Despite that his aunt wanted to spend time with him, Adam would not let Belle out of his sight. He already did that once and Nanette got to her; he wasn't going to let that happen again.
Today was the last day that Queen Henrietta and the other ranks will be at the castle, but today was a day that Henrietta wanted to spend it with her nephew. She didn't mind the fact that Adam wasn't letting Belle out of his sight, despite the fact that he didn't tell her why.
The three of them decided to spend the day outside since the sun was shining and the earth was very warm. They sat at one of the outside tables, used for really warm days where you can't help but enjoy the sunshine. Adam had noticed that his aunt was carrying a box beside her, but he had a feeling he knew what it was.
"What's in the box, Aunt Henrietta?" he asked, she didn't say anything. She just smiled, put the box on the table and opened it. Adam's hunch was right; there were chess pieces inside the box. "I should've known." He said.
"Let's see if you're still as good as I taught you." Henrietta said as she got the pieces set up. Belle watch Adam and his aunt go against each other; by the looks of things, Adam wasn't as good as his aunt. After fifteen minutes, Adam lost to his aunt.
"Checkmate!" She said.
"I had a feeling you might win." He said.
"You're just rusty," Henrietta added, "don't worry about that. Want to try again?"
"I don't know."
"I'll play." Belle piped up, Adam just looked at her in surprise.
"Are you sure?" he asked, "My aunt is pretty good, as you saw."
"I'm sure."
"Very well then." Henrietta said, getting another game ready. "Let's see how good you are."
Adam watched the two ladies go against each other, only this game took longer than his game. It turns out that Belle was actually better at chess than he was, she kept on getting Henrietta stumped on what move to make because her pieces would get stuck on a certain spot. When Henrietta made a move, Belle ended up capturing that piece. After playing for half an hour, the game ended...with Belle as the winner.
"Checkmate." Belle said, Henrietta stared at the board, almost not believing it. Henrietta raised her right hand, looked at Belle, pointed a finger at her and said;
"I want a rematch!"
"Okay then." Belle answered.
"You're the first person outside of the family that's ever beaten me." Henrietta said, setting the game up.
"Seriously?" Adam asked.
"Yep, I'm serious. You, Sagittarius and Randolph were the only ones that have beaten me. Now that it's in my head, I believe you have something to tell me, Adam."
"And...what might that be?" Adam asked, hoping it wasn't what he was thinking.
"Adam," Henrietta said, "I may be old, but I'm not foolish or stupid. I know the stories that you, Sagittarius and your lovely lady have told me weren't true." Adam sighed, he knew this was going to come. He looked at Belle, she nodded her head. She also knew that Henrietta deserved to know, but both of them were worried that such a secret would be too wild to believe.
"How can we be sure that you won't tell anyone?" Adam asked.
"I know what happened to my son, if something like that happened to you as well, I do deserve the right to know. Besides, I tend to keep things about my family private."
"I don't know; we can't be sure if someone's listening to us." Belle said.
"If it's okay with Adam, we could...go in Lydia's rose garden." Henrietta said, Adam groaned to himself. Both, Belle and Henrietta, heard him, they kind of knew he would give that reaction.
"Just-this-once." He said.
"Don't worry, my nephew, I plan to give the place the respect it deserves."
"Do you want me with you," Belle asked, "or do you want to do this on your own?"
"I promised you that I wouldn't let you out of my sight today." He answered, "Besides, despite she's my aunt, I'll need help explaining the situation."
"Very well then." Belle said, she wasn't going to make any arguments.
"Lead on, my nephew."
When the three of them arrived at the wooden door and iron gate of the rose garden, Adam opened the gate and pulled a key out of his pocket. The bottom end of the key was in the shape of a rose, instead of the usual odd shape keys come with. He unlocked the door, slid the lock off and opened the door. He let Belle and Henrietta into the garden first. When he walked in, he closed the door behind him and slid a wooden block over the door.
"This place is more beautiful than when Lydia brought me in here." Henrietta said, looking at all the different colored roses.
"I only came here once," Belle added, "I didn't want to come back unless Adam will allow me to." Belle noticed that, just like last time she was here, there were different colored roses, but there were no red roses.
"You defiantly have a lot of respect for him." Henrietta said, "I can almost see why my nephew asked you to marry him."
"There's no one else that...treated me like myself...like Adam does." Belle said.
"I think it's time the two of you told me the truth." Henrietta finally said. Adam knew there was no getting around it, he had to tell his aunt about the spell.
"First my son and now you." Henrietta said, trying to hold her frustration in. "I just can't believe that it happen, not once, but twice!" Adam and Belle decided to let Henrietta's frustration run out before they spoke to her again. They just hope she didn't speak any louder than she's speaking now.
"If you want me to be honest, Belle," Adam whispered so that Henrietta wouldn't notice, "I really didn't think you would say those words to set me free."
"Well, I didn't think I would be brave enough to tell you." Belle whispered back, "In stories, they always show the hero scared to tell the girl he loves that he loves her. They almost never show the other way around. Women are just as scared as men when it comes to admitting love, if not more."
"She has a point." Henrietta said, Belle and Adam quickly looked at her. "Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. I just heard Belle's last sentence. Women can be just as worried as men when it comes to admitting love."
"I didn't know that part." Adam said.
"Well, considering the 'you-know-what' isolated you, I don't blame you." Henrietta added, "I wish Sagittarius told me that you came back here."
"Well, if he did, I think you would've gotten the same reception I gave him."
"A table thrown at my head? Maybe, maybe not. We won't know, but I do know that the two of you are happy together."
"I'm...happy that you understand." Adam added, Henrietta smiled.
"I wish I could've been there for you and my son, but I'm happy to see that both of you are happy with the ladies you love and love you back. I just hope that...Belle and Sapphire will enjoy me and...I can enjoy them."
"Are you saying that you're not?" Belle asked.
"I'm still trying to get to know the two of you." Henrietta answered, "Sapphire's a little nervous around me because I'm going to be her mother-in-law. As for you, Belle, I just met you. I believe you can understand that part."
"I actually do." Belle admitted, "To be honest, it's still hard for me to believe I fell in love with a prince."
"The prince loves you back," Adam told her, "you just need to keep reminding yourself that."
"Look, before the two of you start getting mushy on me, I do have a question."
"Which is?" Adam asked.
"Have the two of you talked about what you're going to do for your wedding?" Henrietta asked.
"To be honest, we haven't." Belle answered.
"Well, I do have an idea for the two of you to consider."
"Say it then." Adam said.
"We could do a double wedding."
"A what?" Belle asked.
"A double wedding," Henrietta said again, "the two of you can get married the same time Sagittarius marries Sapphire. The two of them really haven't discussed their wedding because they were too...'busy' with each other."
"Aunt Henrietta, I didn't need to hear that part." Adam said, despite the fact that he and Belle did it...twice.
"Sorry," she said, "but I wouldn't be surprised if Sapphire's already pregnant." Just then, Belle's eyes shrunk and...she fell to ground.
"Belle? Belle!" Adam quickly said.
"I think she fainted." Henrietta said, using her handkerchief as a fan. "Let's get her inside."
