3

New Day Dawning

Bae rose as soon as the sun had crested the horizon, never one to sleep in. He dressed hurriedly in his riding breeches, boots, and an older shirt along with his favorite leather vest. His mother and their cook, Mr. Cuisinaire, weren't even up yet, though Bae found a pot of coffee perking on the banked stove, and from the empty mug in the sink, Bae knew his papa had been up before him. Like his son, Rumple was an early riser, and was probably in his study, going over a case. Probably the case of the unexpected 'guest' in his home.

Bae poured himself a cup of coffee, sweetened it liberally with sugar and cream and drank it down before pulling on his cape and going out to the stables to saddle his stallion, Mirage, and go for his usual morning ride.

He greeted Chip, who was Mrs. Potts's son. The ten-year-old's real name was Charles, but he had been Chip because of a chipped front too ever since he was four, and now almost no one recalled he ever had another one. Chip worked along with his older counterpart, August, as a groom for the Gold stables.

"Good morning, Chip!"

"Morning, Master Bae!" the lad greeted cheerily from where he was mucking a stall. "Shall I saddle Mirage for you?"

"No, keep working," Bae waved the offer away. "But thanks anyway." Bae usually preferred to handle Mirage himself, the stallion was a bit tetchy at times, and could occasionally act up, though on the whole he was a good horse and relatively easy to handle.

As he entered Mirage's stall, the black horse thrust his muzzle into Bae's chest and whickered at him happily. Bae scratched between the horse's ears, and Mirage sighed contentedly. "Hey, boy. How're you doing?" he crooned.

He eyed the stallion's stall, noting it still needed to be cleaned, and that Mirage had already eaten his breakfast, despite the early hour—it was around six-thirty. Bae clipped a lead to the stallion's halter and led the horse out into the aisle, then dropping the lead, went to fetch his saddle from the tack room. Thanks to his papa's vigorous training program, he knew Mirage would remain still.

When Bae returned with the saddle and blanket, he discovered his mischievous stallion had attempted to reach his head over the partition where the white mare Emma had ridden was housed, resulting in the irritated mare snapping at the too-curious stallion.

"Hey!" Bae scolded. "Leave the lady be, Mirage!" he ordered, and gently swatted the black's nose away from the mare.

Mirage gave him a rueful snort. Bae saddled his restive mount, muttering, "You need to get out and go for a run. Before you get your ears chewed off."

He swung up on the stallion's back and rode out of the stable, turning Mirage down the drive and opening the gate to canter the stallion through the rolling hills that bordered the property.

Mirage loved to run, his breeding demanded it, as the son of a former racing mare, Belle's Mystic Raven, and his sire Victorious, the black stallion enjoyed nothing so much as racing over the wooded hills in the morning with Bae on his back. Bae had learned to ride when he was about three, sitting in front of Rumple on placid Annie, the mare kept for riding lessons. He had graduated from Annie to small Legend, a gray pony, and from there to a full horse by the time he was ten. On his eleventh birthday, Rumple had given him his choice of the new foals born that year, and Bae had chosen Mirage. Since then, the boy and the horse had been quite inseparable. Bae had taken care of Mirage himself in the beginning, and still did so, except on the days when his school and studying kept him too busy to do so. But he never forgot his morning rides, for both he and Mirage looked forward to the freedom they offered.

The ride was quiet and peaceful, Bae used the time to think about what his father had said about Emma the night before, and he spoke several of his thoughts aloud to Mirage as he did so. "Papa thinks I should give her the benefit of the doubt," he mused as the stallion trotted down the winding path leading to the forest. "But I did that with Gideon, and look how that turned out! How can I be sure she won't betray us like he did, huh?"

Mirage whinnied.

Bae sighed. "Okay, maybe you're right and I ought to trust my papa more. Maybe he knows things about her I don't. I suppose I can be polite to her for the two weeks of this holiday, like I would any other guest invited here. Gods know I can't stand my spoiled cousin Avery, or my Aunt Anne and Uncle Karl, but I manage to get through a day without making Avery eat dirt." Anne was his mother's elder sister, a pretentious social climbing woman who had married a very rich merchant with ties to nobility, and their only child was a spoiled terror, a ten-year-old menace that neither Bae or Aurelia could stand. Luckily visits from them were few and far between.

