Belle’s first day in the castle was spent being introduced to the household staff, who were overjoyed to meet her. They’d only had Adam to interact with for so very long, and he often spent his days shut inside his office. She’d been overwhelmed at first, and despite his appearance, which usually drove people away, Belle clung to Adam’s hairy arm, using it as her touchstone when the nuances to her new abode grew to be too much.
“Lucien is the candlestick. Bosworth is the antique clock. The stove is Chef Bouche. Thomas is the coatrack.” She rubbed her temples. “Does the floor have a personality? Am I walking on someone’s face?”
Adam shook his head, wondering if he would be permitted to put his free hand atop hers, which was looped through the crook of his elbow. It had been ages since he’d given anyone a tour of his home. His previous nurses had been given a gruff, “Stay out of the West Wing,” and that was that, if they’d been let in the door at all.
He coughed a few times before speaking to her. “You’ve met nearly everyone. I daresay it’s the most they’ve all talked in quite some time. They grew tired of my company long ago.”
“No kidding? Maybe it’s got something to do with your sunny disposition,” Belle teased. “Are you hungry? I was going to make some dinner. Get better acquainted with Chef Bouche.”
At this, Adam stiffened and dropped her arm. “I eat alone. You can pick up whatever you like. Call up Harris’ Grocer in town and charge whatever you like to my account. Don’t shop for me, though. I feed myself.”
Belle touched his arm, but he instantly recoiled. She recalled her professional manners and folded her hands, letting them hang before her. “I don’t mind cooking for the both of us. It’s part of my job: nurse and housekeeper. I wouldn’t be living up to the hype if I let you starve.”
“I don’t need you to cook for me. I haven’t needed mothering since I was a child. Clean the house if you like. Cook for yourself if you like. Leave me alone to do my job during the day.” He sped up his pace. “I’ve indulged you enough. There’s no need for us to spend any more time together.”
Belle’s mouth fell open, dumbstruck at having stepped on some landmine in his tightly-woven psyche she couldn’t have seen coming. She made a mental note to ask Chef Bouche about Adam’s eating habits. She was his nurse, after all.
Belle tucked away her sadness over being snapped at and raised her chin, reasoning that there was work to be done. The castle was a filthy mess. Whether her patient was cordial or not, she had a job to do.
“Don’t mind the master,” Audra said sympathetically when Belle turned the corner. The white China teapot had been listening in – her golden swirls turning to a nose, mouth, eyes with expressive eyebrows when she spoke. “He’s sensitive about food.”
“I can see that. I was going to make dinner. Any suggestions?”
Audra pfft’d irritably. “You’ll find nothing but cobwebs in the cupboards. Make sure to buy all you need to feed yourself. The master doesn’t eat regular food anymore. It’s all I can do to force a cup of tea into him every now and again.”
Belle rubbed her temples. “What does he eat?”
Audra looked up, making sure to meet Belle’s big eyes before she answered. “His curse will turn him into a member of the Lupine when he turns thirty later this year. He started eating dog food last year. It’s his way of punishing himself, preparing for the inevitable.”
Belle’s lips tightened. “But that’s…” She wanted to put to words all the obvious reasons why this was not the way to handle one’s life, but instead focused on what she could rationalize as part of her job, leaning away from just plain meddling. “I’m his nurse. Show me where the dog food is.”
Audra’s eyebrows lifted – the gold swirls moving like waves on the delicate china. “What are you going to do?”
“I’m throwing it out. He’ll eat as a person, or he’ll starve. Self-pity has a time and place. I’d say nine years of it is enough. Wouldn’t you?”
Audra smiled deviously. “Oh, he won’t like that.”
“Yeah? Well, he’ll just have to get over it. Dog food doesn’t have enough nutritional value to sustain a person. No wonder he’s so irritable.”
“Rare steak, then,” Audra suggested, hopping on her tray with giddiness that someone was finally going to help the boy she’d raised. “Barely cook it at all. He used to love my potatoes. I can teach you how to make them. Chef Bouche tries to make everything fancy, but I know my boy. He likes them mashed, with a mushroom sauce of my own invention,” she informed Belle with a gleam of pride as she drove her teacart down the hall next to the woman.
Belle pulled out her old cell phone and ordered enough food for two for the week, and then turned to the magical objects. They flocked to her, watching her with anticipation of being noticed. She smiled down at them all with an indulgent love in her heart for the long-forgotten people who’d had lives and loves of their own, once upon a better time. “I think I should probably start cleaning this place. Would you all like to help me?”
The objects looked around at each other hesitantly, with covert guilty glances that they’d let the castle fall into disrepair. The candelabra hopped up to her, and Belle scooped him up, so he could look at her on eye level. “Mademoiselle, the master doesn’t like change. If you clean things around here, believe me, he’ll have something to say about it.”
The corner of Belle’s mouth lifted. “Would that thing be, ‘Belle, the house looks amazing. I’m so inspired that I think I’ll buy Lucien some new tapers just for the heck of it.’” Belle and Lucien shared a chuckle.
Bosworth chimed in from the floor, his brass arms on his shapely laquered hips. “Now, now. The master won’t like us messing with the state of the home. We tried that years ago, remember? We moved the stand in the foyer a foot to the left, and he was spitting mad for days.”
Belle studied the enchanted trinkets with a new bloom of compassion. It wasn’t exactly easy for a teapot to operate a broom. “Look, I’m not entertaining any sort of delusion that everything will be up to snuff within the thirty days Adam’s given me. Still, I have to try. It’s unsanitary for anyone to live in such conditions. His coughing is no doubt from the dust. I’m his nurse.”
Lucien leaned forward and squeezed her face with the two pedestals that held the unlit melted white tapers. He brushed his brass nose across hers affectionately. “Then whatever you need, we are here to assist you.” His voice turned sharp after Belle kissed his cheek and set him back on the floor. “Alright, everyone! You heard the lady of the house. Bosworth, find the mop and bucket. Audra, let’s start in the kitchen. That’s one of the rooms that still gets used on occasion. I’ll not have the lady of the house dining in filth.” He turned over his shoulder and gave Belle a wink and a conspiratorial nod of his head.
Belle felt energized with the zing of fresh optimism as she located the pile of unused dust rags. Though Adam was stuck in his mess, Belle realized that she didn’t have to carry on as if she was also stuck.