FIVE:

 

Joey pulled the door of the one story house open and leaned his head in. He was still sick, probably sick enough to not be driving around town, but when Kelly had been upset with him still that morning he'd offered to take Brianna to see her Papa Joe and Nana Phyllis. It was a ten-minute drive between the two houses and knew that taking her away to visit would take some of the pressure off of Kelly. He knew that she had a lot to think about and he wasn't going to make it harder for her to do.

Forgoing using the doorbell he knocked on the door then when he opened the door he called out to his parents just to let them know that he was there. Luckily his trip home had been unexpected so he didn't have to deal with fans on his way out of his house and on the way to theirs. "Ma!" Joey held Brianna on his hip as she covered her ears. "Ma..."

He heard his mother's voice and a moment later she came around the corner. She had the cordless phone between her ear and shoulder. "Tell Martin that we'll be in town for that and that we'll bring over the lasagna for the tailgate party."

"Ma?" he questioned.

"Joseph you don't have to scream," his mother said with a frown moving her mouth away from the phone. "I need to go so I'll see you on Saturday." When she saw that Brianna was with him her expression softened and she hung the phone up and put the phone book and the phone down. "Hi jelly bean. I like your shirt today. Did Uncle Chris give you that?"

"I not jeey bean," Brianna said, "I Bri-na-na." She tipped her chin down and looked down at her shirt. Her tiny fingers pointed at the letters. "Lello an a Ossar."

"Yellow and Kermit?" she said. "I don't see Oscar."

"Issa Ossar," Brianna stated pointing at the big green letter M on the rainbow lettered shirt.

"She means green mom," Joey supplied.

"Then why does she say Oscar?" his mother asked.

"The coloring book she has is Sesame Street so Oscar the grouch is the green one," he said.

"You're grouchy," his mother said leaning to kiss them, first Brianna then when she reached to kiss him he turned and offered her his cheek. He still wasn't feeling well and he didn't want to pass it on to her. It was bad enough that Brianna and Kelly would probably get it, the whole family didn't need to get it too. "Honey you look like hell. What are you doing home anyway?"

"I'm getting over the flu, but I actually came home because I have some news to tell you and dad...I already told Kelly, but I wanted to tell you guys in person." He moved Brianna to his other hip and moved her shirt so that it covered her tummy. "Is Dad around?"

"Yeah Joe," Her worried expression made him want to throw up. "Is everything ok?"

"Yeah Mom." He hated to worry her, but there was no easy way to just come out and tell them that he was basically a whore when it came to women, or he had been in the past. He hadn't told them much about the partying and the drinking that he did. He wasn't going to say that he was ashamed of the way he'd acted, but it wasn't something that he was going to come home and tell his parents about. "I just have--"

Just as he was going to start to explain things Joey's father came into the room. Joey smiled at the way his dad's eyes instantly locked onto Brianna and watched helplessly as he came and grabbed her up to hug her.

"Ugh Ugh!" Brianna wiggled and held her arms out. "Papa Joe!"

"Hey Joe." He kissed Brianna's cheek. Joey watched as his huge father engulfed his little girl in a huge hug and blew raspberries against her chubby cheeks. "How is my jelly bean?"

"I not jeey bean," Brianna laughed.

His father looked over her head at him and stared. "What are you doing home? I thought that you were in New York this week."

"I'm headed there tonight," he said and coughed, "I've got a little bit of the flu so I came home."

"You be careful of that," Joe Senior said.

Joey nodded and took a deep breath causing him to cough more. He left the room and went to the kitchen, grabbing out a glass and getting himself a glass of water before he returned to the living room where his mother and father were still talking to Brianna.

He didn't want to interrupt them, but at the same time he knew that he needed to talk to them. He just prayed that they would treat his son with the same amount of love that they showed towards Brianna. She wasn't at all the first grandchild in the family, Steve had a little girl and boy, but they always seemed to spoil the youngest one the most. "Hey dad?" Joey said, "Do you guys have a minute?"

His father looked up from where he was looking at Brianna counting to five. "Sure."

