She shared a laugh with the camera man while August shook his head and rolled his eyes at her statement. "I'm fine," he reassured Ruby who sat beside Tina on the couch. The waitress threw him an understanding wink.
"I really miss you guys. You, and Uncle August, and your mom. Regina." Emma whispered her name, and Regina didn't even realize she had been grinning so widely it surely must have hurt.
"When I get back, kid, we've got a date, okay? Chuck-E-Cheese, laser tag, bowling, you name it. We're gonna eat so much junk your mom is gonna ground both of us, but don't tell her, okay?"
Henry tried hard not to smile and glanced up at his mother where she cocked a knowing eyebrow at him. He simply kissed her cheek and kept watching.
"Okay, you can tell her. She'll probably find out anyway. Regina, you come too. When I get back, we'll make a day out of it. Just us three." Emma tilted her head in thought. "And probably August."
A murmuring sounded off camera, and Emma nodded, running fingers through her scalp hard enough to free a few strands of blonde hair from her bun. "I gotta go soon. But I just want to say, I love you all. And I think about you guys all the time. Take care of each other."
The message ended with Emma's smile frozen on screen. The living room was quiet as if he party collectively decided to give the Mills the privacy they wanted to view the video. Then suddenly Henry shot up from Regina's lap and began pressing at the keyboard, staring expectantly at his mother. "Again?"
Though it was Henry's birthday, Regina found herself with a gift as she inhaled the single red rose and played with the lip of a card as she stood in the front foyer, her back pressed against the closed door.
The house was blessedly quiet by mid-afternoon when the knock came, interrupting Regina and Henry's time as they watched Emma's video message for what felt like the twentieth time once the party goers had departed. Though they had the bounce house until the following evening, all Henry wanted to do once the party was over was to crawl into his mother's lap with Rexy in tow and replay Emma's video.
An hour into re-watching with Regina answering every and all questions Henry had asked before: where was Emma? When is she coming home? Does she miss us? August interrupted to say there was someone at the door.
She left Henry and August in her office and briskly walked to the front door. Perhaps a child had left their loot bag or Tina had lost her cell phone in the bounce house and only just realized. It wouldn't have been the first time all afternoon since she and Ruby made a mad dash for it once the kids began their lunch. Henry's friends loved watching Ms. Tina race Ruby through the obstacle course. Ruby had the speed, but Tina flew up the rope wall and down the slide like it was nobody's business. But when Regina opened the door, the visitor was someone she would have never expected.
Felix, hair cut and out of his usual baggy sweaters and jeans was dressed in khakis and a deep green polo. The strangest part about his presence was the single red rose he held in his grasp. "Good evening Mayor Mills."
"Felix," she said surprised.
"This is for you." He handed the rose to her and nodded happily.
Her eyebrows shot up even further than before as she inspected the flower curiously. "Not that I don't appreciate the gesture, dear, but what's all this about?"
"Oh." He pointed to a logo on his polo, one that Regina had missed during her initial inspection of him and could see roses and vines stitched onto his breast. The Game of Thorns insignia. "Mr. French and Ms. Bell sat me down, and we all had a long talk about how I can take control of my life and show my brothers the same, even if Peter's a dick." He mumbled that last part with unrestrained resentment but shrugged. "Mr. French won't press charges if I work off the damages to his shop and I keep my nose clean." He grinned, proud of himself in that moment. "I might even have a job once the expenses are paid off."
"Congratulations, Felix," Regina said sincerely and held out her hand. The teen shook it determinedly. "But the rose?"
"Oh, shit," he muttered then immediately flushed. "I mean, shoot." Rummaging through his khaki pockets, he pulled out a small envelope and handed it to her. "I always forget that part."
She took it, finding her name printed delicately on the front in Moe French's handwriting.
"I still don't quite understand."
He shrugged and stepped backwards off the porch. "I just deliver the orders, ma'am."
With that he turned down the pathway toward the Game of Thorns van parked outside the mansion, but before he could get very far, Regina called his name. She held up a finger telling him to wait, and within seconds she was stepping out of the mansion. She shook his hand again, a crisp twenty dollar bill sliding into his palm as she smiled. "You're doing a great job, Felix. Your parents would be proud."
Turning briskly she returned to her home and eyed the rose and the card she had left on the side table curiously. The last time she had gotten flowers from Mr. French's shop was last Valentine's Day when Henry had secretly concocted a plan with Sheriff Graham to pick up his mother the 'most beautifulest flowers in the whole wide world.'
She sniffed the rose and smiled softly despite herself before turning her attention to the card and leaned against the closed front door. Perhaps it was from Felix and the teen was too embarrassed to stay and watch her open it? Though it would make more sense for him to dote on Tina. The preschool teacher took such an active role in his and his brothers' lives. Or maybe Henry had planned another flower sending, this time with Uncle August. Though the excitement of his birthday had the boy thinking little of anything else other than the party and sweets he'd be allowed to intake. Out of guesses, Regina ran a nail under the lip of the card, unsurprised to find the 'Courtesy of the Game of Thorns' embossed on the back. Flipping it open, she held her breath seeing not Moe French's elegant handwriting, but Emma's progressively legible chicken scratch written on a piece of lined paper and glued to the inside of the card.
March 3, 2005
Surprise =)
Some guy at dinner was talking about how he was able to call flower shops and jewelry stores and all these things to send gifts to his family back home, and I figured, why not? I don't know when this is gonna get to you, but Moe said that as soon as I send this letter and he gets it, he'll send your flowers on its way. Well, one flower. Hand picked, I may add. Or verbally well-described. If it's anything other than a single rose, then this mission has gone awry.
So this very random rose is just a reminder that it's been six days since I last saw you (though probably even longer when you actually get it), and you're still locked in my brain, keeping me sane.
I can't wait to come home to you and Henry. Be nice to your colleagues, and tell Henry to eat his veggies.
I love you.
Emma
Happy tears welled up in brown eyes, and Regina just stared at those three words over and over again. When Emma had said them at the airport, a part of Regina rationalized that the high emotions and imminent departure prompted them to say such strong words, but their few weeks apart didn't make those feelings any less true.
Somewhere deep inside her, past the irrationality and the fear and the doubt of what the future may hold for them, she knew it was going to be okay.
Chapter 17