Mirage tossed his head in answer, and Bae patted him soothingly. The stallion detested his creepy cousin, who delighted in hiding in the barn and then jumping out and screaming loudly, which startled the horses and grooms, then laughing at the chaos that ensued and running off. The last time Avery had played that game had resulted in a young filly injuring herself by banging her leg against her stall, and only his aunt's tearful pleas had prevented a furious Rumple from taking the obnoxious brat over his knee.

"I'd have done it anyway," Bae growled later to Aurelia. "That spoiled snot could use a good spanking. Gods know, Aunt Anne's never disciplined him like that, or Uncle Karl. Otherwise he wouldn't be so horrid!"

The filly had been a week recovering, and had gained a fear of loud noises that had taken months to train out of her.

Bae shook his head, then clucked to Mirage and turned about to head home. They had been out around thirty-five minutes and he knew breakfast would be cooking right about now.

After rubbing Mirage down and settling him back in his stall with an apple, Bae went to wash up by the pump in the stable yard. He removed his shirt and vest to scrub away the smell of sweat and horse from his chest and arms, using the bucket, soap, and towel provided, totally unaware he was being observed from an upstairs window.

She knew she shouldn't be watching, given his current attitude toward her but Emma felt like the moth being drawn to the flame, certain to be burned.

She'd seen men shirtless before and more, modesty was not a virtue practiced by the Jolly Roger gang and had grown accustomed to it so why did seeing this particular male have such an effect on her? Her eyes drank in the sight of water dripping slowly down his muscular chest and shoulders to puddle on the ground between his feet.

She felt her tongue cleave to the roof of her mouth as he washed the soap from his lean rangy frame, unable to look away, her face heating.

I'm being silly, she thought.

I just want him to respect me...nothing more than that...

And finding out the real reason why he was so hostile to her was a good start. She dressed quickly and went outside. He was still standing beside the pump drying himself off she approached him.

"Hello Bae."

"Hello," he greeted stiffly.

"I was wondering if you ahhh...would like to go for a ride with me?"

"Oh you mean you're not gonna try and run off?"

"I made a deal with your father."

He snorted. "Deals don't mean much to the likes of you!"

"That's what you think," she retorted.

"Prove it," he ordered, pulling his shirt on, much to her dismay. "I want to see you keep that deal you made. And not run off to your robber beau when he whistles."

She glared at him. "I will keep it, Baelfire Gold. You just watch me!"

"Count on it," he said shortly. He shrugged into his vest. "Breakfast will be on the table soon. If you want to go for a ride, meet me in the stables at eleven o'clock." Then he sauntered away, gliding like a puma on the hunt. She found her gaze irresistibly drawn to the way his breeches molded to his backside and swore in her head for the way he made her mouth go dry with longing.

I'm going to the Underworld for this...

Someone was having a laugh at her expense making her moon over a boy she just met and who couldn't bear the sight of her. She was determined to have a talk with him after their ride. There were other reasons for his hostility, reasons other than the obvious and she was determined to get to the heart of them.

She followed him into the house, the others already seated at the dining room table waiting for her.

"Emma, sit by me," Aurelia begged.

As she approached the table she saw platters of crispy griddlecakes with butter on top, a container of maple syrup, another platter of fluffy scrambled eggs, bacon, cured ham and a bowl of cut up fruit. There was also tea and coffee.

"How was your ride, Bae?" Belle was asking her son as she served herself some eggs.

"Fine, Mama. But I noticed one of the fence posts down by the west pasture was loose. I'll take a hammer over before noon and pound it back in." Bae remarked, pouring syrup over his griddle cakes.

"Good idea, son. We don't need our horses escaping," Rumple said approvingly. "Good morning, Miss Swan."

"Good morning, Mr. Gold."

"Did you sleep well, dearie?" he queried.

His plate was filled with scrambled eggs topped with melted cheese, bacon, fruit and another held a single griddle cake. He smiled at her affably over his coffee cup.

"Yes I did. The bed was so comfortable...I ahhh..I've never slept on one so soft in all my life. I felt like I was sleeping on a cloud."

"It's good for bouncing too," Aurelia added, giggling.

"Until Mrs. Potts catches you," her brother laughed.

