Cataleya looked at her mom. "What is it?"
"I…I have to tell you something" Regina repeated. She was stalling, but she had to tell her daughter her deepest secret. Regina looked around the room, just making sure no one else was listening even though the only people in the room, was Cataleya and herself.
"I know. What is it Mom?" Cataleya asked again. She was still sleepy.
"Remember that book, which Henry is always talking about?" Regina started. She continued once Cataleya nodded. "The evil queen in the book…that's…that was me" Regina simply stated.
Cataleya giggled. "Mom."
Regina sighed. "Cataleya, I'm serious. I'm the evil queen"
"No you're not" Cataleya shook her head with a smile. "Mom…I have school in the morning, can I go back to bed now" Cataleya whined. She turned from Regina and laid back down, snuggling into her pillow.
Regina paid no attention. She sat on the edge of the bed, in the spot she sits every night, while she and Cataleya have their daily conversations. "I can prove it" Regina simply states.
This has Cataleya sitting back up in her bed. She's looking at Regina once more. "Mom, come on. What's wrong with you?" Cataleya asks with a look of concern on her face. The ideal of her mother actually being the evil queen, from Henry's story book, of fairytales, as all but disappeared from her mind. She has come to the conclusion that the idea is crazy. Stories are stories, and even thought the Story is different from the story she heard of Snow white when she was younger, was different, the Disney version was written many, many, many years ago, and long before her mother was even alive. She had never actually asked her mother how old she was, but she looked to be in her 30's.
"Come on. I'd like to show you something" Regina states as she pulls the covers back, from Cataleya and helps her out of bed. Cataleya puts on a pair of fuzzy boots, and walks down stairs with her mother. Regina helps her put on her coat, and she grabs the car keys.
"What about Henry?" Cataleya asks in a tired voice while looking upstairs.
"He is still asleep. He'll be fine, we are only going to be gone for about 20 minutes" Regina insists as she grabs Cataleya's hand and leads her out the door.
"Mom, we are at a graveyard. This is creepy" Cataleya whines, while clutching closer to Regina. She had no idea they would be going to a graveyard, in the middle of the night, and she hated to admit it, but she was a little afraid.
"It's okay" Regina whispers as she pulls Cataleya over to her father's burial vault. She looks around to make sure no one else is looking before she enters the vault. Taking a match, she lights a torch on a wall.
"Mom, why are we in here?" Cataleya asks, looking around.
Regina walks over to her father's casket. "This is your grandfather Cataleya. He was a great man. He was kind, and understanding. His name was Henry" Regina states rubbing a tear from her face. She was emotional. She was about to tell her daughter everything. She didn't know how she was going to take it, but she couldn't keep it a secret any longer.
"Oh…you named Henry after him" Cataleya responded in understanding.
Regina nodded. "Yes. I named him, Henry Daniel Mills"
Cataleya gasped. "Like Daniel…the stable boy, the evil queen in the book was in love with" It was all confusing. The book didn't talk about Daniel too much, just that the Evil Queen once loved a man named Daniel. It didn't say any more than that. And now her mother was telling her she was the evil queen.
"Yes. I was in love with…We were to be married, but Snow White told my mother I loved him…and my mother killed him. Daniel" Regina explained, taking off some leather gloves she had on, and placing them in her pocket.
"I'm…I'm sorry, that happened…Mom" Cataleya responded. She wasn't sure what was going on at the moment. "What, happened to him?" Cataleya asked while pointing at Henry's casket.
"I killed him…to cast the curse" Regina responded looking Cataleya in the eyes. She wanted to know what her daughter was thinking. Would she think she was a monster? Would she think that if Regina was willing to kill her on father, she would kill her children too?
"Mom…how does any of this prove that you're the evil queen…was the evil queen?" Cataleya asked. She remembered the book saying that the Evil Queen killed her own father. The heart of the thing she loved the most.
Regina sighed. "This will" Regina pushed her father's casket back revealing a secret vault down below.
