A Ballad For Beulah

Laying comfortably in the hospital bed within her private room, Beulah held her newborn son, Vegas, in her arms while Mike paced back and forth on his cell phone, talking to his mother, his sister Myla, and then his mother again. The only thing he'd told them the day before was the basics on the pregnancy and what they'd named the boy. Now that things were settling in, he was taking the time to really talk and tell them every little detail about everything.

Meanwhile, Bailey and Estelle sat together in a chair on the right side of the hospital bed, making faces as their mutual baby brother, therefore binding the two of them together as unofficial brother and sister even more.

"Oh, yeah, you can come up to visit any time now," Mike was saying on the phone as he moved to look out the window. "Any time between noon and five, that is. Yeah. Yeah, they've gotta be here for a few more days. Well, because Beulah had a C-section and Vegas was born early. Observation, mom. Yeah. Well...I would think so." Mike glanced over at Beulah and rolled his eyes at her. "Mom..."

Beulah simply smiled.

Even though she was aware him and his mother didn't have the perfect mother-son relationship, she was still very jealous of the fact that he had a mother in his life at all.

She barely remembered what that feeling was like anymore.

Her parents had died twenty years ago, last month, after all.

"Mommy, can I sit with you?" Bailey asked, leaning forward toward the bed.

"You can sit on the bed by my legs, okay?"

"Can I sit there, too?" Estelle wondered, biting her bottom lip and looking like her father for a moment.

Beulah nodded. "Sure, but sit on the other side."

"Okay." The nine-year-old nodded and hopped off the chair and walked around to the opposite side of the bed as Bailey clamored up onto the mattress, sitting beside his mother's legs.

Both kids leaned forward, however, to get an even closer look at their baby brother.

"He's so cute," Estelle complimented with a smile. "Can I hold him?"

"Later," came Mike's voice as Beulah looked over to see him closing his cell phone and stuffing it into his pocket.

Estelle frowned and the sat back, looking up at her dad. "Am I staying over at Uncle Tre's with Bailey tonight?"

Mike shrugged. "Bailey stayed there last night, and he's staying again, and if you want to as well I'm sure Uncle Tre won't mind. I'm staying here with Beulah so you can't go home to my house. It's either your mom's or Uncle Tre's."

"I'll go to Uncle Tre's," she replied quickly.

Mike smirked. "Okay." Looking upon Beulah and Vegas, his smirk became a smile and he fell in love with both a little more as he placed a hand on Beulah's shoulder and leaned down to kiss the top of his son's head.

"Aw, look at the happy family," cooed Billie Joe as he poked his head into the room.

"Hey, Billie," Mike muttered.

"Up for some company?"

Glancing at Beulah, then back to Billie Joe, the five foot eleven bassist shrugged and then nodded. "Sure."

"Good." With that, the green-eyed punk stepped into the room but he wasn't alone.

As the door opened further, Adrienne walked in as well, wearing her own pajamas and holding a small pink bundle in her arms. The older woman offered a genuine smile to Beulah as both women locked eyes.

"Ava wants to meet the boy who stole her birthday thunder," Adrienne joked.

"Estelle, let Adrienne sit there," Mike spoke, hooking his hands under his daughter's arms and pulling her down off the bed.

Nodding her thanks, Adrienne sank down upon the mattress beside Beulah and readjusted her newborn daughter in her arms so that she was facing Beulah and Vegas. And Beulah did the same, slowly readjusting how she held her baby boy.

With both newborns facing each other, both mother's giggled a little at how cute the scene was.

"Vegas, apologize to Ava for mooching her special day," Beulah muttered with a laugh.

"Accept his apology, Ava," Adrienne replied. Carefully she reached her daughter out so that the little hand sticking out could brush against Vegas' little hand as if they had shaken or made a pact.

"She's so beautiful," Beulah remarked.

Billie Joe stepped up and placed a hand around his wife's shoulder and looked down at his newborn daughter. "I was hoping she'd have my eyes, but brown are prettier on her. Just like her mother." Adrienne looked up at him and he simply kissed her cheek as he mumbled, "Beautiful eyes."

There was a contemplative smile on Adrienne's lips and a stoic glimmer in her eyes as she allowed the kiss to take place; just as Ava's tiny hand jerked out and swatted Vegas' hand rather lightly. The gesture garnered a small gurgle sound from the boy's lips that almost sounded like a laugh.

"I think they like each other," Mike commented. "I guess it's hard to resist an Armstrong, no matter the sex."

All four adults took the comment lightly; able to see the innocence to it, while still aware of everything left unsaid at the moment.

"Well, look at those blue eyes," Billie Joe muttered, gesturing to Vegas. "Tell me how any girl will be able to resist him when he gets older."

"This is true," Mike replied, causing the adults to laugh a little.

"So..." Beulah began, trying to change the subject. "You had a natural birth, right?" Adrienne nodded. "When are you able to leave the hospital?"

"I could've gone home as soon as today, but I wanted to wait until tomorrow. It gives me today to just relax," the older woman answered. "What about you? When can you leave?"

"Five more days. Even though Vegas was slightly premature and what happened to me during the labor, they still want to observe the both of us to play it safe. The docs said about a week and we should be good to go, and I don't think I'd be ready to leave sooner than that. I don't wanna risk his health or mine."

"I wouldn't let you, anyway," Mike retorted quite seriously.

Beulah and Mike looked up at each other long enough to cause both Billie Joe and Adrienne to look at one another and share there only gaze.

And it was then that the wedded couple knew things would be changing for the better.

* * *

Yes, once a week had passed, Beulah was able to go home with her newborn son in her arms. And it was a surreal experience. She was happy, yet she couldn't explain the sadness that came with it. She would later realize it was post partem depression. Something most mothers get after giving birth. However, this was new to her because she hadn't gone through it with Bailey.

And just as Billie Joe and Adrienne had suspected, thing did begin to change.

Vegas began to grow and became even healthier; proving he was a fighter like his parents. He was looking more and more like other babies his age. And before anyone knew it, he was learning to crawl and saying his first word.

Da-da.

And if that wasn't a major change, then Billie Joe announcing, for the first time ever, in a Rollingstone interview that he had had an affair with Mike's fiance, years before the pair had ever gotten together, and he had in fact fathered her child; his son, Bailey. He also mentioned how it was still going to take time before Adrienne could ever forgive him completely, but things were getting better, and keeping secrets did more harm than telling them.

He said he didn't regret everything coming out into the open. He was relieved and had nothing left to burden down on him anymore. Now he could focus on being the father to all four of his children the way he always wanted to be.

It was as if Beulah's wishes had come true.

Because not only had her son finally attained his father's attention without secrecy, but he now also had a stepfather.

That's right.

Stepfather.

On December 26th, 2006, Mike and Beulah were wed in a small ceremony in their backyard. Adrienne stood up as Beulah's Matron of Honor while Billie Joe was the Best Man. Then there was Bailey and Estelle as the Ring Bearer and Flower Girl, respectively.

For the first time, Mike and Beulah were introduced as Mr. and Mrs. Michael Pritchard; with a kiss the seal the deal. The first of many marital kisses the pair would share over the course of their lives together.

It seemed as if all was complete.

Beulah had a family, a home and a man who loved her unconditionally.

Now, if she only had a swan song...