MAGNOLIA
"Eva, can you sit down for a moment? Mommy needs to put your shoes on," Harry asks softly, looking down at Eva who's been running around for the last thirty minutes.
We've been trying to get ready for two hours now. Harry and I took turns showering and getting dressed so the other could watch Eva. He went first, and then after I was finished, I gave her a bath as well. Everything was fine until it came time to put shoes on. I swear, if Eva had it her way, she would be barefoot every second of the day.
"No! I don't want shoes," she screams, her little face turning red as she tries to run away.
Harry's quick to grab her. He kneels down in front of her, and I can tell that this is one of those rare moments where he's about to be 'mean daddy' and correct her. There have been small moments here and there, but it's always ended the same way; Harry giving in because he can't take the sight of her in tears.
"Eva... you don't speak that way to mommy and daddy. Do you understand me?" he asks. His voice is firm, and it sends chills down my back as I watch him. His brows are furrowed, but I can see it in his eyes that he doesn't want to yell at her. "Now, we're going to go sit on the couch, and you are going to put on these shoes, or I'll take away all your suffies." he threatens, and I can see the worry on her small face.
Her eyes widened, small tears welling up in her eyes and I know it's all facade. As soon as Harry was to say that he wouldn't do that, the tears would dry up. She's played me the same way a hundred times before.
"O-okay daddy, I'm sorry." She whimpers, her chin wobbling as she tries to speak.
"It's okay, sweetheart. Don't cry," Harry coos, wiping the tears from under her eyes. "Let's go put these shoes on now, bug."
Taking her hand, he leads the both of them over to the couch. Her face is set in a pout, but she allows him to place her on the couch before he sits next to her. He takes her leg in his hand and lays it across his thigh. Grabbing the pair of white socks next to him, he slips one onto her small foot.
"See, isn't that better? Now, your tiny foot isn't cold, bug." he croons, reaching for her other foot to repeat the action.
She allowed him to easily slip the other sock on, her eyes following his every movement. After he's got both socks on her feet, he grabs her ankles, leaning down her pretend to bite at her toes, making a sound that seems like he's eating her feet. She breaks out into a fit of giggles as she tries to tuck her feet under her, squirming in her seat.
"Alright, darling, now we've got to put these cute shoes on your feet, okay?" he asks, grabbing the pink booties that are sitting next to him. Her eyes follow his hand as soon as she sees the shoes, a pout goes back on her face. Her brows crease and I can see her cheeks glowing pink. "Aren't these just the cutest?" he asks her, looking between the boots and her face. "I think they look so pretty, darling." he whispers, her face breaking, a soft small smile tugging at her lips.
Her head nods, and she lets out a little 'mhm'. She wiggles her toes and lifts her foot up for him to place the shoe on.
"Well, that was easier than I expected." I whispered as she scooted off the couch, tapping her shoes on the floor.
"Yeah, I know, but now we can go," Harry says, coming to stand next to me. "We're still a bit early but that should be fine." he mutters, glancing down at his watch as I gather Eva's bag.
We've got a showing at a house that we saw the other day. Harry had called a realtor the second we both decided that we liked it. She had called us back yesterday, telling us that they had a space open for a walk-through.
I fell in love with it the second I saw it; it was a small two-bedroom house. Red bricks and a black door, a fenced-in yard out back, one that was big enough for Eva to run around and play in. It was everything I wanted. It was perfect for us.
Harry seemed hesitant, though, but I'm not so sure why. I just hope he falls in love with it when we finally see it in person.
"Alright, let's get you into your car seat, munchkin." I mumble, leaning down to pick Eva up as we near the car.
She giggles as I tickle her side when I place her in the car seat, her feet swinging as they dangle over the edge. Her eyes follow my movement as I buckle her in. When I'm finished, I stand straight again, moving to place her bag on the floor of the car.
"Want my toy, momma." She says, holding her hands out for the elephant stuffy she chose to bring today.
