SMOKE AND ASHES
Captured and collared by Zelena (but not much subdued), Gold has been taken to Cora's house as a trophy, but Cora alerts the two that Zelena is possibly Gold's half-sister. During this reveal, Gold senses the arrival of darker forces on the perimeter of Cora's house and orders everyone out. Cora and Killian agree to leave but Emma and Belle (who have been successfully transported to the house through Belle's emerging magical talents) as well as Zelena, insist on staying by Gold's side. While they are waiting, Belle channels Zelena's magic and removes the collar.
Pan enters followed by the dark demi-deity, the Lady Shivat, a child-like entity with blackened eye sockets, lank hair and pallid skin. When the Lady demands a sacrifice, each of the women in Gold's group offers herself willingly, as does Gold. The Lady reminds Pan that the sacrifice must be unwilling and chooses him.
Outside of the house, Cora and Killian have connected with Ruby (and two of the three remaining hellhounds who have been tamed by Ruby's influence). Ruby re-enters the house and discovers that all is well and notes that Gold has now inherited mastery of Undertown. Everyone except Belle is sent back to Asheville. She and Gold, in his Dark One form, spend a passionate night together.
In the morning when they go downstairs, they find a young child sitting at the table in the Cora's kitchen.
Chapter 32
Pink
Cora's kitchen was large but surprisingly mundane. The floors were a brown and white tiled checkerboard pattern, the kitchen counters made of brown granite or some such stone. A white farmer's sink, a black-toned oven, an over-large refrigerator, a butcher block kitchen island, a counter with bar stools and a large kitchen table with a bench and several chairs completed the room. There were no cookbooks, flowers, fruits, or seasonal curtains or anything that gave away anything about the personality of the owner of the house.
The little girl was seated on one of the chairs at the small table. After her announcement of being hungry, Belle had glanced at Gold who had just shrugged. She gave the child a smile.
"Well hello, sweetheart," Belle greeted the child. "I'll see what I can find for you to eat."
"Tank ooo," the little girl answered and gave Belle a big grin.
Gold was watching warily. This was no little girl.
"What's your name, honey?" Belle asked her as she rummaged around in the refrigerator, finding some eggs and milk.
"Elsbeff" the child responded struggling with her name.
"Elspeth?" Belle queried.
The child nodded and repeated, "Elsbeff." Gold cautiously circled around the room never taking his eyes off the child.
"Where's your mommy?" Belle asked.
"Don't got no mommy," the child answered dropping her gaze.
"Oh sweetie, I'm so sorry." Belle looked over to Gold, "Why do you suppose she's here? Cora would know, don't you think?"
"Maybe. Maybe Cora doesn't know anything about her," he answered slowly.
"Well, she was in her house. Do you live here, darling?" she asked the child kindly. Belle had found some bread and butter.
The little girl shook her head.
By now Belle had a counter top full of food. She looked over at Gold helplessly. "I can make us some toast," she said.
"I'll cook some eggs," he told her decidedly, walking by the child. The little girl watched him with wide eyes. "Scrambled, okay?" he asked.
"Want a big yellow eye," the little girl told him.
He sighed, "All right. One egg over easy. Belle?"
"Whatever's easiest," she answered him. "I'll see if I can get some coffee going."
"No, I'll take care of that too," Gold quickly told her the woman did not have a good history with coffee. "You do the toast."
"I found something that looks like sausage," Belle told him as he began to search inside cupboards for a frying pan.
"We're not eating anything that looks like meat that comes out of this woman's kitchen," Gold told her tersely.
Belle nodded solemnly.
"I help?" the little girl had slid down out of the chair and had come over to the adults.
"Why yes. you can," Belle told her. And she lifted the child up onto one of the bar stools so that she could see what was going on. "I can always use a good helper. I'm going to get you to help Mr. Gold with the scrambled eggs." Belle cracked four eggs into a cup and set the child stirring them a fork. "You can help me count out the bread slices, too."
Gold found a frying pan and set it on the heat. He looked over the coffee maker, ascertaining how it worked and began to ladle in some coffee grounds. He added butter to the frying pan. He kept an eye on Belle and the little girl, watching how easily Belle interacted with the child.
He had never been comfortable around little children . . . or older children for that matter . . . or young adults . . . or anyone, if he was honest about it. Belle seemed to interact naturally.
In short order the three were able to sit down to a simple enough breakfast of eggs and toast with coffee for the adults and milk for Miss Elspeth.
