Oops

My laptop keyboard died last night. Bare with me as I get a new keyboard or laptop.

Chapter 23

Jon, smiled when Colleen didn’t ask why he sent the driver away.  That was a by the ballsy move on his part, thinking they were on the same page.  He handed her the roses and took her key to open the door.

Colleen took a deep breath, breathing in the sweet scent of the flowers.  The dance had been a success, Jon and the rest of the parents, did a great job of keeping the kids from getting into trouble.  She was proud to be his date for the night.  She handed him her key and stood back to wait for him to open her door.

Jon took the key, noticing the chairs on the porch.  “It’s such a nice night,” He walked her to the patio set and sat down, pulling her down beside him.  “Unless you’re too tired?”

Colleen placed the roses on the small table beside the chair and let him pulled her down, never letting go of hand.  The weather was still warm, the crickets spoke back and forth, as the leaves rustled in the slight breeze.

“No, I’m not tired.”  Colleen said as she gazed into his eyes.

“When are you heading back home?” He asked as his thumb made lazy circles on top of her hand.

“I guess I’ll leave right after my meeting on Monday.  My Mom and Pop, can’t wait to meet you and your kids.”  Colleen answered as she breathed in the scent of his cologne, she gave him a knowing look, “You did tell your mom that you’re coming to the Hamptons for Thanksgiving?”

“Not yet,” Jon said sheepishly.

“You’re not waiting till the day before to tell her, are you?”  Colleen asked trying not to laugh.

Jon dropped his head and cut his eyes toward her.

“You were going to wait till it was too late, for her to do anything!” Colleen laughed. 

Jon joined her in her laughter.  He had thought of waiting till he walked into the bar, to call her.

Seemed their laughter woke up the neighbors, who yelled at them to keep it down.

“Maybe we should take this inside.”  Jon told her as he got up and helped her up.  Unlocking the door he let her go in ahead of him to turn on the lights. Jon followed her into the room, after picking up the flowers and placing them on the sofa table. Colleen took the keys and put them in her purse, she felt Jon stepping up behind her and put his hands on her shoulders, the soft feel on the silky material of her dress off her shoulders. Lowering his head a touched his lips to the bare skin of her shoulder, lifting her hair off the nape of her neck, nipping along her shoulder blades. He could feel her shiver under his lips. Smiling he turned her to face him, he pulling her close, it had been so long, and he missed the closeness of a relationship.

Colleen went willingly into his arms.  She knew tonight was going to be special for them.  They had gotten closer and closer over the past few weeks, and the late night phone calls, were getting hotter. Her arms went up and around his waist, pulling the shirt tail out of the back of his pants. Slowly she worked her way around his waist, untucking his shirt as her fingers ran along his warm skin. Once she got the shirt out of his pants, her hands touched warm leather and a cool metal buckle, that belt had to go. 

Jon was completely engrossed in kissing her neck, he felt her move back, her hands reaching for his belt, the tails of his shirt out of the way. Pausing in his intent of removing her the dress.  He barely noticed she pulled the belt open and tugged zipper down slowly.  Once its trip finished, she pushed his pants down off his hips, letting then dropped to the floor.  Jon watched her face flush a little, as he reached for her shoulders and turned her around.  Once this done he saw the zipper that wouldn’t let the straps of her dress go down.  Smiling he worked the zipper down and pushed her dress off, where it fluttered and pooled at her feet.  If he thought she was beautiful in the dress, what she wore under the dress, took his breath away.

Colleen stepped out of the dress and turned to face Jon, the look on his face, made purchasing the bustier corset worth the money.

“Wow, you look beautiful,” Jon whispered.  Did he say that out loud?

“Do you like it?”  Colleen asked as she stepped out of the pooled dress.

“Ah,” He swallowed, this was going to be over with before it got started good, it had been too long.  “Like, love, lust all work for how you look in that.”

“Then it was well worth the money.”  She reached her hand out and took his.  She started to walk toward her bedroom, leading him along.

Jon followed behind her toward the bedroom.  She looked as hot from the back as she did from the front, if not hotter.  Yeah this was going to be a night to remember, if he could last longer than a few minutes.

Chapter 22

Jon was thinking, Thanksgiving will be the first real holiday, since Dorothea’s death.  Taking the kids to the Hamptons house, just might be what they needed. His mom might kill him, but it just might be worth it.

“I think the kids and I might like that for a change.  I’ll ask them in the next few days and let you know.”  Jon smiled to himself, he would make sure, and the family would start a new tradition.

