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“Hullo,” he called as he slipped into his apartment.
“Hullo!”
The beautiful Belle appeared from the kitchen, holding an empty cup. “I was just making tea. Enough for two.” She smiled that quiet, calming smile he loved so well, and for the first time that day, he felt a smile of his own sliding into place.
Robert Gold shrugged out of his coat, not that his apartment was much warmer than the street outside, and headed into the bedroom. Bae was tucked into his bed, his stuffed bear tucked tightly to his chest. Truly he was getting too old for Captain Cuddles, but Robert would not deprive his son of his childhood. He watched his son sleep for a few moments.
Limping back to the kitchen, he found Belle and two mugs of tea sitting at the table.
“Sorry I’m late… Again.”
“It’s no trouble, Robert. Really.”
“Was Bae good for you today?”
“Of course! We always have a lovely time.”
They shared a smile, and Robert took a moment to study his beautiful nanny while she sipped her tea. Not that he needed to study her – there was only one face he saw when he closed his eyes every night. Those flush cheeks, the gentle smiles which made his heart ache… the ample curve of her bosom. She was the most radiant creature any God could ever make.
She caught him staring, and he paled. However, Belle just blushed and nibbled her lower lip, a gesture that always made his blood flow south.
He spoke, eager to dispel the tension. “I’m sorry that you’ve had to stay so late these last few weeks. I’m desperate for the overtime.”
“Robert, it’s okay!” His ethereal vision reached out and placed her hand on his. “I love spending time with Bae, and I know how much the extra money will mean for you. You don’t need to apologize or explain.” That smile again.
“Well, you have my eternal gratitude.”
Belle stretched and stood. “I’d better be going. I’m opening at Granny’s in the morning. But I’ll be here before Bae gets home from school.”
Robert followed her to the front door, taking in a few guilty glances at her backside. He’d need a cold shower tonight. “Here, at least let me give you something for all the extra time you’ve put in.” He reached for his wallet, even got it out of his pocket before she put her hand over his once more.
“No way. You know me better than that, Mr. Gold.”
“That’s Robert to you, Dearie,” he said, wagging a finger in her face. She laughed.
“Goodnight, Robert.”
“Goodnight, Belle.”
The next day proved as tedious and exhausting as the last, as the next would be, and the next and the next. That was the promise of minimum wage menial labor – dirt beneath your fingernails, callouses on your hands and feet, aching bones, and virtually no healthcare.
His cellphone rang around 6 as he was cleaning the suites on the executive floor.
“Belle? Is something wrong?”
“No! Um, yes… I don’t know what to do. Bae and I had a fight and he… he’s locked himself in the bedroom and I, I don’t know-”
“It’s okay, Belle. He’s got his mother’s temper. Just stay calm and sit outside the door. Get him talking every ten or fifteen minutes, to make sure he hasn’t injured himself. I’ll be home as soon as I can. Oh, and try making bacon if I have any in the freezer. He won’t be able to resist the smell, angry or not.”
“T-Thank you, R-Robert.” Was she crying?
“Belle, it’s going to be all right. I promise. I’ll see you soon.”
She mumbled a reply and hung up.
His leg had already been in more pain than usual, and the throbbing continued as he rushed through his regularly scheduled duties, but he still made it home in record time.
“Belle? Bae?”
“Oh, Robert!”
He came around the corner in time to see her scrambling to her feet. “Is he still in there?”
“Yes. You didn’t have any bacon.”
The way she frowned around the word ‘bacon’ made him smile, which only increased her panic.
“It isn’t funny, Robert! He could have hurt himself!”
“Have you been talking to him?”
“Yes.”
“And you haven’t heard any glass breaking or loud thuds?”
“No…”
“Then I’m sure he’s fine.” He put a hand on her shoulder and offered a weak smile. “Relax, sweetheart.” He stepped around her and rapped on the door. “Bae! You in there?”
“Go away!”
“You have any dinner, lad? I can make some of that awful orange macaroni.”
“I’m not hungry! Leave me alone!”
Gold sighed and nodded. He headed towards the kitchen, Belle following along behind him, wringing her hands.
“So, tell me what happened.”
“Well, I thought it might be nice for Bae to make a shadow box-”
“A what?”
“It’s like, a box of memories. My mum and I used to make them.”
“Got it. Go on.”
“So we had it mostly put together, and then we found a box of photographs in the closet. There was one of you and Bae’s mum, and I suggested he add it to the box.”
“…Oh.”
“He got upset, and when I tried to apologize, he just snapped and ripped the photo and ran into the bedroom and locked the door.”
For a moment, Gold didn’t say anything. He just nodded.
“I’m sorry about the photograph.”
“Don’t be. It was an honest mistake. Would you be kind enough to start dinner while I go get Bae? I take it you haven’t eaten.”
“Well, no, I’ve been in the hall. Wait, how are you going to get him out?”
Belle followed behind him as he padded away, kicking off his shoes and coat in the living area before going to the bedroom door. He reached up and felt along the top of the doorway. After a moment of groping, he produced a small silver key.
“Hang on, there’s a key? Why didn’t you tell me that when I called?!”
Gold shrugged. “What good would that have done? If he’d really hurt himself you’d have called again, wouldn’t you?”
“I suppose…”
“And then I’d have told you about the key.” He slipped it into the lock. “But if I’d told you right away and you’d gone charging in to make it all better…”
“I’d have actually made it worse,” she said, sighing.
“Parenting is half patience, I think. It’s ok. You’ll get the hang of it.”
Belle smiled weakly and sat down beside the door. She curled her knees to her chest. Gold longed to pull her into his lap and kiss her until his favorite smile returned; instead, he turned the key and slipped inside the dark bedroom. He switched on the bedside lamp and Bae recoiled, pulling the blankets up. He sniffled as Robert sat, his body glad for the rest.
“So, tell me what happened.”
“…I’m sorry about the picture of you and Mama.”
“Don’t be. I have a few more tucked away somewhere.”
“Why? Why do you want them?” There was anger in Bae’s voice.
“Let me ask you this: why did seeing that picture make you so upset?”
“Because! Because she left!” The boy scrubbed his face with the back of a hand. “She abandoned us to make a new family. Doesn’t that make you angry?!”
“It used to. But not anymore.”
“How can you be okay with what she did?”
“Because, Bae. I have you. That was why I stayed with her for so long after our marriage fell apart; I wasn’t going to give up and leave you fatherless. We decided that it would be better if she left, and we agreed that I’d get sole custody in exchange for a promise not to ask for support.”
“…She didn’t love me.”
“Don’t say that, Bae. She did love you, in her own way. But I think she loved herself more. And that’s okay, because it worked out in the end. We have each other.”
There was a moment of silence before Bae added, “And Belle.”
Robert felt his heart thump painfully. “Aye. And Belle.”
A little while later he left the bedroom, Bae opting to skip dinner and go straight to bed. Belle was waiting by the front door.
“Sorry to keep you so-”
Before he could finish the thought, she’d closed the space between them. “You do, by the way. Have me.”
It took Robert a moment to collect himself. Her lips were too close to his. “Oh?”
“Yes… I’ll always be here for you.” Stretching onto her tip toes, she pressed her lips to his cheek. Robert felt a warmth rushing through his body at the contact. She lingered for a moment and then withdrew, eyes averted, blush spreading upwards from her neck.
Eventually she looked back up at him with those dazzling blue eyes, a shade darker than he remembered. “Goodnight, Robert.”
“Goodnight, Belle.”