In the sitting area of the B&B, Belle was dusting down the shelves of books and the various ornaments that were on display around the room. Her movements were slow and steady, feeling the effects of her sleepless nights due to the haunting dreams of him, fuelled by seeing him when she dropped Albert off. A hunger inside for him was building. She needed to run her fingers through his hair, feel the fresh spikiness of his hair under her palm. She needed to feel him kiss her, kissing her with the passion he had the day she teased him, when she had gone shopping with Ruby. She needed him to make love to her, gently caressing her like a porcelain doll, showing her a care no man had ever shown her.
Freezing with her hand on the shelf above her head, Belle closed her eyes taking a moment to get control over her thoughts. Just those short five minutes had been enough to drive her thoughts wild. So many times over the past three days, she had worked herself into a flurry where she was about to storm over to his shop. The only thing that stopped her, was remembering the coldness he had shown her at his house, unwilling to listen to the truth.
She opened her eyes and ran the yellow dusting cloth across the lip of the shelf, holding herself steady on the shelf below. Turning away from the dusted shelves, Belle eyed the room for anywhere she had not dusted, slowly crossing to her tub of cleaning products by the doorway. Belle tossed the cloth into the tub and collected the tub to leave the room. The weight she felt in her heart made her drag her feet, her pace non-existent as she scuffled through the B&B entranceway into the corridor, which led to the diner. She let a long sigh out opening the door to the cleaning closet and placed the tub inside, bumping the door close with her hip as she turned away from the closet.
The entrance door to the B&B creaked open. Hearing the door, Belle redirected herself to go back through the doorway into the entranceway and scowled when she came face to face with Gladius. The older woman leaned to look through into the sitting area, whilst Belle stood in the opposite doorway, studying Gladius for a clue as to why she was there. She had never seen Gladius in Grannies, or even much around town, so it was a wonder to see her there.
"Ah, Miss French!" Gladius smiled when she turned to find Belle. "Just who I wanted to see."
"Hi, Gladius." Belle greeted, smiling weakly at her.
"Come here, dear." Gladius said warmly, ushering Belle to come to her with both her hands. Her shoulders slouched, Belle took the few steps towards Gladius and was surprised, when the older woman held her by her upper arms and leant in to kiss her cheek. Gladius smiled at Belle, keeping hold of her by her arms.
"Is there somewhere we can chat?" Gladius asked waiting expectantly.
Belle blinked away her surprise and gestured to the sitting area behind Gladius. "There's no one in there."
"Okay." Gladius stepped out of Belle's way and let her lead the way into the sitting area. She glanced to Gladius over her shoulder, as she entered the room, and aimlessly went to the furthest armchairs. Hesitating, Belle was unsure whether to wait for Gladius to sit or sit down before her. Gladius must have sensed Belle's unease and waved her hand at her with a smile, taking the armchair across from Belle's to be divided by a table between them.
"How have you been, dear?" Gladius asked shifting in her chair to get more comfortable, straightening her dress.
Belle's eyes went wide at the question. "Somewhat coping. You?"
"Oh, dear, I'm an old battle-axe." Gladius said waving Belle's concern away. "When you've had to deal with the trouble of my daughter for thirty seven years, nothing phases you anymore."
"I can imagine." Belle chuckled at Gladius, feeling some of the heaviness in her heart lighten.
"Belle." Ruby called from the doorway, both women looked to her. "Everything okay?"
"Yeah, yeah, everything's okay." Belle said before asking. "Gladius, would you like some tea?"
Gladius thought about it, squeezing her lips together. "Actually, that would be nice."
"Ruby, can you bring Gladius some tea, please?" Belle asked and was thankful when her friend nodded her head, leaving them alone again.
She became curious of Gladius, as the older woman rummaged through her handbag and pulled out a photo. Gladius laid it carefully onto the table between them and pushed it with one finger across the table to put it in front of Belle. Inspecting the photo, Belle pinched the corner of it and lifted it from the table. She could tell by the quality, it had been taken some time ago. The definition was nothing like a nowadays picture. Even with its faults, it did not take anything away from the photo.
Belle smiled at the photo as she leant back into her armchair, stroking her finger over the man and the baby in the picture. She did not need Gladius to tell her who they were. The man may have had shoulder length hair, fewer lines of pain on his face and a light beard on his face, but Belle knew it was Rumald. He was sat on the back step of his house with a young girl sat beside him, eager to see the baby in his arms. The baby was Albert, probably only a few days old as he was lost in blankets wrapped around him.
"That's my favourite photo of them." Gladius informed Belle.
"He looked so happy." Belle stated with her eyes focus on the photo, as Ruby entered the room with a tray and placed it on the table in front of them. Serving the tea to Gladius, Ruby nosey at the photo and laughed abruptly putting the teapot down on the tray. Ruby took the photo from Belle and sat onto the arm of her chair.
"My god! I haven't seen this photo in years!" Ruby covered her mouth laughing.
As Ruby bent over to show the photo to Belle, pointing to the little girl in the photograph, Belle glared at Ruby, annoyed that she had taken the photograph from her. "That's me!"
"That's nice, dearie." Belle chided and snatched the picture out of Ruby's hand. "You better get back to the diner, Ruby."
