A Ballad For Beulah

Staring out the window of his Minnesota home, Billie Joe watched how the snow fell gently to the ivory-clad ground outside, while lazily holding his cell phone in his right hand in such a way that it looked as if the small device would fall to the floor as casually as the snow.

He blinked a few times, completely caught up in the thrall of the subtle shower of soft, crystalline flakes; deeply lost in his thoughts.

In a brief gesture in which he looked down at his cell phone, his breath hitched and his heart skipped a beat. Billie Joe swallowed back the metaphoric lump in his throat as he turned his head to the side, completely in a state of disbelief.

Beulah had been robbed blind, left with nothing much except the clothes on her and Bailey's backs.

He'd just now got the message from his voicemail and he couldn't feel any sicker at not having gotten the message as soon as it was left. But the night before he had turned it off because he was at his in-law's house for dinner and then they went to a Christmas mass at their church. And just when he went to call Beulah for the sake of seeing how Bailey was doing on the holiday, he found the message and just about wanted to throw up.

He couldn't imagine what must be going on for her but he couldn't leave now to go to them. He just wish he knew what to do.

And then he'd called Mike's house, and got the answering machine. Then he tried his cell phone, and that's when Mike picked up.

Mike was in Vegas.

He'd driven through the night as soon as Beulah had gotten a hold of him, and he put them all up in a hotel room at the Bellagio and was spending Christmas Day with them.

It made Billie Joe furious to some extent because, although his heart was with Adrienne, he felt it should be him there and not his best friend.

Perhaps it was guilt or more just the sense of his responsibility to them.

It was all up for debate at the moment.

Turning back to the window, he leaned forward so that the tip of his nose pressed against the cold glass, his hot breath forming a foggy circle where his mouth was. Closing his distant green eyes, Billie Joe then pressed his forehead to the glass as well, letting his shoulder sag while still holding onto his phone, albeit a little tighter now.

"Whatsa matter, honey?" came a soft cooing voice from behind him as a pair of delicate hands found their way around his waist and dipped down into his pockets.

Adrienne stood behind her husband, pressing her chest up against his back as she tilted her head and laid it down on his shoulder, looking up at his profile.

"Nothing," he muttered. "Just thinking."

"Thinking about what?"

"Stuff."

"Billie," Adrienne spoke in a chastising tone. "Ever since you checked your phone messages, you've been acting so lost. And it's worrying me."

Billie Joe sighed and turned his body so that his chest was pressed to his wife's as he looked into her brown eyes. She looked so concerned, so doting. So in love with him.

Why do you love me, Adrienne? You wouldn't if you knew all the things I've done behind your back.

"Don't be," Billie Joe whispered as he brought his lips to her. "Just the holiday blues. Thinking about all the things I'd do over if given the chance. The things I'd do differently. How I could be a better man."

Adrienne gave him a sweet smile and she wrapped her arms lovingly around his waist and set her chin on his chest as she looked up at him; their noses touching as he looked down at her with forlorn eyes.

"You're a great man, Billie. The best husband I could ever ask for."

If you only knew.

"You're talented, street smart, loving, and a great father to your boys," she added.

Not all of them.

"And you're gonna be a great father again," came Adrienne's comment that caught him off guard.

"Huh?"

Grinning so happily, Adrienne bit her bottom lip and leaned in to whisper in his ear. "I'm pregnant." Pulling back, she checked to see his reaction.

"You're--whoa. Wow. Really?" She nodded. "How far along are you?" he asked, in some mild shock.

"A little over a month," she replied. "I've known for about two weeks, but I wanted to wait to tell you until today. Christmas."

Billie Joe couldn't help but smile, despite how he felt about his shitty attempt at being a father and provider for Bailey.

He was gonna be a father again, with his wife. With Adrienne.

And this made his holiday better.

* * *

The following morning, Bailey woke up both his mother and 'Uncle Mike' with his incessant giggles of glee as he tore into their bedroom suite and jumped on their bed, announcing that Santa came and left presents, just like Mike had said he would.

