Roni

Chapter Three

"I'm so sorry ma'am, my daughter is really into fairytales right now," the woman nervously chuckles in hysteria, her fingers curling around her daughter's shoulders and tugging Lucy flush against her front.

"How did she know your name?" Regina suspiciously questions, her dark orbs defensively narrowing in Emma's direction.

"She looks like the Emma from my book, probably just some crazy coincidence," Henry explains, unknowingly coming to Lucy's rescue.

"Say you're sorry for bothering this woman, Lucy," her mother scolds.

"But mom," Lucy whines just as an older woman comes breezing through the door.

Emma studies the new stranger, noting how she carries herself just as Regina once did when they first met all those years ago. She was strong, authoritative and bitchy, but that never seemed to scare Emma off back then and it sure as hell wouldn't now.

"When are you going to learn? Do you honestly think it's appropriate to have a young child in a bar," the spiteful woman scolds toward Lucy's mother with a snarl upon her lips and disgust haunting cold eyes. Those eyes gradually find their way to Regina with her nose held high in the air. "As for you, I find my granddaughter in here again and I will shut you down!" The woman leans in dangerously close across the bar, her eyes roaming over Regina's body. "Then you'll see your precious bar will be mine without a say from you."

"Well that's not today now is it? Now, get the hell out of my bar," Roni spits, nodding her head toward the door.

Emma snickers to herself, fully enjoying that small fire deep within Regina awaken once again and burning just as bright.

The older woman's upper lip twitches with anger, but she holds her composure, her nose still high in the air as she guides little Lucy out of the bar. Everyone around Emma exhales a deep breath the moment that dreadful woman vanishes. It seems as though Lucy's grandmother really inflicts an unnecessary amount of pain with anyone who crosses her path.

Well that's about to change, the Savior's back.

"I really am sorry about my daughter," the younger woman hastily gathers Emma's forearm to express her sincerity, her dark eyes locking onto wholesome green.

"Seriously, it's not a big deal. I have had some experience with children believing deeply in something. The best thing to do is play along. You don't want to crush her dreams that are her reality right now. Not at such a young and delicate age," Emma gently explains, Archie's voice replaying in her mind from when she first met Henry.

"Oh, you say you have experience, are you a child psychologist?" The woman questions, still gazing intently into Emma's eyes.

"Uh," Emma's mind draws blank so she blinks toward Henry, then to Regina and back again, "yes. Yes I am. If Lucy ever wants to talk, I could give you my number, free of charge," she flashes her brightest smile in hopes to gain this stranger's trust enough to allow her to see Lucy once again, because right now she's desperate to speak to someone who has some clue as to what's transpiring around them.

"That would be wonderful!" The woman quickly pulls out her phone and hands it over to Emma. "I'm Jacinda by the way."

"Emma, which your daughter already told you," she mumbles, her fingers furiously typing away to add her name and number before handing it back.

"We should probably finish our drinks," Henry suggests and Jacinda nods along, following his lead back to the table.

So many unanswered questions tumble wildly through her mind, especially about the woman and child that her son seems a little too friendly with. Emma mindlessly plops back down on her stool, her hand already finding her beer and bringing it to her lips for a long drink. Yes, her mind is distracted, but that doesn't stop her from feeling a weight boring against the side of her face provoking her to lift her head and meet Regina's skeptical eyes.