"C'mon kid, time for school, Emma said as she shepherded her son out of the booth gave a wave to Ruby. Henry rolled his eyes and slid out of the booth to follow his mother out the door of Granny's diner. Ruby smiled fondly and started wiping down the booth they had been sitting in and clearing away the hot chocolate mugs. But something shiny caught her eye and the words 'Once upon a time' were suddenly all she could see. Henry had left his treasured book on the seat in the diner in his haste to leave. Ruby picked it up and ran a hand over the cover. She understood what it contained and just how important it was. Then a rather wolfish grin over-took her pretty face. She glanced at the diner and saw that breakfast rush was over and it was nearly empty with only a few people sitting at the counter. Then she peeked at Granny typing something in at the cash register and made her decision. She headed towards the storage fridge.
She couldn't bring herself to regret not returning Henry's book as soon as she found it. It could have all the answers she ever wanted to know about her grandmother. As she reclined against a sack of apples in the walk-in refrigerator, Red's fingers danced across the page of Henry's storybook. If this book truly had everything from their world's history written down, it had to have what she was looking for. Granny had never been very forthcoming about her past, or about Red's grandfather, but now Ruby could know the truth without her ever being the wiser. Her eyes lit up when she found it: her granny's story. The picture in front of the story was charming. The firelight danced across the walls of a cottage in the woods as a little girl in pigtails was bounced on her father's knee. Taking a deep breath she began to read. "Once upon a time..."