12th September 1987 / New York City

Amelia was starting to feel the effects of such a long touring break. Living in a large house was a blessing but could also be rather boring when her boyfriend was occupied. She’d exhausted her library of classic novels and had even resorted to reading some of Jon’s boring non-fiction books.

Sometimes she noodled around on the piano until Jon got fed up with the constant clanging of the keys. She couldn’t even blame him for shouting; her playing was enough to send poor David Bryan into a coma.

She wasn’t bored, per say. On the contrary she was quite content to live the rest of her life on such an estate. But when the weather was dreary and there was no chance of running, walking, or exercising, paired with Jon’s absence on several phone calls with work-related business, Amelia found herself wishing she had a few more hobbies.

And friends.

As she dawdled around the house looking for some odd thing to entertain herself with, she heard a pair of voices from outside the front door. A quick peek through the living room curtains revealed two young women dressed in Bon Jovi shirts with hair wilder than her boyfriend’s.

Each took turns in giggling and prodding the other to knock on the door.

Fans at his door, Jon wouldn’t be impressed. Thankfully he was on the phone to his mother in the other room.

Amelia opened the door against her better judgement. Jon had told her he shouldn’t be afraid of his fans, now was her chance to meet a pair of them directly.

“Oh!” one of them squealed, jumping backward. Neither could have been older than sixteen; one still had their braces on.

“Can I help you?”

She tried to curb her smirk at their excitement.

They were cute, admittedly. She knew how stupid she was at their age.

“Holy shit,” the first girl squealed. “Is he home? Is Richie there? I’m so sorry, we were just-“

“Well,” the other interrupted, “The papers printed his address and we didn’t believe it. We wanted to see if it was real…”

“Jon’s busy at the moment and he doesn’t take kindly to visitors showing up at his private property.”

She spoke gently to them. Telling them off wouldn’t gain much, they were nothing but foolish and harmless teenagers.

“I know, we’re so sorry,” the first replied.

“We just-“

“It was a dare-“

“Can we get your autograph?!”

Amelia blinked.

“Me??”

“Yes!” they squealed in unison. Amelia had never met anybody that spoke in such a consistently piercing range.

“Whatever would you want my signature for?”

Her signature was hardly an autograph.
“You’re Amelia Sambora. We wanna get everyone’s autograph on the Bon Jovi crew. Look!”

The girl unfolded a large A1 sized print of the band already graffitied with an array of signatures.

Amelia couldn’t help her laugh.

“See? We got the rigging guy, the road guy-“

“And the PA guy!”

“And a couple others- plus we caught David and Tico on the way out of their hotel room.”

“I see you have quite the collection,” Amelia held the piece of paper up for herself. There were at least ten different signatures on there- the Bon Jovi band had acquired themselves two dedicated stalkers. “Where would you like me to sign?”

“Anywhere! Just not on their faces.”

Amelia scribbled her name in gold sharpie in the bottom corner, small and out of the way.

“There you are. That okay?”

“That’s perfect,” they beamed, admiring the new addition. “Is there.. any chance Jon would sign this for us? We can wait.”

Amelia bit her lip. She feared that alerting Jon to their presence would get not only them in trouble but her too.

‘Opening the door to fans? Are you crazy?’ She could already see it.

“I’m sorry ladies, I don’t think so.”

The pair nodded dejectedly.

“Alright,” said one.

“Uh, Miss Sambora?”

Amelia smirked at being addressed so formally.

“Yes?”

“Is it true you’ve been dating Jon since high school.”

She nodded.

“Can we ask you something?”

“It’s a dare,” the other clarified.

“What is it?”

“Is he…”

“Well,”

“Good in bed?”

Both girls almost tripped over in a fit of squeals. One whacked the other over the head with the folded paper scoldingly, only causing more laughter.

“Alright girls,” Amelia stood straight. “That’s a little inappropriate, wouldn’t you say?”

Both went still and quiet at the reprimand.

“What was that?”

The girls erupted into real screams this time as Jon stepped out.

“Alright, alright,” he said. “What’s going on?”

“Jon we’re your biggest fans!” one cried.

“We’ve been fans since the first album, we even saw you open for ZZ Top when the PA went out.”

He cringed.

“We’ve been to fifteen Bon Jovi shows across the country, even one in England.”

“We’re collecting the crew’s signatures, would you sign it for us?”

Jon did so without a word.

One of the girls looked as though she might faint.

“Thank you!” she cried. “We’re so sorry about coming here, we didn’t think you’d really answer the door.”

