Full Title: S is for Spinning Wheel, Story, Sharing and Son
Belle had barely walked through the door before Ruby bombarded her. "OK, girl, let's hear it. I need to know everything."
"Can I at least put the brownies and wine down?" Belle was already prepared for her friend's onslaught. She knew that Ruby would be all over her about Rum and his house.
"OK… OK..." Ruby took the wine from her and asked Belle to place the brownies on the coffee table in her living area. The table was already covered with snack foods that they'd substitute for dinner. Ruby poured them each a glass of wine and then sat across from her friend.
"So? When did this all come about? I can't believe he invited you to his house!" Ruby asked before she even took a sip of wine.
Belle knew that she couldn't stall much longer, but she was not about to rush. She wanted to share so much of what she'd learned with Ruby, but she also didn't want to reveal any of Rum's secrets. He'd entrusted a lot to her and she did not take that lightly. She took a sip of wine to gather her thoughts and then answered her friend.
"He didn't actually invite me over. He found Snowball on his front porch when he got home from Boston and called to let me know. I had to go there to pick her up."
"What?" Ruby bent over with laughter. "That cat has more sense than the two of you combined. Even she knows that you belong together and she's trying to push things along."
Belle had to laugh in spite of herself. "I guess she has been helpful even though I don't know how she found his house. That's a mystery. But once I got there, he invited me in for tea and then that led to us taking a tour to see the antiques that he stores there."
"Hmmm… how convenient," Ruby remarked.
"That's all there was to it," Belle protested. "He had no ulterior motives. We had tea and then toured his house and grounds." She stopped to glare at her friend. "Oh… and he gave me a rose from his garden before I left." Belle felt the heat rising to her cheeks.
Ruby flashed a triumphant smile that was getting all too common. "Really? And you don't think that means anything?"
Belle took a minute to respond. "I don't know what to think. I'm pretty sure he has feelings for me, but he's either fighting them for some reason or he really just wants us to be friends."
"I've seen the way he looks at you, Belle, and friendship is the farthest thing from his mind."
"We'll see. I know you don't think so, but as far as I'm concerned we're making progress. I've been dropping enough hints to him about how I feel, but he's slow on the uptake."
"No kidding! It's exasperating! Even Snowball's more perceptive than he is. She's on the same page as I am - anxious to get things moving."
Belle giggled. It was funny but it wasn't. Rum was probably too much of a gentleman. Maybe she needed to spell things out for him a little more clearly.
"Anyway… did you get a good look at his bedroom? Anything kinky in there?"
"Ruby!" Belle protested. "He didn't show it to me. He passed by his bedroom and one other room saying that there was nothing of interest in them."
"Ha! I wonder what he's hiding."
"I'm sure it's nothing. I told you how old-fashioned he is. He probably thought that showing me his bedroom would be inappropriate."
"Ugh! He's no fun! You really need to get working on him."
"I will. Now enough about me. What's been going on with you and the rest of the town? I feel as though I've been out of the loop."
Ruby knew that Belle was deflecting, but let it slide. She'd circle back to her new favorite topic later.
Gold woke up with a start. He'd slept fitfully all night, his dreams veering into territory too pleasurable to resist, but too inappropriate not to rack him with guilt. It had been bad enough that his mind kept straying to Belle's long bare legs as he followed them from her tantalizing toes up to and under her skirt, but when his last dream found her lying in his bed with her soft naked body clinging to his equally naked form, he knew that he was doomed. What would she think if she ever found out? How was he going to face her?
He rose from his bed and hobbled into the bathroom. The long tour of his house and grounds the day before had taken a toll on his leg, but he barely noticed it due to the tingling in both of his cheeks and in another part of his body that he refused to acknowledge. He stared at his reflection in the mirror, his eyes glued to the trace of lipstick that lingered from the previous day's kiss. Once again he had elected to leave it overnight and he now blamed that for his current state. He forced himself away from the mirror and entered the shower determined to wash away the lipstick and any inappropriate thoughts about Belle.
When he finally emerged from the shower, he examined his reflection again, and was satisfied that he'd erased the lipstick from his cheek even though the tingling remained. He sighed. His feelings for Belle were growing and he wasn't sure how to stop them. As he exited the bathroom and entered his bedroom, the sight of his spinning wheel gave him pause. The heirloom, that he used to help himself forget, actually served in this moment to remind him of two things: he owed Belle a story about it and he had a son who was not much older than Belle. In other words, he was old enough to be her father. He latched onto that thought in his effort to corral his feelings for her. They could be friends (he was too weak to give that up), but anything else was surely just a dream on his part and would be unwelcome to the lovely young woman. She'd already been gracious to a fault and he would not take advantage of her good nature.
