I do not own Once Upon a Time

Chapter 16 The Proposition

'Ah, Miss French, come, sit down.'

Mr. Gold motioned with his hand but looked agitated, and Belle worried at her skirts.

He cleared his throat and his good hand shakily ran through his long hair. Belle could not make out his scars as well in the darkened study, but she had seen the face enough to know even the shadowy expressions. He was nervous. Was he as sad to lose the friendship they had gained as much as she was?

'I've asked you here to speak with you on a matter of business-that is to say, I have a proposition for you.'

'Yes?'

'I-uh, that is, I couldn't help but notice your fondness for Bae. I am correct, am I not?'

His words were as vague as the lines on his face. Of course she was fond of Bae! Had her actions not shown just how dear he was to her?

'Y-yes, of course, quite fond.' was her answer.

'Quite right, and he is quite fond of you too.' He attempted a weak smile at this point. Belle continued to be utterly confused.

'Miss French, I'll come to the point. I am not as bold as you, though I can be just as blunt when the need arises. I will put forth a proposition that you are under no obligation to accept should it be distasteful to you.

The proposition is this: I would be very happy if you would come to stay at Dark Manor indefinitely.'

He seemed to say this in a single breath.

'I do not understand you, sir.'

'I am asking if you will marry me, Miss French.' Belle's heart decided to accelerate to an alarming speed at this clarification.

'But-But Y-you said it was a business proposition?' Belle did not even know the words that were coming out of her mouth. Could it be? It could not, surely it could not. He could not be asking her…

His face had contorted in what she could somewhat see was his facade-like calm demeanor. 'In a sense, it is. You will have a stable home and would want for nothing. You would not have to worry about seeking future positions or having to rely on Jeffrey to assist you. I-I know it's not an ideal place, and I am not the sort of husband a young woman like you would want but you like Bae and I…'

He paused and Belle spoke of her curiosity.

'But what do you get out of this-this-proposition, sir?' The word was distasteful on her tongue.

'I thought that would be obvious.' His face was even darker than before-his gaze intent as if trying to communicate something deeper, but Belle was too flustered to decipher it.

'Please enlighten me. I am but a poor clergyman's daughter with nothing to bring, and you speak as if, as if…' She could not finish. She could not say as if you did not care-as if it were as cold and calculated a move on the same plain as making a deal for land or lease of money. She would not complete the vulgar phrase.

'I-I have become accustomed to your company, and Bae could very much use a mother.' That was true. She could love Bae and be a mother to him. She could be companion to Mr. Gold if that was what he wished, though she wished he thought of her as more. She would be content if she could just stay at Dark Manor-was that not her wish just moments before? Why did she feel such disappointment when knew he was doing so for friendly companionship only? She would not cry, she would not give way to the turmoil of emotions coursing through her. She turned her face away and noticed an object on his desk. It had been so long since she had been in his study, yet she noticed this change right away. On the edge of the desk in some position of prominence stood a small chipped cup. The very one she had chipped the first time they took tea together-when she had first confided in him. He kept it! Why would he keep something so trivial, so commonplace-and then she remembered the quip she had told about needing the cup for practice while she was recovering and how red and uncomfortable he had gotten. If he could treasure such a thing, could that mean…? She looked back at Mr. Gold who had noticed where her gaze had taken her. He shifted uncomfortably in his chair.

'Mr. Gold?' Her voice was barely audible.

'Yes.' His was raspy and low.

'Why did you keep that cup-the cup I chipped?'

'I-I-Miss French, Belle, can you not guess how I feel about you? How since you came to this manor you've brought light to the darkness. You say that Esther Summerson was an unachievable paradigm of womanly virtue, I say that who is Esther Summerson when there is such a woman as Belle French? You are all loveliness, kindness, and goodness, yet a stubbornness about you that I both adore and yet annoys me. You have risked your own life for my son, you speak with great wit and clarity. How could I not care for you, how could I not love you? But I am such a man! What can I give you in return but security and the promise of prosperity to come? You cannot want someone like me!'

