Loveless♣

CHAPTER 57

    Bella was shell shocked the moment she opened the door to her home and was met with reverberating screams of glee.Nina was nearly jostled into shock,too.Their house was crowded--no,overcrowded--with people.

"Oh my God," Bella said slowly.

They were people from her old neighborhood. People she'd grown up with.Old faces that had been redesigned by age and time but still bore the same features.
   She spotted Jeffrey Kinney's receding blonde hair,Jody Carter's vibrant blue eyes,Amelita Lee's bright mile wide smile and,of course,Bear towering above them all.Their mingled scents were sweet and cloying and gave Bella a dull headache, but she was too shocked to notice.

"Bella!" Cade said,drawing her attention to him.He was in front,of course,clad in a spectacular looking suit and tie and smiling brilliantly.

He walked up to her,his arms outstretched,and hugged her.She tried reciprocating but her movements were disjointed, her brain distracted.

"Cade,what...?" her voice trailed off.

He released her and looked at her face in...pride?
Then he turned to the others,"Doesn't she look charming!"

"She looks like someone rolled her up-"Bear rolled up an imaginary ball"-and threw her under a bus."

They all cracked up.

Bella looked at Nina,who just shook her head slowly. She,too,was bewildered.

Cade cleared his throat."Well,Bella,I'm sure you're startled by this sudden and unexpected gathering."

"Duh," she said simply.

The rest laughed.

"Ah,she never changes," Cade said,grinning."Well,Bella,we're all here because we're extremely proud of you."

"Real proud," Bear agreed.

Bella still looked confused.

"We heard you defeated Sebastian... and Roselyn," a soft spoken voice said.Bella turned to see Santa Monica. She was in front of the gathering. A small curve had been made around her,giving her space.Being around Cade still made her feared and respected by others.

Bella paused for a long moment.
"Trust me,it was not a pleasure for me to see him die,"she said brusquely. A grave silence fell over the house.Nina rubbed Bella's shoulders comfortingly.
"Still," Bella continued,smiling at them indulgently,"it was good riddance."

Smiles lit the faces of her old friends.

"Bella,we'd like to apologize..," Lara Cross said,stepping forward.Notorious for her agelessness, Lara had not changed an ounce in five years.She had been Aunt Ignacia's closest friend."We abandoned you.And I know it's been years,and it might be too late.I know we might or might not have been able to do something that night when you had to run because if that godawful experience you'd had,but we should've. French or not,you were one of us...one of our family,and we're sorry. "

Bella pursed her lips to keep the tears from spilling out and nodded slowly.

Lara then hugged her and the tear dam burst.

"Aw,we're sorry,child.For all you've been through.You're the bravest of us all--our woman of steel.Señhora Acero."

"Thank you.Thank you all,"Bella sniffled.

"Ready to meet your real family?"Santa Monica asked.

She nodded.

Cade gestured to the stairs and she glanced up.

Down the staircase, Marabella walked slowly but surely,with Claw  and Cobra aiding her on each side.

All the doctors had been alarmists,after all,Bella thought as she watched her sister.For due to the peculiar drug which Cade had searched high and low for and had administered to Marabella secretly for weeks with the discretion of her nurse, Stephanie, the dire prognosis given by the doctor in France years ago had miraculously been changed.

Marabella could walk.Bella had fallen to her knees the first time she'd seen her like that, and that was only yesterday.

"Mara..."she sighed,her face alight with joy.

Marabella smiled and Nina was stunned.

The resemblance was uncanny.If not for the slight different in shape and size--Marabella had been bedridden for years,after all--one would've been unable to differentiate at all.

The people at the bottom of the stairs cleared when Marabella reached the landing. They created a clear path between to two sisters.

"Isabella," Marabella said slowly.She was still finding speech hard,having only recovered about a week ago.

Bell ran up to her,and the moment both sisters met,they sank to their knees and embraced each other hard.

There was not a dry eye in the room.