Chapter 19
It was mid-afternoon when Jesse woke. She got up, dressed – Richie had left one of his shirts for her to wear – and headed to find Richie. Walking through the house and hearing how quiet it was, she realized he wasn’t home yet and decided to take advantage of being alone.
Finding her cell phone, Jesse went back to the den, sat in the recliner, and opened her phone. She searched through the contacts and found who she was looking for. Pressing send, she waited.
“Damnit!” she mumbled. Then, “Kevin, it’s me. Give me a call please. I need to talk to you about Stevie.”
She closed the phone just as Ashley walked in.
“Hey. Where are the guys?”
“I guess they haven’t gotten back from the school yet. Richie gave Stevie’s class a pizza party.”
“Ah, that’s so sweet. Jesse, Richie has really jumped into this whole relationship and what’s up with Stevie calling him ‘Daddy’?”
“When did he do that?”
“This morning at breakfast.”
Jesse closed her eyes against the headache she was beginning to get over the thought of talking to Kevin about all of this. Opening her eyes, she explained to her best friend what was going on with Stevie and Richie.
“Jesse, that’s really heavy duty commitment. What about Kevin?”
“I just left him a message to call me. I guess I’m going to see him while we’re in LA this weekend. Do you mind keeping Stevie while I’m with Richie?”
“Not at all. Do you think Kevin will give you any problems?”
“I don’t know. I hope not because I honestly think Richie will go off on him if he does.”
“Is Richie jealous?”
“No, he just doesn’t like that Kevin isn’t involved more in Stevie’s life. He also thinks Kevin took advantage of me as a fan.”
“He’s right…Kevin DID take advantage and I’m sure you defended him.”
“Yeah, I did.”
Ashley shook her head, “Kevin’s good looking but he’s a dawg for what he did to you! I bet he won’t even care that Stevie is being harassed at school.”
Jesse looked down at the phone in her hands but didn’t say a word. She had had such a crush on Kevin but no where near the way she felt about Richie.
Ashley saw how Jesse reacted so she changed the subject. “Do you know what Richie is going to have Tony do?”
“Got it bad for him, don’t you?” teased Jesse.
“He grows on you,” blushed Ashley.
“Yeah, he does. Richie said he’s going to leave him here to help me until I join the tour in Atlanta.” Hearing a car pull in, she looked out to see the guys returning. “They’re back.”
The guys came in laughing and playing with Stevie and the girls greeted them.
“MAMA! It was soooo cool at school! Daddy played his guitar and sang for us.”
“Way cool,” smiled Jesse as Richie wrapped his arms around her from behind. “I take it you had fun then?”
“Yes ma’am!”
"Did you thank him?”
Stevie bounced to Richie causing him to let go of Jesse so he could pick him up. “Thank you, Daddy for the pizza party and playing your guitar!”
“You’re very welcome.”
“Can I go out and play on my swing set, Mama?” asked Stevie with his arm around Richie’s neck.
“Do you have any homework?”
“No ma’am.”
“Stay on the swing set!”
“Yes ma’am,” he replied as Richie set him down. He tore out of the house leaving his things on the floor.
“I’ll go with him,” offered Billy.
“Thanks,” said Jesse as she picked Stevie’s stuff up.
Ashley took it from her as she said, “We’re going too!”
Tony and Ashley followed leaving Jesse and Richie alone. Richie motioned for her to move to the den and they sat together on the couch.
“How long have you been up?”
“Ten, fifteen minutes….not long.”
“My shirt looks good on you.”
“Thank you for leaving it for me.” Jesse reached for her cell phone and handed it to him. “Look.”
“At what?”
“Recent calls.”
Richie pulled up her recent calls, saw Kevin’s name, and looked at her. “You called?”
“I tried but I just got his voice mail so I left a message for him to call me.”
“Are you okay?”
Jesse thought for a minute, then looked up at him. “I’ve never been better. It feels right, Richie…like earlier, when we were in bed.”
“I’ve never really believed in destiny or fate. I’ve always believed you had to work for what you wanted in life but something….fate, destiny, whatever you want to call it, brought you into my life.”
“But if you hadn’t asked me to have a drink with you….”
“You had to come to the photo gallery to start with, baby. That’s what I'm talking about..”
“I don’t care what it was,” said Jesse. “I’m grateful to have you in my life.”
Richie hugged her tight. “Me too, Jessica.”
* * * * * * * *
Across the county, driving down the highway, his cell phone went off. Looking at the caller ID, he hit ignore and put it back in his pocket.
“Who was it, Kevin?”
“Business, babe. I’ll take care of it later when I’m in my office.”
His heart was beating rapidly and his eyes watered as he reached over to take his wife’s hand in his. He glanced up to see the blonde-haired boy in the back in his car seat. He had protected them the best he could but at what cost?
