A/N: Beta: Wazgood529 with a lot of praises.
Before you read this chapter 3, you can go back to Chapter 1 and 2 because it was edited from my beta, Wazgood529.
Enjoy it.
Chapter 3
In the home office, Emma clasped her hands and pressed her lips altogether. The Mills held their breath with their raised eyebrows. The blonde woman released her hands and leaned back against the leather chair then looked away at the elegant window. Regina looked away at her brunette son and gave a 'what's going on' look. Henry took a glance at his brunette mother and shrugged.
Geoffrey walked in the room and showed his presence. The Mills heard the footsteps behind them and looked away at him. Emma slowly turned her head to focus on her butler and raised her eyebrows. The butler lifted his chin and looked at the brunettes with a warning look. The brunette woman was perplexed when she got a weird look from him and slowly lifted her shoulders to face the blonde woman in front of her. Geoffrey cleared his throat and spoke in an extremely mannered voice. The brunette man went silent when he heard an accent and bulged his eyes.
"Ms. Swan, the meeting is in five minutes."
"Who will be in the meeting?" Emma asked while she got up and walked around the desk then crossed her legs and arms. She leaned back against the desk. Regina slowly raked her gaze on the blonde woman and thought about her marriage with Emma. The butler pointed out the people in the meeting and informed her right away about the business that the blonde woman owned for almost eight years.
The blonde woman nodded and waved her dismissal hand. Henry and Regina looked away at the butler who was bowing and left the room. The Mills looked away at the blonde woman. Emma looked at them and chuckle then spoke lightly.
"I have a meeting in two minutes. So will you like to come with me for an hour or scatter away to your hotel reservation?"
"Well, we've not yet started to get our hotel reservations since we planned our road trip to see you." Regina winced and blurted it out with her awkward smile. Henry gave a sympathetically smile. Emma nodded with a deep sigh and gestured them out of the office. The Mills got up and bowed their heads down then followed the blonde woman.
They walked out of the mansion through the back door and strode away on the stone pathway. Regina absorbed the fresh air and took in the view in the backyard. It was a prairie with several horses and the ranchers who were herding the horses. The sunset was orange sky with a blue tint. It was a beautiful view to look at the prairie. Henry's jaw went open when he arrived at the barn and spoke lightly.
"It is a beautiful barn."
"Thank you. I built this one two years ago." Emma replied while opening the red door and entered. Regina looked away at the Stonewood barn and raised her eyebrows then walked after her son who was absorbing the details of the architecture.
The blonde woman walked to her head chair at the end of the barn. The businesslike people were standing up and looking away at Emma. Regina and Henry were feeling awkward while they took a glance at the businesspeople in their cowboy attires. Emma cleared her throat to get the Mills' attention. Others looked away at the brunettes. The brunette man slowly nodded and dragged his brunette mother to Emma's chair. The blonde woman indicated the chairs beside her chair and looked away at her businesspeople.
Regina and Henry walked to their chairs and others went to sit down. They did same thing with Emma and looked away at the blonde woman. The bearded man in red flannel with blue jeans smiled at the brunettes and spoke lightly.
"Y'all should be new. Welcome to Texas."
"Thank you." Regina stuttered her words and gave an awkward smile. Emma rolled her eyes and looked away at him with a reply.
"My apologies, Brian. This is Regina Mills, my ex-wife and our son, Henry Mills. They just came here today."
"Naw. That's ok, Emma." Brian responded. Others looked at the Mills with their raised eyebrows. The brunette woman gave an awkward smile with a little wave. Henry arched his eyebrow at his brunette mother and gave a salute gesture. Emma chuckled while she was looking at her son and looked away at the black-haired Asian woman in three chairs away from Regina then spoke lightly.
"Jessica, what is your business since I got the information from Geoffrey."
"I need some ideas for marketing with the benefits. It won't increase at all since three weeks ago. What should I do with our solid plan? It didn't work until I found out that the marketing was based on the adoption and fostering."
"Wait a minute, Emma you are selling the children to the adoption and fostering?" Regina asked after hearing the business proposal. She was great at negotiating the ideas since she became the mayor. The blonde sent a glare at her and replied.
"No. My business is not about selling the children to the adoption and fostering. It's about their benefits to fund their future. The goal is to get the children to be secure with their future before they leave when they are at an age of eighteen."
"Got it." The brunette woman retorted and leaned back against the chair. Henry stared at his brunette mother and gave a 'what the hell?' look. Regina looked away at her son and gave an apologetic look. Emma looked away at their businesspeople and spoke lightly.
