Chapter 66

The pop of a plastic bat meeting a plastic ball mixed with a child’s shout of glee greeted Cilla as she stepped out onto the porch. Jon was standing in the middle of the wide expanse of grass playing baseball with his boys.

Romeo was standing on first base, his face a mask of delight at having hit the ball. Jake was standing at home plate, plastic bat in hand, waiting for his father to toss the ball to him. “Nice job Ro” he called out to his brother. "Come on dad, throw the ball!"

As she watched Jon with his boys a pang of bittersweet longing filled her heart; she would never know this kind of unconditional love. No! She shook her head. I’m not going think about what I can never have. She looked over at Jon and smiled, she would dwell on what she did have.

Jon turned his head; he could feel her eyes on him. He smiled and winked at her before turning back to the game. Tossing the ball to Jake, his laugh mingled with Jake’s shout of “yea!” when the ball was hit right back at him and he dropped it.

Tearing her attention away from the game, Cilla set her laptop on the table and sat down.

“Hi Cilla.”

Startled, she turned, surprised to see Steph lying on the chaise. “Hi Stephanie, it’s nice to see you again. How are you?”

Steph smiled, “I’m fine.” She went back to the fashion magazine she was thumbing through.

Cilla sighed and opened her laptop, rubbing absently at her back as she waited for the computer to boot up. She might as well get a little work done.

Jon looked over to the porch. Cilla was clicking away at her computer, the screen shielding part of her face. She could have easily passed for one of Steph’s friends. Her hair had been pulled into a ponytail high on her head and her tank top and shorts were much like what his daughter had on today. Although his thoughts toward Cilla were anything but fatherly.

His gaze slid across to his daughter, she was stretched out reading a magazine. At least she was outside. Jesse, he was sure, was holed up in his room in front of his computer or whatever video game he was into at the moment.

“Hey!” he called out. “Do you two wanna help me out over here? These guys are kicking my butt!”

Cilla looked over at Stephanie, “what do you think?”

Steph looked out at her father and brothers then smiled conspiratorially at Cilla. “I think we can take all three of them,” she held out her hand to Cilla, “come on.”

By the time Jo came out with their lunch Jesse had joined them and Cilla, Jake and Steph were behind by one run. Cilla swung the bat and missed. Jon waited while she retrieved the ball. "Thanks for the breeze babe." Smiling, he wiped his arm across his forehead. "We needed that; it's a bit warm out here today."

Cilla threw the ball at him, "stuff it Bongiovi and give me a pitch I can hit!"

The kids were all laughing and Jon just raised his eyebrows at her, "tsk, tsk, that's not very sportsmanlike Sweets."

She stuck her tongue out at him and took a practice swing, "just throw the ball."

The bat connected with the ball this time and whizzed past Jon's head and somehow landed right in Romeo's hands.

"You're out!" Jon laughed.

Cilla frowned, "I see that." She turned her attention to Romeo, "nice catch bud."

He beamed at her, "thanks!"

After they put the baseball paraphernalia away Jon hoisted Romeo up to his shoulders and led the group up to the porch for lunch.

Jake and Romeo chattered all through lunch about what they wanted to do while they were with their father. “Dad,” Jake asked, “can we go to the beach after lunch?”

While the guys headed to the beach, Cilla and Steph lingered on the porch. Stephanie set her magazine down and sighed. She still wished her mom and dad could have stayed together. She looked over at Cilla. At least she’s nice. She hadn’t tried to force herself on them either. Thank God.

The last woman her dad had been with had been all honey, sweetie, let’s do this, let’s do that together, come on, it’ll be so much fun. Steph shuddered just thinking about it. She hadn’t really been in to her dad either. She just wanted to be with him so she could say she was with him.

Cilla, though, she seemed more like her mother in some respects. She just wanted to be with her dad because she liked being with him, not because of who he was. She stood and moved over by Cilla, she hadn’t seen her dad look at anyone the way he looked at Cilla either. And she made him happy. If her mom and dad couldn’t be together anymore he should at least be able to be happy with someone else. Shouldn’t he?

“What are you working on?”

Cilla looked up, surprised to see Steph standing there, “the design for a cake, a surprise for your dad; and a surprise for Richie for his birthday.”

Steph smiled. “A surprise for dad, can I see?”

Cilla pulled out the chair next to her, smiled and angled her laptop so Steph could see, “just don’t tell your dad what I’m doing.”

~

When Jon got back he found Cilla in his bedroom, stretched out across the bed, asleep. He hated to wake her but they were going to need to get ready for that dinner tonight. Creeping up on the bed he gently pulled her hair away from her face and stroked her cheek lightly with his fingers.

Today had been a good day. The kids seemed to really like Cilla; even Romeo had warmed up to her. He wanted her to stick around, maybe even for the long haul and that couldn’t happen if his kids didn’t like her. They may not love her yet, but at least they liked her. That was a start.

He stroked her cheek again. “Sweets.”

Her eyelids fluttered open. “Oh you’re back.”

He leaned in and gently pressed his lips to hers. “How long have you been asleep?”

She rolled and stretched to look at the clock, “an hour. We have to get ready, don’t we?”

He pulled her against him, “in a few minutes.” He kissed her again.

She pressed back from him, “you’re all gritty. You need a shower.”

He laughed and rolled off the bed, pulling her with him, “come on, you can wash my back for me.”