Chapter 74

Saturday dawned clear and sunny and the temperature promised to hover in the high 80s that day. The crowd at Central Park was going to be wilted by the time the show started, Cilla had no doubt.

She laid out her outfit for later before heading down to the kitchen. The shop was closed today and she wanted to get a start on the cake for Tuesday.

She had finally heard from Jon about the flavor. He had left it to her discretion. Some help he was she snorted. The big cake that she was going to carve into the shape of Madison Square Garden would be French vanilla sponge cake. It would be sturdy enough to handle the carving yet still tasty enough to eat. The other, smaller cakes that would make up the exits and the road would be lemon poppyseed with a blueberry cream filling and chocolate with a raspberry cream filling.

While her ovens heated she mixed and poured batter, singing along with Jon as his voice boomed from her radio. She could hardly wait for the concert. Moving her hips to the beat of the music she arranged the cookies in one of her signature flat pink boxes and set the cakes to cool. She glanced at the clock and picked up her pace. She needed to get back upstairs to get ready.

Tying the halter straps around her neck, Cilla couldn’t keep the small smile from her lips. She wasn’t wearing a bra and that little fact would drive Jon nuts. She fastened the pink sapphire at her neck and had just grabbed her sandals when a knock sounded and the door opened.

“Cilla! Are you ready yet?" Sid called out. "The car's going to be here any minute.” Jon was sending a car to pick them up so, to save a stop, they decided to meet at Cilla's apartment.

She poked her head around her bedroom door, “jeez Sid, give me a minute would ya?” She started back into her room and stopped. "Could you check the game?"

He was just turning the television off when she stepped out into the room. He looked her up and down, “They’re up by 14. And look at you. You actually managed to find something decent in that closet of yours.”

Smiling about the score, she looked down at the black halter top and short denim skirt, “so I pass inspection?”

“It depends.”

“On what?”

“On what shoes you put on those pretty little feet of yours.”

She held up a pair of wedge-heeled espadrilles. “Will these do?”

He looked over the shoes she was holding up and nodded. “Yes. Now get them on and grab your stuff."

Mark knocked on the door and poked his head in, "car's here."

Cilla looked over at him, "you could have come in with him Mark, you didn't have to wait outside."

Mark just shrugged, "I was watching for the car anyway. You look great Cil."

The closer they got to the park the slower the traffic moved and there was a mob of people waiting to get in. Cilla handed Mark and Sid their passes, “put these on and don’t lose them.” Jon had warned her that they needed to careful with the passes. They would get them backstage and he didn’t want them falling into just anyone’s hands.

When they got close Cilla called Jon.

“Hey, where are you?” He had been pacing and waiting; trying not to think about the Soul game and wondering just when she would get there.

Cilla looked around, “81st trying to get past the Planetarium. You should see the people out here.” The crowd was only going to get bigger. Sixty thousand were expected, at least.

Jon paced the room. “Sit tight Sweets, Kevin will get you here soon.”

“Okay Jonny. See you soon.”

Backstage the guys had congregated in Jon's area. Richie put a small white gift bag on the table. "Are they here yet?"

Jon shook his head, "not yet. Kevin went to get them and now they're stuck in traffic." He glanced warily at Richie, "do I want to know the score of the game?" He hadn't gone to the game, nor did he have it streamed to his computer or did he want to stay in his room and watch. He was too nervous about the outcome.

Richie clapped his hand on his shoulder, "relax man, they were up by 7 when I checked a few minutes ago. We'll be going to New Orleans at the end of the month, I can feel it."

Jon forced a smile; he didn't want to get his hopes up. "From your mouth to God's ear man."

The commotion at the door had them turning. Two tall good looking men and one beautiful woman filled the space in front of them. Jon tugged Cilla close, taking the box from her hands and stealing her breath with his mouth. "'Bout time you got here" he told her when he let her mouth go.

"Hey, do I get one of those?" Sid pouted playfully.

Jon looked over at him, "won't your boyfriend get upset?"

Mark smiled and shook his head, "just this once I'll let it go."

Jon walked over, sized Sid up, took his face in his hands and laid one on him, just missing his mouth. He stepped back and wrapped his arms around Cilla. Sid's eyes were closed and he hadn't said anything yet. "Is he all right?"

