Chapter 4:
When John and I got home that night, he made me wait outside the door before going inside. He handed me his jacket to wear while he went inside and made me wait out in the cold. At first I thought he was joking but when he actually closed the door and I could hear him running around, I was wondering what he was doing in there. I could see that he had turned off the lights inside and there was just a few dim lights. Then again, the peep hole on the door didn't work so well when looking inside. As I waited for him outside, a warm breeze came over me. It was so nice, not something you'd expect at nearly 1 in the morning. I heard him coming towards the door and finally he opened it and slipped out. For a few seconds he stood just looking at me until I finally broke him and asked if we could go inside. He told me we could, but I had to go in blindfolded. I thought this was ridiculous but I knew he was up to something. When he opened the door, I could feel one of his hands on my back and one in my left hand. Stepping in, I heard him ask if I was ready to see what he had done. He untied the blindfold and the entire room was so beautiful.
It was a scene out of a movie, the entire room was lit by tiny white candles. They were placed all around the room and trailed from the door to the living room. There were also flower petals leading into the living room. The flower petals were both red and white and when we got into the living room, I saw that there was a bottle of red wine. In the middle of the living room, there was a big red and white picnic blanket set up with candles and petals all around. We sat down on the blanket and John told me he'd be right back. He had put out the picture of us on our wedding day, the one from the bedroom, on the coffee table. I was so overwhelmed by this, we hadn't had a night to ourselves since the early months of our marriage and when we were dating. There simply wasn't any time, he worked most of the week and the days he didn't, we'd be fighting and go to bed angry at each other.
As I sat there waiting for John, I noticed that there was a message on my cell phone. It didn't catch my attention too much because I heard John's footsteps coming towards me. When I saw him, he had his hands full of goodies. Strawberries and white chocolate, glasses for the wine, a bouquet of flowers, a movie, pillows and our wedding album. I laughed as he tumbled all these things over to me. He placed the wine glasses on the table next to the bottle, and handed me the bouquet. He put our wedding album down on the table and put the dvd on top of it. He set up the pillows against the back of the couch and sat down next to me. He gave me a quick kiss and then put the flowers in the vase he had placed there earlier, then he reached for the wedding album and dvd.
He asked me if I wanted to watch the movie, which was The Notebook, or look through the album. I told him that I didn't mind which one we did first, and he suggested we do both. He got up and popped the dvd in and turned it on, along with handing me the album. We looked at our wedding photos, we had very little light because it was only from the candles, but it was enough for us both to cuddle up together and look at them. John rested his cheek against my shoulder and whispered into my ear, "Thank you for giving us a chance, baby. Thank you for making everyday that much better." He leaned in to kiss me once more, but this time letting his lips linger on mine, and letting me stop it. When I let go, our eyes met and it was one of those moments where you don't even have to say I love you, because you know the other person is thinking it. You can see it through their eyes, and I could see it through John's that night. I asked him what had changed since the other night when we were fighting and he said that after him and Randy had left the police station, Randy had talked to him. He told him to fix everything with our marriage before I got sick of it all and left. Turns out I was right about Randy, he really was looking out for the best interests of his friend. He was an all around good guy and I owed him for this. We put the album down and cuddled closer together to watch the movie, drinking the wine and enjoying the company of each other.
After about an hour into the movie when John and I were completely wrapped up in the other, I heard a pounding on the front door. Pausing the movie and looking at my watch, it was just after 2am. Who could be at the door at this hour? I got up to answer it but John beat me to it, he told me to stay in the living room so he could see who it was. I sat back down on the blanket and listened to the voice at the door.
To my surprise, it was Steph. I ran out to the door and couldn't believe what I saw. Steph was standing there, with sleeping Robbie in her arms. Her eyes were all red and you could tell she had been crying. I took Robbie from her and handed him to John, who took him into one of the bedrooms. I took Steph's bags from her and put them on the floor. Taking her hand and bringing her into the living room, I asked her what had happened. Wiping her tears off her face with my hands, she didn't say anything. I could tell something big had happened because usually Steph would open up to me but tonight, she just kept looking at the floor.
