The Road to Forever ~ The Sequel to Modern Fairytale

S'mores

Regina held Roland closer to her than ever before that night as she told him the story about the Queen, the Outlaw, and the Little Thief. She retold the tale with great enthusiasm, thinking back to everything he told Mallory at their meeting earlier that afternoon: he appreciated her stories, he looked forward to her lunchtime napkin notes, she made him laugh; all the things she hoped he loved about her, she finally heard Roland say aloud. She thought about all the things that made him special to her: his dimples, the sound of his giggle after a rough day at the firm, the warmth and closeness of his hugs, the smell of his Batman shampoo that she missed each minute she wasn't with him. She enjoyed singing with him and teaching him new things. She realized that, most of all, she liked when he called her 'mommy.'

"Mommy?" Roland whispered, his eyes heavy as he rested his head against her chest and relaxed his arms around her waist. She hummed to signal she was listening before the boy continued, "I meant everything I said today."

"I know you did," she smiled, slowly rubbing her hand along his back to help soothe him to sleep.

"I don't want to see her," he admitted, his voice filled with fright as he squeezed her tighter.

Regina sighed, "You'll have to see her at the trial. I wish you didn't, but that's just the way it goes."

"Yeah, I get it," he nodded, "But they're not gonna take me away, right?"

She closed her eyes, his words threatening to break her heart into tiny pieces, "Of course not. Your father and I would never let that happen."

"Okay," he sighed, getting more comfortable in her embrace. She felt his breathing steady and was about to leave when he stated in a mousy voice, "I don't want to call you Regina anymore."

"You can call me anything you'd like," she replied, happy to be so close to her child.

He smiled and she felt his grip loosening around her once he whispered, "I love you, Mommy."

Her heart melted upon hearing the words; he'd said them before, but this time it was different. She pressed her lips to his forehead as she replied in a hushed tone, her voice overflowing with love, "I love you too, my Little Thief."

His little mind often questioned what Marian would have been like if she'd been around to help raise him. Children fantasize about their missing parents all the time. Henry imagined Daniel was Superman when he was Roland's age; he envisioned Marian in a similar light. But that was gone now. He seemed to understand that his biological mother was far from a superhero or one of the protagonists in his books. He no longer had to wish for a mother like Mrs. Weasley who, in Regina's opinion, was one of the top mother figures in all the books she'd ever read. No. Roland didn't need to hope that one day the front door would open to reveal Marian waltzing into his life with her magic wand to give him all the love he missed for eight years. Those days were over because he finally knew what it was like to have a mother's love, to be important to someone other than his father. He had a mommy that used her magic to make him smile and provide him with everything he could ever imagine. He had someone who spent time with him and listened to him and cuddled him anytime he wanted. He had a person that would go to the ends of the Earth to keep him safe and would never abandon him. That day, Roland realized he had his Mrs. Weasley all along and her name was Regina Mills.

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"How is he?" Robin asked as Regina entered their bedroom that same evening. He was already in bed, stripped down to nothing, but his Calvins. He looked sweet waiting for her, sitting up reading his book with the blankets on her side of the bed pulled back in anticipation for her arrival. She imagined him, suddenly, with gray streaks in his hair and beard, glasses on the bridge of his nose, and wrinkles forming on his aging face. It made her smile, looking forward to growing old with the man she loved.