"Max Kellerman please." Jake told the lady who answered the phone.
"One moment please." She said as she placed Jake on hold.
Jake was bound and determined he was going to find Johnny for Baby. That was his little granddaughter and he loved her with all his heart.
"Max Kellerman." Max said into the receiver.
"How that blood pressure?" Jake said in an uplifting tone.
Max recognized Jake's voice. "Jake how the hell are ya?"
"Doing pretty good Max and yourself?" Jake asked him in return.
"Keeping busy? Ya'll headed up here for the summer?" Max always had got Jake back up there every year since.
"We plan to." Jake told him. "I need a favor Max."
"Anything Jake, shoot." Max responded.
"You have any idea where I can find Johnny?" Jake asked hoping for a positive answer.
"Castle?"
"Yeah, I have to find him Max." Jake said with the desperation in his voice.
"Jake to be honest I am not sure where he is. He hasn't been here in about four years." Max said wishing he knew more. "I assume he went into the labor union with his father up in Philly?"
Johnny's father had always wanted him to come work in the labor union with him back in Philadelphia. How do you begin to find him there?
Jake was hoping for a bit more but every little bit helps. "Thanks Max if you hear of anything please let me know."
"You know come to think of it I bet Penny will know where he is." Max said as the idea hit him. "She still works for me. I will ask her and get back with you. You at the office?"
"Yeah, just give me a call here. Thanks again Max." Jake said hoping Penny could shed some light on the subject.
Baby's nerves were playing hard on her emotions. Her heart stayed tore up about Josie. All Baby wanted was it to just all go away. She just wished she could be that lucky. Now she was fixing to face another challenge. After six years she was going to face the man she was still in love with and tell him he had a daughter that he never knew about. Baby could only imagine how that meeting would go. She knew it probably wouldn't go well. Baby had no real valid excuse for not telling Johnny and she knew that. She was only seventeen then and now has learned from her mistakes.
"Baby!" Jakes said as he rushed in the door.
"Daddy? What is it?" Baby said as she met him in the living room.
"I know where he is!" Jake said with a smile on his face.
Baby could nearly faint when Jake told her. "I better sit down."
"I called Max and he asked Penny. She told him he is in Philadelphia and works at the Jake Stroud School of Dance. He is an instructor there." Jake said as she joined Baby on the couch. "Now all you have to do is get him tested."
Baby leaned back on the couch as it all hit her at once. "Philadelphia?"
"Yes mam!" Jake told her.
"I will leave Friday afternoon. It will take me about an hour and a half to get there. I will leave as soon as I get out of school." Baby decided at that moment.
"Can you do this by yourself or you need me to go with you?" Jake asked her as he seen the worry in her eyes.
"I can't be a coward anymore. I have to face him alone." Baby told her father and she knew he understood that.
The next couple of days flew by and Josie seemed to be holding up pretty good. She had most of her energy back and was back doing her normal things. Baby knew that in any moment Josie could slip back down. She wasn't ready to face that again so she knew she needed to get Johnny tested as soon as possible.
Even if he hated Baby surely he would be man enough to help his little girl and maybe want to be apart of her life. Baby hoped it wasn't wishful thinking on her part. The Johnny she used to know would step up to the plate but she was preparing herself for a lot of grief from him.
Friday afternoon finally rolled around and so did Baby's nerves. They were worse than ever as she prepared for her ride to Philadelphia. "You be good for Grammy and I will see you late tonight."
"I want to go momma." Josie said as he began to cry. "Why can't I go?"
"Honey, we won't be back in time for bed time." Baby said as she quickly made up that excuse. "Besides you will have more funny with Grammy."
Josie grabbed Squeely and stomped off to her room.
"She will be over it in no time." Marge said as she handed Baby her purse. "Don't worry."
"I don't like her being upset with me." Baby confided in her mother. "She is just so fragile right now."
"You concentrate on getting Johnny tested okay. Are you ready for what may lie ahead?" Baby knew Marge meant "ready for how Johnny would react".
"I guess. As ready as I can be. I am scared mom. I will admit that." Baby said as the worry in her eyes was clear. "He will hate me."
"Hate is such a strong word dear." Marge told her little girl. "You just have to be strong."
"It will kill me to see him again." Baby finally admitted.
"I can tell you still love him. There was no hiding that from me and ya'll produced an amazing little girl." She hugged Baby tight. "You be careful."
Baby let out a half hearted smile. "No time to waste."
It seemed like a long ride as Baby's mind dosed in and out of thoughts of Josie and Johnny all at the same time. In minutes she would see Johnny. The closer she got to Philadelphia the more afraid she got. Dozens of times she had wanted to turn the car back and around and bold back to New York but she had to think about her reason for coming and that was Josie.
Baby was zoned out as she heard the DJ began to speak. "Okay folks here is one right out of 1963."
She really paid no attention to what he was talking about until she heard the sound that had her heart skip a beat. "Cry to me" began to fill up the inside of Baby's car. The sound was all around her as it filled her heart. It was at that moment she remembered the last time she heard that song.
"No, I mean the way he saved her. I mean, I... I could never do anything like that. That was somethin'. The reason people treat me like I'm nothin' is 'cause I'm nothin'."
"You, your everything."
"I've never known anybody like you, Baby. You look at the world and you think you can make it better. If somebody's lost, you find them. If somebody's bleedin'..."
"Yeah, I go get my daddy. That's really brave. Like you said."
"That took a lotta guts to go to him. You are not scared of anything..."
"Me? I'm scared of everything! I'm scared of what I saw, I'm scared of what I did, of who I am, and most of all I'm scared of walking out of this room and never feeling the rest of my whole life the way I feel when I'm with you!"
Baby recalled that night as she remembered that was the night Johnny took her innocence. She couldn't help herself. She had fallen for Johnny and there was no stopping it.
She had had the time of her life at Kellerman's that summer and has never experience that feeling since then. Her heart will always be in the Catskills in 1963.
Her thoughts were drastically stopped when she seen the school right up ahead on the left. It was now 4 pm and she hoped Johnny was still there. As she parked her car she took a deep breath and headed in those double doors of the main entrance.
"Here goes nothing." She said to herself.