"We gotta try it sometime, Emma!"

"Ummm..I don't think your parents or Mrs. Potts will like that...

"It's okay if Papa says it is," Aurelia declared, shooting him a pleading look.

"Aurelia, I don't want you getting in trouble on my account..."

"Papa, remember when you said we had to welcome guests to our house?" Aurelia asked innocently.

"I do. And how is jumping on my bed doing that., minx?"

"Because we're having fun," his daughter answered. "We promise not to break it. Like cousin Avery did when he catapulted onto Bae's bed from the dresser."

"That was a nightmare!' Belle exclaimed.

"Tell me about it," grumbled her son. "I had to sleep on the floor in Aurelia's room."

Her nephew was not one of her favorite people and she barely tolerated her sister. Anne.

Rumple gave her a sympathetic look. "Well, I haven't heard a reply back from them this year, dearie, so maybe they aren't going to . . . grace us with their presence on Twelfth Night," he said hopefully, grimacing slightly.

"Knowing Anne, she's probably planning some grand ball to impress her fellow nobles," Belle shook her head. "My sister seems to forget her humble upbringing."

"It's easy to do that, dearie, when your husband is rich as Midas," Rumple snorted. "And your nephew is spoiled as yesterday's milk."

"That's because the servants raised him, Rumple. Anne always had to go to one ball after another."

"And Karl was away on business," her husband sighed. "Still . . .he's old enough to know proper behavior."

"Papa, I asked him once why he always behaved like a brat and he said he was rich and could do whatever he wanted," Aurelia answered. "Then he threw my doll into the fishpond and told me to jump in and get her."

"I woulda threw him in," Emma muttered.

"Bae did," Aurelia informed her. "But then Avery went and tattled and got Bae in trouble."

"Papa only sent me to bed early and made me eat supper in my room," her brother recalled. "I was glad not to have to sit downstairs with that whiny baby and listen to Aunt Anne go on and on about how her precious boy coulda drowned in a three foot fish pond."

Emma snorted. "Boy like that probably can't even tie his own bootlaces."

"He can't!" Aurelia snickered. "He's got his nanny to do that. He can barely dress himself."

"And that, dearie, is why you don't have servants to do everything for you." Rumple interrupted.

"What's he gonna do if he gets married, make his wife dress him? I'd throw his clothes at him and tell him to dress himself or go out starkers."

Belle giggled. "Oh Emma, any husband of yours had best beware!"

"I won't be any man's servant," she said firmly.

"Good for you, dearie. No woman should be. But in Avery's case he'd probably have a valet to help him."

"He won't marry for ages,"Bae predicted. "Why should he when he's got Mama to do everything for him?" He shook his head. "I'd shoot myself if I needed a servant to dress me like a doll."

Belle sighed. "I still have to pick up my Yule gifts for them though knowing Anne, they'll be taken to the attic to collect dust."

Aurelia scowled. "Maybe this year you can say you forgot, Mama."

Rumple shuddered. "No, minx. Then we'd never hear the end of it."

"I'm going after breakfast. I want to stop at Mr. Hopper's shop anyway. He has something I want to buy."

She winked at her husband.

"Can I come, Mama?" Aurelia asked. "I want to pick my own gifts this year."

"Ummm...all right but just one! You need to have a few surprises."

"Okay," her daughter agreed readily. "And we can stop at the bookshop. Because the gift for you and Papa is there."

"Make sure your mama doesn't peek at it," her father giggled. "You know how she is with her books!"

"You would be the one to peek not me!"

"Depends on what it is," her husband admitted gleefully. "You know I can never resist a mystery."

"Well you have to wait to solve this one."

"I suppose I can wait two more days," he allowed. "Seeing as I'll be busy going over my case till then." He set his fork down and looked at his houseguest. "Emma, I'll need to go over some things with you this evening. I want you to be prepared for whatever the prosecution asks you."

"Yes, Mr. Gold."

"Until then feel free to relax. Bae can show you around the manor grounds if you wish." He shot a pointed look at his son, who dipped his head in acquiescence.

"If he doesnt mind..."

"No. We can go riding, as you wanted to," Bae said quickly, knowing full well what that look meant.

"You'll love riding here, Emma. It's so peaceful," Belle said softly.

