"No Mommy, I want Mama back living with us again! Why did she have to go while I was at school? She never even said goodbye!" Aila yelled stomping her feet on the carpet of the playroom.
"Sweetheart, Mama and I have decided to take a break for a while. It just wasn't working between us anymore, and it hadn't been working for a long, long time. You must've heard us arguing?" Regina asked gently, pulling her eldest daughter in for hug.
"Yeah, but why did Mama have to leave without saying goodbye? I want her back living with us! Why can't everything just be like it was before?" Aila asked, her eyes clouding over with unshed tears.
"Aila, Mama chose to leave last night, but it was too late. She went as soon as she could and I am so sorry that you didn't get to say goodbye to her, but you can still message and call her on my phone and your iPad. I know that you and Mama were remarkably close, but I need you and Emma to be big grown-up girls for me just now, because it's just us three girls against the world now." Said Regina, pulling her two children into a massive bear hug.
"Okay Mommy, I'll try" said Aila, and Emma nodded her head in agreement.
From that day onwards, they were a family of three, and honestly Regina preferred it that way. She missed having the additional childcare but that was resolve by having a nanny who was there from 8:30 until 4 and then Ashley the childminder came and took over to allow Regina to work from home. Ashley also came most weekends to allow Regina to go to any meetings or counsels that were a required duty of the role of Mayor. The girls actually loved having their mom home more often, as they actually got to spend more time together as a family.
Aila occasionally still messaged Mal and had seen her a few times but after a couple of months it petered out with the contact dwindling to almost nothing. However, about three months after the split, it was Aila's eighth birthday. Regina pulled out all the stops for the first birthday since Emma joined them and since her and Mal and separated. There was a large bouncy castle, a petting zoo with rabbits, guinea pigs, and hamsters, a large paddling pool, caterers, and of course, lots of presents for both girls. Emma was thrilled to receive an iPad that was identical to Aila's but in a blue case, a few new clothes, and plenty of sweets and chocolate. Aila was gifted a pile of new toys, new dresses, and her favourite present by far was a new mobile phone. After gathering all the children together, Regina came out of the patio doors holding a large birthday cake shaped like a castle with eight light pink candles stuck around the perimeter of the castle. All the children and parents began to sing happy birthday and just when the last few notes were petering out, the gate to the front garden opened with a sharp bang.
Mal stood glowering at Regina and Emma, holding two boxes and an envelope in her hands. Her face was like thunder and her mouth was pursed as though she had just swallowed a mouthful of lemon juice. Without a glance towards the children, Mal walked over to Regina who whipped her into the kitchen through the patio doors. Emma and Aila glanced at each other, both girls knew that this wouldn't end well. Emma was scared, Mal's ugly yelling voice playing in her head on a loop. Aila thought back to how many times she had heard her mother's arguing, their voices throwing ugly words like arrows dipped in poison and ran through the doors to break up the fight.
"Mama, Mommy what are you doing? What's happening?" Aila cried, her eyes watering
"Aila, go back outside, your mom and I need to talk about something" Mal said through gritted teeth
"NO! I hate having to listen to you both arguing! This is meant to be for my birthday! I was having a lovely day with Emma, mommy, and all my friends. Why did you come here to ruin it all?" Aila screamed, all her frustrations coming boiling to the surface.
"I didn't come to ruin anything Aila Grace, I came to drop off your birthday presents, and I got you a special cake, and look, open this" Mal said, offering the large envelope to the little girl.
Aila edged her thumbnail under the seal of the envelope and carefully pulled it open without tearing it. Inside the envelope was a large wad of cash, probably close to a thousand in ten-dollar bills.
She was confused, why did her mama want her to have all this money? Mama was notoriously tight when it came to giving out money, but Regina was far easier to convince.
"What on earth did you give an eight-year-old all that money for Mal? That is just the stupidest thing you've ever done!" Regina said exasperated at the thought of Aila having access to that amount of money at her age.
"It was just an extra present for her, I know she has been missing me a lot since we split up and I think it's only fair that she would be entitled to some extra pocket money. She's a good kid, Regina, even you can't deny that." Mal smiled, but her smile didn't reach her eyes.
"I know that she's a good kid because I am her mother. I filed for sole custody Mal, and if my lawyer hears that you are trying to bribe Aila into asking for visitation, I can promise you that it will not work in your favour!" Regina seethed, fury flashing across her face.
"Why did you file for sole custody? You can keep the foster brat, I never want anything to do with her again, but I carried Aila. I gave birth to her. It might be your egg that she came from, but she is MY daughter!" Mal hissed
"I filed for sole custody because BOTH of our daughters hate seeing us fight. Aila is absolutely correct, today is her special day and you have come by with the sole intention of ruining her birthday party. Show yourself out Mal, we never want to see you darken our doorways ever again." Regina said assertively, gesturing towards the kitchen door.
"You'll live to regret this Regina, and as for you Aila, you can contact me when you are tired of having to share everything you own with a bratty little foster sister. You're so much better than her. She'll never amount to anything, but you Aila, you have star potential. You can go far, further than anyone in this scummy little nowhere town. You'll always have a room at my house".
And with that, she was gone with a flick of her long blonde hair.
When Regina came out into the garden, she saw that many of the children had been roped into a party game by Mary-Margaret Blanchard, the teacher that Emma would have when she went to school, Regina had never particularly liked her but for once, she was thankful that the woman was so good with children. Regina knew that her eyes were watery, her face was tearstained, and her chest was painfully mottled red there was no way she could hide from it. Making her way to the food table, Regina piled a plate with some of the "Adult Food" and reached for an empty cup, but she knocked them over. Cursing silently, Regina knelt down and began to collect them up, counting as she did so, but she was five short of the number she expected. Lifting up the tablecloth and glancing around, there was no sign of the missing cups.
