Chapter Sixteen

A few days went by and things seem to go by smoothly. Ellie wasn’t going to think too much about it only because if she did she would jinx herself. But the guys were getting along and that’s all she cared about. She and Jon were having their breakfast when Richie came down to get his coffee. Jon looked up from his iPad and looked shocked to see him up so early. 

“Oh my God It’s up.” he said as he cracked himself up while Ellie and Richie just moaned at his joke. 

“You know that’s still not funny every time you say it Kidd.” Richie informed him. 

“Maybe not for you but for me yeah. Besides you haven’t gotten up till at least twelve since you been here, what’s up?” he wanted to know as Ellie listened. 

Pouring his coffee and sitting down, “Well I haven’t been to my parents grave since I’ve been here and I thought I’d take a ride out to the cemetery to pay my respects then go into the city for a little bit and run some errands. Ellie do you need anything? Because if you do just write them down and I’ll pick them up for you.” Richie told her while sipping his coffee. 

“Oh that’s very sweet of you Richie but I’m fine Thanks. Maybe Jon might want to go with you? Sweetheart?” she turned to her husband. 

Looking at his wife with wide eyes and a sneer that would have made Elvis proud, he tried to get his point across to her that he didn’t want to go or leave her.  

“Baby I wasn’t planning on going anywhere today and I’m sure Richie has plans for today that don’t include me.” he turned to him now trying to get his message to him. 

Well Richie knew that Jon didn’t want to leave her alone but he really didn’t want company either. He did have things that he didn’t want anyone with him. “That’s ok Jon I really don't want anyone coming with me if that’s ok? I have a couple of places I need to go like I said and if you don’t mind I would like to be alone when I go there.” he told them respectively.  

“I’m sorry Richie I didn’t mean to intrude on your day. I just thought it would be good to get Jon out of the house that’s all.” she expressed her apologies to him as she tried to pass off Jon for the day. 

“Hey Darling you know I would but one: I think your husband wants to spend some quality time with you and two: you can never intrude on me ever! But I’m going to be doing some boring things and I really don’t need to hear from Mr. Crabs over there to hurry things along like he does when he gets bored.” Richie chuckled. 

“He does doesn’t he? Unless it’s something he’s shopping for then it’s a different story.” she and Richie laughed. 

Jon sat there listening to these two as they had forgotten, again, that he wasn’t in the room. “Excuse me! But I’m sitting right here! Do you two do this just to annoy me?” he asked them as they seemed to huddle and break in more giggles the more irritated he got. 

After their fun Richie told them that he probably wouldn’t be home for dinner so go ahead without him. This gave Jon an idea.  

When Maria came in Ellie gave her a list for grocery shopping and some errands to do. She was so grateful for her these days. She just wasn’t able to get out like she used to. That drove her crazy and losing her independence like this left her feeling useless. But she wasn’t going to do anything to hurt her family as they would kill her if she did.  

“Here you go Maria and Thank you again.” she told her smiling. 

“You know it’s not a problem. If you think of anything else just call me.” she told her as she saw Jon in back of Ellie directing her to the foyer. Ellie went to make her tea as Jon and Maria went to the front door.  

Jon quietly slipped Maria his list to her and asked if this would be too much for her to do. She told him of course not and will let him know when she pulls up. Jon smiled and thanked her as he went in and walked back to the kitchen. He stood in the door frame and just watched Ellie as she was finishing up her tea. He was really staring at her, every inch of her trying to remember everything about her. To him she looked as beautiful as the first time he saw her when he met her at sixteen. He was just thankful that they were able to get their second chance.  

Ellie had turned around and was startled when she saw Jon just staring at her. “God Jon you scared the shit out of me!” she shouted at him. 

Chuckling, “I’m sorry Babe, come mere.” he told her with his arms out stretched. 

“No.” she told him pouting.                                                                                                                             

“Oh so we’re going there are we? Ok.” he said as he sauntered over to her and gently took her chin in his grip and titled her head up so they were looking at each other eye to eye. She noticed something different about him. His eyes were a dark blue and his face was soft. Finally he leaned down and gently kissed her as if he was kissing her for the first time. 

Finally parting Ellie felt like her breath was taken away from her. They looked at each other lovingly and then Ellie asked him, “Wow what did I do to deserve that? I mean I felt that right down to my toes.” she smiled at him as she hung on to him.  

“Just because I love you. Saw you standing there and you looked so beautiful and the urge just struck me. Is that ok?” he asked her as he looked her up and down. 

“Um yeah but the way you kissed me Sweetie, that usually is for, well sex. We can’t do that, unless you want to chance it.” she asked him as she put her hands in his shirt. 

