Regina cursed as she looked up at the clock in the diner. She was running late and she hated leaving Henry with her mother longer than she needed to. She threw off her apron and dashed out the door and into the streets of New York City.
She was freezing as she dashed down the street to the subway. Regina hated having to see her mother but she couldn't make enough money to put Henry in daycare.
As she stood in the subway she thought about her life. She had once been in love. She had once been happy. Regina and Daniel fell in love in high school and soon after they had a wonderful son together, Henry.
But of course her mother had to intervene. Regina had never been enough for Cora, no matter how hard she tried. Cora wanted her to be a successful businesswoman with a rich husband. Daniel did not fit into her plans. But Regina just wanted to be happy.
Then there was the car crash. Henry was thankfully unharmed. She was injured but not terribly. But Daniel was gone. And instead of being sorry, her mother seemed happy that now Regina could move on to bigger and better things.
Regina had tried to stay in her apartment, but she wasn't making enough money and the apartment brought back too many memories.
So she moved out on her own. Now Henry was four and she adored him with all of her heart. Regina tried to make ends meet, but even though she made enough to hold down a one-bedroom apartment, she couldn't afford to send Henry to daycare. So she had no choice but to leave him with her mother.
By now Regina had arrived on the front porch of her mother's brownstone. Just seeing the place made Regina shudder. But when the front door flew open, she couldn't help the smile that graced her face.
"Momma!" Henry came barreling out of the house and into her arms. She held him close and nuzzled her nose in his soft brown hair.
"You're late," came the voice of her mother from the stairs. Regina looked up, unintentionally holding Henry a little closer.
"I apologize, mother," Regina said and followed Cora into the house to get Henry's things. Cora looked Regina over as she got ready to leave.
"You know," Cora said, "you really should be working on getting a different job. You are paid like a servant and you look filthy."
"Once again, I apologize for being late mother. I will see you again tomorrow." At that Regina practically ran out of the door.
Robin boarded the subway with his young son Roland on his hip. This was their favorite daily tradition: riding the subway. Ever since his wife had died, Robin stayed at home with Roland. His wife had come from a family with a lot of money and they were thankfully still supporting him while he looked for a job that would allow him to spend as much time with Roland as possible.
But every day, no matter what they did, the father and son duo always rode the subway. Roland loved watching the people and seeing the world fly by.
They took their usual seat toward the back of the train and Roland turned around to look out the window. Robin, however, caught sight of the woman sitting across from them.
The young woman was traveling with a young son who was just as excited about being on the train as Roland. The woman, however, was not. She would smile whenever her son pointed something out to her, but her smile was pained. Robin could tell that she was tired and she looked like she was about to cry.
Just then, Roland saw the other young boy. Roland jumped off the seat and went and sat next to him.
"Hi! I'm Roland," he said. The other boy smiled.
"I'm Henry." The boy's mom looked over at Robin, who shrugged.
"Henry, we're about to go past the coolest thing ever. Come look!" Henry looked to his mom, who nodded, then he and Roland went to look out the window next to Robin. Robin decided to introduce himself.
"Good evening, ma'am," he said. "I'm Robin Locksley and this is my son Roland. As you can see he is very outgoing." The woman looked up at him with sad eyes but extended her hand.
"Regina Mills," she said in a cold voice. "And that's my son Henry." They sat in silence for a moment listening to their sons talk.
"What do you do?" Robin asked. After another moment of silence, he decided to just continue. "I'm a stay at home dad right now. I know it's not normal but it's just me and Roland so I want to make sure I can be with him as much as possible." He watched as a tear ran down Regina's cheek and so he moved to sit next to her.
"I'm sorry, did I upset you?" She shook her head. Henry and Roland turned around when they entered a tunnel and Henry saw his mom. He went over and got on her lap. Robin returned to his seat to give them some space.
"Momma doesn't like to talk much," Henry said to Robin. "She's tired at the end of the day but she always plays legos with me. They're my favorite." Robin saw Regina give a small smile to Henry.
Robin decided to see what all Henry would tell him since Regina didn't seem to want to talk. He couldn't quite figure out why, but he was very interested in this mysterious woman.
"Well, Henry," Robin said. "Tell me more about you and your mom." Regina looked at him with an interesting look but didn't stop Henry from talking.
"Its just me and my mom. We live in an apartment but I have to go stay with my grandmother during the day because Momma works in a diner. I like it when we go to the diner. The pancakes are the best part. I also like hot chocolate but Momma doesn't always let me get it because she says that too much sugar isn't good for me…"
Robin listened as Henry rambled on about his life. Regina looked up and made eye contact and they stared at each other for a moment before Robin decided to interrupt.
"Henry," Robin said. "I don't know how your mom would feel about this, but if you want to sometime maybe you could come play with me and Roland."
Regina's eyes got wide, but Henry was obviously excited.
"Can I Momma? Please please." Regina looked between the two. She finally spoke up.
"I appreciate the offer but I barely know you. I don't want Henry to be with somebody I don't know." Henry tugged on her sleeve.
"But Momma," he said quietly, "I like him more than I like grandmother. He's nice. Grandmother doesn't let me play and she yells at me a lot." Robin watched as Regina cringed and she looked at him one more time. She noticed the twinkle in his eye and how happy Roland looked.
"I promise, ma'am," Robin said. "I want to help you. I don't know why, but I do." Finally, he saw a true smile form across Regina's face. It was quite possibly the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. She reached into her bag and pulled out a scrap of paper and a pen and wrote something down. Then she handed it to him.
Before Robin had time to look at it, the train stopped and Regina and Henry got up to leave.
"Bye Robin!" Henry yelled. "Bye Roland!"
"Goodbye," Regina said quietly, and then they were gone.
Robin opened the paper as Roland turned back to look out of the window.
You'll never know how much this means to me.
I trust you.
Here's my phone number. We can set something up.
Regina Mills