Chapter 6: Town News

It took Le Fou the better part of the morning to reach the village; it took him almost half an hour to thaw out enough to deliver most of his message to Gaston. While Gaston was excited by the fact that his cousin had returned chiefly because it meant that Belle had returned. He was slightly worried about how cold his cousin was and knew that Belle and Maurice wouldn't have anywhere to go so he wasn't worried that they would go anywhere while he waited for Le Fou to warm up. He had all the time in the world, he believed, and though he wasn't always the nicest to his cousin, he did care about him when he wasn't too busy being infuriated with something Le Fou had done. Gaston never lost anything he had strived for, those things that made him work extra hard for always came to him eventually and the hunt was all the more sweet for the effort he'd put into it.

He was the best man in the village for Belle and he had made sure that every man in town knew it, whether they were already married or still single. Belle was going to be the lucky girl that he was going to marry, she might need a little persuasion, but he would make it up to her throughout the long years they were married. Everyone knew that he would take care of his family once he had it and he would never lift his hand against his wife and children. He was a good man, he was just very passionate; which was why he was going so far in order to get Belle to marry him.

He could see them already sitting around the fire just now. His beautiful wife already round with their first child, a boy of course. He leaned down and scratched behind his dog's ears, daydreaming about a lovely winter wedding since the fall wedding had fallen through. He glanced at Le Fou, wondering if he'd be up to going and picking up Gaston's bride just yet.

"You warm enough to head back out?"

Le Fou chugged the rest of his foaming beer and nodded emphatically, "Let's go!"

They left the inn and headed to meet up with the caretaker of the asylum. The man needed a little help digging out his wagon before they headed off towards the little cottage at the edge of the village. A few other villagers followed after them, curious how this village melodrama would play out. Winter wasn't very good for news coming in from outside of the village and so things happening inside the village were worth it to find out. Not a lot of other entertainment to be found outside other than the larger than usual amount of snow.

They could practically smell the delicious gossip that was coming their way by the end of the day. If only they knew what would eventually follow more than just this day or even this season and year.

They had no idea what was in store for their little village.

XXxxXX

The next morning the town was all aflutter over the disappearance of the inventor and his daughter to some kind of family emergency out of town. Most of the town didn't know of any family members that the small family might have. The only person that really knew anything about them on a personal level was the old bookkeeper. He had known them and talked with them and even visited them during Christmas. He was one of the few people that they actually came into town to see even if it was for business now and then.

When the townspeople asked him what was happening he would just smile at them and turn back to his work. He wouldn't say anything and he wouldn't answer any questions. If the people who came to ask him questions far too disruptive, then he would ask them politely to leave and not come back until they were sure of their composure. He had a business to run and he didn't have time for busybodies and gossip-mongers.

When he was at home in the upper part of the shop during the nights he would look over at the picture of his little sister and her husband. In the picture his darling little sister was six months pregnant and so happy looking. She was beautiful with her long brown hair pulled partially back and her deep blue eyes bright with joy. Her husband with his strange almost grey hair sticking up from so many different explosions during his work was standing next to her. He had a crazy grin across his face as his arms were wrapped around his lovely spring bride. The portrait had been commissioned instead of a wedding picture due to the inability to pay for the first event's capture in time. He had made enough to pay for this picture and for one more.

Monsignor Bookkeeper smiled at the last picture he had of his little sister, a small painting of her holding her firstborn. She was frail-looking and almost transparent, but she was so happy she glowed. Her face was thin and her hair was limp, but her eyes and her face were so happy that she was practically angelic. She never fully recovered and she joined the angels themselves a few years later.

He loved his daughter and he loved his little niece even when she wasn't as aware of their relation. There was a reason behind the distance between them. Maurice wasn't even aware of the relation between them. He knew that his wife's family had ordered the pictures and that they had sat for them before they had sent them off in the mail. He had never met more than his wife's father when he'd asked the man for his daughter's hand in marriage.

The old man smiled at the small pictures in his hands before placing them carefully away. If he didn't hear anything about the father or daughter being back in the village before the winter was over, then he would see what he could do to find them. Family looked after family, no matter what.

XXxxXX

Belle wasn't sure what they were doing, it was crazy what they were doing, but it was all she could think of at the moment. She wasn't thinking about anything but getting back to her Beast, her friend. He needed her and she didn't know what he needed her for, but it was something and she was going to do whatever it was that he needed.

"Are we there yet?"

Belle rolled her eyes at the question that the cup-child had been asking what seemed like every other five minutes. He really only asked whenever they changed positions on their trek through the snow. The rest of the time Chip was napping in her satchel, switching who was on Philippe was really the only thing that would wake up. He was jostled in the satchel when Belle moved from either a walking position or a sitting position.

"No, Chip, we're not there yet." Maurice sighed from his trudging through the snow.

Belle pulled on Philippe's reins to stop the horse. She dismounted and turned to her father, who had a rather stubborn look on his face that told her he wasn't going to humor her this time. He was going to walk the rest of the way and she was going to ride and nothing she did or said was going to change his mind. She opened her mouth to argue with him but closed it just as quickly. He was still her father and he wasn't sick anymore. She needed to obey his wishes in this matter and truth be told, she was rather tired from worrying over what might have happened to the Beast. She could use the rest; Philippe knew where they were going even if the others didn't. He wouldn't steer them wrong.

"Here, I shall help you back up, my dear."

Belle submitted to her father's aid and then leaned against Philippe's strong neck as her eyes drifted closed.