Taking her hands out of his shirt and smiling at her, “No Babe I just wanted to kiss you right now and just look at you. But I do have a surprise for you later so don’t worry about anything today. I’m taking care of everything.” he told her as she looked at him worried. “What’s the worried look for?” he chuckled.  

With a smile on her face now, “See no worried look maybe a concerned look.” she told him as she giggled a little. 

Jon gave her a little of the stink eye. “Ok why are you concerned?” he wanted to know. 

Now trying to hold the giggles in but couldn’t she tried hard to get thru this. “Well the last time ...and I think you might be trying...to make me dinner...is that we had to put out a fire...on the stove Honey.” she now just let loose. 

Shaking his head,” Yeah burning down the house is really funny. But I was doing it out of love you know.” he was pouting now. 

“I didn’t say I didn’t appreciate it. I was able to salvage the food and make a nice meal out of the rest of the steak and veggies didn’t I?” she asked him as she walked right up to him now and wrapped her arms around him. 

“Yes you did Baby. I believe I thanked you for that.” he told her as his hands roamed her backside. 

“I don’t think this is waiting till later Jonny.” she told him now smiling evil. 

“Your right, we need to stop before I can’t. You know I Love You.” Jon told her. 

“Of course I do, and you know I Love You. It’s going to be ok Jon.” she told him as he bent down and kissed her on her forehead.  

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Richie had left the cemetery feeling somber. He missed his folks but felt grateful that he had the best parents ever and that they put up with his shit. He chuckled getting in the car the Bongiovi’s loaned him. Sitting for a bit he knew he was very lucky. They knew he had this talent and dream so they backed him all the way. Richie finally pulled out and headed towards the local music shop. He would always drop by as he knew the owner and see what they had for guitars, amps, all new equipment because he was on a list to display new instruments. 

Pulling up he got out and looked around. Luckily it wasn’t crowded which he liked. Walking in he went to the back of the room where they displayed all the music in different forms. He was glad that records and CD’s had come back. He never got the hang of these chips. How they could put a whole album on them was beyond him.  

Ted came out of the back room to check on a couple of the new hires when he saw Richie. He went up to him and slapped him on his shoulder. “Sambora you old dog how have you been?” 

Turning around smiling, Richie was glad to see his old friend. “Ted you Son-of-a-Bitch. I’m doing good.” he said as they shook hands. 

“I didn’t think I’d see you for another couple of days?” Ted asked him wondering. 

“Yeah I know but I had to get out of the house. It was closing in on me.” he told Ted uneasy. 

“Yeah right. You still have a thing for her don’t you?” Ted nail it on the head. 

“Ok you got me.” Richie admitted to him. 

“Does Jon suspect?” he asked him. 

“He probably does but because of Ellie he’s playing nice.” Richie said making quotation air marks. 

“You do know if Jon finds out this time he’s going to kill you.” Ted told him shaking his head. 

“I know. Look did you get that thing I wanted or not?” he needed to know. 

“I said I’d get it didn’t I. Come on back I have it there. You really do have a death wish don’t you.” Ted shook his head as they headed to his office out back. 

In Ted’s office, “Now the only reason why I asked you why I did this is either she would have gotten this for herself or Jon would have. But you? This is definitely going to show how you feel about her. Just saying.” Ted said again. 

“Can I just see it please.” Richie said as he was getting really annoyed now. 

“Sure, it’s in this box. If you like I’ll charge you ten percent more over the price I paid my guy for it seeing you’re a friend and that it’s for her. Because I can get so much more for it.”                                                                                    Ted told him smiling.                                                                                                                                                                                        

“Well I appreciate that. Oh you did bring someone with you to authentic it right?” he asked him hoping. 

“Of course I did. In fact look at this.” Ted said as he opened the box and turned over the fabric to show Richie the faded stamp inside it. 

“Well Son-of-a-Bitch.” Richie couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Ted took out the paperwork to prove it was the real deal.  

“Told you. You want to try it on?” Ted ask him knowing full well he did. 

They took the cape out of the box and Richie put it on. He twirled in it and of course he did the stance. 

“Well what do you think?” Ted asked him. 

“This is awesome. The full-length Eagle Cape that Elvis threw into the audience at the Aloha Hawaii concert. I can’t believe the owner wants to sell this.” Richie wonder. 

“Well it’s not the original owner's it’s one of their relatives who got it probably when the owner died and isn’t a Presley fan just a fan of money so their selling it. Goes on in most families.” Ted explained to him.     

“I’m just glad that you heard about this before they put it up on the Internet or the Auction block. “Richie told him relieved. 

