Chapter 81

He did think about what she'd said. He thought about it a lot. He also started potty training Romeo, with the help of the females in his life. His first thought was to move Brianna into his house so she would be there to do the bulk of the training, but his mother pointed out that using her like that wasn't exactly fair to Brianna - if she would even agree to it, which wasn't a sure thing. She tried to keep their relationship progressing in the normal sequence and timeframe. Moving in that quickly wouldn't fit that timeframe, even if she slept in her own room. And her sleeping across the hall instead of beside him wouldn't do much for his mood. So he shelved that plan and tried to find another way. 

They didn't get off to a great start. His mother explained the process, and helped out when she could as did Desiree And even Stephanie. When he was on duty he kept losing track of the time and then had to deal with a mess. There'd been a lot of accidents, but he thought they were finally making some progress - at least during the day. At night he gave up and put a diaper - well, Pull Ups - on him.

He was able to use his lack of skill to convince Brianna to spend more time than usual at his house, which was both pleasure and torture for him.

He thought about her other point as well - about when he was ready to tour again. The solution was a no brainer to his mind, but he'd wait to see where their relationship was at before mentioning it to her.

The holidays were approaching quickly, and Brianna was having a hard time juggling her schedule to fit everything in. She was being pulled in two directions and was trying to divide up her time between her family and Jon's - with as few arguments as possible. Plus, her prediction about the reaction to Jon starting to accept invitations came true and they were inundated. And now that the kids were on board with their relationship, he wanted her to go with him to every event. It was a challenge to even her organizational skills!

She was trying to find some time in the schedule to go Christmas shopping when her phone rang. She answered without looking at the display. "Brianna Prentiss."

"Hello dear, how are you?"

"Hi Mom. I'm fine, how are you?"

"Fine. I'm calling about Thanksgiving. Are you still coming home?" Edward had decided he wanted his family all together for the holiday.

Like I have a choice? When Father says come home, you go home. "Yes." This was an area of argument.

"Alone?"

"Yes." This was the reason for the argument.

"Oh. I thought you might be bringing Jon with you."

"No. He needs to be with his kids and they're having a big family dinner." This was another reason for the argument. Jon wanted to have both families together, but Brianna didn't feel that was a good idea for their first meeting. That needed to be a much smaller gathering.

"Are we ever going to get to meet them? Or are you going to hide us forever?" Sara's voice was sharp.

I wish that was an option! "You'll meet them, I just haven't found the right opportunity yet. Holidays are hard for them still and I don't want to overwhelm the kids."

"I understand, but..." Sara sighed. "Your father's not going to get any easier to deal with. If you and Jon are serious, he's going to have to deal with your father at some point. He can't avoid him forever."

"Jon's not trying to avoid him. Quite the opposite actually." Brianna admitted.

"So why are you insisting on preventing them from meeting?"

"Not preventing, just......delaying."

"Brianna..." Sara began.

"Mom.....I really like Jon. I don't want Father looking down his nose at him or disparaging his career choice." Brianna explained. "And I don't want to be told that he's not good enough or 'the preferred type of man' for me. I married a man that met all of Father's qualifications and look where that got me."

"He just wants you to be looked after and happy."

"As long as it's with a man he can brag to his business cronies about. Heaven forbid he have to tell them his daughter's dating a musician - and not even a classical one which might be accepted by the supporters of the arts, but a rock one. Everyone knows rock musicians are only concerned about booze, drugs and making spectacles of themselves. Hardly pillars of the community." Brianna retorted scornfully.

"Brianna Nicole!" Sara scolded.

"I'm sorry Mom, but you know I'm right." Brianna insisted. "I wish he could just accept people for who they are, not what they are." She sighed. "Jon's a good man Mom."

"Believe it or not, your father will see that.....eventually."

A couple days later, Jon and Brianna were sitting in his office in the city going over correspondence, when there was a frantic call from Evelyn.

"I tried to stop them, but he just ignored me."

"Who did?" Jon asked, his brows snapping together in a frown.

"BRIANNA!"

Brianna closed her eyes and groaned at the sound of her name being bellowed from her office.

"I'm sorry Jon." Evelyn apologized.

"It's okay Evelyn." He crooked a brow at Brianna.

"My father can't be stopped if he doesn't want to." Brianna assured the receptionist. Sighing, she stood and walked to the door way connecting their offices. "Father, what are you doing? You can't just barge into someone else's business offices!" She turned to the woman with him. "Hi Mom."

 "I wanted to meet this.....musician you're dating, and since you wouldn't come to me, I came to you."

"That doesn't give you the right to just barge in here!" Brianna argued. Great first impression Father! She felt Jon's presence behind her - and the irritation radiating from him - before he spoke.

"This musician is also the CEO of a multimillion dollar organization that does business all over the world and these are my private offices. I expect them to be treated as such." He set one hand on Brianna's hip and squeezed.

