Chapter 74

“Are you going to let him speak to me that way?!” Therese looked from left to right between her brother and husband, obviously waiting for someone to defend her against this bold-spoken man.

To her dismay, Richie was the only one who answered her question.  “What way?  With honesty?”  

Realizing that she was evidently on her own for defense, and she blurted out the first thing that came to mind.  “You don’t know her!  Who are you to say ANYTHING?!” 

“I’m the man who loves her and knows that only a handful of women could come through what she has with as much grace and poise.”

“Rich, I think that’s enough,” Jon warned his friend.

“What?  You know it’s true.”

“He’s right Therese,” Michael told his wife.  “What’s done is done.  It’s time to move on.”

“Well doesn’t THAT just sound like the easy thing to do?  Michael, we have to stand firm here!  We can’t let the rest of the world tell us what’s right!”

Jon was completely exasperated by the absurd arguments his aunt was spouting off as though they were written in the Good Book itself.  Nothing that came out of Therese’s mouth even remotely made sense, yet she wasn’t slowing down for anything, or anyone.  Maybe some of her own attitude would make an impact. 

“My God Aunt Therese, LISTEN to yourself!  You sound like a shrieking harpy!  THIS is what I was trying to avoid by calling you last night.  What the hell has happened to you?  What happened to the sweet, considerate woman who encouraged me to do what made me happy?”

“It was different with you.  You weren’t promised to a higher purpose.  Frannie needs to be a nun!”

“That’s HER choice to make, not yours!”  he bellowed back at her.  “Get over it already!”

“Don’t you tell me to get over it!  That choice was made long ago!”

“Richie,” Dot’s voice interrupted from across the table.  She nodded toward Allegra.

Now that he’d shucked all visible restraint, Jon was absorbed in making his aunt acknowledge reality and paid no attention at all to his wife and best friend.  “It’s either get over it or drive yourself crazy.  From the sounds of it, you may already be past the point of no return!”

Richie followed the direction of Dot’s gaze to Allegra’s seat on his right.  She had been unusually quiet, and the reason for Dot’s concern was immediately obvious.  Allegra’s face was white as a sheet, features drawn in obvious discomfort. 

“Sunshine?  What’s wrong?”  His brows knit together with concern and he rested his hand between her shoulder blades.  Richie kicked himself for not ensuring that she took her pain medication prior to this delightful family get-together.

“Nothing.  I just need to go to the ladies’ room,” she murmured with a small smile, excusing herself from the table.   “I’ll just be a minute.”

“I’ve had about enough of your disrespect John Francis Junior!  You think you know so much, mister hotshot?  Well you have no idea!  Frannie could still go back and take her vows!”

Carol’s tolerance level plummeted to zero and she added her voice to the cacophony.  “Therese, he’s just trying to speak SOMETHING that will get through that thick skull of yours!”

Jon neither needed nor paid attention to his mother’s support.  “I guess she COULD still take her vows – as long as chastity is optional,” he announced sarcastically, causing Therese to gasp theatrically and cross herself.  Dot pinched his thigh, twisting the captured skin painfully, until he slapped her hand away, hissing, “Dammit Dottie, stop it!”

“Bite your tongue!” Therese ordered, pointing her finger accusingly at Jon.

“Why?!  So you can live in la-la land a while longer?  I’m here to tell ya the maiden voyage has set sail!  NOW can you get over it?”

“ENOUGH!”  John Senior thundered, causing the water glasses to jump when his fist hit the table.  “I’m embarrassed to be associated with this spectacle.  No more!  Therese, not one more petty word or action.  God rest their souls, our parents would be ashamed of your behavior here tonight, toward both your child and the Sambora family.  It’s inexcusable.”  He directed his scowl at his son.  “And do you honestly think that was the least bit appropriate?”

“The truth hurts,” his son mumbled, rubbing his thigh with an accusing glance at Dorothea.

“John, you may be my older brother, but you aren’t going to order me around anymore than these… these… egomaniacs!”  Therese rose with every intention of making a grand exit, but her husband’s voice stopped her dead in her tracks.

