Beast (18 page)

“Evaline is more girlish than I. She tends to stay clean and proper, while I, on the other hand, do not mind becoming dirty and working hard.”

She laughed a little, thinking about her family and all the good times that they’d had together.

“That sounds like a wonderful family,” I commented.

“Yes, they are.” She looked down at her food.

I could tell that she was about to cry, so I tried to think of something to change the subject.

“So why do you love roses? I am curious.” I smiled at her.

Her face lit up when I asked.

“Well, they were my mother’s favorite flower. When I was real little, she always had roses in almost every room of the house. Their aroma would fill up the room. From then on, I could not make their scent or beauty leave my mind. As I grew older, Mother gave me this necklace.” She touched the necklace around her neck.

A two-inch silver rose blossom hung on a silver chain, resting on her sternum. It was quite beautiful but not too extravagant.

“It was my mother’s when she was young, and she wanted to give it to me because she knew how much I loved them,” she said. “It was the last thing she gave to me.”

“That is similar to why I love roses too.” I smiled. “My mother loved roses more than any other flower. She always had them on the table when we ate. Sometimes she would bring them into my room, setting them on my nightstand.

“Also, she smelled of roses. So whenever I smell them, it makes me think of her. She had this brooch. Oh, it is beautiful. It is a multicolored rose with a short stem. She would wear it on special occasions.

“A few of her dresses even had beaded roses on them. When she would hold me, I would run my fingers over them, picturing the roses in my mind,” I said with a smile.
Oh, how I miss her terribly,
I thought to myself.

After I said this, I looked over to the fire, and tears filled my eyes. I attempted to blink them away without Mirabelle noticing, but it did not work.

“Are you okay?” she said as she put her hand on my arm.

This about caused me to jump out of my skin. My tears dissipated instantly, but I could barely speak.

“I guess,” I stuttered.

After Mirabelle finished her dinner, we both stood up, and I walked her to her bedroom, as I did every night. Once at her door, we said good night and then parted ways. She walked into her room, and I made my way back to the dining room, where Buttons was.

The fire burned all night while Buttons and I lay there on the couch; he sat in my lap as I read a book. We enjoyed each other’s company just as we used to. We did not leave the room all night.

Chapter 11

W
inter came quickly, along with the first snowfall. The castle grounds always looked so beautiful when there was freshly fallen snow outside.

When I was young, Mother would put so many layers of clothes on me that it became difficult to move. I had to waddle like a penguin out of the castle. When I would fall, it would take me forever to stand up; more often than not, someone would have to help me up.

While in my room, I walked over to my bed to look out the window at the snow. Buttons followed me and placed his paws on the windowsill as he looked with me. I chuckled. I picked him up, and we made our way to Mirabelle’s door to let her know that it was time for breakfast.

As soon as I knocked, for the first time, she came to the door, dressed and ready to walk with me to the dining room for breakfast. I put out my left arm for her to hold on to as I held Buttons in my right arm.

“Good morning, Mirabelle,” I said when she opened the door.

“Morning, Beast,” she said with a smile.

“Have you had the chance to look outside yet?”

“Yes, I did. The snow looks so wonderful! Do you not just love freshly fallen snow?”

“Yes, Mirabelle, I do. I had a lot of fun playing around in it when I was young.”

“One time, my brother was throwing snowballs at Evaline and I, thinking that we would not know how to retaliate. We made so many snowballs, but we did not throw them at him,” she said, laughing as we made our way to breakfast.

“What did you two do with them?”

“We”—she began laughing really hard, almost snorting—“put the snowballs in his bed. By the time he found them, he was going to bed, but some of the snowballs had melted, which made his whole bed wet.”

“Was he mad?”

“Oh no! He found it quiet comical and then poured water on us the next day when we were about to play around outside. But that night that we put the snowballs in his bed, I had to share my bed with him. I never did anything like that to him again, because he smelled. But we would pull pranks on one another all the time!” She smiled, staring out into the distance as if watching the memory.

She laughed for a while and then looked back at me.

“One time, I was in the yard with my friend Ava,” I said, “building a snowman. I ran inside to grab coal and a carrot.

“When I came back outside, she was hiding and pelted me with snowballs. She threw one so hard that it knocked me off of my feet, making me fall down flat on my back. There was a hole in the snow in the shape of my body for a long time after that. I have not had a snowball fight since then.”

“Oh my goodness! Did she feel bad?”

“No, she just laughed. My parents were watching the whole time too.”

“I probably would have done the same thing—laugh!”

We talked about playing in the snow the whole time we walked to the dining room. It gave me an idea for after breakfast.

Once in the dining room, we walked over to the couch to lay Buttons down by the fire, which was still on. Then we made our way to the table, and I helped her sit in her chair.

“Thank you, Beast!”

“Anything for you, Mirabelle.”

“So tell me about Buttons. I know that we spoke a little about him a few days ago, but I would like to know more,” she informed me.

“Well, he is the sweetest cat I have ever known. He follows me around the castle and sleeps on my pillow at night. When my parents gave him to me, he was two months old and weighed barely two pounds. I would carry him like a baby in my arms.

“Buttons is very mouthy; he likes to lick and then bite and then lick again. To wake me up in the morning, he licks my face. He plays fetch even. I love him so much. He has kept me company for a long time,” I explained.

“Wow. He does sound like a neat cat. Sometimes I see him in my room. I have felt him jump on my bed at night to lie at my feet.”