"Just flow with the marketing but some of you have the best ideas. You just help Jessica out with the marketing. Bring them to me by this weekend. Is it clear?"
They nodded in affirmation except Regina and Henry. The blonde woman sighed and flicked her wrist. The Mills looked away at the redhead woman in black flannel with leather pants who was getting up from the chair. Emma raised her eyebrow at her and the redhead woman started to speak up in her California Accent.
"I have confirmations from the magazines. I believe that it would be Glamour and Business Life. They wanted to interview you on this upcoming weekend. Will it be confirmed if you attend?"
"Will you reschedule these interviews until two weeks from now?"
"Noted. Will you attend the Children's Foundation Gala this week?"
"Yes, I will and please inform them that I have two guests coming with me at this time." Emma replied. Regina and Henry whisked away to look at the blonde woman with their jaws open. The blonde woman looked away at the Mills and raised her eyebrow then gave a 'do you have a problem with that?' look. The brunette boy shook his head and went silent. The brunette woman slowly nodded and looked away at the redhead woman.
"Ok thanks. By the way, my name is Samantha. It was a pleasure to meet you both and I welcome you to the state of Texas." The redhead woman smiled with a reply then sat down. Others smiled. The blonde woman was relieved that the meeting went smoothly as long as they solved the problem.
Several hours later, Emma was taking Regina and Henry away to the main house and gestured them to the living room where it was located behind the grand staircases. The lounge was beautiful as the Mills absorbed the comfort of the mahogany oak. The walls were consisted with the mix of stonewall and woods. The ceiling was high as an equal to the two stories high. The tree chandelier was hanging up in the middle of the high ceiling. The fireplace was in the beautiful marble stones. The furniture was the L-shaped sofa and a curved sofa altogether. The lamps consisted of the stone with the shaped animals on the shades. The coffee table was a wooden table. The 60 inches' television was on the stonewall on the wall mount above the fireplace.
Regina and Henry stepped down on two steps from the foyer to the living room behind the grand staircase. They looked around in the room and found the glass windows that took a prairie view in the backyard then looked away at the patio furniture outside. The blonde woman was sitting on the sofa and watched the Mills' reactions. The brunette woman looked away at her and spoke lightly.
"This living room is beautiful."
"Thank you." Emma replied while looking away at the view in front of her. Henry was slack-jawed when he saw the beautiful entertainment system on the wall and stuttered slightly.
"Is that a 60 inch television on the wall?" Regina looked away at the television on the wall mount. The blonde woman looked away at it and then responded right away.
"Yes, it is. It was supposed to be in your bedroom, but I decided to use it here instead."
"But why!?" Henry looked away at his brunette mother and whined. The brunette woman shrugged and walked to the sofa on the opposite from Emma. The brunette man looked away at the television and muttered under his breath, 'I love you' in a melodramatic way. Emma rolled her eyes and spoke lightly.
"Can we go on with my story about my cheating?"
Henry strode away like his brunette mother did. He dumped his ass on the sofa with a loud sigh. Regina looked away at her son and raised her eyebrows. The brunette man semi-glared at her and spoke lightly.
"You didn't give me that television since I was 15 years old."
"Well, remember we did this." The brunette woman said. Henry rolled his eyes and looked away at his blonde mother. Emma looked back and forth at the Mills. Regina threw her hands in the air and leaned back against the couch while she was looking away at her ex-wife. The blonde woman slowly nodded and reminisced her memories in Granny's Bed and Breakfast suite with Ruby.
- Flashback –
After getting over their hangover from last night, Emma and Ruby were on the bed discussing the financial papers about the blonde woman's business, Swan's Ugly Ducklings. The brunette with red streaks woman sighed and spoke lightly.
"I think this is the last finance paper we have to look at and your business should be all set."
"I'm excited to prepare everything for my company. I can't wait to show Regina and Henry about this one on Christmas Eve. It would be the best surprise." Emma replied back.
"Yeah! Thank you for reminding me. Did you tell them yet?"
"No. I haven't yet but tonight, I will."
"It is only three days away, Emma. I don't want your wife to be suspicious of this business between you and I., But I'm proud of you because you made your dreams come true."
"Rubes, you knew me. I love my wife, and thank you for getting us back on the pieces since we had no clue about liking each other. You pushed us together, and we clicked right away. Well, I apologized many times. Another thing is, I'm fucking excited to start this business." Emma said. The brunette with red streaks woman laughed after finding her memories for the Christmas Eve party and spoke lightly.
"You are right. It's no big deal. So, let's do this shit."
