A Ballad For Beulah

By the time Billie Joe returned home that night, it was well past eleven. The only reason he had been gone so long was simply because the band he had a meeting with, he'd treated out to dinner and drinks to celebrate signing them to Adeline Records.

And he was quite surprised to also learn that Adrienne had already gone up to bed and was fast asleep when he poked his head into his bedroom.

Smiling at how beautiful she looked while she coasted through her slumber, the punk rocker backed out of the room and shut the door quietly. As he stepped gently down the hall, he heard the sound of muffled giggles coming from Jakob's bedroom.

Pressing his nose against the smooth surface of the door, he listened to see if he could make out what was being said on the other side. But he couldn't make out any specifics.

Smirking, he turned the knob and cast the door open enough for him to lean in the doorway; his eyes falling upon both Jakob and Bailey sitting on the floor playing with trucks.

They looked up as soon as they saw their father. And, of course, the older sibling knowing nothing about Bailey sharing Billie Joe's DNA.

"What are you two still doing up?" Billie Joe inquired, folding his arms across his chest and quirking an eyebrow.

"Nuffin," Bailey muttered shyly.

"Looks like you're playing trucks to me after bedtime."

"Nuh-uh, Dad," Jakob insisted. "I got up to go to the bathroom and I knocked over my stuff and Bailey was helpin' me clean it up."

"That so?" Billie Joe knew his middle child was lying, but he didn't let on. "Well, in that case...need a hand with that dump truck?"

Shutting the bedroom door behind him, the punk rocker dad walked up to his sons and sat down, Indian style beside them, proceeding to play with them.

* * *

Mike drove his black BMW up Billie Joe's street with his left hand because his right hand rested on Beulah's lap, holding her left hand in his.

Since she wasn't there when her son was dropped off for his sleepover, and knew it had to have gone well because the five-year-old didn't call late at night wanting his mommy, she wanted to be there when they picked him up. She wanted to see his face and hear how well everything went.

"I was thinking that maybe we could have Jakob over our house tonight. You know. Kinda like, swapping kids and then some," Mike suggested with a grin as he kept looking between Beulah and the road.

She met his glance and nodded with a smile as studied his profile when he went back to focusing on pulling into Billie Joe's driveway.

"Two mini Billies running around the house at once? You sure I can handle that?" she joked.

As Mike put the BMW in park and turned off the ignition, he gave her a deadpan and heartfelt expression.

"You can handle anything."

That comment of his brought a smile to her face as he climbed out of his side of the vehicle. She waited patiently because she knew what to expect. To expect Mike coming around to her side and opening her door up for her. All gentleman-like. Especially when he took her hand and helped her up because she was getting to balloonish to do it all by herself at the moment.

"Thank you kindly, sir," she spoke in a mock Southern accent.

"'Twas my pleasure, ma'am," he replied just the same.

Hand in hand they walked up to the front door of the Armstrong residence. Mike knocked once on the door and then stepped right in. Something he'd been doing for as long as he could remember.

"Hola! Bonjour!" he called out. "We're here to kidnap a little boy who calls himself the Spaghetti-O Bandit!"

Beulah giggled.

"I'm sorry, but we threw him away this morning when the garbage men came," was Billie Joe's response as he walked into the front hall from the living room.

Giving each other a respective nod of acknowledgment, Mike and Billie Joe both seemed to look over at Beulah at the same time until Adrienne appeared in the front hall as well.

Her stance was stoic and a little withdrawn, but she wore a pleasant smile on her face nonetheless. She was nothing if not civil.

"Hi," Adrienne greeted.

"Hi," Beulah repeated. "How was Bailey?"

"He was fine. Him and Jakob had a great sleepover and they keep going on about wanting to have another one."

Mike laughed. "Heh, I was just saying that to Beulah in the car. I was gonna suggest that since the boys are still having so much fun together that maybe Jake could stay over at our house tonight. I was thinking that we could take them to a movie or something..."

Billie Joe shoved his hands in his pockets and gave a quick nod of his head. "Sounds cool. I'm sure Jake would love it. And, actually, so would Joey." The shorter man let out a nervous laugh as he looked at his bassist friend. "Any reason for Joey to feel like the only child from time to time seems to be his mission in life."

"Going through some older brother angst?" Mike inquired.

Billie Joe shrugged. "I guess." Then, turning his head up toward the staircase, he called out, "Jakob! Bailey! Come on downstairs, boys! Mike and Beulah are here!"

After a few short moments, the pitter patter of two sets of feet echoed across the upstairs' floorboards as the soon-to-be eight year old Jakob and the five year old Bailey rounded the corner and began to skip down the steps, two at a time.

"Hey, hey," Billie Joe scolded. "One at a time our you'll break your necks."

"Sorry," Jakob mumbled.

"Yeah, sorry," Bailey echoed. Then he smiled widely and looked up at his father and pulled a folded up piece of paper out of his pocket and held it up. "I wrote a song, Daddy. Wanna see?"

