“But HoneyJam, you aren’t really going to stay here, are you?” Jack’s serious expression gave her pause.
“I must, Jack. I can’t explain it, but I feel that for now this is where I belong. Don’t fret, I am sure to see you often.” Her hand was on Jack’s arm, but instead of teasing her, he gave her a look that was much too serious for her baby brother and said goodnight.
Her father was the last to leave, the pain on his face looking for somewhere to put a new set of wrinkles. “My dear Helen, I had no idea that sabotaging the machine would…that you were only allowed to drink that dirty filth…” His tears came more freely now, and Helen hugged him, her arms tight around his back.
“None of this is your fault, Pa.” She leaned back to look him in the eyes. “None of it, do you understand? All of it is laid at the feet of Manwaring. Don’t let his sins create our pain. Please, Papa.”
He hugged her once more. “I will try.” They stepped out of the library arm in arm, and he turned to look at her. “Just as I will try to convince you to come home with us.”
Helen sighed. “We will talk of it some more, I will promise that.”
***
Days passed and then a week, followed by another. Together they spoke of happy times and future plans. After dinner Helen would sing while Paul played his flute. It was one night when she finished singing ‘The Maiden Fair’, that she knew Luke was there. Spinning around, she looked out the door into the shadows.
“Luke?”
Her family looked at each other and then out the door hoping for a glimpse of their enigmatic host.
“Oh, please show yourself. We’ve heard you’re a horror to look at, but what if we promise not to mind?”
Helen gasped and smacked Jack with her music. “I did not say he was a horror. I said he was…big.”
There was a rumble from the corridor, and everyone stilled, their eyes round as they waited.
“I am a horror, Jack. And I think before you allow Helen to stay here, you should see me as I am.” With a shuffle, he slowly came into the room, his bulk filling it as jaws gaped. “It is apparently a family trait to stop breathing in the face of fear?” He addressed this to Helen, who shook her head and came forward to stand next to him.
“He is entirely harmless, I assure you.” Mumbling out the corner of her mouth at Luke, she grumbled, “How could you surprise them like this? Do you want me to go home?”
He blew out a whispered ‘yes’, and she pressed her lips together.
Dumbfounded, her brothers still stared at Luke, while her father’s eyes seemed to plead. Helen bit her lip.
“Paul, I have heard of your knack. I swear to you I would do no harm to Helen and neither will I do harm to her family. Do you believe me?”
Paul slowly took a step forward as he looked Luke in the eyes. “I do, but I confess it is Helen’s faith in you rather than your word that convinces me.”
Jack found his voice. “Not me. I’d run screaming from the room if I could get past those boulders you call paws.”
Helen giggled, and then Paul chuckled as Jack’s face cleared. John shook his head, a shaky smile growing, until Luke spoke.
“I don’t want to disturb your evening, I only wanted to hear Helen sing.”
There was a silence as everyone debated their reaction. Her father finally stood to face the beast, while Helen held her breath.
“Won’t you join us?”
Luke and John stared at each other a moment, as if taking the other’s measure. With a nod of his great bushy head, Luke carefully lowered himself to the ground, his paws crossed in front of him.
“You’re right, HoneyJam, he’s just a great big cat, isn’t he?”
Everyone laughed, and soon Paul was requesting another song from Helen.
“Oh Paul, you know I was never good at the piano, I’ll have to sing it without.”
Jack grinned, “You silly girl, no one minds anymore. Come on, get on with it, won’t you?”
And with another chorus of laughs, the evening continued.
***
“He’s a bit moody, isn’t he?”
“Well wouldn’t you be after years cooped up like this?” Helen looked at Paul as they coursed their way through the garden paths.
Paul’s smile was quiet. “Yes.”
“He has lived to watch his family die, while his servants are forced into an eternal servitude. All in the face of this curse. He is doing remarkably well if you think of it in that light.”
He rubbed his chin. “Yes, I suppose so.”
Helen watched the familiar gesture. “There’s something you’re not telling me.”
