Wedlock - Harry Styles A.U

four

Edora

"Alfie, darling, should we be running around with scissors?" I quietly ask the little boy, crouched down in front of him with a gentle, reassuring smile on my face. He looks back at me with a frown, not enjoying that I've interrupted his little mission to the opposing side of the room. Eventually, he shrugs his shoulders. "No, we shouldn't. It's very dangerous, okay? And I don't want you to get hurt."

Without needing to be prompted, a small 'sorry' leaves his lips and he hands the scissors over into my open palm before he's running off to play with his friends. With a sigh, I push myself back up to stand and groan as I look at the time. 2:45pm. Fifteen minutes left until I can go home, throw on my pajamas and spend my evening reading books or watching tv. It's been a long day. Infact, it's been a long past couple of weeks.

It's been three weeks since my birthday celebrations in Vegas which means it's also been three weeks since I became a married woman and I'm still yet to tell a single soul, including Trixie. I've not had it in me to utter the words or recount the experience, being too embarrassed and too disappointed in myself for letting something like this happen. The worst part is that I know Trixie wouldn't even judge, she'd probably give me a high five for doing something so ridiculous. I'm not scared of her judgement, I'm scared of my own so I've just stayed silent. It's slowly been eating at me though.

Harry hasn't tried to get in contact with me, not once. Unless I'm at work, my phone is on me at all times. Everytime I get back to my apartment, I check the house phone to make sure I haven't missed a call. I check every single bit of post that comes through my door and I even check the nursery mail just to make sure - there hasn't been anything. He is truly continuing with his life like nothing has happened.

I know communication goes both ways and I could try to get in contact with him but the thought makes me feel sick. The way he treated me doesn't exactly make him a nice person to try and talk to. If anything, I think he'd just treat me the same way and if it's not in person, he'll hang up in a matter of seconds and block my number. I'd breathe and he'd probably hang up. I can't bring myself to try and find him.

The sound of crying pulls me out on my little trance and turning around to identify the upset child, I'm greeted with the sight of Luella pulling on another little girl's hair, Luella's little brother Albie crying too. Very quickly, I'm racing over to them and am immediately pulling Luella away. Trixie is quick over too, consoling the little girl and checking to see if she's injured.

Luella kicks me and squirms in my arms until I'm putting her down, crouching down in front of her. She doesn't wait around long enough to allow me to talk to her because she is back at her brother's side, hugging him as little sobs leave his lips, hot tears streaming down his cheeks. I can immediately see that this was something that was done out of protection for her brother.

Twins, Luella and Albie, are partners in crime. Whenever Luella is, Albie isn't far behind. Whenever Albie is, Luella isn't far behind. At the age of three, the both of them are attached to the hip and protect each other like their lives depend on it, even if it means being particularly spiteful to other children.

They're quite the team and while I can't praise their behaviour, it is quite admirable; to love someone so much you'd do anything to protect them.

I approach the both of them and sit down on the floor beside them, keeping my distance so they have their space. In the corner of the little role play area, they sit on the beanbags consoling one another. I watch them for a moment before I raise an eyebrow at Luella.

"Do you want to tell me what happened?" I calmly ask her, knowing that shouting is only going to escalate the situation rather than bring it back down. Luella shakes her head which makes me give her a reassuring smile. "Okay." I tell her and go onto my apple watch, setting a timer for two minutes. "Look, I'm going to set my watch to go off in two minutes." Luella slowly walks over to watch me. "I'm going to leave you alone to calm down and when my timer goes off, I'll come back and we can talk. Does that sound good?"