"Those flowers are for you," Granny greeted as Belle made her way to the counter. "I never knew there were that many roses in this town."
"I'm sorry," Belle apologized glancing at the latest delivery from Gold. Every morning he sent another vase full of flowers and a note. She kept but never read his card and it had become a habit to walk the flowers to Mother Superior and the nuns. "He's having a difficult time."
"Well, he's not breaking things - so it could be worse," Granny reassured setting a plate of hot food in front of Belle.
At the sight of running eggs, Belle immediately pushed the plate aside with a horror that suggested spiders crawled along the food.
"What's the matter?" Ruby asked concerned, checking over the plate for an offensive item.
"Nothing," she quickly assured. "I just don't feel like eggs this morning. Would it be a bother if I had oatmeal or a piece of toast?"
"Sure thing," Ruby replied removing the unwanted plate and heading to the kitchen.
"Sick again last night Belle?" Granny asked more as a statement than a question.
Belle froze at the inquiry but was quick to recover with a smile. "Only a little. The stress of being back - again. And Rumple - the flowers and calls. But I'm feeling much better this morning."
"For the moment," Granny muttered. "Morning sickness comes in waves - believe me."
"Morning sickness?" Belle repeated. "I don't have morning sickness. I'm not-"
Belle stopped and looked at Granny and then Ruby, the elder gave her a look of pity and the younger a look of concern.
"That's not possible. I haven't-" Belle trailed as she realized 'she' hadn't done anything in months but Lacey did all sorts of things. A wave of panic suddenly enveloped her as she realized Lacey was a notorious bad girl and could have been with anyone in town.
"Now, now," Granny said patting Belle's hand. "That Gold didn't let you alone for a minute. While his possessive behavior is getting tiresome - I can assure you no man touched you that wasn't him."
"Especially after what he did to Nottingham for kissing you in the alley," Ruby added in an attempt to be encouraging.
"What did he do?" Belle asked leerily, already confident she didn't want the answer.
Ruby exchanged a glance with Granny, who merely shrugged and left her to it. "He took his tongue and beat him with his cane."
"He what?!" Belle exclaimed horrified.
"He's alright now. At least - except for the tongue thing," Ruby offered before leaving to wait on a customer.