Reaching down, I grabbed the blue elephant and handed it to her, her face broke out into a grin as she held the stuffed animal to her chest, her arms wrapped around it tightly.
"Thank you, momma." She whispers, her head falling to rest on the side of her car seat.
"You're so very welcome, baby." I said, kissing her temple before I shut the door.
I moved to the passenger door and pulled it open, climbing into the seat as Harry got into the driver's seat. He shot me a smile as we both put on our seatbelts, his right-hand landing on the headrest of my seat as he put the car in reverse and began backing out of the driveway. I couldn't help but stare at him, the way his jaw clenched and the way his brows furrowed, the way the veins in his neck became exposed when he strained to see behind the car.
God, I'm so fucking lucky.
His eyes darted down before he turned around, his tongue stuck out and he crossed his eyes and then I heard Eva let out a loud cackle—she squealed and I felt her tiny kicks at the back of my seat.
When Harry turned back around, his face was set in a smile, one that took over his entire face. His cheeks were lifted and his lips were tugged up, his eyes sparkling as the sun peers through the windshield. He puts the car in drive and his right hand lands on my thigh, squeezing lightly as he drives down the street. I place my hand on top of his, and my fingers fiddle with his rings.
Just like every time.
"Are you excited?" I ask timidly, glancing over at him.
His lips pursed as he pauses, "Mhm," he mutters, stealing a quick glance at me before facing forward again, "I just don't want to settle on the first one we look at s'all." He admits, chewing on his bottom lip.
I nod my head a bit, feeling my stomach drop at his words. He must really not like this house then.
___________
"Hi, I'm Leilani. I'm going to be showing you around the house today," the woman says, her eyes moving between Harry and me, "if you have questions as we go through, feel free to ask." She adds, a smile falling onto her red-painted lips.
Harry and I both nod, our hands intertwined together as we walk behind her. Eva shifts on my hip, her head resting on my shoulder as her breathing evens out.
She had fallen asleep in the car on the way here. Only a few minutes into any car ride and she's out like a light.
My eyes glanced up at the house. It was even more beautiful in person. I could envision it now, Harry and I making a life here, in between these walls. I could see us on the weekends, out in the front yard with Eva, watching the sunset during the evenings.
We followed Leilani up onto the porch. She entered the code into the lockbox to get the key. Once she had it, she unlocked the door and when it opened; I held my breath. I squeezed Harry's hand as we took our first steps into the house. It was everything.
The floors were a polished cherry oak, with white walls to complement it. The living room was a decent size, smaller than the one at the house we own now, but we don't really need anything bigger.
Harry's eyes quickly glanced over the living room, he seemed pleased but before we walked into the kitchen; I saw his face wince, like something in his head had made him hate it, made him change his mind.
Leilani was explaining things to us as I let my eyes drift over the kitchen. It was huge. The floor was covered in a honeycomb style tile; the walls were all white but what caught my attention was the sage green cabinets. They were so fucking pretty. The handles were a gold rustic color and the grey marble countertops made me fall even more in love.
"So this house is definitely in your price range, being a single-family home," Leilani explains. My head snaps over when I heard her speaking. My eyes drift to Harry just as his face scrunches up again. Okay, what the hell? "All the appliances come with the house, everything is newly renovated."
I nodded my head and turned my head to look for the stairs that lead us to the bedrooms. Leilani noticed and offered to show us the rest. Harry surprised me when he motioned for me to hand Eva over, mumbling something about staying downstairs.
My brows furrowed, but I didn't say anything. I silently handed Eva over to him and followed Leilani up the stairs.
"How are you liking it so far?" She asked, raising a brow when we made it to the top of the stairs.
There were three doors, two were bedrooms and I'm assuming the third is the bathroom. The hallway is a normal hallway, with the same flooring and paints on the walls as the living room.
"I love it, it's even more beautiful than the photos we saw online," I mumble, my finger dragging along the wall as we walk down to the first door. "I'm not so sure what Harry is thinking though," I add, an awkward laugh falling from my lips.
