Dave came in carrying a tray just then and didn't let on that he'd heard at least part of the conversation. He set the tray down on the table and started distributing cups of tea to Spencer and Bellamy.
"So I have a secret to share with you, Bella," Dave said, as he sat down in his favorite chair with his own cup of tea. "But before I do, are you sure you're not ready for pudding yet?"
"No, I'm still too full," Bellamy said.
"Very well then," Dave said, as he took another sip of tea in order to calm his nervousness. Usually, he was never nervous, but in this case he felt justified in being so.
"You see, there is an entire hidden world out there that most people never discover," Dave began. Dave went into his explanation while Spencer watched Bellamy's face. Bellamy's face showed disbelief, astonishment, and a lot of other emotions.
"This has to be some kind of prank!" Bella exclaimed, as she got to her feet all prepared rush out of Dave's home and never speak to him again.
"Let Dave demonstrate before you leave like I know you want to," Spencer suggested calmly finishing his tea.
"You sure are taken Dave's story calmly," Bellamy noticed looking at Spencer and studying his expression and body language.
"There's a reason I am," Spencer said, as he set his now, empty tea cup on the table in front of where he was sitting. "I'm accepting Dave's story so calmly, because he demonstrated it for me a very long time ago. Why don't you sit down again and let us finish explaining."
"Fine, explain," Bellamy ordered, as she sat back in her original chair, though her entire body was rigid with anger.
"Perhaps I can offer Bellamy another perspective," Spencer told Dave, who nodded soberly.
"What I told you before about mother dying when I was 16 was absolutely the truth," Spencer began. "What I didn't say was that she died of consumption, because that disease doesn't exist here in the United States anymore, though it still does in some countries.
"When William Reid, divorced my mother so he could marry his mistress he didn't bother to pay alimony, and our only lucky break was that my mother Diana Reid could read, write and figure unlike a lot of women back when I was born. She was an intelligent woman for her time which was in the 1840s.
"Mom became a teacher at one of those one room school houses that you read about in history books and it gave us enough to live on since things were much cheaper back then. Back then, laws were not the same as they were today and while alimony existed, it wasn't necessarily strictly enforced that the man who divorced his wife had to pay a certain amount per month.
Such men were very rarely arrested for not paying alimony to the woman they divorced for no reason back then. I went to school, and my mother was the teacher, but I always knew I was more intelligent than most children my age. I had ideas in my head that were nearly impossible for me to explain, even to mom who was very intelligent herself
"I won't say there weren't some people like me with a genius level intellect, but it also wasn't much recognized back in the 1840s and 50s and when it was, that person usually had the backing of their father or some other male that took them on as an apprentice.
That rarely happened for people like me though, as my mother and I had no money to speak of and definitely not the connections to get my intelligence realized. Perhaps if we had lived in a bigger town like Boston my intelligence might have been realized, but we lived in a small town one of those towns that just sprang up when gold was discovered and decades later often became ghost towns.
"After my mother died, I did what work I could, but the towns that were close by mostly ran cattle and while I have nothing against physical labor, it's not my strength, as my main talent is my intelligence. Well, you saw what happened when I bumped in to that little nook in the kitchen and I broke Dave's plate, I would not have made a good ranch hand because of that, as the work could be dangerous.
"I was good with numbers and math in general, but without a CPA degree no one was going to hire me as an accountant and most people in those small places did their own taxes anyway. I became known as a learned man and became a tutor for some sons of the richer people in the area, but it wasn't steady work unfortunately, and some of those boys didn't want to learn what I could teach them so goofed off and acted out."
"It's not like that changed in a few hundred years," Bellamy said dryly and Spencer sighed, because she was absolutely right.
"That's true, but to continue I met Dave at the open air café that was the only restaurant in the town. It was called simply Elizabeth's and really it was just a series of trestle tables with benches and awnings overhead to protect people from the sun. The owners name was Elizabeth and she was the wife of the local blacksmith, and his business was in the back behind the restaurant.
"I made enough tutoring to eat there daily, which is a good thing, because I still can't cook to save my life and Dave did try to teach me."
Dave and Spencer shared a look, and Dave simply nodded at him to continue his story.
