Chapter 15
The FBI and one of Jeanie’s
attorneys met her flight when it arrived at DFW Airport. Wearing sunglasses and
the same black dress she’d worn at the awards ceremony, she refused to answer
questions and didn’t look up as they whisked her through reporters and to a
waiting unmarked squad car.
Once they were on the road, they
began to apprise her of what was happening. Finally, she mumbled, “Where’s
Jess?”
“Rachel’s parents are keeping her
there. She doesn’t need to be in the middle of this.”
“Where’s Kevin?”
“He’s home…he arrived early this
morning. In fact, there are a lot friends and family already there.”
“Is he okay?”
“Dub” Martin, her attorney,
wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “He’s holding up…” Jeanie buried her face
into his suit coat and began to weep.
As they turned down the narrow
country road to the ranch, Jeanie was amazed. The tiny road was
bumper-to-bumper remote satellite vans from different television and radio
stations. There were people milling about. The police had barricades set up a
few hundred yards from the driveway.
They entered through the rear of
the house through the French doors and media room. There were so many people
that it was almost impossible to walk. Perhaps it was her imagination or
perhaps it was shock, but when she entered the room seemed to fall eerily
silent. All eyes were on Jeanie Kirkpatrick… She tried to peer through the mass
of bodies to find Kevin…where was Kevin?
Finally, she saw him sitting on
the couch. He looked at her, but made no move toward her. The only emotion that
registered on his face was hate. He hated her…
Jeanie numbly made her way
upstairs.
* * *
Once inside their bedroom, she
sank to her knees and let herself fall apart. She had to hold a pillow over her
face to stifle her gut-wrenching screams. She cried until her stomach began to
lurch and she began to vomit. “God, please…if you have to take anyone, take
me…don’t take my baby!” she screamed. “Not my baby…”
Eventually, Kevin came upstairs.
He still seemed void of all emotion. He bathed her face and helped her change
into clean clothes. “Sit down,” he instructed. Jeanie sat down on the bed.
“Where were you last night?”
Jeanie explained in generalities
not because she was trying to hide anything, but because she was too distraught
to talk.
Kevin listened intently, staring
across the room at nothing in particular. When she was finished, he got up. He
made it as far as the dresser. With one explosive action he swept everything
off the top of the dresser and sent it flying across the room. She didn’t even
try and stop him. Kevin’s grief and worry and rage came spewing forth with the
power of a long-overdue volcanic eruption. He threw lamps, turned over the
small love seat in front of the fireplace. Plants, tables, whatever Kevin could
pick up he trashed.
Finally, when there was nothing
left to destroy, he grabbed Jeanie by the shoulders and began to shake her.
“You are a joke! What kind of mother are you?” he screamed. “What kind of
mother runs off and leaves her child without even a baby sitter?” Kevin tossed
her back down to the bed. He started to walk off, then turned. He jabbed her
hard with his hand. “You remember this day, Jeanie, because if anything happens
to my daughter, you’re responsible. No, you know what? It’s not your fault.
You’re a pathetic, success-driven excuse for a mother…you can’t help yourself.
It’s my fault. I pulled Madi out once and I was so stupid, that I brought her
back here…”
Kevin stormed from the room, now
in shambles. Jeanie sat stoically alone on the bed. Friends and family, hearing
Kevin’s tirade, came running upstairs and now crowded in the hall outside their
bedroom. He pushed his way through them and went outside for fresh air.
* * *
Megan had seen enough. She’d been
there for Jeanie’s entire pregnancy. It was Megan and Mac in the delivery room
when Madi was born while Kevin sat front and center at The Grammys with a
silicone-stuffed bleached blonde dancer. Megan knew more about Jeanie
Kirkpatrick’s life than Kevin did. She also knew that Jeanie would die for him.
She loved him that much.
Seeing friends and family rush to
Jeanie’s aid, Megan calmly worked her way back downstairs. There were two
things she needed before she confronted Kevin. She pulled a file folder from
her briefcase and then looked inside the walk-in closet off the media room. The
walls were lined with floor-to-ceiling custom shelving and held videos and CDs.
Thankfully, Jeanie was meticulous when it came to labeling videos, she could
have been a librarian, she was that organized. Megan pulled out two videos.
When Megan went outside she found
Kevin standing alone staring at the pool. She tucked the folder and videos
under her arm. “Kevin?”
“Go away Megan. I’m not in the
mood for your shit.” He wouldn’t look at her. She paused for a moment then
walked up to him. “Megan, I said get the hell away from me!” He turned to her,
his eyes blazing.
Before he knew what happened, she
slapped him hard across the face. “What the fu…” She hit him again.
“You listen to me you selfish
son-of-a-bitch…” She had to stop. She refused to lose control. “This isn’t
about YOU. This is about Madison!” That gave statement stunned him. Of course
it was about Madison…
Megan angrily continued, “That
woman…that woman for some God-forsaken reason loves you in spite of your ego.
From the day she met you…she’s loved you. That woman…is my best friend,” Megan
fought off tears now. “I-I watched her bury her parents…I watched her raise a
child that wasn’t even HER child…because she has all this fuckin’ LOVE in her heart.
How DARE you? How DARE YOU???”
She shoved the folder and videos
at him. “You read this…you watch these tapes. So help me God, after you do, you
better have a different attitude!”
* * *
Kevin wiped tears away with the
back of his hand. When he was certain he’d regained some control, he made his
way toward his office. There was a television and VCR in there. He could also
lock the door and have privacy.
He popped the first video in … and
sat down. It was Megan and Mac…the lighting wasn’t very good…it was dim. He
could hear giggles then Jeanie screaming, “I hate Kevin Richardson!” as another
contraction hit her hard. Her hair was in a ponytail and she was wet from
perspiration. She cried and tried to tell them she couldn’t do it any more…
This was the tape of Madi’s birth…
Kevin never realized it had been
taped. His heart sank as he watched the birth of his daughter. She was a mass
of pink wrinkles and black hair…
“I love you Madison…Mommy loves
you so much…” Jeanie cooed as she held her daughter.
Kevin broke down into tears. He
couldn’t watch any more. He put the second tape in. Madi’s first
birthday…Jeanie chasing Jessie with a dirty diaper…Jeanie chasing Kevin with a
dirty diaper. Video he’d shot of Jeanie rocking Madi. Video she’d taken of Kevin
asleep on the couch with Madison sleeping on his chest…she was so tiny…
He turned off the VCR and sat back
down the couch and cried. It took thirty minutes before he could compose
himself enough to open Megan’s file.
It was a press release:
“Award-winning songwriter Jeanie Kirkpatrick
announced that she would be “retiring” from her successful career to devote
time to her family. “Never say never,” she replied when asked if she would ever
jump back full-time into the music industry. “Maybe, someday. Right now, I have
a family who needs me.”
The date for release: One week
away.
Her haunting words from the night
before during her acceptance speech hit him hard. “Kevin, One more week, baby.
I love you.”
Now, Kevin understood.