Chapter 2: The Homecoming
It's a rare sunny day when I finally return home to the Pacific Northwest, cold, with a definite chill in the breeze, but the sun shone brightly in the usual overcast sky. I nervously walked down the exit ramp of the plane, for the first time in eighteen years free from the mother who I've had to parent for most of my life.
My mother Renee Swan was a 'party girl' even back as a teenager growing up in Forks, Washington. Her antics were apparently well known in the tight-knit community, as was her promiscuity. My mother claimed to not know who my father is, but it was apparent that the mystery man was likely a different race than she, as my skin was a light russet color, my hair dark auburn, and my eyes the color of cinnamon, when my mother was fair-skinned with blonde hair and blue eyes. For the first ten years of my life we'd remained in a run-down apartment on the outskirts of La Push, where my mom would work various jobs to support her drug and alcohol habit, and possibly me if there was anything left over to spare. I spent a lot of time on the Quileute reservation, or the rez as it was referred to, with my mother's best friend Sarah Black. Through Sarah, I had met my own best friend, her son Jacob, who was born exactly two hours after me. Renee had met Sarah at Forks general, when Sarah's complicated delivery of Jacob required the expertise of a larger hospital than what was available on the rez, and the two young mothers ended up sharing a room together and bonding with their new babies.
Where Sarah was warm, friendly, and motherly, Renee was not. As much as Sarah loved her best friend, she also worried for my well-being, and as a result I was over at the Black's house more than our modest apartment. Jacob had two sisters, a set of twins named Rebecca and Rachel who were a year older than us and had no interest in us at all, but I was okay with that. All Jake and I ever needed was each other.
We'd heard the whispered conversation of the adults, and even the elders of the tribe, and Jake and I were smart enough to know they had been talking about me. As I'd grown, it was obvious that my father must have been Native, with both the Quileute and Makah tribes so close to Forks it could have been either, but my mother held fast to her claim that she didn't know who it was. However, when the Quiluete chief Billy Black started asking if my father was a part of their tribe my mother bolted. I remember Renee putting me in the back of a station wagon and telling me we were going on an adventure, and it happened so quickly that I never had the chance to tell Jake goodbye.
Jake and I had found each other online a few months later, and we'd secretly exchanged cell phone numbers once we finally had phones so we could call and text each other as much as possible. Jake lost his mother two years after I'd left the rez, and I desperately wanted to be there for him, and pay my respects to a woman who'd helped raise me and loved me as her own. Renee had refused to go back, and the best I could do was be there for Jake over the phone as he mourned the loss of his mom.
Renee moved us often, and she had a slew of different boyfriends or husbands we'd always end up living with. I'd been to fourteen different schools and was starting my freshman year of high school in yet another new city when Jake told me they had figured out who was likely my birth father, and that his father Billy was using his executive power as the Chief of the Quileute tribe to order a DNA test.
One long-distance test proved my lineage, my father was an incarcerated Quileute man named Jerome Lahote, and I had an older brother named Paul. Jerome had been in jail for over five years now, and he had no chance of ever getting out. He was convicted of vehicular homicide after a drunk driving accident resulted in the fatalities of a young family, and he would be spending the rest of his life flitting from one facility to another. When Paul and I finally started talking, he was fifteen and I was fourteen, and I could tell that he harbored a lot of anger towards our father. I learned that Paul was being raised on the rez by the Chief of police, a white man who was the best friend of Billy Black named Charlie Swan, who also happened to be Renee's older half brother, and he had been trying to have a relationship with me for years and had been blocked by my mother.
Paul credited Charlie with keeping him on the straight and narrow, and admitted that if it weren't for him, he may have ended up following the same tragic path as our father. Jake sung Charlie's praises as well, promising me he was nothing like Renee, and the only thing the two of them shared was a father. I'd started getting to know Charlie through them, and after a few tentative phone calls and emails, I had agreed to come out to La Push to spend my summer break with them until I could decide what I wanted to do now that I had finally graduated from high school.
I had also decided that maybe it was time to explore the feelings Jake and I had developed for each other over the years as well. Today, at the age of eighteen, finally finished with high school and now a legal adult, I am meeting my uncle and brother face to face for the first time.
I walked into the main corridor of the airport and found my uncle, a lighter skinned man with hazel eyes, reddish brown hair, and a matching bushy mustache. He looked so different from my mother Renee that I almost stumbled when I saw him. He was surrounded by my huge brother Paul and my almost equally huge best friend Jake. I had no idea what they fed these boys on the rez, but they looked like grown men and I ran directly to them.
"I can't believe you're here." Jake says as he spins me around in his arms and then sits me down on my two feet. My brother Paul grabbed me next and hugged me tight, pressing a kiss to the top of my head before passing me over to Charlie.