And then, everyone went silent.

Oh shit. Oh, fucking shit.

Did Bailey just...? Yeah, he did.

Laughing it off nervously, Billie Joe looked at Bailey and then around at the faces of everyone else. Especially at Beulah who looked like she'd seen a ghost. And he was pretty sure he must look just like her. Like the blood had just drained from his face.

"Bailey," was all Billie Joe said, although, in a slightly chastising manner.

The little boy's green eyes went wide as he grimaced. "I'm sorry," he apologized. "I forgot."

Billie Joe looked at his wife while ruffling Bailey's hair playfully, trying to shake the slip-up off as a simple mistake.

"Kids...they, uh, sure say the damnedest things, don't they?" he asked with another nervous laugh.

Adrienne met his eyes halfway and tilted her head. "How stupid do you honestly think I am? How long did you think I'd be kept in the dark for, huh? Until after the baby's born? A year? A few years? Forever?"

Billie Joe swallowed back a lump in his throat and he was about to respond at the same time as Beulah, when Adrienne pulled the Polaroid from her pocket. She stepped up to her husband and slapped the picture, face down, against his chest.

"This fell out of your pants that I picked up off our bedroom floor last night," she spoke. "A little careless on your part, don't you think? Especially if you've been trying to keep the fact that Bailey's your son a secret from me."

"Adrienne, we never meant--" Beulah began to speak up, but was cut off by the older woman's glare.

"I don't wanna hear your excuses," she gritted out through clenched teeth. "I wanna hear my husband's. You know. A husband? Something a single woman is not supposed to mess with."

Tears began to well up in Beulah's eyes and began to panic a little on the inside.

"Adie, don't do this right now. Not in front of--" Billie Joe started to say.

"Jakob, take Bailey into the other room, please," Adrienne interrupted.

Nodding his head in obedience, Jakob took Bailey by the hand and led him out of the front hall as Adrienne looked around at the three remaining adults.

"Did you think I didn't notice?" she questioned. "That it was just by coincidence Bailey looks just like you?"

"How long have you known?" Billie Joe asked.

"Does it matter?"

"Yes."

Taking in a deep breath, Adrienne watched as Billie Joe finally pulled the Polaroid off his chest and held it in his hand at his side. "I didn't know for sure until last night, when I saw that picture. But I've had my gut feelings ever since Tom, your brother," she spoke, looking right at Beulah, then back to her husband. "Showed me two photographs. One of Nick's son, Jeremy, and the other of Bailey. And then I remember last November, when I asked you about the purchases to a toy store in Vegas, then how you said Bailey's name was Bailey Mason. But you conveniently left off the fact that Mason was his middle name and that Armstrong was his last name."

"Babe, I'm so sorry," Billie Joe began to apologize, looking as if he were on the verge of a breakdown. "I wanted to tell you for so long but I was so fucking scared of how you'd take it. I didn't know how to come right out and tell you."

"Easy. By saying, 'Adrienne, I slept with Beulah and she got pregnant with my son.'"

"It wasn't that easy," Billie Joe insisted. "I didn't know about Bailey until the night this picture was taken." He lifted the Polaroid and shook it a little to convey whatever point he was trying to make. "And by then, everything between us was going so fucking great again and I didn't want to ruin that. When I...when..." he gestured between Beulah and himself. "When we...were together that first time, it was because I was drunk and you and I were on the verge of separation."

"Wait," Adrienne held up a hand. "Let's backtrack." She stared between her husband and the younger woman. "The first time? There have been other times?"

Billie Joe mentally kicked himself. Then hesitantly admitted, "Y-yeah," he stuttered.

"How long was it going on for?"

"Two...three times a year," Beulah spoke up as monotonously as a robot. "Whenever he showed up in Vegas to visit Bailey. When he found the time in his schedule to see his son."

There was a sound of bitterness in the blonde's voice that made Billie Joe grimace.

Shit. Was he gonna get it from both ends now?

"The last time was nearly two years ago," Beulah continued.

Adrienne snapped her full attention to the other woman. "What was nearly two years ago? Visiting Bailey in Vegas or you and him fucking for the last time?" The brunette winced, but shook it off.

"Adrienne--" Mike tried to intercept.

"Don't you get into this right now, Mike," she warned. "I already knew you've known all along. Do you really wanna dig yourself a deeper grave?"

"I will if you get Beulah and yourself so upset that you throw yourselves into labor. I already had a scare last month with her, I don't need to go through it again. Double," he shot back.

"Mike, please just stay out of it," Beulah begged.

"And do what? Stand back and listen? No, okay, listen...I knew what was going on from the get-go, yeah, sure. That much is true. And yes, I also kept it a secret, because it wasn't my place to be a goddamn tattletale like I'm in grade school," Mike began to vent. "I played the best friend for both of you. For all of you. Listening to your fears, your guilts, your crying," he added the last part while looking at Beulah. "Do you know just how many nights I laid awake at night thinking about what I could do to make it so that you didn't have to cry anymore?"

