On Friday Regina made sure that Grant was going to be at work and well enough to cook on Saturday. After ascertaining that her mother was indeed staying through the weekend she asked her to watch Henry on Saturday night. It was a conversation that Regina hadn't looked forward to as her mother had a way of making her feel like she was on the witness stand being grilled.
"Who is this friend you are going out with?" Cora asked. There was no way Regina was going to tell her mother that this was a date, at least not to start with.
"It's Emma, I told you about her."
"Oh yes, the one who saved you and Henry at the restaurant," she said. "I would very much like to meet her and give her my appreciation for her bravery."
"Um … that would be nice of you, but maybe another time," Regina said. "I didn't tell her you were in town and I wouldn't want to ambush her."
"There is a simple way to deal with that, text her and let her know I am here and I would like to meet her."
Regina tried to think of another response, but her mother was staring her down. "I haven't even told her I am free to go out on Saturday because I wanted to speak with you first," Regina said. "Let's just hold off on until I can speak to her, ok?"
Cora gave her a look that didn't exactly make her think that it was ok. She had once heard another attorney describe her mother as "the person who would take over guarding the pearly gates for St. Peter because there was no way you were getting through her without telling the truth."
It may have been the best way to describe her that Regina had ever heard.
"Is there a reason you don't want me meeting this young woman?" Cora asked and Regina knew this was not going to end in her favor. "You have spoken very highly of her in the past."
"I speak highly of her because she deserves to be spoken highly of. It's just that … look she and I had a sort of falling out a while back and this is the first time I'm going to spend time with her since that happened."
"What did you have a falling out over?"
"Stephen," she said hoping that would be the end of it. Stephen was not a topic her mother wanted to talk about either. When she and Stephen were getting divorced her mother had tried to talk her into holding off, taking some time to evaluate her position. It's not that Cora particularly cared for Stephen but she didn't like the idea of Regina being a divorced single mom either.
Sometimes Regina had to remind herself that her mother did love her unconditionally and that was one of those times.
The moment Regina had told her mother about Stephen saying Henry wasn't his son however Cora was done with him for good. She had offered to draw up the papers to dissolve the adoption she was so mad.
"I hope Emma was counseling you to stay away from him," Cora commented.
Since it wasn't a question Regina saw no reason to say anything in return, which was a mistake.
"So what was it then?" Cora asked. "Why did you two have a row over Stephen?"
Her mother did not know when to let up.
"She didn't think that I should have been letting Stephen back into my life."
"Very sensible of her. See, I simply must meet her."
"I will see if she is ok with that then," Regina replied.
"See, now all of that for the same result," Cora said. "Honestly Regina sometimes I think you purposely make things hard."
That was the conversation they had that morning before Regina went to work. Now that she had both her mother and Grant on board for Saturday night she called Emma.
"Hi," Emma answered.
"Hi," Regina replied. "So I'm free for Saturday."
"Great," Emma said. "I was worried you would have to work."
"Nope, I have the night free."
"And you have someone to watch Henry?"
"Yes," Regina said. "My mother is actually in town and she is going to watch him for the evening."
"Your mom?"
"Yes, she's staying with me through the weekend and then back home to dad."
"If you want to spend time with her, we can reschedule our date."
"No. I am sure she will give me enough quality time before she leaves. Somehow it feels like she already has."
"How critical has she been?"
Regina had told Emma of her mother and she was again impressed that Emma not only listened well but she picked up on things that may seem small in passing but which were really more.
"Not exactly critical. She does however want to meet you."
"Excuse me?"
"She wants to meet you and say thank you for saving me and Henry that night we met," Regina explained.
"Oh. Well I guess that's ok. I can meet her when I come to pick you up."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, it's no problem. She wouldn't be the first parent I met prior to going on a date, although I admit it's been a long while."
"About that. Um … I haven't told her we were going on a date yet. I told her I was going out with a friend. I'm going to though," Regina said quickly, not wanting Emma to think otherwise. "It's just that my mom can be a little … overbearing at times and as soon as I tell her it's a date she's going to interrogate me and after the week I've had, I wasn't up for that this morning."
"You don't have tell her if it makes you that uncomfortable. We can stick with the friend thing when I meet her."
Regina paused, considering the offer. "No," she responded. "We're going on a date and she will have to deal with it."
There was another pause, this time from Emma. "Is your mom part of the reason why you aren't really open about your sexuality?"
