, Then she got out her stick and was going to whack me with it till J.J. took it and broke the damn thing.” She told him, he could hear the tears in her voice to know she was crying. “The next day Grand dad took J.J. to the police station for threatening Granny. Daddy it was horrible. Jakey has been hiding under the bed afraid to come out.”

“Put your mother on the phone…now.” He told her.

“Yes daddy.” She said know that he was using his father voice.

“What the hell do you want now Jon?” She asked. “I called your cell and the SOHO number and got voice mail.” Dorothea told him.

“I was busy, I’m calling you now.” He told her trying to control his voice.

“That’s the point, you’re always busy.” She yelled.

“Look Dot, I didn’t call to get into an argument. You called and after talking to Stephanie I want to know what’s going on.” He tried to stay calm. After getting her usual reply when he returned her calls, it just got old and not worth the arguing that would happen if he took the bait.

“We were in Maui when I got a call from Steph that J.J. was being arrested.” She told him.

“Why didn’t they call me?” He asked her. Granted his cell worked while at the cabin and he didn’t get calls from his kids, so he had been thinking they were alright. He should have called to check on them…something he would have to change.

“I have no idea Jon; maybe they didn’t want to bother you while you were working? Isn’t that how you wanted things? I get the kids and you get to work twenty four seven?” She snapped.

“I am never too busy for my kids and you know it.” He finally snapped back.

“No you aren’t, you’re available to your family only when it suits you.” She yelled.

This was how things had been the last year and a half of their marriage. The yelling would start the kids would hide and then doors would slam and a car would leave. After a few days they’d be back trying to work things out till it started all over again.

“Look yelling and blaming each other isn’t getting us anywhere.” He said trying to calm the situation down. “The kids are what’s important right now.”

There was total silence on her side of the phone. He could still hear yelling in the background.

“Dorothea…I want to know what is going on, why is there yelling there?” he tried to stay calm.

“Can you come here tomorrow?” A voice that wasn’t his ex wife’s came over the line..

“Sure Greg, what time should I be there?” He didn’t have any problems with Greg, their divorces was between him and Dorothea, if anything it was over way before the split. He had to respect a guy who could take on his kids and their lifestyle.

“We have to be in front of the judge at eleven and then maybe it would be best if we met without lawyers to work this out.” Greg told him, the calm voice of reasoning, as he was holding Dorothea’s hand to try and calm her down.

“I’ll be there and I agree no lawyers, we can get this settled. I’ll see if I can get Lexie to watch Romeo.” He agreed. They had agreed that Romeo didn’t need to be there.

So now as he lay with Lexie cuddled to his chest his thoughts were on the call and the fact that their life had gotten more like a episode of the Twilight Zone than Father Knows Best. Reaching over he set the alarm, she never told him what time her meeting was, so setting it for seven sounded like a good number to start with. Kissing the top of her head he sighed and closed his eyes. Might be the last good night’s sleep he’ll get in a long time.