"In any case I was eating my meal at one of the tables when Dave sits down on the other side of me," Spencer continued. "Now understand, there were plenty of free tables at that particular time, as Elizabeth's was not that busy like it normally was. While I had seen Dave around town, I knew he was only visiting the area and had rented out an empty homestead, because the man named Stanley Sutton who used to live there had left because it's where he lost his wife and son in childbirth.
"He said he had been watching me and had realized unlike most people that I was much more intelligent than others my age. He asked me to the homestead he was renting so we could talk without anybody else around to overhearing our conversation. I agreed to go with him there so we could talk."
"You took a chance that he wasn't a murderer or some other kind of criminal," Bellamy said.
"It was only a slight one," Spencer replied. "Don't think that didn't occur to me. I asked around town, as there was always gossip about anybody new."
"Gossip is the backbone of small towns," Dave spoke up for the first time since Spencer had begun his story.
"That is the absolute truth," Spencer agreed before he continued. "Anyway, the gossip about town was very positive for people who spread any negative gossip they heard if they could. I learned that Dave was renting the old Sutton Homestead and that he was thinking about settling in town, but wanted to see if it suited him first. I learned that he was always polite and well mannered, and while he still could've been a killer, it wasn't as likely back then, as killers tended to be the rough and tumble sort, not like today for the most part, especially in the old wild west.
"Anyway, once I arrived at the Sutton homestead and got settled in one of the chairs that Stanley Sutton had left we started to talk, and while Dave didn't exactly reveal that he was immortal he simply said that he had noticed how I was more intelligent than my peers and wondered if I would like to travel with him.
"Of course, I asked the logical question as to why he was so interested in me in the first place and you know what he said," Spencer said smiling, as he remembered.
"Must be something good you're smiling," Bellamy observed, having become absorbed and Spencer's tale.
"He told me that he hated to see my obvious intelligence stifled by living in such a small town where no one appreciated my mind. The town that me and my mother moved to after the divorce was only a few hundred residents."
"So you're intelligence was out of the ordinary?" Bellamy guessed and Spencer and Dave both nodded.
"It really was," Dave agreed. "He has a genius level intellect and understands concepts then and now that those much older never do. He's good at all academics, math, reading, writing, all branches of science and so many other things. He could easily have become a college professor or invented something that made him millions if that's what he really wanted to do. Instead, he owns a bookstore that he hired somebody to run and then went to college to get a psychology degree just in the last 30 years."
"I might be good at things like science, but books are my passion," Spencer said simply. "I'm good at psychology considering my past experiences. I can read people pretty easily as I'm observant, which helps.
"In any case," Spencer continued his story and Bellamy listened intently until Spencer got to the part where Dave had demonstrated how he was different from normal people.
"It was several years later after we've been traveling together that Dave told me what he was and like you, I didn't believe him. I was a man who believed in science and what could be seen or touched or smelled or tasted not in the supernatural. I had to believe him, though, after he demonstrated by taking his knife off his belt and slashing the back of his hand to where the blood just flowed.
"All I could do was stand there in shock as the blood just ran down Dave's hand and also his arm onto to the cuff of his very nice shirt," Spencer continued. "We were in San Francisco by then, which was even wilder than the town I had come from and I was all prepared to offer him medical aid, as I had read multiple books on such, when I saw the blood flowing slow down to a trickle, and the wound on the back of his hand start to heal right in front of my eyes all in the space of a few heartbeats.
"I remember blinking several times as if my eyes were deceiving my brain, but finally, Dave showed me his hand and there was no wound. Not even a scar remained. I knew I wasn't seeing things as the blood was still on his hand, even if it had stopped flowing, and also the cuff of his shirt, which was white originally had big red splotches, though the white still showed in between those splotches. I was 24 by then, and I asked why he had told me, as it wasn't vital for me to know."
"I explained that I wanted him to know," Dave cut in. "That I had grown fond of him and had started to think of him as a son and then asked him to consider letting me turn him immortal. I told him it was his choice, but I would like to do it when he looked older than he did that time, as he still looked like he was 18."
"You're telling me you still looked 18 and you were 24," Bellamy asked Spencer. "I envy you. I wish I looked several years younger than I do."
"I have one of those ageless faces that's all," Spencer shrugged unconcerned. "I told him I would think about it and I did for the next 16 years as I was 40 by the time I agreed to let him turn me immortal."
