Last Voyages

Chapter 13

"Let's go to bed, little lady. Your mother has a lot of work to get done." he says and Layla looks from me to Harry before letting out a long sigh, shaking her head and following Wesly. "Will you read me a story?" she asks and Wesly raises an eyebrow as Layla takes his outstretched hand.

"Why? That'll take a long time." he says and she smiles. "I like it when you read to me. Besides, Momma needs time right?" she says and he looks at me and I just sigh, nodding my head and he nods back. 

"Very well." he says, Layla grinning happily as he leads her up the stairs and to her bedroom. My mother was kind enough to lend us our own rooms when we come to visit her, which makes impromptu visits like these much less strenuous on all of us.

Once those two were out of my sight, I turned to walk to my room, but was stopped by Harry's voice. 

"And who is he?" he asks and I pause, turning around to look at Harry, who seemed both upset and curious about Wesly.

"His name is Wesly. We work together, in a way. He takes us to the palace and back home almost every day. He's become a very dear friend." I explain and a grin comes to Harry's face. "Oh, just a friend? That's not what it seemed like." he sneers and I cross my arms.

"Like you would care. He takes care of Layla in the place of her absent father." I snap and he narrows his eyes. "He can't replace me." he growls and I huff. "He already has." I say and he narrows his eyes.

"Really? So you've married him?" he asks and I shake my head. "No, not yet." I say and his eyes widen. "Not yet?" he asks and I nod, not backing down. I wasn't going to make this easy on him, since he's made this nothing but hard for me.

"I've made a promise to my daughter that if I'm not officially reunited with my estranged husband by the time she turns eight, then I will marry Wesly so she has a father. And she's already six, so that only leaves two years left." I say and Harry stares at me shocked.

"So you really have moved on?" he asks and I let out a sigh, uncrossing my arms and looking down at the ground, my shoulders sagging. "I never said that. There's a reason I'm not already married to him." I say and he stays quiet as I look up, seeing an unreadable expression on his face.

"I still had hope, deep down, that maybe you'd come back. But...I never thought it'd be like this." I whisper and he swallows, looking away from my gaze. "Why? Why did you wait? I told you to forget about me." he says and I huff.

"It's kind of hard to forget the man you love. The man who gave you so much to live for. The man I see reflected in our daughter, whom I've raised alone." I say and he frowns, looking back at me. 

"How can you still love me?" he asks and I shrug my shoulders. "It's hard to explain how you can love someone who nearly destroyed you. Everyone's asked me this for six years, yet I can't explain it to them. I just love you, Harry. And that part will never change, no matter what you do to me." I say and he clenches his jaw tightly.

"No matter what? I almost killed our daughter. What would you have done if I actually did?" he asks and I freeze, thinking about Layla not being here and I feel my heart clench tightly. 

"I probably would've killed you." I mutter and he chuckles. "So you love her more than me. At least that's one thing that's changed." he says dryly and I sigh. 

"You'd be the same way had you actually raised her." I say edgy and he gets stony faced, giving me a harsh look. "Why would I raise her? Why am I even here? I wouldn't care if anything happened to her." he says and I smile grimly.

"Now that's not exactly true now is it Harry?" I ask and he swallows. "Layla told me how you saved her." I say and his eyes widen. 

"You could've let her get hurt, or let them take her, but instead you saved her life, and if what my daughter says is true, you told her to always stay where you can see her." I say and his face gets red as he looks away.