"Hmpf!"  Edward snorted derisively.

The two men stared each other down.

Sara elbowed her husband and stepped up to Jon. "Jon, I'm Sara. It's so nice to finally meet you. Brianna's told us so much about you."

"Nice to meet you too Sara." Jon assured her, taking her offered hand in his. "I can see where Bri gets her beauty from."

Sara couldn't prevent her blush. "Well, aren't you the smooth one! Brianna, I can see why you were keeping him to yourself."

Edward cleared his throat. "Get your coats on or we'll be late for our dinner reservation."

"Father! Jon has four kids waiting for him at home. He can't just drop everything. He needs notice. We can arrange to have dinner with you later in the week if you want."

Edward didn't look away from the younger man. "I assume there's a caregiver with the children now. Surely they can continue for another hour or two."

As accustomed as she was to her father's attitude, his dictatorial tendencies still set her teeth on edge. "At the last minute? You can't expect....wait a minute, look who I'm talking to."

Jon squeezed her hip again to stop her. "Honey, it's okay." He turned back to her father. "As it turns out, my parents are keeping an eye on my children at the moment, and mentioned that they didn't have any plans tonight, so I'm fine to stay in the city for dinner." They didn't need to know that had been his plan all along.

Edward nodded and started for the door. "My driver is waiting downstairs."

Sara smiled apologetically at Jon and followed her husband.

Jon shifted to stand in front of Brianna and wrapped his arms around her.

Brianna gripped handfuls of his sweater and screamed into his chest.

He chuckled and rubbed her back. "Come on Golden Eyes, he's not that bad."

She lifted her head. "Tell me that after dinner. He hasn't started yet."

"BRIANNA!"

With a growl, she shoved her hands into the arms of the coat Jon held for her and swiped up her purse. There was no point in taking any work home with her, she knew she'd be too aggravated to concentrate.

They walked silently out of the office and joined her parents in the lobby before climbing into Edward's waiting car.

Dinner was a familiar torture for Brianna and an eye opener for Jon. It had been a long time since he'd been given the third degree by a girlfriend's father. This time he wasn't a nervous kid. This time he wouldn't be intimidated. And he'd worked too hard and was too proud of his accomplishments to let this arrogant man belittle them. But he was still Brianna's father, and Jon didn't want alienate him completely.

But he didn't make it easy.

"You called yourself a CEO. Do you really think you can compare your little band to running a major corporation?"

Even though that was the nicest of the comments, Jon had had enough. Feeling Brianna tense in the chair beside him, he squeezed her thigh. "My payroll when I'm on tour is between one and two million a week. I'd say that makes it a fair sized business."

That gave Edward pause - he had no idea the organization was that big - and gave Sara a chance to change the subject.

"Brianna tells us you have four children."

Jon smiled. "Yes. Stephanie's fourteen, Jesse's twelve, Jake's five and Romeo's two and a half."

Sara's eyes filled and she had to dab them with her napkin. "So young to lose their mother. I'm so sorry for your loss."

Nodding in agreement, Jon's smile turned sad and it was Brianna's turn to squeeze in support. "Thank you. They're coping pretty well."

"I hope Brianna is providing the help you need." Edward remarked.

"She's been wonderful." Jon assured him. "I don't know what we would have done without her."

Sara beamed while Edward merely grunted in satisfaction. "I'm glad to hear she's living up to her responsibilities."

Brianna fisted the hand on her lap and reached for her wine glass.

Jon covered her fist with his hand and squeezed. "You've raised a very bright, caring and compassionate daughter. She's the best assistant I've ever had or could hope for. But she's wasting her talents. I'm surprised she's not running her own company. She's certainly capable."

She almost choked on her wine. While she appreciated his support and confidence, she was well aware of her father's opinion of her abilities - and that no matter how capable she was, a female had no place in management of large corporations. She'd long since stopped beating her head against that particular wall. All it got her was a headache. "Ah, but don't you know Jon? Women don't hold positions of power, they merely assist the men that do."

"Don't be snide Brianna." Edward frowned. "It's not attractive."

"I think she's beautiful." Jon disagreed, reaching out to tuck a tendril of hair that had escaped her twist behind her ear.

Sara grinned at her daughter in delight.

Edward grunted. "Tell me about the charity work your involved with. Michael tells me you're doing some work with Covenant House."

With the shift in conversation the tension eased and Brianna was able to take a deep breath, but food still stuck in her throat. At least the Foundation and its work was one area of Jon's life her father couldn't criticize. By the end of the conversation he actually had a grudging respect for what Jon was trying or accomplish.

Still, it seemed like an eternity before they finally were able to leave the restaurant. Sara and Edward were staying at a hotel since they were staying in the city for a few days. Declining the offer of a lift since they were going in different directions, Jon flagged down a town car to take he and Brianna to her apartment.

It was a quiet ride as they were both lost in their own thoughts.