79 - Dazed and Confused

“Senator.”  Jon stuck out his hand with a congenial smile.  The music in the ballroom was a light mix of songs that gave the feeling of optimism, and the faces of the dancers on the floor next to them were as light as the tunes.   Everyone was enjoying themselves at the Kerry for President Kickoff Fundraiser.  “I hope the campaign trail treats you better this time around.”

John Kerry, standing next to the dance floor, shook his hand with a laugh.  “I think I’ve got a secret weapon that should do the trick.  I’m taking Springsteen along as my token New Jerseyan this time.  He’s got better numbers than you do.”

“Ohhh!”  Jon clutched both hands over his blue silk tie in a dramatic pose and mugged a look of pain.  “I’m wounded!  Tragically wounded.”

“I’m sure you are, Mr. Bon Jovi,” Teresa Heinz Kerry joined the two men, patting his arm with a knowing smile. 

“Please, call me Jon,” he invited, not for the first time, as he straightened himself and his tie. 

“Honey, it’s less confusing for me if you’re Mr. Bon Jovi, and it creates less opportunity for trouble,” her voice dropping to a stage whisper as she slid her arm around his waist in a light hug.  “I can’t keep up with two Johns and if I call him Mr. Kerry, people have us in divorce court before we get home.”

Jon laughed, leaning into her and offering a gallant sweep of his hand.  “Then, by all means, call me Mr. Bon Jovi.  I hate those damn gossip rags.  I don’t wanna be the one to feed the monster.”

Sweeping his gaze across the sea of well-groomed partygoers, he unobtrusively sought a glance of Petey in her ice-blue gown.  She may or may not have been on the dance floor; he couldn’t see everyone in the crowd.   “That was a great speech, Senator, and it was a testimony to you, having your entire family in attendance and offering their support.”

Teresa smiled broadly, patting her husband’s arm with delight.  “It’s the first time we’ve gotten all of the children to attend one of these functions.  I spent months browbeating and piling guilt on a couple of them, but it was worth it.”

Casually slipping his hands in his pockets, Jon nodded sagely.  “Never having met him, I could only assume that was the elusive Henry on the stage, but I was pleasantly surprised to recognize your lovely daughter, Patience.  Rather,” he amended with a chagrined smile, “your Patience, my Petey.”

“Yes, of course you would recognize her!  She was so looking forward to going on tour with you.”  Teresa regretfully shook her head and flipped her hands into the air.  "I have no idea why Patience chose such a masculine name for her ‘new’ life.  For a while I wondered if it was her way of introducing an alternative lifestyle, if you know what I mean.  But she didn’t offer a hint of any relationship, male or female, while she was living in New York.”

And, in other breaking news, grass is green.  Petey would be the first to tell you that she didn’t do relationships.  God knew Jon had heard it often enough.

“My brother is very disappointed that Petey – Patience – submitted her resignation.”  Jon took great pains to make his fishing expedition discreet.  “He was also a little concerned that she didn’t offer any type of explanation for quitting.  Do you happen to know why she changed her mind about going on the tour?”

Husband and wife looked at one another, silently communicating between themselves.  John finally murmured, “I didn’t know she left under such cryptic conditions.  It’s only right…”

With a simple dip of her head, Teresa inhaled deeply and offered him what information they had.  “Actually, we don’t know much either.  She appeared at Henry’s house on Sunday and spent a couple of days.  Then, yesterday, she came and told me she was rejoining the faculty at Carnegie-Mellon and mending her broken engagement.  I think I’m safe in saying…” Her eyes flicked to the compassionate ones of her husband.  “…it has all been quite unexpected.  I know Henry is particularly put out with the situation.”

Jon smiled through the nausea, and felt an immediate kinship with Henry.  She cannot marry that motherfucker.  I’ll kill him first. 

“I see,” was the only polite thing he could think to murmur.  Clearing his throat, he managed to pull some other inane remarks out of his ass.  “Tony, my brother, will miss her expertise.  She was his best tech, and provided a lot of vital input into the tour.”

“Yes, well, I still don’t understand the whole mess myself.   As I said, she was so excited to have the experience of a music tour.  For her to abandon it and return to a life she claimed to have hated…  It’s just a bit peculiar, but Patience is as close-lipped as they come.”  Teresa waved to someone at a nearby table, and sighed softly, easing away from the men.  “Pardon me for being rude, but I must speak to Hildy.”

The Senator watched his wife slip away and lifted two champagne flutes from a passing waiter, offering one to Jon.  “Confidentially, Patience has always been a bit intimidating to me.  I came into her life just after she’d gotten her Ph.D., and she had already established a marked independence.  Even so, there was something about her I wanted to rescue."

He sipped his champagne thoughtfully, eyes roaming over the dance floor.  Turning back to Jon, he confessed, "I never cared for her fiance.  Patience always kowtowed to him.  I was actually thankful when she had her personal revolution and left him behind.  I thought maybe she would find herself, as corny as that sounds.  Now she’s reverted back to that same life.  I have to say that I’m disappointed for her.”

“Disappointed, how?”  Jon developed an overt interest in the bubbles floating through his champagne flute. 

“Pink hair and wild contact lenses make her mother crazy, but Patience finally seemed content.  At Christmas, I thought she’d maybe even found someone from the way she was so distantly preoccupied.”  He held up his glass in a gesture of surrender and laughed.  “Forgive me.  I guess I’m turning into a soft old man.”

The corners of Jon’s mouth twitched with the effort to restrain his smile. 

Found someone, huh?

Charming as that was, it didn’t solve the problem of what to do about the here and now.  Petey had likely been attacked, then walked away from him when he was ready for more, and was now engaged to the man who attacked her.  This was five shades of fucked up, and he was going to get to the bottom of it one way or another. 