“Well, I wouldn’t have,” he sent Amelia a sharp look. “You’re lucky I’m in a good mood today.”

Both had the decency to blush.

“You girls seem harmless enough but at the end of the day my house is private. Can you understand that?”

Amelia looked at the girls kindly, each looked mortified to be reprimanded by their idol, no matter how gently.

“Yes. We’re sorry.”

“That’s alright,” he smiled. “Was there anything else you wanted?"

Jon glanced at the polaroid camera in one of their hands.

“A photo?”

“Oh, would you?” they shrieked.
Amelia snapped a photo of the three of them together. Jon signed it at their behest.

“Now, are you girls gonna be alright getting home? Do you want us to order you a taxi?”

“Oh no it’s alright. Our Mom’s picking us up from the park soon.”

“Alright,” Jon muttered, “Well, get home safe.”

“Thank you!”

Both of them were giddy as could be as they traversed across the drive. Neither could take their eyes off the signed polaroid photo.

“Oh God!” Amelia overheard one say, “He’s even hotter in person.”

Jon shook his head and closed the door. Amelia didn’t like the look she was met with.

“Care to explain?”

“What? They were harmless.”

“You opened the door on two strangers? What the heck Amelia. I have one rule around this place and it’s for your own good.”

“I saw them through the window! They were nothing more than a pair of teenage girls.”

“They’re strangers Amelia, you never know what they’re like. If they’re crazy enough to show up at my house then they might be crazy enough to do other things.”

“They aren’t crazy,” she argued, following him as he marched off. “They’re just kids, kids don’t understand boundaries, they just wanted a glimpse of you.”

“You swore to me you wouldn’t open that door,” he raised his voice a little. When he got angry his nostrils would flare somewhat. Amelia could never look at him when that happened; laughing at him when he was pissed rarely ended well.

“Actually I didn’t. I said I thought the rule was ridiculous.”

“Ridiculous because I want to protect you? I don’t want some lunatic getting in my house because you let them in.”

“You’ve spent all week trying to convince me that your fans are normal.”

“Not the ones that show up on my doorstep.”

“They were children! You think I’d have answered if I saw a thirty-year-old man with a machete? I saw two teenage girls with braces and a polaroid camera. I was only going to tell them to leave.” 

“Where’s your key?”

“Why, are you going to take it away from me?"

“Yeah, I might.” He dug his fists into his hips.

Amelia spun the keychain around her finger before darting off. Jon chased after her, enjoying a good look up her skirt as she ran up the stairs.

“Amelia, get back here!”

She ran through the hallways, slamming doors as she went until she reached one of the guest bathrooms.

“Amelia!”

He walked calmly to catch her. He wasn’t going to waste his breath sprinting like a cat after a mouse.

She heard him enter a room across the hallway looking for her.

“Amelia,” Jon entered the guest bedroom. The giggle from the ensuite gave away her position. “Now what are you doing hiding from me, huh? Come out, I don’t bite.”

Silence.

She was certainly being a brat.

“Alright then.”

Upon opening the door he found her propped up against the wall.

Naked.

“Is this what you were looking for?”

The key he’d been after was now dangling on her necklace.

She’d been standing there utterly naked and she expected him to notice the key?
His jeans were too tight under normal circumstances, any excitement made them unbearably so.

“Forget it.”

He charged toward her, gathering her up in his arms before she’d even had a chance to escape.

“If there’s one thing you women know, it’s how to get under a man’s skin.”

“And how to easily remedy an argument.”

Jon scoffed. “Yeah, when it suits you.”
She had the grace to blush, and not only because she was naked in his arms.

Jon took the key in his hand and yanked it from her neck, breaking the flimsy clasp.

“Ow,” she muttered. “What was that for?”

“I’ll put that in safe keeping,” he said as he shoved it in his back pocket. “Until you learn that I have your best interests at heart.”

“You can’t do that!” she objected loudly, scrambling out of his arms. “Give that back, it’s my key.”

He turned away from her as she tried to reach behind him, enjoying the little spectacle she was making.

She looked at him with that familiar Sambora fire. “You can’t keep me locked in here, it’s my home.”

“I’m glad you think so. But those girls could’ve been nutjobs and you let them in way too brazenly.”

“I opened the door, I didn’t let them in.”

“You would’ve wrestled them if they’d barged past?”

Amelia hmphed.

“My father used to keep me locked up. He dictated when and if I left the house, who I saw and when I saw them. I won’t let my boyfriend do the same.”