"Woah!" Cataleya gasped. "That's…um…what's down there?"
Regina bit her bottom lip uncharacterically. She was nervous, and Cataleya was taking all of this, surprisingly well. But then again, she didn't believe her when she told her she was the evil queen. "Come look"
Regina helped Cataleya walk down the steep stairs and into her secret vault. Immediately hundreds of hearts beating created a hum.
"What are those Mom?" Cataleya asked looking at all the tiny red boxes that was glowing.
"Those are hearts. Hearts I have collected, as well as hearts my mother has collected. I'm not sure who all these hearts belong to, but this one over here…" Regina started as she walked over to the first one on the third row. "…this one, is your father's heart. If I take it out the box and whisper into it, I can make him do anything that I want him to do, if I squeeze it, I can kill him" Regina whispered.
"So…it is true…I think I believe you…wow, I can't believe Henry was right, all this time. I can't believe this is possible, but it is" Cataleya said, while looking around the room, and at some of her mother's evil queen's costumes. She recognized some of them from the book.
"Yes. It is…it's all true" Regina looked Cataleya in the eye, once she stopped scanning the small room. "Do you hate me?" '
Cataleya frowned and Regina's heart dropped. Her daughter didn't like her anymore. Regina felt her heart breaking.
"Why would I hate you?" Cataleya sweetly asked, despite the look on her face. "I could never hate you mom" Cataleya shook her head, and gave Regina a hug. It looked like she needed one.
"I just thought that once you found out the truth, you wouldn't want to be around me anymore. I just thought that maybe you would want to live with your dad. Despite the consequences, I couldn't keep this secret from you. It's too big, too important" Regina explained with tears in her eyes.
"Mom…I don't nor will I ever hate you, or want to leave you. You've been the best mom I could ever hope for…ask for. I don't care what you have done, or will do…as long as you'll always be my mom" Cataleya whispered against her mother, still hugging her.
Regina laughed as she sobs. Nothing was funny, but this moment, it was so beautiful. She never wanted it to end. Her daughter accepts her for who she is. She didn't even ask for her to change. Even though Regina just confessed that she has killed before, in the past, Cataleya is still with her. "I love you so much" Regina admitted with tears running down her face.
"I love you too, Mom"
Regina carried Cataleya back into the mansion. She felt bad for waking her daughter up in the middle of the night, but she wanted her to know the truth. She couldn't live another moment without being honest, with her. She didn't understand why. She didn't understand why she had no intentions of telling Henry the truth. As she climbed the stairs and peaked into Henry's room confirming that he was fast asleep, she began to think about him, and her relationship with her son. She actually asked herself if she still loved him or not. 'Of course I do' I was her response.
Cataleya woke up to the sound of the alarm. She opened her eyes to find that she was lying next to her mother, in her mother's bed. She looked over at Regina as she too stirred awake.
"Mom?" Cataleya asked while yawning. The memories of their early morning adventure coming back to her. Her mother was the evil queen. She didn't care. Cataleya wanted her mother, her real mother ever since she learned that she was switched at birth. She wouldn't have cared if she was the wicked witch of the west. She just wanted her mom to be there, and she was.
"You can go back to sleep for another hour sweetie. I'm sorry I woke you up so early, I'm usually up before my alarm. I have to get up and prepare breakfast and lunch for you and Henry, also I need to iron your cheerleading uniform, and you have to wear it to school today" Regina mumbled half asleep, as she stood from the bed, and put on her house coat. "Go back to sleep" Regina placed a kiss on Cataleya's head before she headed downstairs.
Cataleya wanted to talk to her mom some more about what happened last night. She didn't even remember coming home. The last thing that she remembered was falling asleep in the car on the way home. Cataleya wanted Regina to know that she appreciated everything she had done for her since she arrived. And how much she loved her. She was sick of her looking so sad, and she knew Henry was the cause of it, because he was always so mean to her.
Eventually sleep won, and Cataleya feel back into a deep sleep.
