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Every time Belle turned around, Sidney was watching Irene. She would have been bothered by it had his look not been so clear—it was not love or lust he was looking at her with, but distrust. He was trying to figure her out, and Belle was glad he was finally seeing things her way.
She’d known all along that Irene was not to be trusted. Now, finally, Sidney was starting to listen to her. It didn’t matter whether her sisters believed her, Sidney did. And that was enough to comfort her.
The shop was particularly busy after lunch. Sidney said it was always this way. Belle watched and waited for her chance to get a look at the envelope Sidney had told her about, wondering just how she was to do such a thing when she was too busy to leave her station at the cash register.
Irene stood by, broom in hand, sweeping all the hair that fell to the floor. Luckily, she was better with a broom than she was with the bottles she always seemed to be dropping. After an hour or so, when they were perhaps at their busiest, Sidney looked over at Belle and asked her to go into the back room and fetch him a bottle of his styling pomade.
“Now?” Belle asked. She had three customers in line to ring up.
“Irene will take over for you,” he said. “Won’t you, Irene?”
“Of course,” Irene said quickly, eager to relieve herself of her broom.
Belle shot Sidney an irritated look that quickly softened when he winked at her. Oh. This was a ploy to get her into the back without any chance of Irene going after her.
Belle relinquished her seat to Irene and went into the back, her eyes immediately moving around the room searching for Irene’s purse. She did not immediately see it anywhere and thought that strange. She was positive the woman had returned from her lunch with it. She had then disappeared into the back room for several minutes, and when she’d reemerged, her purse had been gone.
Belle had assumed that Irene had simply set her purse somewhere in the back, but she realized now she must have done more than just set it somewhere. She must have hidden it. Belle began pulling open desk drawers and cabinets, searching the shelves inside and out for the black leather bag.
“What could she have done with it?” Belle muttered to herself. She knew it was here somewhere, it was just a question of looking in the right place.
She paused and looked around the room, stilling her body as well as her mind. Where had she not already looked? There must be someplace she was missing. One cabinet or one drawer or something she had yet to search.
Her eyes landed on a bookcase in the corner of the room. Sitting atop the bookcase was a large vase Irene had filled earlier this week with fresh flowers. The flowers fell over and around each other in a large blooming bouquet, and Belle realized that behind them she could see nothing.
She went to the bookcase and reached up, but she was not tall enough to get to it without something to step on. She pulled a chair over and use it as a stool, easily reaching the top of the case now. She pushed the vase aside, the flowers tickling her fingers, and behind it all she saw a black leather purse.
She smiled to herself as she took the purse down and opened it. Inside was a large envelope that had been folded over to better fit. Belle pulled it out and held it up, looking to see it if she might open it without having to break the seal. She was disappointed to find the seal had been shut with wax, and the only way to get into it would be to break it, which meant Irene would know without a doubt that someone had been into her things.
Her bottom lip began to ache, and Belle realized she was biting it harder than she meant to. She looked around the room as if a solution to her problems might suddenly appear, but the only thing that appeared was Irene.
She stood with her hands on her hips, her mouth gaping open. Belle dropped the purse and Irene’s money, as well as a few other items, came rolling out of it. The envelope, Belle still held in her hand.
“What are you doing?” Irene shouted. She walked quickly over to Belle and snatched the envelope right out of her hands. Belle had no choice but to let it go.
“I-I-I...” she stammered like a fool. She had no explanation to offer. There could be none that would explain away her actions other than the truth.
“How dare you?” Irene demanded. “I thought you were taking a long time back here, but I never dreamed... I know you do not like me, but to go through my things the moment my back is turned is something only a true scoundrel would do.”
Belle bit her lip, her heart hammering in her chest. “What’s in that envelope?”
“None of your business,” Irene shouted, her voice rising even further.
“Where did you get it from?”
“It’s an envelope,” shouted Irene. “There’s nothing suspicious about it. Why should you question me about it?”
Belle was horrified to find that her tongue was sticking to the roof of her mouth, which had gone dry as a desert. The part of her that knew she’d been caught wanted to apologize, but the bigger part of her that knew Irene was trouble refused to.
“You’re hiding things from Sidney,” Belle finally said, thinking that statement the best she could do at the moment by way of defense.
“I’m hiding nothing from him,” Irene said. “You are a liar and a fool. Do you always treat people in such a fashion? It is no wonder your own sisters think so little of you.”
“My sisters think quite highly of me,” Belle shouted.
“They think you as big a fool as Sidney does,” Irene shouted back.
Sidney suddenly appeared in the doorway. His eyes were wide as he looked from Belle to Irene and back again. “What’s going on?” he asked nervously. “Everyone can hear you.”
Irene lifted a finger and pointed it directly at Belle. “She was going through my things.” She bent over to pick up the things from her purse that had fallen out, and Belle realized that there was less money now than there had been the last time she’d seen it.
Sidney looked at Belle. Their eyes locked together, and she could tell he had no idea what to do. She tried to send him a message. Don’t tell her what you know. If you do, we may never find out the truth.
Whether Sidney picked up on her thoughts or had the same idea all on his own, she didn’t know, but he said, “Belle, is this true?”
Belle inhaled then nodded. “Ask her what’s in the envelope.”
Irene stood quickly back up, envelope in hand. She looked down at it. “I have no idea why Belle is so obsessed with my purse and its contents,” she snapped. Then she did something neither Belle nor Sidney could have expected. She ripped the envelope open and handed its contents to Sidney.
As far as Belle could tell, the only thing in the envelope were some papers. Sidney looked them up and down, his cheeks turning red. He looked at Irene, his mouth open.
“Surprise,” Irene said then glared at Belle.
“What is it?” Belle asked, unable to contain her own curiosity.
Sidney looked at her with disbelief. “Plans for a trip to California. A honeymoon.” He looked again at Irene. “You planned this?”
She nodded. “It was not easy either, especially hiding it from you. The man who put it together for me had me meet him in a saloon, of all places. You know how I hate those sorts of environments, but I met him there anyway because I did not want you to find out before the ceremony. It is my gift to you. A way for us to start our life together.”
Belle’s heart sank into her stomach. Her chest felt suddenly tight. In one moment, Sidney had gone from distrusting Irene and being back on Belle’s side, to hating himself for what he’d done and thinking Irene an angel.
“I’m so sorry,” Sidney said.
“You have nothing to apologize for,” said Irene. “It is Belle who has been snooping. It is Belle who has ruined the surprise. There can be only one solution left to you.”
Belle and Sidney both arched their eyebrows, uncertain what Irene meant by that.
Irene looked at Sidney, exasperated. “You must fire her, of course.”
Sidney looked at Belle, then down at the papers in his hand. “Belle, I...” He shrugged, his face red as a beet. “I’m sorry. Irene is to be my wife. I... you’re fired. Please leave this shop and do not return.”
Belle glared at him and thought about telling Irene he was the one had asked her to look in her purse in the first place. But Irene was so hell-bent on getting Sidney for herself that Belle did not think it would matter. And if Sidney’s mind was so easily altered that he could one minute think Irene the devil and the next think her innocence personified, then Belle could do nothing more for him. They deserved each other.
“Good luck in your marriage,” said Belle through gritted teeth. “And when you realize what a mistake you’ve made, do not come to me. For I shall not help you with anything, ever again.”
Irene rolled her eyes, but Sidney’s blush deepened. She walked out of the back room and all eyes fell on her. No doubt everyone in the place had heard the entire exchange and word of her antics would be spread around town by the end of the day. No matter. All she cared about was Sidney, and she was quite certain now that she had lost him forever. Well, good riddance to bad rubbish.
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