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“Can we build a snowman in front of your house, Grandpa?” ten-year-old Henry asked the man who was standing at the kitchen island cutting vegetables.
Rumford Gold groaned to himself. He didn’t know how many more hits his reputation could withstand. “Yes, go ahead… but try to make it threatening if you can.”
“Dad!” His daughter-in-law Emma berated him and then laughed. The man was incorrigible.
“Yeah!” Henry whooped. “Can we all do it together?”
Neal gave Emma a look that she immediately understood before answering his son. “Why don’t you and your mom go get started and I’ll be out in a few minutes. I have to talk to Dad about something.”
“OK, but what about you, Grandpa? Can you help too?” Henry asked with a sincere hope in his voice that Gold could never deny.
“I have to finish here, but I promise to come out when I’m done. Here’s something you can use to get started.” He handed Henry a carrot.
“Thanks, Grandpa! It’s going to be awesome!” Henry ran from the kitchen. Emma mouthed ‘Good Luck’ to Neal before following the boy outside.
“Do you need any help with that, Dad?” Neal asked while trying to think of the best way to broach the subject he really wanted to talk about.
“I’m fine. I don’t want you to work while you’re here. I want you to relax and enjoy yourself.” Gold glanced up at his son.
“So when are we meeting this mystery woman?” Neal, who had been unaware that his father was dating anyone until a few minutes earlier, couldn’t put off asking any longer.
Gold, whose nerves had been on edge until this moment, finally relaxed. The worst was over. Neal had been begging him to date for years so he knew his son’s reaction was one of disbelief rather than disapproval. He chuckled. “I’ve invited her to come by later to join us for dinner. I can’t wait for you to meet her.”
“O-Kaayyy… but why all the secrecy?” Neal wasn’t sure how he felt. He knew he’d been urging his father to date, but now that it was a reality, he felt more concerned than elated. Maybe it was just that his father was being so cagey about the whole thing. What was the man hiding? His internal distrust mechanism had kicked in and was warning him to be wary.
“I’m not hiding anything. I just didn’t want you to form any opinions about her before you met her in person. Both you and Emma would have conducted a full-scale online search to find out everything you could about her. I didn’t want you to make incorrect assumptions. She’s very special and I want you to see that.” Gold knew that if they’d even seen a photo of Belle online that they’d be jumping to all types of wrong conclusions. He, himself, had had his own doubts about why someone like her would be interested in someone like him. He had not been about to let them have the chance to dissect the relationship before they met her.
Neal was not convinced, but decided to let it go for now. “I get it. I guess we’ll see for ourselves when we meet her.”
“Good.” Gold knew his son had questions and doubts, but he also knew that there was something about Belle that could soften even the most hardened hearts. “Now why don’t you go and help Henry and Emma build that snowman while I finish getting things ready.”
“Yeah, I should go help them. And don’t forget that you promised to come out when you’re done.” Neal had to laugh to himself. He knew building a snowman was not something that fell within his father’s comfort zone.
“I haven’t, but until I get out there make sure they don’t use any flowers or hearts to decorate it. I have a reputation to maintain.”
Neal laughed. “Oh, don’t worry. We’ll make it worthy of the fearsome Mr. Gold,” Neal laughingly assured him before heading out the door.
Neal had barely stepped onto the porch when he was greeted by a barrage of snowballs. “Hey! That’s not fair!” He looked around for any snow that he could gather, but the steps and railings were completely clear. Of course his father would have seen to that. He bolted down the steps amid another barrage of snowballs and grabbed a handful of snow. Now he was in the game.
The snowball fight ensued for a while amid a great deal of laughter. Neal was sure his dad would be mortified if he knew what was happening in front of his house, but that made it even more fun. Henry decided that a moving target was harder to hit so he began racing around the front yard with Neal in pursuit. When Henry stopped to catch his breath, Neal took advantage by hurling a large snowball at him. Before he could register what was happening, Henry ducked and the snowball hit a young woman who had appeared on the sidewalk out of nowhere.
“I’m so sorry!” Neal yelled out in apology. “That was meant for my son.”
The woman, whose remarkable blue eyes peeped out at him from under a grey knit hat that was topped by a pompom, seemed momentarily stunned. And then, to Neal’s shock, this rather angelic looking creature placed the bag that she was carrying down on the sidewalk and formed a snowball of her own. “Intent is meaningless,” she replied while throwing the snowball with dead aim directly at him.
“Great throw!” Emma congratulated her when it hit Neal on the left shoulder.
The woman smiled. “I’ve been practicing for something,” she said sweetly while forming another snowball. “Do you mind if I join you?”
“Yeah!” Henry hooted with joy, thrilled to have another playmate and ally.
“That’s it!” Neal exclaimed when the second snowball hit him on the opposite shoulder. “You asked for it!” It was now three against one and he was not going to hold back. The snowball fight intensified with even more yelling and laughing.
They were so absorbed in the fun that they didn’t immediately hear Gold when he stepped out of the house. “What’s going on here?” he asked. Before anyone could answer, the woman threw a snowball that sailed right past Neal and hit Gold in the chest.
Neal, who had followed the snowball with his eyes, panicked when he saw the look on his father’s face. “Dad, that was an accident,” he explained, nervous for the woman. If it had been one of them who had thrown it, he would have laughed it off.
“No, it wasn’t,” Belle corrected him while throwing another snowball at Gold.
“Miss, I don’t think you know who you’re dealing with,” Neal whispered loudly to her. His father looked furious.
