Belle shook her head but went on to say, “Yes, Mom, I do. I also think it might not be a good idea to keep Jack in the dark about anything. He won’t like it.”
“Hmm,” Gram muttered again, this time more firmly non-stating her agreement.
“Not mentioning it is the same as lying to him. I kept the pregnancy from him and he wasn’t happy about it,” Belle reminded them.
“You can say that again,” Gram mumbled.
Rachel, however, was not deterred. “I saw those children today and, okay, they freaked me out. But once I knew their story, I thought about what I saw. The little girl gave me a wave and the boy was grinning at me. They seem sweet but it’s too sad for words that they’re stuck here. Something has to be done and we all know Jack will never agree to you doing it.”
This, too, was true.
“Let me think about it,” Belle suggested. “Maybe there’ll be a time when I can explain things to Jack and get him involved. Maybe I can talk him around. Maybe he’ll feel better about it if he has some control over the situation.”
“What if that time doesn’t come?” Gram asked.
Belle licked her lips and thought about the children she saw in the window.
Then she thought about the fact that they likely spent years in the castle with their still alive father. Watching him with his new family. Watching him grow old. Watching his new children thrive under his love and care. Then watching him die.
Then they were stuck here and alone with only themselves for company (and a few mortal friends along the way).
Belle looked at her Gram then her Mom. “If that time doesn’t come then we go it alone.”
Gram looked uncharacteristically uncertain.
Mom smiled.
“That’s decided then, we’ll get started,” Mom announced and Belle felt a feeling of foreboding.
She had no idea how to get started but she knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that her mother had a great number of ideas.
She also knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that Jack wouldn’t like a single one of them.
“We need to go back to Calvin,” Gram said and both Belle and her mother looked at her.
“Why?” Mom asked, her tone sharp, something which happened quite frequently during the rare times anyone mentioned her ex-husband’s name.
Gram’s eyes went to Belle. “You’ve been getting a lot of media coverage. Now you and Jack are getting a lot. Soon, people are going to understand this is not only serious, there’s a baby on the way. They’re going to go nuts. Calvin has had to have seen this but even if by some miracle he hasn’t, he will.”
Belle rolled to her back and pressed her fingers into her forehead.
Belle had been trying, and succeeding, in not thinking about this very thing.
She’d lived for months worried that Calvin would approach her after the news hit about what she did when that school bus went over the bridge.
At the time they’d been divorced for four years. She’d heard through friends he’d remarried. She hoped that he’d moved on.
But he’d been outrageously possessive when they were married. If Belle even glanced at another man, Calvin would lose it and Belle would pay the price.
Belle had fretted that the media would find out about Calvin and Belle and feed on it like everything else.
This, fortunately and miraculously, did not happen.
Then Belle had fretted that her appearance in the news would remind Calvin of her existence and he’d re-enter her life. He’d done it before, trying to win her back before eventually giving up.
This, fortunately and also miraculously, didn’t happen either.
However, pictures of Belle and Jack kissing, Jack holding her close to his side, Jack pressing his forehead to hers, would wind Calvin up until he was out-of-control.