Bob obliged, but I noticed him looking at Deb to see if it was bothering her. She was sitting alone in the grass drinking champagne right out of the bottle, too distraught to care.
“Don’t you want to see if the date card is for you?” I asked her.
“I don’t know. It doesn’t really matter. He’s never going to pick me. Especially now that Vanessa is back. It’s not fair that she’s wearing an evening gown and we’re all dressed like crap.”
“We could have tried harder,” I said.
“Is that what you tell yourself when someone gets ahead of you? I wish I could think like that. But the thing is, I didn’t know we were supposed to dress better. I just didn’t know. It’s like, they tell us what we did wrong after the fact instead of preparing us ahead of time. I hate that.”
“Yeah, it sucks.”
“Does Vanessa look different to you?”
“Maybe a little,” I said. “Come on.” I helped her up.
“What are you wearing, Alanna?” Vanessa asked as we began making our way back to our room. She and Alanna were a few steps ahead of Deb and me.
Alanna ignored her question. “It’s ludicrous that you’re back. Ludicrous. Aren’t you and that Bernie guy getting a special on-air wedding?”
“No ma’am! Mercy me! I got caught up in the moment. Honestly, I think they were just trying to create some quick drama with those reunions, since so many girls got sent home too early and they thought there might not be enough stuff to make a whole season. That’s what my daddy said anyway. It was so great to be back home. Mama made me fresh peach cobbler! I felt like a little girl all over again. I stayed with them since I was afraid my apartment might have a spider in it, from being abandoned so long.”
“But what about your engagement to Bernie? Why are you back here?” asked Alanna.
“Oh, that. Sakes alive! Well, the producers talked me right into marrying Bernie, you of all people should understand the pressure! And then they talked me right out of it once I got home, especially when I explained that Bernie is from a family of poor people who shoot deer and grow their own vegetables, and his relatives are unattractive folk who might not make for good television.”
“Gross.”
“I know! And Bellamy. I missed my Bellamy. It was like, there was a hole shot clean through my heart.”
“Still, I can’t believe you’re back. It’s like, pick a side. Anyhow, where’s your luggage?”
“Already up there.”
“Did you get a boob job?”
“So?”
“And a nose job?”
“What? Good heavens! No way!”
“Why do you sound like Blanche from The Golden Girls?”
“I’ve always sounded like this. And I did not get a nose job. I’m hurt that you’d even ask that. I’ve always had a cute nose,” said Vanessa. She turned back to me and Deb and pointed to herself. “Same old nose, in case y’all are wondering, too.” I realized then that it was her lips that were different. They were fuller, making her nose look smaller. “Y’all” she continued, “I can’t believe what I’ve been missing. This hotel is so pretty. Have I mentioned how happy I am to be back? Alanna, speaking of old flames, I totally thought you were going to go back to your hockey guy. He was such a cutie.”
“He couldn’t be trusted,” said Alanna.
“Emma,” Vanessa drawled without bothering to turn around, “what was up with that loser they tried to fix you up with? Did you really used to love him?”
“No,” I said.
“Ooh, color me excited, girls! This lobby is just to die for! Or TDF as we say back home.” She fanned herself and giggled. “Would y’all just look at that cute little ol’ chandelier? It looks just like the one at my mama and daddy’s plantation.”
“I hate how they’re best friends and we’re totally unpopular,” Deb whispered to me. She still hadn’t stopped crying. She was hiding behind sunglasses, but they could only do so much. “I’m ready to gag. Literally! I’m gonna puke. I can’t stand the way they’re carrying on! I want to shoot them both.”
“We’re not unpopular,” I said, slowing down so we were farther from Alanna and Vanessa.
“We should hurry up. If they get to our room before we do, Vanessa’s going to steal my bed.”
“We won’t let her. And by the way, they are not friends. Haven’t you noticed how Alanna keeps sticking her fingers in her ears so she doesn’t have to listen to Vanessa?”
“Hmm, that’s a good idea.”
“Anyway, I thought you were Alanna’s biggest fan,” I said.