“Oh…well.” Paul looked away as they passed the gardener with a friendly ‘hello’.
“Paul, what is it? You know something, I can tell.”
“Oh Helen. I think…I think he’s in love with you.”
Helen stopped and stared at Paul. “What?”
Paul took up her hands. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that, because I’m not entirely sure. He’s hard to read, something about the curse, I’d bet.”
“I don’t understand.”
“He feels very strongly about you. If it was a man, I would know he was in love with you, but a beast,” he shook his head, “his intentions get all muddled and I cannot be sure.”
“He could just think of me as a very dear friend.”
Paul looked at her, then carefully turned his eyes forward. “Yes, it could just be as a very dear friend.”
“Paul!” She swatted his arm.
“Ow!”
“That couldn’t have hurt, you big fat liar.”
“I wasn’t lying, Helen.” Paul held up his hands in protest. “I just cannot be sure and now I even regret bringing it up.”
“You didn’t bring it up, I dragged it out of you.”
“Like you used to do.”
“No.” Helen smiled. “Like I usually do.”
“Honey, Paul, come quick, look what Pa did to the fountain!”
Rolling their eyes, they made their way to the fountain where her father had ‘reinvented’ it to cycle through the irrigation to be more efficient. He then dazzled Cook by reinventing her stove to stay at one temperature at a time without having to check the fuel. After he saw the den, he grabbed the closest broom and invented a way to make it gather all the hair in the room in just a few minutes.
Helen continued to spend her time as hoped; singing and talking and sewing the buttons back onto her father’s jacket. Luke joined them each evening, and soon the other servants came as well. It was on their last night, when Luke requested ‘The Maiden Fair’ once more that she looked over as she finished to see her brother Paul and Susan talking to each other, their heads much too close together to be only friendly. Shocked, she stared for a moment, until Luke wisely interrupted.
“Thank you Helen, that was beautiful.”
Helen looked at Luke, her head tilted in a question. He shook his mane at her, and she sat back grinning. Her eyes met her father’s as he looked between her and Luke, his eyebrows raised in question.
Too soon it was time to retire for the night, the boys begging, or silently staring at Helen in an attempt to make her change her mind.
John stood up. “Helen and I are going to have one last talk. You boys head to bed, we have a long journey ahead of us tomorrow, and Jack, you’re a bea – terror when you haven’t had your sleep.
Jack grumbled something about being too old to be put to bed early, but did as he was told. Paul said goodnight to Susan, their faces flushed from the heat, or perhaps something else.
Helen and her father walked out into the garden, the warm night air a quiet relief.
“I know why you’re staying.”
Helen stopped to look at her father. “What?”
“I see your attachment. Your friendship is strong and...” He reached down and held her hands in his. “You are as beautiful as your mother, Helen. I knew you would be, you know. Those e
yes that express so much. And your hair; no one else has that beautiful color.” He touched her hair, then chuckled. “HoneyJam.” He watched her a moment, the lost years trying desperately but failing to catch up. “Nineteen is a little old for me to tell you what to do. As your father I would beg you to come home. As your protector I would demand it. But you are a woman grown, and you have lived enough in these past few years to know yourself. If you wish to stay here, I will do nothing to stop you.”
“Oh Pa.” Helen threw her arms around her father wishing she didn’t feel as if she were being ripped in two. “For now I must stay. I feel it, and I know you feel it too. Luke says I won’t be here forever, but for now it seems I cannot argue with what fate has led me to.”
He touched her face and sighed. “I will miss you, my daughter.”
It was a very wet goodbye, with sniffles and hugging and promises that everyone swore to keep. The doors shut and Helen’s heart broke as she stared, wishing them back as her fists clenched and clenched and then came up to cover her sobs.
“You didn’t leave.” His voice came from behind.
“No.” Her face was wet. “I hate crying. Why can’t I stop?”
“You should have left.”