Amelia snatched a spare white bathrobe that’d been hanging on Jon’s door and threw it on.

“The last thing I wanna do is control you, ‘Melia. You’re too innocent. Any person showin’ up at my doorstep is a nutcase. You can’t open our doors to them, you wait to see if they hang around or not and if they don’t leave then the authorities get involved.”

“They were just children,” Amelia argued quietly. She took a seat on the edge of the guest bed and sighed.

“I know they were just children.” He threw a loose arm around her. “But they should know better. Just because they’re kids doesn’t mean they can’t be dangerous. There’s a lotta troubled youth out in these streets.”

“You saw them Jonny. They were young girls with a crush, nothing more. One of them had a bow in their hair and the other had glitter on her eyelids. I was bored, I weighed the risks and found them to be minimal.”

“I know you did, sweetheart.”

He picked her up and placed her small frame into his lap. There his chin found a comfortable spot resting upon her head and he took a mere moment to be thankful that nothing bad had happened to her.

“I know they were just stupid kids but what if they weren’t? I was in the other room with no clue someone was there. I was on the phone, if somethin’ had happened I wouldn’t have been able to help you. My fans are good people but the ones that show up at my house or at my parents’ house have a bit of a screw loose. All it takes is one nutjob for someone to get hurt, and Amelia I don’t know what the heck I’d do if that someone was you. Do you understand?”

He'd posed the question so softly, like a teacher to a small child.

She wondered if it was paranoia or one of those male tendencies to protect the women around him, either way she
though it a little overkill. If it helped him sleep at night then so be it.

“Can I have my key back?” She asked, trying to sneak her hand under his butt.

“If you promise me you understand.”

She looked at him pointedly. He had already reprimanded her for opening the door on two harmless children, now he wanted to humiliate her more by making her promise aloud?

“Did you give your poor mother this talk too?”

Jon huffed. That was the Amelia he knew, always skirting around questions and ‘apologies’.

“Yes, I did. Mom’s just happy people love her son. I’ve tried to explain to her that not everyone’s as kind as they seem even if ninety nine percent of them are.”

Amelia saw in his eyes how much it meant to him. He was a worrier at heart, he needed that final reassurance to help him sleep at night.

She granted it in the form of a kiss.

“You’re a little overkill Cowboy, and maybe a part of you is a little paranoid.” She tugged at a bunch of his hair. “But I love you, and if it’ll keep you from panicking then yes, next time we have unplanned visitors I’ll forewarn you.”

He smiled.

“So long as you give me my key. I’m not living as a prisoner in the place I call home.”

Jon dug out the key from his pocket and placed it back into her palm.

“Truth be told I thought stripping would be enough to get me out of that reprimand.”

Jon laughed, tugging her body up the bed into a reclined position and undoing the tightened bathrobe.

"I'm desensitized to your tactics, dear."

Amelia watched as his hands masterfully rid her of her clothing.

"Doesn't look like it to me."

"Mm. Make up sex always does the trick, even in mild cases. Now come here, I've got some lovin' to do."

†††

Bon Jovi were out on another press conference. For what exactly? Amelia had no idea, she had been under the foolish impression that the band were on a much-needed break.

She should have known Jon was incapable of taking a break. There they were in a New York City hotel room, fans had gleaned their location and were crowded around the building.

“So, how exactly do you plan on leaving this place?” Amelia asked from the bed. Jon was standing at the window, grinning as thousands of fans screamed his name.

“Dunno. We’ve got half an hour, security will figure something out by then.”

“And won’t they try to follow us home?”

“All the way back to Jersey? I don’t think so babe.”

Jon peeled back the curtain ever so slightly. The screaming intensified tenfold.

“My God, they’re obsessed with you,” Amelia scoffed.

Jon didn’t seem dismayed. He cracked the window open just a smidge. Amelia almost had to cover her ears at the noise.

“Please, I already have a headache,” she whined.

He closed the window.

“And would you put some clothes on?”

“Why?” he smirked. “I didn’t know you were the jealous kind.”

“I’m not,” she muttered. The thought of a screaming fan catching a glimpse of anything made her feel nothing at all. In fact, the poor girl would probably keel over. “But we’re leaving soon.”

Jon sighed. “You ladies are no fun.”

“And you men are all fun. No seriousness about you.”

Jon quickly dressed himself.

“You ready to go out there?” he asked.

“Depends,” she took his hand, “Do you have earmuffs?”

“No. But we should be in the SUV pretty quick. Just stay close to me, alright?”