"Bae can show you the pasture where the horses graze, and the rose arbor," Aurelia put in.

"Rose arbor?"

"Where I grow my roses on trellis'" Belle explained. "It's like a special garden for roses. It has paths and even benches to sit and admire the roses growing."

"Oh. I' d like to see it then."

"Mama has several varieties, including one she invented herself," Bae said proudly. "The Dearie Rose. It's one she created for Papa for their first anniversary."

"And it took first place at the Rose Festival!" Aurelia grinned. "For seven years in a row!"

"How do you invent a flower?"

"Very carefully," Belle laughed. "It's not that I invented the rose but that I cross pollinated the variations."

"And she made a unique rose that is white with blue and violet edging the petals." Bae told Emma. "Its scent is also different. It's sweet, but not overpowering. People love to make perfume from its petals."

"Mama and I have some," Aurelia told her. "I can show you when we get back from shopping."

She planned to ask her mother if she could give Emma a vial of the Dearie perfume for her Yule gift.

Emma nodded and concentrated on eating the remainder of her breakfast. Talk of the upcoming holiday always made a lump come to her throat. Yule was for families and she had never had one. She wondered idly if the Golds expected gifts from her. Unfortunately, she had nothing to give and no money to buy presents.

Then she pushed that thought aside. How ridiculous she was being, thinking the family would want gifts from their guest convict!

The food stuck in her throat and she swallowed a gulp of coffee to wash it down. Unfortunately, she swallowed wrong and began coughing hard. Unable to get her breath, she gasped, tears running down her face.

"Emma!" Aurelia cried in alarm.

Abruptly she felt hands on her head and heard a familiar voice say, "Look up, Emma. That's right." She found her head drawn up and her arms as well while the hands pressed firmly under her breastbone.

Abruptly the piece of food was expelled and landed in her napkin.

"You'll be all right now," Bae said gruffly, releasing her.

Emma huddled in her chair, embarrassed and unable to speak. She could still feel the touch of his hands on her, and she flushed at the memory.

"Emma, are you all right now, dearie?"

"Yes." She glanced at Bae who was now sitting down. "Thank you. How—how did you know what to do?"

"My teacher at school. Once a classmate of mine choked on a nut, and she showed us how to get it out before he couldn't breathe," Bae explained. But this was the firs time he had ever needed to use it. He glanced abruptly at his plate.

"I think you should wait a bit before you go riding, Emma," Belle cautioned. "Perhaps drink a little tea with honey and lemon to soothe your throat."

"All right, Mrs. Gold," she agreed meekly. Perhaps she would pretend she felt sick, so she could avoid Bae. Coward! She snarled inwardly. If you avoid him you'll never find out what's eating him.

But neither would she feel this odd fluttering in her chest and desire to feel those strong capable hands on her again.

She sipped her tea, hiding her flushed cheek behind the cup. She was losing it. You're Killian's girl! She scolded. Remember? But strangely the thought didn't comfort her the way it once had.

Belle and Aurelia rose and went to get their wraps before they drove the chaise into town, and Mr. Gold went to his study.

Bae didn't say anything else, but rose and said, "Eleven o'clock, Emma."

Then he walked off towards his room.

Left to herself, Emma finished her tea then returned to her room to take a brief nap.

The mantle clock chiming woke her, and she quickly scrubbed her face with water from the basin on the table, pulled back her unruly hair and then raced down to the stables.

She found Bae already there, gently stroking Mirage and speaking softly to him, his voice a skin-stroking velvet croon that she could have listened to all day. She cleared her throat and he looked up. "Had a good nap, Sleeping Beauty?"

"Umm . . . " she muttered, feeling her face flush again and she cursed her fair skin. She spun without answering and went to the stall Starlight was in, and called, "Hello, girl. Want to go for a ride?"

Starlight put her muzzle into the girl's chest, looking for treats. Emma stroked her and then turned to see a skinny youth at her elbow holding a bridle, saddle, and blue blanket.

"Hello, Miss. I'm Chip. Here's your tack."

"Thanks," Emma took it and began to tack up the mare, while across from her Bae did the same with Mirage.

"What's the mare's name?" Chip asked curiously.

"Starlight," Emma answered. She led the mare out of the stall.

