-Of course I don't own Belle, Mrs. Potts or Vincent, but Madeline, Paul, Josephine and Josette are my characters.
-Josette- Josette Day was the name of the actress who played Beauty in the 1947 movie.
Twenty Five Years Later
"Well, my dear" Vincent leaned into the open doorway, meeting his wife's eyes in the mirror as she brushed her hair, "it is done".
"Indeed it is, dear" Belle replied. She had sent her maid away, eschewing the girl's help with her hair. After more than twenty five years of marriage to her prince, Belle was still a peasant girl at heart and enjoyed the simple pleasures of doing certain tasks for herself.
The wedding of their youngest daughter, Josette just a few hours earlier, had been a success. The young man was the son of a wealthy merchant who had made his fortune of the wares bought from the colonies. Vincent initially hesitated; the boy was not exactly what he had in mind for his youngest child.
"Please, papa" Josette begged.
Vincent groaned, he knew he could not say no. While his older children, Madeline, Paul and Josephine were equal parts their mothers and their father, Josette alone was her mother's child, coming out of the womb with her chestnut colored eyes matching her hair and an equally inquisitive nature.
"Fine" her father agreed.
"Thank you, papa" kissing her father on the cheek, Josette ran out of her father's study. Vincent knew he could not say no, bestowing on the young man a minor title and a small fortune. After all, his own beloved wife had been born a peasant, but it was not her class that drew her to him, it was her heart.
"What is it?" Belle asked as she finished brushing her hair, watching her husband. Her once chestnut colored locks were now tinged with grey and her body had changed greatly since her youth, but none of that mattered to her. Looking at her husband, she couldn't have wanted her life to have turned out any different.
"Nothing" her husband replied. She was still a beautiful woman; the only woman would who could ever truly own his heart. And he himself wasn't exactly a young pup anymore; the years had mellowed him, if only slightly, though flashes of the beast he had once been appeared once in a while, only to be soothed by his wife's calming and often far more rational nature.
"Come here" she said quietly. It was an order that he gladly obeyed.
He stepped into her embrace as she leaned into his shoulder.
"Our baby is gone, isn't she?" Vincent asked. He loved his children, but Josette was his favorite.
"Yes, she is, they're all gone".
It was a private moment for just the two of them, a rare and sweet moment, considering their status in life.
It was then interrupted by a knock on the door.
"Who is it?".
"Mrs. Potts, master" the older woman knocked.
"Come in".
While some of the newer help were rather shocked between the informality of the prince and princess with Mrs. Potts, Lumiere, Cogsworth and the help who had been at the castle longer, neither Vincent nor Belle cared. They were more than household help, they were almost family.
"Shall I get anything else before you retire for the evening?" the former teapot asked.
"No thank you, Mrs. Potts".
"Sleep well, master, mistress".
"Good night, Mrs. Potts".
They watched the older woman exit the room, she was not as young as she once was, none of them were. Chip, like their own children, had long since left the nest and neither Belle nor Vincent had the heart to force the housekeeper out. Having both lost their mothers at an early age, Mrs. Potts provided them with the motherly support that was dearly loved and appreciated.
"I have an idea" Vincent said, a twinkle in his eye.
"What?".
"Let's have another".
"No".
"What's one more?" he asked, nuzzling her neck.
"What's one more? Maddie and Paul's tantrums because of their teething or Jacquie and Josie's accusing us of purposely locking them up a few years ago?".
For a moment, Vincent's face fell, as much as he loved his children, it had been quite a challenge, have four of them.
"But I'll tell what I find I find more attractive than a sexy father?".
"What's that?" he asked.
"A sexy grandfather".
Earlier in the day, right before the ceremony, their oldest daughter, Madeline had told her parents that she and her husband were expecting their first child.
"If you put it that way…" he replied, drawing her lips to his own.
The door seemed to close by itself as if still enchanted as the love of Belle and her former beast continued longer after "happily ever after".
The end