The Bon Jovi crew were gathered in the hotel lobby, along with their three burly security guards.

The security guards surrounded Jon and the band. Amelia had never considered herself claustrophobic, but the noise and bustling crowd were certainly raising her heart rate.

Her fingers slipped from Jon’s hand almost right way, no matter how hard she tried to cling onto them.

“Fuckin’ crazy if you ask me!” Amelia heard Spankie shout from her side. The SUV seemed like miles away.

“That’s her!” somebody in the crowd yelled. Amelia hardly took notice of the voice, not out of the thousand others that screamed Jon’s name.

But the crowd started to ruffle and part. Amelia caught sight of a young woman approaching them, some look of determination blazing in her eyes.

The security guards took no notice of her. All three of them surrounded the band, oblivious to anything happening behind them.

Amelia realized all too belatedly that the aggressor wasn’t heading towards the band. She shoved various people aside and leapt toward Amelia, tackling her to the ground.

The adoring screams of the crowd turned to horror. The Bon Jovi crew came to a halt, various people toppling over as they tried not to tread upon the two women on the ground.

“What’s going on?” Jon turned around, trying to peer past his bodyguard.

“Nothing Sir, get in the van.”

A woman screamed, a sound so blood curdling that it could be picked out amongst the crowd of thousands.

And Jon knew that voice. With a grim determination he’d never quite felt, he shoved aside each of his bodyguards and pushed through the crowd.

“Amelia!”

Jon caught sight of her on the floor, mounted by a woman who looked almost ready to kill her.

He couldn’t get through the crowd fast enough. In slow motion he witnessed her swing a fist into Amelia’s nose and the subsequent cry of pain that followed.

Jon barrelled through various people and leapt at the woman. A security guard grabbed her before he could reach. He yanked her arms up her back and handed her over to the approaching police officers.

“Amelia!” Jon and Richie reached her at the same time. “Can you hear me, are you okay?”

Her face was covered in crimson blood. Only a whimper came out in response.

Her nose felt like it was about to explode. She thought she must’ve been dreaming. It was impossible, it couldn’t be happening. She couldn’t be on the floor in a crowd with a bleeding nose. She just couldn’t.

“Amelia!” she picked out her brother’s voice. “Are you there? How many fingers am I holdin’ up.”

“For God’s sake Richie, get her in the van,” Jon yelled. “Take her to the hospital.”

“I’m fine,” Amelia mumbled, though as she spoke it felt like her teeth might fall out.

Jon’s arms pulled her to a stand. She couldn’t see him, her vision was all skewered, but she knew it was him from his touch.

“Come on, you’ll be alright. We’re getting out of here.”

“Come here Mills.” She felt Richie’s hand pull her away at a quickening pace. Blood began to drip down her clothes and onto her shoes.

“Is it bad, Richie?” She cried. Was her nose all crooked? Would it be broken??

“You’ll be fine, it’s just a shock,” he answered quickly, helping her into the car.

The woman, now detained by two police officers, began to scream obscenities at Jon.

“Lock her in the fuckin’ loony bin!” he yelled at the officers, waving his hands at her in disgust. It was a good thing the security guard had gotten to her first. He couldn’t speak to what he’d have done.

“Drive!” Jon yelled as soon as he was in.

“We can’t Sir. The crowd is blocking us.”

“Unwind the window.”

Jon whistled the police over, explaining the dire situation to them. They blew their whistles and waved around tasers when the crowd didn’t disperse. Finally they were on their way.

“Amelia?” Jon knelt before her. “Are you with me?”

Her eyes sought to focus on the man in front of her, although her vision was marred.

“Yes,” she responded calmly as she could, “I’m fine.”

“Can you see me? How many fingers?”

“Three.” Though she wasn’t wholly certain. “What’s wrong, is it bad? Is my nose broken?”

“No.” Jon peeled some hair away from her bloodied face. “Nothing’s broken but we should get you checked for a concussion, you hit your head pretty hard.”

“Yeah!” Dave concurred, “And you got straight back up like it was nothing. I remember the first time I got punched like that, I cried like a baby.”

Amelia smiled best she could.

“Here.” He undid his seatbelt, took both his jacket and shirt off and pressed the bundled-up shirt beneath Amelia’s nose. “Hold that down, it’ll help stop the throbbing. And I doubt Doc wants to be payin’ to clean the SUV.

Amelia laughed a little. David had a way of injecting humor into even the direst situations. Sometimes she wished Jon had that capability, his worrying was enough to set everyone’s teeth on edge.