Regina wasn't sure how to answer that question and she zoned out a moment thinking of it, that she almost missed Emma apologizing for asking it.
"It's ok," Regina said. "My parents know I am bisexual. I think they have chosen to ignore it much like I did when I married Stephen. They were never not supportive of me when I was dating Danielle, but it was more like the feeling I got whenever I had Danielle with me when I was at my parents. It's kind of hard to explain. It's like they were waiting to see where it was actually going as far as a relationship went. When I asked for my grandmother's ring to ask Danielle to marry me, there was no hesitation in giving it to me. They were nice to Danielle, but not warm to her if that makes any sense."
"It does. Should I expect the same thing?"
"I don't know," Regina said. "Things are different now. I've been married and divorced. I have a kid. I'm not the same person as I was back then and maybe that will make a difference. Even if it doesn't, it doesn't change the fact that we are going to go on a date."
"Good. And don't worry, parents love me."
…..
Regina put off telling her mother until she couldn't hold off any longer. She was preparing for the date and her mother commented that she seemed nervous. She was sitting at her vanity at the time with her mother in the background where Regina could see her clearly in the mirror. She turned toward her.
"I am little nervous," she admitted. "A lot nervous actually."
"Whatever for? Is this because of the falling out you had with Emma?"
"No, although I wonder how much that will play into the evening. I'm nervous because I'm not going out with Emma because we're just friends. I'm going on a date with Emma. It's a first date with her."
"So Emma is also bisexual."
"She's a lesbian. And before you ask, I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to express any kind of disapproval. I like Emma. I like her a lot. In a short amount of time she's become special to me and I've already messed that up once so I don't want it to happen again," she said.
"And you think somehow I would mess that up?" Cora said. "Why ever would you think that for? Did I ever have an unkind word to say to Danielle when you were seeing her?"
"No. You are too polite for that," Regina said. "But there is a difference in not being rude to a person and making them feel welcome."
"Did Danielle say she felt unwelcome in my presence?"
Regina shook her head no. "It's not about how you made Danielle feel, it's how you made me feel when I was with her. When Danielle broke up with me you said it was for the best. When I wanted to divorce Stephen you told me to hold on and think about it and do every thing I could to save my marriage."
"You were married to Stephen, you weren't married to Danielle," Cora said. "Your break up with Danielle was her choice, not yours. The divorce was your choice so of course I would counsel you to make sure you were making the right decision. If I were a divorce lawyer I would give the same advice to my clients – to make sure this is what they wanted."
"I'm your daughter, not a client."
"I know that. My point is if that is the beset advice I can give a client, why wouldn't I also give it to my daughter?"
"We've never talked about it," Regina said. "Me being bisexual. I told you I was and then we never talked about it. You ask me a hundred questions about every little thing I do, but when I told you that I was attracted to men and women you didn't ask me a single thing. Why?"
"Who my daughter has sexual relations with isn't exactly a conversation that I feel I need to be a part of?"
"You know that's not what I'm talking about. It goes beyond who I am having sex with. Does it bother you that much I'm this way?"
Cora didn't say anything immediately. It was rare that she saw her mother at a loss for words and as it stretched on, she turned back to the mirror to continue getting ready. She wasn't going to let her mother ruin her evening.
"When you told your father and I that you were bisexual, I admit that it was surprising. I wondered how it was that I didn't see it. I'm a mother and mothers are supposed to know things about their children," Cora said. "You stood there and made this declaration that you were this way and at the time you exuded such strength that I saw this spark in you, the spark I once thought would make you an excellent lawyer. You said it with such confidence as if daring your father or I to say one negative thing because if we had you were prepared for a fight. So I didn't say anything at the time because I didn't feel it would be welcome for me to ask any questions. I was afraid that by asking questions you would take it as a slight and I didn't want to offend you, not in that moment. Later, well later became too late. I'm not going to stand here and pretend that I understand it completely because I don't. And maybe I can't ever fully understand because I am not bisexual, but it doesn't change how I feel about you."
She walked over to Regina and placed a kiss on the top of her head. "I love you honey. I'm sorry if I ever made you feel I didn't."
"I know you love me," she replied. "Sometimes I guess I just need to hear you say it."
"Anytime my darling daughter, anytime you need to hear it, I will be here to say it," she said. "Now about this date, is that really what you are going to wear on a first date?"