kaitlynn rose // h.s

anne's arrival

MrsAnneTwist: These two are too cute for their own good! So happy to be back with my baby and his love.

"Kaitlynn, are you coming or not?"

I roll my eyes and laugh lightly at Harry as I grab my phone from the nightstand. We were picking up Anne today, who will be in town for the next week and a half as we do finals and prepare for Harry's graduation. The rest of his family would be flying in two days before graduation, so in a little over a week. Anne insisted on coming before we start finals so she can make sure we're taking good care of ourselves while we're stressed. I'm convinced that she's actually an angel on Earth.

"Why do you freak out so much about being late to pick people up from the airport?" I tease him as I head down the stairs. "Most of the time flights are a few minutes behind anyway. Just chill out, babe."

"M'not worried about being late," he mutters with a shy smile. "Just excited to see my mum, s'all."

I give him a hug and a peck on the lips once I reach him. "Lets go then, momma's boy."

"Hey, I am not a-"

"Yes you are. Don't even try to argue with me on this."

He slumps his shoulders, which makes me laugh lightly as I take his hand and drag him out to the garage. I climb into the passenger side of the rover while Harry opens the garage door and climbs behind the wheel. He taps his fingers anxiously against the center console once he's on the road, which doesn't last long. Before I can tell him to stop tapping, he's blindly searching for my hand. I wind my fingers with his and kiss his knuckles.

"You should feel super proud to be a momma's boy, you know," I tell him with a smile.

Harry glances over at me with a smirk on his face. "Yeah? Why is that?"

"Because the fact that you're a momma's boy proves that she did a wonderful job raising you. Even if you had an asshole phase, which I still can't wrap my head around, you're still one of the most generous and loving people that I've ever met. Not to mention, because you love her so much, you know how a woman should be treated. So I benefit from your upbringing as well."

He chuckles and this time raises my hand up to kiss my knuckles. "Thank you, baby. I love you."

"Love you too, bub."

I lean my head back and shut my eyes as Harry starts to quietly sing along with the song that was on from his phone that was plugged into the car stereo. We get to the airport after about thirty minutes, but by the looks of traffic heading the opposite way, our trip home will be at least double that. Yay.

While Harry pulls into the airport and starts to head towards the pick up area, I call Anne.

"Hello, doll!"

"Hello! Where ya at, Mama?"

I see Harry smile from the corner of my eye and I squeeze his hand.

"I've just gotten to the pick up area, I'll be out there in a second."

Harry pulls into a space in the line of cars that are waiting and I try to spot her. "We're parked outside of the second set of doors."

"Right behind you!"

I turn around in my seat and hang up the phone. Sure enough, she's walking towards the car with a big smile on her face. Harry climbs out of the car at the same time I do, immediately rushing over to her and embracing her in a hug. I open the trunk and grab one of her bags, lifting it into the back. When I turn to grab the other one, Harry already has it and Anne is holding her arms open for me.

"Hello, sweetheart! How are you?"

"I'm wonderful," I mutter as I hug her. "How are you? How was the trip?"

"So very long, but I'm so happy to be back with you two."

"Well, we're equally as happy to be back with you."

Harry and I get back into the front while Anne climbs into the backseat of the car.

"Are you hungry mum? Do you want to stop somewhere before we sit in traffic?" Harry asks as he pulls out of the pickup area.

"Not particularly hungry, but something like a smoothie would be nice."

Harry glances over at me as I intertwine my hand with his again.

"Can you look something up, Kait? I don't really know what's around here."

"Sure," I nod. I grab Harry's phone from the cup holder and open the maps to find a place to stop. It takes a me a minute or two, but I find a cute cafe a few minutes down the street. I hit start on the navigation and then put the phone in his dash mount. We get there pretty quickly, but finding parking takes a few extra minutes. Once we've all ordered something, we all head to an empty table against the windows.

"So how is school coming along?"

"My class work isn't terrible, but I've got so many papers to revise for work. I can definitely tell it's almost finals week."

Harry nods in agreement. "I've got more final work to do right now than I've ever had, but that might have something to do with the fact that I'm done after this semester."

"Still so crazy to think about the fact that you're nearly done here. Seems like it was just a couple months ago that you and the boys were flying off for school," Anne states. "I'm so ready to have my baby back at home soon."

My heart rate starts to increase as Harry reaches for my hand. He squeezes it assuringly.

"Uh, actually..."

Our order gets called and Harry stands to go get it, leaving an anxious me and a confused Anne. The tension that I'm feeling probably isn't real, but it doesn't go away like I want it to when Harry sits back down with our drinks.

"Mum, I don't know if I'm coming home."

"At all?"

"Well, we'll come visit," Harry reaches for my hand again and I rest my head on his shoulder. I wanted to be a part of this but my mind was also incredibly focused on trying to control my heart rate before I start fully panicking. "And we're going to go visit her family in Texas too, but Kaitlynn is going to move in with me for the summer and we're going to live here. I can't see myself living somewhere where she isn't, and it isn't fair to her to make her come live in London when she's already not able to go back to her own hometown by staying with me."

I squeeze his hand again and he starts to rub his thumb against my hand. I knew he could tell I was slightly panicked over this conversation. And about talking about the future in general.

Anne smiles, reaching over to grab Harry's hand as she smiles at both of us. "I'm going to support you no matter what you do, darling. You know that. I'm just so glad that you've finally found yourself and that you've found your happiness. And Kaitlynn, dear, I think we both have you to thank for that. Thank you for being a ray of sunshine in my boys life, and for being such a blessing to my life. I'm so happy for the two of you. Just not sure when you turned into the adult that you are, Harry. Love you both."

I sigh of relief. I knew she'd take it better than my dad did (he was very, very upset to find out I would not be helping him the entire summer), but I wasn't sure how she'd take it.

"Love you too, mum," Harry smiles. "Thank you for understanding. Thank you for being here and for always supporting me. I know Kait deserves a lot of credit for my attitude this year, but you deserve so much credit for every other moment in my life. I wouldn't be here without you."

"Don't forget to give yourself credit, honey," she gives him a kind smile. "You're responsible for your growth, we just influenced it a little."