“I don’t think I need the hospital,” she said, muffled behind David’s now-bloodied t-shirt. “I feel okay, it just hurts.”

“You could be concussed, we should get it checked out anyhow.”

“She’ll be alright,” Tico said. Sometimes when he spoke Amelia was reminded of how much older he was. He had a sort of maturity that the rest of them hadn’t gained yet, and although he often behaved childishly as the rest of them, in times that required it he could be a level-headed voice of reason. “She’s been punched in the face for the first time, it’s gonna hurt like a bitch but it’s nothin’ worse that what any of us have had. Probably best to get her home.”

“She’s bleedin’ all over the place Teek, she hit her head on the ground.”

“Nothin’ worse than what you or I’ve had. She got punched in the nose, she’s a strong kid, she’ll be fine. Did you go to the hospital when Richie smashed your face in?”

Richie’s face burned red.

“No,” he conceded, “But it’s different, I’ve been getting’ smacked around since I was thirteen or younger.”

“Jonny,” Amelia placed her free arm on his shoulder. “I’m fine, Tico’s right. I want to go home for the night, not sit in some waiting room. I’m sure you’ll look after me better than any doctors or nurses could.”

Jon didn’t like it, but who was he to argue?

“Man, I hope they put that bitch in jail.”

“Richie,” Amelia sighed, “She was clearly mentally ill, you don’t need to name call.”

“Name call?” He sputtered. “She pounced on you like an animal! She’s lucky Bobby was blocking Jon n’ I’s way, we woulda torn her to shreds. You’ve gotta press charges.”

“Oh Richie stop. Let me get home before I think of anything like that.”

Why did they have to be in New York? Jersey felt like miles away with her bleeding nose.

Naturally, Richie refused to leave her side despite her being in the adequate care of Jon.

“I’m your brother, alright? I’m not leavin’ until I know you’re okay.”

Classic Richie.

He at least managed to lift her spirits by the end of the journey home. While Jon sat in contemplative, anguished silence, Richie took to making jokes and putting Amelia’s nerves at rest. It was something her brother had always shown a knack for.

Jon didn’t adopt Richie’s technique of calming her. He didn’t bother to hide his reeling. When they reached home he took her rather forcefully by the hand and dragged her to the kitchen.

“Sit,” he said, and if she didn’t know better she would’ve thought he was pissed at her.

Not her, she knew. He was furious at the woman that’d assaulted her and the security guards that let it happen.

The Sambora siblings sat like naughty children as they waited for Jon to prep his ice, bowl, and wash cloths.

“Okay.” He took a seat in the bar stool next to Amelia. There were two very prominent wrinkles of worry between his brows, and Amelia almost felt sorrier for him than she did for herself. “It might be a little tender, alright? Just try to hold still.”

She wasn’t prepared for just how tender. She thought the worst of it was over, the pain had dulled in the duration of the journey and instead the midsection of her face felt strangely numb and largened. Now, with Jon’s ‘tender’ ministrations the pain was back tenfold.
 
“I know,” he cooed. He sought her hand to squeeze it. “Hurts like a bitch. I still remember the first time I got punched, I thought my head was gonna explode.”

“It feels like that,” Amelia whispered. “It feels like blood’s gonna start coming of out my eyeballs.”

Jon, despite everything, managed a small chuckle. “It won’t. It’ll feel strange for a couple hours. Everythin’ll be tingly and your teeth will feel funny.”

“I had kind of hoped I’d make it my whole life without getting punched in the face.”

Jon slumped a little. His hand reached to touch Amelia’s bruising cheek, grazing it with a featherlike touch. “So had I.”

He’d never thought he’d have to see Amelia with a punched face, he’d always told himself he’d be able to protect her from any harm. But he’d failed, and he was paying for it with the pain of having to look at her knowing he could’ve stopped it. His hand should never have slipped out of hers.

Her nose had already begun to bruise. He’d noticed she’d opted to breathe through her mouth the more it swelled.

Had it hurt Amelia that much to see him come home with black eyes all the time?
He’d always thought she was just nagging him, she was a priss after all.

But now he found himself in a position he’d never wanted to be in: her shoes.

Cleaning crusted blood off his love’s face was making him realize how frightened she must’ve been all those times he got into fights.

But then, a part of him supposed it was different. She was a woman. No matter which way he put it, it was worse.

“Looks like you’ll get a black eye Mills,” Rich sighed. “They hurt like a bitch for a day or so but after that it’s fine. S’only a bruise.”