'Oh!' Belle's mouth and eyes were wide. Words would not come, but her heart yearned and her countenance hoped. 'Can it be true? You care for me?'

'Have you not guessed?'

'No! That is, I only wished…'

'You mean you-No, I will not stutter about in this manner. I care for you Belle, though I have been remiss in telling you because I thought it to be a fool's errand and that you could never care for someone like me.'

'I do care for you, very much, Mr. Gold.'

'Rowland.' Belle couldn't help but smile.

'Rowland, I care for you, and I-I love you.'

'But you know what I've done!'

She took out a shaking hand and placed it on his scared one. His eyes were wide and intense.

'We've discussed it at length, sir, you must let that rest in the past.'

'But you are so beautiful and I am so…well, look at me!'

'I am sir, and over the course of the months that I've known you, you've become the most beautiful person I've ever known.'

He darkened. 'You cannot mean it.'

'I do not flatter you, as you know. I think you are a beautiful person, sir. Do you not believe me?'

'I think you are quite mad.' he chuckled.

'You won't be the first to think so, sir.' She grinned, and his smiling face was reflected back and warmed Belle's heart.

He was smiling more than she had ever seen him. 'So you'll marry me?'

'I will marry you, Rowland.' It was as if a great boulder had been lifted from his shoulders. His face fell into lines again for a moment.

'I may never be a social person, Belle. I am still anxious around people. Should you not feel like a prisoner here? I do not wish to keep you locked up.'

He put on an air of thoughtfulness. 'Will you perhaps let us visit a secluded beach or two with Bae where we do not have to see very many people?'

He tilted his head. 'If you wish. I would do almost anything to please you.'

'Then I say you've made great progress already. I do not need great gatherings to be happy. Truly I tried to persuade you to go to the Easter service because I thought it would help you, not that I thought the social interactions in town so much superior to what I would get here, quite the contrary. ' She beamed. 'However, I do not believe it fair for a woman to want to change a man. I do not want to change you, Rowland, and were I to only expect a visit or two a year to the shops or church, I would be happy. If I can be with you then I will be content.'

Mr. Gold-Rowland shook his head in disbelief.

'All this time, I dared not believe you could come to care for me.'

Belle stood up and went over to his side of the desk. She was tiny enough that even with him sitting, she hardly was a head above him. She took out her hand and gently swept it over the scarred side of her love's face, he leaned in and tears escaped from his eyes.

'I do care for you, I love you, Rowland, do you hear? I love you. I believe I must be the most blessed woman in the whole world to be the recipient of your love. That-that you cared for me, and do care for me, is a dream, a wish I had that I never expected…'

'You have it, for as long as I live, I swear.'

Belle's eyebrows went up.

'I can swear love, can't I? Miss Clergyman's daughter. A vow, a covenant of love is something I think even God will allow.' He smirked.

'I suppose you're right.' She beamed.

'Jeffrey will be incorrigible after this.'

Mr. Jeffrey!

'Oh!' she giggled. 'Mr. Jeffrey sent a letter to me. He told me you had found me a position and that he thought it a good one, and oh!' Belle now held her head in her hands from laughing so much. ' He was being very facetious. I was so worried that you were sending me somewhere, I knew it would have to happen soon, but I was dreading to hear you say that you had found me a place in some far off estate.

He pulled her hands away from her face and grasped them in his hands.

'I could not do without you. I was willing to do anything, anything to keep you here. Jeffrey thought you might-that you might harbor some feelings towards me, and he was keenly aware of my own feelings, the fiend!' Belle giggled. 'He encouraged me to speak on them when he came for Bae's birthday.'

Belle shook her head. She remembered how Mr. G-Rowland had been a little out of sorts with her and Mr. Jeffrey had assured her it had been a quarrel between the two of them.

'He's a good friend, sir.'

