"Why now?"
"Because," Rapunzel grinned, shifting the baby in her arms, "it's a slow day. Nothing to take care of, really, and you're here, soo…plus, you promised you would tell me soon."
Eugene sighed. He really didn't want to tell Rapunzel his back story. On the other hand, she did have a right to know – how many women married their husbands with absolutely no clue as to who they were growing up, except for being a thief?
"Oh well. I'll bore you to death anyway," he teased, and she rolled her eyes.
"I seriously doubt it!" she nodded her head, motioning for him to follow her. She knew he wouldn't want maids or the guards overhearing his story, so they went to their bedroom. Rapunzel settled down in the new rocking chair, giving Aisling the feeding-bottle she'd prepared, and Eugene pulled over the overly-plush purple chair.
"Well…are you sure?" he asked, glancing up at her with an almost nervous expression.
"I'm positive. I won't make fun or be…you know…judgmental or anything."
"I know," he nodded and took a deep breath, allowing himself to be transported back in time. "Eugene Fitzherbert Senior was my father. He was a fisherman, hardly made any money, but we made due. You know that my father always encouraged my woodworking abilities, right? I made a little extra doing work for the neighbors, starting when I was about four and a half. I had a real knack for fixing stuff, and could use a hammer and nails without hurting myself. Saws and sandpaper presented a bit of a problem, but I was careful and knew my way around the tools. When I was five, my mum had another baby, but she died of complications shortly thereafter. Pa was away, but I…I knew something had to be done with the baby. I tried to feed my little sister with cow milk and make sure she was warm and everything, but I…just don't know. I don't know if it was my fault that she died too, or if it was because she was just so little. I don't know," he repeated, pausing a moment and staring down at his hands. "Then one of my father's coworkers came. Pa had fallen overboard trying to haul a net full of fish up into the boat. He should've been able to swim back, but he got tangled up in the net and…well…you know.
In about two weeks, my mother, my father, and my baby sister all died. I didn't have any relatives, so the coworker made sure that one of the neighbors took me in. They beat me. I took too much interest in books and not enough interest in my work. I wasn't allowed to work with wood. I wasn't allowed to do anything but work and work and do as they said. The man would come home drunk, and his kids would get sent to their rooms and locked inside, but he'd abuse me in every way, shape, and form that he could think of. The other day, you know how you noticed the little scars across my shoulder? He'd take a pocket knife and press the tip into my skin until I'd do whatever it was that he wanted me to do. Those scars came from days when I, heh, started questioning him. The old woman was no better. I got sick of them and ran away when I was six. Someone from the orphanage found me when I was cold, starving, and groveling at their doorstep, and they took me to the orphanage.
They weren't the nicest folks, but they were better than the neighbors. There were a lot of older kids that picked on me because I was always reading Flynnigan Rider, once I found the book…so I got into a lot of fights. You already know that I read to the younger kids every night. They liked me, I guess. I helped take care of the younger ones and the older ones helped take care of me and the other kids in my age group. Mrs. Brigsly was there when I was, too. When I got to be about ten, and nobody had adopted me, I tried to run away. I got it into my head that I could be like Flynnigan Rider. When my attempts failed in someone finding me, I would be returned. 'Til…when I was seventeen, they finally let me go. Thus started my career in thieving. I had to. I hated to, my pa had been an honest man that never stole, and I'd looked up to him. But then it just became…habit. Exhilarating. My only excitement. Of course, I tried to flirt with girls, mostly to schmooze my way inside in order to get a free meal or something. I started getting into trouble with the guards when I was twenty, and joined up with the Stabbingtons to steal your crown when I was twenty-two. And…that's it, I guess." he sighed, sitting back in his chair and waiting for the onslaught of questions bound to come from the girl seated by him.
Rapunzel thought for a few minutes, allowing it all to sink in. She watched Aisling Rose play with her fingers, and then she looked up at Eugene. "I'm so sorry."
"About what?"
"Well…about your family, and how you were abused, and-"
He shook his head. "I guess that was normal for the area that I lived in. It was just that I wasn't theirs, and just an extra mouth to feed that they didn't want."
She nodded quietly. "Gothel would…you know. Hit me or push me around some if I asked too many questions. She said it wasn't good for a girl to be so curious. But that's nothing compared to what you must've gone through. Speaking of girls, were there any first loves?"
The young man shrugged, growing red in the face with embarrassment. "I liked girls, sure, but it was all unrequited. I guess it was probably lust more than actual love. There was a girl that I thought had a thing for me, but she was only pretending to be nice in order to gain my trust so she could turn me in to the guards and collect the reward they were offering. That was about two years before I met you and understood what true love feels like."
Rapunzel nodded, her eyes wide as she took in all the new information. "Were you in any foster homes?"
"Three. I always ended up running away, and then they'd notify the orphanage and the orphanage people would always find me. I don't know how they did it."
"Why would you run away?"
"Two families abused me and the third tried to starve me."
She bit her lip. "How could they be so…so dreadful?"
He chuckled. "I was a pretty dreadful kid, I guess. Always daydreaming or reading and getting distracted instead of doing my work. Of course, I didn't really mean to, it just…"
"Happened?" Rapunzel grinned.
"Yup." he stood out of his chair and reached to collect the baby from Rapunzel's arms, grinning goofily down at the tiny girl before turning his attention back to his wife. "So…are you satisfied now that you've heard my backstory?"
She smiled, standing up to give him a kiss on the jaw. "Yes. Thank you, hon."
Eugene grinned teasingly. "That all? A kiss on the jaw and a thank you? Sheesh."
Rapunzel laughed, shaking her head. "You're terrible. I love you."
He winked. "A bit contradictory, but I'll take it."