And it didn't take long for him to drag the two adults out of bed and into the living room area of the presidential suite where the Christmas tree was clad with colorfully wrapped presents scattered at its base.

Tearing into one present after another, Bailey stared wide eyed at each one, with a smile that made the Cheshire cat pale in comparison.

After all was said and done, Bailey hopped up onto the sofa in between Mike and Beulah, holding a real, miniature acoustic guitar on his lap. He tried to play it, but just ended up making noise that was impossible to call music.

"Sounds just like Billie," Mike jabbed with a laugh.

Smirking, Beulah ran a hand through her son's hair and kissed the top of his head, speaking in his ear, "Did you have a nice Christmas, sweetie?"

Bailey nodded his head. "Yuh-huh."

"What do you say to Uncle Mike for asking Santa to come a day later?" she asked with a smile as her eyes locked with Mike's.

Bailey turned his to the blue eyed bassist and beamed as brightly as the sun on a cloudless day. "Thank you," he said as he pushed the guitar onto his mom's lap and climbed up into Mike's throwing his arms around the man's neck. He then whispered sneakily into Mike's ear, "Thank you, Daddy."

When Bailey pulled back, Mike was a little dumbfounded, and a little flattered. He looked at Beulah who had no idea what her son had said to him as she smiled, while looking on.

"Uh...you're welcome," Mike responded, a little slow on the uptake.

Clamoring back down to the floor, now armed with his mini guitar, Bailey returned to strumming the instrument haphazardly, while throwing occasional smiles over to Mike, who was still a bit flustered by the boy's comment.

Turning to face Beulah, he put it all in the back of his mind at the moment as he placed his right arm on the back of the sofa and left his side open for her to lean in and snuggle if she wanted to.

Which she did, after only a few seconds.

Mike closed his eyes and leaned right temple onto the top of her head while taking in her flowery scent from the perfume he'd bought her.

Jennifer Lopez's Live.

It would be the scent he associated with Beulah from now on.

"So..." Mike began casually. "What's on the agenda for tonight?"

Turning to face his compellingly handsome face, Beulah lightly smiled as she shrugged her shoulders. "I dunno. You've kinda been orchestrating everything. I'm not sure. What do you wanna do?"

"It's not really a matter of what--I mean," he laughed. "I'd really like to take you out to dinner," Mike amended; his eyes studying every inch of her hairline as his fingers found their way to the strands of her blonde strands.

Blushing slightly, Beulah looked down at her lap and then over to Bailey who was still trying to play something on his little guitar. "What am I gonna do with Bailey?"

Leaning closer to her, he pressed his lips just over her ear, his warm breath making her shiver. "It's the day after Christmas. Call Evelyn."

Closing her eyes at the sensation his breath caused, she nodded slowly. "Mmmkay."

* * *

At dinner that night, Mike sat across the table from Beulah who was wearing a pretty yellow dress that matched her honey blonde hair. It was a strapless number, too, so it got Mike a tad hot and bothered.

Every chance he got he stole a look at her exposed neck, the tanned skin of her shoulders and collarbone, and the slight rise and fall of her chest as she breathed.

But mostly he just watched her lips as she spoke or smiled. As she ate; spearing a piece of food with her fork and popping the piece into her mouth, letting her teeth clamp down on the metal prongs as the utensil slid out.

And it utterly blew his mind.

It blew his mind how this one woman that he'd known as a child and had blossomed into a gorgeous woman in his eyes, and slept with only once, had made him feel like the world around him finally made sense.

That, for once in his life, he knew he didn't have to grow old all by himself.

"Beulah, I know the two of us aren't technically dating, and I know everything's complicated in regard to Billie and that whole situation, but these last two months -- actually, before that -- I've felt this...I've felt like there's this magnet. It's in your hand and the other end is in my chest, and can't help being so drawn to you. So compelled to be with you."

Beulah's breath hitched at his little speech, setting her fork down and shyly twiddling her fingers in her lap.

