Horizon Lines

~9~

Belle eyed her mother as they ate dinner that night. It had been two days since that phone call her mother had with her brother, Derek. Mom hadn't told her anything about the phone call and had gone back to being her normal self, but Belle was still worried. She'd never seen her mother that rattled before and she couldn't get the image of Laura Lewis out of her head. She couldn't believe how much Laura looked like her mother and she had a gut feeling that the fact they looked so much alike meant something. She just didn't know how to go about asking her mother.

Mom was looking at something on her phone as she ate her potato salad. She was talking to one of the people who worked for her small business, the only reason she was on her phone. She'd always been strict on no cell phones at the dinner table.

Belle must've been staring for too long for Mom looked up and caught her eye. "What?"

Belle took a deep breath, deciding to go ahead and ask before she lost her courage. "Mom, are you ready to tell me what that phone call was about a few days ago?"

Mom stared at her for a long moment before looking back down at her plate. "It's nothing to worry about, Belle. I really don't want to talk about it."

Belle looked down at her plate as well. She and her mother told each other everything, and the fact that she wasn't telling her about the phone call stung. However, Mom probably needed some time before she could talk about it. Yeah, that was it. Mom would tell her at her own time.

Belle hesitated before broaching the next topic she wanted to bring. She had no idea how her mother was going to react, but she figured she would ask now and see what happened.

"There's something else I wanted to ask you," Belle said.

Her mother looked over at her with raised brows.

"You know about how Caius attacked the Lewis and Wayne family? The case that's been all over the High Council news?"

A curious mixture of sadness and anger passed over her mother's face.

"Yes, I've heard," Mom said tightly.

"I saw the pictures of the family. . ."

Mom's face suddenly went pale and she clenched the table cloth in her hand. "You did?"

Belle frowned. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine," Mom said tersely. "What did you see on there?"

"I saw that Laura Lewis looked a lot like. . .you."

There was complete silence for what seemed like several minutes. Mom stared at her daughter for several minutes, her skin a sickly white, her blue eyes almost impossibly wide, her chest rising and falling rapidly as she breathed heavily. Belle stared back, nervous and confused at her mother's behavior.

"Mom?" Belle said tentatively, unable to stand the silence any longer.

Mom didn't say anything, just continued to stare at her. Belle got up and walked towards her, worried. "Mom?" she said again.

Mom abruptly got up, the sudden movement causing Belle to jump back as Miss Harper's chair fell backwards, hitting the floor with a loud thud.

"I need to go," Mom said tightly and walked quickly out of the kitchen.

Shocked at her mom's behavior, Belle rushed after her. "Go? Mom, what are you doing? Why are you acting like this?"