“Not anymore. Do you think they’re going to make her out to be perfect again this season?”
“Probably,” I whispered. “However, I have a plan: I think we should expose her for the awful person she really is.”
“Really?” Deb wiped at her tears. “How?”
“I’m not sure yet,” I said.
“What are you two whispering about back there?” Alanna snapped.
“Nothing,” I said.
“This hotel is ginormous! I just love, love, love how it smells like fresh pine needles in here,” Vanessa said, sniffing in a big whiff of hotel air. A passing hotel guest of about eighty, making his way down to the pool in just his swim trunks and barrel chest, waggled his wiry eyebrows at Vanessa appreciatively and said, “Aren’t you dressed up.”
“Well I never,” she said, giggling daintily behind her fingertips.
“I’m going to kill her,” Deb whispered.
“I don’t smell any pine needles. We have pine needles everywhere in Canada, and I would know if this place smelled like pine needles. All I smell is chlorine,” said Alanna.
“We have pine needles in Georgia, too, and it most definitely smells like them here. Ooh, there it is! A date card!” said Vanessa, pointing down the hotel corridor to a white square leaning against a champagne bucket on a cart by our suite door. She picked up her hem and went running down the hall towards it, but Alanna cut in front of her and shoved her out of the way, reaching it first. The cameraman Luca, who had been following along behind Deb and me, darted around us to capture her tearing it open.
“Emma,” Alanna began, “Please join me and my family for a day of love, laughter, and logrolling. Wear your best lumberjack attire! Yours, Bellamy.” Since she knew this would make it on television, she managed to smile while calmly handing the card to me. “Good for you! I hope you have a wonderful time with Bellamy’s amazing family.”
“Lucky!” said Vanessa. She gave me a big, camera-friendly hug.
“I wish I’d gotten the logrolling date,” said Deb. “I’ve always wanted to try that.”
I took the card, feeling prickles of excitement running up and down my arms.
“I’m so glad I wasn’t next,” said Alanna, as soon as we were in the room. “Everyone knows that the order really matters, and it’s best to be saved for last. And logrolling? Well, that just sounds terrible.”
“I’m excited about it,” I said, gathering my designer lumberjack wear that I hadn’t thought I’d have an opportunity to wear. I wasn’t sure if I knew what logrolling was, but I didn’t care. “So excited, in fact, that I’m going to pack already. Should I bring these tan suspenders or these black suspenders? The black ones have nice brass clasps, but the tan ones seem to be a little bit more authentic looking. You know what, they don’t take up much space; I’ll bring both. I wonder what time he’s coming to pick me up tomorrow.”
“Actually, your date starts right now,” said the voice of Catalina Cartwright. I looked up to see her standing in the doorway of our hotel. “Bellamy has requested that you join him and his family tonight, for dinner, and spend the night at their home so you can get started bright and early tomorrow morning. If that works for you, Emma, there is a limo downstairs waiting for you.”
The mouths of Deb, Vanessa, and Alanna all simultaneously dropped open. I, Emma Van Elson, had just been invited for a rare, highly coveted Meet-the-Fam ove
rnight date.
“Of course that works for me, Catalina,” I said. “I’ll gather my things and be right down.”
Chapter 29
“It’s so great to see you,” said Bellamy, greeting me with a kiss. The limo pulled away down the steep, stone driveway, leaving us standing alone before his family’s chateau, high in the mountains. The late afternoon sun cast a shimmery glow on everything.
“It’s wonderful to be here,” I said, returning his kiss. His arms wrapped around me and we kissed for several minutes, as if we were any couple who had missed each other. So, is this real now? I wondered. Somehow, everything about it seemed normal. Wonderful and amazing, yet normal. I suppose it seemed normal because it was really happening.
“I’ll take that,” he said, reaching for my luggage. “Are you nervous to meet my family?”
“A little,” I said.
“Don’t be. They’ll love you.”
