Bellamy's Redemption

“Patches goes by the nickname Smurf sometimes,” I said. “How will we keep the two of them straight?”

At that, Bellamy laughed and laughed some more. He stopped walking so he could focus on the laughter. Eventually he said, “Mine is a Schnauzer. I think we’ll be able to tell them apart.” I wasn’t sure why he was finding me so delightful, but at least he was.

“That’s a relief. I’d hate to put Smurf’s sweater on Patches, or vice versa,” I said. Bellamy laughed some more. I laughed too because I didn’t know what else to say. I felt like a total fool and was ashamed that this was all potentially going to be on TV. I pictured Rachel deleting me from her LinkedIn contacts as I tipped into the category of personal liabilities.

As Bellamy’s laughter finally tapered off, I was beginning to wonder what else he and I might find to talk about when suddenly a rectangular velvet box appeared. “Emma,” he said, “I knew right away that I wanted you to have this.” He opened the box and immediately three cameras were upon us. Inside the box was a gorgeous gold bracelet. Uh oh.

He was taking it out of the box. He was fumbling with the clasp. This went on and on. And on. He was putting it on my wrist. It slipped off my wrist and fell onto the ground. “Darn it all,” he mumbled, then looked up at me and smiled. Now he was returning it to my wrist and trying to hold it with his thumb while fastening it. Should I be helping him? I wasn’t even sure if I wanted it! Then again, it was a really nice bracelet. Now he was sweating. And fumbling with the clasp some more. One of the producers stepped in and attached it to my wrist. “Don’t worry, we’ll edit this part out,” she told us.

“Okay, thanks,” said Bellamy. He now looked very serious. “Emma, I knew right away that I wanted you to have this. Would you accept this Deluxe bracelet and continue on with me on a journey to love and happiness?”

What choice did I have at that point? “Of course I will, Bellamy,” I said.

Chapter 13

“It’s almost five o’clock,” Shyla whispered. Her eyes were bloodshot and she looked like hell. She and Vanessa were sitting beside me. The rest of the girls were avoiding me. Vanessa, who had been similarly shunned when she received a bracelet, was on my left, chatting about vaccinations and how parents no longer wanted to give them to children. Neither Shyla nor I were really listening to her. She didn’t seem to care.

“Is this evening ever going to end?” asked Shyla.

“Please join me in the atrium,” said Catalina Cartwright, reappearing before us. She had changed into an orange one-shoulder gown with

a little train. She looked fresh and pretty. I suspected she’d been off some place sleeping for the past few hours. We all filed into the atrium, with Vanessa and me taking our places over in the safe zone away from the others. I tried to ignore the jealous glares. I wondered how Bellamy was going to fasten bracelets to all these wrists. It could take days.

He came in the room, catching my eye and smiling. Despite myself, I felt a little flutter of flattered excitement at the attention. The drunk, sleepy crowd had sprung back to life. There was a great deal of buzz over Nickie’s disappearance. Did this mean just two girls would be going home?

“As you know,” said Catalina Cartwright, “we already lost one contestant. Nickie was not feeling well and went home, and she will not be returning. Three more girls will be leaving tonight, leaving just sixteen of you.” Vanessa and I were happy to hear that, but everyone else’s face fell. Catalina smiled and turned to Bellamy. “Bellamy, go ahead please.”

“Hello,” he said. “It’s been great getting to know you all tonight. As you know, some of you are already safe.” He nodded over at Vanessa and me. We smiled. “Now I’m ready to choose which of the rest of you I would like to get to know better. Starting with Cashmere. Caj, would you accept this Deluxe Jewelers gold bracelet?”

“I will,” she said, smiling and stepping forward.

The producers must have anticipated that watching Bellamy fumble through bracelets would not make good television. They solved this dilemma by allowing him to simply hand boxes to the girls, who would then have the bracelet fastened off camera by a nimble fingered assistant.

“Jessica,” he said to the adorable red-headed Aussie, “would you accept this Deluxe Jewelers gold bracelet?”

“Absolutely,” she said in her cute accent.

“Shyla, would you like to accept this Deluxe Jewelers gold bracelet?”

“Yes!” she said. I was relieved that she would be sticking around.

Bellamy continued on, choosing Angélique next, then Mylar, then Amy, and, to my disappointment, Shar. He whittled down the competition until just four girls remained: Marissa, and three others I hadn’t spoken to. I didn’t think Marissa had a chance, but then, to my amazement, he gave the final bracelet to her, sending home three much prettier women. We were all impressed with his nonsuperficialness.

“Great job, ladies,” said Catalina Cartwright, stepping back out into the room. We looked around and Bellamy was gone. Production people began cleaning up the glasses and empty champagne bottles that were littering the room. I felt like we ought to be helping them, but none of the other contestants seemed to be thinking this so I refrained from doing anything.

“When you get back to your mansion,” said Catalina, “you’ll want to get as much sleep as you can. We’ll be back in action before you know it.”

An assistant opened the door and waved her hand at us. “This way! Over here! Come on!” We followed her outside where a big bus was waiting to take us home. “Pile on,” she said.

It was morning. We all looked ragged in the clear, pink light. With little to say we got on the bus and were delivered back to the ranch house. This time we were dropped off at the front door. We wandered around, trying to find where to sleep. I found a room with an empty bed and passed out on it, in my dress. Everyone else did the same. There were enough beds for everyone and we were all too tired to argue about where we ended up sleeping.

I was awakened periodically throughout the morning by the sounds of retching. None of us were doing well when Catalina Cartwright stopped by at two in the afternoon with a gold foil, embossed invitation. “Special delivery for the fab young ladies of Bellamy’s Redemption,” she said, smiling. She was wearing a pink mini-dress and bright purple Gladiator high-heels. They had gold buckles and went up over her knees. In my hung-over state, she looked garish and crazy. I’d been hoping when I heard the bell that she was a pizza delivery guy.

“Ooh! Open it, open it,” said one of the girls I hadn’t met yet. We were all now wearing casual clothes like yoga pants with tank tops or cut-off jeans with t-shirts. Half the girls seemed to have forgotten that we were always being filmed and looked downright ugly. Despite my pounding head, I hadn’t been so careless. I had on a cute little top and jeans, and just enough makeup to look pretty but natural. I also noticed that only a handful of us were still wearing the bracelets from last night. To me, this seemed like a bad move. Unappreciative. Even a little bratty, perhaps. Mine was on my wrist and I made a point to admire it now.

Shar grabbed the envelope and ripped it open. “Angélique,” she began, and then frowned. “I don’t want to read this.” She threw it down on the floor and went into the kitchen.

“I’ll read it,” I said, stepping forward and picking it off the floor. “Angélique, Paris may be the city of love, but I think we can find love here as well. I will pick you up at 6 pm. Look stunning (I know you will). ~ Bellamy.” I handed it to her. “Congratulations, Angélique,” I added.