Author's Note: It's Sunday morning, Lord's Day, in Book's Pass. Emma meets a few more townsfolk before she encounters Regina once again. Thanks to Fictorium for the beta look.
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Part 5
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Ruby Lucas almost dropped the plates she carried from the kitchen to the small dining room where she and her grandmother planned to take their morning meal. Sitting near a window, Emma Swan turned at the ominous clattering.
The blonde woman was dressed in a snug fitting, green plaid flannel shirt. She wore suspenders over each shoulder and the shirt's sleeves were rolled to her elbows. Ruby had previously admired the woman's strength watching her on horseback, but presented with it cleaned up and with an easy, welcoming smile like now, made Ruby feel like swooning. And she never swooned.
Setting down the plates, Ruby said, "I thought you'd left."
"Bug likes the treats you snuck him yesterday." Emma shrugged and continued to smile, but there was something tense about her close up. Ruby noticed she kept glancing to the window.
Ruby started to ask if Emma wanted something to eat when the woman pulled a plate across the table and plucked fork from her hand. "I take it, you're stayin'." She heard footsteps and turned to see her grandmother emerging from the kitchen. "We need another plate. Seems we still have a let room."
Gray-white hair tidily in a bun at her nape, Ruby's grandmother, Eugenia Lucas, paused in the act of wiping her hands on a linen. "Miss Swan," she greeted. "I would be put out if you hadn't already paid the room for a week."
"My... business can make my hours unpredictable," Emma said.
Eugenia sat and shooed Ruby back to the kitchen as she took the remaining plate on the table for herself. She studied the blonde who had returned to eating in silence. "What's your business in Book's Pass?"
"Just passing through."
"I know you followed Grace and Regina out to the sheep herd and back in yesterday. Only you turned south 'stead of comin' in for the night."
Emma cocked her head to the side but didn't lift her eyes, only lifting a forkful of eggs to her mouth. She made a sound of appreciation as she chewed and swallowed.
"Them's her eggs," Eugenia said.
"Hmm?"
"The eggs you're eatin'. Come from Miss Regina's chickens."
Speaking around a mouthful, Emma said, "In'erestin'," not sounding really interested at all.
"I believe in givin' thanks where 'tis due," Eugenia replied, taking a bite of the eggs herself.
"Just so," Emma said. "And the bacon?"
"Lemulson hog."
"Be sure to pass along my compliments."
"I can do that." Eugenia went on. "You looked out for Grace t'other night."
"Who?"
"The girl Regina took in?"
"Oh. Yeah."
Eugenia's brow knit close. "I'm gonna ask you a question, Miss Emma, and I want you to answer true."
Green eyes glanced up but then quickly lowered again. Eugenia waited, expecting a denial. Emma finished her eggs. Then she wiped her mouth with the napkin cloth, before setting it on the table under her fist.
"There's a mountain of worry behind a request like that," Emma finally said. "And shoulders should never be bowed by such things." Emma nodded. "Ask your question, Widow Lucas."
The choice of address threw Eugenia and she asked, "Where did you learn I was a widow?"
"Aren't you?" Emma smiled. "You wear a wedding band on a chain round your neck. You have a granddaughter, so you must have had a daughter, by birth or marriage. You have a fine couple of businesses here, but a man would have established it. Such is the way of these parts."
The blonde stood.
"Where're you goin'? I haven't asked my question yet."
"On the contrary, you have now asked two. I shall answer the second as true as the first. I am going to the general store to buy a hat." Emma bowed like a man, at the waist, and left the breakfast room of the inn.
Eugenia shook her head in disbelief at being outwitted. She was standing up to collect the plates when Ruby emerged from the kitchen. They both turned at the sound of boots on the steps outside.
"Where's Emma goin'?" Ruby asked.
"Gen'ral store."
"But it's Sunday." Ruby raised her eyebrow. She followed Eugenia into the kitchen where they began to clean up from their meal.
"I don't think that'll make no never mind to Miss Swan. And you know George'll open to anyone with cash, no matter it's the Lord's Day." Eugenia chuckled and shook her head again. That Emma Swan was a wily one and determined too.
