Water Ch. 199 - I Call It Love, They Call It Living In Sin

Knocking on his office door, Stephanie peeks her head in, "Hey dad, what did you get Beth for a commitment present?"

 

His head pops up and his heart drops a few inches, with a puzzled look on his face he tells her, "I never gave it a thought." He stands up and pats his pockets, looking for his keys.  "I just found out about the ceremony today."  He stops and looks at Stephanie, this time there is a little bit of help me in his look. 

 

"Dad, there isn't time."  And she steps in his office with a bag behind her back.  She laughs at her dad and the panic look on his face and hands him the bag.  "She thought of everything, dad."

 

Jon takes the bag from his only daughter, looking at it he asks her, "What's this?"

 

"That is your present to Beth, I can't tell you what it is." she walks up to her daddy and kisses his cheek.  "Beth doesn't even know what it is."

 

"Okay, where is this from then?"  he puts his arm around her neck and pulls her into a head lock.  "What's going on here Steph."  He kisses the crown of her head.

 

"It's something that me and the boys picked out." Steph hugs her dad and continues, "She's going to cry, but they will be happy tears."

 

"When is she supposed to open it?" he asks his baby girl as he guides her out of the office and down the hallway into the family room where the rest of his children are. 

 

Stephanie plops down on the couch next to Jake, who was pretty deep into an episode of some cartoon.  "She can open it at the reception." 

 

"Dad, what do we have to do tomorrow?" asks Jesse, from behind the computer desk.  Peering around the monitor to look at his dad, "Do we really have to go to mom's for the weekend?"

 

Jon sat down in the overstuffed chair and address Jesse's concerns as honest as he could.  "Jess, I have no idea what you have to do tomorrow, I'm sure Beth will let you know and as for going to your mom's for the weekend, yes you do.  Beth and I are going away for the weekend."

 

Jesse gets up from the desk and loudly reminds his father, "Gone this weekend and then on tour in another week.  Real nice dad, real nice." And he leaves the family room.  In the hallway, he is greeted by Beth.

 

"Whoa.  What's up?" she can see that Jesse is mad.  "What's the matter Jesse?"

 

He huffs a second and stops to talk to Beth.  "I don't want to go to my moms this weekend and why does dad have to go back on the road so soon?" 

 

Beth, not sure what to do at this moment, leans over and asks Jesse, "Why don't you want to go to your moms?"

 

"Because, we'll go to moms house and then come home and then a few days after that dad will leave.  Are you going with dad?"

 

"On tour?"

 

"Yeah!"

 

She smiles at the young man that stood in front of her and she could see that he didn't want her to go.  "I am not planning on it, Jess.  Is that okay if I stay here?  You guys stay with me while dad goes on tour?" 

 

He gives her a sweet smile and admits to her, "I'd rather stay here with you than go to my moms.  I don't like it at my moms."

 

"Are you going to be okay for this weekend while your dad and I go on our honeymoon thingy?"  she tousles his hair and adds, "You can make it a couple days, can't ya?"

 

He's happy that he doesn't have to go stay with his mom for weeks on end and the tension that was building inside  him over the ceremony seemed to just fade away while he was talking to Beth.  "I can make it." he turns his attention to all of the madness that was going on in their back yard.  "What do I have to do out there tomorrow?  Do I still get to wear that suit you bought me?"

 

Beth places her hand on his shoulder and says, "Tomorrow all I need you to do is stand next to your dad and smile.  That is if you're okay with your dad and I doing this."  It hits her that they never talked about this commitment ceremony with the kids  She just started to plan and they joined her in the preparation.  The boys were young gentlemen when they were fitted for their suits and they participated in the planning.  "It would mean the world to your dad if you were beside him.  You, your bothers and your uncles."