'Mmm, none of this sir business, dearest.'

'No?' Belle smirked.

'None at all. I am Rowland to you, always, for we are equals. I will not lord over you, as I once-I will not make that same mistake.' He looked down in shame, but Belle squeezed his hands once more in reassurance.

'Bae will be very happy.' Rowland ventured and looked up at her and smiled.

'Yes, I believe he shall-he has already expressed to me the wish that I was his mother. I was very flattered at the time…'

'The cheeky rascal.' Rowland smirked. 'I suppose I should have come to him for advice on how to approach you.'

'You did fine! I wouldn't have changed one word, though perhaps starting out a marriage proposal as a business proposition was a little confusing.'

He chuckled. 'How could I know that the woman I loved, this beauty before me, would accept a sentimental proposal? I fully expected you to kindly tell me you could not accept even a proposal born out of financial stability, and I told myself I would have understood.'

Belle shook her head. 'You see so little merit in yourself sir-I mean, Rowland.' then changing the subject. 'When should we set the date?'

'A month from now? I don't imagine we will do anything large-if-if that is alright with you.'

She smiled. 'Of course. Bae, Mr. Jeffrey-even Mr. Dove and Mrs. Lucas-maybe even Mary.' Rowland's smirk grew as her list of staff she loved grew. She smirked back. ' That's all I care about. Although, I suppose we will need an ordained minister.'

Rowland groaned. 'I'm afraid so.' Then after some thought. ' So it is settled. How happy you've made me, my dearest Belle. I still am in denial of my good fortune. How come you to care for someone like me? Is it that lonely here?'

'No, indeed. Though of course, when I first came, I thought you a bit aloof and distant.'

'Yes, well, I was not very keen on the idea of someone else coming to stay at the house, or to have someone else to have the responsibility over Bae. It didn't take long for me to repent my behavior.'

She smiled at him. 'I know, and I guessed your reasoning soon afterwards. You and I became good friends, I thought, after that. And then to watch you with Bae, to see the love you have for him. I began to wish I wasn't an outsider-I wished I could be some part of your family, though I didn't realize what I felt for you was love until after the accident.'

Rowland shivered.

'That accident! I cannot think about it without remembering that I might have lost you. At the time I was half in love with you already, though I don't think I fully realized it yet. But when you got hurt-I realized the depths of my feelings. I never thought that you would return my affections. In truth, sweetheart, this feels like a dream.'

'Anyway,' He continued. 'I imagine Bae is asleep, so we will not wake him to tell him now. Would you dine with us in the morning and we will tell him then?'

'I would like that, very much sir.'

'Rowland.'

'Rowland.' She smiled.

'Before-Before you go to bed, might I-might I kiss you?'

His insecurities broke Belle's heart and she heartily nodded her head and placed her hands on his shoulders, leaned down and he bridged the space between them. The kiss tasted of salt, as tears fell from Rowland's eyes.

'I don't deserve to be this happy.' He said under his breath when they broke apart. She leaned over and planted a light kiss over his scared side of his face and whispered in his ear.

'Yes you do, my love, yes you do. And I will spend the rest of my life doing everything in my power to make you happy.'

They were loath to part, but they did with the promise of seeing each other early the very next day.

Later that night, when sleep escaped her and happiness felt like it would explode within herself, she penned a note to someone who would be most pleased with the new development.

Dear Mr. Jeffrey,

You will be pleased to hear that I've accepted the position from my Mr. Gold. I shall endeavor to do well in my new post, as I've strived in everything I've done so far. I believe it's a position that will bring me much happiness in the future, and thank you very much for any encouragement that might be owed to you. We hope to see you in a month's time where you will give your guardianship over to someone else. We both send our love, though Rowland may offer it rather unwillingly, I know, however, he values your friendship as much as I do.

Your dear little Rabbit,

Belle French

Author's Note: Eeeek! It finally happened! lol Hope you enjoy it!