"She's got nice lines," the stable boy observed. "What's her breeding?"

"Um . . . I don't know. Mr. Gold picked her out for me from the livery in town."

"If Papa chose her, she's probably got some Midarian desert horse in her," Bae spoke up from Mirage's stall. "That makes her smooth gaited, a little fiery, and smart."

Emma led Starlight out to the yard and using a mounting block, pulled herself into the saddle.

Soon Bae emerged on Mirage, and Emma had to admire the way he sat a horse, with military precision and yet he was at one with his mount.

"What's your horse's name?"

"Mirage," he replied. "He's a son of Papa's bay Victorious. I called him that because he moves like smoke on the wind, one minute you see him, the next you don't."

As if he sensed he was being talked about, the vain stallion arched his neck proudly and pranced.

Starlight whickered.

Emma laughed.

So did Bae. He patted the stallion and said fondly, "Don't let it go to your head, you vain animal!"

Then he led the way out of the yard.

Emma had little time to admire the well kept grounds, for Mirage wanted to run, and soon she was urging Starlight to catch the flying black stallion, whose tail drifted behind him like smoke as he ran.

Bae glanced behind him, saw the girl and the mare gaining, and put his boots to Mirage, calling, "Let's go, fellow! Don't want some girls to beat us, now do you?"

The stallion snorted and began to gallop, his head arched proudly.

"Yah!" Emma shouted. "Get 'em Starlight!"

The mare responded gallantly, nearly overtaking the black horse as they turned about a large sycamore tree. But game as she was, she was no match for the larger and swifter stallion.

Mirage drew away steadily, until Bae drew up at the fence line where he had noticed the loose post. "Match!" he called as Emma thundered up beside him, Starlight blowing sharply.

He couldn't help but notice that the mare's mane and the girl's hair were nearly the same color, and blowing in a wild tangle around their heads. Just like a wild swan, he thought in admiration.

Then he turned back and pulled a large mallet out of his saddlebag. What are you thinking of, Bae? She's a no account thief not somebody you oughta be looking at!

Feeling her eyes on him made him stiffen, and he swung down and went towards the post, saying sharply, "Keep back, Miss Swan. Don't want any accidents."

He swung the mallet down on the top of the post, embedding it more securely in the dirt. He struck three more times before he tested it and determined it wouldn't give way if an inquisitive horse happened to lean on it.

"That ought to do it," she said, trying to keep from gaping at the way the muscles beneath his leather vest moved.

He raised an eyebrow. "Wasn't aware you knew about fencing, Miss Swan. Unless it's how to break them down to steal the stock inside. Don't get any ideas!"

Emma went rigid, her blue eyes flashing. "I wasn't, you blasted—" she bit off the rest of what she was about to say. Now instead of admiring the way he moved, she wished she had a knife so she could stick it in his uptight ass!

Bae ignored her, returning the mallet to the bag and then he mounted Mirage. Without looking back, he urged the stallion to a gallop, returning the way he had come.

An increasingly frustrated Emma stared belligerently at him before she nudged Starlight to follow. "Honestly, sometimes he makes me want to throttle him!" she told the mare's pricked ears. "Men!"

The mare whinnied in agreement.

"I don't know what burr's up his saddle, but I'm gonna find out," she said determinedly.

She found him rubbing down Mirage in the entryway. Jaw clenched, he avoided her coldly, instead concentrating on buffing the black coat to a high gloss.

Emma tossed Starlight's reins around a post and unsaddled the mare. She found some cloths in a box near the barn door and began to rub down her mare with quick sure strokes.

Neither spoke until Emma suddenly tossed the cloth down, studying her rival from under her lashes, noting how Bae's dark hair waved into his eyes and curled rebelliously at his nape, haloing a face with slender cheekbones, brilliant eyes the color of cocoa and a mobile mouth that had kept her up nights. Irritated at the turn her thoughts were taking, she snapped, "Did I wrong you in another life, Balefire Gold? Why are you so hateful to me? The rest of your family has been nothing but welcoming to me while you—"

"—that's because they wish to forget, but I never can!" he growled, his eyes flashing. "And I don't hate you, Miss Swan, I just want you gone from our lives."

"Why? Because you think I'm not good enough to associate with you?"

"No. Because I know exactly how much trouble you can be. It's happened before."

