“But they said I was a demon!” I argue.
Mama lifts a shoulder. “I didn’t know it wasn’t an angel. All I saw were some wings. Purple, I think.”
Purple wings? What kind of angel has purple wings?
I stumble more than sit in the chair at the dinin’ room table. “What in the world is my life right now?” I groan as I bury my head in my hands.
“Your life is just what it should be, honey girl,” Daddy says, and I look up at him with a soft smile, makin’ myself take a deep breath and calm down.
I should probably be freakin’ out more right now. Maybe I’m in shock. Or maybe Alder is right. Somewhere deep down, I’ve known that I didn’t fit, not the way I was supposed to, anyway. I had my money on Professor X showing up one day and askin’ me if I’d like to attend his school with the other X-Men, but I guess secretly bein’ a demon works too.
“Here,” Mama says, settin’ down a steamin’ bowl of gumbo in front of me. “Eat. Everythin’ is always better once you got a full belly to think on.”
“How the heck are you so calm right now?” I demand. I blame my easygoin’ nature on them.
“Because it doesn’t change anythin’,” she answers simply.
I nearly spit out my first bite of gumbo. “Mama, I just got told that I’m a damn demon! Evil Hell spawn! How are you not freaked out, callin’ Pastor David and gettin’ me exorcised?”
Mama snorts and plops down next to me, glarin’ daggers at Daddy until he moves the shotgun off the table.
“You don’t need to be exorcised,” Mama tells me. “There’s nothin’ wrong with you. And if you’re a demon, then demons can’t be evil Hell spawn, because you’re as good as they come, baby girl, and that’s that. Ain’t no one gonna tell me otherwise.”
I stare into my mama’s green eyes and fight back the emotion that crashes through me at her words. I don’t know how I got so lucky at bein’ left on the stoop of such lovin’ and beautiful people. They’re far better than I ever deserve, and I wouldn’t give them up for anythin’.
Daddy nods and slops some food in his mouth. “Your mama said it. She’s right as butter on a biscuit.”
He gives me a wink, and I shake my head with a small smile.
“So your people were demons, who cares?” Daddy says with a shrug. “You’re a Bell now, and that’s all that matters. We’re simple people. I’ll leave all that salvation and damnation to the Bible thumpers, but you, my girl, were a blessin’ from the day you arrived, and if we have Hell to thank for that, then so be it.”
I toss up my arms around both of their shoulders and wrap them up in a hug that has us all gigglin’ between our sniffles and cheek wipes. “You guys are the best parents ever. If a demon did leave me with you, then they can’t be evil, either, because you two are the best people I know,” I whisper into Mama’s hair while she pats me on the back.
Mama and Daddy are right. I’m still me. My parents are still my parents. My tribulations make a whole lot more sense now, but whatever Alder and Flint thought, I don’t see why this news really has to change anythin’ for me. They’re probably mistaken. Nothin’ bad ever happens in Sweetgreen, so I doubt anyone will be attackin’ little old me.
It was kind of them to clue me in to what they think I am—though I’ll still have to do some diggin’ and see what I can find out on my own—and it was even more thoughtful that they would offer me a job given what just happened with my old one, but I’m not sure if I should. I mean, I can barely stand next to them without heatin’ up. I’m not sure that bein’ employed by them and in constant close proximity is wise. I’ve got a feelin’ that demon sex would ruin me for all other human men. And more specifically, Flint and Alder sex. Those two are hotter than a fried tomato.
“Eat up, HB,” my mama encourages as we separate.
I wipe one last tear from my cheek and chuckle. Leave it to Mama to think her gumbo can solve any problem. Then again, with her cookin’, it probably could.
“It seems you’ll have to retire that nickname once and for all,” I tease, a small thrill of triumph strikin’ through me.
“Nah, we’ll just have to switch Heavenly out for something else. Hellish, perhaps?” she tells me in thought.
“Hell’s Bells,” Daddy supplies jovially around a full mouth of food.
Mama’s eyes light right up. “That’s it, Love Spuds! Hell’s Bells!” she announces excitedly.
I groan. Honestly, what kind of day is it when findin’ out you’re a supposed demon isn’t the worst part, but the nickname that comes with it, is?
I need a stiff drink or ten, and I need it pronto. Good thing I’ve got plans with the girls tonight.
9
“Yes! Medley is on a mission tonight!” Kiara shouts before slammin’ down her shot of tequila. She winces and shoves a lime in between her plump lips before she tosses back her long black braids.
“That’s what I’m talkin’ about!” AnnaMae whoops in agreement as she nudges her shot my way and sips on the rum and coke she ordered instead.
I give her a look. “AnnaMae, don’t just keep orderin’ shots and then passin’ them off to us. You gotta do your due diligence too. It’s only fair.”
AnnaMae rolls her pretty blue eyes. “I did a shot already.”
“Psh. You did not,” Kiara fires back. “You poured it in my damn drink when you thought I wasn’t lookin’.”
AnnaMae giggles and stirs her drink. “Tequila makes me have indigestion.”
“No, it turns your Ho settin’ on,” Kiara replies with a wicked grin.
“Hey!” AnnaMae flicks her wet straw
