“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.