"There's something I keep trying to tell you but every chance I seem to get, every moment I think is right, gets interrupted by one thing or another. But now I think I have the chance, and I plan on taking it," Mike continued. Pushing his chair back, Mike stood up and moved to sit in the seat adjacent to her. Sitting down in it, he leaned forward and took her hands in his. "Beulah..." he trailed off, smiling at her so endearingly.

"What?" she wondered softly, and a little nervously.

Mike licked his lips and took a deep breath as he leaned forward a little more. "I love you," he finally spoke, saying the words that had been eating at him. "I love you," he repeated.

Beulah blinked a few times; not sure she had heard correctly. But there Mike was, sitting before her, holding her hands in his, and with the most earnest blue eyes she'd ever seen in all her 25 years.

"Y-you do?" she stuttered. When he nodded his head, Beulah bit her bottom lip, dipped her chin to her chest and let out a nervous laugh. "But why?" she inquired, clearly thrown for a loop. "And don't...and don't just say 'why not?' or 'someone has to.'"

"Wasn't plannin' on it," he assured with a slight smirk. Lifting one of his hands, Mike brought it to the left side of her face and cupped it, making her look him in the eyes. "I love you for so many reasons. Too many to name in just one night. But the reasons I'll divulge right now, is because you're this ray of sunlight that's suddenly broke through my gray clouds and helped me see that I don't have to dwell on the past. The things in my life I've messed up or the things I fear. I just look at you and I feel a hundred pounds lighter, and that everything's okay. I find myself thinking of you all the time. And not just physically. I think about what you're doing, what your thinking, what your feeling. And I think about how much better my life would be if I could be in yours."

Beulah's lips pouted slightly as her heart began to melt.

No one had ever talked to her like that before. And she wasn't completely sure how to react.

"I-I don't know wh-what to say," she continued to stutter with another nervous laugh. "I mean...it almost sounds like you're trying to propose." Then as an afterthought, "You're not about to propose, are you?"

Mike shook his head with a small chuckle. "No," he responded, assuringly. "I just want to be with you, and for you to know how I feel. I'm not exactly ready to jump into another marriage just yet."

"Okay, good," Beulah replied, letting out a relieved breath. Licking her upper lip, she tilted her head a little more into his hand; starting to lose touch with the world around Mike and her. "So...uh, what happens now?"

"You let me kiss you, and then it's your call from there."

Beulah shifted her eyes past his shoulders and then back to his face as a tiny smile broke out across her lips. "Okay," she muttered, leaning in so that he met her halfway.

Mike placed his lips upon hers just as he brought his remaining hand up to cup the other side of her face and kiss her so romantically. When he pulled apart, only a feather's distance away, she almost cooed at his warm breath lingering over her mouth and chin. They locked eyes, staring down their noses at each other.

"What's your call?" Mike whispered.

Beulah simply smirked.

* * *

It was like a dance.

Beulah twirled around as Mike unwrapped the strapless dress from her body, letting it fall away as she pushed his dress jacket off his shoulders.

Standing together in their bedroom suite, Mike leaned down, pressing his lips to hers as he placed one hand on the small of her bare back and the other through her honey hair which was down up with lots of ringlets. She tipped her head back, allowing him to kiss her chin and neck without any trouble.

As his dress shirt fell away, it was as if everything were blurring as they somehow made it to the bed. And in a the matter of an hour's time, the two of them were nothing but a tumultuous mess of limbs, tangled amongst the bed sheets, their bodies slick with perspiration and glowing from the heat of the moment.

In her heart, Beulah felt that this may have been the most satisfying experience with a man she'd ever had.

Mike made her toes curl and her eyes pretty much roll into the back of her head.

Her breath caught in her throat, it was as if Mike revived her each time they kissed.

And when it was just them, lying there, cocked together, basking in the afterglow, and both contemplating rounds two, three, four and so on, they wore satiated smiles on their lips and in their eyes.

Mike pulled Beulah against his warm body, more than content to just snuggle with her, but also thankful he was able to have great sex with the woman he'd fallen in love with.