If Regina married him to: Ashley/Cinderella
When Rumpelstiltskin returns to the large pink Victorian house that Mr. Gold had called home for 28 years, after his rather enlightening, visit to Granny's, he cannot help the small knot of dread that forms in his stomach.
He had molded Regina into the Evil Queen, but this was quite the low blow.
He slowly made his way up the stairs, knowing what and more to the point who he would find in his bed. He slowly opened the door, doing so a quietly as he could in an effort not to wake the sleeping occupant. It was not to be, the closer to her due date, which ironically, she'd been close to it for twenty-eight years, the lighter she slept.
So it wasn't terribly surprising when after just a small creak from a floorboard, and the sound of his cane giving a light tap, Ashley Gold nee Boyd, sat up in bed.
Well, given her gravid sate, she rolled onto her side to face the door, giving him a sleepy smile. That was the truly terrible part. Regina had set the stage perfectly, so that when, according to Gold's memories, Ashley had come back eight months after Sean's father had drug her into his store to get rid of his son's 'mistake'.
Her tears and desperation had moved him to pity. So Gold, who had of all things carried with him a loneliness that Rumpelstiltskin had tried so hard to fill with trinkets and magic, had asked her to marry him.
She said yes. The tragedy was that Regina had made him the perfect figure for a frightened woman-child to fall in love with. Powerful, strong, so long as no running was involved, and kind to her. Thankfully, they hadn't consummated their marriage as she'd already been well along when she'd come to him.
His heart ached. Regina had hit him where it hurt. Not so much with Ashley, sweet child though she was, no, with the baby. Even as he walks forward, going to the dresser to change into his pajama's then slipping into bed with her, hand coming automatically to rest on her distended belly. Mr. Gold had come to love the child that grew there, and the nursery next door was all but finished, lacking only an occupant. The baby, who, since Princess Emma would undoubtedly not be breaking the curse in the next few weeks, was going to live there, and he would love it, love it with Ashley, and then the curse would break, and Cinderella would flee the monster, taking her child with her, back to her Prince, and he would be lucky to see her even from a distance.
They settled back into bed, Ashley arranging her limbs into the best approximation of comfort she could find, the baby kicked and he could feel it against his own ribs and Ashley, with a grunting giggle, mumbling, "she's just saying hi to papa," and slid easily back into sleep.
Rumpelstiltskin did not.