"It was good," answered Belle.
"Wonderful," Lucas responded and when he noticed her staring at him, he asked, "Is something the matter?"
Belle shook her head, "It's nothing."
"Your breakfast is ready and waiting for you," he informed her, following one step behind her.
Last night she had gone asleep sad but when she woke in the morning, Belle decided that she would not give up! She would be the kind of woman Lucas would agree upon but then, thought Belle to herself, did he not agree with the way she was? Was this what her mother was speaking about?
Once she was done with her meal, she got on the carriage being accompanied by Lucas to the Edmonds mansion who had invited her and her mother previously to come to visit them. Belle stepped down the carriage to notice the whitewashed walls of Edmond's mansion. Two guards stood outside at the gates and she turned her head to get inside the mansion with Lucas where they were greeted by the Edmonds' butler.
"Please come in, milady. Mr. and Mrs. Edmonds have been expecting you," the man was an old man who had gone half bald with just the sides of his hair still intact. He had some fine lines of wrinkles on his face, his face serious and less friendly than what she was used to from Lucas.
The man came forward to remove her coat but Lucas was the one who reached out to place his fingers at the back of her coat and removed it for her before pa.s.sing the coat to the butler.
They then followed the butler to finally meet the Edmonds who was seated in the parlor room. In the room sat a woman and a young girl of Belle's age.
"Miss Belle Adams and her butler are here," announced the butler. Mrs. Edmonds was the first one to get up from her seat and she came forward too, raising her hand for Belle to take. Belle bowed her head in greeting.
"Lady Belle, it is so good to see you. Please come sit," said Mrs. Edmonds and Belle followed, "Meet my daughter Agatha."
"Nice to meet you," Belle exchanged pleasantries with the girl who had beautiful platinum blonde hair that was parted with small braids and left open.
"I am so sorry to hear what happened to your parents. It was truly tragic which we didn't expect," Mrs. Edmonds shared her condolences.
"It was," Belle replied, "You have a beautiful home," she looked at the interior of the room they were seated in.
"Mr. Edmonds got some parts of the mansion retouched," smiled Mrs. Edmonds. Unlike her daughter, she had tied her brown hair behind her, "The mansion was looking quite old and rusty. There is this one architect, I don't know if you have heard of him but he does excellent work when it comes to changing and redesigning without breaking too many details to the existing infrastructure."
"I think you are speaking about Mr. Wells," answered Belle to have the woman nod her head.
"Yes, he's the one. Pardon me I don't remember some of the names that come and go," laughed Mrs. Edmond. The woman's then s.h.i.+fted to look at Belle's butler to say, "Is this the famous butler that many women fawn over."
"He does look pretty handsome for a butler," commented Agatha looking up and down the man who was in the room, "Do you mind if I take him out of the room?" the girl asked Belle almost ready to get up.
"Yes, I do," Belle answered and the girl turned to look at her with a surprised look on her face.
"I don't think one walk in the mansion should be too much trouble?" Agatha tried her luck again. Getting up she walked towards the butler.
When Belle's eyes fell on Lucas, he looked back at her expressionless. After the little words that were shared and not communicated properly last night, she could feel the awkwardness that came from her side but she tried to keep a straight face.
Belle then looked in the eye of the girl and said, "The last time a woman came to my mansion she tried to create trouble. My apologies but you will need to let my butler be as he is."
Agatha hugged, saying, "What a petty girl," and she made her way towards the door.
"Agatha!" scolded Mrs.Edmonds, looking slightly troubled the woman said, "I apologize for my daughter's words. She can be at times unreasonable with her requests like some of the vampiress."
"That's alright," Belle offered the woman a smile.
"Oh, good the tea is here!" exclaimed Mrs. Edmonds and a maid entered to serve them tea.
After the tea was poured and given to her, Belle was asked by the woman, "I don't mean to offend but I heard that your father was in quite some trouble. The mansion I mean. Your aunts and uncles must have spoken about adopting you."
"My parents were able to acquire the house back so I will be living in the mansion," she answered politely.
"Oh, that's good to know. When we heard the news I was worried and then with what happened...It's good to know that you have the house," Mrs. Edmonds might have been nice but Belle didn't like the intrusive questions especially not the ones that involved her family or the house and it included Lucas.
She heard the doors open and close in distance and many finally entered the room, "Lady Belle, this is my son, Carson," the man was probably an inch shorter than Lucas, his brown wavy hair combed.
Belle stood up along with Mrs. Edmonds and the man appeared in front of her, holding her hand to kiss the back of it, "It is good to see you again, Lady Belle. You have grown to a beautiful girl," the urge to wipe the back of her hand rigorously on her dress was there but she had to be polite. Why couldn't Lucas give her those kinds of compliments? Every time she asked him his reply would be 'good', "I don't think you remember me," said Carson.
"My apologies for it," Belle responded back with a small
"She was a small girl," said Mrs. Edmonds.
Carson nodded his head, "Indeed she was too young. The last we met, she jumped from the tree into the arms of her butler saying 'I will be your bride'," he chuckled, "It was a funny memory. Lady Belle refused to get down from the tree while playing with the other children. The butler finally caught her."
Mrs. Edmonds laughed, "Of course, only young children say such strange things."
Outwardly Belle smiled looking at them but internally she was embarra.s.sed.
Did that really happen? How did she not remember something like this. When the Edmonds were speaking about something, Belle's eyes met up with Lucas' who returned her gaze with his usually calm expression.