"I know you wanted to meet with everyone at the Villains' Club at nine tonight. What's the itinerary before that?" Belle asked.
Gold was still staring at the child when Belle asked her question. "Uhm . . . I guess we'll need to go back to The House and see how it's going. We'll need to decide what to do for Miss Elspeth, here. I know I'm not taking her to the Villains' Club tonight."
Belle sat a moment. "There isn't any need to look for her parents, is there?" she asked her eyes meeting his across the table.
"I don't think so." He turned to the child. "Lady Shivat? Are you in there?"
And the child's eyes blackened over. "Yes," it was the deep, raspy voice of the little demi-deity.
"What are you doing?" Belle asked.
The child smiled, "I was awakened. Not ready to go back to sleep just yet," She had turned to Gold still speaking in the Lady's voice. "I told you. I like you. I want to stay with you."
Gold was shaking his head. "I'm not a parent. I wouldn't know what to do with a child, particularly a little girl, particularly one that is far more powerful than I'll ever be. I don't think this is a good idea."
"Elspeth will not know of me. If necessary you can awaken me. I hope you shall not need to," she smiled at him but this smile was not pleasant. She reiterated, "I have chosen you. I want you to take care of me while I'm in this form."
"Why me?" Gold was not happy to have been chosen.
The child gave him a winsome smile and her eyes changed back to their sparkling bright blue.
"Do you think The House knows she's coming?" Belle asked with a faint smile on her face.
"I have no doubt. There's probably a little room complete with Disney princess bedsheets and curtains – everything pink," Gold complained grumpily.
"Pretty," the little girl said beaming at him.
Gold looked over and Belle was holding her napkin up to her face. He couldn't be absolutely sure but he was reasonably sure she was laughing.
"This isn't funny," he told her.
"Yes it is," she answered him.
+ + + + The House
"My feet are tired," Elspeth had told him. He had transported them back to Carolina Lane but they had to walk the few blocks back to The House. Little Elspeth had gone less than half a block when she had begun to complain.
Gold managed to pick her up and carry her, managing his cane with one hand and the child with the other.
It was chilly in downtown Asheville. Fortunately, Belle had brought a blanket to wrap around the child. "We'll have to get her some clothes," Belle told him. He glared at her but she stood her ground. "Well she can't go around in that one little pitiful dress."
"If she can transform herself into this form she ought be able to conjure up a few dresses," he muttered irritably.
They stopped to look at The House as they walked out on to Lexington.
"It looks fine. I don't see any real damage," Belle told him coming up alongside of him.
"We'll see."
They walked down the street and opened the door to the shop. They stopped once inside.
"Messy!" Elspeth told him.
"Indeed it is," Gold had to agree. The inside of his shop still looked like a war zone with furniture toppled over and antiques strewn about like so much debris. Gold looked up and addressed The House, "You couldn't have helped out here?"
Belle shook her head. "I'm going upstairs to change and get to work. We have awhile before we have to get to your meeting."
Elspeth had squirmed out of his arms and had begun exploring.
"You aren't going to take her with you?" he asked pleadingly.
"I'll only be a moment. You'll be fine for a couple of minutes."
Elspeth got busy very quickly. "What this?" She had picked up a teapot.
"It's a teapot . . .for making tea."
She put it down. "Oh. What this?" She had picked up a magnifying glass.
"It's a magnifying glass. It makes things look bigger."
"Oh," she replied and carried it off, holding it up and looking through it at different things. She continued through the shop picking up odds and ends and pestering him with questions. What was taking Belle so long?
Jefferson came in. "I thought you might be back. Thought you could use some help cleaning up. You wouldn't know it but we have all actually been working in here." He looked around. "Now who is this little angel?" he asked noticing Elspeth.
"I'm Elsbeff," she told him looking up at him.
He looked over at Gold. "Anything to share?" he asked curiously.
Gold was rubbing his nose bridge. "She's not mine, if that's what you're thinking."
"She looks more like a little Belle," Jefferson told him and he looked hard at the child his own talent to perceive the true nature of things rising to the occasion. "Good lord, she's not . . . she's . . . what?" He turned to Gold, "You do know what she is?"
"Yes," Gold answered him. "Pan called her up and she said she wasn't ready to go back to sleep."
Jefferson was grinning, "So she's slumming here with you lot? Okay. Should be fun."
Belle chose that moment to come back down the stairs. She quickly orchestrated some clean-up procedures, setting Gold and Jefferson tasks and enlisting little Elspeth for odd jobs within the child's capacity.
