Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Chapter Fifty-seven

Saturday morning, Richie was glad it was finally Saturday. He'd been busy all day Friday with interviews on TV and radio. It had kept him busy the entire day. Now he was glad the weekend was there.

During the rest of the week he had been able to contact some contractors to fix up his mother's house. He also got a hold of her in England and tonight she would fly over to Los Angeles instead of going home to New Jersey.

Even though his week had been pretty busy, the weekend would be busy too. Tonight his mother would fly in and move into the house for a while until they were able to fix up her house. Tomorrow they were having a party for everyone to come meet Daniel.

During his busy week, Richie also got a very nice surprise. A call from his agents made him go down to the office to pick up a big book.

He had been absolutely surprised when she handed it over to him. Confused at the moment, Richie had leafed through it, noticing all the kind words and pictures from his fans. It instantly made his day great to read messages from all of his appreciative fans.

Today being his day off, he sat down on the couch with the book and was determined to read each note carefully and really look at all the pictures.

"What do you have there?" Sarah asked, seeing her husband reading a large book.
"A fan book."
Sarah frowned. "A fan book?"
Richie nodded. "Yeah, my fans sent a book with messages and pictures. I'm just reading it now."
"Oh right." Sarah sat down next to him. "That's so nice of them."
Richie agreed.
"Anyway, I got your mom's room ready for tonight."
Richie looked up from the book. "You didn't have to do that."
"I know but Daniel was sleeping so quietly, I thought I'd just do it quickly."
"He's got a big day tomorrow."
Sarah chuckled. "He's looking forward to it."



The day went bye quietly until the older kids has to get ready for the halloween party they were attending that evening.

Dealing with two things at once, Richie was supposed to bring them to the party and then drive to the airport to be in time to pick up his mother. Then around midnight he'd had to go out again to pick everybody up from the party. That wasn't hard to do.

Ava was the first to go get ready, she instisted on having dinner early so she would have more time to get ready and prepare.

Even though Ava took the most time into getting ready for the party, Caleb had put the most time into his own costume. He hadn't had a haircut since the summer, making his hair grow out until it was long enough to look like a glam rock star.

"Dad!"

Richie looked back to the hallway. His son was right next to him, having his dinner. He didn't talk yet.

"That was Caleb." Sarah clarified for him.
"I know but, they don't call me dad yet."
Sarah shrugged. "Maybe they do now."

Richie got up and went upstairs, going to Calebs room. He knocked on the door, waiting for Caleb to tell him to come in before going into the room.

"What's wrong?" Richie asked.
Caleb stood infront of a mirror, wearing an old t-shirt and hold a pair of scissors. "How many cuts should I put into it to look like a real 80s rockstar?"
Richie laughed, then realized Caleb was being serious. "Well, you gotta show off what you got. That was the point of it." He shrugged. "You could always go shirtless."
"No." Said Caleb quickly.
"Then I guess you can cut a deep V-neck or cut open the sides or something."
Caleb laughed. "Thought you were the 80s rock star here."
Richie ignored it. "What pants are you wearing."
"Skinny jeans?" Caleb asked.
"Not even leather pants or spandex? You need spandex if you're gonna be an 80s rock star." He put the emphasis on needing it.
"I don't have spandex. Nobody does anymore."
"You could have asked. Just wait here." Richie left the room and went into his bedroom.

Somewhere in the back of the closet he found clothes had been untoched for years. He had to look for a while but finally found what he needed, black spandex, white stars on the sides of the legs. They might be a bit big for Caleb but it should work anyway. That was the great thing about spandex.

Carrying the pants, he walked back to Caleb's room.

"This is what you need."
Caleb looked, his eyes widening with surprise. "Are you serious?"
"Yeah, you need it. If you're gonna dress up you better do it right." He laid the pants down on the bed.
"Thanks." Caleb said. "You don't still have make-up do you?"
Richie shook his head. "You'll have to ask Ava if you can borrow some stuff."

On his way back downstairs, Richie checked on both Noah and Ava too.


Before leaving to bring everyone to the party, they said goodbye to Daniel and Sarah.

Richie took a look at all four kids dressed up for halloween. A few days late but for parties it still worked.
Caleb looked pretty good as an 80s rock star, Noah had dressed up as Doctor Who. The eleventh Doctor Who, as Noah had pointed out a few times. Ava was wearing shorts and a top, finishing off with bunny ears. Last but definitely cutest, Daniel was wearing a Batman onesie.

Richie said goodbye to his youngest son and kissed Sarah goodbye. He'd be back in only an hour or so.


He drove to the address Ava had given him, where the party would be. He knew a lot of people at Ava's school and knew where the party would be. Before letting everyone out of the car, he reminded them again that he would pick them up around midnight. They all complained as he had expected but they had to be part of Daniel's day tomorrow too.

At the airport he was very happy to see his mother. It had been a while and it was always great to see her. They hugged a few minutes before letting go and get the luggage.

The drive home was fairly short, the traffic was calmer than usual. In less than an hour they arrived at home.

Joan got out of the car as Richie was getting her luggage from the trunk. She was going to stay for a while but had only brought her suitcases from England. She hadn't stopped at home. Richie had changed her ticket to Los Angeles instead of New Jersey.

"Can't wait to see my grandson." Joan said as Richie finally opened the door.
"He's probably in the living room with Sarah. Go ahead." He put down the suitcases by the stairs, then followed his mother into the living room.

Sarah sat on the couch, holding Daniel in her arms. "You're back." She looked up.
Richie came over and kissed her quickly, then sat down in his chair.
Joan sat down next to Sarah. "What a beautiful boy. Dressed up for Halloween even."
Sarah chuckled. "Richie's idea but it's cute. Wanna hold the superhero?"
"Of course."
Sarah carefully moved her son and Joan picked him up, immediately craddling him but Daniel didn't agree and started crying immediately.

All three looked at the baby worriedly. He was fine a second ago, why would he start crying all of a sudden?

Joan tried to calm him down, gently rock him, rub his back but nothing helped to calm him down.

"I don't know what's wrong." Sarah said.
"He probably just wants his mommy." Joan said, not thinking too much of it and passed Daniel back.
As soon as Sarah held him, Daniel stopped crying. "I'm sorry. I really don't know."
"It's fine."

The rest of the evening Sarah held Daniel until it was time for him to go to bed. Being tired, Sarah decided to go to bed early too.

In the end Richie was up alone, Joan had gone to bed too. With time difference it was very early morning in England by now.

Richie got comfortable in his chair and turned on the TV, trying to find a good movie. He wasn't lucky until he found a Halloween special horror movie. That would keep him busy for a while.


2 comments:

  1. Aww, Daniel just needs to get used to Grandma Joan being around.
    Love how Caleb is calling Richie dad already.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Love Caleb's and Richie's interactions! Curious if Richie helped him with the make up too? *giggle*
    And awwwww, Daniel is already having a separation anxiety?

    ReplyDelete