With that thought grounding him, he finished preparing for the day ahead. Belle was coming to the shop that afternoon to make up for some of the time they'd lost the day before and he needed to be on his best behavior.
"Is this good, Mr. Gold?" Dove asked as he placed the antique spinning wheel in the corner of the pawnshop's backroom.
The shop bell tinkled before Gold could reply. He paused to listen and was just about to enter the front of the shop when he heard Belle's voice.
"Rum? Are you in here?" she called as she pulled aside the curtain leading to the back.
"Hey," she greeted him with a smile.
His heart fluttered in spite of his best intentions as their eyes locked and he returned her greeting.
It wasn't until she looked up that she saw Dove towering behind him.
"Oh! Raymond! So nice to see you!" Her smile widened. "It's been a while."
Dove blushed. "Good afternoon, Miss Belle." A slight smile appeared on his face until Gold cleared his throat.
"Sir?" Dove's eyes landed on the spinning wheel as he waited for Gold's answer.
"Very good, Dove. That will be all. Thank you." He knew he was losing his touch when he didn't even glare at the man who had just witnessed his interchange with Miss French.
"Good bye, Dove. I hope you'll stop by the library one of these days. I don't think you've registered for a library card yet." Belle smiled sweetly and Dove's blush deepened.
"Yes, Miss Belle. I will." He nodded his good-byes and scurried out of there. Gold felt exonerated. He may have fallen short in his dealings with Dove, but Belle had embarrassed the man enough to make up for it.
'Well, don't you look smug?" Belle commented.
Gold chuckled. "Dove's not comfortable receiving attention from a beautiful woman." This was the second time he'd told her she was beautiful. Not a good start to keeping things between them on a friendly basis.
Belle's cheeks turned pink at the compliment. "Thank you, Rum. He is a bit bashful around women." She bit down on her lower lip while looking into his eyes.
Gold stood there as if spellbound until he finally remembered the spinning wheel that was sitting behind him. "I, uh, I have something I want to show you, Belle." He moved to the side so that she could see the item in the corner of the room.
"A spinning wheel! Is this the one you spin on?" Belle slipped by Gold to get a better look.
"Yes. I asked Dove to bring it to the shop for me. I didn't get a chance to show it to you while we were at my house."
"It's beautiful. I don't think I've ever seen one up close like this. May I?" She asked before touching it.
"Of course." He was almost sorry that he'd granted her permission when she ran her hands and fingers over it in a way that made his thoughts go places they didn't belong.
"You were going to tell me about your spinning," she reminded him and he was grateful for the chance to focus on something else.
"Yes," he agreed, already feeling more relaxed. "This spinning wheel has been in my mother's family since the 17th century and I still use it today."
"That's amazing, Rum."
"It is. I told you that my mother's family were spinners. Well, some of them kept up the craft for many years after it became antiquated. My mother wasn't in my life from the time I was an infant, so her sisters, my aunts, pretty much raised me. Neither ever married nor had children of their own so they doted on me and taught me to spin like they did. They were so taken with my abilities that it made me want to excel and make them proud. I became extremely proficient at spinning and I even took great comfort in it."
Belle felt herself choking up. Knowing about the bullying that Rum had suffered as a child, she could just picture him as a young boy craving his aunts' approval. She wanted to ask what had happened to both his mother and father to leave him in his aunts' care, but felt that it would be too personal.
"Your aunts sound like wonderful people."
"They were. I have very fond memories of them."
"And you still spin to this day?"
"Yes, sometimes I spin for hours. It helps me forget."
"Forget what?" Belle asked even though she thought she might be overstepping.
Gold paused to think and then a tiny grin appeared on his face. "I forgot... I guess it works."
Belle had not expected that answer. She was taken aback for a second and then giggled even as she accepted that he did not want to answer.
He basked in her enjoyment of his quip, but then decided that he had to tell her about his son. It was one of the few things at this point reminding him that he and Belle were and needed to remain just friends.
"I've made many mistakes in my life, Belle, and even though I never want to forget them enough to repeat them, for my own peace of mind I sometimes need to forget them for a while."
Belle placed her hand on his arm sensing that he had something important he wanted to tell her.
"I have a grown son with whom I've had a strained relationship for years. It's only recently that we've begun the healing process."
Though she was surprised, Belle was not shocked. She'd wondered if he'd ever been married before or if he had any grown children. The difference in their ages had made that very possible. It was also something that she knew would definitely influence the way he viewed her.