It was mid-morning and Jefferson and Elspeth were off in a corner. Elspeth was handing the man books, one at a time, and he was putting them back onto shelves.
Gold and Belle were re-setting some furniture, working quietly. Gold seemed to have something on his mind, but didn't begin speaking right away, instead, clearing his throat a few times, several times appearing as if he would begin speaking but nothing came out.
Belle finally asked, "Is this about our powers?"
"Yeah," he answered relieved for the moment that he was that transparent to the woman. "You seem to be rapidly able to do many of the things that took me many years to do, like the fetching and the transporting."
"Desperate times calls for desperate measures," Belle told him humbly.
He made eye contact with her, "Well, I'm starting to do some of your empathic stuff."
"Really?!" Belle brightened up.
"I don't like it," he told her sharply but then continued quietly. "I think it relates to us being able to get through each others shields. There is some kind of connection between us."
"I think that is probably right," Belle agreed. "How's the empathy thing going for you?"
"It's awful," Gold told her. "I'm catching myself feeling sorry for people that I would have just fireballed before and moved on."
"Like Zelena?"
"Yeah . . . exactly like Zelena. Belle," he took her hands. "How do you manage it? It was so much easier when I was just reacting off my own feelings. Now I'm weighing out responsibility and culpability and accountability and all that crap."
Belle was smiling at him. "Oh sweetheart. Once you know, once you understand another person, it's easier to decide what to do. If a person did something wrong and they knew it was wrong, that tells you one thing. If the person doesn't realize what he or she was doing was wrong, that's another thing. With Zelena, I'm not sure she really understood what she was doing was wrong, wrong at a fundamental level."
"So I just let her go? All is forgiven?" he clearly wasn't comfortable with this.
"Absolutely not. Zelena missed an important lesson and needs to be taught that you can't subjugate people. She needs to understand that it wasn't her fault what happened to her, but it does not give her license to treat others as she was treated. She needs to understand that if she can't control herself or if she chooses to continue to hurt people, well the rest of us don't have to put up with that and she will be put away somewhere."
"So what do I do?"
"For now? Probation?" Belle suggested. "From what you've told me, The House can read her true intentions. You could let her stay here indefinitely. Maybe, eventually, find a job for her, something that will make her useful."
He huffed, clearly uncomfortable with Belle's compromise. "I'd rather just fireball her . . . and Cora," he confessed.
"Now what are you planning on for Cora? She came through with the paternity card just in time to save you from a truly icky situation. Other than that, I don't know . . . "
"She lied about the baby," he interrupted her.
"What?"
"Many years ago," he started, then stopped. "Cora and I were involved. She told me she was pregnant and then she told me that she had lost the child." He closed his eyes for a moment before continuing, " I have mourned that child. I was still mourning that child when Zelena told me it had all been a ruse – Cora had been hoping I would propose."
"Oh my darling," Belle reached out to hug him. She held on to him for awhile feeling his sadness, his anger.
"I want to hurt her," he told Belle. "I want to hurt her, like she hurt me."
"I understand," was all Belle said.
He held her a long time.
Then they heard a crash. They broke apart and quickly headed towards the sound.
When they rounded the corner, little Elspeth was standing in the center of one of the rooms. There was glass all around her. Jefferson came rushing in from another direction.
"I had just turned my head for a moment and she was gone!" he exclaimed.
"Oh my!" Belle rushed in to retrieve the child who was near tears.
"What happened?" Gold demanded.
The tears started down the child's face.
"Honey, tell me what happened," Belle asked in a softer voice.
"It fall down," and she pointed to a tray that had likely had glasswear on it.
"It's all right," she reassured the child. "You can help me clean it up."
As Belle headed out with the child to get the broom and dustpan, she said to Gold, "She probably accidentally brushed against the tray. I bet it had shifted and was just sitting on the edge of the table. I'll need to get her out of here after we clean up. It's dangerous for her."
Gold rubbed his head. He'd thought he'd had his hands full with Belle but now with little Elspeth . . . . He had stood up against all manner of demonic entities, deceptive, devious Fae, dragons, whatever, but now, these two females. . . .
+ + + + The Asheville Connection
"Well, we've put the plan in effect. What do you think of it?" Cogsworth asked King Maurice.
"Well enough. I don't want to frighten her. I'm not angry. I'm just concerned."
"Yes, your majesty," agreed Cogsworth. "We have sent several of our best people over there. They are watching all around the city. They haven't spotted her yet."
"How long do we try this?" his majesty asked.