"Great, so I have a meeting upcoming in two hours. I hope I can pull everything together."
"Don't worry, Swan. You will rock this one."
"I hope so."
Now, they were working on the financial papers and checked everything on the bed. The papers were scattering on the sheets. Ruby sighed and pulled several papers with her hand then looked for more information. She found her sources and went closer to the blonde woman's side to look over Emma's shoulder then spoke lightly.
"I found the sources on the papers and –"
The door flung open. Regina was there and went angry then went horrified when she saw Ruby kissing on her wife's jawline. Emma widened her eyes when she felt Ruby's lips on her jawline and dropped her papers from her hands. The brunette woman started to tear away and screamed after her wife.
"Emma! You've been here with Ruby! You are a slut but a whore. I can't believe that I married you. How dare you!?"
"Regina, this is not what it looks like. We are working on my plans." Emma replied quickly. Regina shook her head and looked away at the table then found the empty coffee mug and threw in the air toward her blonde wife. Others widened their eyes and covered their heads after smashing on the wall with the mug. Ruby got up and mocked her hands into a surrender. The brunette woman looked away at the brunette waitress and spoke harshly.
"Ruby, I thought I trust you enough, but you've been fucking my wife. You are a bitch."
The blonde woman shook her head violently. She walked to her brunette wife and spoke lightly.
"This is not like us. Regina, calm down."
"Calm down!? I've not giving this shit. You are getting out of my house and stay away from Henry and me." Regina replied and put her wedding rings away from her fingers then threw it away on the bed. She stared at her blonde wife and pushed her away then ran away with tears in her eyes from the hotel suite. Ruby looked away at Emma and gave a sympathetic look. The blonde woman started to cry after hearing her brunette wife's rambled screams.
- Flashback –
Regina and Henry stared at the blonde woman. They didn't know that Emma was planning her surprise for them on Christmas Eve. Ruby worked with her for a long time to get her business to settle. Emma looked away at the brunette woman and spoke lightly.
"I had been working with Ruby for few months with my business. I just wanted to surprise you on Christmas Eve. I wanted to share my proud moments with you. But you took it the wrong way to criticize me. I didn't know why you were angry, but I understood. I've been keeping myself away from you. I didn't want you to find out before I got my business to be official."
"You've been secretly planning this business since Ruby helped you out?" Henry asked. Regina was speechless. The blonde woman nodded and replied back.
"Yes, I've been planning. Since, I got my master's degree in Business Communication. I started my business after I married your mom. It was slowly expanding in the beginning. I doubted myself, but I just knew that in five years later, it went into a boom. I asked Ruby to help me with the financial papers. I've lacked in these numbers."
"Why didn't you let me help you?" Regina spoke lightly. The blonde woman shook her head and looked away at the view then explained right away.
"If I asked you to help me, it reveals my secret out. I don't want that. I just kept it in silence. I had my ways to keep you out of my plans until I was ready to show you."
"Who knew your business?" The brunette woman retorted.
"Granny, Ruby and Hook were the ones who knew."
"Wait a minute, I remembered Granny, who was smiling sadly on your last day when you left Storybrooke. Is she?" Henry mumbled.
"Yes, she knew my plans to leave Storybrooke. When the divorce papers were final, I planned everything from the beginning of the process in the divorce. I just knew that it ended our marriage. I decided to leave at once and promised not to come back to Storybrooke."
"Why didn't you come back?"
"It brings too many memories. I just wanted to forget it." Emma replied while she looked away at her dog, Regal, who was walking from the foyer. Henry looked down at his hands and asked again.
"What about Hook?"
"He is here."
"Where is he now?" Regina asked with her furrowed brows.
"He is working at theater place near here, and he sold his ship." The blonde woman retorted.
"Wow." The brunette man said. The brunette woman slowly nodded but went into her thoughts about the scene between Ruby and Emma. The blonde woman sighed and petted the black Labrador.
"Can I ask you a question?" Regina asked.
"Sure," Emma said. Henry looked away at his brunette mother with furrowed brows. The brunette woman took a glance at her son and gave a small smile then replied back.
"Do you love me?" The blonde woman looked away at her ex-wife and stared. The brunette man looked away at his blonde mother with raised eyebrows. Regina held her breath and looked away at her. They waited for Emma's response. The silence took over, and Regal was whining. The sunset was setting down in the darkness. The orange sky was showing bright on the horizon. The horses were galloping away to the stables with the ranchers.
A/N: Ohhh, another cliffhanger. I'm sorry.
Chapter Four is coming after The Beauty of The Ballet story.
Please review.