#cause MOE chapter five is already being difficult

[stygiansauce]

Would yall be mad if I posted some Unnamed superhero au to Ao3 before Margin of Error chapter five?

cause I'm cooking ranchers content that might make an offical appearance as a set of oneshots.

[bookwormchocaholic]

The Lonesome Road: Chapter 6

A03

SYNOPSIS:  Belle is drawn to her employers’ neighbor and is surprised when he offers to help her out of a difficult situation.

Note: Not beta-ed, expect mistakes.

Rating: M

Special thanks to @onceuponanovel for the gorgeous artwork!!!!

April 1934 An early spring had blown into Storybrooke and the outskirts, prompting Belle and Rowan to start take the occasional afternoon drive. One Saturday afternoon found them in their truck, bouncing along the road, the windows rolled down, the radio crooning “My Blue Heaven.” The fresh air wafted off the sea and the newly bloomed flowers and tickled Belle’s nostrils.

She noticed her husband’s hand lying in the space between them and slid hers over his. Rowan turned to her and smiled, his expression gentle. Belle returned his beam and though she enjoyed talking with her husband, she relished the quiet moments too. Words were not always required. A look, a smile, a squeeze of the hand – sometimes that was more than enough. Neither she nor Rowan were wax poetic. Thoughtful gestures and tender caresses spoke volumes; she wouldn’t trade that for all the flowery soliloquies in the world. Now that she knew all of Rowan’s deep, dark secrets, and he knew hers, there were no walls between them.

Cora had failed.

Rowan’s initial reaction was to strike out at Cora for meddling in their marriage. It took Belle a couple of hours to convince him that they were better than Cora, and she didn’t want them to lower themselves to that nasty woman’s level.

<I> “Very well.” Rowan had groused, his mouth drawn into a cute pout. “But she shouldn’t get away with what she did.”

“She won’t.” Belle assured him, straddling his lap and distracted him by untucking his shirt from his trousers and undoing the buttons. “It wouldn’t be Christian to seek revenge.”

Rowan grumbled. He plucked the pins from her hair and buried his fingers into her curls. “Humph, I’m hardly a saint.” But he soon let it go when she grazed her teeth along his clavicle. </I>

Belle stroked her still-flattened stomach. She didn’t want their baby to come into a household rife with turmoil. They had to set a good example for their little one. They also had to trust that God would deal with Cora in His own time.

“What is this?” Rowan muttered and slowed the truck, stopping twenty feet near the turn off to the Mills’ farm.

Belle’s head snapped up and she let out a small gasp.

A crowd was congregated near the porch of the house. One man stood on the steps, barking out orders. The Mills family was standing off to the side, their heads hanging low. This scene was not an uncommon one, not this day in age. A family in debt, unable to pay their mortgage, having to auction off their farm.

Rowan turned off the engine and climbed out of the truck. Belle slid over to his side and he helped her out, then he shut the door. Hand in hand, they crossed into the yard and joined the growing number of spectators.

“Is it one of those penny auctions?” Belle leaned in towards her husband. “Like the ones we read about in the papers?”

“I think it might be.” Rowan replied, studying the auctioneer.

Auctions were routine. Penny-auctions were unique. If a family lost their home, and if their neighbors were kind, the neighbors would only make low bids and purchase the property for nearly nothing. Then they would return the property to its rightful owners. The Mills family had few friends though and people could no longer afford to be liberal with their pennies.

Belle frowned. She felt no pity whatsoever for Cora. Buying expensive clothes on credit, going on ludicrous trips, neglecting the farm - the woman had made her bed and now she had to lie in it.

But Henry and the girls…Belle hated the thought of the children being homeless. Zelena and Regina were wild little beasts, but they were still children. Henry’s shoulders were shaking; his head was the lowest of all of them. Still he could not hide the bruise that encircled his eye.

Cora regally looked on, leveling her gaze at the crowd, forbidding anyone to place a bid. Her features were pinched into a severe grimace. She was on the wrong side of thirty-five and looked older now, from slathering her scowling face in cakey cosmetics and spidery gray strands webbing through her hair. Life and unhappiness had aged her and now despite all of her machinations, she was to lose her home.

Belle found herself raising her hand to make a bid for 50 cents and without any challengers, the auctioneer declared the property hers.

She exhaled and ventured a glance at her husband. Neither of them made large purchases without consulting with the other.

Rowan was grinning from ear to ear. “What happened to not seeking revenge?” He compressed her hand slightly.

“I’m not.” Belle flushed under his teasing gaze. “The children need a home. And this could be profitable for us.”

