Authors Notes
I'm gonna be completely honest with you guys, I've thrown the schedule I had sort of set out of the window. I'll be popping in and out every now and then, perhaps more often than before but still not as often as I did when I first created this story. Just follow if you're really into the story so you'll know if I upload. Sooo, enjoy for now ;) Anyways, This is TJ Banks, signing off!
Happily, Belle sighed and stretched her arms out as she wrapped the thin robe around her body while sitting up in their bed. The familiar sound of the rustling sheets falling off of her was welcomed as her fingers toyed with the edge of the sheet. The sunlight streaming in heavily, indicating the definite arrival of morning was most welcomed as she rubbed her eyes and yawned.
Her husband must be responsible for her waking up here she thought to herself as she smiled and rose out of the warm sanctuary. He really should have just woke her up with a kiss and a demand to go to bed; she would have dragged him back with her and they could have savored a reenactment of the night before.
She smirked to herself at the very thought of being in bed all day with Adam again, and she realized that it was the only thing she really wanted to do anymore. She was so tired of getting dressed every morning and coming back to an empty bed only to do the same thing all over again. Now that someone was sharing it with her again, she wanted so desperately to never ever leave it again; at least not with clothes on. Her innate desire for his companionship, if you could call it something as tame as that, overcame all of her previous feelings of hostility and sadness.
Suddenly, she was almost happy again; happy enough to begin to see the possibility of their future together as a bright one, as she had before he left. The only thing that still nagged at her conscience was the idea that Adam felt last night was a mistake. He'd been quite hesitant before, but once he let his inhibitions go, it was...perfect. And that was one thing she was sure they were on the same page about.
She practically skipped over to their closet to fetch something to wear, when she stopped in front of the floor length mirror and smiled giddily to herself.
Although, she did leave very soon after, she did have a wonderful time last night with her husband. She'd longed for his touch for such a long time that even considering the circumstances, it felt right to be in his loving arms again.
She felt as if she belonged there, and no one else could replace her. She may not be what the villagers call an "ideal princess" or a "normal" person, but she knew she was the ruler of Adams heart, and perhaps all his apologies weren't total wastes of breath.
Her fingers delicately traced the few dark red marks along her neck and outlined the deep pink colored ones that covered her stomach. Her smile turned wicked at the thought of how he travelled her entire body, leaving these breadcrumbs wherever he went, as if he could get lost along the way, and needed to make sure he could return to the safety of her lips. She gently pressed on a particularly surprising piece of evidence of the previous nights pleasure. She half winced when she pressed too hard on the faint outline of a bite mark on the inside of her thigh that stood out against the milky white of her skin.
The last time he'd left his mark on her like this was the week of their honeymoon in Greece, when she'd demanded that he stop being so gentle with her. He had been holding back in fear of injuring her, in fear of letting his emotions and his purely animal desire completely overtake him and destroy the both of them. It was surprising how long he'd maintained his gentle manner because after just one scolding from her about how terrible he was being by patronizing her, she'd woken up the next day to deep red marks and light scratches all over her skin, feathers from the pillows covering the floor, and a fully ashamed Adam, who refused to to touch her for at least a week after.
Biting her lip slightly and twisting her wedding rings on her finger at the memory, she drifted into the closet to find a dress to cover her properly. A simple light yellow dress with long sleeves and lace along the edges of every opening on. Its higher neckline and sleeves covered the marks across her chest and arms, but left her neck quite exposed. Grabbing a thin cream shawl, wrapping it around her neck loosely, and matching slippers, she'd deemed her outfit suitable and brushed her hair so it laid on her shoulders.
Satisfied with the coverage her modest but appropriate outfit granted her, she left the West Wing in search of what was available from breakfast. The deep rumblings of her hungry tummy were disrupted by the strikingly violent yelling she heard while passing the foyer. As Belle moved closer, she could tell that the voice screaming was Adams' for sure, but following his was the suspicious voice of a woman she'd never heard before.
Quickly glancing around the slightly cracked entrance to the sitting room where the noise was emanating from for any servants, Belle drew as close as she could to the crack and began listening to what seemed to be the end of a very unsettling conversation.
"...You will be, sweet Adam. See this little 'Picture perfect' life that you've got with that peasant you have the audacity to call a wife? It has, not so sadly, come to an end"
A puzzled look overcame Belle at this insult from a mysterious woman that she'd never even met before. And who was she anyway, to be telling Adam their life together? As Belle tried to place the name to a possibility, the realization hit her like a collision with a cobblestone wall of who it could be.
Oh please don't let it be who I'm almost sure it is... she thought to herself with tears brimming the edges of her eyes as she continued listening for some kind of tell.
"What in the HELL are you talking about you craz-"
"I'm pregnant, Adam."
Belle's hand flew up to her mouth in shock at the last thing the woman said. The brimming tears were now a full on silent sob as she took a slow step away from the door.
No.
No, it can't be.
But Belle could only hear silence, and the slow soft padding of her feet going backwards, away from the door.
"Belle?"
A soft voice called to her from behind. Belle turned around to see the pale frightened face of Babette, who'd been told what was suspected of this visit by the mysterious woman from Cogsworth. Cautiously, she walked toward Belle with the hesitance of someone approaching a hungry tiger.
"Did you… Do you know?" she asked slowly.
Belle nodded furiously with tears streaming down her face and ran into her closest friends' arms. No longer able to keep quiet, Belles' agonizing sobs were echoing in the large foyer, and drew the attention of one of the inhabitants of the sitting room. He ran out of the room looking frantically for the source of the sound, and when his eyes fell on Babette holding a hysteric Belle his face turned pale as a ghost.
"Belle. When did you...Belle no, love, it's not what you-"
With a sudden burst of courage, Belle ripped herself from her friends arms turning and facing Adam with fury the Devil himself would have sought cover from.
"NO. You do NOT get to say ANYTHING to me. I heard it all Adam. I KNOW " she screamed.
Leaving a thoroughly shaken Adam in her midst, Belle turned on her heel, grabbed her coat that hung lifelessly on a coat rack near the door, and left the castle.
Blood and anger thundering in her ears, she couldn't hear anything that was behind her as she ran towards the stable and hitched up Philippe. Heading straight out of the gates of her home of the past year, she rode into the forest; away from the castle to the only man she knew she could find any kind of solace in. The only man that she could truly ever trust lived just beyond the forest and over the green hills surrounding Villeneuve.
The wind carried her still streaming tears behind her as she sped back to her village in order to return to the loving arms of Maurice, her father.
