Water Ch. 165 - Holding On, To Never Say Goodbye

"You need to eat something, babe."   Jon says to her as she rolls over in bed. 

"I haven't seen you eat anything in two days."  He sets the tray down on the bed next to her.  He had the staff prepare her favorite breakfast foods, with juice and coffee.  "It's real coffee too." 

Beth yawns, stretches and then smiles at him.  "Mmm, real coffee.  Thank you."  She sits up and takes a cup off of the tray.  Sipping the hot coffee, she asks him, "Is it crazy downstairs yet?"  Jon leans over and kisses her, lingering because he had missed these moments with her.  For weeks he had to remember the way her lips felt on his, and then he gets the phone call.  Since he went to her in California, the kisses were different; until now.  Beth cupped the back of his head and whispered, "I love you."

 

That made him smile, from heart to lips. He took his coffee off of the tray and sat there with her. They got into New Jersey later than they had expected, last night. After the family came to the house and seen the twins and gave condolences, both Jon and Beth were exhausted. Rowan and Spencer were at home and they were at rest. The twins now lay in wake, at the Bongiovi house.

Jon hated to tell her, but she asked the question, he had to answer "It's getting to be a madhouse down there.  Flowers arrive every 5 minutes it seems like, the staff is cooking and cleaning - but it's all taken care of.  Don't worry."

"When will your mom and dad be here with the kids?"  She couldn't remember, she was so tired when Carol and John left last night.

"Stephanie is downstairs, sleeping next to her sisters.  She didn't leave.  Mom and dad should be here about 2:00." he explains to her.  He took the bowl of fruit off the tray and handed it to her.  "Eat, please.  I know you won't want to later."

Then it hit her.  Later, later was coming up on her pretty quick and that meant that she was getting closer to having to say goodbye.  Her heart races and she feels flush.  She looks at Jon and says, "I don't know if I can do this, Jon."  She starts to fidget.  She gets out of bed, grabs her bathrobe and takes off down the stairs. 

When she enters the formal living room, there they all are.  The three Bongiovi daughters, soundly sleeping while the rest of the world moves on without them.  Beth goes to Stephanie's side and sits next to her.  She's on the floor with many blankets, some that Beth recognizes as Rowan's and Spencer's.  She surrounded herself with pillows and slept just a few feet from her little sisters, all night long.  Beth didn't wake her, she just sat next to her, hoping that Steph would know that she was there.  Beth looked up at her daughters, who were dressed in matching dresses.  They each had hats on that Jon's grandmother made several years ago and were left to Carol when grandma passed.  All of Jon's children got one, Rowan and Spencer were no different.  Grandma made many hats over the years and hung onto all of them, she told Carol that she made all the hats so the future generations would have something from her, after she was gone.  Carol held onto them, knowing she would have many grandchildren.  She presented them to Beth and Jon last night, as a gesture and they could do what they wanted with them.  Beth walked up to the girls right then and placed them on their heads.  She was honored that they had such a part of such deep Bongiovi history.  They were accepted as Bongiovi's.

Jon had everything arranged back in New Jersey before Beth even went in for the procedure.

The Bongiovi Funeral home in Raritan made sure that the twins had all that they needed while they were home and for their final resting place.  Their casket was the prettiest and the most delicate of it's kind.  It was hand carved from a solid piece of white Italian marble, the padding and lining were custom made, hand spun and woven.  The funeral home was able to get their names embroidered in the lining.  It was beautiful.  Beth cried when she seen it, staged in the formal living room.  It was a gorgeous resting place for the girls.

Jon and Beth decided that they will be buried together before they were even 'born', it wasn't a very long discussion.  "They took on life together and lost life together, I want them to stay together Jon."  was all Beth needed to tell him when they talked about it.

 Jon agreed, "Each other is all they knew, they need to stay together." Was all the discussion that they needed to have about it.

Guests will visit during the afternoon today and later this evening.  Tomorrow, the interment will take place in the Bongiovi family plot, in Monmouth County.