The Curse

Chapter 6

Demi drove off and followed the instructions her daughter's shrink said. She was curious at who the adopted parents were and what they looked like. She hoped that they were treating her daughter well.

"Please don't take me back there." Emma whined as she looked over at her birth mother.

"I have to. I'm sure your parents are worried sick about you." Demi replied.

"I don't have parents. I just have a mom, and she's -- evil." 

Demi looked over at Emma quickly, "Evil. That's a bit extreme, isn't it?"

They parked on the side of the road and got out, walking through the gate of the big, white house. "She is. She doesn't love me; she only pretends to." 

"Kid, I'm sure that's not true."

The door opens to reveal Regina Mills, the mayor, and the sheriff, Graham.

"Emma? Oh! Emma!" The mayor runs out and hugs the blonde girl. "Are you okay? Where have you been? What happened?" The brunette looked at the young girl with worried eyes. "I found my real mom!" Emma ran off and inside the house. Regina stood up, "You're Emma's birth mother?" Demi smiled, "Hi." 

"I'll...just...go check on the lace, make sure she's okay." Sheriff Graham goes inside and up the stairs to Emma's room. Regina smiles at Demi, "how'd you like a glass of the best apple cider you ever tasted?" Demi raised her brows, "got anything stronger?"

Demi followed Regina into the house and looked around. Regina goes to the kitchen and retrieves a set of glasses. "How did she find me?" Regina shrugged her shoulders, "No idea. When I adopted her, she was three weeks old. Records were sealed, I was told the birth mother didn't want to have any contact." She hands Demi a glass of apple cider. 

"You were told right."

"And the father?"

Demi sipped the drink before answering, "there was one."

"Do I need to be worried about him?"

Demi shakes her head, "Nope. Doesn't even know."

"Do I need to be worried about you Miss Lovato?"

"Absolutely not."

The Sheriff comes back down the stairs, "Madam Mayor, you can relax. Other than being a tired little girl, Emma's fine." Regina nods, "Thank you, Sheriff." He nods and leaves the house. Regina and Demi make their way to a sitting room. "I'm sorry she dragged you out of your life. I really don't know what's gotten into her."

Demi sits, "Kid's having a rough time. Happens."

"You have to understand, ever since I became mayor, balancing things has been tricky. You have a job. I assume?"

Demi nods after sipping the apple cider, "uh, I keep busy. Yeah."

"Imagine having another one on top of it. That's being a single mom. So I push forward. Am I strict? I suppose. But I do it for her own good. I want Emma to excel in life. I don't think that makes me evil, do you?" Demi shakes her head, "I'm-- sure she's just saying that because of the fairy tail thing."

"What fairy tail thing?"

"Oh, you know, her book. How she thinks everyone's a cartoon character from it. Like his shrink is Jiminy Cricket."

"I'm sorry, I-- really have no idea what you're talking about."

"You know what, it's none of my business. She's your kid. And I really should be heading back."

"Of course." Regina holds the door of the sitting room open for Demi as she gets up to leave. She leaves the house and turns around briefly to find Emma watching her from an upstairs window. She turns back around after being her and goes back to the yellow bug.

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-Nicole