THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR YOUR SUPPORT. YOU'RE AMAZING. SORRY IT'S TAKEN ME SO LONG TO UPDATE. I DID A LITTLE RESEARCH ABOUT HORSES/RIDING, BUT I DON'T KNOW HOW ACCURATE THIS WILL BE. SO, PLEASE EXCUSE ANY MISTAKES AND DON'T LET THEM INTERFERE WITH YOUR READING TOO MUCH.
DON'T OWN ONCE UPON A TIME.
James leads Emma into the stable, walking along the line of stalls, all of them containing horses of different colors.
"Wow." The blonde breathes. "Are all of these yours?"
"Most of them. The four along here," he gestures to the wall on their right, "are your mom's. Snow loves horses almost as much as she loves her family –friends and all. When we got married, she forced me to ride them all so we'd be acquainted."
"Do you know their names?"
"Of course. This one here's Fox." He pats a cherry wood–colored horse. "You can't see it from here, but she has white legs and some white spots on her back. There are only a few horses with the same coloring in the realm –er, world."
"So she's a show horse." Emma guesses.
"Exactly. Occasionally Snow would ride her if it was just around the castle. But she wouldn't let anyone else on. She bought her a month after we were married. Actually, I came home one day and Fox was just standing in a stall."
"She didn't even ask you or put the idea out!?" The blonde laughs. James smiles at seeing his daughter so happy.
"Nope. Come to think of it, your mother did that a lot… But anyway, this one's Charms." Next to Fox was a gray dappled horse, who was a little smaller.
"She named him after you?"
"Yes. He's not very big or fast, but he's quite agile. I knew she had wanted another horse, but before we could decide I had to go away on an emergency raid. I was gone for all of three days and she bought him."
"She didn't go with you?" From her time in the Enchanted Forest with Snow, Emma has come to the conclusion that Snow wasn't the sit-around-and-wait-for-the-men-to-get-things-done type of queen.
"At the time, there was a crisis in the part of the kingdom near the castle. A big protest. She's a little better with moderating people than me, they like her better, so…" James doesn't feel the need to continue.
"Eh, you're not so bad." Emma smiles. "What about this one?" She points to a black mare with a white streak on his nose.
"Ah, that would be Maverick. He's a beauty." James admires the horse. "Snow was having a particularly bad day –something about a serial killer on the loose and murmurs of Regina going after innocent people– and she was furious. She doesn't often get that angry, but when she does she's impulsive. She went out in search of the biggest, most powerful mare she could find. Obviously she did. I spent the whole night searching for her."
"So what happened?"
"She had ridden him all night, to the far reaches of our kingdom."
"Did you find her?"
"Of course I did. I will always find her." James cries indignantly. "And when we finally got home at noon the next day, I found my first gray hair." At this, Emma laughs again. "And then this one here is Lucy. Snow's had her since she was a little girl. Lucy's getting old, now."
"Aw." Now Emma frowns.
"But she's hanging on. Lucy won't let anyone else ride her." He rubs the horse's nose.
"She's beautiful." Emma takes in the all-white horse that is perfectly groomed.
"When your mom has free time, she braids her hair and puts bows in it. She says it calms her. At least, she used to. She did that quite a lot when she was pregnant with you. She said that the bond between a horse and its owner, when started early when the owner was a child, was something she wanted you to experience. Which brings me to this one." James steps out of the way so that Emma can see perhaps the most beautiful horse in the world. She has a chestnut base coat with streaks of gold and red that catch the sun perfectly. Her black mane sharply contrasts her white belly.
"Oh my God. That's the prettiest horse I've ever seen."
"She's yours. When the curse struck, she was about two weeks old. Snow and I intended to teach you to ride as soon as you could sit up by yourself." James explains. At her silence and unreadable expression, he continues. "I mean, obviously we'd be on it with you."
"Where's her parents?" Emma asks quietly after a moment, gently stroking the tiny horse.
"Snow…" He sighs, trying to figure out how to say this. "She found her alone in the forest nearly frozen to death. We think that maybe her parents wandered off in search of food and were captured–"
"Or she was abandoned."
"Or that, yes."
"Did she come with a name?" Emma closes her eyes against the familiar pain rising up in her chest.
"No. We were still deciding when, you know…"
"I guess she needs a name, then." The blonde smiles.
"Do you have one in mind?" Making another bold move, James drapes an arm around his daughter's shoulder. Some part of him thinks she might pull away, but he's pleasantly surprised when she doesn't.
"Not yet."
"What about Spot or something cute?" He suggests.
Emma scoffs. "Really? If I did, I'd never hear the end of it."
"Or, you know, you can name her Harley or Spike. Whatever floats your boat."
"Harley. I kinda like it. I mean, a horse can't be that much different than a motorcycle."
"What that August guy rides around on?" James can feel Emma's excitement.
"I know what your name is." She leans over the stall door and smiles down at the horse. "How do you like Harley?" The foal whinnies her response. James himself smiles, watching the interaction. His birthday can't get any better than this, he thinks.
MORE TO COME!