“Sit down and shut up, Therese,” Michael ordered firmly, causing her jaw to go slack with surprise.  He met her eyes unerringly and dared her to contradict him when saying, “We are going to politely finish our dinner, asking everyone’s forgiveness for the unpleasantness here tonight.   The rest will be resolved later – in private.”

Michael was generally a quiet man, who let his wife do most of the talking – especially in any type of social setting.  His interest was usually minimal at best, and definitely not enough to spend the time and effort contradicting his outspoken wife.  In their forty years of marriage, he’d NEVER spoken to her that way in their home, much less in a room full of onlookers – which was why she dropped back into her seat without a word. 

John Senior gave Michael an approving look as his sister simply stared at her dinner plate.  He broke the ensuing awkwardness by mentioning the upcoming Sixers game.  Carol picked up his cue and asked Dorothea about the plans for Romeo’s birthday party next week.

Richie sought Jon’s eyes across the table, trying to feel out if this was just a lull in the storm, or if it was really over.  His friend was no help.  With a slight shrug, Jon just took a deep swallow of his wine.  Feeling dismissed, Richie sighed and spoke to Joan in a low voice.  “Ma, I’m sorry if I embarrassed you.”

“Richard, you’ll never embarrass me by doing what’s right.”  He’d shared Allegra’s background and recent issues with her parents when inviting her to join them this evening.  She patted him on the cheek with a look of pride.  “You’re a good man, and I hope she appreciates you.  You’ll make pretty babies together.”

He laughed, pushing down the sick feeling that followed his mother’s off-handed words.  “It’s a little early to be starting down that road, don’t you think?”

“I know you, and how much you want children.  All that’s been missing is the right woman.  Any fool can see you’ve made up your mind that she’s the right woman, so it’s just a matter of time.”

“Allegra is different, Ma.  Just making up my mind doesn’t mean she’s going to go along with it.”

“And that’s even better.  You’ve had women falling over you far too long.  It’s hard to appreciate what you haven’t had to work for.”

Loretta quietly echoed the sentiment and they proceeded to give him well-intentioned encouragement and advice.

Allegra took a deep breath before re-opening the door to the private dining room, still not feeling well.  Crossing the threshold, she found the room in near silence.  That was odd, considering they were screaming when she’d had to excuse herself.  Feeling just a little off-balance, she resumed her seat and raised a questioning eyebrow to Dot, who merely rolled her eyes and shook her head.

“You okay?”  Richie murmured with a kiss to her temple. 

She nodded, whispering, “What did you do to her?  She’s so quiet.”

“It wasn’t me.  Your dad told her to sit down and shut up.”

“Oh good grief,” she muttered.  “I can’t believe I allowed this to happen.  I knew she couldn’t behave herself.  I have to apologize to everyone.”

“Don’t you dare.”  His fingers gripped her knee firmly so she couldn’t stand.  “She’s the one who needs to apologize – mostly to you.”

“Richie, you don’t understand.”

“I understand there’s a proper time and place for everything.  She could’ve chosen a better time and place for her behavior.”  His lips twitched with unspoken humor.  “Oh, and speaking of inappropriate time and place, Jon may have announced that you’re no longer… chaste.”

“He did what?!”  Up until that point, their exchange had been kept to low murmurs between the two of them.  Her outburst had everyone looking up from their plates, and she bore her eyes into Jon’s across the table.  He had the nerve to just smirk at her.

“Don’t worry, sweetheart.”  Joan reached across her son to pat Allegra’s hand.  “I think your mother was the only one shocked, but no one thinks badly of you.”

She sank into her seat, the blood once again draining from her face.  Would this night ever end?

Despite her reservations, the night did ultimately end.  Her mother gave Allegra a stilted and shook hands with the Sambora family, but her father was much more congenial.

“Richie, thank you for taking time out of your schedule for this.  I’ll rest better knowing the kind of man my daughter has chosen for her first dip into the dating pool.  Fiercely protective is a good thing, as far as I’m concerned.”