"And he barely looks 32 or 33, even though he was years older than that," Dave put in again interrupting. "40 was quite old in the year he was born and a lot of people died by then, but unlike some people Spencer was healthy as a horse and rarely ever got sick, even as a mortal. He might very well have been one of those few people that lived to 100 back then, just because of his immune system was so strong."
"How in the world do you turn someone immortal?" Bellamy asked.
"It has to do with DNA," Spencer explained. "Dave turned me immortal by giving me a lot of his blood and he had to keep cutting himself a lot in order to get enough for me to drink, because the wound kept healing rapidly."
"There's also another way," Dave added when Spencer didn't continue, and in fact, Spencer was blushing madly.
"How exactly...?" Bellamy said, as she studied Spencer's blush, which went all the way down his neck to the tip of his ears and his forehead as well."
"Through sex," Dave told her bluntly. "Spencer is so modest he just didn't want to tell you the other method of turning someone immortal."
"All right, why tell me?" Bellamy asked next.
"First, let us demonstrate before I explain why I told you," Dave said.
Spencer immediately got up and went in the kitchen coming back shortly with a knife out of the block. Spencer then handed the knife to Dave who took it with an appreciative smile and also the paper towels Spencer passed him and then cut himself like he had for Spencer so long ago.
Bellamy watched in amazement as Dave cut himself deeply noticing him flinching at the pain when he did so. She then watched, as the deep cut on the back of Dave's hand begin to heal right before her eyes just like Spencer had told her had happened when Dave had demonstrated his immortality for him so long ago.
"You must've known, I didn't believe a word of your story, until I saw that," Bellamy said after a lengthy stunned silence.
"Yes, we both knew," Dave answered simply looking at Spencer, who nodded back that yes, he had known, Bellamy didn't believe a word of his tale, even though it was true. Spencer was well aware that it was nearly impossible to believe so he really couldn't blame Bellamy at all for not believing his story, as she was an intelligent and sensible lady, a modern woman.
"Now that you have proven, you're speaking the truth I repeat why tell me?" Bellamy asked.
"It is Dave's right to tell you," Spencer said and Dave nodded.
"You're right, that normally, I wouldn't tell anyone, Spencer being the exception," Dave said. "I had known Spencer for years by the time I told him, however, and the same is not true for you. The reason I told you is that every immortal has what is known as a mate, someone they could trust with anything, build a life with have children with.
"An immortal knows when they have met the one the first time they set eyes on them, and when I saw you with Baxter's leash wrapped around your hand and looked into your eyes, it was then I knew," Dave continued.
"If truth be known I never expected to meet my mate, as I am ancient and I figured if she'd ever been born that we had just never met, and that she had died long ago, perhaps getting married to some man and having children."
"The world was a much bigger place back in the days when Dave was born, as there was no mass transportation, no trains, planes or automobiles," Spencer told Bellamy. "People got around by horse, or a vehicle of some kind pulled by horses or their own 2 feet. Traveling somewhere that was a long distance away was dangerous not only because of natural elements like storms, hurricanes or tornadoes, but because of bandits and animals like bears."
"That is true, as the world has changed a great deal since I was born," Dave agreed gravely. "I know Spencer and I shocked you with our tale and I'm sorry about that truly, deeply sorry, but there was no way to let you in on the existence of immortals gently."
Dave was as grave and serious as Bellamy had ever seen him and her heart went out to this man who been around for centuries.
Bellamy had to believe Dave and Spencer about immortality considering what she had seen when Dave's hand had healed right before her astonished eyes. She was sure that Spencer had felt similar emotions when Dave had demonstrated for him centuries ago. Spencer was simply too intelligent and practical to believe Dave without that demonstration.
It was certainly fantastic, that such a thing as immortality could exist in this modern world, but on the other hand, her ancestors had come from Japan and that was a country that had many legends about entities that should not exist, but possibly did, because if immortals could be real, why not other supernatural things? Her Japanese blood was very thin, as she certainly didn't look Japanese, except perhaps in the shape of her eyes and cheekbones. Really, the only thing that remained to tell of her ancestry was her last name.
Her family had been in America for hundreds of years, at least 500 or so and possibly more, so really they were really more American then Japanese, even if originally her family was from that country.