"Hi Bella, I'm Charlie, well, um, your uncle, and I am really glad to meet you in person." He says in a voice thick with emotion.
We stand there, just looking at each other, and I was vaguely aware that Jake and Paul have moved off to the side to give us our privacy. I can't help myself, I fling my arms around the man, and he wraps his around me tightly, and we both shake with sobs.
After our emotional meeting, we finally make our way to the exit, with Paul and Jake insisting on carrying everything and giving Charlie and me space. The ride from Seattle to Forks is a long one, but thankfully Charlie, Paul and Jake fill it with excited conversation. Charlie had once again explained that he and Renee were estranged, and that Charlie didn't even know he had a niece until he'd visited La Push to interview for the Chief of Police position years ago. Part of his interview process was to meet with the Chief of the tribe, Billy, and with the elders. It was highly unusual for a non-native to be hired into such a prestigious role, but that one meeting with the elders of the tribe cemented a future for the white man who both loved and respected all their traditions. He had made a promise that day to always put the tribe first, and the elders wholeheartedly believed him. Several years later, they were still impressed with Charlie's work, and the reservation had never been more safe and secure.
I wished my mother hadn't hidden me from him.
When we get to the unassuming two-story house, the boys help me bring everything to a bedroom that is decorated with soft colors, and things I would need – my own desk, a computer, a queen-sized bed, and bulletin boards on the wall to store pictures. There are a couple of general art pictures hanging up, and my favorite of all is the patchwork comforter with my favorite colors of teal, grey and black.
"Is this why you asked me what colors I like?" I look at Jake and he smiles and shrugs.
"Guilty as charged." He grins at me.
"Computer's there in case you wanted to take some college classes. Phil mentioned you were looking." Charlie said, his gruff voice soft but his eyes averted.
"You talked to Phil?" I ask and he nodded.
"Seems like a good guy. I was real sorry to hear that he and your mom are separated."
Tears stung my eyes and I quickly looked away, "Me too." I whispered. "Thank you." I say softly, and then I hug Charlie again, "Thank you so much for making this home for me."
"It's the least I can do, kiddo." He replies and when I hear the crack in his voice he clears his throat, "Let's go to the diner in Forks for dinner. I know you two must be hungry, you're always eating your weight in food." He looks pointedly at Jake and Paul, who both grin at him.
The diner isn't too crowded, and once we're in a half circle booth I am sat between Jake and Charlie. I am finally here with my actual uncle I think to myself, and my mind once again travels to Renee. I've had to be the adult for most of my life, cleaning her up and getting her to bed after one of her drunken blackouts, going grocery shopping when I could, and when I couldn't find any, I would scavenge for food in the often-bare cupboards. She received monthly support and food stamps from the government, but any cash she'd get from those items went straight into feeding her drug and alcohol habits. Any time a school counselor, neighbor or any other concerned citizen would get too close to our secrets, we'd move again, and my mom would just find another man in another small town to support our basic needs.
I was tired of being her parent.
The conversation flows easily, and I am surprised at how comfortable I feel at the table with people who I've only known through electronic means. After dinner, Paul excuses himself to work his patrol job on the rez. I asked him more about the job, but he seemed vague, not saying much other than he helps with rez security.
"If he's working security, wouldn't he be working with Charlie?" I ask Jake after Paul refuses a ride to work.
"Apparently Paul and his friends don't think the police force we have is adequate." Jake rolls his eyes, "Paul... I don't know Bells, he's gotten distant. Today was the first day in weeks that I've spent any significant time with him. He's always busy with patrol or hanging out with Sam Fucking Uley." He frowns.
"Who's that?" I ask and he looks over at me.
"He graduated a few years back, just turned twenty-one and I think he runs his own gang. Did you notice how short Paul's hair is?" He asks and I nod, taking in Jake's traditional long hair style, "Paul had longer hair than me, but right after he turned eighteen, he got sick. We didn't see him for weeks, and when we finally did, he'd cut all his hair off, gotten a tribal tattoo and looked like he started shooting steroids or something. I think it's Sam Uley, the summer after he graduated, he disappeared for almost two months Bells, same thing - came back with short hair, a tattoo and looks like an adult. I mean, technically he was an adult because it was after his eighteenth birthday, but still. I've tried talking to Paul and he's vague as hell, my dad's not much better, I just see Uley at my house talking to my dad all the time, and when I get there, they suddenly stop talking and Sam must go. Same thing happened to Jared, he's twenty. It's bullshit."
"What about Charlie? Didn't he try to stop Paul from hanging out with this Sam guy?"