“Good,” Colleen got up from her desk and went into the bedroom. 

“I was wondering,” Jon shifted on the bed, here he was feeling like a horny teenager again.  “What’s on your schedule for homecoming?  I got a letter about chaperoning the dance, and I was checking to see if you would be my date?”  See, that wasn’t so hard.

“I’m the one who made sure you got the letter.”  Colleen laughed.  “I would be happy to be your date.” 

Jon laughed, he forgot, she had said she was on the homecoming committee. He never went to his prom or high school dances, he was working playing in bars, with anyone who would let him sit in.  This was going to be his first time attending a school dance.  Do they still get corsages, damn I’ll have to ask Jake.

“Then it’s a date.”  He reached over and grabbed his laptop and brought up his calendar and added the homecoming dance to his already over jammed calendar.

They talked a little longer, and made plans to go to dinner. Hanging up Jon went in search of Jake.

The Homecoming game for Poly Prep was becoming a family affair. Jesse and Stephanie were coming in to help out Colleen on Saturday, for the game. Jon spent the time between the night they made plans for the dance, taking to Stephanie and Jesse.  He made arrangements with Stephanie, just in case things went the way he hoped it would go. Jon had arranged for a car to pick Colleen up, from home, and take her to the school.  She had to be there early, to help set up, and Jon had told her that he would make sure she got home.

Jon walked into the auditorium that had been transformed into a Walk in Paris.  The art students had turned the room into an outdoor Paris café, with a silhouette of the Eiffel Tower, set up for photos.  The music, was anything but Parisian. 

“Not like the Paris you’ve been to?”  Colleen asked as she found Jon walking around.  She had worried over what to wear, most of the teachers went all out, dressed in their Sunday best.  Sunday best to her, was well worn pajama bottoms, topped by a faded college tee shirt she had found in a Goodwill bin.  That was where she found the fifties style dress, she had cleaned and wore tonight.

Jon turned, she was beautiful.  It was the first time, he had seen her all dressed up.  Most of the time, she was dressed more casual.

“No, it’s a little flatter.”  Jon laughed.  “Smells better, that’s for sure.”

Colleen joined in his laughter.

Soon the dance started.  Jon and some of the other fathers, did a sweep of the parking lot, then walked the halls.  He and Colleen actually danced during the chaperone dance. We, maybe dance wasn’t what Jon did, more of a sway and rotate in a circle. They even had their picture taken in front of the Eiffel Tower.

Once the dance was over, and Jon made sure the boys went home with Stephanie, he helped Colleen and the others clean up.

It was about one in the morning, when the driver pulled up to Colleen’s home.  Jon got out, told the driver he would call.  Taking the bouquet of roses from the driver, he turned as the driver pulled away and walked Colleen to the door.

Chapter 21

Jon walked in on the discussion at hand a little stunned “How do you know Colleen’s dad?”  Jon looked at his dad, like he was crazy.

“I didn’t know you knew my dad?”  Colleen was just as shocked as Jon and Mrs. Bongiovi are.

“I met him at the club, where we were member for years.  He loves his beer and golf.” Mr. Bongiovi put the left over in the fridge and turned to look at the three shocked faces.  “What, I wasn’t sure my golf partner, was the same as Colleen dad.”

“You could at least have told me.”  Mrs. Bongiovi told her husband.

Mr. Bongiovi laughed.

“This isn’t funny John.”  Mrs. Bongiovi said, sounding like a spoiled child, who had her favorite toy taken from her.  If she had stomped her foot, the image would suit her mood.

“I called Cal from the kitchen, and I asked him, if his daughter was a teacher at Poly Prep.  Until then, I wasn’t sure.”  He stopped laughing at the stink eye, he got from his wife.  Living with his wife was going to be rough tonight.

Carol Bongiovi made one of her dramatic exits, leaving father and son staring wide eyed.

“I’m sorry Colleen, I don’t know what is going on with my mom.”  Jon leaned on the counter watching his mother’s exit.

Mr. Bongiovi just shook his head.  He knew when Jon, had told his mother about Colleen coming to lunch, her mother bear attitude would come out.  Every woman was a gold digger, in his wife’s eyes. 

                                 

Since Mr. Bongiovi felt he was the cause of this last melt down, of his wife, he would have to go fix it.

“It was nice meeting Cal’s little girl.”  Mr. Bongiovi said as he gave Colleen a hug and headed past Jon to leave the kitchen.

