Chapter 810

That sombre not lingered in the air for a while as silence took over the conversation. Kat knew she’d poked a bit of a sore spot for Belle but it was immensely annoying to hear of someone without an plan for an heir, not desire to marry, yet with an orphanage practically in spitting distance. Belle could choose one of the older children if she didn’t want to raise another child completely, or pick one of the new babes if she did. It wasn’t a hard concept to grasp. Insensitive to point out perhaps, but not hard to grasp.

So, as both a way to get more information and an olive branch towards Belle, Kat asked, “What can you tell us about Gaston? We may want to hear about Zuhra as well, but Gaston was your son and you haven’t really shared any happy memories about him or what he was like. Would you be interested?”

Belle drew herself back up to full height in her chair, “Yes. Yes I think I will. I even have an easy place to start. Before he was born. Gaston was always kicking me after he’d developed enough. When he started to get really bad with his kicks I had to tap around my own stomach to give him targets otherwise he would always kick towards my insides. Not pleasant I tell you.

“It didn’t stop when he was out either. Always and forever fidgeting. If you picked him up he’d wiggle and whine until he was allowed back onto the ground... but he also seemed to know if you were paying him attention. So, on the one hand he didn’t like to be held, but he absolutely HATED to be left alone. If I left the room for just a moment. Perhaps to go to the bathroom or even just to grab a glass of water he would scream like the demons from hell were coming for him specifically... wait... is that considered offensive?”

Kat shrugged, “I don’t really know? I mean, I’m not even sure if Hell is a real place. Sure we have our own dimension but it isn’t called hell as far as I know. Maybe there’s a city called hell? I really have no idea,”

Belle nodded, “Yes... it’s always odd. Lots of bad rumours about demons but if you talk to people who’ve actually met them... well those stories tend to be a lot more mundane. A bit like contractors, just without so much hassle. Heck, I’d be employing demons myself if the cost of getting the information wasn’t so high. Especially with rumours that summoning you lot is even worse,” Kat gave a sheepish nod. “Yeah, thought so.

“Anyway... as I was saying. Couldn’t leave him alone for a moment. I did try employing a nanny for him so that I could get back to work but that apparently wasn’t acceptable either. This was... about six months after he was born, I think? Oh, the trouble he caused the first time. Apparently, it took about an hour to realise I wasn’t coming back for even longer and he just went off. I could hear it from the other end of the street when I finally returned home.

.....

“So he started to come into work with me. It was really the only thing that could be done. My trusty second in command, may he rest in peace, couldn’t handle everything by himself and I’d only really budgeted for 2 months recovery after the birth. Taking a full six months was pushing things and the company was standing to lose a lot of money so I had to come back,” explained Belle.

“Um... just to but in,” said Lil carefully, “but um... what are the chances your second in command was also murdered?”

Belle let out a long breath, “Unlikely. I mean, possible certainly but... unlikely, not worth the effort. He was a tough old man, worked with my grandfather actually, back when the company was much smaller. He worked shoulder to shoulder with my father the entire time he worked, and finally helped me when I took over. He passed in his sleep peacefully. I think he was... hmm... he never liked to talk about his age but he was at the very least ninety. While it was still sad when he left us... he lived a full life. He’d worked hard for years and years. He was more a grandfather to me than my actual grandfather but he was killed by bandits so I don’t hold that against grandpa.”

“Sorry for bringing it up,” said Lily.

Belle waved Lily’s concern off, “He was always a cheerful old man. Would’ve dunked a bucket of water over me head if he found out I was moping. It made things a lot easier. Anyway. You keep distracting me. Gaston. He was already crawling around my office six months in. Well, he was crawling a bit before that really but he didn’t seem so... energetic at home. Here I was forever stopping him from biting into loose sheets of paper, old quills. Anything he could get his hands on really. If he had teeth at the time I’m sure there’d be bite marks on my desk.

“As Gaston got older I started to read to him. I only had two books, the first was the ancient spring, and the second was, ‘learning colours’ and he did not care for either of them. Oh, little Gaston loved to here me speak or sing, he’d clap and giggle for near any words out of my mouth, but the second I got out a book he’d bat it away until I closed it up. I’m not really sure what he was thinking. Maybe that I was paying more attention to the book than I was to him?”

“Oh and that reminds me. His sleep schedule. Oh it was awful. He’d get tired just after feeding of course, but he was go-go-go any other time. Including the middle of the night after... I want to say after he reached five months. Even when it was dark as pitch he still wanted to be up and running around. He’d rattle the bars on his crib and cry if I didn’t let him sit either on my larger bed to run around, or the floor. Heaven forbid I try to sleep while it was happening.

“Ugh. I had to have my own midday naps just to keep going. I also couldn’t follow along with any of the bigger or more important caravans myself because the road is no place for a baby and Gaston certainly wasn’t going to let me out of his site for months at a time. Really it was a tough time for the company. I thought, previously, that it could run somewhat well without my direct interference... but no. Apparently I was both taking on too much work and limiting it in some ways.

“Too many fools under me didn’t know how to negotiate or read market conditions. They’d get bullied into taking worse deals all the time because they had no spine. That was fine when I was heading up that particular caravan but now I wasn’t it was causing all sorts of issues. It also showed me the same problem with many of the other caravans out of here. I thought it was normal back then, as I always picked the more expensive cargo with better margins for myself. I needed to stretch that as far as I could...

“But I found out the regular food conveys were a hairs breadth from COSTING us money. So I had to completely retrain my staff. Fired a few of them too. Fucking useless morons. Couldn’t even stand up to me when I ordered them to do it. How would they have ever survived when an important mayor started leaning on them? They wouldn’t that’s how. Fold like a house of fucking cards they would.

“I think the only reason we were still going was because I made some cutthroat deals when I took over the company. I’d always lead the first caravan on any new routes. Apparently I cast a long shadow... but not one that’s long enough.”

“But once again... I’m getting side tracked. I suppose it’s just nice to boast about these things. Still, Gaston actually got easier to manage as he got older... for a while at least. He started to become obsessed with the caravan guards, he thought they were so cool. So I asked a few of them to humour him and give him a bit of training. He was too young for anything serious, but Gaston ‘trained’ hard anyway. It finally gave me the chance to have time for myself. I mean, he couldn’t complain about me not being around if he’s past out now can he?

“I suppose that’s really the second stage of Gaston’s development. Running around following the guards instead of me. Perhaps, if I was more motherly I might have been more upset about that but I was already struggling with the issues I mentioned before. This gave me a very welcome chance to do some work by myself.