The Webs We Weave

I sat on the couch cradeling Emery in my arms. She looked so much like Ronnie that it was outstanding. I watch her eyes flutter shut and smiled. Ronnie's eyes. I stood up slowly, careful not to wake her and placed her in her basinet. I had some phone calls to make, and I knew Ronnie would get angry if he knew who I was going to call.We needed help if we were going to keep our children and I couldn't lose them. I could not know that I held these children in my arms and then they were taken away because my past was messed up. The baby curled up and I smiled. "Thi swill be our little secret huh Emery?" She made a gurgling sound and I took that as a yes and pulled out my cell phone and dialed the first of many numbers.

"Thanks Monte, I appreciate it." I said hanging up the phone and placing a check next to Monte and Beth's names. They agreed to testify against Rider if necessary and that brought me a huge relief. I quickly dialed the next number and smiled, I hadn't heard my best friends voice in awhile. "Hey Clover, uh now isn't the best time." There was panic and a sound of anguish in Shauna's voice and I became instantly alarmed, I could put my problems on hold. "What is going on?" I asked my voice carefully pitched to not aggitate the situation, if there was one. "Uh, Curtis and I are having problems. He is leaving the band and I think he is leaving me. Things have just not been all that good here on tour Clover and I was wondering if I can maybe come and stay with you for awhile, I want Curtis to have some space if we are going to work this marriage out." "Yeah of course you can." "Thank you so much, oh what did you want?" I sighed. "It doesn't matter." "Of course it does, let me know." "I havent told Jen or Nicky yet, but Rider is trying to take my kids, both Katie and Emery." There was silence on the other and and then a slow string of cuss words erupted. "I will be there as soon as I can. Call Nicky have her pick me up at the airport, we are state side now so I need her to be there somewhere around eight, and tell Jen to come over to your apartment and we willl discuss this." "Okay." I said before hanging out and dialing the next number, the number I knew would be my biggest allie and Ronnie's least favorite.

Voicemail. I got his voicemail. Not that I honestly expected him to answer his phone, I wouldn't either. "Hey max this is Clover, I uh need you to call me back. I need your help. Please don't tell Ronnie I called you but I need you really badly Max. This time I am begging. Call me back." I hung up the phone and rubbed my temples with my thumbs. My cell phone began jumping on the table and I could feel my heart racing and heat rising in my face. I lunged at it and flipped it open. "Hello?" I breathed. "Uh Shauna called me and asked to pick her up and Jen is going to your place. Shauna said it was more important than whatever we are doing, want to tell me what is going on?" I sighed realizing that it was only Nicky. "Uh, I think we should wait to talk about it. Oh I have another call coming in." I looked at the screen and Max flashed across the screen and I felt myself smiling perhaps a bit too largely. "It is Max, I have to go. I promise I will explain everything later. Bye." "Clover wait, what are you talking to Max for-" I flipped the calls over and breathed out a light hearted "Hello?" "What did you want." His voice was slightly low and I realized he didn't want Caitlyn to know we were talking. She never really did like me. "I need your help Max." "With what?" "Rider is trying to take my kids away." "What!" I heard him yell and then mumbled a quick 'shit' and walked outside. "Why is she doing that?" "I dont know Max but I cant lose my kids, what am I going to do. I need you this time, I cannot have you not having my back like the past Max, you were married to her, you know her problems better than anyone. Just please, are you in or out?" There was a pause and then a click. He had hung up. I felt like crying as I placed my cell phone back on the table and the door opened.

"Hey babe." Ronnie said kissing my cheek and I managed to suck it up and smile. "Hey lover boy." "Are you okay?" He asked catching on to the fact that I was obviously disraught. "Yeah, uh Shauna and Curtis are having problems so she is gonna come and stay for awhile, and Nicky and Jen are coming over so that we can talk to them. Why dont we just invite everyone else as well?" He nodded. "I will make the calls."

Seven Hours Later.

I glanced at the crowded living room. Robert and his girlfriend as well as Monte and Beth sat on the couch and Omar was on the chair.Curtis and Oliver had decided to come as well as Lee which suprised me since I had only talked to him once, and I was pretty high when I did. They sat on the floor, Oliver had his arms draped around Nicky and Shauna and Curtis were wearing fake smiles and sitting near one another, and Lee sat on the edge of the coffee table. Jen sat on the couch after apologizing for her boy's lack of attendance. "So uh a few of you already know what is going on but most of you don't. Uh, plain and simple, we need your help. I mean I know all of us in this room have had our differences, but this is something more, it is our family." I said and Ronnie bit his lip again. He was having trouble keeping his anger in check. "Uh are we too late?" I turned and smiled. "No your not. Ronnie behave I swear to god, they want to help." He finally nodded and Max and Caitlyn sauntered forward and took a seat on the floor. "And what about us?" "No." Ronnie said and I smiled as my dad and his girlfriend came into view. "Rider is suing us for custody of our kids." There was a bunch of angry whispers and Nicky and Jen narrowed their eyes. Even my dad looked at me with complete suprise. I could see that Ronnie had forgotten to call him. "So what are you going to do?" "We don't know yet. We need to make sure we know who is on our side first, so anyone who is not please stand up and leave now."

And then the most unimaginable things happened. "I am sorry." I looked at the face of one of my best friends and sighed. "I understand." And like that one of the most important people in my life walked out of my apartment, out of my fight for my children. I was shocked, but Ronnie and the rest of them, they were pissed.