Chapter 259

Tori ate her dinner, fed Stevie, changed him and walked slowly around the room with him stretching her legs now that there was room to do so. Stopping by the window, she looked out at the city lights and sighed – partly in relief at the quiet, partly with a twinge of loneliness. “Looks like it’s just you and me for awhile Peanut.”

A knock at the door had her turning. The sight that met her gaze had her eyes widening and her stomach clenching. She started to tremble as anger rushed through her body, and she quickly moved to put Stevie in the bassinet.

“I’m not here to cause any trouble.”

“Oh I think that you’ve done enough of that already Heather.”

“I know and I want to apologize for that.” She waved at a chair. “Can I come in? I’d like to explain what happened.”

“What makes you think I want to hear it?”

“Because you love Richie, you have a deep sense of fairplay and you have a new baby that deserves to have a happy family around him.” Heather studied Tori for a minute. “Can you tell me that you’re not at least a little curious about what I have to say?”

“I’m more curious what your motive is for telling me.”

Heather nodded. “I deserved that. But honestly, my only motive is to set the record straight. I didn’t want you to blame Richie for something he didn’t do. He doesn’t deserve that…and neither do you.”

Tori sat on the bed and waved Heather to a chair. “Are you telling me that he didn’t meet with you behind my back for three months trying to decide whether he wanted to stay with me or go back to you?”

“No. That part is true. But it’s only part of the story. I’ve done some things in the past that I’m not very proud of.” She took a deep breath. “After my hospitalization last June, the medication they gave me made me feel better and the therapy I started made me realize how badly I had treated Richie and how stupid I was to let him go. So I set out to get him back. I got him talking through our issues – something I should have done before filing for divorce. But instead of it bringing him back to me, it just highlighted our problems. I wasn’t far enough in my therapy to see that I was as much – if not more – to blame as he was. He saw that nothing had changed and he married you.” She paused. “The DUI wasn’t an accident. I didn’t take enough to endanger anyone, just enough to get the attention I was looking for – both from the media and from Richie. I knew that when it hit the news you would come home, even from your honeymoon, to be here for Ava. I figured once I got him back in L.A., I could use our past, our daughter and our issues – his addiction and my depression – to forge some common ground. For awhile I thought it had worked. You’d gone to New Jersey and he stayed in L.A. with me.” Her lips twisted into a wry smile. “I didn’t take into account the Bongiovi stubbornness and temperament. You saw what I was doing and turned it around and used it against me. That was very clever. Then you got pregnant, and I knew I was running out of time. If I didn’t get him away from you before the baby was born, I never would. When you missed Ava’s soccer game when you were sick, it was the perfect opportunity. I gave him this story about how my therapy had helped me so much and made me see how wrong I’d been, and got him to agree to meet with me one or twice a week. The strange thing was, the longer I stayed in therapy, the more I came to understand my own actions and how they affected everyone around me. My doctor helped me take a good, hard look at myself and I didn’t like what I saw. I realized how selfish and self-centred I’d been, not only in my marriage, but with my daughter as well. I was – and am – determined to change that. But as hard as I was trying I felt Richie slipping away from me. At the beginning, I really thought I had a chance to win him back, but as time went on, I could sense that it wasn’t going to happen. By the time you left, I was expecting him to tell me it was over for good any day. When you left he was devastated.”

She leaned forward. “He loves you Tori. I think more than he ever did me.” Tori raised a brow. “I’m serious. You’re a better match for him than I was. Although maybe it took everything we went through for him to really appreciate you and to understand that he didn’t need the fame and glitter and all the trappings of my life to be happy.” She studied Tori for a moment. “We didn’t sleep together. I tried, I won’t lie to you – obviously, you saw the pictures. After you left I even thought I was going to succeed. But he couldn’t go through with it. When I tried to move it beyond kissing, he froze and pulled back. He said he couldn’t do that to you, but beyond that he didn’t want to. You were the only one he wanted.”

Tori sighed. “Whay are you telling me all this?”

Heather smiled wryly. “He’s made it very clear that he and I will never work. I have accepted that. Whether you take him back or not, he won’t be coming back to me, and he’d be hard pressed to find anyone as good for him as you are. You make him happy. And you know when to be tough with him. He told me about how you helped him through his DUI mess. You didn’t coddle him like everyone else has – myself included -, making excuses for him. You made him accept responsibility for his own actions, then helped him deal with his problem. And you’re good with Ava.” She frowned. “When you left, she…..well, she was heart broken. She loves you very much.” She glanced up revealing tear filled eyes. “Do have any idea what it feels like to have your own child miss someone more that she ever missed you?” Tori looked at Stevie, and couldn’t imagine it. Reaching for a tissue Heather blew her nose. “I know I haven’t been the world’s best mother, but I do love her. I’ve already destroyed her family once, I don’t want to be responsible for destroying another one.” The tears overflowed. “I can’t bear the pain in her eyes.” Tori didn’t look convinced. “I don’t blame you for not believing me. I haven’t treated you very well either. I want to apologize for my behaviour at Thanksgiving. That was rude and unacceptable.”

Tori shrugged. “I felt bad for Jack. I understood why you were doing it to me, but to do that in front of him was just plain cruel.”

“I know. I’ve apologized to him too. For everything.”

“And where does he fit into all of this?”

“In the dark for the most part, just like you were.” She leaned her head back and closed her eyes. “I think I’ve lost him too.”

Tori wouldn’t be surprised. What man would stand by a woman who obviously thought he was second best. Or vice versa for that matter. She would have spoken, but Stevie chose that moment to wake up. Sitting on the side of the bed, she pulled the bassinet to her.

Heather watched as she changed his diaper. “He’s the spitting image of Richie.” The baby’s eyes opened. “Except for the Bongiovi blue eyes.”

Tori smiled despite herself and nodded. “Yeah. Dorothea’s a little disgusted at how strong that particular gene is.”

“He’s going to be a heart breaker.” Heather smiled sadly. “He’s beautiful Tori. I don’t know what you’re going to decide about your marriage, but take it from someone who’s been there. Think carefully before you throw it all away. You may not realize your mistake until it’s too late.” She stood and walked to the door where she stopped. “Tori…if you decide to give Richie another chance….I know we can never be friends, but I hope that we don’t have to be enemies either…for Ava’s sake.”

Tori studied her for a long minute, then nodded. Heather started to turn away. “And Heather?” She waited until the other woman turned back to face her. “Thank you….for telling me all this.”

Heather nodded. “Oh, one more thing. That picture the other day? It was taken when Richie came to pick up Ava. I know it looks like we were holding hands, but I was just handing him some jewellery of Ava’s. It was perfectly innocent. Richie didn’t do anything wrong. Take care of yourself Tori. And your family.”


At the induction ceremony, Jon was giving a thank you speech, and glanced at Richie standing beside him. “Why don’t you tell everyone why your wife’s not with you tonight Rich.”

Richie tried to keep a straight face. “Well, she would have liked to have been here, but she’s in the hospital.” The crowd murmured. “She’s alright.” He grinned. “She gave birth to our son yesterday.” The crowd applauded and cheered.

Jon clapped him on the back. “Well go on…tell them his name.”

“Yes Uncle Jon. Stephen Adam Sambora weighed in at eight pounds seven ounces. Mommy and baby are both doing well.”