"It's up to you, of course, but I would suggest at least a couple of weeks. This is the best lead we've gotten."
"Have they located this Professor Gold character?" Maurice asked.
"Not yet and he is supposed to have returned to Asheville. We have an address. Our people are going to look for him and then follow him, we hope, to the princess."
"Excellent. Keep me posted," his majesty requested.
"Of course, sire."
+ + + + Gold tells a Stor-ee
Sure enough, when Belle and Gold thoroughly went through his apartment, they found that The House had indeed produced a new bedroom that was obviously intended for little Elspeth. There was the white chest of drawers set along side a white poster bed with a shocking pink puffy duvet cover. There was also a fluffy pink rug and a toy cabinet. The toy cabinet and the closet, as well as the chest of drawers were all empty. There was a nice cushioned rocking chair in one corner of the room.
"My wroom?" little Elspeth had asked.
"Your room," Gold had answered. "I can't imagine anyone else would want it," he'd muttered under his breath.
Elspeth began opening drawers and peering into the closet. Gold could see what Belle had alluded to. The child needed clothing, including shoes and probably toys and stuff.
"Maybe you could go out and get her some stuff?" he suggested to Belle. "See who's in and can go with you," he suggested. "Don't go with Milah or Ruby. Get someone with taste." He thought a moment, "Not Emma," he added. Then he had another thought, "Take Jefferson."
Belle laughed and said she'd go fetch him. Feeling more exhausted that he should be feeling, Belle asked him to keep an eye on Elspeth while she went downstairs to see who might be home. Gold sat down in the rocking chair while he watched Elspeth explore her room. She made her way around to him and, much to his consternation, she climbed into his lap and settled in.
"Tell me a sto-ree," she said.
"I don't think I know any stories," he told her.
Elspeth looked up at him with a disbelieving face she reminded him so much of Belle. He plumbed the depths of his memories to pull up any stories that would be suitable for a child.
As he sat hesitating, Elspeth spoke up again, "Tell me about a bootifull princess."
"All right. There was this beautiful princess . . . "
Elspeth interrupted, "No, no. A sto-ree is s'posed to begin, 'once upon a time,'" she had that Belle look again.
"All right. Once upon a time, there was this beautiful princess." Well, that was it. That's all he had.
Elspeth waited quietly. "Den what happened?"
"Her father needed some help and called upon a magical sorcerer."
"What for he need help?" Elspeth asked him.
"Uh. . . they were being attacked by . . . uh . . . uh. . . ."
"Monsters?"
"Yeah, let's say monsters, sure. Her father needed some help because they were being attacked by monsters. And the sorcerer agreed to help but demanded payment. He, for payment he demanded the princess come with him and . . . " What? Wash his balls? Lick his cock? Fuck his brains out? "and keep his . . . castle clean," he managed to finish.
"Bad sor-cer," Elspeth pronounced.
"Not really, he was . . . lonely. He wanted companionship, someone to talk with, someone to smile at him."
"Like Miss Belle?" Elspeth said.
"Yes, very much like Miss Belle," Gold agreed. "So he had her cook his meals."
"How she know how to cook? She a princess."
Gold went with it. "Oh, she didn't. She burnt his toast. She ruined his eggs and who knows what she did with the coffee. It tasted like . . . like . . . "
"She put salt in it?"
"Yeah, like she put salt in it instead of sugar."
"Did he get mad?" Elspeth asked, her eyes grown large.
"No, instead he had her start to clean the castle."
"She do that?"
"Oh no. She was so clumsy, she kept knocking his things over and he was afraid she might break something."
"Like I did?"
"Oh my dear, much worse than a couple glasses."
"So what he do?"
"Well he thought about having her wash his clothes but he was afraid she would put a red sock in with his white underwear and make everything pink. So he didn't know what to do, what to do with the princess."
Gold was engrossed with the child and didn't see Belle and Jefferson come up to the doorway.
"What happened?" Elspeth asked.
"He found out that the princess liked to read so he had her read to him every day."
"They fall in love?"
"Well, one day the beautiful princess kissed the evil sorcerer and all the badness fell away from him and he realized he was in love with her. The end."
"No."
"No?"
"No, you have to say 'they lived happily ever after,'" Elspeth corrected him.
"Ah yes, and they lived happily ever after," he finished up. He heard movement and glanced up to see the two. "Miss Elspeth. These two are going to take you out and buy you some nice new clothes and," he looked up at Belle. "maybe get lunch together?" He pulled some cash out for Belle to spend on the child.