“Lucky me. Looks like I won’t be leaving the house any time soon.”

“Hey, you might have to go to the police station. They usually want testimonies about this sort of thing.”

“I don’t want to press charges,” she repeated, “I just want to forget about it best I can.”

She wouldn’t be looking in the mirror for a while, that’s for sure.

“Amelia, you have to press charges,” said Richie, “She assaulted you.”

“You’re lucky your nose isn’t broken,” Jon added, “It wasn’t just some petty bitch slap, she could have seriously hurt you. She did seriously hurt you, a black eye isn’t a joke.”

“Did you press charges against Richie?”
Jon looked at her sharply. She avoided looking at Richie’s reaction.

“That’s different,” Jon argued, “I know Richie. Friends fight sometimes, that woman was a total stranger and she pounced on you. She deserves to be locked up, if you don’t want to put her in prison then sue the crap out of her.”

“Why would I want to sue her Jonny, that’s just greed. I don’t need money and I don’t want to go through some tiresome legal battle.”

“Then give it to a women’s shelter or something,” Jon stressed, “Amelia, she hurt you!”

Amelia turned away. She took the cloth-wrapped ice and held it to her throbbing nose.

“I don’t want to see that woman ever again, Jon. Not in court and not outside of it.”

“Going to court can at least get you a restraining order if nothing else,” Richie offered.

“No, alright? When I looked that woman in the eyes I thought she was going to kill me. If she’d been armed then I’m almost certain I wouldn’t be here right now. I don’t want to see those eyes ever again.”

That was the killing blow.

Jon stood up, and before Amelia could really process what was happening he was dragging her up from the barstool into a tight, asphyxiating embrace.

Over his shoulder she saw a rather troubled-looking Richie, brown eyes sad and weary.

“You’re okay,” Jon whispered softly as could be, and she wasn’t quite sure who he was reassuring.

“I know I’m okay. But why me, Jonny? What did I ever do? And if whatever it is was enough to make that woman want to attack me, then how do I know others won’t do the same?”

Jon shook his head frantically.

“They won’t, Amelia. I won’t let them. We found our one nutjob, alright? And whether you like it or not we’re gonna take care of them. That woman’s going into custody no matter what, whether it’s jail or a loony bin I don’t care. People can’t get away with something like that.”

“Jonny’s right, it sets a bad precedent.”

Richie stood to join their hug. “You didn’t do nothing, Mills. You ran into a crazy person, all we can do is thank God it wasn’t any worse.”

“But why would she attack me? Because I’m Jon’s girlfriend? Is jealousy really enough to make someone lash out at a stranger like that?”

She wished she hadn’t said it. Jon’s face was pained enough as it were; the insinuation Amelia was attacked purely for being his girlfriend sent him reeling all over again, even if he’d known it was true.

“I’m going to the bathroom.”

Amelia left the two boys in turmoil and ran all the way up to her bedroom ensuite. There she looked upon her beaten face for the first time, and the sight of it was enough to make her want to stay indoors for eternity.

If she wasn’t safe surrounded by three bodyguards then where was she safe?
Suddenly she understood Jon’s ordeal with the door. He wasn’t being overprotective, he was right.

She began to run herself a bath in hopes that the salts and bubbles would be enough to lull her to sleep.

She wouldn’t be the same after this. Speaking ill of her was one thing. Insults heckled at her or printed in the press were meaningless, but this? 

Amelia was merely thankful to be safe at home with an unbroken, albeit swollen nose.

---

Got a couple announcements to make.

Firstly, I combined the last two chapters together because they were pretty short and clearly supposed to be together. So if you were thinking 'wait, I've already read chapter 29', you aren't going crazy 😂

Secondly, I have a new story out 😁

Still about Jon and Amelia but it's small standalone stories that we don't see in this book. There'll be a lot of chapters about the times when they first met and their first 4 years together. I felt pretty sad I never got to write about when they were younger, so now I can 😁

Also, once this story is finished I'm sure I'll write about much of their future together, just small chapters here and there.

And other stories that I never managed to fit into this story for the sake of pacing. Birthdays, Christmases, dates etc.

With my older story Edge of a Broken Heart I sorta just wrote EVERYTHING into it. I don't want to do that here for pacing, but I would still like to include Jon and Amelia moments that don't necessarily advance the plot.

So you can check out my new story 'Made to be your Man' on my profile 😁 it would mean a lot, and if you like this then I'm sure you'll like that too.