Flipping the steak in the frying pan, Rumpel glanced at the clock behind him in his kitchen wondering where Gideon was. He had said that he would be at Rumpel's house half an hour ago. Rumpel shook his head at his son and carried on chopping some vegetables to make a salad to go with his steak. It had been a long day.
After having lunch with Belle, who had spent the majority of their lunch trying to find out what they were discussing, Rumpel had spent the rest of the afternoon sorting through some things in the back room. He was positive that he was missing some potions, but he could not think where they would be or who would have used them. It was as if the potions had been thrown.
Rumpel paused hearing his front door open. "It's only me!"
"Where you been, Gideon?" Rumpel sighed with relief. He had not noticed that he had been worrying about his baby boy. Though he did spend a lot of his time worrying about Belle and Gideon.
Gideon strode into the kitchen with a bag that he placed on the end of the counter. "Mother was trying to find out what we had been talking about."
Rumpel chuckled imagining Belle torturing her son into a confession. She was so inquisitive it was troublesome at times. She had to know what was going on. It was Rumpel's fault. If he had not kept so many secrets from her in the past, she would not be so desperate to find out what they were doing, or more what Rumpel was up to. He knew she trusted him, but old habits were hard to kill. Experience with his own demons had taught him that.
"And what did you tell her?" Rumpel questioned as he checked on his steak and potatoes in their pans.
"Ooo…" Gideon was suddenly beside Rumpel, leaning over to see what was on the stove. "That smells delicious."
"Back off, dustbin." Rumpel lightly pushed his son away. "Just because you can eat us all out of house and home, does not mean you get dibs on my dinner."
"Mother served pasta. That's… that's just so…" Gideon seemed to slip into a daydream of food. He rolled his eyes at his son and went back to chopping some more vegetables for his salad. Rumpel knew that he was the better cook between Belle and himself. As long as she had a recipe book in front of her, she was able to cope with most dishes. Cooking from scratch was not her strong suit.
Scrapping the chopped vegetables into a bowl, Rumpel poured in some salad dressing and tossed the bowl until all the salad was covered in the sweet dressing. In his mind's eye, he could see Belle standing on the other side of the counter watching him prepare dinner. She would be chatting away about her day, telling him about some more books she had found in the library that she had not read yet. He laughed to himself at the vision.
Gideon seemed to break out of his daydream with the noise of Rumpel laughing. "I told her you were talking to me about working part time in the shop with you, because you wanted some more free time."
Rumpel stopped and looked at his son. "Free time for what?"
"That's what she asked." Gideon replied.
"And you told her?" Rumpel returned to tossing his salad.
"So you could take up fishing." He said quickly.
The bowl banged onto the kitchen counter as Rumpel starred at his son beside him. "Fishing!"
"It was the first thing to come to mind." Gideon shrugged his shoulders at his father.
"You've told your mother," Rumpel pointed at his son and then to himself as he continued. "That I! Want to take up… Fishing?" His son shrugged at him again. Rolling his eyes at his son, Rumpel picked up the salad bowl and began laying some onto his plate. He ignored Gideon as he served up the rest of his dinner onto the plate and left everything on the side to take his plate into the dining room. Rumpel sat down at the head of the table with Gideon following him into the room.
Gideon's attention was drawn to the foam cushion of rings that were already laid out on the table. Sitting down in front of them, Gideon began looking through the rings that his father had brought home from pawnshop. Rumpel watched his son as he ate, still in shock that his son had dropped him into a big lie. How was he going to explain to Belle that he did not want to take up fishing? If he did not take up fishing, she would suspect that they were really up to something. More precisely, that Rumpel was up to something.
They had had a blissful seven months together. No arguing. Just acceptance. They were being a couple again, but stronger than before. Spending evenings together. Planning future trips. Just how he had imagined it. Now Gideon had put him in a familiar positon. As much as it was for a good cause, his son's happiest, Rumpel did not know whether he could or would be willing to lie to Belle. They had come a long way. Leaving their past behind them. However, it seemed this could dredge up hurtful memories.
"What do you think of this one, father?" Gideon held one of the rings towards his father, interrupting Rumpel's train of thought.
Laying his fork on his plate, Rumpel took the ring from his son and examined it. "Very nice."
"Do you think it's good enough?" Gideon looked worried.
"I think as long as you think it is, son, then it doesn't matter what I think." Rumpel told him holding the ring out for Gideon to take. He nodded his head at Rumpel and flashed a quick smile before taking the ring from his father. Rumpel was just happy that his son was happy.
"So," Rumpel broke the short silence, cutting into his steak. "What about your plan?"
Gideon was looking at the ring as he spoke. "I think take her to the cabin." Rumpel nodded his head eating a piece of steak. "And like you said, wait for the moment."
"It'll happen naturally. Just like it did for your mother and me." He told his son before taking another mouthful of food.
"I was thinking of maybe filling the cabin with roses, so when she woke up in the morning I could propose to her." Gideon said, looking to his father as he played with the ring between his fingers.
"Sounds good…" The phone in his pocket began to ring and disturbed Rumpel. "To me" He finished as he pulled his phone out of his pocket. Flicking the phone open, Rumpel answered. "Hello."
"Rumpel." His name rolled off her tongue.
"Belle." He replied, closing his eyes to the feelings her voice inflicted on him.
"What are you doing?" She asked with a suggestive tone.
Rumpel looked to their son. "I'm eating my dinner. Or should I say, trying to eat it."
"Maybe I could bring desert over?" Belle's evocative question hit him deep, stirring feelings deep inside himself.
"Erm…" He stuttered his words out. "I… I'm… busy. I can't… tonight."
"What?" Belle went from being suggestive to being annoyed in a second.
Inwardly, Rumpel hated turning her down. "I've got some things to sort out. Sorry, sweetheart."
"Right. Okay, then. Well, if you change your mind, give me a ring." She told him before hanging up. Closing the phone, Rumpel placed it on the table with his eyes closed. He took a deep breath and then opened his eyes to look at his son. The young man looked sheepish.
"You owe me big time now." Rumpel told his son with a finger pointing at him. "That's going to cost me!"
Gideon's eyes widened at his father's words. "Sorry."
"Anyway, so we're going to the cabin and you're thinking of doing it the following morning?" Rumpel said, checking he was following his son correctly before they were interrupted.
"Yeah." Gideon nodded his head at his father as he spoke.
"Let me deal with the details." Rumpel pushed some food onto his fork and held it to his mouth as he told his son. "I'll make it special for you." As he ate his food, Gideon nodded his head at him. If Rumpel was going to get into trouble with Belle, then he was going to make it worth the earache. She would not be happy with him. He knew it. But, what was he supposed to do when his son came to him for help?