Chapter One

Luck had never been on Emma Swan's side.

As an hours-old-infant, she had been abandoned by her parents on a country road in the middle of nowhere. As a child, she had grown up in an orphanage and was constantly passed over for another when prospective parents came looking to adopt. At age sixteen, she found herself on the street when the orphanage was shut down and she was left to fend for herself.

Odd-job after odd-job had taken her from one end of America to the next and then onto Europe. She had only ever made enough money to scrape by with her rent, and even then she had lost count of how many times she had skipped out without paying because otherwise she wouldn't be able to eat. Not that even if she could have afforded to keep paying rent she would have stayed in one place for more than a couple of weeks, having been cursed with a perpetual case of wanderlust.

That was how she had found herself here in Southhampton. The port was buzzing with activity as the White Star Line prepared to launch its newest vessel out into the waters of the Atlantic for the first time. Like everyone else in England, Emma had heard the gossip about the ship. The RMS Titanic had been dubbed "unsinkable" by the press, as if the sheer size and grandeur of it wasn't enough to garner the ship more than its fair share of attention.

Emma hadn't bought into all the talk, but she had to admit that when the Titanic was actually looming up in front of her, she was left a little slackjawed. The ship was a work of sleek craftsmanship and she found herself believing that maybe, just maybe, the thing was unsinkable after all. She hadn't been planning on going back to America, but when she walked into a bar and found some guys engaging in a game of poker with a 3rd Class ticket at stake, she asked them to deal her in.

It was just a lark, really, she didn't expect to win. Judging from the looks the men exchanged before sliding over her cards, they didn't expect her to either. She wasn't new to the game, she had learned now to play at age fourteen when she nudged one of the older boys into teaching her after catching him playing with a friend. Still, she had never won big on any occasion, just enough money for a night in a roach-free hotel at most.

So when she realized she had the winning hand right in front of her, green eyes widened in genuine shock. Luck had never been this good to her, but when she blinked and looked again, her hand remained the same. Maybe she had picked up a bit of good karma somewhere without realizing it. Or maybe it was fate, which was a notion she would usually dismiss as pure nonsense, but something within her wasn't as quick to do so this time.

"Read 'em and weep, boys," she said, spreading the cards out in front of her with a grin, adrenaline pumping through her and her heartbeat quickening. There was cursing and one guy kicked the table out from under them, but Emma didn't care. The Titanic was waiting for her-and along with it something wonderful.

Going back home to Philadelphia was the last thing that Regina Mills wanted to do.

She knew that the minute they were back on American soil, her marriage to Leopold White was going to be put into fast gear. If her mother could have convinced the tycoon to just get married overseas, Regina would already be a wedded woman. She was only lucky that Leopold had been resolute in his desire to have the wedding take place on his estate so that his daughter could attend.

Young Mary had been supposed to accompany them on the trip to Europe, but just days prior to their departure she had come down with the measles. It had only been after thorough examinations, and a brief interlude when Leopold very seriously considered canceling the trip altogether, that they themselves had been cleared to go. It was bad enough that the child had missed out on Europe, Leopold had argued, but she would have been absolutely heartbroken if she had been unable to attend the wedding.

Her mother's mouth had thinned in a tell-tale sign of frustration, but Cora Mills was not a woman to be undone by impatience. Regina had a feeling that she only knew the bare bones of all the scheming her mother had done in order to arrange this marriage, but it was clear to her that no delay would be enough to deter Cora into putting an end to the engagement.

The trip had lasted a month and had comprised of visits to Rome, Barcelona, and London, in that order. While Regina had enjoyed the sights, the entire time she had been filled with a sense of dread about what was to come. It wasn't just that her intended was old enough to be her father, although that alone was disconcerting. It was that when Leopold looked at her, he had the appearance of a horse breeder appraising a filly to see if she's fit for breeding. When she had expressed this thought to her mother, Cora had only scoffed at it and sent her on her way.

Now as Regina stood at the ports of Southhampton, staring up at the palatial Titanic, she saw only another prison. It was said to be unsinkable, she recalled; how ironic when she felt like she was drowning. All she wanted to do was pick up her skirts and run far from here, far from Leopold, far from her mother, but she couldn't will her feet to move.

"Have you ever seen such a magnificent vessel?" Cora remarked, lifting a gloved hand to shade her eyes as she peered up at the ship.

"There is not another like it," Leopold said, crossing to join them after paying the driver who had taken them to the docks from the hotel. "She's the grandest ship to ever be built and we are her first passengers."

Regina didn't have to look over to see the practically sycophantic smile her mother wore, she could hear it in her voice as she replied, "I couldn't imagine a more perfect way to end our trip." There was a sharp jab to her ribcage accompanied by a prodding, "Don't you agree, Regina?"

"Yes, Mother," she replied by rote, pasting a smile of her own on her lips as she turned to face her mother and fiancé. "It's absolutely perfect." Words had never tasted so sour on her tongue.