rowofstars said:
FSP prompt: I can already tell I'm going to desperately need something where Rhys is away for a few days, and Belle and Jefferson have some adorable bonding time such that when Rhys comes back he wonders what happened while he was gone and how it is that they are such cute friends now.
Rhys knew he should have come home sooner, he just couldn't bring himself to face his wife. He'd been an idiot to leave in the first place and he'd known it was a bad idea before he even left, but by the time he'd made that realization it had been too late to gracefully back out. He'd sent the puppy ahead more as an apologetic gesture than anything else, and even so he was a little ashamed of himself for not having thought of it sooner.
As far as he could tell, his wife was profoundly lonely. The puppy could love her unconditionally with no reservations about her reputation and her past, and more importantly, the puppy would be a comfort to her in a way he couldn't be. Perhaps it had been cowardly to send Jefferson ahead with the dog the moment it was old enough to be separated from its mother, but he had hoped to give her a chance to bond with the dog (and he sincerely hoped the puppy would distract her from him). So he'd packed up his bags about a week after Jefferson left and rode out from Neal's house, feeling his son's judgment following him all the way home.
Neal hadn't been exactly supportive of his father's visit, seeming to suspect that his father had made a mess of everything from the first moment he saw him in the drive. He was too kind to demand the details of his father's failures as a husband, but Rhys knew he was getting by on his son's good graces and not his own subtlety.
When he returned home, something felt strange. It was a hard thing to put his finger on, but it finally occurred to him that this felt like Belle's house now more than his. Her little changes were everywhere from the new flowers in the garden to the statues that had been set by the drive. Belle had made herself at home while he had been gone, and the house now felt like her.
He was standing in the drive gathering his courage to go in and face her when something bumped his leg. Rhys glanced down, only recognizing it was Belle's puppy after a moment. He'd only met the dog twice, once when he selected her and once when he'd picked her up.
"Hello girl," he said, crouching down to scratch her ears. "Are you being good?"
The dog didn't respond, instead jumping up on his trousers and yipping a little bit. He barely had time to wonder where Belle was, because as soon as he looked up she was there. She must have been walking the dog in the gardens, because she was wearing leather shoes under a simple day dress (and not, for some reason, a walking dress). His heart skipped a little beat at the sight of her standing there watching him with something approaching a smile on her face.
It took him a moment to remember to stand up, he shouldn't miss her so much after so short a time, but he did. The puppy seemed content to circle his ankles as Belle approached him slowly. What had he been thinking leaving her?
"You're home," she said simply, clutching the front of her skirt in her hands. "I wasn't sure when to expect you."
"I wasn't sure when I'd be coming," he replied, hoping she could understand how sorry he was to have left in the first place.
"Was your trip successful?"
It took him a moment to remember his excuse to go to London - he'd had business to attend to and that Neal had needed help.
"It was," he fibbed. The dog had been a success, anyway. "I shouldn't need to go back for a good while, though."
"That's good," she replied earnestly, and it was the easiest thing in the world to believe her. "Thank you for my gift."
"It's no matter," he replied, feeling the present still sniffing his shoes. "She reminded me of you."
It wasn't a lie, and he could tell it had been the right thing to say as soon as he saw her blush and flash him a sweet smile. It was so easy in that moment to lose himself in how blue her eyes were when her cheeks were so pink. Suddenly, her eyes darted down to his feet and her entire expression changed.
"Rosie!" she exclaimed. "Bad girl!"
He followed her gaze to his feet just in time to see the puppy moving away and the puddle gathered around his feet. Belle immediately reached down and scooped the dog up, continuing her gentle scold of the dog as he stepped away. Jefferson was going to have a fit when he saw this, but he thought that might actually make getting peed on worth it.
"I'm so sorry," Belle said. "We're still working on that. I think she was just excited to see you."
"It's fine," he replied instantly, needing to reassure her that he wasn't mad. If anything, Rosie had saved him from making a fool out of himself. "I'll go get cleaned up."
"All right," she said. "I'll see you later?"
It was the so incredibly tempting to believe she wanted his company as he left her standing in the garden with his ruined shoes and damp hem, and he hoped desperately she'd seek him out later because he didn't know if he was brave enough to look for her.
Jefferson was brushing out a coat when Rhys found him.
"Home already?" the valet said nonchalantly. "How was your trip?"
"It was fine," Rhys replied. "Perfectly ordinary. I'll need new trousers."
"Of course," Jefferson said, going to the wardrobe and pulling out day a day suit. "Are you going to want to take a bath to get the road off you?"
"I suppose I probably should," Rhys said, looking down to where Rosie had christened his leg. "I had a run-in with the puppy when I got home."
Jefferson's eyes followed Rhys' and he immediately grimaced. Rhys could feel the judgment radiating off the other man, but instead of saying anything Jefferson merely narrowed his eyes in a vaguely accusatory way for a moment before raising his hands up and walking away. Rhys let out a sigh of relief at being left alone as he sat down heavily on the stool set against the wall for him to use while changing. His leg was stiff from travel, and he felt like an idiot. Rosie's reaction to his arrival was really just the perfect finish to the day. He probably deserved it, anyway.
Once Rhys was bathed and in clean clothes, his mood was substantially improved. He was home, and she'd been happy to see him - there wasn't much else he could have hoped for (besides not being urinated on, anyway).
He didn't mean to invade Belle's space, but somehow he found himself wandering in the direction of her library anyway. Just to peek in, he decided. Just to make sure she had made use of it and didn't need anything else.
