"Hush-a-bye, don't you cry, go to sleepy, little baby…" As her soft, melodious voice trailed off in the late evening dusk, the baby, wrapped tightly and neatly in a powder blue blanket, opened his teary eyes and looked up at the face just inches from his own. His forehead was no longer wrinkled in a restless frown. He drew a sharp breath, and a small sob, the aftermath of his recent crying, escaped his curved little mouth.
"When you wake, you shall have… all the pretty little horses…" Gentle and soothing, the melody soared on in the balmy summer air, which was drifting into the room through the tilted window. The baby mumbled and waved his tiny clenched fists about in a playful effort to grab at a strand of his mother's dark hair tickling his cheek. He gave it a rather mighty pull for a sleepy baby, yet there was no protest at his clumsy touch.
"Black and bay…" His little fingers brushed Regina's cheek and came to rest there. She couldn't resist placing a swift kiss on the soft open palm of his other hand.
"…dapple and grey…" Henry's eyelashes fluttered, his pink lips moved in an unwitting munching motion.
"…coach and six white… horses." Henry sighed peacefully; a sign, Regina knew, that he was slowly drifting off. Soon, his light slumber would turn into a deep, healthy sleep.
Your favourite lullaby, she thought, yours and mine both.
She would continue cradling him gently in her arms until he was fast asleep, as she did every single time. She knew she probably shouldn't – he would get used to it and wouldn't be willing to go to sleep without her later. She knew this, yet she could not help it; she just couldn't tear herself away from her precious baby son. These quiet moments before sleep were so dear to her. She watched him, his eyes shut tightly, his little mouth slightly open, his chest rising and falling in the rhythm of his breathing. Peaceful, content, and safe. Her baby. A lone tear, much like the ones she had previously wiped off Henry's frowning face, slowly trickled down her smiling one.
"Good night, Henry, sweetheart. Mommy loves you," she whispered.