Belle was honestly feeling much better by Thanksgiving, but nobody really believed her. She was no longer unable to walk across the room without sitting down, and she didn't have to hit the inhaler mid-sentence anymore. She was a little weak still, but she'd been able to go into the shop a few times this last week and had gotten Bae off to school all by herself almost every day. Arthur had been invaluable, though. He had basically moved in without a word after her trip to the doctor. She had simply taken a nap and when she woke up he'd gotten a suitcase and moved into the guest room. She didn't know how long he planned to stay, and it was surprising that she didn't mind. She was so happy and relieved, and it had been so nice to have him around and helping out. He'd cooked dinners, he'd helped with Bae's homework, he'd helped her take the stairs when she had trouble.
It had been so nice having someone around to help out, even though it had been frustrating at times, too. It had taken several days to get past a point where he didn't instantly get up the second she got up in order to try to get her the drink she'd been wanting, and the awkwardness of needing to explain if she was going to the bathroom for any reason at all hadn't really worn off. Even now, he was standing at her elbow while she prepared the stuffing. Ruby and her grandmother had come for the holiday, so Mrs. Lucas was doing most of the cooking. Belle had insisted on making at least a few of the side dishes though. It was her house, her Thanksgiving, and she was going to contribute at least something to it, even if that something was chopping celery and onions, mixing them with bread crumbs and stock, and putting the whole thing in the oven.
"Do you need any help?" he asked, still hovering nearby. "With the...chopping."
"I'm fine," she replied. "It's just stuffing. I usually handle most of the meal by myself."
"You're still not well," Arthur said. "You should be resting."
"I'm completely fine," she huffed. "I'm not even on antibiotics anymore. I've never been healthier."
"I'm sure you've been much healthier," he said. "Though not much lovelier."
Belle just about dropped the knife in her shock at his statement. He didn't seem to be flirting, because he wasn't actually looking at her anymore. He seemed to have said it to the refrigerator, actually. She wasn't really sure what he'd meant by saying it, but she felt herself start to blush just a little and averted her eyes back down to the cutting board.
"So, um," she tried to focus on the conversation. "What would you usually be doing for Thanksgiving? If you weren't here, I mean?"
"I'd be home alone," he admitted. "Even when I was married we didn't do much for Thanksgiving."
"No?"
"It wasn't important to either of us," he said with a shrug. "This will be my first family Thanksgiving."
"Well I'm glad I could be here for your first," she said. "We'll be gentle."
She glanced up to see his reaction to her joke, feeling slightly satisfied at the stunned look on his face. Their banter had been getting progressively more flirtatious the last few weeks, and she wasn't sure how she felt about it. On the one hand, it was so much fun to tease and be tease but on the other...everything had been put on hold while she'd been sick and now it was almost like they were running to catch up.
He'd stopped staring at the refrigerator and now his eyes were firmly fixed on her, so that was progress. She bit her lip and made a show of scraping her chopped celery into a bowl before taking up the onions.
"Well," he said with a teasing voice. "There's always next year."
"There is," she said sweetly, turning the onion on its side and continuing her chopping. "And Christmas, too. I'll have to get you something nice."
They were definitely going to have to revisit their prior present arrangement, which hadn't really included any consideration that the two of them might ever exchange gifts. Belle was fairly sure they had gone beyond that, though. Far, far beyond that.
"Oh really?" he said with a grin. "And what would that be? If we were going to exchange gifts, I mean."
"What would you like?"
He didn't say anything in response, and she looked back up from her work to see him looking at her intensely. His eyes were darker than usual and there was a rawness there she hadn't expected. She was taken aback by the intensity of his stare, and her own reaction to it. She felt a flutter in her belly and the attraction she tried so hard to pretend wasn't there roared wildly to life. Their eyes met for a split second and she felt her breath leave her. The knife slipped in her grasp, and she felt the blade slide into her palm.
Belle gasped, clenching her hand shut and rushing to the sink. Arthur was at her side in a second, turning on the tap with one hand while his other rested on the small of her back.
"Are you alright?" he said in a low voice that had her shivering.
"I'm fine," she finally got out, letting him guide her hand under the stream of cool water. She whimpered at the contact, and he winced sympathetically.
"Does it hurt badly?"
"No," she breathed. "It doesn't hurt, it just startled me is all."
"I'm sorry," he replied. "I was distracting you, I shouldn't have."
"It's not your fault," she said. "You were a nice distraction. I was just careless."
He released her for a minute, grabbing a handful of paper towels before coming back. Arthur turned off the water and cradled her injured hand in his, pressing the paper towels over the cut in her palm for a few minutes.
"I hope I haven't ruined your Thanksgiving," she said as he stared at her hand.
"I've come to understand holidays are supposed to have these little emergencies," he replied. "And besides, I already told you I wouldn't have been doing anything else anyway."
He lifted the paper towel and peeked underneath, checking to see if her bleeding had stopped.
