When Love Arrives (H.S.)

Chapter 45

We were at an informal meeting of my, admittedly lack-luster, brain trust-- Niall, Harry, Erica and I were sat around the coffee table. Harry's arm was around me and, though I wasn't feeling any better, I was feeling a lot more comfortable. I had just dumped my emotions and confusions onto them-- tears were shed, beers were cracked open, and once I was able to get my crying under control, Niall decided to pull a Niall. 

"Okay... Um... I'm not trying to, like, ruin the vibe here, Mel. This is proper fucked up. Seriously. But--"

"But what Niall?" Harry asked, a little cold for his character. "What else is there to say that she hasn't already told us?"

Niall's face dropped. I leaned into Harry's embrace a little bit, letting him know it was fine. This was one of the few times in my life when I was looking forward to hearing whatever stupidity Niall was about to slur out. 

"I just...," he started, "I was just gonna ask what you're gonna do with all the money."

I hesitated. Up until that moment I had kind of forgotten the 1.5 million dollars my grandfather had left me. Surprisingly, this had become the least troublesome, least ridiculous, aspect of the situation at hand.  

"I... I don't know..." I trailed off, looking down at my hands.

"Yes, you do!" Erica interject, reaching across the table to hold my hand. "You're going to spend it foolishly."

I looked up at her, a small smile growing on my face. "Spending over a million dollars foolishly would be fun... And unwise." 

"Then we better get started! I'm thinking a girls' vacation! No boys allowed. Maui? Punta Cana?"

"Hey!" Harry interjected, moving his grip to my wrist and pulling my closer to him. "Why no boys allowed? Melissa loves boys, and she hates hot weather." 

I actually giggled a bit at that, which ended up egging Harry on. "Come on, baby," he whispered loudly so everyone could hear, his breath tickled my ear. "Let's just go away somewhere... You and me... A cozy ski lodge... A warm fire.." 

"Ew, AS IF!" Erica exclaimed, making me and Niall laugh. Harry scowled at her as Niall's face turned a deep shade of red with amusement. 

"You two are nuts," I managed, laughing a little harder and taking a sip of my beer. "At this rate, I'm just gonna go to Ireland with Niall." 

Niall tried his best to perform a very drunken, uncoordinated Irish jig.  He raised two fists in the air. 

"YES! I'LL TAKE YE TO THE MOTHERLAND!" He shook them in the air so hard, he nearly fell over, catching himself just before his head got slammed on the coffee table. Harry and I burst out laughing, I leaned further into his shoulder. "You'll love it there, Melly. It's a lot more," he paused to burp, "acceptable to be this drunk on a weeknight there."'

Erica rolled her eyes, standing up and pulling Niall towards the door. "Niall. Literally go home, you're drunk."

He wriggled his arm from Erica's grip. "C'mon, E! I was just getting Melissa to smile, wasn't I?" he swayed back and forth a bit as he spoke. 

I showed off my hugest smile at him, "Thanks, Niall!" And then, after a beat of silence, "You can go now!" 

Erica rolled her eyes again when Niall didn't move, and proceeded to drag him out of the apartment. "I'll be right back," she called over her shoulder.

"I thought we were goin' to Punta Cana!" Niall mumbled to himself as he finally accepted his fate. 

The door slammed behind them, and Harry and I were still laughing. As our laughter subsided, it was replaced with a thick level of discomfort. 

Damn, I thought for the first time ever, I wish Niall was still here.

"So," Harry started, exhaling as he stood up to collect the beer bottles that littered our coffee table.

"So?" I offered softly when he didn't  elaborate. 

"How are you feeling?" 

"How am I feeling?" 

He sighed lightly. "I'm sorry, Mel... I don't know what to say. Or what to do... But I think we should talk about it, right?" 

I yawned lightly, feeling numb to the topic of my new-found lost-ness. "For once, my love," I stretched my exhausted body. "I don't feel like talking at all."

"Are you sure?" he called after me as I hurriedly retreated to my bedroom.  

* * * *

I thought I was sure.  In that moderately-buzzed moment, on the verge of exhaustion, I was sure that I would be able to move past the fact that my brother wasn't my brother, my parents weren't my parents, my beloved grandfather, and the only person I wanted to talk to, was gone in a whole new way. I was confident I could go on, living my life, and not thinking about my "real" family that may or may not be existing. A family who may or may not have even wanted me. That consisted of, at the very least, a mother? A father? 

Needless to say, come 5 am, I was wide awake, examining the contents of the folder my dad gave me. There were papers all over our coffee table, one of which was about three inches away from my face. From what I could see, it had to do with the results of a sonogram, or a utero, or whatever.  I couldn't find my reading glasses, but I didn't want to look around for them in my room and wake up Harry, so I settled for squinting. 

"Looking for these?" a voice rasped from across the room, breaking me from my concentration.  My vision shifted and focused on Harry, standing shirtless in my bedroom door, holding my reading glasses lazily in his hand. 

I smiled a bit.  "Thanks."

I stared back down at the pictures, feeling Harry sit beside me.  He leaned his head on my shoulder.  "What can I do, Melissa?  What do you want to do?" 

I thought about it for a moment, just a moment, and I spit out the only words I could think of, "I want to find them."

"Who?"

"My family," I clarified, referring back to the file.  "My mother... My real mother had more than one address during her correspondence with my... whoever.  My dad.  But the last one was in upstate New York, like six hours from here." 

"Let's do it,"  Harry said, clapping his hands together.  "Let's leave tomorrow morning!  Just you and me."

"It's not so simple... There's the matter of a finding a way to get there, taking off of work, planning it all out, trying to contact these people--"

Harry held his hand up silencing me, and held up the envelope with "Spend Foolishly" scrawled onto the front.  "I don't know about all that other stuff, Melissa Knight, but I think Sal has us covered with a ride." 

I smiled at him, not bothering to tell him that I wasn't Melissa Knight anymore.  Not really.