She turned and cried some more onto some part of his large shoulder until they heard the door creak open. In came Susan, her face blotchy as she tried to sneak in. She stopped mid-step and stared at them, and Helen felt a grin pull up.
“Just saying goodbye?”
Susan cleared her throat. “Yes, miss.” And turning, she made her way down to the kitchen.
Helen looked at Luke, who started rumbling, his chest shaking from his laugh. Helen shook her head. “Come on, let’s go make some croissants.”
Cinderella
“Luke? Luke! What happened? Luke!” Helen came crashing through the doors to the den to find Luke in conversation with Susan. “Oh, I beg your pardon.” She turned to go, her ears pricked to hear anything useful.
“Stay.”
She smiled at his request and turned back. Susan gave her a little smile with a whisper, “Paul says to say hello!”, and left them alone.
“What is it that has you yelling throughout my house like a heathen?”
Helen frowned. “Luke, it’s raining. Not much, but definitely rain, and I wondered what had happened to make you upset.”
“I’m perfectly fine. Sometimes it just rains.”
“Tell me.” She plopped down in front of him and waited.
“Helen, I have a headache and you aren’t helping –“
“You have a headache?” She giggled. “No you don’t.”
“How could you possibly know whether I have a headache.”
“Because you’re a cat. You can’t possibly have a headache.”
“Helen, I have a headache.”
Truth. “Fine, you have a headache.”
He sniffed. “You don’t believe me.”
“Of course I do.” Her mouth gave her away.
His nostrils flared open with a snort. “Stop it.”
“I’m sorry, I won’t laugh about it anymore.”
“Good. Now go away so I can take a nap.”
“No.”
He brought his head up. “What?”
She grinned. “No. If you’re going to make it rain and have it dark and gloomy inside, then I think we should play hide and seek.”
“Helen…please.”
“Oh, come on, you big baby, I’m sure you’ll be great at it.” She grabbed his paw and he sat up, his tail whapping the rug.
“No.”
She folded her hands on her lap. “Please Luke, if it’s not too much trouble, will you play hide and seek with me?”
He waited a moment, but she didn’t smirk, not once. Finally he snorted at her hair. “Alright.”
“Excellent! We’ll get the others to play too.”
Luke groaned as he followed her out. “Maybe I can take a nap and you can tell me who won?”
“No, I expect you to go first. I’m positive I can hide from you very well.” Her hair spun around her shoulders as she moved forward and he sniffed as the tendrils flew back into his face.
“Then I want to count from my den. On my pillow.”
“No, you’ll fall asleep.”
He growled. “Fine, you win, but then it’s your turn to tell a story later, and you had better finish it once and for all.”
She turned to look at him. “Of course I will! Now go on, you have to count in the front hall.”
With a sigh, he ambled to the front hall, while the servants and Helen scattered to hide from Luke. It was a short game due to Luke’s nose and then his bulk, but when it was over, Luke was telling Helen about the time he slid down the banister as a boy in the middle of a ball, embarrassing his parents, which was compounded by his pants being split right down his backside.
Helen laughed. “I’m so glad you’re feeling better.”
He batted at her hair. “Yes, you do that very well. I did have a headache, you know.”
“I know. I thought maybe it was just a day you were being grumpy, though, and you just needed a friend to make you come out and play.”
He stopped to look at her. “A day for being grumpy?”
“Well, yes. Everyone has those days, why not you?”
“Sometimes I can’t tell if you think of me more as a cat or a person.”
“Hmm. Whichever fits the situation best, I suppose.”
He watched her as she pulled herself up into the window seat, and soon joined her, his nose at its place next to her hand.
“As promised, I will finish the story about the prince.”
Luke sniffed. “You left him having lost now two possible brides.”
“Oh but he was not bitter, and in fact in both cases felt rather relieved, although of course he was very frustrated. Any other man might wait for fate or true love or whatever you believe in to come along. He was the crown prince, however, and crown princes do not have the luxury of time.”
“What do you believe in?”
Helen halted her story. “What?”