"We can do that," Belle agreed, recognizing that Gold needed her to occupy the child's attention while he dealt with other loose ends. "Come along, Elspeth. We're gonna buy you some clothes."
Gold watched them leave. That had been an odd interlude.
He went downstairs and found Leroy now working in the shop, helping to pick things up and putting them into neat piles. Perhaps not the best organizational system, but an organizational system nonetheless. Leroy gave him the details of Pan's attack on The House and the ninth hour rescue by The Cat.
Leroy also told him that Ruby, Jones and Cora had come by in the wee hours of the morning and The House had not allowed Cora to come in. Jones had gotten a car and taken her down to the Grand Bohemian for the rest of the night.
Gold frowned. Jones had to put them up at the priciest hotel in town. No doubt got one of the 400 dollar rooms.
Leroy had continued. When Ruby and Emma had come in, just a bit later, they had stood inside watching Zelena take her first tentative steps across the threshold.
"She acted like she thought she was gonna burst into flames," Leroy told him. "Surprised she didn't. Anyway, she made it across and Emma put her up. Whacha gonna do with her?"
"I'm not entirely sure," Gold told him.
"You can't trust her," Leroy told him. "She's like two-headed snake. You get a grip on one head, then the other one rears up and bites you," he warned.
"Perhaps. I trust The House to kick her out if her heart isn't true," Gold had replied.
"I saw Jefferson go out with Miss Belle and some cute kid. What's that about?"
Gold knew that Elspeth was going to come up sooner or later. "Miss Belle and I found her in Undertown. She has no parents, so we took her back here with us."
"She could be Miss Belle's kid, with those eyes," Leroy observed.
"Certainly an amazing coincidence," Gold agreed. "Listen Leroy, I need to talk with Jones about something. Can you hold the fort down here?"
"Well, as long as I know I have cat-backup, I should be fine."
Gold walked to his car and drove south towards Biltmore Village to get to the high-end hotel. He called Jones.
"Meet me in the Red Stag," he said. "I should be there in about fifteen." And he hung up.
+ + + + Planning
Gold was seated first in the high-toned restaurant, easily recognized by staff.
"Your usual half-bottle of Pinot Noir?" the waiter had asked him.
"Please."
Jones spotted him soon after. He sat down and ordered the red IPA.
"I have a proposition," Gold began without preamble.
+ + + + Shopping
Belle anticipated having fun shopping with the precocious Elspeth and the effervescent Jefferson. Somehow the ever remarkable House had managed to pop an appropriately sized car seat into Jefferson's little Mini-Cooper and they were set to go. Jefferson had packed a couple of fruit drinks and cheese crackers. He passed some crackers and, after punching the straw into the packet, handed a juice back to the little Miss. Belle opted to fore-go the mid-morning snack.
"We're going to get lunch soon, remember," she cautioned him.
"She's got a little tummy. She'll be hungry again soon," he told her. "Where are we going?" he asked as they pulled out of the parking garage.
Belle wasn't sure. This was new territory for her. "Target?" she suggested. She remembered going there with Ashley and seemed to recall that they'd had children's clothing.
They pulled into the large parking lot and Elspeth, once unfastened from the car seat, took Belle's hand to cross to the store. Jefferson lifted her up into a cart. They easily found the clothing and Belle began holding garments up to the child. Not sure of her size, she would select two or more of each little outfit and then took Elspeth back to the changing room. She wore a size three, and Belle was quickly able to pile the cart with a couple pairs of pants, some cute little tops, underwear, and socks. Elspeth was drawn to the dresses, so Belle, unable to resist at how adorable the child looked in them, picked up a couple of dresses. She threw in some tights to protect the child against the chill. They finally picked out a (pink) heavy coat with a hat and mittens.
"Shoes?" Elspeth held up her feet. She had on the original scruffy black Mary Janes she had been wearing when they first met her.
"We'll wait and take you to see Aunt Ashley," Jefferson told her. "She'll get you some shoes."
Once the clothing shopping was done, Jefferson steered them over to the toy department.
"What?" he said to Belle before she asked the question. "The child needs something to play with. We get her a doll or two, maybe a stuffed toy."
He set Elspeth down to run through the toy aisles. Belle could hear her giggling as she would disappear around a corner. Jefferson didn't seem to have any problems keeping up with her and soon enough he returned with Elspeth. She'd picked out a teddy bear and some crayons.
When they got to the register, Jefferson pulled out the teddy bear. "This will be from Uncle Jeff," he told Belle as he prepared to pay for it separately.
