Beauty & Desire *on hold*

1

I push down the lace fraying at the ends of my skirts and twist my ankles as I anxiously wait inside the sheriff's home. The sheriff in town, Joseph, knows me by name now from how often I meet with him. I twiddle my thumbs as I watch the housemaid rustle around dusting the floors with an old broom from twindled vines and straw.

The door slams open and I shoot up straight my corset cinching my chest as Joseph strides towards me.

"Twice this week, Claire," he tells me his voice heavily irritated.

I bend my head down in shame, "Apologies Sheriff."

"You need to get your father in line. I cannot keep bending the rules for you," he reaches forward and pushes a curl back from my face his grubby fingers twirling it around his thumb. I withhold my disgust trying not to flinch from his touch.

"I will not let it happen again," I announce crushing my fingers into my knees so tight that I am sure it will bruise to prevent myself from ripping his fingers away from me.

"That's what you said last time Claire," he says in a patronizing tone. "But alas I am releasing him to you. If it happens one more time, I will not be so kind, not even for you. He has a lot of people he owes money to that I can no longer protect him from nor do I care."

"I understand, thank you for your kindness," I retort grinding my teeth in what I can gather into a smile.

He turns around jingling his keys from his wrist and I release the breath I was holding. I do not know what I would do if Joseph charged my father with debt and sent him to the prison or even worse hanged for his crimes. I have no other relatives and I am a young unmarried woman in Great Britain. I most likely would be thrown to the streets. Not that that would be much better than the shamble I currently live in. Joseph emerges with my father with wooden clasps around his wrists and he pushes him in my direction. My father stumbles, clearly distorted and is slow to catch himself from tumbling down onto the stone floor.

I hurry over before he falls headfirst to the ground and manage to lift him up the best I can. I take in his frail figure and his eyes that are red-rimmed and glazed over. He moves and I grunt from his weight trying to shift him to a better position on my shoulders. Joseph watches unamused and then turns away in the other direction.

"Margaret?" he asks me his words slurred from excessive drink still running through his veins.

"No father, it is me Claire," I say.

"Ahh Claire, you wouldn't even imagine. I was so close to my winnings. So very close."

"As you say father."

He continues to grumble about winning coin as I lead out onto the streets back towards Grub Street.

*Author's Note*

Hey! Thanks for checking this story out. I wrote a couple short chapters but they will get longer! I absolutely love retellings of fairy tales (Beauty and the Beast is my fav) I have a couple spins I want in this story but want to stick to the tale closely! I hope you continue ;)