“It was nice to meet you Mr. Bongiovi.”  Colleen said with a smile as she folded the kitchen towel and placing it on the counter.

Mr. Bongiovi stopped on the way out of the kitchen, and turned to Colleen.

“Call me Mr. B Colleen, that’s what my friends call me.”  He smiled when she said she would. 

“She’s a keeper.”  Mr. B said as he passed Jon as he left the kitchen.

Jon nodded, his dad was right, she was a keeper.

Colleen was ready to leave, way before Jon was.  Not knowing what Mr. Bongiovi said to his wife, but not long after Jon and Colleen joined the family out on the porch, Mrs. Bongiovi used a headache to leave the family to wine and conversation.

The ride back to Colleen’s home was quiet, the girls seemed to understand that Miss O didn’t want to talk about what happened at lunch.  That night Jon called once they got settled. The twins were settled in with a movie and a bowl of popcorn, Colleen was prepping for tomorrow’s class when her cell rang.

“Hey, you just getting home?”  Colleen asked.  When she and the girls were leaving, Jon was still rounding up his kids to leave.

“Yeah, you’d thought that the older ones could remember where they put their keys, whereas the younger ones couldn’t find their game systems.”  Jon said as he leaned back in his office chair.

“See that’s where the twins were so easy to get to the car, they came empty handed.”  Colleen laughed.

Jon joined her in her laughter.  He could hear the girls in the background.

“Hey you wouldn’t let us bring ours.”  The twins yelled from the living room.

“Listen, I’m sorry about my mom. She’s,” Jon stopped, what could he say?  She hated Dorothea, she was going to ruin his career. She would lose him fans, no woman wanted their hot rock star to be married. 

“Protective of you?”  Colleen finished for him.  “I could tell, she doesn’t like me.”

“She was like that when Dorothea and I got back together, I guess protective is a good definition of my mom.”  Jon wasn’t surprised that, Colleen being a teacher, understood his mother. “She just needs to get to know you better.”

Colleen wasn’t too sure about that, the woman almost ran from the room, after hearing that her husband knew her dad.

“If you say so.”  Colleen tried to sound enthused.

“I wondered if you had plans for Thanksgiving.”  Jon wanted to make sure, this family dinner, hadn’t scared Colleen off.

“I’ll be in the Hamptons, It’s a family tradition.  We have a huge dinner at the bar and then watch the football game.  Why don’t you and the kids come, that is if your family doesn’t do a big dinner?”  Colleen closed her school planner and opened her family planner.  Colleen wondered how her brother and the regulars, would handle Jon and his family, probably better than his mother handled her.

Chapter 20

Colleen plastered on her best smile.  She wasn’t expecting a warm welcome because Jon had already warned her. But she really wasn’t ready for the look she got from the woman opening the door, somewhere between a snake eyeing a juicy mouse and a spider, trapping a bug in its web.

“Hello, Mrs. Bongiovi, I’m Colleen.”  Colleen was raised to show respect, but the look this women gave her. 

Jon pulled the door the rest of the way open. “Come on in Colleen, hey girls, the boys are in the den playing video games.”  Jon said with a smile. He reached for Colleen hand and eased her past his mother.

They walked into the family room, where the rest of the family was and sat on the sofa, Colleen started to relax.  He introduced her to Matt and Desie, then to, Tony and his wife.  They chatted for a while till Mr. Bongiovi came to tell them that the pasta was about ready.

“This must be the young lady we’ve heard so much about.”  Mr. Bongiovi said, always the gentleman he reached for her hand and kissed her knuckles.

“Dad, this is Colleen O’Sullivan, Jake’s English teacher.  Colleen this is my father.”  Jon introduced the two. 

Jon was mindful of his mother standing watch.

“Mom, this is Colleen, Jakes Teacher.”  He said as his mother went over to the two of them, on the sofa.

Looking down at Colleen, she attempted to smile at Colleen but it was one of the smiles, which never reached the eyes.  Mrs. Bongiovi came across, to Colleen, as a shark or a spider. Either of the two could be lethal   “Colleen, where did you two meet? Jonny hasn’t spoken much about where you two met.”  Carol Bongiovi had moved and sat in the only arm chair in the circle, as a queen on her throne.

“I met Colleen in the bar her family owns, in the Hamptons.”  Jon started to talk, but his mother cut in on him.

“I asked Colleen, not you Jon.”  Mrs. Bongiovi admonished her son, giving him a stink eye.