Adrienne shot Billie Joe a look. "How much of an asshole have you been, Billie?"

"The worst kind," he answered grimly. "But I never meant for it to get this far gone. I never wanted to hurt anyone. It was just one night that snowballed as the years went by. And I'm fucking sorry. I'm sorry I lead Beulah on, I'm sorry I was a shitty-ass absent father to Bailey, I'm sorry I placed the burden on my secret on Mike, and I'm sorry I lied to you. If anything, that's my worst deed. Lying to you."

"You're damn right it is," Adrienne snapped. "Because you wanna know something? I don't even give a fuck that you cheated on me with Beulah and knocked her up. I don't care that Bailey's your son because I can see what a great kid he is and I couldn't ever look at him as anything but. But I'm mad. No, I'm furious that you had to lie to me."

She winced again and this time she seemed to almost double over.

"You okay?" Billie Joe wondered nervously.

"I'm fine," she growled. "If...if you'd just told me the truth...even if it was just when you found out about Bailey...we could've gone through this together, Billie. That's what husbands and wives are supposed to do."

Her knees buckled as tears fell down her face.

"Honey," Billie Joe muttered, reaching out to touch her arm, but she shook it off.

"Why? Why did you have to lie to me? I love you so much and you had to lie to me," she cried as she dropped to her knees suddenly. "Unnh..." she groaned.

Mike's eyes went wide as both he and Billie Joe got to her in time. "Adrienne," he began. "Are you going into labor?"

"Wait--what?" Billie Joe practically exclaimed.

Adrienne scrunched up her face and held one hand under her stomach as she groaned again. "Yes," she replied. "I wasn't due to go into the hospital until Monday, and don't you fucking dare say, 'I told you so.'"

"Wasn't plannin' on it," Mike replied. "But how about we save this argument for later and get you to the hospital now."

"No, Billie can take me. Stay here with the kids." Adrienne sent a glare toward Beulah. "We'll finish all of this later is for...ahhh...for...sure..."

Pulling his wife up against him, Billie Joe helped her waddle out the front door while grabbing his car keys off the hook by the door.

It was a little abrupt the way the confrontation and argument had ended. But it was nearly old news as the sound of screeching tires from Billie Joe's car peeled out of the driveway, leaving Mike, Beulah and the three Armstrong boys alone in the house.

Jakob and Bailey took that moment to walk back into the front hall, with the older boy looking curiously up at Mike and Beulah.

"Is Bailey really my dad's son?" he asked. "Does that make him my brother?"

"What the heck's going on?" came Joey's voice from the top of the stairs. "Where'd my mom and dad go?"

Beulah placed a hand to her head and began to waddle like a penguin toward the kitchen to get herself a glass of water, leaving Mike to deal with the questions.

"Well, first...your mom and dad went to the hospital because your mom's about to have your new baby brother or sister," Mike began to explain. "Us grown-ups were having a little argument and it got your mom a little upset."

"'Cause Bailey's our brother," Jakob piped up.

"What?" Joey asked in shock. "No, he's not."

"Actually, Joe, he is," Mike agreed. "It's a long story that will be explained later, okay?"

Joey didn't look like he wanted to take no for an answer but one look from Mike prevented him from speaking any further.

"Bailey is your brother. Your half-brother. It means your dad is his dad, too. But his mom is Beulah. The two of them, well...they had him a long time ago. They weren't planning on it, but sometimes these things happen."

Mike was gonna try to continue to explain further, as vaguely as possible, when he heard the sound of shattering glass from the kitchen.

Taking off in a light run, he reached the kitchen to see Beulah hunched forward and crying. Damn near sobbing uncontrollably.

"Honey, are you okay?" He looked down at the floor at the small puddle of water at her feet and frowned. "You didn't cut yourself on the glass did you?"

"That's not water from the glass," she muttered in between sobs. "I didn't fill the glass yet. It just...it happened. I thought I had to go to the bathroom but then I didn't make it and then I realized what happened and I dropped the glass because," she trailed, looking up at Mike while her hands white-knuckled the countertop. "Because it came happen now. It's too soon. It's too soon."

"What's too soon, Beu--oh, shit."

Then it dawned on him.

"Boys! My car's unlocked! I want all of you in the backseat now! No ifs, ands or buts, am I clear?" he shouted, which was followed by a yes from each boy and then the front door opening and closing. Turning his attention back to Beulah, he stated the obvious, "Your water broke."

She nodded. "I--I have a few minutes. I need to...I need to get cleaned up. 'Cause of infection. I gotta..." she let out a groan and a sigh at the same time while trying to stifle her sobs. "I gotta clean up."

"It's okay," he whispered against her ear. "I'm gonna help you..."