Le Cirque de la Béte

Chapter 2

The house was quiet without her father around. Though Arabella enjoyed the alone time she spent most of it worrying about him. Mr. Deering would usually come stomping in around two o'clock, but when Arabella woke up at eight with no sign of him she found herself quick to worry.

"Nathan?" She'd begun by calling the pub."Is my father there?"

"No, why?" He replied, not fully awake.

"I don't think he came home last night." She felt herself bring her hand to her mouth, ready to start biting at her nails. "You have to help me look for him, please Nathan!"

"Alright, alright. I'll meet you by the library in about an hour." For a moment she heard only breathing over the line. "Bella." She jumped when she heard his voice again. "We'll find him." She knew she should have felt reassured, but alas, Nathan had never been a voice of reason to her.

...

Not twenty minutes later Arabella heard a knock at the door.Rushing to get it, she managed to get her skirt caught on the corner of the cabinet in the hall. Whomever it was at the door knocked again.

"Just a minute!" She called from her place in the hall, tugging restlessly at her dress until-

The sound of the tearing fabric might as well have been a gun shot. Her mother's dress, then Rosalind's, then Jolie's, then Calla's. A hand me down like all her clothes. Irreplaceable each one of them. She couldn't afford a new one, and she'd never learned how to sew. She'd be forced to get rid of it. She was brought back to the present by another round of knocking at the door.

"I'm coming!" She shouted, holding her skirt together with one hand, opening the door with the other. At the door stood her barely conscious father hanging on to Nathan's shoulder. "What happened to meeting at the library?" She asked helping them inside.

"I found him on the way there." He explained. "Asleep on a bench St. John's Gardens."

"Of course, thank you."

"What happened to you?" He questioned taking her hand from her torn skirt. She swatted him away instinctively.

"It's nothing, it caught on a table corner."  She sat down on the sofa next to her father, fast asleep once more. "Father? Are you alright?" Nathan placed a hand on her shoulder, mouthing the words "Leave him to rest" and taking her into the kitchen.

"Let me make you some tea. I make quite the cuppa." Arabella found her eyes landing on her skirt, something Nathan was quick to notice."You could always get a new one."

"No, I can't afford it." She let out a sigh. "Even if I could. It was my mother's. A hand me down."

"Then perhaps it was time to retire it anyway. It does look a bit out of date." He teased, but Arabella felt hurt by his words. She'd always thought her mother to be a very fashionable woman, but Nathan was right. It was a dress for a different time. A time she longed to hold on to. "I could buy you one. If you'd like?"

"What?"

"A new dress. I can afford it, and it doesn't seem a waste." He looked at her expectantly awaiting her reply.

"I can't ask that of you-"

"Then don't. Don't ask, you don't have to. I'm offering." He took her hand from across the table, gently stroking the backside with his thumb."As long as I'm alive you'll never have to ask anything Bella." She felt herself cringe at that name. Bella. She liked her full name, and felt any attempt to abbreviate was lazy. Nevertheless she reveled in the idea of someone taking care of her.

"What do you mean?" It wasn't what she meant to say. She'd never felt like she knew Nathan to well, and she couldn't imagine a life with someone like him. Someone of his color, with someone of her dark skin tone.

"I mean that you are a beautiful girl, and I would like the chance to prove I'm worth someone so stunning."

...

The first snow of the season came mere days before Christmas.Arabella was home hanging garlands of holly around the house. There wasn't much in the way of decorations, so she took to dressing the rooms in holly and ivy hat she grew during the warmer months. 

She heard footsteps approaching the door, followed by the joined laughter of Nathan and her father coming home from the pub.

"Don't tell me you're already drunk."She sneered at the two

"Only on luck my dear." Her father said holding a wad of cash in his hands.

"Luck! that's half of what you went in with." Nathan chuckled, taking the money from Mr. Deering. As quickly as he took it from Edward, Arabella took it from him.

"You went gambling? You let him gamble?" She was furious with the both of them.

"It was just a little game Bella. No harm no foul." Nathan laughed it off, holding out a hand for his cash.

"Don't call me Bella, and it's not just a game." She stashed the money in her boot, using her other hand to hold him back. "We can't afford to be throwing money away like that, especially not with christmas right around the corner. Nathan!" He had drifted into the kitchen, having lost interest in her lecture. "Nathan this is serious, we can't afford a tree, not if we want christmas dinner."

"I hear you Bella-"

"Stop calling me that. My name isn't Bella." Nathan sighed, pulling a bottle of vodka from the cabinet.

"I understand." He paused to take a sip, straight from the bottle. "Arabella."