“You’re just lucky I still have my spies. But what I paid for this and since you’re a friend I’ll give it to you for ten percent more than what I paid for it. I still need to make a little profit from it. And what I calculated what it’s going to cost me in taxes. Oh and I want cash right?” Ted reminded him. 

“I’ve got it don’t worry I just came the from the bank.” taking it off. “I just need to put it in the car and put in in storage. Ava said she’ll be here next month and she’ll wrap it up for me and we can give it to her for her birthday. Then she’ll quickly open the front door so I can run out to the car and high tail it out of there before Jon can kill me.” Richie chuckled. 

“Well you better because he catches you you'll be walking with a limp.” Ted told I'm laughing. 

 Richie just gave him the finger and took the box with him after he paid Ted. He knew this was going to be trouble for him but when he saw it up for auction and then verified to be the real thing he knew he had to act fast before someone else had a chance to snatch it up. He called his daughter to make sure that she was coming in the next few weeks  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

    Ellie had finished up a phone conversation with her daughter’s Stef and Rachel as they usually did a conference call so Ellie didn’t have to repeat herself. She went into the kitchen next to make herself another cup of tea when she heard the front door open. Before she knew it Richie walked into the kitchen smiling and saw her standing by the counter and walked over to her and kissed her on the cheek. 

As Ellie turned around smiling  at herself, Richie pulled out a beer from the frig.   

“So you're in a good mood. I take that your day went good?” she asked him as she went and sat at the table. 

Richie followed her and sat beside her. “Yeah it was very productive. Went to the cemetery and paid my respects to Ma and Pa and did my errands. Even had a bite to eat. So how was your day without my pleasant personality.” he grinned from ear to ear. 

“Well I had a lovely talk with my daughters. I swear they have to know every move I make. I get it I really do and I love them for it. But it’s more fun to hear about them than rehash what’s going on with me. Richie you have to promise me something.” she said to him. 

Looking at her a little worried now, “Yeah sure what is it Darling.” 

“Just promise me that you’ll look after Jon when I’m gone ok? He’s going to try and be all stoic but he’s going to fall apart when it’s quiet and there isn’t anyone here. I just need to know that he’ll be alright. You both love each other. Don’t make me bring that up again. I’ve never been jealous of your relationship with him and I know it was still going on when I came back into the picture. You were his right-hand man. I need you to be his right-hand man again.” she told him almost begging him. 

Richie took her hands in his. “Ok I’ll do my best to be there for him. But I have a gut feeling he’ll fight me all the way, but I’ll be there.” he told her holding them tight. 

“Thank You.” was all she said when Jon entered the kitchen. 

“What the Hell is going on here?” he asked suspiciously.  

Ellie just rolled her eyes and Richie was about to say something but Ellie beat him to it. “Oh my God we are just talking Jon. You were never jealous before until Richie kissed me. And even then I told you had nothing to worry about. But me? With all your infidelities? I had to suck those up and if I threatened to leave you oh my God you would freak out on me.  Like I was the one that made the mistake. You’re just lucky that I love you and those damn faces you made at me worked half the time.” she told him smirking. 

Jon was irritated but he knew she was right. He wasn’t proud of what he did but it did help that he cut out the hard booze.  

“Ok I’m sorry that I jumped to conclusions. Rich did you have a nice day? How’s that?” he asked them. 

Ellie just shook her head as Richie just laughed and answered,” Yeah it was very productive. Thanks.”  

“So Honey what have you been doing? I saw that you were locked in your office after dinner.” she asked him curious. 

“Yeah I had some things I had to get done Babe. Nothing for you to worry about.” he told her as he sat down too. 

“Well I’m going to let the two of you go. I do have some phone calls that I do have to make. Oh by the way Ava is coming out she wants to see you if that’s alright and I told her that we’re having the birthday party for you so she thought that would be a great time to come.” he told both of them.   

“That would be a great time and I would love to see her. But I just want to keep it family Jon ok?” she stressed to him. 

“I got it, don’t worry. But I hate to tell you just our family alone makes it a mob.” he leaned in and kissed her. 

“Oh I know just our family alone Mom and Dad realized when we all got together as their family grew into a mob. Too bad they didn’t know what jerks they were going to be.” Ellie said a little sadly. 

Jon looked at her and thought he would make a last-ditch effort. “You sure you don’t want me to tell them what’s going on?” he asked her again. 

“You know I don’t. Besides they really don’t care. Plus when they give you flak about it I’ll be gone so I won’t care.” she told him smiling. 

