Bellamy Holmes #3
“You don’t know me, and I don’t know you so it’s only right,” I said.
Lovely caught my gaze, silently checking on me before focusing back on the baby in Himora’s arms. Cynthia reached in her pocket to pull out a folded photograph before handing it to me.
I stared at it for a second before taking it as she took in a deep nervous breath.
Unfolding the picture, I froze when I saw a man standing in the middle of a dimly lit room.
Tall, dark skinned with a slender athletic frame, work boots, and a military haircut.
He held his face up close to a baby wrapped in a blanket that was covered in blood, and although the picture was grainy, you could see him leaning down to kiss the newborn.
“I’ve been going through my mother’s things and found this,” she said. “That is your father crying while holding you when he thought you…passed. He accepted you the way you are and would have adored the man you’ve become.”
“Who took the picture?” I asked.
“My mother or my father. Who knows at this point….”
“Hey people!” Trevor suddenly shouted as I heard a car door slam shut.
“I think this is my sister and her family,” Cynthia said as she pulled herself away from the car.
The blending of First Families felt different, and confusing.
Trevor greeted a tall man with round glasses, a gut that hung in his Nike track suit and a gold tooth on the side while two women were lagging behind yelling behind children.
There were three car loads full of family, some related, some not just by the lack of bloodlust in their eyes.
I watched my mother hug and greet the women before leaning down to hug a little girl.
She couldn’t have been no bigger than a nine-year-old with her white hair pulled back and a large black ribbon tied on the end.
She wore pearl earrings, black lace socks, and black buckled shoes with a red purse crossed over her hip.
She couldn’t have been no more than nine or ten years old.
“Alright, you already met my wife and daughter. Himora and baby Dawn…” Trevor exclaimed before pointing at Cynthia. “You already know this is our sister, Cyn.”
“It’s so good to finally meet in person,” the little girl said as she clasped my mother’s hands and looked up at her with a bright smile. Lovely gasped before bending down to the height of the little girl.
“Ohhh! You’re Marvin’s youngest daughter!? How–––”
“Baby, back up off me now,” the girl warned with a flared nose as she held her hand out in Lovely’s face. “I’m twice your age.”
“Oh I’m a lot older than I choose to be,” Lovely laughed freely as if all was right in the world. “I’ve decided to age through experience and culture, not with my face and body…”
“Still, I don’t take kindly to people being that close to my face. I bite.”
“Lil lady you ain’t finna bite shiaat,” another voice said as a man with a gray beard came walking up with a red cup in his hand. He wore a t-shirt with some jeans and sneakers, brown eyes and mature features that made him look like he could be in his early 60s.
“That would be Mr. Clarence.” Trevor continued to point with a grin on his face. “His two daughters, Bree, and Leslie. This is their brother Tony…”
“How y'all good people doing?” He grinned, showing off the side gold tooth.
“This is my son, Bellamy,” Cynthia said as the little girl’s eyes widened with surprise.
“You have a boy and a girl?”
“I do,” she nodded.
“This is Lovely, Carmilla, Dorian, and Draco Holmes…cousins and lovers in the family I guess,” Trevor said with a proud nod as if remembering everyone’s names was some sort of achievement. The little girl with the black ribbon bow walked right up to me with a smile.
“I’m your Auntie…Auntie Raven,” she said with a dignified tone.
“You’re Marvin’s daughter–––”
“Aht aht!” She snapped. “I don’t like that rat bastard of a man.
I ain’t nobody’s daughter now but look at you!
Handsome! You look like you got a little bit of money on you!
Don’t he?!” She laughed while looking back at her own son.
“May need to send my son to come do what you do so he can get up in life.”
“I do alright for myself,” I smiled, amused by it all. The tone and cadence were that of a woman in their late stage in life, but the voice belonged to a little girl.
“Uncle Trevor?!” One of the little ones called out as they clung to Trevor, pulling at his arm for his attention.
“This has to be a joke, right?” Carmilla muttered under her breath. “Surely we all can’t be related because clearly you all are…”
“What?” Raven asked with a few hard blinks. “We’re what, exactly?”
“Grandma?! Tell Jay to let me hold the game!?” One of the boys complained when Raven turned around.
“I told both of y'all not to bring those damn devices, did I not?!” Raven snapped as she turned to march off towards the keys. Clarence walked over with a low whistle before leaning in.