His father and mother carried Brianna into the modest living room and he took a seat across from them. He stared at the walls of the room for a moment wondering how they were going to take this news. When he'd announced Kelly's pregnancy it had been something extraordinary. They'd known Kelly for years and were delighted to be grandparents, but the circumstances of this announcement were definitely not going to be something to exactly celebrate. His mother already was on his case about not marrying Kelly right away and this would probably set her over the edge.

"I got a call a few days ago and I've got some news to tell you," he said. He looked at his daughter who was hitting her hand against his father's and took a deep breath. "Brianna is going to be a brother."

His mother's face lit up like fireworks. "Kelly is going to have another baby? God where is she? Is she having morning sickness already?" She instantly sat forward in her seat and reached for his hand. "This is so great baby. With you and the guys coming up on your vacation you'll be able to be with Kelly more this time around."

"I hope you have a boy this time," Joe Senior said then looked at Brianna. "Not that I wouldn't love another jelly bean to nibble on--" He kissed Brianna and nibbled at her tummy a little.

Joey sighed and thought about Colton. He wished that he had set a flight at a sooner time so that he wouldn't have to wait another four days to meet up with him. "Well she's going to have a brother."

"You already know the sex?" His mother's eyes widened, "We're going to have to go shopping again. Having a boy this time really will set your budget back. No recycling those baby clothes."

"No mom," he said holding his hands up. He took a deep breath and started to cough again and for a moment thought he might throw up like he had the day before, but soon found his stomach settling. He took a drink of water and tried to look at his parents without making eye contact. He wasn't sure how they were going to take this news. "Brianna is going to be a younger sister not an older sister."

"Younger sister?" his mother asked and he could see his father's and mother's expressions immediately change to ones of disappointment after his comment.

"I got a call the other day saying that I have a four year old son," he said. He didn't say more than that knowing that he should give them the information in short intervals to the severity of the situation.

His mother was the first to speak. "Four year old son?"

"His name is Colton and I was with his mother Yvonne for a few weeks about five years ago," he said. "I met her in Los Angeles and we dated for two months just before I got--" He thought back about the two months that he'd spent flying back and forth to see Yvonne in Los Angeles. "Before I told Kelly that I was going to see her exclusively."

His mother's eyes squinted into little slits. "Yvonne? The model girl that you saw while you were staying with JC?"

"Yeah," he said with a smile, "I told you about her, but you guys never met."

"Joseph," his mother said, "I'm disappointed in you."

"I know that it's not the best of deals," he said, "Believe me I didn't plan this, but Yvonne died in a car accident and he's being delivered to me this week. I'm meeting up with him the last day I'm in New York then bring him home to Orlando when we come home for the weekend."

"Died?" his mother repeated.

"Yeah," he said. He hadn't thought about it before, hadn't even taken a moment to think that someone he knew was dead. The thought caught him and he took a deep breath. "I don't know how it's going to work, but I'm bringing him home."

Home. The word sent shivers through him. In the hours he was awake the day before and in the time he'd been there that morning, the idea of home had changed for him. He knew that the house was his and that the family that lived there was his, but with Kelly being angry with him he felt that he'd almost be more at home at a hotel rather than being in his own bedroom.

Kelly sighed and pushed herself up from where she'd been reading her book. She'd been staring at the pages for the last fifteen minutes, but hadn't really been reading. The house was silent, television off and Brianna not singing to herself or making noises with the building blocks that she had recently taking a liking to. Even Joey had disappeared that day, as if he'd known that she needed the silence.

Once upright, her stomach instantly lurched. She didn't know if it was the motion of her moving or the thoughts of Joey, but her hands shook and she dropped the book onto the floor. It seemed in that one moment that all the blood in her body had rushed away leaving her with this extremely empty feeling that made her dizzy. When it didn't go away she ran towards the bathroom, hitting her toe on the coffee table.

By the time she got to the bathroom and got herself to the toilet, tears were in her eyes. her toes throbbed, her head hurt and moments later she emptied her stomach then sat on the floor leaning her back against the wall. The fatigue of the moment caught up to her she let her tears consume her as the last day or so went through her mind.

