Bellatrix

Tears and Laughter

CHAPTER 12

Bella

I was almost near the door rushing to leave when I heard Gabriel ask “Where do you think you are going? We are not done yet!” His voice was a mix of tones of hurt and rage. I slowly turned to look at him. What is wrong with him? After all of that, we are definitely done! Oh my God, his eyes are all puffy and red. Was he crying? “Please come sit” , he patted the space next to him on the couch. I just wanted to get out of there. Why is he making this more painful? “Please” he repeated. I slowly made my way to the couch.

He gently turned me to face him and cupped my face with his palms. He looked into my eyes and said “I am not disgusted by the sight of your scars nor will I ever hate you. If anything, I think I have fallen more in love with you! Please believe me. For the first time in my adult life, I cried tonight. I cried because when I saw your scars, I could only imagine how much pain you endured and wished I could have been there to have saved you from it and taken the abuse instead. I will not do that again because when I look at your scars now, I will look at them with great pride, because they will remind me of how brave my Warrior Woman is and all that she over came. Remember when I told you the meaning of your name. Yes, my love, your Grams chose the perfect name for you! I am extremely angry right now but not at you. I promise you, my love, I will make sure whoever did this to your beautiful body will pay! I will personally deal with him! And what you said earlier about the media, there’s no need to stress yourself over all of those things. You just need to start trusting your man”

Okay, no more holding back now, definitely not after hearing all that, the flood gates have burst open! I was now sobbing uncontrollably. Gabriel put his arms around me and pulled me into his chest, and patted my head softly “Let it all out, my love. Let it all out. Everything is going to be okay. I will never let anyone hurt you ever again!” We stayed in that position for a while. I felt safe in his arms, and his body warmth was so comforting. When I felt like I couldn’t cry any more, I slowly pulled away and apologized. “What are you apologizing for?” Gabriel asked, I told him that I was apologizing for soaking up his shirt with my tears and snot and stuck my tongue out, trying to lighten the mood.‘Since you are so sorry about messing me up, how about you clean me up?” he asked flirtatiously. “It’s just your shirt that’s messed up. Give it to me, I’ll wash it for you.” I told him. He tried to give off his best sad puppy dog look and said that it also got onto his chest, neck, and hair. I laughed so hard at the way he was pointing all over where I had apparently messed him up with my snot.

I glanced at the time and jumped up. It was already so late, and I didn’t even check up on Jacob. I hope he had his supper. I told Gabriel that I had to go, but he held me back. “Hold on a sec” he said as he reached out for his phone. “Hey Gabe” I heard Ari say “Hi Ari, I got you on speaker, Bella is here with me. Is Jacob still with you?” “Yeah he is, we’re gaming, and I am winning, Woo Hooo! Jakey, it’s Gabe and Bella, come say hi.” I greeted Ari and thanked her for watching over Jacob before he came on. “Hi Gabe, hi Bella ! I know you’re worried about me, Bella, but please don’t, I am fine, I already had my supper, and Amber made apple pie for dessert. So I had a bit of that, too. I got to go now, kind of busy” and then he whispered “I am letting Ari win.” And then said good night out loud.

Gabriel and I burst out laughing. Then he asked me, "Are you still in a hurry to leave?"

“How did you know that Jacob was with Ari” I asked Gabriel suspiciously. ‘I know my sister well. She loves both you and Jacob a lot. And she knew you were with me, and she most probably took it upon herself to keep an eye out on Jacob. Trust me, no one has to ask her to take care of him. She’ll happily do it. You and Jacob have us Knights completely addicted to you both” That’s true. When Ari is around, she automatically slips into a second big sister role, and I suspect that Jacob is crushing over her, so he’s more than happy to spend time with her. “You didn’t answer my question. Are you still in a hurry to leave?” Gabriel asked again. I told him that we didn’t have supper yet and asked if he’s not hungry. “How about we take a quick shower together to save time?” he suggested with a mischievous grin. “Hmmm that could work, but I don’t have a change of clothes here.” “Oh that’s fine. You can wear one of my tee shirts and sleep shorts or sweat pants.” Gosh, man ! This guy has an answer for everything”

“Listen up, let me go freshen up in my room and you here. We’ll meet downstairs in about twenty minutes and grab something to eat. We can come eat up here, and thereafter, you can try out the stuff I got you? What do you say?” I suggested. “Okay, we’ll do it your way” he said while pretending to sulk. I gave him a peck on his forehead and ran out the door. Just as planned, we freshened up and met downstairs on time, and as we were getting our meals and while we ate, we chatted like old friends. Though we only recently met, it feels like we have known each other for years. All the sadness and drama of earlier forgotten...