Beauty and Her Beastly Love (Passion-Filled Fairy Tales Book 2) by Rosetta Bloom Page B

Good day, M. Dumas.” She shut the door and locked it. Breathed out. She was now gladder than ever that her father had stumbled onto Beast’s manor. She could not imagine being married to that man. He was cruel and heartless. He would never have been gentle with her, not the way Beast was. He never would have read with her, laughed with her, listened to her.
    She was glad to be rid of him.
     
    * * *
    Beauty spent the next weeks getting the place back into shape, tilling the garden, planting it, and nursing her father back to health. Pierre no longer woke up whimpering in the night, and he no longer had saggy folds of skin to indicate his impoverished waistline. He was getting healthier, and Beauty was glad of it.
    She was sad, though. She had not seen Beast. She had expected him to look in on them, to project to her. She’d even tried talking to him at night, once her father was asleep. She had hoped that he would use his mirror to see her. She always apologized for taking so long and promised she would come back as soon as her father was in good health and he could take care of himself.
    She thought that time had almost come, even though it was beyond the few days she had promised Beast.
    That night, she made her father pheasant. She said she’d caught it out back, but it had really come from the carriage. She’d basted it well and made her father’s favorite sides of yams, braised beans and croissants.
    “Father,” she said. “I just wanted to let you know that I have to go soon. I have to go back to Beast.”
    Her father looked up from his plate, a mix of shock and sorrow on his face. “Beauty, no. It’s too soon. And that creature,” he shivered as he spoke. “He was so ghastly.”
    Beauty shook her head. “Father, I made a promise to him. He let me leave to come help you, but I promised I would go back. I will keep my promise to him, whether I want to or not.”
    “Beauty,” her father said. “You shouldn’t go to this creature if you don’t want to. What about your husband?”
    “Father, I told you that was all a lie. Beast created it for me, using the name of a count or duke or some such who disappeared years ago. I must go back with him. He’s not unkind to me, father.”
    “Do you want to go?” her father asked.
    Beauty paused, not sure what to say. Did she want to go back to Beast? Unequivocally, the answer was yes. But did she want to leave her father? No, she didn’t want that. And that really seemed to be what he was asking. “No, father,” she said. “I don’t want to leave you to go to him. But, I must.” She paused, thought a minute. “I would love to have you both in my life. He’s really not bad, father. He isn’t.”
    “He just demands that you stay with him.”
    She shook her head. “That’s just it,” she said. “He let me go, because he trusted me. He trusted me in a way that I can’t really explain to you, Papa, but it means a lot to me. And I can’t let him down. I don’t want to let him down.”
    Her father looked quizzically at her. “So you do want to go back?”
    She sighed. “I want to see him, but I don’t want to leave you.”
    Her father nodded. “No, it’s alright,” he said. “All daughters must grow up and move on.”
    Beauty nodded.
    “Are the two of you married?” he asked her.
    Beauty shook her head. “He always said I had a choice. He asked me to marry him, and I told him no. He never hurt me because I refused him. He’s only been good to me and, truthfully, I miss his kindness.”
    Her father nodded. “I guess I knew you would go back to him,” her father said, then took a bite of his pheasant. “He wrote all those books that you love.”
    Beauty stopped and stared at her father. “What?”
    “Your Beast. His name is Ferus, right? He wrote the books.”
    Beauty shook her head, still baffled by what her father was saying.
    Pierre saw her confusion and started to explain. “I was looking for you earlier. Little did I know you were