When Père Robert came upstairs from the basement of the chapel, he found Belle sitting quietly in the front pew. He had heard of her fallout with Gaston - word of that had glided through town rather quickly - and he hadn't seen her in a few days, most likely because of it.She must have heard him come up. "I'm uncertain, and I feel like this is a good place to come if you are uncertain about something." She didn't turn around to face him when she spoke.
"It certainly is that," he agreed. "Can I be of some help, or would you prefer to be alone?"
"It's funny," she said thoughtfully. "I thought I would be more angry, and I am, but I'm more sad really. Deny it all I might, I came to enjoy our time together. I had a friend." Then she sighed. "But friends you can rely on." Or should be able to.
He nodded. "I heard. I'm sorry."
She nodded. "I also came to return this book." She took the book she and Gaston had been currently reading, and put it back in its place on the shelf, her fingers lingering on the spine.
When she returned home she found her father in a flurry. "So much to do, so little time!" he was muttering, scurrying around the cottage. "The fair is in two days!"
The fair. Belle had forgotten all about the fair, and felt some relief wash over her at this reminder. That would surely help distract her from all this, give her some time to clear her head. Hopefully.
"What can I do Papa?"
Maurice paused in his rushing around to think. "Pack a couple of days worth of clothes for both of us please. Then you can come downstairs and help me ready the invention." With that he rushed off again.
Belle nodded and hurried upstairs and he downstairs to his workshop.
--------------------------------
Gaston still sat quietly before the fire - no one had ever seen him this quiet before - but in less of a sulking mood. Maurice was willing to give him another chance - he had to make sure Belle would too. He racked his brain for something, anything, that would help him here, and it had to be something good for, after everything that had happened, he would need something good to get himself out of this mess.
That was when something across the tavern caught his eye: a poster on the wall advertising the upcoming annual Autumn Festival, complete with a fair and dance - he hadn't even noticed someone put the poster up. This perked him up - no doubt he would receive another trophy for the archery competition this year, and the wrestling match, and the horse races. He had a first prize record for the last few years. And the dance - every girl in town always hoped that they would be the lucky girl he would ask to accompany him. The dance... Suddenly, it clicked, all falling together. He had an idea.
--------------------------------
The following day when she returned home from running some final errands in preparation for the fair, Belle found a surprise awaiting her. She found Gaston in their sitting room, a large bouquet of red roses clutched in his hand. Huh, so he thought bringing her favourite flowers would help the situation. He practically leapt to his feet when she entered the room. She cast a glance at her father who only nodded before stepping out of the room to give them some space.
"I recall you saying roses were your favourite." Gaston held them out. She did not accept them. His arm fell, defeated, a couple of petals drifting to the floor.
He cleared his throat and then started again. "We've both had time to think about what happened, and I think I speak the truth when I say we both said some things that perhaps weren't entirely true, that we didn't quite mean." Such as her, 'I'm never going to marry you.'
Belle remained silent. This was his apology?
"I wanted to make it up to you," he rambled on. "I was hoping to make it up to you, and hope that you might accept my invitation to the annual Autumn Ball. It's a part of the Autumn Festival held every year. It's held in the tavern, there's music and dancing, refreshments. It's really a very fun evening. I thought we could go as friends." He put careful emphasis on this. He had wondered whether or not to bring up the 'friends' part, but had settled for yes as it had been so important to her. "It's taking place at the end of next week. Everyone enjoys it as it's one chance to dress up." He looked at her hopefully.
Her expression had not changed. Did he really think she was going to be persuaded that easily She had made the mistake of trusting him again once before... And look where that caused her to end up.
"I will think about it," she finally said.
He tried not to look or feel too disappointed. After all, what had he expected? And she hadn't said no, not yet, so there was still hope.
"Right now I am too focused on preparing for the fair to make a decision," she explained.
He nodded. "Well, thank you for your time." He set the drooping bouquet of roses on the table as he left.
(Uh oh, Gaston had another idea ☺️Haha just kidding! Thanks so much for reading and I promise the chapters will start getting longer again!)
YOU ARE READING
The Dreamer and the Hunter - A Beauty and the Beast Story
Fanfic'True beauty is found within...' I absolutely LOVE Beauty and the Beast! It is such a beautiful story with such a powerful message! I have been completely and utterly obsessed with Disney's new live action film version, so this story is in its honou...