When she didn't respond immediately, Gold felt the need to elaborate. "His name is Bae, short for Baden, but he legally changed it to Neal Cassidy after he came of age." Belle could see that he was struggling with his emotions before he continued. "In his first year of college, his girlfriend became pregnant, and I reacted to the situation in a way that damaged our already tenuous relationship. Let's just say that he cut ties with me for a while and it's taken many years to slowly repair what was torn asunder. I regret the time I lost with him and his family every day."
"I'm so sorry, Rum. I'm sure you were just trying to protect him." Belle tried to reassure him.
"That's what I told myself, but it took me quite a while to see that I wasn't necessarily acting in his best interests. I wanted to control a situation in which I wasn't the primary player."
"But your relationship is getting better?" Belle tried to direct him to the positive.
"Yes, thanks to my daughter-in-law, Emma, and my grandson, Henry. They've been very instrumental in bringing us back together and I'm eternally grateful for it."
Belle had so much to digest. Rum not only had a son, but a grandson also. "I don't remember your son." She hoped to garner more info without asking outright.
"He's never stepped foot in Storybrooke. I established a presence in this town years before I settled here permanently. When I bought the house, it was meant to be home for me and my then wife and son. Bae was 11 at the time and after moving around for most of his life, I wanted us to have a place where we could all settle down, but it wasn't meant to be. Milah, my ex, had other plans. I continued to establish myself in Storybrooke by purchasing real estate, renting properties, and making myself known to the residents while I was still living her nomadic lifestyle. By the time Bae was 14, we were divorced and I was living where I could be close to him. I finally moved here for good when Bae entered college."
"And he never visited you here…," Belle added for him.
Gold nodded.
"How old is Henry?" Belle asked.
"He just turned 11. Bae was 18 when Henry was born so he was of legal age, but I viewed him as a child who needed my protection."
"Of course you did, he was still your child," Belle answered while calculating Bae's age. He was 29 which made her a few years younger than he was. She was sure that Rum was very aware of that fact and that it probably had a lot to do with the way he felt about their relationship.
"In the end, Bae made the right decision for himself," Gold admitted.
"He reminds me of myself," Belle said, watching Gold carefully as she spoke. "My father always wanted what was best for me after my mom died, but that wasn't always what I thought was best. I wanted to make my own decisions and had a saying for it." Belle chewed on her lower lip.
"And what was that, Belle?" he asked.
"No one decides my fate but me," she replied.
Gold laughed. "I'm not surprised." He grinned at her and then asked, "Did you ever think that maybe he had more wisdom due to his age and experience?"
"I never said I didn't listen to him. I always considered what he said, but he wasn't me and what was right for him wasn't always right for me. I don't put a lot of stock into age. It's really just a number."
The way her eyes met his and held his gaze made him think that she was trying to tell him something. He cleared his throat before answering. "I believe that for some people that may be true." He realized that it was true for Belle. He very seldom thought about her age when he was with her. She always felt like his contemporary.
"You said that Bae has never been to Storybrooke? Do you visit him?" she asked, breaking the silence.
"Yes. I've been visiting them at their home in Tallahassee for several years now. I close down the shop for the week and head south. My hope is that they'll also visit me in Storybrooke this year, preferably at Christmas. Henry's extremely anxious to see lots of snow." He smiled fondly.
"Oh, Rum, I hope that happens. It would be so wonderful for you."
"Thank you, Belle… and thank you for listening." He'd wanted to tell her about his son, but he had not anticipated that he'd share so much with her.
"I loved hearing about your family... and your spinning." She smiled at him while placing her hand on his forearm.
"Ah, yes… my spinning. That's where this all started."
"You know, I was hoping I'd get the chance to see you in action." Belle still had many questions for him, but she knew that they could wait for another day.
"Would you now?" Gold asked, the worried look on his face transforming into one of amusement.
"It must feel like you're living a piece of history when you spin. I can't imagine what that's like."
"Well, Miss French, I think I sense another deal coming on." The gleam in his eyes made her laugh.
"And what exactly is that, Mr. Gold?"
"I'll let you take the wheel for a spin if you teach me how to text. My son and grandson are appalled by my technological inadequacies." His grin was a combination of predator and prey.
Belle giggled even as her heart swelled. He was including her in something that involved his family. "Well we can't have that, can we? I accept your terms, Mr. Gold."
She offered him her hand to seal the deal. When he clasped it in his he knew that he had failed miserably. Despite his best efforts to the contrary, he had to accept the undeniable fact that his feelings for Belle were much more complicated than friendship.