Chapter 26

Waking to an empty bed, Jon sighed, shaking his head.  Last night, Dot’s first night back, they’d made love with the slow passion of a long-married couple.  Their enforced separation added spice to their night, as they were both still passionate lovers, and Jon had been on a severely restricted diet of ‘personal relief’ while his wife had been gone from him.

 

After the exhaustion had pushed her into sleep, though, Dorothea had woken early, her body still on European time.  God knew, it was something Jon was familiar enough with, though his decades of globe-trotting had given him a certain resilience against the effects of jetlag and changing time zones.  Dot, though, was dealing with it the only way her body knew how - by getting out of bed and searching out coffee.  Shaking his head again, Jon left the warm comfort of their bed and went to find her.

 

Stumbling through the apartment in his favorite robe - looking about as rockstar as your average garbage man - Jon found his wife out on the terrace, drinking coffee and chatting with an equally wide awake Stephanie.

 

“Hey!”  Jon said by way of greeting.  “Two beautiful ladies on my terrace!  How’d that happen?”

 

Steph rolled her eyes.  “Morning, dad.”

 

 

It was late that afternoon before Jon finally got Dot alone so they could talk.  The kids were out at various sports or, in Steph’s case, at her best girlfriend’s place, sharing tales of her European jaunt.  None of the kids would be home tonight, each sleeping over at a friend’s place, which suited Jon’s plans perfectly.  Not that he had much in the way of a plan, of course.  For the last few days he’d been racking his brain for how to do this, and he’d come up with zip.  Looked like the old-fashioned way - telling the truth - would have to do.  Pouring them each a glass of wine, he asked Dot to come sit with him in the living room, leading the way himself.

 

“That sounded ominous.”  She joked as they sat down, facing each other across the coffee table, concern growing in her when Jon made no smartass comeback, just sighing heavily.

 

“I need to tell you something, Dotty girl.”

 

She liked the sound of that even less.  That special pet name was one he very rarely used.

 

“And from the look on your face, I’m guessing you don’t think I’ll like it.”

 

“No.” 

 

Jon sighed it out, then forced himself to cowboy up.  This was most definitely a time to be a man, to face up and be honest.  A phrase he’d heard over in the UK flicked into his brain, seeming perfectly appropriate.  Time to put his cock on the block.  Yeah, and to pray Dot didn’t reach for an axe.

 

“Remember back after the ‘Jersey’ tour?  When we took off on the bike?”

 

“Of course I do.”  Hell, Dot thought, pretty hard for her to forget that period of their lives, all things considered.

 

“You remember how you sent me off alone?  How I lit out and disappeared for a few weeks?”

 

Dot nodded silently, waiting to see where this was going, and Jon ploughed painfully ahead, wishing with every word that he’d been man enough back then to keep his dick in his jeans, and not in Billie.

 

“I told you I spent a week or so living on a ranch, helping out.  What I didn’t…….what I didn’t say was that the rancher was a woman.”

 

Dot’s eyes narrowed.  Now, she was pretty sure she knew where this was going.  What she couldn’t figure out was why he was telling her now.

 

“Okay.”  She said slowly.  “And……?”

 

“And……..baby, I’m sorry.  I cheated on you with her.”

 

“I did wonder, at the time.”  Dot said.  “I mean, when I sent you off, you were……….you couldn’t……then you showed up at home and, uhh…….well, you were back to the man I fell in love with.  Kind of figured someone may have helped you over it.  Was a long time ago, babe.”

 

“Yeah.”  Jon grimaced.  She’d taken that pretty well.  Next part wasn’t likely to go over anything like so easily.  “Thing is, Dot……..okay, you remember the young kid who joined the Soul a few months back?”

 

“The one Stephy likes?”

 

“Shit.  Yeah.  Thing is, Dot…..”  Jon searched for a better way to say it, to perhaps reduce the impact of his betrayal, but he was coming up blank.

 

Slowly, he got off his couch and went around the low table to sit beside her, taking her two hands in his, looking earnestly into her eyes to try to help convince her of his sincerity.  Sincerity and abject apology.

 

“You know I love you, Dot, don’t you?  I’ve loved you since the day we met.  Loved you even when you were still with Gary, and each and every day since we got together I’ve loved you more.”

 

She was frowning now, sure that something bad was coming, and hoping desperately he wasn’t about to tell her he had some terminal illness or something.  Little did she know that, in a few short moments, she’d almost be wishing that was what he was telling her.

 

“Jon?”  Was all she said, and he looked down at their linked hands for a moment before steeling himself, his grip tightening as he looked at her again.

 

“Dot……the thing is……….that young player?  Jay?”  He swallowed hard.  “He’s……..aw, fuck….he’s my son, Dot.”

 

“Your……..he’s……….he’s your son?”  Her voice was incredulous as she snatched her hands away from his.  “Your son?!”

 

“I’m sorry, Dot.”  Jon said helplessly as she sprang to her feet, staring down at him like he was a stranger.

 

“Your son.”  She said again, her voice flat and angry.

 

“I didn’t know.  I never even knew Billie was pregnant.”

 

“And that makes it okay?  Damn you, Jon!  How long have you known?”  Another thought hit her, too many of them right now, slamming into each other in her brain.  “He’s the one who got hurt, right?”

 

“Yes.”  Jon answered her questions out of sequence, the anger on her face flustering him.  “I found out when he came to try out for the team.”

 

“Which was months ago!  You’ve kept it secret all this time?  You bastard!”  She frowned, her own childrens’ birthright threatened by this new-found eldest son.  “What does he want?”

 

“Nothing!  Dot, he doesn’t know.  Billie never told him.  Hell, she never knew who I was back then.  She never even knew my last name.” 

 

“So, let me get this straight.  A woman you barely knew - who didn’t even know your name, for God’s sake - and you thought it was a good plan to have unprotected sex with her?”  That shocked Dot almost more than anything else.  Sure, she knew full well that he wasn’t a saint when he was on the road, but he’d always been damned careful to protect himself.

 

“I wasn’t thinking straight.”  Jon tried to defend his stupidity.

 

“Not with the head on your shoulders at any rate!”  Dot snapped, her anger getting the better of her, pushing common sense out of her mind.  “I mean - for Christ’s sake, Jon!   I can’t believe you’d be so stupid!  Even back then.  For fuck’s sake, at least I’ve always had the damned sense to use…..”  Cutting herself off, Dot clenched her eyes shut, but she’d already seen the look in Jon’s eyes, and she knew she’d said too much as he stared at her in shock.