XI

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Beyoncé

"Mommy!"

I quickly stood and opened my arms to greet my daughter. I laughed when Blue basically threw herself into my arms and squeezed her tightly. "Hey baby." I smiled, kissing her cheek.

"Hey." Blue smiled shyly. She wrapped her small arms around my shoulders and nuzzled her face into my neck. "I missed you mommy."

"I missed you too, Blue Blue." I sighed and rested my head against hers. What I've really missed, though, is having a child who loves me as much as I love them. Blue has been my entire world for seven years, and before that, Bella was. Now that I have them both you'd think I'd be ecstatic, but I'm not. Because I know the feelings aren't mutual between myself and my oldest. I'll always love her no matter how she treats me, it just hurts knowing she doesn't see me as her mother. I'm slowly but surely learning to accept it. She's almost as stubborn as I am.

"Daddy!"

I watched as Blue scrambled out of my arms and ran to Jay's. I smiled when he lifted her in the air and kissed all around her face, making her squeal and laugh.

"My baby girl." Jay grinned at Blue, who was cheesing back just as hard. My heart melted, they were so much alike I couldn't take it. "Did you have fun with grandma?" He asked Blue as she rested comfortably on his hip.

"Sooo much fun." Blue nodded excitedly. "I love hanging with grandma and Richard. They're almost more fun than you."

Jay gasped and I chuckled. He was always doing the most when it came to pleasing our child. "More than me?" He asked, feigning offense.

"I said almost!" Blue defended.

"Child, you said we were more fun than your parents." Mama laughed as she walked into the living room with Richard. Blue quickly looked over at them and put her finger over her lips.

"Shhhh." She frowned. "You promised you wouldn't tell." Blue pouted.

"Oh, sorry baby." Mama smiled apologetically before greeting me. "Hey, my other baby."

"Hey mama." I hugged my mother tightly. I held on a little longer than usual, because I could use a mother's comfort right now. I've been keeping my thoughts and opinions to myself on this entire situation with Bella, because I really didn't want to risk pushing her away further. Jay managed to get through to her a little, but that's Jay. I didn't expect anything less. I knew she wouldn't be as accepting of whatever I had to say though, so I'm waiting for the right time to bring it up.

"How are you?" Mama asked me quietly while Richard chatted with Jay and Blue. I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair.

"Fine," I lied. Mama glared at me and I huffed softly. She's always been able to read me well, I don't know what I was thinking. "I'm okay." I said honestly. "I could be doing better, but I could also be doing worse. I'm just taking it one day at a time."

Mama nodded. "And my granddaughter?"

I hadn't told mama much about Bella. Jay and I have kept most of the drama to ourselves, not wanting to go into detail with anyone yet. We released a brief statement to the press to avoid them hounding us even more when we returned to the city, but aside from that, nobody knows anything. I've asked Bella to keep whatever she tells her friends to a minimum, but I'm not sure she's doing that.

"She's....coping." I wasn't sure how else to explain what was going on in a simple way. I couldn't tell my mother that she hated me, or that she still thought of her kidnapper as her mother. I knew mama wouldn't take it well, and I needed the drama in this family kept to a minimum.

"Bullshit." I looked at mama in surprise. She didn't curse often, but when she did, I knew it was over something serious. Shit, what did she know? "I talked to Jay last night. That child is not coping, she's being disrespectful."

Oh lord. This wasn't good.

"Mama..."

"Don't mama me, Beyoncé. You are letting that child walk all over you, like that's going to make a difference. She doesn't have to like you right now, but she will respect you." Mama waited for me to nod before continuing. "I understand this is hard for her, but it's hard for you and Jay too. You have to put your foot down if you want to see a change. Would you let Blue talk to you the way that child does?"

I didn't even have to think twice. "Hell no."

"So what makes this any different?" Mama asked. I couldn't answer that, so Mama sighed. "Beyoncé, you've let that girl have the upper hand since she was born. I remember when you were much younger, you let her get away with things Blue couldn't even dream about. Given she was your first child, and you were basically a child yourself, but you have matured greatly since then. She is your child, treat her as such. She needs to stay in a child's place. All this back talk and disrespect is going to stop, and it's going to stop now. Either you tell her to get it together or I will."

"Okay." I sighed. I knew Mama was right, and I would've gotten Bella together a long time ago if I wasn't so concerned about my relationship with her. I'm still concerned about it. She's resenting me and I don't know how to fix it. "I'll talk to her."

"Good." Mama nodded and patted my shoulder. "Now let me see her. I won't go off on her, don't worry." She assured me with a smile.

I released a small sigh of relief. My mother was the sweetest person in the world until you pissed her off, and I didn't think Isabella was ready for that. "Okay." I chuckled. "Follow me."

*****

Isabella

I was laying across my bed with my headphones in, flipping through one of the magazines that was sitting on my nightstand. I think it was Vogue or something, but it was pretty fucking boring. No offense, but where was the Cosmo or Seventeen? I needed the  juicy gossip.

I nearly had a heart attack when I felt someone tap my leg. Like, my neck snapped around so quick I'm surprised I didn't break it.

I pulled out my headphones and stared at Beyoncé and some other woman, who were now standing in my room. I was about to ask why nobody knocked and why they thought it was a good idea to scare the shit out of me when the older woman's face started becoming more and more familiar. Like I knew she was Beyoncé's mom cause I've seen her on tv and Instagram and stuff, but that's not what I was remembering her from. I had actual memories that were starting to come back from wherever the hell they'd been hiding all these years.

Wait a minute.

"Grandma?" I asked, and she smiled warmly.

Holy shit, I remembered her.

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