"What's happened before?" she repeated, utterly mystified.

He crossed his arms over his chest. "Do you truly want to know?" At her nod he continued, leaning against Mirage's stall and scratching his horse's nose over the partition. That seemed to calm him, for when he spoke again, it was more with regret than anger. "Very well then. Listen. Six years ago, my papa took in another wayward child, a fourteen-year-old boy named Gideon. He caught the brat stealing his pocket watch that Mama had engraved for him when he became a lawyer. And instead of charging him with thievery and turning him over to the sheriff, Papa decided to bring him home instead, falling for Gideon's tale of woe—his parents were dead of the plague and he was starving, hence his thievery."Bae rolled his eyes. "But Papa wasn't all to blame for his good heart. Mama and even I all were happy to try and help Gideon. I was ten at the time, and Relia only four, so she won't recall as much as I do. Anyhow, Papa made Gideon part of our family, and for six months it looked like everything was fine and Gideon even promised Papa he'd attend university and become an attorney too. Papa was so happy, he planned to make Gid a partner in his firm. The one he was planning on starting, that is."

"And you?"

"Gideon was like my big brother," he replied honestly. "I admired him and wanted to be like him. So a year passed and Gid was all slated to go off to the big university in the city. Mama had sewed him all new clothes, and prepared a course of study for him that she thought would be useful, and Papa even gave him one of Sultan's own daughters. I was a little sad, because I'd miss him, but Gid promised to return as soon as he could. So he left one morning and we all innocently assumed he was going off to university. Papa had offered to go with him, but he said no, he could do it on his own, and Papa paid some merchants to see him safely there in a caravan.

"Well, about a week later, we found out the caravan had been robbed by some outlaws . . . and then some money in Papa's bank account went missing. Turned out my big brother Gideon was the mastermind of these outlaws, and he stole Papa's money by forging his signature on a note! And he'd robbed the caravan too! He'd played us all for fools!" Bae's eyes flashed angrily.

"What happened then?"

"Papa was devastated. He'd trusted that asp, and Gideon had betrayed him in the worst way. But my too clever "brother" slipped up eventually and was caught robbing some prince or something, and brought to trial. Papa heard about that and went to see if he could defend him, but bad weather delayed him and by the time he reached the city the trial was over and Gideon was found guilty. And the jury voted to hang him, because the prince he'd robbed lost a man that day and demanded it."

Emma was horrified. "Did your papa . . . did he see . . .?"

"No, thank the gods. He was spared that at least. But he insisted on burying Gideon himself and paid for a plot here in Silver Falls. He put a nice headstone on the grave, saying here lies Gideon Fellsworth, May he Achieve Peace and Love in Paradise." Bae sneered. "Me, I hope he's roasting in hell for what he did to Papa, for what he did to all of us! And that, Miss Swan, is why I'd rather you go back where you came from. Because I won't have you hurt Papa again like that," he declared fiercely. "Your kind is nothing but trouble, and we don't need trouble around here anymore!" And Papa would tan my hide if he ever heard me speak to a lady this way. But Emma's no lady and I have to protect my family any way I can, even if Papa wallops my backside for it later.

Abruptly, he quit petting his horse and walked past her, calling over his shoulder, "If you're hungry, Mrs. Potts ought to be setting out lunch right around now."

Emma remained where she was, hugging Starlight about the neck. "Well, I wanted to know what was eating him, and now I do," she muttered to the mare. "I can understand why he doesn't want me here. I wouldn't either if I were him." She sighed as Starlight nuzzled her. "I just wish there were a way to prove to him I'm not like that sly boots Gideon. When I give my word, I keep it. I'm not playing them like he did, girl. " She shook her head angrily as the white mare's breath tickled her cheek. "That was a rotten trick that Killian or Liam might have played, but not me. Only how can I get him to see that?" She groaned and led Starlight towards her stall. "And why do I even want to?"

But the mare had no answer for her, so Emma left her munching her hay and went back to the manor house, her mind a tangle of conflicting emotions, mostly centered around the infuriating enigma that was Baelfire Gold.

All I have to do is get through the holiday. Then I can go back to where I belong—assuming Mr. Gold can defend me well enough to avoid jail. Because for sure and certain I'll never belong here.