Belle was sitting in a window seat with her legs curled up under herself and the puppy snoring lightly on a cushion nearby when he reached the doorway. She had a book resting in her lap, though he couldn't see the title from where he stood, and her face was turned away from him while she watched the world outside. He wasn't sure what she saw out there, but he had the sudden image of a princess in a tower waiting for her prince to come and rescue her, and he felt a sharp pang of regret that she was, instead, trapped with him.
Rhys shouldn't be looking at her like this. She was clearly all right, and he was interrupting a private moment. He was about to try to sneak away when suddenly Rosie snuffled and roused herself, stumbling off the pillow to go greet Rhys and drawing Belle's eyes toward him.
"Hello," he said as normally as he could when he felt like a child who'd been caught spying. "I uh, just wanted to make sure you didn't need anything."
He felt like an idiot even as he said it. Of course she didn't need anything, she'd been fine. There were servants to get whatever she needed and he wasn't one of them.
"I don't," she replied kindly. "But please come in. I wouldn't mind some company."
He'd left in the hopes that she'd stop wanting him around if he was gone long enough, and yet her voice drew him into her library as surely as a moth drawn to an open flame. He really was hopeless.
"Are you settling in well?" he asked. "It seems your guard dog has adjusted, at least."
"Yes," she answered, scooping the squirming puppy back up into her arms before she could trip Rhys. "Everything is perfect, thank you."
He glanced around looking for a topic of conversation before his eyes landed on the writing desk she'd brought in.
"I see you found the attic," he said.
"Yes," she said. "I hope it's not a problem, I brought some things down I thought would look nice."
"Not a problem at all," he replied, though there were a few things up there he really hoped had escaped her notice. "But there's no need for you to comb through the attic. If you want something, then buy it."
"I enjoyed it," she said as she set her book on the seat next to her and picked up her embroidery from a basket on the floor. "You have beautiful things up there, you know."
"I do," he replied. "How did you get the desk downstairs, anyway?"
"Lizzie and I tried to move it ourselves," she said. "But when Jefferson came back, he and the gardener finally brought it in for us."
The way she ran her fingers down the thread over and over again was the only outward sign he could see that she'd been even a little uncomfortable with this intrusion, and he was so proud of her for having wanted the desk badly enough to suffer through it even with her maid there for comfort.
Belle had a very limited circle of men she was comfortable being around, and Gold was the only one of them who she hadn't known since she was born. He really shouldn't have left her alone.
There was a knock on the door and Belle was on her feet before Gold could even get his cane under himself and turn around. Jefferson was standing there holding an absolutely enormous hat covered in ribbons and silk flowers with a long veil covering the face.
"You finished it!" Belle exclaimed, bounding forward in a way strangely reminiscent of the puppy. "Thank you so much!"
"You're very welcome, my lady," Jefferson replied, handing her the hat with one of his theatrical bows. "And please, let me know if you would like another one. It's not often I get to do much with hats."
This last bit was said with an amused glance toward Rhys that Belle seemed to miss, preoccupied as she was with touching every single flower on the hat.
They made small talk for a few minutes while Rhys watched, and he was absolutely stunned when Belle dismissed Jefferson with a friendly smile and returned to her seat opposite Rhys.
"Do you like it?" she asked him as she held the hat up. "Jefferson offered to make it for me after Lizzie and I proved to be absolutely hopeless."
"It's very nice," Rhys answered around a strange lump in his throat. "He did an excellent job."
"Didn't he?" she replied, still fascinated by the hat and draping its veil over her fingers delicately. "I wanted something to wear out walking Rose. It's not practical to carry a parasol with the dog, after all."
"I imagine not," he said. "It will suit you very well."
He'd never known his wife to take any real care about the sun in her little walks, and she had the smattering of freckles on her face and chest to prove it. It was considered the height of impropriety for a wealthy woman to allow herself to get sun like that, but Rhys hadn't been raised wealthy and rather liked the little spots on Belle. They made her seem more carefree than she perhaps was, more like a girl who didn't know fear. Still, liking her freckles (or even pointing out that he had noticed them) was something he was fairly certain it was in his best interest not to mention, because it would only serve to make her more self-conscious than she might already have been about them. He at least knew that much about women, anyway.
What was really surprising him about the entire affair, though, was that she had gotten accustomed enough to Jefferson's presence to have him making a hat for her. Maybe he wasn't as singular in her trust as he'd thought?
"Did you know he has a daughter?" Belle's voice broke into his increasingly melancholy thoughts, and it took him a moment to realize she meant Jefferson.
"Yes I did," he replied. "Grace. She lives with his mother in the village."
"It must be awful to be separated from her," Belle continued. "Not that I have a child, but I can't imagine being away from my father when I'd been that age."
"He went into service after his wife died," Rhys explained. "He makes good money, but you're right, it doesn't leave him much time with his daughter."
"Poor dears," Belle said with a little sigh. "Do you think we could find some way for him to spend more time with her? I just hate for the child to be without mother and father."
His wife had a soft heart, and it was hard not to love her a little bit more for it.
"I'm sure I can find something," he replied, and he would, even if he had to bring the girl to live in the house with them. He was sure there was some occupation Belle could find for a little girl and perhaps Grace would provide another distraction in Belle's life as well. A motherless child in need of love and a dog to be coddled...Perhaps that would be all she would need, and he could be content that she was happy and that he had been able to save her.