I Felt Your Pulse

Stroll

The air was stiflingly hot, the humidity of the day dampening Jack's clothes as be pushed Belle's chair over unyielding gravel. The wheels kept snagging on the uneven ground.

"Sorry, I feel fine, but my mother insists on me using this awful chair."

"That's alright, just not sure if the garden was the best choice for an escape."

"I didn't know any other place where we wouldn't be eavesdropped on."

Jack cast his glance sideways, Lady Fox stood glowering in a tall window of the sitting room. He huffed exasperatedly.

"I told you she hated me."

"Well, contradicting her was maybe not the best decision."

"It wouldn't have mattered what I said Belle, she hates me."

"she's just guarded is all Jack, she'll come around to you. I know she will."

"Belle, she is never going to approve of me."

"Jack, surely now that you are head surgeon, you have a salary. Really, it was just my security she was worried for, now that that's handled-"

"Belle, surely you know that that is not her only objection to me."

"Jack, my mother is an open-minded woman, she secured your position here!"

"She will never allow you to marry someone of low birth, with no title."

"Jack she doesn't seriously-"

"Belle, she's told me as much herself."

"Well-" Belle paused, considering, "Certainly she must care more for my happiness."

"Belle, you can't be so naive as to-"

"Naive?" Belle asked, turning as far as she could manage in the chair, her eyes fiery as they met his. "How dare you?"

"Belle, I didnt-"

"Dr. Dawkins I know my own mother quite a bit better than you do!"

"So you really think she'd allow her eldest daughter, the Lady Belle Fox, to marry some no-one, an orphan abandoned outside a tavern, a common thief? No title, only earning a modest wage? You really think she'd ever allow that?"

Belle paused now, her mouth slightly agape as she considered this words.

"Jack- she's not so small-minded as you think she is.  She loves me, she wants me to be happy." She said softly.

"Is that why she tried to stop you becoming a surgeon? Why she's trying to prevent your career? Why she locked you in a room to die just to keep you away from me?"

"She was-"

"If you're determined to take her side, I think maybe I should just leave."

The charged silence that passed between them simmered in the hot summer air.  After a moment Belle answered.

"Yes, I think maybe you should."

Jack wordlessly pushed Belle back to the front door of the manor, turned tail, and walked away back down the hill.