"excuse me, are you looking for these?" came a man's voice, with a hint of a British accent. Looking up, Regina's eyes locked with a man who looked to be around her age, late thirties, with sandy brown hair and the kindest blue eyes.
"Yes, I was. Thank you. I'm so sorry, your name escapes me." Regina said kindly, reaching out to take the cups from him.
"Robin. Robin Locksley. I'm Roland's father" he smiled nodding towards a boy who was about the same age as Emma with a head full of dark curly hair and light brown eyes, he had a snub nose and a cheeky smile that lit up his freckled face.
"What a charming young man, he must make you and your wife very proud" Regina said stiffly, unwilling to shake the uneasy feeling that crept over her.
"sadly, my wife is no longer here, Roland's birth made her extremely unwell, and in the end, it was kinder to let her go. It's just Roland and I now" said Robin.
"I can understand, my wife and I are going through a divorce. Aila is our natural daughter and Emma is my foster daughter. My wife couldn't handle it just being the three of us anymore, so she had to go." Regina sympathised, her hand brushing his.
"mommy! Mommy! Killian just pushed Emma and she's crying" said Aila, running over to Regina.
"thank you darling, I'm just behind you" Regina said, walking across the now muddy lawn in her heels, grimacing as she did so.
Emma lay in a mud puddle, her clothes soaked through and her hair covered in mud. There was a great ugly scrape across her cheek and a bump on her forehead. To her side, Miss Blanchard was trying to coax her into standing up, but Emma kept shaking her head. A boy with lank dark brown hair and rumpled, grubby clothing stood a little further away, playing with the gold chain that hung around his scrawny neck. Emma eventually clambered to her feet, and while she had bumped her head, grazed her hands and knees, and had blood trickling down her beautiful face, she didn't seem seriously injured, more just in shock.
Then a little boy with long, straight, sandy-coloured hair knelt down beside Emma and whispered in her ear, not seeming to notice that his own blue jeans were now soaked with the muddy water, but Emma broke into a smile, and accepted his hand to help her up. She lent in, whispered something softly into his ear and smiled up at Regina, who must have been wearing the oddest expression on her face, put her tiny hand into the grown woman's hand, and whispered two words so softly that Regina almost didn't hear her, but those words made her dark heart sing:
"I'm okay".
When the parents who hadn't stayed at the house began to pick up their children, the little boy whose name was Neal lingered, his parents must've lost track of time.
Regina sat next to the little boy at the children's table, where he nursed a small cup of squash and picked at the now-cold mac and cheese and gave him her warmest smile, which he returned but his brown eyes were somewhat desperately sad.
"you're the little boy who helped Emma when she fell into the puddle earlier, aren't you?" Regina asked conversationally.
"she didn't fall ma'am, I watched Killian push her over. He's not nice to girls and he said Emma laughed at him. I only wanted to make her feel a bit better. I hope she's okay" Neal whispered, his hair flopping into his face.
"she's absolutely fine, just a bit muddy. I wish I could offer you some dry jeans Neal, your mother will think you've been rolling in mud at my house" Regina laughed lightly but stopped when she saw that Neal wasn't joining in the laughter.
"my mother isn't alive" he said, his still-young voice cracking.
So that was why he looked so sad. He must feel so left out when all the mothers came to collect their children. Regina was about to apologise when an older man came through the gate to the backyard. He was wearing an expertly tailored three-piece suit, his hair was long but was neatly combed and had flecks of grey that glinted in the sunlight. He leant heavily upon a gold twisted cane as one of his legs was weak.
"Bae? Where are you?" he called, his Scottish accent barely detectable and his voice was aged yet he sounded as though he was well-spoken and harmless.
"Papa! I'm here!" the boy clambered up from the table and ran over to the older man and gave him a huge hug while his father ruffled his hair, grinning down at his almost identical son.
"You must be Neal's father?" Regina asked, offering a hand to shake.
"I am. He's my pride and joy. Mr Gold" the man answered by way of introduction, taking her hand, and shaking it.
"May I apologise for the state of your son's clothes? He was helping my daughter… well, my foster daughter and they both ended up looking like they crawled out of a swamp. You're more than welcome to send me your dry-cleaning bills" Regina stated, her eyes kindly swivelling to Neal who looked like the winner of a mud-wrestling competition.
Mr Gold held up his hand and gave a kind but exhausted smile
"No apology needed Mayor Mills, my son has a talent for ending up filthy. Always has been a little tyke in that regard. I hope your foster daughter is all right. Will she be in Neal's class at school when she starts?"
"I think she might be, she's very shy and incredibly quiet. I hope you and Emma will be good friends Neal" Regina said with a kind smile which both Neal and his father returned before bidding Regina farewell and making their way home.
Upstairs, Emma and Aila were busy a game on their iPads and were totally oblivious to the surge that suddenly went through the town. Unbeknown to even Regina, magic was slowly returning, and the curse was slowly weakening. Regina had cast the curse, but she didn't know what was weakening it. The stars suddenly shone a little brighter, and the lights in the Mills Mansion hummed with sudden electricity.
In a rundown loft of the edge of town, miles, and miles away from Regina and her two daughters, even further away from Mal and her loathing, a pixie-haired woman suddenly gasped and clutched at her chest. Her voice came out as a soft whisper; she said just two words
"my baby"
Before falling to the ground and weeping.