When It Rains

14. Shoe Box

Try as she might, Regina could not sleep that evening. She tossed and turned, dozed off and woke back up all the way through the night. So very many thoughts and emotions ran wild through her mind.
Truth be told, She was going through a lot.
She was depressed and frustrated that she still could not locate her son. What kind of mother would allow this to happen?? She repeated to herself.
She was confused about whether or not her own mother could somehow be involved, and to top it all off, she was angry as hell at Emma... at the way she acted earlier today.

Why would Emma scold me, then dismiss me like that?? And what's with that other woman.. flirting with her as if.. as if they dated, or slept together before??

That woman...

Regina scrunched her face at the thought.

"And why Should I even care.." Regina thought aloud; scolding herself, "I should be concentrating on Henry, not my love life... or anyone else's for that matter."

But, not unlike her struggle to find sleep, it was impossible to not think of Emma. Impossible to not think of how or why they recently found each other again. It was as if the uncontrollable forces of nature had pulled them together.

With the bombardment of her thought-train getting the best of her, Regina sat up in her bed. The satin sheets were twisted and mangled across the soft mattress. Glancing at the clock on her dresser, she read the time at 3:57am.

"Well," she said to herself, setting her feet to the floor, "if my mind wants to take a trip down memory lane, I guess there's no use trying to fight it."

Regina walked across her bedroom to the cedar chest that sat just below the wide window across from her bed. Her father made it for her as a child, from the evergreen trees that grew wild behind the family mansion. The forest in which Regina loved to play as a child.

When he gave it to her on her 8th birthday he told her, "Some day you will grow old, Regina. Keep this chest filled with the very treasures you love now, and you will forever be young whenever you open it."
At the time, she didn't really understand what her father meant exactly, but, she did what he said and filled it with everything that brought her happiness. Over the years, every time she opened it, the aromatic scent of the cedar wood transported her back to that moment when she was just eight years old.

She removed the soft, white seat cushions that lay atop it, and opened the chest. As the top of the chest squeaked open, she took in a deep breath, in hailing the strong scent of cedar that plumed out of it.
The strong woodsy smell always had a way of calming her, and as she sorted through the mess of items inside of it, she pulled out a small shoebox, it's contents jangled around inside it.
Smiling, Regina closed the chest, and sat on the floor, her back against it.

Staring at the blue box in her lap, she carefully removed the lid, exposing the litter of contents inside.