Prior to the limo ride here I had not given this moment much thought, but as we walked up to the house nerves began overtaking me. I was carrying a bouquet of wildflowers that one of the producers had given me to present to Bellamy’s family. The flowers were making my eyes itchy and I couldn’t wait to be rid of them. When we reached the front door, it flew open and there was Bellamy’s whole family. I recognized them from the episode when Alanna had met them. I swallowed; my mouth had gone completely dry.
“Emma! Come on in, kiddo! It’s great to meet you! I’m Larry,” said Bellamy’s dad. “Are these for me? Thanks, they’re the kind I always pick out for myself,” he joked, taking the flowers and giving me a big hug. “I think these are actually for you,” he said, handing the flowers to his wife.
“Nice to meet you, Larry,” I said. There were cameramen everywhere. Despite having been a part of the show for months, I still wasn’t used to these moments where so much attention was specifically on me, and it was a little overwhelming.
“Emma, so pleased to meet you! I’m Bellamy’s mother Katherine. You can call me Kate,” said his mom. “These flowers are lovely.” She gave me a big hug.
Next was Bellamy’s sister Dericka. She looked like she was about twenty. She wore a sundress and had a huge, colorful flower tattoo covering her left arm and shoulder. She was positively adorable. “Hi,” she simply said, giving me a hug and stepping back. She looked mortified by all the attention.
“Hey Emma, good to meet you,” said Bellamy’s older brother. “I’m Dwight, and this is my wife Sherifaye.” He gave me a hug, but Sherifaye stuck out her hand to me instead, so I shook her hand.
“So,” said Bellamy, “this is everyone. Why don’t we head outside and get to know each other a little better?” He took my hand and led me out to an expansive deck overlooking the mountains.
“Would you like red wine or white, Emma?” asked Bellamy’s mother. Somehow she had managed to put the flowers in a vase already. She set them down on one of the patio tables.
“White would be great,” I said. I wanted red, but was afraid it would stain my teeth. She poured me a glass, and one for Bellamy. The rest of his family had red wine, except for Sherifaye, who had a glass of water. As I sat there sipping my wine, taking in the view, I noticed a shiny, magenta thread clinging to a splinter in the deck flooring. I immediately recognized it as part of Klassie’s shoelaces. Something about this made me feel really strange. The assembly-line-ness of this process hit me. Klassie had just been here. They’d just pulled off all this same hospitality and niceness for her. In fact, that bouquet of yellow and peach roses I’d passed on my way through the kitchen had probably been from her. By tomorrow night, I’d be gone and the next morning some other girl would take my place. I took a big gulp of wine and reminded myself not to get too comfortable.
“So Emma, what made you want to come on a show like this, instead of finding love in a more traditional way?” asked Dwight.
“It wasn’t so much the show that interested me, as Bellamy. I really just wanted to meet Bellamy.”
“Awww,” said his mom. Bellamy squeezed my hand. “So is our boy everything you thought he would be?” she asked.
I hesitated, trying to find the truth. “He’s different, but even better. He’s very real and very kind. I think it’s sweet how concerned he is about all our feelings.”
Bellamy seemed to be embarrassed by our conversation, so he took over and changed the subject: “The first night I met Emma, she almost got mauled by a coyote.”
“No way!” said his sister.
“Really! It came running out of the woods, straight for her, as she was getting out of the limo.” I smiled and nodded at his enthusiastic retelling of it, realizing that this could potentially be the story of how I met my husband. The story that I would tell and hear told for my entire life. “Luckily, it missed her. By this much…” He held up two fingers an inch apart. I nodded again, thinking that it had actually been several feet from me. “She was such a good sport about it. She was joking around that it was her dog.”
“Now that is quick thinking! Hilarious,” said Larry, laughing like it really was.
Bellamy continued, “Hilarious is right! She said that they were a package deal.”
“I think you actually asked me if it was my dog, so you’re the funny one, not me,” I said.
“See, and she’s generous! Look at her giving me all the credit,” said Bellamy.
“Speaking of dogs, where is your dog Smurf?” I asked. There was an awkward silence. “Is everything okay with Smurf?” I asked, wondering if I had totally put my foot in my mouth.