*****

There was a long pause as he looked over his face. Tears formed in his eyes and he closed them, causing tears to run down his face. "I have some news to tell you." His voice shook and he spoke slowly. "You're gonna hate me when I tell you, but I needed to tell you this to your face."

Just from the look of him she knew this was something huge if he was getting this emotional. The only time she'd seen him this upset was when he'd been late getting to the hospital when Brianna was born. He'd promised her he'd be there and he'd broken his promise. It wasn't really that big of a deal because he got there only an hour after she was born, but the expression he had then and now made Joey look like he'd just lost his best friend.

"I'm sorry," he breathed out.

She knew from his previous statement that she wasn't going to like what he had to say, but she almost didn't want him to say it if it was causing him so much pain. "Joe tell me."

"I cheated on you." He said in one breath.

*****

The words echoed in her ears and she leaned over the toilet again and threw up. She hadn't eaten much that day. After waking up without Joey next to her she hadn't been in the mood and when Brianna had been cranky and Joey had offered to take her over to his parents she'd sat down on the couch and had been nibbling on chips and drinking iced tea.

The stinging in her throat made her wince and a cold sweat broke out over her entire body making her feel as if the air conditioning in the house was broken. She couldn't catch her breath and for a moment she thought about the absurdity of the idea that she might die while leaning over the toilet.

The thought made her laugh for a moment until she thought about Joey coming home. Just the thought of seeing him again made her cry. She had been cold to him that morning and he'd been cold to her back. She'd always wondered how things would get if they were fighting, wondering how she'd handle it. So far she'd done well holding back the tears in front of him. She'd let some out, but only when warranted not at every possible moment like she felt at that moment.

"Why?" she mumbled as tears fell, "Why did you have to ruin it all Joe?"

He'd offered to marry her once before and now she couldn't believe that she'd turned him down. He'd proposed in the right way and had even gotten her a great ring, but she'd refused him. She'd seen it in his eyes. He was doing it because he thought he had to, not fully because he wanted to. Of course he loved her and of course she loved him, and that was only reinforced by her having Brianna, but the ring was waiting for her in the top drawer in his side of the closet, but they'd both known that it hadn't been the right time.

*****

"Joe?" she called coming into the house slowly. She'd seen the Escalade had been left in the driveway so she'd known instantly that he was home, but she hadn't been expecting him so there had to be some good reason for him to be in Orlando instead of Los Angeles like his schedule had dictated.

The lights were off in the kitchen as the sun was going down, but when she got to the living room she found that the dining room had been set up for dinner. Candles were on the table and there were fresh purple and pink daffodils in the vase that normally held fake silk flowers that she'd gotten at Wal-Mart the second day that they'd been in the house.

"Joe?"

"Hey there you," he said coming out from the kitchen. He held a bottle of white wine in his hands and wore a suit.

"Joe?" she questioned, "What are you all dressed up for?" She leaned against the counter and watched him set the wine on the table.

"I made dinner and got some sparkling cider for you," he said, "To celebrate."

"You made dinner? I thought you were supposed to be in LA recording tonight?"

"I had more important things to do," he said.

She put her hand over her stomach wondering what was going on. She'd told him a month and a half before that she knew she was pregnant and he hadn't even gone this out of his way to celebrate that.

"Come here," he said and took her hand. He sat her down in a chair at the end of the table and bent to one knee...

*****

The sound of the garage door opening brought her to her senses. She grabbed up a washcloth and wiped her cheeks then pulled herself up and rinsed her mouth and slid out of the downstairs bathroom. She made her way up to the master bedroom and found her toothbrush and gave her teeth a good scrubbing before she went and changed into shorts and a T-shirt now noticing that she was still in her pajamas. She didn't want Joey to know that she'd been sitting home alone all day being depressed.

If she was going to get through this she needed him to believe that she was stronger than her and that his cheating on her wasn't going to ruin her world, even though the moment made her feel like her heart was breaking inside her chest.

"Kelly?" she heard him call up to her and heard Brianna and Nikita playing in the hall. The dog had been sleeping most of the day and was probably excited to see the rest of the family.

"Yeah Joe. I'll be right there." She called back to him and looked at herself in the mirror praying that he wouldn't see how upset she really was.

 

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