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Half an hour later, Emma Swan emerged from the general store with a brand new dark brown leather hat on her head. Its wide brim shadowed her eyes from view, and she held a box of goods under one arm. She made her way down the street walking jauntily in the warmth from the early morning sun.
The general store owner, George Mead, watched the peculiar woman go, counting the stack of crisp bank notes she had pressed into his hand "for his finest quality hat." The only other person to spend so much cash on a single item had been Jameson when he bought the wedding dress his daughter had decided she wouldn't use.
Emma Swan hadn't blustered about the price like Jameson. She had also purchased a variety of other things. Mead was hoping she'd enter his establishment again soon. Fine upstanding customers like that kept a man happy in his business.
He stepped back inside, closing and locking his door. A closed sign rattled against the pane. Time for church.
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Regina sat at the head of the long table watching everyone else eat as she sipped her sweet apple juice. Grace sat between Caroline and Areliz, who had loaned the girl a frock for the day. When she fled her father's house, Grace hadn't taken more than the clothes on her back, not thinking things through much.
The girl was so young, Regina lamented. What on earth could she realistically do? She'd done all the schooling a place like Book's Pass deemed necessary for a female. Marriage, as her father had planned, was typical at this age, but Regina wouldn't suggest it. Unless... Maybe there was already a boy. "Grace?" she asked.
"Yes ma'am?" Grace promptly looked up from her bowl.
"Is there someone you hope to see at church today?"
"I... didn't ... I can go to church with you?"
"Of course," Regina said.
"I've never... Are you going, Miss Regina?"
"No, dear, I'll have a lovely lunch ready for when you return."
"C'mon," Areliz said suddenly at the sound of a click striking the hour in the parlor. She wiped her face and tossed down her napkin. "Time to go."
Regina remained seated as the table was vacated. Once everyone was gone and she no longer heard the commotion of the girls in the parlor, Regina rose slowly from her seat. Methodically she moved around the table gathering the bowls and silver, stacking each on the tray that had been used to carry the food out from the kitchen.
Once in the kitchen she took the hot water pot from the iron stovetop and slowly poured it over the dishes in the washtub. Plunging her hands with the washrag into the scalding water, Regina welcomed the tears to her eyes.
She was only on the second bowl when she heard knocking. It didn't sound like the front door. She looked around the kitchen then out the window toward the chicken coops. Her gaze met green eyes that widened and disappeared. The back door slammed against the inside wall when Emma Swan kicked it in.
A foot and a box came into sight first. The box landed with a thump as did the foot. The foot was followed by a big lean body topped by an unfamilar brown hat and familiar blond hair. "Miss Swan!"
"What happened?" Emma demanded. "Why are you crying?" The blonde rushed toward Regina.
Regina stood her ground and anger quickly heated her face and dried her tears. "You kicked in my door!"
"What's wrong?"
"What is wrong with you! What are you doing here?" Regina asked, bewildered. "I thought you'd left?"
"I bought some things for Grace," Emma said, retreating to pick up the box from the floor where she had dropped it.
"Grace? She's left for church with the other girls."
"You have girls who go to church?"
"Yes, they do."
"Here in Book's Pass?"
"No, they go to next town over, a half day away - of course here!"
"And the men? They don't bother 'em?"
"Would you bother another woman if your wife was sitting right beside you in a church pew?"
"What about the reverend?"
"He's more likely to chastise the men for their drinking and gambling than their... trysts."
"What about Grace? Was the reverend here the other night? What's he think about the girl? Does Jameson go to church?"
Regina hesitated. She hadn't considered that. Her expression must have alarmed Emma because the blonde suddenly grabbed her hand and ran for the door. "C'mon!"
Regina's heart thudded painfully against her ribcage, and she tried to wrest free of Emma's far too warm and comforting grip. The sensation of it made her stomach flip. "Let me go!"
"I threw a hundred bucks at that man to keep Grace safe. You took her into your home. We have a responsibility now." Emma wouldn't release Regina's hand as they ran down the street.
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