“Smurf is staying with a friend,” said Bellamy.
“Farrah, right? Smurf is at Farrah’s house?” Sherifaye volunteered.
“Yep. Farrah’s house,” said Bellamy. “Anyway, I loved the way Emma handled the whole situation. From the first night, she really stood out as being cooler than the other girls. Able to roll with crazy situations. Here for me. Not so concerned about the things happening in the house. Less into the drama. More confident.”
“Oh, thank you. I am here for you,” I said, considering my plan to expose Alanna as a bitchy fraud. It hadn’t occurred to me it might be an uncool move. Perhaps I should let go of that small dream.
“Well, Emma, we’re very pleased that you’re here with us,” said Bellamy’s mother. “We’d like you to join us at our favorite restaurant, the Fireside Grille. They have plenty of nice vegetarian dishes.”
“Oh, how thoughtful,” I said.
“We’ll take the convertible so we have a little time together, just the two of us,” said Bellamy.
“Super,” I said. Even if they were nice, I was relieved to have a small break from his family.
“Luca,” Bellamy said to the nearest cameraman, “the convertible only has two seats, so it will be just me and Emma. I hope that’s not a problem.”
“Oh. Huh. Did you hear that, Irene?” Luca said. “Are you cool with them driving to the restaurant without a camera close on them?”
“I don’t care. Ask someone else.”
“Hey,” Luca said to a producer, “are you cool with Bellamy and Emma driving in a two seat car without a cameraman?”
“Sure. It’s not far from here. Just as long as you’re close enough to show them driving in the car.”
“Cool,” said Luca.
So the next thing I knew, Bellamy and I were driving down his parents’ driveway, alone.
“I’m impressed that you keep managing this,” I said.
“We’re not really alone. Look behind us.”
I turned around in my seat and saw a huge SUV driven by his dad inches behind us. Luca sat in the front passenger seat, waving at us, a camera pointed right at us. Another carload of crewmembers was inching down the driveway behind them.
“It’s still a nice change of pace,” I said.
“Yeah?”
“Sure,” I said.
“Hold on,” he said, and the next thing I knew, we were flying down the driveway. When we got to the hi
ghway and saw that no one was coming, Bellamy turned right, barely slowing down. He turned up the radio as loud as it would go and adjusted the speakers until he presumed them to be pointing at our microphones. He shrugged and smiled like Maybe that will work. I smiled back at his cute little trick.
Safe in an elusive cloud of temporary invisibility, Bellamy reached in his pocket, took out a folded note, and pressed it into my palm. Read in the bathroom at the restaurant it said in tiny letters. The rush of excitement that comes with an unexpected surprise gave me a little jolt. I’d never seen Bellamy’s handwriting before. I’d always felt that receiving something handwritten from someone was like having a little piece of them. I slid the note into my pocket.
“Hey,” said Bellamy.
“What?” Our eyes met and we smiled. I had butterflies in my stomach. Actually, they felt more like moths flapping around. I was dying to know what the note said.
“I’m crazy about you,” he said.
“I’m crazy about you, too,” I said, tingling with the adrenaline rush of driving fast and breaking rules and the words that were being spoken. And I meant it; I was crazy about him, or at least this experience. It was getting hard to tell the difference. Yet there was something still holding me back. Some part of me that couldn’t jump all the way into the pool.
“I wasn’t sure.”
“Well, I thought I reminded you of your younger sister.”
“I never should have said that.”
“No, you really shouldn’t have,” I said laughing. “She’s adorable, but I don’t want to be your sister.”
“I just said it because I didn’t think you were interested in me.”
“I was a little confused coming into this, but I think I’ve worked through my doubts,” I said.
“Whew!” He pretended to wipe some sweat of his brow. “So, could you see yourself coming back here again? Spending holidays up here with my family?”
“Yes, for sure, Bellamy,” I said. Then I wondered, would I still call him Bellamy, or would I call him Dirk if we were married? Well, whatever. What’s in a name, right?
Bellamy's Redemption Page 29