Foreign Affair ›› n.h. mature

Seventy-One

Niall Horan

"My baby!" Mum grabbed me and pulled me into a rib crushing hug the second I walked through the door.

"Where's the misses?" Greg asked.

"With her family for Christmas. And she's not the misses yet."

"She's his fiancée!" Denise squealed and hugged me. "I never would've thought you'd be engaged by the end of the year."

"To the girl I walked in on him with when we visited in January, no less," Greg added.

"Walked in on?" Mum sounded shocked. "I thought Liv was an angel."

"Kissing," I clarified. "Just kissing. Thanks for mentioning that one, Greg."

"You got it, mate." He sounded smug and sarcastic so I flipped him off.

"Niall James Horan, put that away. We're celebrating the birth of Christ."

"I was kidding," I mumbled. "Where's Theo?"

"Asleep. And you're not waking him up," Denise said.

"No! You're no fun."

"He'll be a mess tomorrow if you do."

"I'm gonna have my own kid and then I can play with him whenever I want."

Everyone just stared at me like I have two heads.

"Dear," Mum said, breaking the uncomfortable silence, "be honest with us because I won't be mad. But...is that why you're getting married?"

What?

"You think that we...that Liv is...that we're..." I stumbled through, trying out a few different sentences but not being able to settle on one. "No." I paused a moment. "No! Liv is not pregnant! Why does everyone keep asking that?"

"Oh, thank goodness!" Mum gave me another hug. "Sorry I asked, sweetie. You're just so young. It seemed...possible."

"No." I started laughing. Like really laughing. I guess that's what we get for getting engaged at twenty-one and twenty-two years old. "It's definitely not possible."

Well I suppose it's 'possible' but I'm not telling her that. What is it with people? Sex before marriage is fine but a kid isn't? Liv is the same way. She thinks getting pregnant before she's married would be the most shameful thing in the world but still, she has no problem sleeping with me. People are weird.

Don't get me wrong — I don't want a kid for years. But it's such a double standard.

"Want to help me wrap some gifts for Theo?"

...

Olivia Allen

Christmas Eve

"So on New Year's Eve, we're flying to Ireland?"

My family was hanging out in the living room, listening to Christmas music, and drinking coffee with Baileys.

"Yeah! Right after we got the call from you that Niall proposed, Maura called us and said they wanted to throw you both a party," Mom said. "She wanted to make sure it was on a date we could be there. I suggested New Year's Eve."

"Clearly you all wasted no time inviting people."

"Sorry we didn't warn you, honey."

"No, it's fine! It's just that I heard about it from the boys which was strange." My mom gave a nod that said she didn't really care. "Wait, did Maura really call right after I called you? Because wouldn't it be really late at night in Ireland?"