"Thanks so much, Mr. Gold." Mary Margaret Nolan chirped as she left his classroom, finally, with her husband David in tow. The elementary school teacher of all people didn't need to show up for parent teacher conferences, but she was determined to be as involved with her daughter Emma's academic life as any stay at home mom.
Gold had to give her credit for that. His own son, Neal, was a senior this year and it had been a personal mission of Gold to wear the dad hat and the teacher hat as best he could. Neal was a good kid, so Gold had no problem admitting his plan had worked, that is, as long as he didn't think so hard on the idea of college.
He shuffled the papers distractedly, pulling open his filing cabinet to replace Emma's folder. He glanced at the clock, 4:30. Parent teacher conferences only went until 5 today.
He stared at the last file on his desk, Adele French. The freshman girl was one of his top students, always on time and respectful, if at little on the quiet side. He found himself more worried about her than he was with most of his other students. There was something about this girl, he never saw her with any of her peers, never with a boy.
He'd also never met her parents.
With her academic performance, there was no reason to call the Frenchs in to see him and he never went to school events so there hadn't been any accidental path crossing. He glanced at the clock again. Perhaps today would be the day the mystery would be solved.
He leaned back in his chair, or perhaps today he would just have some extra time to relax. Closing his eyes, he tried not to slip off into a cat nap. At 4:42, the door handle to his classroom jiggled, startling Gold out of whatever daydream was clawing at his mind.
He rubbed a hand against his face, trying to look more together than he felt. The door slowly pushed open, revealing the smallest, most beautiful woman he'd ever laid eyes on.
He felt his eyes widen to comical proportions as the petite brunette crossed the room gracefully and extended a hand towards him.
"You must be Adele's math teacher, Mr. Gold. I'm Belle French, her mother."
She had an accent, lightly dusting over the syllables and the hand she offered proved to be smooth and warm in his own, her grip surprisingly firm.
He cleared his throat, "Um, yes. Yes, thank you so much for coming. I'd been wondering after Adele's parents."
Her eyes narrowed slightly as he realized how the comment probably sounded.
"Not in a bad way," he hastened to assure her, simultaneously realizing he was digging himself into a hole. "Just, curious why I'd never seen you around. Most freshman parents are constantly checking up on their children, even if said children are doing as well as your Adele is academically."
He let his voice trail off, Mrs. French's eyes flitting over his face. This was getting out of hand before it had even began.
He cleared his throat again, "Please, have a seat." He gestured at the empty desk that had been pushed towards his own to serve as a place for parents to rest while getting feedback on their offspring. Ironically, as Belle French was so tiny, she fit into the desk better than some of his actual students did.
"Will Mr. French be along? Should we wait?" He inquired, eyes passing over her hands, noticing the gloves she wore hid any indicator of a ring. His eyes glanced back up towards her face barely catching the look of pain flit across her face.
"Oh…no. He's not…He won't be…" She stuttered. "He passed last year. Car accident. He wasn't technically Mr. French, we were…separated. French is my maiden name."
Gold blanched. Of course he would find the one topic to talk about that was totally incorrect. He'd figured a spouse would be relatively safe thing to bring up, but once again, fate had had something else in mind.
"I'm so sorry to hear that." He said softly, surprised to realize he meant the words. He didn't like the idea that this beautiful woman or her daughter were hurting.
Mrs. French, or Ms. French technically, smiled softly fiddling with her gloves on the desk. She glanced up meeting his eyes assuredly, "I'm not the reason for this meeting, though, what about Adele?"
A half smile stretched across Gold's face, the love Belle felt for her daughter was evident in every facet of her body language.
"Your daughter is wonderful." He began.
Belle giggled, a truly marvelous sound. "You don't have to say that, Mr. Gold. I know how difficult my daughter can be."
Gold paused confusion written over his face. "I'm serious. She's a model student. Her grades are practically perfect, she never speaks out of turn, she's always courteous. The only thing that I wonder about is the fact that she doesn't seem to have any friends her own age."
Belle blinked. "She doesn't give you any trouble? At home, well, at home she can be so difficult. Losing her father was hard. Harder for her than for me." A blush stole over Belle's face. "I'm sorry. You don't care of my personal feelings."
Gold smiled fully this time and hastened to assure her, "I don't mind Ms. French. It's nice to just talk to another adult."
"So you don't have friends of your own?" Belle teased.
"No." Came Gold's short reply. "Which is why I know how lonely the road is. I would hate to see your daughter end up there."
Belle looked back down at her hands. Almost a minute passed before Gold wondered if he should do something. He was just about decided on actually walking over to her when she looked up. He was stunned to see tears brightening her brilliant blue eyes, the same blue as Adele's.
"I've tried so hard." Her voice sounded so small. It bothered Gold for reasons he couldn't stop to figure out. "I've tried so hard to make the move and losing her father easier, but all I've done is make my daughter hate me."
At that sentiment, Gold got up from his desk. He wouldn't allow the strongest woman he'd had in his classroom in a long time continue to feel so much pain.
He stood in front of her desk, slightly distracted by the thought of her being his student and needing punishment. He thrust the thought out of his head. This was not the time for inappropriate fantasies.
He waited until she raised her head to look at him before he mumbled, "There's an excellent tea shop around the corner. I find the peppermint is rather…soothing."
She smiled, watery but genuine. "I'd like that."