Cilla nodded her head, "yeah, he's just savoring the moment." She looked at her friend, over to Richie and then back at Jon. "He's also probably wishing Richie would do that to him too."

Jon chuckled and rested his chin on her head. "I'm not sure he could handle that today."

Cilla wiggled out of Jon's embrace, "where's the ladies' room?" She had gone to the bathroom before they left her apartment and now she had to go again.

Instead of just telling her, he took her hand and led her out of the room, walking with her down the hall.

Washing her hands, Cilla studied herself in the mirror. With a sigh she pulled her phone from her small purse. She couldn't put it off any longer. She made the call and left a message with her doctor's office. She'd hear back on Monday and make the dreaded appointment.

When she stepped out the door Jon took her hand and tugged her into his arms. They were alone right now and he wanted to steal a couple of quiet minutes while he could. Looking down at her he stroked her cheek with his thumb. The luck that gotten him where he was in his career had followed him into his private life and sent him this amazing woman. She had her bangs pinned back and her hair waved around her face. Her eyes were bright but he wondered if she was really okay. Her make-up couldn't quite hide the shadows under her eyes. "Everything okay?"

She nodded, not willing to tell him anything until she knew what was going on. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just excited about the show."

He slid his hands under her hair at her nape, his fingertips encountering the tie of her top and the soft bare skin of her upper back. He slid his hands lower, finding only the smooth expanse of her back under her hair. He dropped his forehead to hers and groaned quietly. "You do this to me on purpose don't you?"

She looked up at him innocently. "What?"

"Don't look at me like that, you know damn well what." He didn't believe that innocent look for a second. He slid his hand under the hem of her top, his fingers skimmed up her sides, lightly stroking the sides of her breasts. “You’re not wearing a bra again.”

“Oh” she gasped quietly at his butterfly light touch, “I was in such a rush to get ready I must have forgotten to put it on.”

“Right” he murmured against her cheek. Just as their lips met a quiet, throat clearing cough had them stepping apart and Cilla nearly cried at the loss of Jon’s touch as his hand slid away from her. Paul was standing a few feet away from them.

“Sorry. Jon I need to talk to you.”

Jon walked her back to where the others were and dropped a kiss on her lips. “Go on in and make yourself comfortable. Hopefully this won’t take too long.”

Settling herself in a chair she listened to the conversations going on around her. She was startled when Richie sat down next to her and put a small white gift bag on her lap.

“What’s this?” She couldn’t imagine why he would be giving her a gift.

David, Tico and Hugh had taken up chairs near her and Sid and Mark had the sofa across from her. “We wanted to do something for you since you were kind enough to send us all those care packages over the last six weeks.” Richie looked at the guys, “it’s from all of us and we hope you like it.”

Cilla couldn’t have been more surprised. “But you didn’t have to get me anything.”

The guys nodded, “we know, but we wanted to.” Richie urged her to pick up the bag, “go on, open it.”

She looked at the four eager faces and then over to Mark and Sid. Sid was smiling at her, “do what he said Cil, open the damn thing already.” He was dying to know what they had gotten her.

Pulling the pretty tissue out, she gasped when she saw the signature blue box and white bow. With shaking fingers she pulled the bow off and opened the box.

The white and pink stones glittered up at her. Her vision blurred and she blinked to clear it. It was a pin, a crown with pink and white stones at the tips. She was sure they were sapphires or diamonds set in gleaming white gold or platinum. It looked so delicate and fragile she was afraid to touch it. She looked up, her gaze landing first on Richie, then on to David, Tico and Hugh. “It’s beautiful, but it’s too much. I can’t...” she felt hands on her shoulders and looked up. “Hi.”

Jon looked down at her, “just say thank you and put it on Sweets. You’ll hurt their feelings if you don’t.”

She looked at the guys again, they were nodding their heads, a pout marred each of their faces. She had to laugh, how could she compete with the puppy dog looks?

Carefully she lifted the pin from its nest and pinned it just above her left breast. Standing she went to each man and kissed their cheeks. “Thank you. It really is beautiful. I might even have to wear it on my apron at work.”

She moved over to Jon, “do I need to thank you too?”

He shook his head, “nope. He touched the pin, “this was all their doing. Though if you want to kiss me anyway I won’t say no.”

She laughed and pressed a kiss to his cheek too.