John came back out from the bedroom and saw that Steph had started crying again. He went into the kitchen and grabbed her some tissues. I held Steph in my arms trying my best to make her stop crying and tell me what had happened. I rocked her for a few more minutes, while looking at John for support. He sat down next to Steph and talked to her, letting her know that we were both here for her and wanted to help her in any way we could. Finally, she blew her nose and spoke. I didn't bring up the huge slashes she had on her forehead and cheek, but I listened to her.
She told us that when Jay and her had gotten home, he had been alot drunker than he had acted at the club. She had gone to drop the babysitter off at home and then came back to check on Robbie. Jay had sat down infront of the television and had another beer. She had gone into the kitchen to clean up when Jay came up behind her. He started blowing in her ear and kissing it while she washed the dishes. She told him she didn't feel like it and really just wanted to get to bed. She still had to change and clean up after Robbie, she wasn't in the mood to make love with Jay tonight.
Jay didn't really listen to her and brought his hand up the side of her leg, she pushed him away and he got really mad. Since he was drunk, he wasn't acting like his usual self. He was a lousy, angry, loud drunk which is why he didn't drink often. He came back at her and slapped her in the face. She dropped the glass that she was washing, onto the kitchen floor. She looked at him wide eyed, not believing he had just raised a hand at her. He started yelling at her, saying how she was a horrible mother, a horrible wife and a horrible daughter. Steph knew he was drunk so she just walked away but he didn't let her. He hit her in the head, so hard that she fell to the ground and cut her head on the glass. Which would explain the cuts on her forehead and cheek. When Jay saw that she was bleeding, he got mad and went into the bedroom. When she heard he was in the shower, she packed a bag of hers and Robbie's clothes, grabbed her son from his sleeping bed and drove away.
On her way, she had called my cell phone and I hadn't answered it. That must've been the message left on it. As she drove, she didn't know where to go. She decided they could spend the night at a motel so she drove out of Rochester right to a Syracuse motel. When she pulled into the parking lot, she found it was pouring rain and the motel was completely full. So she drove 30 mins back to Rochester and didn't know where else to come but my house. I told her that she should've just come here first, and she told me that she didn't want to wake us up or cause any trouble. John got up half way through to get Steph some ice to help the swelling go down.
When she finished, John was quite furious at Jay. He couldn't believe one of his best friends could even think of laying a hand on his innocent wife, drunk or sober. He grabbed his coat and keys and went towards the door. I rushed towards him and told him not to go just yet. Jay was probably still drunk and I didn't want them to get into a fight when Jay wasn't himself. He could go in the morning to talk to Jay. He finally agreed and came back inside. We came back to the living room and I sat down next to Steph. John hugged her and assured her that he would deal with this, if not now then definitely tomorrow morning. I reached out to touch Steph's face, but she moved away before my finger got too close. They weren't really bleeding, they were just swelling up.
The three of us sat silent for a few moments when suddenly the litte toddler came sleep walking out to the living room. Rubbing his eyes and yawning, not knowing where he was, he came up and sat on my lap. At first he didn't recognize me but when he opened his eyes he was shocked to see I wasn't his mom. Then he looked around and saw John, and then his mom. He asked her if she had hurt herself and why she was bleeding. She cried and told him she had hurt herself when she was cleaning. He was still tired so he asked Steph if she was going to sleep with him and she told him she'd be there soon. He went over to John and they went back to the bedroom to tuck him in again. I kissed Steph's forehead and told her not to worry about anything, John would handle it all in the morning and whatever happened, everyone was here for her.
She hugged me and John goodnight and thanked us for being so understanding.She apologized for ruining our night together but I told her it wasn't the concern here. Taking her bags into the bedroom, she looked back at us once more before closing the door. I breathed a deep sigh and looked over at John. I could tell he was still angry with Jay for even laying a hand on her. I told him to go to bed and just take it easy before he went and killed Jay for doing this to one of our best friends. He agreed, but helped me clean up the candles and everything. When we were finished, we went to bed.
We would deal with all this in the morning, and we would make sure Jay found out exactly what he had done...