“I know exactly who I’m dealing with and he’s had this coming to him for quite some time now. It’s why I’ve been practicing,” she informed him as she threw a third one at her target.
“Is that Miss French?” Gold seemed to growl from his perch at the top of the steps.
“Yes, it is, Mr. Gold. And this is payback. You know what you did.” With those words she climbed the steps to confront him directly.
Neal and Emma all but stopped breathing as the woman approached Gold with another snowball in hand. But instead of tossing it at him, she tossed it away and greeted him with a rather enthusiastic hug and kiss.
“What the?” Neal choked out.
Emma started to laugh at Neal’s reaction, but before she could say anything, Gold spoke. “I see you’ve all met Belle.” Gold looked down and smiled happily at her.
“Hi!” Belle said with a huge smile on her face. “Nice to meet all of you!”
“Great to meet you too, Belle,” Emma replied while pushing a shaken Neal and exuberant Henry toward the steps.
“Why don’t we all go in and get to know one another a little better over tea and hot cocoa? We can finish the snowman later,” Gold suggested.
Henry enthusiastically agreed, especially after Belle asked him to retrieve the bag she’d left on the sidewalk. It contained Rum’s favorite brownies that she’d baked for them.
When they were settled around the kitchen island, which always served as a gathering place, Neal finally spoke. “So how did the two of you meet?”
Belle bit her lower lip and laughed. “We had a rather rocky beginning.” She glanced up to meet Gold’s eyes and he laughed with her.
“Belle was a bit of a thorn in my side from day one,” he said teasingly.
Belle pursed her lips in mock disapproval. “Well, he sent me a lease to sign for the library apartment that I was hoping to rent and he wasn’t too happy when I sent it back with some changes that I wanted to make.”
Gold chuckled. “I’ve never had a tenant question me before Belle. In fact, I don’t think any of them have ever read their rental agreements. Most even seem shocked that I actually expect them to pay rent when I go to collect it.”
Belle giggled. “Anyway, we were finally able to iron out an agreement and over time we got to know one another. I’m the head librarian at the Storybrooke Library so Rum and I see each other every day. His shop is right across the street from the library.”
“Yes,” Gold said fondly. “We’ve had many opportunities to bump into one another.” He grinned at her in a way that made Neal and Emma know that there was a story behind what he was saying.
“But it still took us a while to get together. Rum’s not the easiest person to get to know.” She smiled at him.
“No kidding,” Emma offered in agreement. “So what did he do to warrant the payback? You got him good with those snowballs.”
“He threw two snowballs at me earlier this week and then hid in his shop like the coward he is so that I couldn’t get him back.” She laughed. “He knew better than to think he’d get off that easily.”
“As you can see, Belle doesn’t let me get away with anything,” Gold pointed out as though it was the greatest thing in the world.
“Sounds like you’re the perfect match for my father-in-law,” Emma commented.
Neal, not as convinced as Emma, needed to hear a lot more. “I hope we have a chance to get to know you better, Belle. My father didn’t tell us about you until today right before you arrived.”
“I know. Rum wanted us to meet before he said too much about me.” She took Gold’s hand in hers. ”I’m sure I’m not what you were expecting, but your father and I just seem to work together.”
Gold squeezed her hand.
Henry, now anxious to get back outside, interrupted. “Do you want to help us build a snowman?”
“I’d love to! I was going to suggest it myself so I brought some props for us to use to dress him.” She giggled. “I thought we could make him look like your grandfather.”
“Cool!” Henry was elated.
“Am I to suffer more indignities?” Gold asked, all the while smiling at Belle.
“Oh, I promise he’ll be adorable!... just like the man we’re modelling him after.”
Gold and Neal groaned at the same time, though for entirely different reasons.
Belle and Emma both laughed.
They finished their snack and then went back outside. Gold promised to catch up with them in a few minutes. He had something he had to do first.
They made quick work of building the body of the snowman, and while Belle was showing Henry the tie and hat she’d brought and they searched for items to use for the hair, eyes, mouth and arms, Neal took the opportunity to pull Emma aside.
“What do you think?”
Emma could tell that Neal liked Belle, but was still worried about his dad. “I think she’s just what he needs. They complement one another.”
“Yeah, I can see that even though she’s kind of young for him. I just don’t want him to get hurt.”
“I don’t think that’s going to happen. She likes him as much as he likes her. It’s pretty obvious.”
A snowball hit him in the back before he could answer. He looked around to see that his father was not far behind him. “Dad! I didn’t think you were going to join us.”
“Of course I’m here. Someone has to make sure this snowman doesn’t send the wrong message. I can see you’re too busy with other things. Belle should never be left to her own devices.” He laughed and it made Neal happy.
“Rum!” Belle called out to him. “What do you think?”
“Yea, do you like it Grandpa?” Henry echoed Belle’s question.
Gold turned to look at the snowman. “I think it needs one last thing.” He handed the old cane that he’d just found in his closet to Henry.
“Thanks, Grandpa! This is awesome!” Henry hung the cane off of the snowman’s arm and stood admiring his handiwork.
“So you like it?” Belle had moved to Gold’s side and hooked her arm through his.
“He’s smiling... ” Gold said.
“Don’t worry. I already thought about that.” She giggled as she reached into her bag to extract something that she attached to the snowman’s free hand. “This will explain why he’s smiling.”
Henry read it out loud. “I KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE”. The confusion on his face made everyone laugh. “I don’t get it,” he said.
“I’ll explain later,” Gold assured his grandson, secure in the knowledge that the rest of the town would.