Ruby jumped up from the arm of the chair, a little out of sorts from hearing Belle's strange tone, and left the two women alone again, glancing back as she went through the doorway. Belle knew she would have to apologise later, but she needed this small connection to him. For her to be deprived of him for just over a week, was taking its toll on Belle's sanity.
"Rumald has told me what your father said." Gladius said, stirring her tea.
Belle breathed in a heavy breathe and slowly let it out, laying the photograph onto the table. "It's all lies, Gladius."
"I know." Gladius let a small smile grace her lips before she sipped her tea. "I could see how much you care for him at the dinner. The way you watched him across the table, that is not something you can fake, dear."
"That dinner feels like a lifetime ago." She commented, as her hand found its way onto the table, unconsciously her finger stroked at Rumald's face in the picture.
"You will always get that feeling, dear." Gladius said dropping a sugar cube into her teacup and stirred her tea. "At my age, everything feels like a lifetime ago and sadly a lot of it is. Like Rumald and Milah's divorce, Walter's death, Albert being born, meeting Rumald for the first time, finding out Milah was pregnant. The list is endless!"
Belle swallowed and gazed up from the photo to Gladius. "What was he like back then? When you met him?"
Gladius placed her teacup down on its saucer and rested forward onto the table. "He… He was very uncertain of himself. Milah would only need to click her fingers and he would be asking her how high. And it was all because his father would treat him more like a servant than a son."
"What made him change so much then? He's not like that now." Belle asked, pressing her eyebrows down over her eyes, whilst she stared at Rumald's face in the photo.
"This is what started it." Gladius told her, pointing over the top of the tea set to the photo.
"Albert being born?" Belle posed the question for Gladius to clarify.
"Yes." Gladius nodded her head sitting back into her armchair, taking her teacup from the table to hold between her hands. "I have to admit, I have had a soft spot for Rumald since the day I met him. He's more my own than Milah is, sadly. And for months before Albert was born, I nudged Rumald, encouraged him, and tried to bring him out of himself."
Gladius paused and smiled at the memory. "The day Milah gave birth to Albert, something switched on inside of Rumald. Dim, but it was there. A strength to stand up for himself and his son." Gladius titled her head to one side in thought. "Which is probably why Milah lost interest in them. Rumald wasn't chasing after her anymore and Albert only ever wanted his father."
Belle was bewildered when Gladius started laughing and said. "I remember when Albert was about two months old and Rumald had to go back to Scotland for a week. Milah cursed him the whole time he was gone, because she had to call Rumald every time she wanted to put Albert down for a sleep, so he could talk to Albert through the phone."
"They do adore one another." Belle said smiling at Gladius memory. "Makes me jealous that I don't have that kind of relationship with my own father."
"Sadly, dear, you can't always pick your family." Gladius said knowingly.
"No, you can't." Belle agreed with a sad sigh.
As Gladius placed her teacup back into its saucer, she leant forward again onto the table. "The point of my story, dear, is for so long I have seen this dimly lit version of Rumald." The love Belle saw in Gladius eyes, when the old woman mentioned Rumald, entranced Belle to keep eye contact with her. "Seeing him with you, made me so happy to see the man, I knew was buried inside of him. Hidden behind his uncertainty and the disbelief his father and Milah instilled in him, that no one could ever love him."
Belle felt teary listening to Gladius and dropped her gaze to the photo on the table, as Gladius added. "Don't let him hide, Belle."
"How is he?" Belle asked changing the direction of the conversation and picked the photo up.
"He wasn't good when I saw him last week. But he's slightly better this week." Gladius answered sighing and then smiled saying. "After I reminded him, he's forty years old this year and should behave like an adult."
"I wish he'd listen to me." Belle confessed to Gladius, while she randomly wondered what it would have been like to know the Rumald in the photo.
Gladius finished off her tea. "I don't think you realise, dear, how much power you have over him."
"What makes you say that?" She asked gazing up from the photo to Gladius.
"Apart from the odd times," Gladius stood up from her armchair and collected her handbag. "Rumald has been calling Albert by Bae since Albert's birthday, causing much displeasure for Milah, which pleases me immensely."
Belle chuckled getting out of her armchair. "I really don't know how to take it, when you're finding pleasure in your daughter's unhappiness."
"I've always believed you should treat people, how you want to be treated. If she wants to go around thinking she's above everyone, then so be it, she will get what she deserves." Gladius said with conviction in her voice, making it clear she disapproved of Milah's actions.
Belle froze when Gladius seized Belle's hand between both of hers and said. "You need to be strong for the both of you, Belle. Don't give up on him! He needs your strength to get through this."
"I'll try." Belle whispered feeling tearful again.
"And if you need anything," Gladius said reaching up to Belle's face, soothing her thumb under Belle's eye when a tear dropped onto her cheek. "You only have to ask."
"Thank you." Belle smiled at Gladius's friendly gesture, making more tears drop onto her cheeks. Opening her handbag, Gladius removed a handkerchief from her bag and gave it to Belle. With a smile, Gladius turned and left Belle standing in the sitting area alone. Belle heard the door to the B&B creak when it opened and then heard the click of the door shutting. She wiped at her eyes with the handkerchief and picked up the photo of Rumald and Albert to slide into the pocket of her apron. Collecting Gladius's teacup to put onto the tray, Belle picked up the tray and took it to the kitchen in the diner.