Regina held her baby close to her. She buried her head in the crook between his neck and his shoulder and inhaled. She knew this was the end. She just didn't know how to let go.
She cradled his head in her hands. "I want you to know that I really do love you baby boy. But there's no other way."
She wrapped him lovingly in the blanket that she had made for him once she discovered his sex. It was a white blanket with an emerald green ribbon around it. His name was stenciled in the corners. Henry Daniel. The only two men she'd ever loved in her life until now. Then she laid him in the bassinet. It would be his first and last present from her. She laid a kiss upon his head. And quickly left the room.
She had already signed all the paperwork. Henry Daniel was now a ward of the state. And he was a Mills no more.
She knew it was the right thing to do. Her town was cursed. Nothing there could grow. But one day the curse would be broken. She didn't care. The curse had become as much a prison for her as it had for everyone else.
Except then her son would have to deal with having a monster for a Mother. And that she couldn't bear.
So she made arrangements for him to be raised by another family. She had purposely made sure that there were two loving parents. They even had a foster child that they were adopting. And her son would be the final piece to their perfect family.
She made it out of the building and into her car before breaking down. Her son was gone. And this heartbreak, just like all the others she'd nursed, would go unnoticed by everyone. Except her.
Her only solace was in knowing that she had done the right thing. Her son didn't deserve growing up under these circumstances. He didn't deserve having her past hanging over his head for the rest of his life.
She pulled out the only picture she did and ever would have of her son. She pressed a kiss to his head just as she had done to her real son. "I love you baby boy."
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
Emma was sick of it. This was one of the worst homes she had been in. She just couldn't take it anymore. She quickly grabbed their things and walked out without bothering to look back.
She'd applied for emancipation. She would get help with getting an apartment and even going to school. And she was taking her baby with her.
They had brought the little boy home 4 months before. Emma had at first been curious as to why they'd get another kid when they only had her and the others for the paycheck. Then she realized the woman seemed to have a problem. She kept taking in kids, kissing and cooing all over them, then she'd start to neglect them. Her husband didn't seem to care. He didn't seem to do anything but drink up all of their money when he wasn't out running around all night long.
But this little boy was different. Maybe because Emma had bonded with him almost instantly. The other kids they'd taken in were older. They could care for themselves. But this one, he was just an infant. He needed her.
She'd started getting up for midnight feedings after it became clear that their 'Mother' wasn't going to. She didn't have the heart to watch him suffer. So she'd stepped in. And now he was hers.
Or so that was the story they were going to tell the world. Because no one was going to part her from this precious little boy. She smiled down at him after his bath just before she put him down to bed. She had already given him his dinner. "Clean body, clean bed, and a full belly. You should get right to sleep," she tickled his belly then laid him in the crib that she'd set up in a corner of their new apartment. "I love you Henry."