“That explains where he is when I cannot find him.” I laughed.

“I always wanted a cat.” She smiled, glancing over to the fire, where Buttons was. “When I was little, I was given a little stuffed toy kitten. Papa tells me that I would pray for it to come to life.

“There was a cat that belonged to the family in the house next to us in the city. Every time she was in our yard, I would pet her and spend time with her.”

“Well, now you have Buttons to be around all the time.” I smiled at her.

She finished her breakfast and then wiped her mouth with her napkin.

“Mirabelle?”

“Yes, Beast?”

“Would you like to go out in the snow for a while?”

“I would love that. Let me grab my coat from my room, and I will meet you in the foyer.”

We departed, and she walked to her room. I made my way into the foyer to sit on the stairs.

It was the first time that I had played outside in the snow since the transformation. A coat hung on the coat hanger in the foyer, so I put it on. It was a grey coat with silver trim on the edges.

After I buttoned my coat with the help of the Invisibles, I heard Mirabelle walking into the foyer. I turned around to greet her.

The second she came into the room, I bowed to her, and she curtsied. She was wearing a brown skirt and a black coat that was as long as her skirt. Mirabelle looked divine.

“Ready to go outside?” I asked.

“Yes, I am. Let us go.” She spoke with joy in her voice.

I gave her my arm, and we walked together outside.

Snow was still falling lightly as we came out from beneath the overhang of the castle. It was captivating, but not quite like Mirabelle.

When we first stepped onto the snow, it made a slushing sound. We unhooked our arms and began to walk around. I turned around, looking at our footprints in the snow, noticing that mine were much larger than Mirabelle’s.

While I was walking away from Mirabelle, I felt something hit me in the back of my head. When I turned around, Mirabelle attempted to act as if she had not done anything. But it was not long until she was laughing hysterically. She had thrown a snowball at me.

“You should not have done that,” I said, shaking my head.

“Oh, what are you going to do about it?” she taunted with a grin.

I bent down to make a snowball. After I stood up, I threw it at Mirabelle.

It was a bigger-sized snowball, because I had bigger hands than she did. Once the snow left my hand, I realized the size of it. As it hurled toward her, she let out a scream while laughing. As soon as it hit her, the snowball exploded into thousands of little chunks. Luckily, it did not hit her in the face.

“Beast!” she shrieked. “Snow is in my mouth!”

“It is just water; it will melt!” I teased with a deep laugh.

We then started throwing snowballs at one another.

Every time I tossed one at her, she would let out a high-pitched scream but laugh at the same time. This snowball fight had us running around the castle. I attempted to hide behind things to sneak up on her, but she was better at it than I was.

After playing for a while, we were out of breath. She fell to the ground and began to move her arms and legs. I wrinkled my brow while attempting to discover what she was doing.

“Mirabelle, what are you doing?” I asked once I finally had given up guessing on my own.

“You have never done this? I am making a snow angel!” she said as she lifted her head to look at me.

“A snow angel?”

“Yes.” She giggled. “Here, lie down next to me on the snow and move your arms and legs! It is very simple. Come on—try it, Beast!”

I lay down in the snow, doing as I had been instructed. Afterward, we both stood up, and to my surprise, our bodies’ outlines looked like angels in the snow.

“Wow, Mirabelle, that is incredible. How did you learn to do this?”

“My mother taught me when I was very young. Every time I am in the snow, I have to make at least one. Just a tradition, I guess.”

I could tell that Mirabelle was cold, because she was shivering a little bit; her nose was turning red, and I thought I saw her teeth chattering.

“Would you like to go inside to warm up?” I asked her.

“Yes, it is a little cold out here.” She smiled.

Again I gave her my arm before we walked into the castle. It was about lunchtime when we stopped playing around outside.

Once inside, we parted ways. When I found Buttons and picked him up, he began to purr. At the top of the stairs, I set him down and walked into the library.

Not long after I had come in, I heard the door creek as Mirabelle walked into the library.

“Well, great minds think alike!” I said as I stood, acknowledging that she was there.

She saw me, smiled, and curtsied.

Again she walked around the library for some time before she grabbed a book and then sat down.

The sun began to set as we finished in the library. We walked, arms linked, to the dining room. The fire was still on, which made the room toasty.

Because dinner was not fully prepared yet, Mirabelle left to change her clothes. Sometime later, she returned in an orange skirt and white blouse. Mirabelle walked over to the dining table with a smile on her face.

“Good evening, Mirabelle,” I said as I sat in my seat.

“Evening, Beast. Today was a lot of fun. Thank you,” she said as she looked down at her food to see what she was eating.

“You are welcome. I have not had that much fun with a snowball fight in over two hundred years.”

She looked up from her food, smiling.

We talked about the day and about the books we had read. The more I learned about her and spoke with her, the deeper in love I fell. Mirabelle was an incredible woman.

After she finished her meal, we stood up, and I walked her to her room. We were both quiet as we made our way. I could feel her looking at me as we walked. But I knew that if I turned to look back, she would look away from me.

Once at her door, we said good night to one another. Before I left, she hugged me. My heart pounded so loudly that I could hear it in my ears. I was sure that she felt my heart and was almost positive she heard it too. My stomach began to twist into knots, and my breath became shaky.

As she turned to open her door, my hands began to sweat. It took all of my strength to not jump out of my skin. After she walked into her room and shut the door, I turned my body, trying to shake away the overwhelming feeling from her hug.