Chapter 246

The next day, Tori had another visitor. Joan looked uncertain as she joined Tori on the porch. “Hi. Is it okay for me to me here?”

Tori took a deep breath. “Of course! Have a seat.”

Carol walked out with drinks and a plate of cheese and crackers. Tori started to struggle to her feet. “Carol, you didn’t have to do that. I could have done it.”

Carol waved her to her seat. “Sit. Relax. It’s no problem.” She set the plate of cheese close to Tori and pointed a finger at her. “Eat!”

Tori saluted her and picked up a cracker. Carol snickered. “Smartass.”

“I’m a Bongiovi aren’t I?” Tori retorted.

“Yes, you are.” And it’s about time we saw more of that.

When Carol had left them alone, Joan turned to Tori. “First of all, I’d like to say up front that I’m not here to make excuses for my son or plead his case – although he did ask me to check on you. He’s going to have to find his own way out of the mess he’s created. I know him better than anyone and I can honestly say even I’m astounded by the depth of his stupidity. I don’t know where it came from. I raised him better than that.” She paused to take a sip of her drink.

“I don’t blame you.” Tori assured her.

“As I said, I’m not here to make excuses – there are none, but I think I may be able to help you understand what was going on in his head.”

“That would be nice, because I’ve been trying to figure it out for two weeks, but nothing makes any sense to me.”

“It started back from the time the band made it big. Richie was always drawn to the glitz and glamour of the celebrity life. Jon was the face of the band, so Richie had to find his own path to the limelight. He gained notice by the women he dated. Some were nice enough, some made me shudder. Cher concerned me at first, but she actually taught him a lot about life in the spotlight and how to deal with the vultures. I always knew that they wouldn’t last. Then came Heather. Within a short time I knew she was going to be different. I could see it in the way he acted around her.” She hesitated. “I’m going to tell you something that I’ve never told anyone – not even Richie. Something about her didn’t sit right with me from the very beginning. It wasn’t anything that I could put my finger on, she just seemed.....fake to me. Like she was always playing a role. And I didn’t like what I saw happening with Richie. He was going along with all of her wishes. When Richie told us they were getting married, Adam and I hid our reservations and wished them happy. But she wasn’t what I wanted for him. I wanted him to find a strong, loving woman who would support him and help him without something having to be in it for her other than love – like Jon did. Someone like you. But Richie was obviously in love with her and if she was going to make him happy, then so be it. When Ava came along we were thrilled. It looked like Richie had been right. Then things started to go downhill. Heather didn’t want more children – sometimes we weren’t sure she wanted Ava. That was becoming a breaking point for Richie. Well, you know how badly he wants more children.”

Tori smiled slightly and rubbed her stomach. “Yes, he made that very clear right from the beginning.”

“When she finally called it quits, I wasn’t exactly unhappy – except for the way she did it. That little manoeuvre showed her to be the selfish, uncaring coward I always suspected she was. She didn’t care one bit about Richie’s feelings. Even through Adam’s illness, she didn’t provide much support for him or even for Ava. No, I can’t say I was sorry to see his legal ties to her broken.” She paused for another sip. “Richie knew that Adam and I weren’t huge fans of hers, and he wanted to prove us wrong. He saw the divorce as failure. His failure. He didn’t deal with that well. Then came Denise. Well, let’s just say that I’m very glad he came out of his fog and realized what a mistake that was. I’d thought that after he’d met you and seemed to know right away that you were the one for him, that he’d gotten over his feelings around the divorce. But after this….apparently I was wrong.”

Tori frowned. “So what you’re telling me, is that you think that his going back to Heather is so that he doesn’t feel like a failure for their marriage falling apart?”

Joan nodded. “Yes I do. By the way, has anyone told you that he hasn’t gone back to Heather?”

“Yet. After all, my side of the bed’s hardly cold.”

Joan shook her head. “Mark my words. The only woman he wants sharing his bed is you. You walking out has shaken him up. Brought him back to reality, so to speak. He has to keep on speaking terms for Ava’s sake, but he won’t be travelling down that road again. It’s a dead end.”

“How is Ava? She was pretty upset when I talked to her the other day.” Her eyes flashed blue fire. “Do you know that he hadn’t told her anything, and got her to call me to ask when I was coming home? When I told her I wasn’t, she wanted to know why and begged me not to leave. It broke my heart to hear her cry.”

Joan sighed. “I’m sorry he put both of you through that. If he was here, I’d smack him myself. Stupid idiot!”

Tori chuckled then sucked in a breath. “Oh.”

“What’s wrong? Is it the baby?”

“Yes, it’s the baby, but nothing’s wrong. Peanut’s just doing a little mid afternoon aerobics.” Tori assured her.

Joan chuckled. “Can I feel?”

“Sure.” Tori took her mother-in-law’s hand and set it on the spot where a little foot was tap dancing.

Joan smiled. “Strong kicks.” Tori nodded ruefully. “Just like his father.” At Tori’s raised brow she continued. “Richie always had big feet. Sometimes I thought he was going to break one of my ribs or so some serious damage to my organs the way he stomped around in there.”

Tori laughed. “Great. Something to look forward to over the next couple months.”

Joan grinned, then sobered. “Tori….whatever happens between you and Richie…I hope that you’ll let me see you from time to time.”

“Of course! You’re Peanut’s Nana! I’ll always want you to be a part of our lives.”

“Thank you.” Joan hugged her. “I’d better get going. If I can do anything for you, let me know. And if you have any questions, give me a call.”

“I will. And Joan….thank you. You’ve given me a lot to think about.”

“As I said there’s no excuse for his behaviour, but maybe now you can understand where it’s coming from.” She smiled. “Of course understanding doesn’t lessen the urge to strangle him.”

Tori grinned. “At the very least!”



When Joan got home she immediately picked up the phone. “Richard? You are my son and I love you, but right now I could slap you for what you’ve done to that poor girl!”

Richie sighed. “I know Ma. How bad is she?”

“From what Carol told me, she’s a little better. She’s got some spark back. But she’s confused and hurting. By the way, what the hell is this about you getting Ava to call her and ask when she was coming home? Richard how could you?”

At the other end of the line, Richie squirmed. “She won’t take my calls and I wanted to talk to her. I knew she’d answer if Ava called.”

“And what about what that did to Ava? You didn’t tell her what was going on. She had to find out that way? And Tori had to tell her? Where is your head lately? You finally provide your daughter with a solid family life, then you rip it out from under her through sheer stupidity, then instead of sitting her down and explaining what was happening you try to take the coward’s way out and make Tori tell her. Real good parenting there Richard!”

“Frankly I was counting on Tori not wanting to to tell her and acting like everything was okay. Give me some hope that the situation wasn’t completely beyond repair. I didn’t tell Ava because I was hoping that I could get Tori to talk to me and sort everything out and get things back somewhere near where they were and I wouldn’t have to tell her anything. I didn’t want to hurt her too. I already broke up one family on her, I couldn’t bear to see the pain and disappointment in her eyes again. She loves Tori so much.”

Joan sighed. “Are you going to try to fix this or are you just going to sit on your ass in L.A. and let the best thing that’s ever happened to you walk out of your life forever?”

“She won’t talk to me! What am I supposed to do?”

“Do you want to be a part time father to another child?”

“No!”

“Then use the sense that God gave you, practise your grovelling and DO SOMETHING! Sitting around and feeling sorry for yourself isn’t going to get the job done. If you want your wife back, you’re going to have to fight for her.”