To that end, it would be short-sighted of him to waste the opportunity to recruit a potential ally.  If nothing else, the Senator should be aware that Petey might need some watching over where the fiance was concerned.

“I think we’re all soft when it comes to our kids, no matter what the age,”  Jon mused thoughtfully.  “And if there were someone being less than… respectful toward my daughter, I‘d certainly like to know.”  His brows lifted and he met the Senator’s eyes meaningfully.  “Wouldn’t you?”

Kerry’s long face became terse, matching the tone of his next words.  “Do you have something you’d like to share with me, son?”

Jon dipped his head solemnly.  “Yes, sir, I do.  Would you prefer to talk someplace quieter?”

“I think that might be best.  There’s an alcove outside the entrance to the ballroom.”

The men each placed their glasses on a nearby table and navigated through the tables and guests toward the exit.  When the Senator was detained by supporters, Jon nonchalantly continued on with the intention of waiting for him on the outside of the room.

Glancing at the crowd as he worked his way around it, Jon found himself closer to Petey than he had been all night.  She was with Henry, and they were speaking to an older couple.  Petey’s smile was polite, but forced.  His imp was not exactly having the time of her life, it seemed, but she looked more beautiful than he’d ever seen her.  

From the elegant French twist of her hair, that left enough hanging in the front to conceal her pierced eyebrow, to the conservatively applied makeup, to the gorgeous evening gown that just matched her eyes, Petey was nothing short of breathtaking.  He found her fresh scrubbed face endearingly cute, and had even developed an appreciation for the artfully applied Goth Girl makeup she wore, but the classic beauty she displayed tonight was simply stunning.

My imp is an accomplished chameleon, he thought proudly, pushing through the heavy wooden doors of the ballroom before she could catch a glimpse of him.  It was almost time to seek her out, but not yet.  Jon was grateful for the security of knowing that, if she happened to escape before he got to her, that at least he would be able to track her down.  She wouldn’t be able to again vanish without a trace.

The alcove mentioned by the Senator was just to the right of the entrance, and he sidled into it, extracting his phone.  He couldn’t resist sending a quick text of triumph to Dottie.  Since she’d tried to tell him how he felt about Petey the other day, she would know exactly how significant this was.

[9:07 PM]JON: I found her.  You won’t believe it.

[9:08 PM]DOTTIE:  Where?  Is she okay?

[9:08 PM]JON: DC.  It’s complicated.  I haven’t talked to her yet but she won’t be able to hide again.

[9:09 PM]DOTTIE:  Stop being vague and call me!  I want to know what’s going on!

[9:10 PM]JON: No time.  In the middle of things.  Call u later. 

[9:10 PM]DOTTIE:  DON’T screw this up!!!

Don’t screw this up.  Jon grumbled to himself, dropping the phone back into his pocket.  He had found her through an amazing instance of serendipity and he was now able to take extra measures to ensure her safety.  How could that possibly be screwing anything up?

“Jon,” the Senator greeted, joining him with a dip of his salt and pepper head.  “Don’t waste time pussyfooting around.  Tell me what you’ve got to say, and don’t worry about being blunt.”

“Yes, sir.”  Jon’s blue eyes were solemn as he regarded the senator.  “Petey and I have become… close friends over the past few weeks, and she was at my New Year’s party Saturday night.  Shortly after midnight, she disappeared for about fifteen minutes.  Dorothea…”  The Senator nodded his remembrance of Jon’s ex.  “…found Petey shivering outside the club, completely lost in a recitation of the Constitution.”

Kerry’s frown intensified.  He was clearly familiar with his step-daughter’s anxiety quirk.

“It was the worst panic attack she’s had since I’ve known her, and we spent several uncomfortable minutes before we got her calm enough to stop the recitation.  We don’t know exactly what happened, but in the short time she was gone, Petey acquired a busted lip and a bruise across her throat.”

“Who did it?”  Step-daughter or blood daughter didn’t matter to this man, Jon saw with satisfaction.  He was ready to right the injustice that had been inflicted upon her.

“I would say Daniel Lewis.”

“Daniel?  Why do you think it was him?  I don’t like the man, but I’ve never perceived him as violent.”

Jon shook his head with incomprehension.  “I don’t know why, but I do know that he had been looking for your step-daughter recently.  My brother, Tony, actually met him when he was asking after Petey.  He's the one who was able to identify Daniel in the club’s surveillance video of the parking lot. 

"Petey wouldn’t open up to any of us about what happened; she just ran away and went missing until I stumbled upon her here tonight.  Now I find  she’s engaged  to him again.  I’m sure you can understand my concern.”

The Senator was a consummate politician.  No inkling of his apprehension bled into his physical demeanor.  He stood just as straight and unagitated as though they were discussing the Giants game.  The only place you could see the unease stirring was in the depths of his eyes. 

“I understand completely, and appreciate you apprising me of the situation.  I’ll make some inquiries and do whatever it takes to get it resolved.”  The Senator clapped him on the shoulder.  “You’re a discreet man.  I trust you will exercise that discretion with what we’ve discussed here.”

“Absolutely.”

With that, the Senator nodded and disappeared back into his own party. 

Jon felt a sense of satisfaction.  At least someone in her ‘real’ life knew what was going on and could keep her safe while she was with them.  Now that he’d done that, he had the overwhelming need to see her up close and talk to her.  To touch her.

He slipped out of the alcove, and was only a few steps away from the ballroom door when a petite woman in a pale blue dress exited.  Her destination was the opposite direction from where he stood, giving him only a clear view of her back.  

It was lucky timing on his part and, once more in his life, he thanked the powers of the invisible horseshoe in his ass.  If he had hesitated another minute, he would have missed her.  As it was, Jon had to quietly call after her.

“Patience!...”