The men of her family had married, non-Japanese for a long time so that the blood had thinned to really nothing.
"So I'm understanding you right, you're basically, saying that we're soulmates, somebody you never expected to find because back when you were born the world was a very big place," Bellamy said.
"That's right," Dave agreed still sounding and looking grave. "The world has shrunk with the invention of mass transportation, which has only gotten more advanced with every decade that has passed.
"You can get so many places now within a few hours thanks to cars and trains and planes, which weren't even concepts back when I was originally born. It wasn't until Leonardo da Vinci drew up concepts of a lot of the inventions we use today that showed what technology was possible in the future, even if we didn't have the technology or the knowledge to build them."
"Those concepts have been improved upon by others over many years to where we are at now have the technology that someone like Leonardo da Vinci only dreamed about doing in his life," Dave said.
"And what happens if I tell you I'm not interested in continuing our relationship?" Bellamy asked, and Dave subtly winced at Bellamy's words. "That immorality is too fantastic a concept for me to accept and support? That I think you are a demon in disguise, who is trying to lead me into hell?"
"If you reject him, Dave will never marry," Spencer told her seriously speaking up when Dave said nothing. "He will never again be happy and will only go through the motions of life until he finds a way to end his existence. A mate, is sacred to all immortals, someone to be loved and cherished and spoiled. To reject him or her is a good way for that immortal to quit living their life completely, to find a way to die."
Bellamy winced at Spencer's words and looked over at him seeing that he looked sober and serious and afraid that his father figure would find a way to end his life if she rejected him.
"Until a mate is found that immortal is usually happy or at least content doing what they love the most whatever that may be," Spencer continued. "For me, that has been multiple things ever since Dave changed me into what he is.
"I've never settled on one career that I would be happy practicing for the rest of my immortal life, even if I have to change locations every generation in order to pursue it. I own a bookstore, even if someone else runs it now, as books have always been my true passion, but I also got my psychology degree thanks to Dave, who paid for me to go to college to get the full experience. He didn't need to, as I have plenty of money of my own now, but he insisted and I wasn't about to turn him down, like I did way back when we only know each other a short amount of time."
"I have no idea what I'll be doing 100 years from now, if perhaps I'll go back to college and get another degree but that doesn't matter right now. All any immortal wants is a home and a family to call their own and while I'm like a son to him I am not related by blood. All Dave really wants is to have his own children, ones he can give every advantage and spoil rotten. He wants to travel the world with you by his side to see things that few people have the leisure to ever see."
"That's true," Dave finally spoke up. "I had so many dreams for when or if I ever met my mate. That I would love her fiercely and protect her and any children we have too. That the two of us, as well as whatever children we had at the time, would travel the world. That anything she wanted, needed or desired I would do my best to provide."
"Oh Dave, I don't need anything," Bellamy said finally breaking down at what Dave was saying. She could actually sense his deep loneliness and he distracted himself with endless activity. It wasn't enough to make him truly happy though. Dave wanted simply what everyone wanted, a family, someone to love, honor and cherish.
It was likely the reason he'd gotten Baxter in the first place to give him some companionship, as Spencer couldn't be around all the time as that just wasn't feasible nor realistic.
Dave perked up at that and looked so hopeful that Bellamy's heart went out to him.
"Does that mean you'll consider…" Dave paused, as if trying to find the right words.
"It does," Bellamy said, as she put her hand on his arm gently. "I won't say I'm not still amazed as such a thing as immortality exists but no, I don't think you're a demon, just a man who is very lonely. You're human enough to need what everyone needs a family to love and cherish."
"Immortals are basically human, just ones with a few extra gifts," Dave said, even as he took Bellamy in his arms and held her tight, but not tight enough to hurt her.
Spencer watched this smiling, even as he wandered away to give Dave and Bellamy some privacy.
"I love you and that will never change," Dave promised Bellamy softly, kissing her with such tenderness that Bellamy got tears in her eyes.
"I love you too," Bellamy told him, even as she kissed his cheek, cuddling into his arms contentedly.
"I know it's probably too soon to ask, but will you marry me? Let me turn you immortal?" Dave asked softly.
"Yes, I will," Bellamy agreed, even as she kissed him on the lips this time.