“I wish she stay a damn child, so I don’t have to bother with her.” He muttered with a wink as Trevor laughed.
“I heard that Clarence! Don’t have them people thinking you and I are anything but parents to our very grown adult children!”
“Mama please!” Bree groaned before looking at my mother. “I’m sorry y'all… We try and keep them separate because all they’re gonna do is fight and bicker at each other.”
“Yo mama still wants me, Bree.”
“No the hell I don’t!” Raven snapped as she marched right over.
What should have been a tense meeting amongst family turned into a comedy shit show that I almost forgot what we were here for.
They all seemed so…normal in comparison to Draco, Milly, Lovely, and I.
They behaved like an actual family. It was the same thing I noticed with Maggie, how normal she behaved.
Another car pulled up as another section of the family came walking up with everyone once again being introduced to each other.
Himora, quiet and observing, became the silent star of the night when her baby started to cry.
Raven was the first to come to her before Cynthia and the rest of the women fussed over the baby.
Lovely squeezed by my side and held me close with her head laying on my shoulder.
“I love our little family,” she concluded.
“They’re country and ghetto,” Carmilla said with an uppity tone. “Clearly, we’re the side of the family with money.”
“No, we’re clearly the side that was raised as the very thing we are….” I said. “We were raised as predators, and they were raised to be more like prey.”
“They were raised like regular humans. I think they’re perfect,” Draco said in awe. “I can’t wait for Maze to meet everyone.”
“Go look in the car, in my bag and grab my little pouch,” Raven said, handing the keys to a little boy. “And don’t put my bag on the floor! Keep it in the seat! This baby is teething. Look at her little fangs coming in…”
I watched my mother gently hold the baby in her arms as she rocked her from side to side trying to settle her down.
Everyone pitched in to help calm the tiniest Holmes in the family until I caught the familiar lingering gaze of Seth from a distance.
A pair of yellow eyes appeared through the fog as he began to walk towards us on all fours.
“It’s time,” I said out loud. The only thing you could hear were the women trying to settle a crying baby before Himora ultimately stepped aside with Raven following behind her. I met Seth halfway, not sure how anyone else would react to him as he calmly sat on his back legs before me.
“Alright so here’s the situation,” he said, voice low as his yellow eyes shifted. I could feel Draco and the rest coming up behind me to listen.
“There shouldn’t be a situation if we’re invited,” I reminded him.
“Well given what you are and what we are…there’s going to be a situation.
Not everyone is feeling y'all being here but don’t worry about it.
I got you. I’ma escort everyone in but when you come, don’t say anything.
Don’t speak, don’t ask any questions until the ceremony is over. I’ll explain what’s happening–––”
“Hold on now,” Raven said as she came in between us to step towards Seth. “We got chirren and a baby with us. If this isn’t safe–––”
“They’ll be fine. There’s a little tension but it'll be fine.”
“If there’s a problem,” Carmilla said as she stepped up. “Surely, we can handle ourselves–––”
“All will be fine.” Seth remained calm before standing up on all fours as he began to walk.
“We’ve covered this area with our scent so no one can trace or smell you all.
Just come in and respect the space. We stand to gain more by sticking together than not and I think everyone realizes that so come on. ”
Naturally, I waited on my mother until we were walking side by side through the thickening grass and weeds. I kept my eyes on Himora as she walked with Lovely beside her until Seth began trotting into the woods, picking up his feet as the stench of urine, blood, and fur collected in my nose.
“How in the world does your daughter get mixed up in this mess with wolves?” Raven whispered in her childish voice towards my mother.
“I don’t have the slightest clue, but I don’t like it,” Cynthia muttered. Dorian and Carmilla walked by as she held her nose high in the air, making sure to let us know we were beneath her with a single look. Raven snorted with a roll of her eyes.
“Baby, that lil heifer right there better watch herself,” Raven muttered under her breath. “I’ll put you six feet under in a heartbeat. I ain’t the one or the two. Ask my daughters.”
“You damn sho’ ain’t the three or the four either,” Clarence said before laughing out loud. “You’re more like the nine and ten with your height and–––”
“Hush!” Raven fussed when she turned to him. “Sick of you and your mouth!”
“Mama, deddy please….” Bree groaned. “Not tonight. Tony, please get yo mama…”
“Why y'all always telling me to get her?” Tony complained. “Mama can handle herself.”
“And that’s why you’re my favorite son,” Raven stated proudly.