"That's normal. Most people looking for houses their first time don't really want to settle on the first option they view," she says. Her words were so similar to what Harry had told me in the car.
Maybe she's right, maybe that's all it is. Him not wanting to settle too quickly.
We go through the rooms, each bedroom looking similar, same cherry oak flooring and white walls. The master bedroom was big, bigger than my room now, which is great and the room that would be Eva's is definitely a lot bigger, with plenty of room for new toys and more stuffies.
We stopped at the bathroom last. It was bright and white. The only thing that wasn't white was the cabinets, which were light wood. The floors were once again in a honeycomb style flooring, but these were larger. It had a tub in one corner and opposite to that was a walk-in shower with glass doors.
I absolutely loved it, but something was telling me that this would not be our house. As much as I can see us living here, I don't think we are going to.
"I'm going to give you both a minute to talk, discuss everything, and then we can talk, alright?" Leilani says when we get back down to the living room.
Harry was standing on the other side of the room, Eva laying on his chest as he rubbed her back soothingly. We both muttered a small 'okay' and she left the room, moving into the kitchen.
We both stood still, neither of us moving, neither of us talking. We weren't even looking at each other. The air felt thicker, you could feel the tension in the air and it was sharp, so fucking sharp.
"You don't like it, do you?" I asked, my voice sounding so small.
His head snapped to me, his eyes widened as he took slow steps toward me.
"It's not that I don't like it—"
"But you don't want to get it, you don't want it to be ours," I say, my arms wrapping around my waist as I look at him. "What's wrong with it? If you didn't like it, then why did you bring me to see it?"
"I do like it, angel," he huffs out, his eyes darting over my face, "I do, it's a really nice house.."
"But?"
"But I don't see it being ours," he finally admits. My shoulders fell at his admission, and I know he can see it written on my face. I thought this was going to be our home. "Baby—"
"No, it's... it's fine."
"It's not... let me explain, please?" He asks. Stepping closer, he takes my hand in one of his, our fingers intertwined as he keeps his other arm beneath Eva as she sleeps. "This house is perfect... but I want something bigger, angel. I want something that we can grow our family into, something that has enough room for more than three of us, baby."
My heart stops, completely stops, as his words register. He wants to have a baby with me? He wants that? We've never had that discussion.
"I know I should have said something... and I'm not sure why I didn't. Maybe I was scared to tell you that, but I didn't mean to make you upset, angel—"
His words get cut short when I step forward. Rising on my toes, I place my lips to his. He takes in a sharp breath, letting out a surprised sound as my lips move on his.
"It's okay," I mutter against his warm mouth. "It's so okay," I say again. Pulling back, I place a hand on his cheek. "You never said anything about wanting another baby." I say, my brows furrowing as he leans into my touch.
"Was jus' scared. I didn't know if you wanted more or not.." he whispers, turning his head to kiss my palm.
I say nothing, just silently nod my head and I see his eyes flash as he sees it.
"So have we decided on what we're doing?" Leilani asks, stepping back into the living room. My hand drops from Harry's cheek and I look between the two of them.
"Yeah, we have," I say, my eyes pausing on Harry as he watches me, wondering what my next words are going to be. "We decided to start looking at larger homes, possibly three or four bedrooms."
His eyes flash with excitement, biting his bottom lip as he tries to suppress the large grin that threatens to take over his face. His cheeks flush with a pink shade and I feel my heart racing.
"That's amazing, okay well, I'll send you some addresses to look at later today and we'll go from there. Sounds good?" Leilani asks.
"Yup."
"Sounds amazing."
Harry and I say at the same time, finally allowing each other to break our heated gaze. We look over at Leilani and thank her for her time before we all leave the house.
When we finally got in the car, Harry wasted no time pulling me over the center console, his hand grasping my chin as he brought his lips to mine.
This feels perfect. Everything is going so well. It feels as if nothing could mess up the feeling that I'm experiencing right now. All I know is that I can't wait for our life together.
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authors note: get ready angels, the next chapter is a roller coaster. <3
Lots of Love - E