The Secret Diary of Belle (Grimmoire Series)

Entry Forty Four

As we walked back toward our coach, after leaving the Ball, I became overwhelmed with happiness.

"It's such a beautiful night," I said, exiting the the grounds. "We should walk home, Geroux. Please say yes!"

"Belle, it's not a good idea," began Geroux, "The forest —"

""Is not safe, it's dangerous," - yes, yes, I have heard it all before. But Geroux - a moonlit stroll home - so romantic!" I interrupted. He looked up at the moon, then down to the ground, contemplating this idea.

"Tonight is our night. It's perfect. Nothing will go wrong," I said. "The worst of the evening is over."

With a heavy sigh, Geroux walked over to our coach. He spoke briefly to the driver and with a quick flourish of the reigns, the horses set off without us aboard.

Geroux came over, took my hand and led me into the forest.

* * *

"Is there something on your mind, Belle?" he asked, as if there was a simple answer. There were a thousand-and-one things swirling around my head.

"What were you drinking earlier... at the house?" I asked, hoping for some clarity. "I could not help but see. I do not mean to pry, it's just that, I know how Papa was with his drink and I wish to never go through that again, —"

"— It was not alcohol," confirmed Geroux.

"Then what was it?" I asked.

Sighing, Geroux looked over to me, "It was medicine."

"Oh my, are you still sick? Have you been to a doctor recently?" Geroux did not seem ill at all, this I knew, but I could not help but think this was related to the secrets that Geroux had mentioned before.

"In a manner of speaking, I am unwell... sometimes," he began. "It's a preventative concoction that I need to take regularly, that keeps me being myself," he said nonchalantly as we walked along. "Unfortunately that was my last vial and the little apothecary that makes it is quite a journey away."

"How far away?" I wondered.

"Let's just say it's much further away than it is to find roses," he replied with a grim smile.

As we walked along in comfortable silence, I thought about it some more.

"You're still taking that special medicine? How serious is this? I wish you would have talked confided in me about this more - it's nothing to be ashamed of. Have I yet to earn your trust?" I wasn't being pointed, I was genuinely interested in why now he decided to tell me the truth and not earlier.

"It is not because I don't trust you," he said, "it's also not because I'm being deceitful, but rather the information I have withheld from you is quite difficult to explain."

"I fear that even a person with the most impassioned heart and intellectual mind would not be able to understand," he added. I contemplated that thought.

"If I were to explain, you would think me a crazed man," he continued, "Well, more crazed than your current perception of me."

"Please try, Geroux," I pleaded. "Please."

I let the words sit for a moment. The night was so beautiful I was almost instantly distracted until Geroux pulled me back to reality with his words.

"In order to explain, I first need to tell you about my late wife," he said tentatively.

I did not expect that.

"Go on, then," I said, encouragingly.

"When I met Josette, I knew there was something more to her. She was a smart, beautiful woman, but I could see there was something else at work within her. It was her eyes, they gave her away," Geroux looked up to the full moon.