Water Ch. 152 - Kings Ransom In Dimes

 

 

Jon put all of the kids to bed before he headed back to his office, to take care of some bills and other things that required his attention.  Powering up his laptop, he looks over his shoulder at the picture of Beth and Romeo.  He smiles a half smile and suddenly misses her even more. 

 

Logging into his email, he sees the email from Beth.  He forgot that he got it earlier, since he was busy being a dad.  He has a new rule, no business from 4pm to 9pm.  That's the time that he blocked off for his family.  And however hard it is, he makes it a point to make it work.  He remembers something that Beth had said about Brian, there were things that they didn't do that she wished they made time for.  He won't look back and wish he had spent more time with his children.  As of late, he's the only consistent thing that they have had in their lives.  His children, even the unborn ones come first.

 

He clicks on her email and reads the few lines that she bothered to send.  He sees the word GIRLS and he instantly starts to cry.  The woman of his dreams is carrying his twin daughters.  He cannot contain himself.  He picks up the phone and has to call her.  She doesn't answer, even though she sees that it's him.

 

"Hi babe, sorry I missed you.  I just got your email.  We're having girls.  Baby, that's awesome.  Please call me, please.  I need to hear your voice and I want to know everything that the doctor said.  I love you and miss you tons.  Until next time."  And he hung up.

 

He wondered where she was, or was she just screening her calls?  He had an idea.  The kids will be with Dot for the weekend, maybe she will meet him upstate at the house that they own together.  A weekend with just the two of them.  To talk, spend time together and figure out how they are going to co-parent 3000 miles from one another? 

 

Replying to her email, all it says, with a picture of the house:

 

Meet me there tomorrow night around 8:00pm.

I love you.  Jon

SEND

 

And he went back to the business at hand.  He was looking over the financial statements that Beth had done for him before she left, with good potential investments and other information that Jon liked to keep up on.  He also had a copy of his will.  He is making the changes needed to add his unborn daughters, to give them an equal share of his estate, upon his death.  He is also rewriting it to remove Dorothea from inheriting everything.  His will is conditional for her, for the welfare and the upkeep of his homes and the care and support of his children.  She no longer stands to inherit it all.  He plans to refile for divorce and get on with his life, without Dorothea and it's looking like without Beth too.  And THAT breaks his heart.  When he's done making notes in the margins of his will, he checks his email to see if she Beth has responded, and she hadn't.  It was late, he was heading to bed.

 

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Beth had just finished eating her dinner.  A healthy order of Chinese food from her favorite Chinese restaurant. She thought that she might read a little bit.  She had just bought the "What To Expect, When You're Expecting Twins" book and she was excited to learn all that she could about what she was going to experience.  Taking care of her dinner mess, she grabbed her glasses and a bottle of water and headed into her living room.  A room she hasn't been in in a very long time.  She gets comfortable on the couch and starts to read, when something caught her eye.  Across from her, in one of her chairs, she sees a toy car.  It must have been Romeo's, from when they came and spent some time with Beth.  She smiled, getting up to pick up the little car.  With it in her hand, she takes her  spot back on the couch and starts to read. 

 

The into was boring to her, that must be why she let her thoughts wander to the little car that she held in her hand.  She wondered what Romeo was doing, how he was doing with Beth gone.  Was Dorothea home and how well was all of that going?  She thought of the email that she sent Jon, and she thought that maybe he replied to the newest one?  She got up and logged onto her laptop that was on the kitchen counter.  She read his response, and slammed the screen closed.  How can he ask me to meet him at the house?  How can he think that I would even do that?  The last three weeks have been great for Beth.  Her head was clear and her heart was healing, and she knew it would take forever for it to heal all the way.  A part will always be missing and a part will always be broken.  Leaving the car on the counter, next to her laptop, she takes her book and heads into her bedroom.  It was a little too early for her to go to bed, but it was late enough for her to climb into bed.

 

After her pajama's are on and she is ready for bed, she pulls the covers down and sits down.  For some reason, her thoughts went right to Jon and the house in upstate New York.  Why does he want me to meet him there?  She gives up, she can't read now.  Her thoughts keep going back to Jon.  She was really starting to miss him, specially after today.  She wishes she could have held his hand when she learned that they were having daughters.  She wishes she could have called him and given him the news.  She has a lot of wishes and she knows that some will never come true, to not fault of her own.

 

Laying back on her bed, she feels her heart ache and the lump in her throat stat to swell.  She can't stop the tears.  Tears she hasn't cried since she went back to California.  She didn't want these feelings to surface, she felt so much better acting like she was over him, and over them.  She needed to act that way, it was the best way for her to deal with all that had gone on.  The tears flowed and her heart ached until she feel asleep.  Her day was one filled with happy emotions and it ended with a shock. Jon wants her to fly to New York.  What is she going to do?

 

She woke up in the middle of the night, due to the chill in the Malibu air.  She realized that she had fallen asleep on on top of the covers.  She needed a drink of water, so she walked into the kitchen to get one.  The light on her answering machine caught her eye.  'Crap, Jon called earlier.  I forgot he left a voicemail.'  So, she listens to it.  She didn't realize how much she had missed his voice.  She can picture him, leaving the message.  But in her mind, he's in a white t-shirt and blue jeans - in is office.  She knew he called from his office, that's the number that showed up on her caller ID. 