"Paul was eighteen when it happened, just like Jared was before him," Jake shrugs, "Charlie did as much as he could as a foster parent, but legally Paul was an adult when this went down. Besides, my dad has completely sold your uncle on Sam. Says he's this great guy, he's doing so much for the rez, just bullshit. Sam had a scholarship offer, he was getting the fuck out of here, then he drops out of college and starts patrolling the rez like he owns it. Paul and Jared are going to end up just as fucked up as him."
"Why is it such a bad thing that he wants to stay here?" I ask.
"No one stays here, Bells. We're rez rats. Trash." He shakes his head, "At least Paul will have an actual house. He's eventually going to be able to move to your father's old house on the rez, he, Jared and Sam have been fixing it up."
"Have they caused any trouble?" I ask.
"Probably. There's a ton of drugs around the rez, and underage drinking. Charlie thinks everything is good, and honestly he has made an improvement since being here, but this shit still goes on under his nose."
"It just sounds like kids being kids." I shrug and Jake glances at me.
"Until you meet him, and he's only twenty-one but acts like he's our father or some shit. I'd just keep my distance if I were you." Jake warns.
"Paul is my brother, and living in the same house as me, it's going to be difficult to keep my distance." I frown.
After Charlie is back in earshot, Jake drops the subject and enthusiastically announces he'll be spending the night on the couch. I can tell Charlie is appreciative of having a buffer between him and me, to help us get to know each other in a more comfortable setting, and I feel the same. Even though Jake and I have been physically separated for eight years, we've been in contact online the entire time, and I think Charlie knows we'll both be more comfortable with him here.
We sit in Charlie's living room, well now my living room too, idly watching a baseball game while we get to know each other more. Jacob's father Billy, my dad's other best friend Harry along with his kids Leah and Seth join us in our little reunion and the laughter that fills our house makes me feel like I am finally home.
I learn that Leah is seventeen, and will be a senior in high school, and her brother Seth is fourteen and will be starting his freshman year in La Push High with his older sister.
"Kim is my best friend on the rez, along with my cousin Emily who's Paul's girlfriend, and I have friends from Forks named Angela, and then there's Jessica," Leah stops speaking and smiles, then averts her eyes from mine and seems nervous.
"Who's Jessica?" I ask and Leah seems to struggle to find an answer.
"Well, she's… um… well… we are together... my girlfriend or whatever." Leah stammers.
"Awesome, I can't wait to meet everyone." I smile at her, and she looks relieved.
I can imagine that growing up on the rez didn't give her the same open minds I've grown to appreciate. Sure, I'd gotten some racist remarks over my life, hearing the slurs and outright anger that came from narrow minded kids being raised by even worse adults in small towns.
I would never raise my kids in a house filled with hate. The cycle will break with me.
"We can easily get them all to go shopping and you can meet everyone, Kim is a senior with me, Em graduated last year, and Ang and Jess are both seniors at Forks High, so I'm sure that getting clothes in preparation for going back to school is high on their priority list." Leah explains.
"How did you meet them if they're not from La Push?" I ask.
"We have bonfires on one of the public beaches in La Push, the cooler palefaces join us." She smiles, "Some of our bonfires are for natives only, it's not a race thing but more of a tribal privacy thing, but the one we'll have tomorrow will be for everyone, it'll officially kick off the summer. Jess and I met last year at a bonfire, and we just immediately hit it off. Some of the tribe isn't too keen on me being gay, and more aren't keen on me being with a paleface, but I don't care."
"Fuck them if they can't be supportive. This is a different time we live in; we should love who we love. I'm only half Quileute and they accept me. It's not like that other half didn't come from someone who is one of those palefaces they complain about." I smile at her, and she grins back.
"Exactly!" Leah agrees, "So what's up with you and Jake?"
"He's my best friend, we've kept in touch over the years through the magic of the internet." I grin at her.
"So, are you interested in being more than friends now that you're finally here? He hasn't shut up about you ever since he found you online." She replies.
"Well, we haven't really talked about it. I think he wanted to, at times, and I may have thought about it myself but long-distance wasn't a smart move." I reply.
"But now that distance isn't an issue?" She asks.
"Maybe, I don't know." I reply and I can feel the heat from a blush on my cheeks.
"That is adorable." She grins at me.
"What's he like? I mean, I only know him now through video, phone, and text."
"He's a good guy, but he's also intense. When he has his mind set to something there's no changing it. Just a heads up." She shrugs.
"Should I be worried?" I ask but before she can say anything else Jake and Seth come into my room and plop onto my bed, causing Leah and I to break into a fit of giggles.
We talk more as a group, and Leah casts a knowing glance my way when she sees Jake's arm thrown around my shoulders as we sit together on the bed. I just roll my eyes at her, but snuggle into his warmth, and enjoy our time together.