Beast: Epilogue

“Ronaldo Orrendo! For heaven’s sake, be careful! Don’t climb so high!” I shouted. Fonzie came up behind me and wrapped his arms around me.

“Relax, Belle,” he said. “We used to climb much higher than that when we were his age.”

“Sh! Don’t tell him that, though.” I couldn’t help smiling, despite my worry.

Fonzie sighed. “I can’t believe that that old tree is still there.”

“Me either,” I murmured.

Our ten-year-old son, Orrendo, continued to scale the giant sycamore tree inside the courtyard. “Look, Ma!” he called. “Look how high I’m going!”

“Yes, I see!” I shouted back. “Be careful!”

Just then, six-year-old Loretta came running from the garden, screaming, “It smiled at me! The statue smiled at me!” I couldn’t tell if she was amazed or terrified.

Probably both, I thought. I decided to indulge her.

“Don’t be silly, Lori! Statues don’t smile,” I said.

“But it did! It did!” she insisted, tugging on my skirt. Her brown curls flopped around her face.

I scolded her, trying to hide a smile, “Loretta, I don’t want you telling stories.”

“I’m telling the truth! Really!” She pouted, extending her lower lip.

I let out an exaggerated sigh. “Alright, Lori. Show me the smiling statue.”

“It’s there, in the garden. You’ll see.” Loretta took my hand in her own very small one and led me on. Fonzie stayed behind to keep an eye on Orrendo.

The castle was silent except for our four voices. No one had lived here for years now, not even Methura. Ivy crept up the walls outside, and the pathways were overgrown with weeds. It had been Orrendo’s and Loretta’s idea that we visit the castle from their parents’ old stories. Finally, after much begging and pleading on their part, Fonzie and I decided that it was time to go back. We, ourselves, were in much need of a vacation, and Uschin was now doing quite well and could handle a month or two on its own.

“See, Ma! There it is!” Loretta jumped up and down with excitement.

I looked up from my daughter at Marbella, who stood unmoving by the pool. I winked at her. She smiled and winked back, but other wise she remained motionless. I heard Loretta gasp at my side. “She did it again! Did you see it?”

“I did,” I said with a smile.

“How did she do that?” she whispered, as if suddenly afraid that Marbella would hear her.

I bent down beside Loretta. Then I whispered in her ear, “Magic.”

“What?” she asked quietly.

“The castle is enchanted.”

“Oh.” She nodded knowingly, her eyes never straying from the statue.

I took her hand again. “Come on. Would you like to see my room in the tower?”

“Oh, yes!”

We met up with Fonzie and Orrendo in the kitchen and then proceeded up the long flight of stairs to my tower.

My goodness! I thought, trying hard to catch my breath. I don’t remember there ever being this many!

At last, we reached the top. The door stuck from so many years without use, and Fonzie was the one who finally opened it. Orrendo and Loretta ran past us into the stuffy room without any hesitation. Fonzie followed after them.

Standing just inside the doorway, I gazed fondly around my old room. Then I caught my breath.

“Oh, Fonzie,” I murmured, pointing.

“What is it?” His eyes followed my finger, and he saw it. “Oh.”

It was the rose on my dressing table, left there more than eleven years ago on our last day in the castle.

“I don’t believe it,” Fonzie said.

It was astounding enough that the rose was exactly where we had left it in its vase after all these years, but even more remarkable was the flower’s condition. The rose looked better now than on the day it had been picked. Not a single petal or leaf had wilted even the slightest bit.

Orrendo and Loretta stopped prancing around the room and walked over to the dressing table to get a closer look at the rose.

“What’s this?” Orrendo asked, picking a piece of paper up off the table. Glittering dust fell from the paper onto the floor. Then Orrendo read the letter aloud. “A gift from Methura, Waldo, Wilmadore, and Windamore to Fonzie and Belle. May your love be eternal like this rose. Treasure it always, just as we have always treasured you. All our love, The Fairies.”

“So, all of those stories were true!” Loretta said.

“Yes, they were,” I affirmed, smiling nostalgically.

Loretta took my hand again and led me over to the bed. I sat down and placed her on my lap.

“Tell the story again, Ma,” she pleaded.

“Yes! Please, Ma?” Orrendo enthused.

“Which story?” I asked, though I already knew the answer.

“Your story!” the children cried in unison.

“But you’ve heard it a thousand times!” I exclaimed, laughing.

Loretta replied directly, “We want to hear it again.”

I sighed and took a moment to collect my thoughts. Then Orrendo, Loretta, and Fonzie listened intently as I began to narrate. “My father, King Gavin, and my mother, Queen Lalia, were standing in the great hall, receiving the line of subjects that had come to pay honor to me, their new princess…”