“As Jon told you, he came into my brother’s bar, I was tending,” Colleen told her.  “My brother’s wife was in labor so I took over that night.” Colleen looked over at Jon and smiled, like the two of them were sharing a secret.  “He stuck around till closing and offered to help clean up, if I would go out for breakfast with him.” 

“Where were the boys Jon?  You told your father and me, you were going down to close out the house.”  Mrs. Bongiovi asked

He hadn’t felt like this in a long time, the way his mother was talking. He felt like he was fifteen again and sneaking into the house after being in a bar till three in the morning.

“We were at Max and Dave’s house.”  Jake said as he came through the living room.  “Hey Miss O.” Jake said as he walked through, on the way to the kitchen.

“Hey Mr. J.”  Colleen smiled at Jake.  The girls must’ve told him, she let the girls call her Miss O.

“I brought Colleen to the house, since the restaurants were closed.” Jon told his mom, giving Colleen had a squeeze.

“He makes a pretty good omelet.” Colleen squeezed it back.  “We talked about family and ate till the sun came up, and I went home.”  Which is exactly what happened, even if by the look, his mother didn’t believe for one second.

His mother started to say something, when the front door opened and Stephanie and Jesse came in.

“Sorry we’re late, Jesse had to pack to head back to college.”  Stephanie went to her grandmother and gave her a hug.  Jesse, sheepishly, walked in.

“Miss O’Sullivan, you are really in for a treat, Grand pop makes the best sauce.”  Stephanie said as she sat on the other sofa. 

Jesse joined her on the sofa, between the stink eye from his dad and the one his grandmother was giving pops, it was like a stink eye war going on. 

They were saved by Mr. Bongiovi coming in to tell them, lunch was ready.

They moved into the dining room, where Mrs. Bongiovi watched Jon and Colleen.  Colleen got the feeling, she was being tested. Was she good enough to be in the same room with Jon?  She hadn’t felt like this since she was in high school.

The rest of the family made Colleen and the girls feel like part of the family, with jokes and the stories being told, that made Colleen laugh.  Every once in a while, she caught Mrs. Bongiovi eye and it was like she was still being stared at by a snake.

After dinner she helped clear the table, and it was just her and Mr. Bongiovi in the kitchen. He was packing up leftovers in containers, Colleen was washing dishes.

“Colleen, you said your family had a bar in the Hamptons?”  Mr. B asked.

Colleen placed the last dish into the sink of hot water, which he had just emptied.

“Yes sir, it’s right on the shore, O’Sullivans.” She added the clean plate to the drying rack. “My brother runs it now, since my dad retired and moved south.”

“Culan O’Sullivan wouldn’t happen to be your father, would he?”  Mr. Bongiovi leaned on the counter.  “He was a retired police officer.”

“Yep, that’s my dad, you know my dad?”  Colleen asked turning to look at Mr. Bongiovi.

“You know her father? Why didn’t you tell me?”  Mrs. Bongiovi asked. 

Chapter 19

Romeo looked at the papers and pictures in his lap.  There were forms, some of it looked like what they were learning in science class. His actual birth certificate, and what looked like a legal paper.  He looked over at his father, with a confused look on his face.

Jon, just at that moment, thought he might have pushed too much on Romeo, taking the first paper off the stack to look it over.

“This is a copy of the DNA results.  This row is your DNA, this one over here is mine and this one is your moms.” He folded the paper so they matched.  “It says ninety nine point nine to infinity, you are a Bongiovi.”

“But I don’t look like you, not like Steph, Jess and Jakey do.” Romeo looked unsure.

“Well that’s where the photos come into play.”  He took the photographs, shuffling them till he found the two, he was looking for.

“This is your two times great grandfather Sharkey.  I only met him once, when I was younger than you.  You look a lot like him.”  Jon handed him the old picture.  Then he handed Romeo another picture. “That is your great grandfather Sharkey.”

Romeo looked at both men in the photos, he looked like them.  He handed them back to his father and smiled.

“Genetics, we’re studying it in school.”  Romeo smiled really big.

Jon reached out and ruffled Romeo’s hair, well that went better than I thought it would.  He was still going to call Richie.

There was a knock on the door, Jake came to tell them the car was there.

They got to Mr. and Mrs. Bongiovi’s about thirty minutes before Colleen and the girls got there. 

Jon had reminded his mother, to be on her best behavior.  The look she gave him, would have sent anyone else to their knees.

As she stepped out of the car, Colleen looked at the modest home. You could still put two of her homes inside it, and have room left over.  She had reminded the girls to be on their best behavior. 