The next time Cataleya woke up, it was by her mother. Her mother who was, by then dressed for the day, the house smelled of coffee, and pancakes. Cataleya washed up for the day, she put on her uniform, and it was different from the one she wore the previous evening. It was a dress, similar to the two piece, but it only had one sleeve. She had placed two pigtails in her hair, but when she came downstairs, Regina insisted that they were uneven, and redid them in a rush before they left home. Henry was smiling the whole morning, and Cataleya couldn't help but glare at him. She was still furious with him.
Now they sat outside the school. Henry had already rushed out of the car and on his way to Miss Blanchard's class. Cataleya was about to get out of the car as well until Regina stopped her.
"Cataleya" Regina called out, looking in the rearview mirror.
"Yeah Mom?"
"Remember…what I told you last night?" Regina asked unsure. They had not talked about the incident at all since then. Cataleya was not treating her any different. Even though she hoped it would never happen, she had been expecting the cold shoulder, like Henry was giving her. But no, all she received was love. Maybe she had dreamt the whole conversation.
"Yes, about you being the evil Queen?" Cataleya shrugged her shoulders like it was no big deal.
So it wasn't a dream after all, Regina thought to herself. Maybe Cataleya just didn't believe her. "It's true you know" Regina replied looking away, not making eye contact any longer.
"I know" Cataleya replied dryly. "And…I don't care. You're my mom, and I love you…that's all that should matter…right?" Cataleya whined. She really wanted to go inside, she was excited about her first day as a cheerleader.
Regina at this point was looking back at Cataleya. "Thank-you so much for being so understanding, I don't know what I would do without you" Regina admitted.
Cataleya sighed. "Mom. I promise, I'm not going anywhere, I mean except to school, but I love you, and I promise I always will…but I really want to go to school and find Clara and Chloe…OH! And Grace too, she is going to freak when she sees my uniform" Cataleya practically bounced in the back seat. Smiling from ear to clear.
Regina couldn't help but chuckle. "Okay, fine…but, you can't tell anyone about me being the evil queen, or about the curse, okay?"
Cataleya nodded. Even though now she knew it was the truth, she wasn't about to be running around looking like a mad man screaming about an curse. She knew how crazy that looked. She would have felt bad for Henry, if she wasn't so mad at him. "I know Mom"
"I will see you today at 4:30 sharp. I am leading the Parent, Teachers conference, so I will pay Miss Dunn this afternoon, and talk to you and Henry's teachers" Regina stated as she watched Cataleya practically fly out of the car. "Wait" Regina called out as Cataleya started to walk away.
Cataleya turned back around and groaned, then whined. "Mommy…I have to go"
"I know…can I just…can I have a hug goodbye…please?" Regina shrugged.
Cataleya smiled, and raced back to the car as Regina opened the car door. She gave Cataleya a hug, and a kiss on the forehead. "Have a nice day Mom, see you later" Cataleya whispered before she took off again.
Regina smiled. She loved her little girl.
Cataleya had been loving the attention she had been getting with the uniform on. It was just like the movies, she thought to herself…or maybe it was all just her imagination, but she felt cool. Sure she had friends before she became a cheerleader, but now, she was had more friends. Every cheerleader to be exact, even though there was only 10.
Now, it was 4:00pm, and she along with the rest of the squad was just walking out of the gym and into the auditorium. They had been practicing for about an hour, the cheer they was going to be performing, and Cataleya was nervous. She was shorter than most of the other cheerleaders, and was going to be in the front. She was afraid of messing up in front of everyone.
"Cataleya, this is exciting or what?" Chloe asked as she sat next to Cataleya on stage, they were going to be sitting here motionless for a whole hour. The actual meeting was starting at 5pm. Her mom was going to be arriving at 4:30 along with the teachers who went home after school, parents and students. Right now they were just sitting and waiting.
"Yeah...I guess" Cataleya replied looking, she just wanted this night to start…
To be continued…
Guys, tell me, what do you want to see happen?