 

She left the message and walked back into her bedroom.  No matter what she tried, no matter how she laid - she could not get comfortable and fall back asleep.  It was 12:30 in the morning, maybe she couldn't sleep because she slept for the last 6 hours - or was it Jon's voice and email that was keeping her awake. 

 

T.V. did very little to distract her, even less to help her relax.  Laying still for too long, the twins wake up and decide that it's time to play.  She lays there and enjoys every kick and every punch - with each kick and punch and roll, she wishes Jon was there to feel it and see it.  And now that she knows that they are girls, she pictures them to look very much like Stephanie.  Beth wanted Jon at her side.  She missed him and she missed those children of his.

 

With a deep breathe, she reaches for her phone that's on her bedside table.  She finds his contact and presses it.  Her hands are shaking and her heart is racing, when she realizes that it's 3:30 in the morning there.  Quickly, she hangs up, after it had rang twice.  She sets her phone down on the table, quickly, feeling like she had done something wrong.  And just a few seconds later, it rang.

 

The contact came up as SEXY AS HELL.  She had a mild panic attack and grabbed the phone, pressing accept.

 

"Hello."

 

"Why did you hang up?" he asks her, half asleep.

Beth feels like an ass, waking him up, "I seen it was 3:30 there, I didn't want to wake you."

 

"I'm glad you called.  How are you?"

 

"I'm good, how are you?" she asks him.  She can hear that he's moving about, so she figured that he was setting up in bed.  "I'm sorry that I woke you, Jon."

 

"Babe, it's okay.  What's up?" he assures her that he's okay with the middle of the night call.

 

"Jon, I got your email and your voicemail.  I just wanted to say hi and let you know about the doctor visit today.  Do you want me to call you back tomorrow?"

 

"No, no - tell me about the doctor visit.  How do they look?"  Beth can hear the smile on his face and hear the relief in his voice.

 

"Well, our girls are perfect, Jon.  They are active and growing like weeds.  I have pictures that I can send you."

 

"Tell me more, please." he pleads, wanting to know every detail.

 

Beth goes on with, "Their measurements are perfect and they are right where they need to be, growth wise.  Heartbeats are very strong and so are they.  I think they are boxing right now.  How are the kids, Jon?"

 

"The kids are back to school, and they are doing great.  Stephanie misses you the most.  She asks me everyday if we have talked, and I have to tell her no.  She was mad at me for a little while, but I think she understands that we can't be together, right now."

 

"Will you tell her hello for me?" Beth asks, assuming that he will.  His response shocked her and she didn't know how to respond.

 

"I'm not telling her that we talked.  That would only upset her again.  I had a hard time when you left and I'm not ready to do it again." He explains to her the best that he can.  He's still half asleep and groggy, but he doesn't want to hang up.

 

"Is Dorothea home?  Wait.........I'm sorry I asked that.  Forget I did, it isn't my business, Jon." and she tries to take her foot out of her mouth, she feels like a tool.

 

"It's okay Beth.  Yes, she is home, under 24 hour care.  She's doing better, I see her every day."  And Beth feels her heart hit the floor.  She didn't see that one coming. 

 

"Oh, every day?  Is she with you now?  If she is, I am so sorry to wake you."

 

"Babe, she is not here.  She lives in SoHo.  I'm in Jersey.  She watches the little ones when I have things to do during the day.  That's the extent of it.  I hired her round the clock care, so she's never alone.  Her therapy seems to be working, tomorrow she gets the kids for the weekend - her first alone time with them."

 

"Wow, really.  I'm surprised you allowed that to happen."

 

"Well, I've see leaps and bounds in her progress and I think that having them will help her in the road to her recovery.  She needs to see what she almost loss."

 

"I agree Jon.  You don't need to explain that to me.  It's your kids, you will always do what's best for them.  How are your mom and dad?"

 

"Mom and dad are great.  Mom will freak out when she learns that we're having girls, she will be so happy.  Dad has been busy travelling and playing golf."

 

Beth feels that she is running out of small talk, so she'll just get right to the point.  "Jon, why do you want me to meet you at the house?"

 

He's quiet for a minute and tells her, "I swore to you that I would be completely honest with you, so here goes.  I need to see you, I want to see you and when I thought of the best place to do that, OUR house was the best place I could come up with.  At either of your places, you have memories with Brain.  At my houses there are memories of Dorothea.  I wanted to meet you somewhere that had just memories of us.  Beth, I miss you so much."

 

"I miss you too Jon, more than you know."

 

"Can you get away this weekend?  And meet me in New York?"  he really wants her to.  He just wants to hold her in his arms and never let her go.

 

"I'm not sure that I can.  I need to check my schedule.  I'm pretty sure that I had something on Saturday, but I can't remember what it is.  I'll let you know." she tells him, hoping that it's okay.

 

Jon says what he doesn't want to say, but with his new mindset, he has to say it.  "We can forget about it.  Maybe another time.  I just wanted to see your face and hold you.  We can schedule something when you know that you have free time."

 

"Jon......"

 

"Beth it's really okay.  Another time." and she hears him yawn.  "I got to get back to sleep.  The alarm goes off in 2 hours.  It was great talking to you, Beth.  I love you.  Good night."  And the line goes dead. 

 

She sat there, unaware of what just really happened, but she got the feeling that Jon was getting over her and he wasn't going to play her game.  She could go, or not.  He will not beg her and he won't aske her again.