Jon heard the knock on the door, and went to open it. He was about to open it when his mother beat him to it.  She gave him another of her stink eyes.  The guys told him, his stink eye was famous. Where his mother’s stink eye, was lethal.

Chapter 18

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.  May 2018 bring you everything you need and want.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jon looked at his youngest son; his heart breaking.  To think that Ro had been holding that in for so long, he wanted to scream at Dorothea, for doing this to Romeo.

It wasn’t like he hadn’t heard the whispers.  “Romeo looks nothing like Jon.  Romeo, looks more like Richie than Jon.”  He knew Dorothea had affairs, the dojo instructor, the guy she ran into at the bookstore; one of the ‘friends’ she had at school. Richie, he didn’t know about, that’s one more black mark in the brotherhood, code of ethics. Seems that there was going to be a call to the west coast. 

“Come to the office so we can talk, ok Ro?”  Jon pushed away from the table.  He never knew when those files were going to ever see the light of day. Looked like today was going to be the day.

Romeo followed his dad. He would finally have the answers, which bothered him for years.  He heard it in school, you don’t look like your brother.  Then his mother’s rants, it just made him think about it more and more, was he not a Bongiovi?  Could he really be a Sambora?

Jon held the door open, and allowed Ro to come in. He sat in what he called the stink eye seat.  Jon went to the file cabinet, and brought out the file, he hoped would never see the light of day.  It wasn’t very thick, only having three or four pieces of paper in it. 

“Your mom, well, her sickness didn’t just start in the past few years.  It just got worse.”  Jon said as, instead of going behind the desk, he sat in the other chair next to Romeo.  “When your mom told me she was going to have a baby I was excited. I knew, that baby, was going to be our last one.  The doctor, he told us about this new treatment, would make it impossible for us to have more kids.  It broke your mom’s heart.  Then she started to blame me.”  Jon thought back on those horrific months.

“But pops, why would she blame you?  It was her drugs and her sickness, I don’t understand.”  Romeo face showed his confusion.

Jon remembered the day she was diagnosed with bipolar, manic depressive disorder.  She drugged herself to hide what was going on.  Touring and the fans, really got on her nerves.  The new meds gave her this Jackal and Hyde persona. 

“She blamed me for her having to be on the hotel road trip. For having fans hide in our room.”  Jon remembered one hotel that the walls were so thin, with Richie’s in the next room, having an orgy.  They had a huge blow up and he left and went into Richie room.  Dorothea, left the next day and that was their first break up.  But they made up, and she got her Dojo. That was the first time she took a lover.  “Your mom found someone to entertain her while I was on tour.” 

“She had a lot of friends Pops.”  Romeo told him.

“She sure did.  But she wanted to have more kids.  So for a few years, there were no more friends.  I took some time off, and it wasn’t long till Jake was born.”  Jon looked to see if Romeo was understanding.  “Then we had to go out on tour.  I came home as much as I could. Your grandparents took the Steph, Jesse and Jake for a few weeks and your mom came out on tour.  I could tell, she would be on and off her meds.  Then I heard, she was going to come off this one med, so she could have another baby.   I was excited when we found out it was a boy.”

“That was me, wasn’t it?”  Romeo asked. 

Jon took out the ultra sound photo and handed it to Romeo.

“That was your very first picture.”  He remembered how heartbroken Dorothea was, that it was another boy.  She had wanted one more girl, this was another stone around Jon’s neck.

Romeo looked at the ultrasound photo.

“Is it true, you were in London when I was born?”  Romeo handed the photo back to Jon.

“That’s right I was, but the jet was on standby, and I got here just minutes before you were born.” He remembered the inflight calls and being cussed out and called every name in the book. The car ride to the hospital was one of the longest he had ever ridden.  “I was in the room, when you came screaming into the world. I cut your cord and you peed on me.”  Jon smiled at the memory.

“Oh Pops.”  Romeo laughed.

“We hadn’t even gotten you home, when your mom, decided to tell me about how she spent her alone time.”  Jon got serious, and remembering the venom she spewed, in the earshot of his mother.  She had demanded that Jon get a paternity test, which he had been thinking, after all the accusations.

“Your Nana, was very mad.  She wanted me to test to see if you were my son.”  Jon watched Romeo closely, just to see how he accepted all this. It was a lot, even for a thirteen year old to take in.

“So you didn’t think I was your son?”  Romeo asked.

Jon took the final paper out of the file.  Handing it to his son and watched.

Romeo took the paper and began to read.