Protected

Chapter 34

I'm pretty sure I was not ready to be awake yet, which is why my eyes would not open but my mind was definitely flooding into consciousness.

The bedroom was warm and filled with sunlight coming in from the double doors on the other side of the room.  The doors were open and I could feel the slight summer breeze floating over me.

The house was quiet and I could just hear the faint snuffling of sleep from behind me as I laid on my side with my back to my companion, my senses continued to adjust to my surroundings and I'm pretty sure that it wasn't Harry laid next to me.

I smiled as I turned over seeing the small fingers of Aden's hand gripping onto a lock of my hair, holding it near his face while he slept.  This was something he had done ever since he was a toddler, snuggling in my hair as he fell asleep on my shoulder, or playing with the strands, calming him when he was upset, I figured maybe this was something he had done with Isla and that's why he continued to find comfort in it with me. 

I had asked Daniel about it once when Aden was younger, and it broke his heart that he couldn't remember if it something he had always done, Dan felt that it is these small details about the mother of his child that he should have known, but I think there are things between a mother and child that no one else will ever know.  I'm just glad if it gave Aden comfort he was able to still find that in me.

The last year or so the combination of Aden getting older and my stint in hospital, and subsequent recovery keeping me away from him as much meant he had all but stopped this little practice, so to see his little hand gripping the curl of my hair now made my heart swell.  As we laid there Aden's long brown lashes fluttering slightly as he dreamed, I ran my fingertips over the soft skin of his face. 

They say that the chemical reaction or instinct or whatever you want to call it that happens with a mother and her child is the strongest most powerful thing any woman will experience, but I just couldn't imagine anything stronger than the love I felt for this little boy, I know that I'm not Aden's mother, and I ache for the fact that Aden will never know or remember her, but I had been by Isla's side all through her pregnancy, I felt him kick, had the scan pictures stuck to my fridge, I was sat in the hospital when my best friend gave birth.

When the worst happened, there was no question what I had to do and I had helped to raise her son, doing the only thing I could do to keep her with me, by protecting the thing that was most precious to her and making him the most important thing for me too. 

I looked beyond Aden to the other side of the bedroom where the books and sofas were laid out and saw Harry curled up, asleep on the big armchair, I don't know how long he had been there but he must of put Aden in with me and fallen asleep in the chair.

I laid still looking at these two boys, two of my absolute favourite people and felt a warm sense of contentedness as I could almost feel the love that filled the house right now.  Aden wriggled restlessly in his sleep and let go of my hair as he did, allowing me to roll away gently so as not to disturb him and tiptoed across the bedroom. 

I stopped briefly by the doors stepping momentarily out onto the balcony squinting as my eyes adjusted to the blazing sunshine of the summer morning, as I looked down to the garden below I was amazed to see that everything was reverted back to before the party had taken place, Harrys security must have let the suppliers in to clear everything down this morning and it was quite nice, not having to be the one back at the event venue at 6am, to coordinate the breakdown for a change.

I stepped back into the bedroom, padding over to the chair where Harry was sleeping, slipping into the space by his side, brushing a loose curl that had escaped from his hair band gently back off his face, I leant forward and softly placed my lips to his cheek, lingering there to breathe in his scent, moving and placing my lips to his other cheek, one hand resting on the white T-shirt covering his chest, the other ghosting over his jawline, feeling the slight scratchiness of the stubble that was starting to appear.