Chapter 3

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After she closed the door she let out a deep sigh. Hating him, being angry with him, was harder than she had thought.

She wished she hadn't given the keychain to Neal, it felt like there was something missing, but she wanted to hurt him and by the way he had looked at her she knew it had worked.

'Emma can just explain to me what is going on her? Cause I've absolutely no idea. I only know that I just hit a man in the face because he hurt you, badly.' David came down the stairs followed by Mary Margaret.

'Emma, why aren't you giving him a chance to explain? You can't keep pushing him away.'

'You're on his side now Mary Margaret?'

'I don't pick sides. I just think there's more to the story than you know.'

'Why would I? That man causes nothing but pain.'

While she and Mary Margaret were discussing Neal, David still looked confused. 'An explanation? Anyone?'

'Emma, why are you lying to yourself? It's actually true what Neal said. You kept the keychain because it stands for something. The keychain stands for your time with Neal, it stands for his love for you and you kept it, because you didn't want to let his love go.' Mary Margaret lifted her head and looked her in the eye. 'Seriously Emma, talk to him.'

She quickly looked away and then took a seat at the counter.

'Could someone now please explain what this is really about?' David walked over to the counter. 'The only things I understood were that he hurt Emma badly quite a while ago, that the man is called Neal and that he's still in love with my daughter.'

'And he's Henry's father.' That was the only thing she could say.

'He's what?'

'I'll explain everything about Henry's father to you. Come on.' Mary Margaret took David by the hand and they went over to the couch. 'When Emma was 17 she met this guy Neal and fell in love with him. Emma and Neal stole and they lived in their car, the yellow bug. At one point Neal was going to sell some expensive watches to some fence, so he and Emma could settle down. Neal never showed up at their meeting point and Emma got arrested for the crime Neal committed. Later in jail she found out she was pregnant. Neal is Henry's father.'

No one noticed that Henry had entered the apartment. 'Who's Neal? Is he my father? My father is dead right?' He walked over to his mother.

'Yes, Henry. You're father died a hero.'

'Emma.' Mary Margaret hinted Emma to tell the truth.

'Hey, kid. How was school?' She decided it was best to just ignore Mary Margaret.

'Come on, Emma.' Mary Margaret was irritating her. She didn't want to tell her son that her father actually wasn't dead. She told Henry an enormous lie and he would be so hurt if he found out. She sent Mary Margaret an irritating look.

'Okay. I'll go make diner. Henry, maybe you should do something about your homework?' Mary Margaret went over to the kitchen to prepare their diner.

'Emma, who were Gramps and Grams talking about?' Henry looked at her curiously.

'How was school?' She just ignored his question.

'I'm going to do some homework.' Henry went to his room. Actually their room. Emma shared her room with Henry. There was not enough room in the apartment for a room for Henry. She could see that Henry was disappointed in her.

As soon as Henry was upstairs, she got back to Mary Margaret. 'Can you just drop it. I'll tell him when I want to.'

'It's not fair to Henry. You know that. He deserves to know.'

Emma was so done with this. She had enough Neal-drama for one day. But what irritated her most was that Mary Margaret was right. She hated lying to Henry, but she was scared for his reaction. Telling Henry the truth was not the only thing Mary Margaret was right about, she was also right about the fact that she did care about Neal. Only her pride wouldn't let her make it Neal so easy.

The evening past by as usual only tonight there was a bit more tension, but no one brought up 'Neal' or 'Henry's father' again. After diner they watched a movie together, and at ten, Henry went to bed. Not much later Emma went to bed herself. She wished Mary Margaret and David good night and then went to the bathroom. There she took the time to get ready to go to bed, so she had the time to think. Since she saw Neal this morning she had not really had any time to herself. All day there had only been one thing in her head: Neal. The only thing she could thing about was Neal.

When she was finally lying in bed, she couldn't sleep. She tossed and turned, but nothing seemed to help. She sat up a bit, so she could watch Henry while sleeping. He looked so peaceful and innocent and the similarities between him and Neal were huge. While watching Henry, she finally fell asleep.

The next morning at 6:30 am her alarm went off. For what had been left of her night, she slept well.

'Henry, wake up.' She kissed him on his temple. 'Come on, you've to get up. I'm going to take a shower. I will see you downstairs in a few.'

When she left the bedroom, she could smell the breakfast that was being prepared by Mary Margaret. She loved her friend, mother… She still wasn't used to that. She loved that Mary Margaret was such a good cook. Because she couldn't bake a thing.

Fifteen minutes later she joined the rest of her family downstairs to see that they had already started with their meal. It wasn't until she was about to sit down, that she saw the huge vase with flowers on the kitchen counter.

'It's for you Emma and no floral abuse this time please.' Mary Margaret said jokingly. 'These flowers are absolutely beautiful.' Emma didn't think it was funny at all.

'I'm going to kill him..' She went over to the kitchen counter and grabbed the flowers.

'I said no floral abuse! And maybe you want to see what came with the flowers.' She handed Emma an envelope.

Emma took the envelope and put the flowers back in to the vase so she could open the envelope. She was curious for the message Neal left. The flowers were of course from Neal. In the envelope there was one sheet of paper and the necklace with keychain. She was happy he gave it back.

Dear Emma,

This belongs to you. I don't want it, it's yours. Believe when I say that I'm sorry for the way things went yesterday. I know you don't want to hear from me, so I leave you alone for a while, hoping that you'll come to me. When you do I'll tell you everything you want to know. I promise.

If you want to see me, you can find me at Granny's.

Love,

Neal

BTW You're not the only one that kept things from our time together.

She didn't get the last part, but this was sweet. She couldn't hold back a smile.

'Emma, who's it from?' Henry asked curiously.

'No one special.' She put the letter in her pocket and took a seat at the table.

'It didn't look like that.' Why was that so incredibly smart.

'One day I'll tell you, kid.' She smiled at him, hoping that this would satisfy him, but it didn't entirely.

David noticed that she didn't want tell him anything more. 'Would you like to go to the stables after school? Maybe we can also do some sword fighting.'

Emma saw her son's face lit up, when David mentioned the stables and the sword fighting and a huge smile appeared on her son's face.

'Yes, yes. Will you pick me up after school?'

David looked to her for conformation. She was okay with it, so she nodded. So David told his grandson he would be waiting for him at school.

'Thanks Gramps!' Henry wrapped his arms around his grandfather.

She still didn't understand how he had been able to accept the huge change in their, now pretty messed up, family tree. She still called her parents Mary Margaret and David. Most of the time she didn't even think of them as her parents. She just wasn't used to having parents around. It was also pretty weird that her parents were like the King and Queen of this town. In fact she was a princess. She was glad Mary Margaret and David decided to keep the things the way they were before the curse was broken. But still.. People acted slightly different around her. Almost like she really was a princess.

'Okay. I have to go.' She stood up and grabbed her jacket, badge and keys. 'Enjoy your day Henry. I'll see you tonight. Have fun with David.' She stroke her son's hair. 'Bye Mary Margaret.' Then she nodded to David. 'See you in a few.'

When she walked to her car, there was another surprise waiting for her. Now she also understood the last part of Neal's note. The dream catcher they found in the motel where they had chosen their future home, was now hanging in her car. But here was more. At the driver's seat there lay 11 roses with a note.

Eleven roses. One for every year I wasn't there for you. One for every year I regretted my decisions. One for every year I loved you. - Neal