The Heart That Beats For Her

Chapter Twenty-Five

"Do you know what piece you want to show her?" Mary Margaret enthusiastically questions, practically squirming in her seat with excitement as they finish with their dinner.

"Well..." Emma fiddles with her napkin as a distraction while she talks the blush back down from staining her cheeks and selling her out. "I have a collection that I want to present to her. It would be phenomenal if she wanted the entire collection to hang in her gallery, but I'll be over the moon if she picks just one."

"You are fidgeting, are you that nervous?" Her mother chuckles. "Now, I maybe bias because you are my daughter, but your work is exquisite, breathtaking. There is no way that woman, Mal, will reject your art."

"Thanks, mom. I really appreciate all your support over the years," she earnestly says, brightening up her mother's smile into a blinding beam because finally, they are back to normal.

Obviously, moving out was best for their relationship and neither one can deny that. She has never felt closer to her mother and at the end of the day, she respects her mother and is so grateful for everything she has ever done for her.

"So...are you going to show us the collection? Or are you going to make us wait until it's on display for the entire city to see?"

"I have some...kinks I need to work out first and then I will show you...on one condition," she sternly demands, narrowing her eyes, but her mother eagerly nods along with a sappy grin stretching into her cheeks. "You have to keep an open-mind."

"Emma," Mary Margaret gasps, "I am always open-minded, am I not? Wasn't I the one who took you to your first gay bar?"

Emma bursts out laughing, she honestly forgot about that time in her life over ten years ago now. "Oh," she laughs, rubbing her eyes to stop the tears of joy that will certainly come from reminiscing. "You got hit on so much that night."

"It was nice to see I had options."

"Yeah, but Ruby put us both to shame," she chuckles.

"I think that girl's tongue was in every mouth that batted their eyes at her," her mother giggles, encouraging their carefree laughter to take over the moment of uncertainty Emma was feeling. "So, I'm cool," she smugly replies, winking playfully at her daughter.

"Yup, so cool," she proceeds to laugh, wringing the napkin tightly around her fingers beneath the table as she works up the courage.

"Come on, tell me about this collection."

"Well...I was thinking of calling it, A Night Amongst the Stars." She blinks, her eyes flicking up to gauge her mother's reaction and of course, the older woman is nodding excitedly and practically glowing with anticipation. Emma scrunches her nose and shrugs so nervously. "It's a collection of very tasteful photographs of Regina beneath the stars."

"Tasteful?"

She swallows the mass of nerves swelling in the back of her throat. "Yeah," and damn her voice for cracking and expressing how anxious she truly is to share this with her mother. "She's...bare, but she's mostly covered up by a very well placed sheet. There is only one of her completely nude, but it's her backside, mostly her silhouette," she quickly rambles.

"And has Regina consented to these photographs of her being displayed for the world to see?" Mary Margaret kindly asks, not at all judgmental and finally Emma can release the breath she has been holding.

"No," she doesn't even have the chance to finish before her mother is narrowing her eyes. "But listen, I'm trying to edit and finish them before I ask her. I want to hang them up in my apartment, like how the gallery would display them and then show them to her, so she can see the beauty in them. I promise they are tastefully done and I would never show anyone unless I have her consent."