Patience

Forty Years Later...

Harry pov

"Grandpa, are you coming in the pool too?" My eight year old granddaughter, Luna comes inside the kitchen, water is dripping from her hair and her body on to the ground. 
"No, first I'm going to sit a bit with gran but when your parents come out of the pool, I'll come in. Now go back outside, you are dripping." I usher Lana outside. I don't want anyone to slip on the wet floor so I take a rag out of the cabinet below the sink and dry the floor. I take the tray with a jug of water with lime and ice and glasses from the counter and go outside.

It's a warm summer Sunday and on summer days everyone always end up in the pool. Years ago Kate said I was crazy when I told her I wanted a pool but now she is happy we have one.I start every day by swimming some laps, Kate tries to join me at least three times a week but her body doesn't allow her to swim every day. But If we look back to where we came from when we met years ago, she has made so much progress.
After Maarten and I invented a surgery to help her she made some progress but she still had to be really careful and plan what is done and at what time. We kept on doing research on ways to reduce her pain. We failed so many times till we found a way to transplant a big piece of Kate's nerve. It was a risky surgery, there was a high chance Kate's leg would be paralysed but the surgery went well and Kate's pain lessened by another 50%. Now it was liveable for her, she was finally able to drive again, go out for a couple of hours, light workouts, light housework... After Kate, we helped so many others with this surgery, I'm proud of what I have achieved as a surgeon.

I put the tray down on the garden table, poor two glasses of water and give one to Kate who is laying on a double garden bed underneath a big umbrella.
"Thanks." she whispers with a tiny smile. I sit down next to her and reach over to kiss her shoulder.
"Do you think you can put sunscreen on my back, beautiful?" an eager smile comes over Kate's face and I think I see a naughty glint in her eyes.
"Of course baby." she takes the bottle of sunscreen, removes the cap and starts to rub my back. My eyes dart to the pool where our children and their families are playing in the water. I'm so proud on each and every one of them
A couple of years after Kate got her surgery she started to open up to the idea of having another foster child, three months after we decided to go for it again we welcomed little baby Jasmine. A six week old baby when she came into or home and our heart. Kate and we both immediately fell in love with her, she was so tiny with blue eyes and brown hair.
Jaxon loved having a baby sister and was always helping taking care of her, he always has been very protective about Jasmine.

Our foster care worker told us foster children often have many issues with their behaviour and some attachment problems. Jasmine has a good heart but she is sensitive and didn't understand why she had a mother but had to live with another mommy and daddy and because she couldn't talk about it she behaved badly. Jasmine is the result of a one night stand, her mother has no idea who the father is. They took Jasmine away from her mother because she thought it was more important to score cocaine than to feed or change her daughters diaper. Fortunately with counselling everything got much clearer for Jasmine and she learned how to talk about her biological parents and how she has to deal with those emotions.
She asked to see her mother when she was sixteen but after contacting foster care we found out she overdosed a couple of years back. That wasn't an easy period for our girl but she allowed us to help her and now she is at peace with it.

Jaxon, he was a happy little boy who loved us and who got spoiled by all his grandparents and loved to have them around. At Christmas we would always invite my mom, Kate's parents, Gemma and her family and Jaxon's biological grandparents, sometimes I caught him in a corner just watching everyone interact while he had the biggest smile on his face. We all were devastated when Claudine and Henry both died within one week of one and other..

Kate and I have a beautiful family with our two children and five grandchildren, we make sure everyone knows we love them and we are always here for them.
We all live in the same neighbourhood and everyone always walks freely in and out of our house. But I have to admit it recently got a little awkward when Jaxon caught me and my wife fooling around on the couch. Kate and I laughed about it but I think Jaxon still has nightmares about it.

When Kate was done I put sunscreen on my arms and chest, Kate is looking at me with hungry eyes. After all these years we are still as in love as when we first met.
Kate has been a stay at home mom and I have been working at the hospital next to my best friend Maarten but I always made sure I was around. I never wanted to be like my colleagues, I wanted to be there for my family and I think I did well.
I lay down next to Kate, take her hand and kiss her knuckles.
"What are you smiling like that bout?" Kate asks. I look at her and take her in with her black one piece bathing suit.
"Later you and I are going to skinny dip and than I'm gonna do the naughty with you in the pool." A gasp leaves her mouth and then she giggles.
"You are so naughty, Harry" she keeps giggling. "But I'm up for that!" she whispers in my ear, she puts her head on my chest and I stroke her hair awhile whilst looking at our family.

"Look at them, we did good." Kate looks up again at me. "Thank you for making me better, for loving me and giving me a family. You are an extraordinary person, Harry Styles. You are the love of my life, you always be my one." Kate pecks my lips before she lays her head back on my chest and I can't hold back a big smile.

THE END

A.N. This is it... The final chapter!
I hope you enjoyed reading the story of Kate and Harry.
I want to thank each and every one of you for reading, commenting, voting, for all the support and nice words.
At last a special thank you to Jo, Donna, Sammy, Eileen, Sanja, Rhonda and Karla without you I would never been able to write my story.
I discovered my love for writing, I can't imagine my life without my stories. My next story will be published in February, I hope you will enjoy that story as much as this.

All the love,
K. x