Anna || HS

CHAPTER 70

~October 3rd, 2016: 31 Weeks~

Harry POV:

"Anna, darling, I'm home," I holler into the largely open space that welcomes me just inside the door to our L.A. house.

"I'm up here," she replies. Her voice echoing from down the hallway, either in our room or the nursery. I push the door open to the master first, and am met with a dark room, void of any human touch since we both left this morning, which means she is across the hall.

My eyes can see through the small gap that the open door left, allowing me to take her in before she knows that I am watching. She's sitting on the floor, behind a pile of what I assume is freshly washed tiny baby clothes. Carefully folding the pieces with her belly perched in between her legs crossed in a child-like pose. As much as I would enjoy to just be an observer of her in these moments, I would enjoy touching her and breathing her in more.

I gently knock with the back side of my knuckle on the door before pushing it open to reveal my sweetly smiling wife.

"You're later than I thought you were going to be."

I wander to the dresser and hold up a tiny onzie that is an exact replica of a Fleetwood Mac t-shirt I love and smirk at Anna, who no doubt had it made for August. "Sorry. Jeff needed to have a meeting after we finished in the studio."

"What song today?"

"Tweaking "Only Angel". Jeff is trying to convince me that it should be the lead single. I'm not so sure."

"Well, then convince him otherwise," she says so matter-of-factly. "What else was the meeting about?"

I move through the room, avoiding the mess that Anna is sorting, and take a seat behind her, scooting until my body is flush with hers. As my chest connects with her back, I feel her release her weight onto me. Hear head leans back to enjoy a quiet moment before we talk about the rest of the meeting, which I am sure she isn't going to be a huge fan of.

Her hands snake around to grab mine, and place them on a specific area on her belly, obviously a location that she is sure I will feel the flutter of movement. Sure enough, I am rewarded with a pretty feisty jab and a whole body roll.

"He has been unhappy with this position since I sat down in it, but that is just too bad because it feels good to the body that he's taking over a little more each day," she says in exasperation.

"You look beautiful, darling. Your body is doing exactly what it supposed to, so don't get mad at it."

"Easy for you to say, Styles," she counters, obviously annoyed with me, so it's time to change the subject to something else that I am sure will annoy her just as much, if not more than our current conversation.

"So, we need to talk album." I start and she nods. "Jeff wants a release date set by next week. The label is getting antsy to have it and they are breathing down his neck, which means he is now breathing down mine." I tell her, remembering the conversation. I don't think that I will ever feel like the music is ready for public consumption, but we just need to give the work an end date.

Anna doesn't say anything for longer than I expect and I am not sure how to read that. She continues to grab little garments, folding them and placing them in neat piles as her mind is processing. "When does Dunkirk come out?"

"in July"

"What about releasing the album in May? Wasn't that when you originally thought ?"

"That is what I was thinking, too." I say, taking out my phone to open my calendar. "Oh, like right now? We are picking the release date?" she asks, surprised.