“Fate or true love? Or something else?”
“I…I supposed I believe in true love, but I suppose I have always thought about it from observing others rather than myself.”
“Do you think there is one man out there waiting for you, or do you think you can choose this true love?”
“I’m not sure. Perhaps this is a question better answered after it has happened.”
“But if your answer affects how it happens, then you are changing your fate by not answering it.”
Helen scowled at him. “Luke, you really are in a rotten mood today.”
He sniffed her hand. “You should continue your story.”
“But you didn’t tell me what you think.”
“Of what?”
“Fate or true love?”
“Given my circumstances I feel exempt from such a question.”
“Meaning you’ll have to wait to see how things turn out for yourself someday to answer such a question?” She smirked at him and he rumbled his laugh.
“Just tell your story, Helen.”
“While he had been recovering from his unadvised bite of apple, the king had been planning a ball. By now, guests were arriving for this grand ball that would take place in a week. The castle was bursting, and everyone was busy. The many eligible young women had taken it upon themselves to haunt the prince, and he was badgered everywhere he went. Soon he began dressing as a servant or steward and once even a cook in order to escape them.
It was one day, dressed as a groom, when he ran into Miss Quincy. Miss Angela Quincy was a sweet thing with plain brown hair and unremarkable features, but she was the kindest soul.
Miss Quincy didn’t mind being run into, but the prince felt entirely awful about her landing in a pile of hay and muck, and was very apologetic. In fact, he was so apologetic that they began to have a conversation, sitting in the hay and muck f
or an hour as they talked of horses, their homes, their families and anything else they could think of. All without revealing who he was, of course. It was in this awkward position that Selma, the Duke of Wester’s daughter, found them. Laughing, she made fun of them both before finding her horse and going for her daily ride.
The prince was embarrassed, for Selma was beautiful. Her dark brown hair glowed, and in combination with her striking blue eyes, she was truly exquisite. Her figure made him blush, her smile made him stammer, and he had decided very early on that this was the girl he would dance with first the night of the ball. Frustrated she had found him in such a position and hoping she would not recognize him in his princely garb, he made a hasty goodbye to Miss Quincy and left.
Meanwhile, the healer had promised the prince that he would be entirely well, but it would take some time for the poison to fully leave him. The weeks coming home and months in his bed meant he was very weak when he finally resumed his duties. Now it wasn’t just Sir Paxton who could beat him at swords, or his friend Walter who could best him in fisticuffs. One day as he stood looking in the mirror he was very frustrated with himself, for he felt he could do nothing well. He sat there wishing wholeheartedly that he could be the best at something, oh anything!, in the land.
The mirror, which of course was magic, could not help but respond to his anguished pleas, and asked which ability he would prefer. He was delighted he would get his wish but a little concerned, for the past few months had at least taught him to be careful whom to trust.”
Luke growled. “I should think so.”
Helen chuckled quietly and shook her head.
“The mirror told him the consequence was that his heart’s desire would change. Confused, but still not wise enough to ask what he meant by that, he took a moment to decide and settled on archery as his skill of choice. The mirror told him to take a bow and quiver of arrows outside and run until he fell.
The odd request didn’t deter the prince, and he immediately took the bow and quiver and ran until he reached a forest where he tripped over a root and fell flat on his face. He sat up, bruised and scratched, but otherwise unharmed. A trio of beautiful girls stood only a little ways off laughing at him. They were the three daughters of King Ruxton, and as such were the most eligible of all the ladies. Frustrated, he reached for a shoe that had fallen off and rearranged his hair, then stood again and went back to the castle. There he had targets set up and proceeded to get bullseyes so often that a crowd began to form. He beat everyone in his impromptu competition, and Selma was admittedly impressed. However, she twisted her lips and told another young woman that archery was for men with no true fighting abilities. Despite her comment, the prince’s confidence began to grow, and it was not long before he was the acknowledged expert in archery.”
The Unbreakable Curse: A Beauty & the Beast Retelling Page 10