She couldn't help smiling at him. He was so intent on her hand, and on her comfort. Her skin was prickling, and she couldn't help but think of the time he put the bracelet on her and how she hadn't known at the time if she wanted him to kiss her or not. She knew now, though. She wanted him to kiss her. She wanted this - wanted a man to be in her home and in her life, someone to help her with her son and take care of her when she needed it. She'd never had that before, and never even known she was missing it before now.
Bae was watching his parents in the kitchen from his seat on the sofa. They were so weird - didn't they know that Granny was actually in the kitchen with them?
"How long have they been looking at each other like that?" Aunt Ruby said in a whisper from her seat nearby.
"I dunno," Bae said. "A pretty long time. Before she cut herself."
"Do they do that a lot?"
Bae shrugged.
"They've been doing it recently, I guess."
"I'm so good at my job," Aunt Ruby said, winking at Bae. "Just amazing at it."
Aunt Ruby was kind of weird, but Bae liked her. She'd known him since he was a baby, after all. In a lot of ways, she was kind of like a second mom. She was always there to talk if he had a problem, and she'd been the one who he was supposed to talk to when he was visiting with his birth mom. She had been the one who picked him up and dropped him off, and for awhile he hadn't liked her because of that. She was always really patient, though, and fun. Aunt Ruby was the one who always brought him presents for every holiday and her grandma watched him in the summers most days. They were basically family now.
"Hey," she tossed a throw pillow at him snapping his attention back to her. "How are you holding up, Kiddo?"
Aunt Ruby always called him that, and it always made him feel a little bit more at home no matter what. He knew what she was asking about. His birth mom was dead and his dad was new and Bae's entire world had been shaken up.
"I'm good," he said after a few minutes.
"Yeah?" she replied, looking at him for a long time. "It's been a pretty big year."
Bae shrugged.
"It's not a big deal though," he said. "It's been really nice having dad around. And we got to go on a big vacation."
"You did," she agreed. "How much fun was that, anyway? You guys went to the beach?"
He nodded.
"I think dad wants to go back next year," he confided. "I really hope mom agrees because I had so much fun."
"You excited about Christmas?"
"Yeah," he agreed. "It'll be our first one all together, and I'll get double presents."
Aunt Ruby giggled and glanced back at his parents in the kitchen. Mom had a bandage on her hand now but Dad was the one chopping onions.
"Enjoy that while it lasts," she whispered at him. "I wouldn't count on it by next year."
He was pretty sure he knew what Aunt Ruby meant, but he wasn't sure if she was right or not. He knew his parents had been acting weird lately, but he wasn't sure if he'd really thought much about them getting married or anything. Mostly he'd thought about them dating forever and things going on like they had been. It hadn't really ever occurred to him that they might actually become a couple or get married or anything.
"So what do you think about that?" Aunt Ruby said, nudging him a little. "Are you excited?"
"I never really thought about it."
"Well," she said softly. "Do you think you'd be happy if you were all together?"
"I guess so," he admitted, looking back to where his parents were still talking in the kitchen. "It's always been nice whenever we were all in the same house, anyway. It'd just be weird having to pick one of them that I wanted to live at all the time."
"Oh yeah," Aunt Ruby agreed. "That would be weird. I mean, you grew up here but your dad's house is a lot bigger, right?"
"It is," he said. "My room is nicer there and there's a bigger yard and more bedrooms, but I don't know if I'd want to not be here anymore, either. Mom grew up here."
"That's a tough choice," Aunt Ruby replied. "I don't know what I'd want, either."
Aunt Ruby always seemed to understand, or at least she always said she did, and that was why Bae liked her. She always felt like she was on his side. Maybe someday he'd talk to her about his birth mom dying, and how it felt like having something stolen from him and how much it had hurt because she wasn't his real mom, but he had still wanted her to want him. He felt guilty, too, though. If anyone could understand that it'd be Aunt Ruby, who had been with him all along. He couldn't quite admit how much it hurt that he was betraying his mom, though. She had raised him and loved him and tried to protect him and he was so sad he'd never really know someone who had tried to steal him from her.
He wasn't a good person, because good people didn't do that kind of thing to their moms, but whatever. He'd keep his secret as long as he needed to.
Dinner wasn't weird. He'd half expected it to be weird since his parents kept looking at each other when they didn't think he was looking, and Aunt Ruby kept shooting him looks that meant she suspected they liked each other. The more he thought about it, the more he liked the idea of them together, he just couldn't decide about the houses. If there was a way to have a set of parents but both houses he'd be happy with that.
"I think it's time for everyone to say why they're thankful," Aunt Ruby said as soon as dinner was on the table. "I'll go first! I'm thankful that we're all here this year. Together."
She had a look in her eye that Bae thought was funny, because it made his mom squirm in her seat and try not to look at anyone.
"Belle, why don't you go next?" Aunt Ruby said pointedly.
"Alright," Mom said, smoothing her napkin across her lap. "I'm thankful for all the people that I love."
"I'm thankful that I got the chance to be here," Dad said.
"I'm thankful that I'm retired," Granny teased. "And for Ruby, who is the best granddaughter I could have asked for."
Ruby squeezed her grandma's hand and then everyone was looking at Bae, and he knew what the answer was.
"I'm thankful I get to know my dad."