Chapter 1
She threw the doors of the stable open, excitement flowed quickly though her veins. She just wanted to jump with joy and scream her news to the world, but that wasn’t wise. The world wouldn’t be so happy about her news.
“Daniel?” Regina asked, her voice jumped at the end as she felt the buzz run to her mouth.
“Regina?” Daniel returned her question as he feared that something bad had happened. He pushed open the horse’s door as he looked at his lover with alarm; he closed the door behind him making sure that the horse he was tending too didn’t escape. “What’s wrong?” He ran over to Regina cupping her chin in the palm of his rather large hand,
“Nothing, in fact my news is the opposite of bad!” Regina exclaimed looking brightly at her true love, she was sure that he would be over the moon her at what she had to say, she certainly was she looked at him hesitantly trying to interpret his emotions,
“What is it then?” Daniel looked at the young woman with confusion; he brought his hand down to his side to dust off some sawdust that perched on the side of his trousers.
“I’m pregnant!” Regina’s eyes glowed with pride, the joy in her eyes dimmed as she realised that she had no response from Daniel, the man simply looked wide eyed at his love with shock Regina smiled nervously and repeated, “Didn’t you hear what I said? We’re going to have a baby!”
“That’s fantastic, it’s just…” The father-to-be trailed off at the end of the sentence; he detatched his eyes from Regina’s moving them slowly to the floor. Regina huffed in response she expected such a reaction from her father but not the father of her baby.
"Just what?" She asked, there was still a sense of eagerness in her voice but she was disappointed, it was the anti-climax she hadn't even contemplated, she began to play with her fingers nervously,
“Just… that your mother” Daniel sighed looking desperately to Regina,
“Daniel, this gives us a new beginning. We can leave here, raise our baby; it will be good. Please at least smile” she begged, Regina’s heart broke the minute that her love looked disappointed about news that was meant to bring so much joy.
The young man spread a small smile across his worried face, “I’m happy about being a father, do not doubt that. I’m just worried about your safety and the baby's” he cupped Regina’s chin stroking her cheek slowly, "I want to be able to protect both of you but i'm powerless against magic Regina, its too powerful..."
“I’m going to hide it from my mother. I want her to never ever know” Regina confessed, shaking her head slowly
“How?” Daniel tilted his head slowly expressing confusion,
“I don’t know, but I will” Daniel’s lover said strongly pulling her head out of her his grip, she’s always wanted to be a mother ever since her father had bought her a little china doll when she was little. She loved that auburn haired child like it was her own child, from then onward Regina thought it was her destiny to meet her true love and bare him a beautiful baby girl. Now there was a chance and she wasn’t about to let it slip threw her fingers.
"We can figure something out i suppose" The man smiled as Regina's eyes lit up, there was the smile she was looking for at the beginning of the conversation. She stood forward and took Daniel's hand pulling it to her stomach,
"There is a little us in there" She smiled as the stable boy returned the look and placed a light kiss on the lips of the young woman.
It wasn’t long before Regina departed from the small stable, she walked slowly home taking the time to think about her future with her new child and trying to figure a way that she could keep her child from the evil clutches of her mother. It was going to be hard but she knew she was going to find a way, there was no way that her mother would get wind of this news or she would try and make Regina give it away or would poison the child with ideas that she could never instill in her own daughter.
When Regina got to her family’s home she tried her best to keep the noise of her entrance to a minimum. She closed the door silently and smiled as she remembered the growing bud that developed inside of her,
“Where have you been?” an old woman asked, Regina gasped as she turned to see her mother waiting her arrival,
“I went for a late horse riding lesson” Regina lied, her mother paced towards the nervous young woman,
“Regina, it is late. You know I don’t like you to be out when it’s getting dark” Cora hissed getting close to her daughter, Regina became uncomfortable and shifted a little trying to move her face away from her mother's, she looked to the floor and fiddled with her hands,
“I’m sorry mother, I was just -”
“I don’t want to hear you’re excuses Regina” Cora snapped, “Just go” Regina nodded at her mother’s request as the old woman flicked her hand dismissing Regina.
Regina hopped up the stairs to her room the feeling of joy over her baby was still lingering in her mind; she pushed the doors open and fastened them closed when she was sure her mother wasn’t near.
She sat on her bed, contemplating the different ways that she could try and hide her child from her mother.
It felt like hours that she sat on the side of her bed deciding how she would hide the massive bump that would occur when time went on; there was many options but she couldn't think of many that wouldn't hurt her little baby much, after much thought she decided that the only thing practical was to wear a corset to minimize the look of the bump. She lay awake in bed and cuddled her stomach excited to meet her little one in the months too come, she felt like life was actually coming together for once. She slept sound that night knowing the baby wouldn’t be subjected to her mother.
