Chapter Thirty-One

29 weeks

Summer vacation was half past over, it was beginning of August and very soon school would start again for all three teenagers in the house.

This year too, they had spend their summer vacation at the lake.

They had rented a little place, which had been perfect for all of them, they were right on the water and Caleb and Noah were able to watch all the girls in bikini on the beach pass by, as Ava watched all the boys pass by.

Sarah and Richie had spend a wonderful 10 days like that, the water was great and whenever they could, they went swimming in the lake. Summer was warm and the blue water was a perfect refreshment for them all.

Very soon everything would get a lot more hectic. Richie's album would be out the next month and he was busy with planning a short tour. The Bon Jovi record had been put on hold so he could tour a little with his album and do some solo concert, so far nothing was sure yet but almost everything was ready to book the tour. He had figured out where to go and would be back in California before Sarah would have the baby. Maybe after that he could do another show or two. At least he wasn't far from home anymore then.

Sarah's mind was elsewhere, in two weeks the lawsuit would start. The boys had made their disicion and during the last meeting with the lawyer they had been told when the date would be. Hopefully it wouldn't expend intoo more days than one. Jonathan's wife was still in pretty bad condition but according to Mr. Slone she would be able to make her own testimony in court, which would be very helpful too. The way things looked like, it was almost sure that Jonathan would go to jail.

But she was spending time at the lake with her family and every time she thought of the lawsuit she tried to push it out of her mind, she had to relax.

Before the family left to go to the beach, Sarah and Richie had visited Sarah's gyneacologist another time for a check up. Sammy was growing well and seemed very healthy.

They were both surprised with how much things had changed since the last time they had children. Now they could even get a 3D picture of the baby and they could actually see Sammy as the baby would look like when it was born. If they knew Sammy's sex or not, they didn't tell the children what sex it would be to keep Ava and Caleb's arguements at bay and respecting Noah who didn't want to know. Sammy was healthy, and that was all they needed to knew.

Even Sarah's gyneacologist had expected Sarah to have more complications during her pregnancy but so far she hadn't been to the hospital again. She tried to stay as relaxed as she could even with the lawsuit, she was still relaxed enough. Her bloodpressure had been raised a little at the last check up but not so much that it was something to worry about.

Her pregnancy books helped a lot with that too, they had tips and excersises she could do. Apart from that, she had also learned that Sammy could hear sounds and see lights, with that, Richie took his chance to sing for Sammy whenever he could. Other than singing for Sammy, it was a great way to rehearse for all the promotional singing he'd have to do and the concerts that would follow.

A lot of close moments were shared like that and it made Sarah love her husband even more, to see him so looking forward to the birth of his next child.

Eventually their 10 days of summer vacation had to end, they had to return to regular life, which wasn't very regular anymore. Richie was away more often than he used to be but he had to work and so did Sarah. She loved her days off, she had one less thing to worry about. She didn't find her job stressful but during her time off, she had already noticed changes, she felt more relaxed and calmer, maybe it would be smart to stop after all.

She wasn't sure if she wanted to go back after Sammy was born. When Caleb and Noah were born, she still had to work, someone had to support their family at that time but now she didn't have to. She had only gotten a job for herself but now she felt she should stay home for Sammy and the other kids. Still months away, she tried not to think of it.


They arrived at home in the evening, Sarah was ready to go to bed even though it wasn't very late, traveling was exhausting and she just wanted her bed. Richie left the bags by the door and went upstairs with Sarah.

A few minutes later they were comfortable in bed, face to face, Sarah stroking Richie's hair. She liked his hair the way it was, the length of it was just perfect.

"I'm gonna miss your hair." Sarah sighed.
"I'm only getting it cut, it's not like they're gonna shave it off." Richie chuckled as Sarah twisted her fingers in his hair, like she was claiming it.
"Still, I like it the way it is."
"It's just hair." Richie shrugged. "It's only for the video. You'll love the video."
"I already love the song." She snuggled closer to him.

With a happy, proud smile, Richie kissed his wife.


The next day, after breakfast, Richie left to get his hair cut. He had convinced Sarah some more during breakfast that it would be just fine, just a little different in length, nothing more than that. Simple as that.

Sarah enjoyed the morning alone, kids still asleep, usually they weren't up before noon but soon all that would change again and everyone would be back to school. She knew they weren't looking forward to it but she was in some way. It was nice when they were home but they were teenagers and seemed to be unable to clean up behind themselves. When they were at school, at least there was less to clean up at home. Another thing she knew she didn't have to, someone came around every week to clean the house but she still felt like she had to do something around the house.

They had only been home for a day and tomorrow Richie had another concert to play. Not a big concert, but he still had to fly to the other side of the country again but this time Sarah was going with him. She hadn't been to one of his concert in a long while and was very excited to see her husband play again.

It was special to watch Richie play, the way he lost himself in the music, how it was so perfect for him and seeing the sex faces she knew all too well.

"Honey, I'm home!"
Sarah laughed at the expression she heard from the hallway, and looked over her shoulder to watch her husband walk into the room, her face went blank as soon as she saw him.
"What?" Richie asked confused.
"But.. What?" She couldn't even find the words "T-that is not getting your hair cut!"
"It got cut too."
"But it's blond! Blonder than my hair even!" Sarah couldn't believe what he had done.
"It's only for the video, they thought it would look better, you'll see and I'll dye it back afterwards."
"I can't believe you did that." Sarah got up and walked over to him, stroking his hair again as she had done the night before.
"I guess you don't like it then." Richie sighed, a bit disappointed, he hadn't really thought about Sarah's reaction when it was being dyed. He just trusted his director that it would look good in the video.
"It's just very different." Sarah answered, twisting her fingers in the now blond strands of hair, it still felt the same. "We can go upstairs and you can take my mind off of it." She smiled up at him.
"I'm sure I can do that."