Elspeth changed into one of her new outfits before they left the store and slipped on her coat. She twirled around so that she could be admired. "Pretty," she complimented herself.
"Where to for lunch?" Jefferson asked as they walked back out to his car. He carried the bags of purchases. Elspeth carried her new teddy bear, hugging him to her.
"You know the area," Belle told him.
"Tupelo Honey Southside," Jefferson suggested and turned south to go there.
They apparently hit the sweet spot as they were able to go right into the popular restaurant. Elspeth bounced in looking around. The waitress brought them a booster seat. She addressed the child, "Out with mommy and daddy?" she asked.
"Oh no. This isn't my husband," Belle started to explain.
"I'm the favorite uncle," Jefferson spoke up.
"That's so sweet. Now sugah, what do you want to drink?"
Belle had long ago learned the only acceptable drinks were sweetened or unsweetened tea. She got some unsweetened tea. Jefferson got the sweet. Elspeth got some lemonaid.
Jefferson ordered the burger. Belle opted for the black bean burger prompting Elspeth to order the Kid's Menu black bean burger.
"Just like your momma, huh? What a cutie pie you are," the waitress took their orders and left to put them in to the chef.
Elspeth giggled. "She thought you were my mommy," she told Belle.
Belle didn't answer right away and Jefferson spoke up. "Get used to it kid. You and Belle are dead ringers for each other. Anybody would put you two together."
Elspeth had them cut her burger in half and then again into quarters. She was able to get the smaller amount into her little hands and ate with a good appetite. Still she was only able to finish half the burger. Belle assured her this was not a problem and she got a to-go box for the child's meal. Jefferson got his tea to go.
She settled into her car seat and after a while her eyes closed.
"I think she's gone to sleep," Jefferson could see her in his rear view.
"Well, I shouldn't wonder. She's had a busy day."
"Yeah, let's see, she was resurrected, ate a demon, morphed herself from an ancient demi-deity into a human child. Wonder what's on her to-do list for tomorrow."
"Does any of this make sense to you?" Belle asked Jefferson.
"Is there another agenda, do you mean? Perhaps, but there are old records of this type of thing happening before. She'll forget who . . . what she is and become a normal kid. At some point her powers will begin to return to her but not at the level they were before she took on a human body."
"She's said she likes Gold and chose him."
"Then that's what happened. How'd you find her?
"Sitting in Cora's kitchen when we came downstairs in the morning . . ."
"Downstairs . . . in the morning?" Jefferson was smiling at her. "Hope you weren't too loud the night before."
"Well, I'm not . . . I don't think . . ." Belle was sputtering. How loud had they been?
"Have to watch that stuff now that you have a kid living with you," he told her.
Belle sighed, "Yes, I guess we will."
Jefferson was still snickering, "Frankly I'm impressed the old guy's still got enough going for him to make a young thing like yourself . . . " he glanced in the rear view at little Elspeth " . . . enjoy herself so much," he finished a bit lamely.
"I guess experience counts for something," Belle told him watching him take a sip of his tea. "And I'm not so very demanding. After about six or eight, I'm satisfied."
Jefferson spewed his tea. "Now you're just messing with me."
"Of course I am," Belle told him primly.
A.N. I've got to thank everyone for the encouraging words. I wasn't thinking of bailing on the story but I was/am feeling a bit stuck – this last fourth that we are about to embark on is a bit like pedaling up hill. The source of my story doldrums is that I have this other idea for a story that is chomping at the bit to get written. You see, Gold is this homicide detective, Regina's a successful blog and magazine writer and Belle is, well you'll see what Belle is. There'll be grit (and grits as this story is set in Asheville also).
Totally feeling the love. Thanks so much to all you lovely reviewers:
RoxyMoron, The Prince's Phoenix, Robin4, RaFire, CharlotteAshmore (Chapters 30 & 31), jamie. wan. kanobi, orthankg1, DruidKitty (Chapter 18), spacecats, jewel415 (Guest), Guest (caliber), thedoctorsgirl42, AnneElliotsCat (chapter 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 28), MyraValhallah, karolprado (chapter 30 & 31), EevyLynn, Chauchi, emospritelet, deweymay, Erik'sTrueAngel
and
Anne Andrews (Guest) who made several guesses as to the child's identity and was the only one to get it right.
NEXT: Gold ties up some loose ends and (maybe) he'll get to work on taking the first steps to getting the fifth and final scroll and dagger part.