The Chance Encounter

Part thirteen

Emma’s POV

I make my way home from the market and tell my parents about what happened.

“You’re lucky that your knight in shining armor showed up to save the day, Sweety”

“Mommmm” I say in embarrassment. “I’m sure I could have handled him on my own. But, yes. I am glad that she showed up and got him off my case quickly. Anyways, I need to get ready. I’m planning to tell Regina that I know I’m her soulmate. I know she’s mine.”

“You should wear something nice, plan the evening romantically.” Mom says sweetly.

I head upstairs to begin getting dressed. I settled on wearing a dark blue button up, navy blue pants and a black vest. I go downstairs to get mom’s opinion.

“How does this look?” I ask.

“You look very nice” she says, and Dad nods in agreement. “How do you plan on telling her that you know?”

“Well, I was going to lean on the topic of soulmate’s to see what her reaction would be. Afterwards, I’m going to ask her what she thinks my soulmate would be like. I’m curious to know what she’s going to say. Then I’ll take the opportunity to describe her, and let her know that’s my thought on who my soulmate would be. I think it’s important to see how she reacts to what I have to say, and then I can tell her that I know she’s my soulmate.”

“I think that’s a good idea. It’s not too sudden, nor too slow. It’s nice and easy. Have fun, Sweetheart.” She kisses my cheek and gives me a hug. Dad follows suit with a hug and kiss to the head.

“You can’t leave just yet” Dad says. “At least not without some flowers.” He puts one flower into the pocket of my button up and he ties the rest together with a ribbon like a bouquet. “Now you can go. Have fun kiddo, and be safe.”

“Thank you Dad, and I will. I love you both.” I say excitedly. “I’ll see you guys later.

With that, I leave with Cookie and head towards the trail. Once I see what Regina had done, I can’t do anything but stare in amazement. I jump off of Cookie and walk towards her speechless.

“Too much?” She says softly. “I’m sorry, I knew it. I’ll fix it.”

“No, no. Don’t change anything. It’s really beautiful.” I stare at the candles on the center of the blanket. She has a beautiful spread of grapes, cheese and wine spread out. There’s two more blankets folded neatly on the side in case we get sit.

“O-okay. Let’s sit” she says and pats the seat next to her for me to join. She pours us some wine.

I sit down near her and smile. “So, I’ve been thinking.”

“Well, that’s never good.” She says giggling. “Well, go one.”

“Hey!” I feign hurt holding my chest. “Well anyways. We met because you were trying to find your soulmate. That got me thinking about what my soulmate would be like. I’m curious to know, what do you think my soulmate would be like? Personality wise that is or even looks.”

She looks up at me surprised. “Umm, brown hair. Smart. Gorgeous green eyes and probably always wears dresses. What do you think she looks like?”

“Ravenous black hair, chocolate brown eyes. Smart and absolutely attractive. I thinks he has a horse named Rocinante, as well.” I say with a smirk.

Her eyes widen as she looks up at me. “How long have you known?” she asks softly.

“Since yesterday night.”

“How did you find out?”

“Tinkerbell gave me a riddle. It was quite a riddle to decipher. However, my mom is great at solving them.”

“Mhm. And how do you feel about all of this?” She asks with a terrified look.

“Gina.. I’ve liked you for a while now. I just didn’t want to push any boundaries.”

“Well, then, I guess I can do this” and she leans over pulling me in for a kiss.

“W-wow” I say in amazement. It was a chaste kiss, but still full of emotion.

“Good wow or bad wow?”

“Definitely a great ‘wow’” and I pulled her in for a longer kiss.

We lay down to look up at the stars. Every so often I steal a look at her and I see her smiling, feeling my eyes on her. We share some kisses, few and far inbetween. The silence was never awkward. We just laid there enjoying each other’s presence. Near the end of the night while cleaning up I softly say “by the way, my parents would like to meet you tomorrow for dinner at 6. Maybe try to be there at three in case you can get out on time? We can help make dinner and you can get cleaned up by my place before dinner. Of course if you’re okay with this.”

“What if they don’t like me?” she asks worriedly.

“Of course they will like you. You’re you. You’re amazing. Besides, they know you’re my soulmate" I say with a wink.

“Okay, I’ll be there. What should I bring?”

“You don’t have to bring anything except yourself.”