“Oh oh if I could I’d spank the hell out of you for leaving me in this crap...” he said to her in his seductive face that he would use on her to initiate sex. She loved the way he would look at her even when they got older. He didn’t seem to see the lines or the grey hairs. He only told her that he would see his Sweet Sixteen-year-old Sweet Heart before him all these years. Now she could have call him on all his crap but she really felt the same way about him. Because all she saw was her Handsome Sixteen-year old that swept her off her feet so he might be right in that. Plus she always loved his grey hair when he decided that he was going to let it grow out. For some reason that always turned her on how handsome he looked with his grey hair. But she told him if he just grew it out just a little bit that would probably drive her nuts. So he did. But in her book he could have gone bald and she would love him just the same.  

Turning around to face him she smiled evilly and said to him, “Well Mr. Bongiovi what if I jumped up and  ran from you huh? What would you do?” she asked him smirking. 

Not thinking she was funny and not playing anymore only because he wasn’t sure now if she wasn’t going to do it, “Well if you do we’ll see how far you get before you drop and have that heart attack on me. Then if you don’t and I do catch you we’ll see if that damn spanking I’m going to give will do the job.” he said harshly. 

She didn’t like being talked to like that. So looking at him she tried to keep her temper in check when she talked. “I was just kidding with you. I can’t kid with you anymore? The last time I tried you did this too. I’m getting tired of this Jon. We use to tease each other all the time. I know it usually led to sex but I know it can’t. And right now I’m wondering where all your energy is going. Are you having an affair? Is that why you don’t want to touch me?” she asked him mad. 

Now Jon was getting frustrated as well. He was just as sick and tired as she was about fighting all the time about this. But now she added a new problem to it. “Ellie are you kidding me? I’m not fooling around on you. Oh my God! I don’t want anyone else but you Baby. I love you. I haven't fooled around with anyone in what decades. I have been true to you because you are the only one I've ever wanted. I saw what I was doing and that I was hurting you and I swore I wouldn't do it anymore. And if you think that I don't want to touch you then you’re out of your mind.” he told her as he had her hand in his. 

She didn’t know what to believe. He had told her this all the time when he had gotten caught. She thought to herself ‘Couldn’t he wait till the body was cold?’ Jon could almost see the wheels turning in her head. He knew that wasn’t good. She was just so upset that everyone was walking on egg shells with her. When all of a sudden she started to feel a pressure in her chest. Now this wasn’t anything new because this would happen from time to time. Plus she was upset so this didn’t surprise her. And she never told Jon when this happened. She had told her doctors but not her husband only because she knew how he would react.  

She looked at him and said, “I need to pee.” so she got up and walked out towards the bathroom in the kitchen. She went into the bathroom and went thru the cabinet where she stashed some of her nitro pills. She opened the bottle and took one and put it under her tongue. Then as she was waiting for it to work she did her business and washed up. She waited an extra few minutes just to make sure they were working but she still felt the pain. Damn. So she took another one. As she was waiting Jon was getting antsy He was wondering why it was taking her so long. Well he wasn't going to wait any longer and he didn’t care if she was mad at him for checking on her.  

Walking in the kitchen he paced for a minute until he got the courage to knock on the door. There was no answer. He knew she was in there because he could see the light on from under the door. So he knocked again. “El? Are you ok Baby?” he asked now getting worried that she wasn’t answering him. Now she could be just mad at him so that’s one reason and the other reason was she was passed out on the floor. So now he was getting really upset. So he started banging on the door yelling. “ELLIE DAMN IT ANSWER ME!” he was screaming.  

At this time Richie walked into the kitchen as he was looking for a snack. He heard Jon yelling and wanted to know what was going on. “Jon, JON! What the hell is wrong?” he nervously asked him. 

Turning around, Richie saw the concern on his face, Jon said, “Ellie is in there and she won’t answer me Rich but I think there is something wrong.” he told him as he was holding back tears,  

“Well there is only one thing we can do break it down. I’ll do it I don’t think your knees are the greatest still, or your shoulders. Plus I’m bigger.” he smiled.  

”You always throw that in my face.” Jon said trying to lighten the mood.  

“Wait till we get her out and then say that huh.:” he smiled. Richie moved up to the door and put his shoulder up to it and gave it a good shove then two and then on the third as it popped open. Jon shoved him aside not really meaning too to get to her as she was lying on the floor half unconscious. He saw the bottle of nitro pills in her hands and showed them to Richie.  

“I’ll call nine one one.” he told Jon and ran to his phone.  

Jon tried to see if he could get her to talk to him but she was to out of it. But she was still breathing and as long as she was doing that he was happy. Richie told him they were on their way and told them that she was a heart patience. Jon asked him if he could stand by the front door and let them in and then show them where they were, He told him no problem. Once he left Jon just kept telling her that he loved her and not to go anywhere not yet. He had so much more to tell her. So please stay so he could.