“Perhaps so.” He nodded to Cora and her family. “I think you ought to deliver them the good news.”

Belle stood on tip toe and pressed a kiss to her husband’s coarse cheek. His five o’clock shadow had already begun.

She approached Cora, her shoulders squared and her head held high. The irony of the situation could not be lost on either of them. Six months prior Belle was boarding with the Mills’, snatching up the crumbs of the charity that they had tossed at her feet. And now she was the mistress of their property, the house, and all of their livestock. All for a measly 50 cents.

“Mrs. Gold, please-” Henry doffed his hat and twisted it. The poor man’s knees knocked; he was desperate enough o grovel.

Belle waved him off. “I won’t force you to leave.”

“Really?” He gaped, his eyes glistening.

“We will draw up a formal rental agreement later.” Belle informed him. “For now you can continue on as you have been.” She shifted her gaze to Cora.

The woman was seething, Belle could tell. If looks could kill. Her narrow jaw was set and her carefully manicured fingers were balled.

Belle crossed her arms. “You used me, Cora, and mistreated me during a dark time in my life. You promised to show me Christian charity, but it took a man that I barely knew to show me what that really was. And after I left, you caused trouble for me.” She bit down on her tongue, lest she say anything too revealing. Henry had to be aware of his wife’s vices, but she didn’t want to air such dirty laundry before the children. They need not know that their mother was an adulteress. “Well, now you will get to see what it is like to be on the receiving end of Christian charity. My husband and I will be by in a few days with the agreement.”

Cora sniffed and she lifted her head, sticking her nose in the air.

Belle swiftly pivoted on her heel and returned to her husband’s embrace. She planted a kiss square on Rowan’s lips for all to see; a blatant declaration that he belonged to her and her alone.

And that there was nothing Cora could do to change that.

#

Rowan slumped into a sweaty heap on top of Belle and planted small kisses along her brow. His damp skin was still melded to hers while the sheets clung to her back and sides. Her breathing was labored, but was slowly returning to normal.

They had spent the evening celebrating her “business venture.”

“And you’re all right with it?” Belle asked, for perhaps the hundredth time. Rowan pecked her lips and flipped them over so that he could be beneath her.

“Of course.” He petted her back, teasing little circles into her spine. “Why wouldn’t I be all right with it?”

“Most husbands would hate if their wives took matters into their own hands.” Belle answered.

Her mother never acted independently of her father. Moe French was in charge of all matters at home, from financial to spiritual, to the daily planning of the meals to how the family presented themselves in public. He considered the verse that the wife was to submit to the husband as the Eleventh Commandment. Their union seemed to work…although when Colette French was living, she would get a certain wistful look in her eye from time to time. Belle couldn’t help but wonder if her mother wanted more.

“Then it is a good thing I am your husband and not one of the others.” Rowan gave an impatient snort. Her husband was a rare breed. He always treated her as an equal; that they found one another was nothing short of a miracle. “You ought to be in charge of this, since you made the purchase.”

Belle leaned her head back and gave him a quizzical look. “Is that so?”

“Yes. I have this farm to oversee.” He encouraged. “You can do it, I know you can. ‘She planteth a field, and buyeth it.’ See I can quote Scriptures too, when I have a mind to. Besides, you can’t tell me it won’t please you to strut around the Mills’ farm for Cora to see.”

“You’re terrible!” Belle giggled, playfully slapping his shoulder. She couldn’t deny though, that she did feel a little smug.

“I am, but you love me anyway.” Rowan’s laughter rumbled in his chest before he sobered. “I feel sorry for Henry. No man should be faced with losing his land.”

Henry Mills’ black eye had not gone unnoticed by Rowan either. When Belle confided her concerns to him, that Henry was abused, Rowan implied that Cora was capable of anything. Henry, being a gentleman, would never raise a hand to his wife, not even in defense. Belle considered herself lucky getting out from under that roof when she did; Cora could have easily turned on her. But now that she had the upper hand, so to speak, Belle figured she could make things easier for Henry and the girls, and Cora would have no choice but to comply.

Belle nodded and pressed her lips to his chin. “I pray it never happens to you. This farm defines you.”

Rowan shook his head and cradled the side of her face. “Nothing defines me except for you and the baby.”

Belle felt her heart squeeze and fought the tears welling in her eyes. Finding herself rested enough for another session of love making, she flung her arms around his neck and sealed her mouth over his.

She didn’t know what lied a head of them, but knew as long as she had Rowan and the baby by her side, that they could face anything together.