 

"I'll be right next to my dad, in my new suit.  I get to wear that still, right?" he asks her again. He loves the suit that they picked out for him to wear.  Beth let the children help her pick the colors and she really listened to them when it came to what they were going to wear.  She asked their opinion and listened to what they said, and considered what they wanted.  In Beth's mind, not only was she committing herself to Jon, she was committing herself to his family, as well.

 

"Of course you get to wear your suit.  You picked that out, that's what you wear." she tousles his hair and continues with, "I need to go out and check on things, wanna go with me?"  She takes a step toward the back door and he follows her.  The two of them walked the grounds and Beth made sure that everything was being done as planned and on time.  All of her colors were being added and she loved the way it was all coming together.

The chairs were placed perfectly for the ceremony, with the view for the guest being of Jon and Beth, with the Navesink River in front of them.  The sun would be low, but it wouldn't be dark at 5:30.  The reflection of the sun on the river was Beth's favorite view out the back of the house.  The leaves are changing and Beth cannot wait to see a real New Jersey fall.  She loved the fall when she was a child growing up in Chicago.  Living in California, fall wasn't anything spectacular.

 

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Jon catches a glimpse of Beth and Jesse walking outside and he asks Stephanie, "Hey, Rose - how's your brother doing with all of this?"

 

"With what?"

 

"All that's going on.  The ceremony tomorrow,school, Beth being here all the time, me leaving on tour....all the crazy crap that's going on in our lives."

 

She wasn't sure how to answer her dad.  Jesse was having problems but it wasn't with anything that Jon mentioned.  "He'll be okay dad."

 

Jon knows his daughter well enough to know when she wasn't being forth coming with information.  She was a strong young woman that tended to take on more than she ever needed to as a teenage girl.  But she was a Bongiovi.  She thought that she could save the world and help anyone.  "What's bugging him?" Jon asks her as Romeo jumps up on his lap.  "Hey kiddo."  Jon turns his son around and sets him on his lap.  Romeo wanted to be silly, he was pretending to fall of Jon's lap and Jon would pretend to catch him.  Romeo would laugh and that warmed Jon's heart.  He kept the majority of his attention focused on his conversation with Stephanie.  "What's up with Jess?"

 

She knows that she can't keep things from her dad.  The father daughter relationship that they have is one that is envied by many.  She was his first born and is his only girl at this point - she has a special place in her dads heart and she would never jeopardize that.  But she didn't want to tell him what's bothering Jesse, she was embarrassed.  "Come here Romeo!!" she says to her little brother, with her arms open wide. 

 

"Stephanie." Jon firmly says.

 

"Dad, I don't want to tell you."

 

"What's going on with Jesse?  Is it a girl?  Trouble at school or is it something here?"

 

She shakes her head no.

 

"Is it Beth?"

 

"NO! He loves Beth.  We all do dad." she reassures her dad that it wasn't Beth, or Beth becoming a permanent part of their life. 

 

"Then what is going on with Jesse?" Jon gets up and walks to the windows.  He can see Beth and Jesse over by the archway.  Beth is animated, so he assumes that she is explaining to Jesse what's going to happen and where he is going to be standing.  While he stands there holding his baby, his beautiful son, Stephanie lets the conversation die down.  She's really hoping that her dad will get distracted or forget, although either are very unlikely. 

 

Beth and Jesse head back into the house.  Jon watches them walk over to the french doors that go into his office.  He doesn't normally allow anyone in his office, it's his space with his things but it was Beth and Jesse.  He let it go.  But he did not let the conversation that he was having with Stephanie go. 

 

Jon sits on the floor by Jake and still has Romeo in his arms.  He leans over and kisses Jake and says, "I love you."

 

"Love you daddy." Jake says, without peeling his eyes off of the television.

 

"Ok, what's up with Jess?  Will you please tell me.  If it's something that I need to take care of before I leave, I need to know." he pleads with the female version of himself.

 

"Dad, he seen your sex tape!" her hand goes over her mouth because at that time, Beth and Jesse walked into the room.