Whirlwind of trouble

14

I met emma the following day for lunch, I explained the whole situation of last night and disclosed everything Elena had openly told me. It was such a difficult topic to say aloud and it brought tears to my eyes.

"Regina, what you're doing is such an amazing this, you're giving Elena a safe home, she's been with you for two months now and she's finally trusting someone and feeling able to speak up about her past which means she's ready to move on" Emma reassures, leaning across the table and gently resting her hand on mine, but if only she knew how fast that makes my heart pound. "You're her saviour Regina, you was there when she lost her Parents, your protected her then, and you're protecting her now"

"When Henry saw your husband hurting you, did he ever move on?" I ask, and I know this is a sore subject for her also, but I really need to know if Elena will ever truly be happy.

"He's in a different town, with different friends, his family surrounding him, although my grandma doesn't remember him, he adores her and visits her daily, shes the only one that doesn't look at us with those puppy dog eyes because she doesn't remember anything that happened. My mother cradles him still, but Henry still gets the odd nightmare here and there. He seems a lot happier now, and that makes me happy. Elena will move on, it will still hurt her, and haunt her but she will move past it" she reassures again, rubbing her thumb along my palm.

We finish off lunch pretty early. I promised Elena we would have a girly afternoon. Elena has never been to the cinema, so we went to watch the new Frozen. She was in her element with all the chocolate, sweets and popcorn surrounding us, we had sugared up fizzy drinks and finished the night at home with blankets in front of the fire and ordering a pizza topped with her favourite toppings, ham, pepperoni and extra cheese. It was her night, so despite all the junk food, sugars and late nights sleep, it was all her choice, and it taken her mind off everything.

We sat there, watching the flames roar at us, in utter silence until she looked my way. "Why won't you tell emma you love her?"

"Because I don't love her. How can you love someone you can't have? I like her, very much but she won't ever like me the same" I shrug, it seems Elena is very much caught up on this topic.

"But don't you want to be happy? You'll never know if you don't tell her" she states. "At least ask her out on a date" she shrugs. "Lots of friends go on dates"

"When did you become such a love expert?" I tease.

"I remember mummy and daddy being so happy, they loved each other lots and they was always smiling. I want to see you smiling like mummy did when daddy came in the room. You smile like mummy when Emma walks in the room" this simple explanation of why she is so caught up on emma and I is so evident now. She wants me to be happy, she still so openly believes that love is everything, being happy means finding your true love. Except, true love doesn't exist.

I don't even know what to reply to her at this point... she's so right, when I was there in the bank that night, her mother and father was so close, hugging and kissing in the queue and adoring one another. So happy in their little family until everything stopped that. When Emma is in the room, it's as though it's just her and me. Together against the world except, we're not together, and it pains me every day that I'm too scared to tell her how I feel incase it becomes another whirlwind of trouble taking away our entire happiness. Just like it did my father, Daniel, and Mel... and anyone for that matter.

"It's getting late, we should get you in bed" I hop up onto my feet, offering my arms to Elena and lifting her to my frame, I carry her on my hip up the stairs and lay her in her bed. "Goodnight" I whisper, starting to head out the room.

"Regina..." she stops me. "Can I have another cuddle?" She asks, a little affection that she now asks for consistently to make up for all the time she has lost.

"Of course hunny, you don't need to ask" I walk back over wrapping my arms around her little frame. Once we finished the cuddle, she laid back down and I tucked her in.

"Would you like a kiss too?" I gently ask, I wouldn't dare just go ahead and do it in case she wasn't ready. She looks a little apprehensive at first but soon nods slowly.

"Just here, like mummy used to" she gestures, tapping on her forehead, so I do, and she smiles from ear to ear. "Thank you Gina, goodnight" she coos and I gently switch her light to dim and pull her door to so it's not fully shut.

I head back downstairs and clear up the mess we left, I take all the pots into the kitchen, wash them up, and dispose of the takeout pizza boxes. I was on my way back into the living room to fold up the blankets and pillows, but that's when my door knocked.