"Here, I have something for you," Dave said ecstatic that Bellamy had a agreed to be his. Dave headed for the bedroom Bella following and got a ring box out of his bedside table drawer.
"Well, you sure were optimistic of me saying yes, weren't you?" said Bellamy smiling, even as she opened the box and inside was a beautiful engagement ring.
"Let's just say I was hopeful you would say yes," Dave said, shrugging casually, looking very pleased when Bellamy allowed him to slip the beautiful emerald ring onto her finger.
"It's gorgeous Dave," Bellamy said, admiring the ring. "An emerald like this must've cost you a mint."
"Don't worry about it, as I've made quite a fortune over the last few hundred years," Dave shrugged causally. "I've never been a spendthrift. I don't spend, just to spend like many people who have money do. I've always believed in saving money for a rainy day and there's nothing better to be spending money on then the woman I love."
"Well then, I won't scold you for spending so much money on me," Bellamy told him kissing him again. "I have a feeling I wouldn't get my way anyway, so why create bad feelings?"
"If that's your way of saying, I can be very stubborn you're not wrong," Dave told her smiling from ear to ear. "Plan whatever kind of wedding you want and don't stint on whatever you desire. It's the only wedding you're going to get after all, you might as well do it up right."
"Well, first off, do you think Spencer would agree to walk me down the aisle?" Bellamy asked Dave.
"He'd be happy to as he was rooting for us once he learned about you that is," Dave said. "But don't you think it's time to mend fences with your father?"
"No," Bellamy shook her head firmly. "The first move is his and considering he's never even attempted a reconciliation tells you just how much he didn't really care about me, as if forcing me to go into the career he wanted wasn't bad enough."
"If there's something I know it's that men can be stubborn and that especially includes fathers," Dave said. "A lot of times men just don't see that they're making their children unhappy with their demands to go into a certain type of career whether or not that is the child's desire."
"Whenever we have children, there will be no forcing them to go into a certain career," Bellamy said.
"I would never do that to our children and not only because they'll be immortal," Dave said, shaking his head. "Immortals have different priorities, because they basically live forever barring a certain set of circumstances. To force them into a career where they would be unhappy for what amounts to multiple lifetimes, just no."
"OK, then," Bellamy said pleased. "As to my father, I won't say, I wouldn't like a reconciliation, but he has to meet me halfway and since he's the one that caused the rift, he should be the one to make the first move."
"I won't disagree about the first move being his, but you could be the bigger person and approach him first," Dave said. "Still, I can't force you into a reconciliation as you have to be willing and so does your father. However, it's clear you're not the one that wants to approach him first."
"Why don't you go ask Spencer to be the one to walk you down the aisle, since you have no brothers and there's no one else you want to fulfill the role and then if you're willing…" Dave simply looked at the bed and Bellamy blushed, as she knew immediately, what Dave wanted to do after she asked Spencer to walk her down the aisle.
"I'm more than willing and I've often wondered over the last few months why we hadn't been making love," Bellamy said. "Now I understand why we never took that step, as most people can't turn their chosen partner immortal just by having sex with them."
"Yes, it immortal has to be more careful or at least the males do," Dave said as he put an arm around Bellamy shoulders looking very happy. "Thank you for accepting what I know is an outrageous concept to you."
"You're welcome," Bellamy told him quite content to remain there in Dave's arms for the foreseeable future.
She loved Dave so much that she had accepted his and Spencer rather outrageous story, but then, how could she not when they had proved that what they said was true?
Spencer watched them from the doorway and simply smiled, slipping away managing not to attract their notice like by tripping over his own 2 feet before they noticed him there.
The two of them would have a long and happy life together now if only he could find his own mate, he'd be very happy indeed Spencer thought, as he headed for the library that Dave had and that he spent most of his time whenever he was here.
Life at the moment was very good, especially for the man he considered a father and his mate Bellamy. Spencer knew that the two of them would likely have many children over the decades and centuries, and that was not a bad thing at all
Spencer could hardly wait as the future, for once looks very bright indeed, because if Dave had found his mate, there was every chance he would find his own, even if that didn't happen for decades or even centuries.
Spencer felt optimistic that he'd meet his own mate eventually for the first time in a very long time and so he slipped into the library leaving Dave and Bellamy to themselves.