Richie grinned and shook Michael’s hand.  “I’m inclined to agree with you, but I bet Allegra doesn’t share that opinion.”

Rolling her eyes, she admitted, “I don’t hate it as much as I used to, but I still rather be the protector, not the protectee!”  She poked him lightly in the chest with an affectionate smile.

Michael looked on with a nod of approval.  “Allegra, we need to talk.  Soon.  Your mother will try and explain her… overzealousness.”  He carefully pulled her close, wrapping his arms around her in a sweet hug, and her muscles relaxed for the first time that evening.  She really did love her parents when her mother wasn’t being insane.  “Without yelling.  I promise.”

“Thank you, Daddy.”  She beamed at him, placing her palm against his cheek.  “I love you.”

“I love you too, sweetheart.”

♫  ♥  ♫

“So what do you think your mother’s explanation will be?”  Richie asked, slipping off his jacket and hanging it in the closet. 

The ride back to the house with Jon and Dorothea had been tense at first.  She still couldn’t believe Jon had announced her sexual status to the entire table, and let him have it as soon as the car doors closed. 

Richie, however, thought it was funny.  He was the only one who’d been able to fully appreciate Jon’s flippant tone, the look on her mother’s face when she crossed herself, and Jon’s face when Dot pinched the hell out of him.  By the time he’d filled in all those vivid details…  Well, it was hard not to laugh.  Eventually all of the vehicle’s occupants were cackling with what was either true laughter or relief that the ridiculous ordeal was over.

That still didn’t solve the mystery of the bug up her mother’s butt.

“I honestly have no idea.  The best I can hope for is some deep, dark family secret that keeps me in servitude to the church in exchange for a life-saving organ.  Or something.”

He laughed in surprise.  “Where the hell did THAT come from?”

“Like it’s any less strange than how she’s been acting?  It’s better than thinking she’s nuts.  Help me get this top off?”  She had two days before she had to become a full-functioning human being again.  He wouldn’t be here to help her with her hair and clothes then.

“You know I love getting you out of your clothes,” he purred, only to have her huff at him.

“Yeah, so you can see these oh-so-attractive green and purple bruises.  What a turn-on.”

“I’d be a sicko saying they were a turn-on, but it’s not the bruises I focus on darlin’.  It’s the beautiful woman under them.”  He carefully extracted her arm and pulled the knit top from her body, placing it on the chair.  “Care Bear?”  The favored nightshirt hung from his fingertips.

“Yes, please.” 

Her top half properly attired, she slipped into the bathroom while he attended to his own clothes.  The brief bout of sickness she’d experienced during dinner had actually been cramps, but her trip to the ladies’ room had shown no evidence of a period.  Now, however, she had proof positive that she wasn’t pregnant.

If she only knew how to feel about that.

Relief was there, of course.  She could finally release the pent up tension caused by waiting and wondering.  There was absolutely nothing to keep her from moving past the rape and pretending it hadn’t happened.  That was a good thing.  For everyone.

Gone was the worry about Richie and his potential sense of obligation.  She couldn’t have allowed that obligation anyway, not knowing if it was his child or not – even if it broke heart.  It had been her decision, and she fully accepted the consequences that would come with it. 

Then there was that other thing.  That maternal longing she hadn’t really known existed within her.  From the first time his masculine hand had cradled her flat tummy, visions of a dark headed baby with her blue eyes and Richie’s dimples had begun haunting her.  Allegra’s mind knew the odds, but her heart had never considered that the baby wouldn’t be Richie’s. 

The sense of loss was palpable.

Allegra shook her head to clear the thoughts.  No.  This IS a good thing.  It’s the best thing.

“Sunshine?”  He knocked on the bathroom door.  “You okay in there?”

She forced her facial muscles into a smile, and opened the door.  “Yeah, I’m okay.  I just started my period.”

His eyes lit up and she watched the relief wash over him.  “Outstanding!”  He grabbed her, pulling her close in a cautious but exuberant embrace.  “Oh baby, that’s awesome news!”

She curled her unimpaired arm firmly around his back, squeezing for all she was worth. 

“Yeah.  It is.”