Three years later
"Henry," I say his name softly as I look at the sky that is scattered with clouds. I feel him turning his head on top of my stomach to look to me and I start to smile.
"What can I do for you, love?" he asks me as I keep moving my fingers through his hair.
"The last three years have been quite the ride, haven't they?"
"They have been the three most wonderful to me and I hope we will continue like that," he answers immediately, and I chuckle which makes Kal getting up and walking up to my face to lick it. Then he lays down next to me and rests his head on my right upper arm.
The first few months of our relationship were harder than I thought they would be. The days after Henry and I were at the Harry Potter Studios and then at Grace pub were filled with pictures and articles of us.
At first, I didn't mind it, because they were still respectful, but when the media picked up what a close source to the Maxwell family said, I was devastated. I was hurt. I was angry. Suddenly everyone turned against me. They made me look like I cheated on Luke with Henry.
Luke wasn't mentioned in the articles, but to me it was clear that it had been him. Money was clearly not the issue, because he started to work at his father's company. Maybe he wanted to have control over me a last time, because he saw how well I was doing without him. Maybe the pictures of Henry and me laughing and enjoying life set him off. I still don't fully understand the reason of it, and I will probably never. However, I feel I know what his intention was: to make Henry's and especially my name looking bad in the press.
People suddenly called to boycott my books and the movie. They portrayed me as a cheater and liar. They said things like I planned all of it, to become more famous and get more attention.
These comments hurt a lot. I cried a lot. However, I can count myself lucky that I had and still have such wonderful and caring people in my life, or I might have given in to the shitstorm the media created. Henry stood next to me and held my hand through everything. He never mentioned that it was bad publicity for him nor did he weaver when I asked him if he wanted to break up so he wouldn't have to go through being followed by more paparazzi than ever.
"I don't give a fuck about what they say, I know the truth and that is all that matters," he said and pulled me into a tight hug.
During that time friends of mine stepped forward without being asked to and explained on their own social media that I am a kind and loving person, that they if they thought someone was cheating in that relationship it was Luke and not me. People from the movie crew said that they knew I was single when production started and thought that there was attraction between Henry and I, but we only started to act on it at the end of the filming in the UK.
It took over two months in which I cried and needed Henry as my rock to settle the shitstorm. I stayed with Henry in England until we needed to return to LA so he could finish shooting the movie. After the first day on set I made the heartfelt decision not to return as there were just too many paparazzi trying to get a picture of us together since we had been undetected in England.
While all of that happened my relationship with Henry grew closer and with everything he did and still does for me, he shows me how much I mean to him. In the beginning there was a lot of passion which is still there but out of it has blossomed a level of intimacy that I haven't known.
The feeling of trust and commitment grew stronger until he asked me to marry him one and a half years ago while his family was staying with us at his house in Fort Lauderdale over Christmas. Thankfully it wasn't too romantic, because I would have laughed straight in his face if there would have been rose pedals or candles involved. It is one of the memories I hold the most cherished in my heart and memory.
It was during the morning golden hour, shortly after the sun had risen and dipped everything in the golden hue. We were walking with Kal and he suddenly stopped. Henry took both my hands, went down on one knee and asked the question, I didn't think he would ask me for at least another year. Even though I had occasionally thought about it, I was overwhelmed in the moment which made him unsure. But when I said yes and threw myself at him which made us both land in the sand everything else around us was forgotten.
"Love are you alright?" Henry asks me and snaps me out of my thoughts.
"Yes, why shouldn't it be?"
"Because I was calling your name for the past minute," he chuckles and lifts himself up from my stomach to sit next to me. With his left hand he brushes some loose hair stands out of my face and I smile when I see his weeding band on his ring finger.
"You know married life suits you," he tells me and then gives me a peck on my lips.
"What do you mean?" I ask him irritated and draw my eyebrows together.
"Well, before our wedding you were so stressed, your skin lost so much color and you lost quite some weight that I was getting worried. But now you have this glow again and gained weight. I like to see you like this," he explains, and he kisses me when I want to say something.
"Don't argue with me about it," he tells me after our kiss, and I shake my head amusedly.
"Can you do me a favor?" I ask him and sit up as well.
"Whatever you want, love." Even after all this time the butterflies in my stomach flutter around and my heart begins to race in my chest when he calls me love. A simple word that lets my body react in such a way.
"There is a present for you in the backpack," I tell him as I run my left hand through my hair.
"I knew that there was a reason why you didn't let me back it this time," he chuckles and retrieves the wrapped present out of it.
"Open it," I encourage him when he looks at it warily.
"Do you remember what you asked me when we made the trip to Beatrix Potter's house?" I ask him as he begins to unwrap the book.
"Oh, I think you might have caught me off guard there," he answers and looks at me with a raised eyebrow.
"You asked me if I would ever consider writing a children's book."
"Now I remember. You said you would write one if you had the idea for it," Henry says as the memory comes back to him and complete takes of the wrapping paper. On the cover of the book are a rabbit and tiger hugging each other.
"That's cute. Is this what you were working on until a month ago?"
"Yes. Come on, look inside," I encourage him, and he starts to laugh.
"Love, some things need to be savored."
"You can savor it after you have opened it."
"Since when did you get so immense impatient?" he asks me and squints his eyes.
"Stop messing with me," I almost order him, and he presses his lips together to not to laugh at me.
"Okay," he starts and raises one hand defensively, "I will open it now."
When he opens the book cover, I take a deep breath and start to play with my fingers because I am unsure about his reaction. The first thing I notice is the shock in his face. Then it turns to surprise. Lastly it is excitement.
"Is it true?" he asks me and looks up from the picture and my handwritten note.
I made my gynecologist make two prints of it. I put the first one into the book, and I put the other one into the scrab book I am going to make throughout my pregnancy and the first few months of having the baby that is growing inside of me.
Underneath it is my note.
#12 Choose your life's mate carefully. From this one decision will come 90% of all your happiness and misery. – Life Lessons from an 80 year old man.
Dear Henry,
You asked me once what my wish was when I blew on the Dandelion while we had the picknick during the production of the first movie. My wish was to have someone like you in my life.
Someone with whom I can be me and don't need to change anything about my character or my body.
Someone who gets me and challenges me to become a better version of myself.
Someone who shows me what love means.
Someone I ended up marrying three months ago.
You are the love of my life, and I can't tell you how much I appreciate you. Every single day I fall in love with you from anew and I cannot wait to see you grow in your role as a father. I am sure that this little one will make the next few years quite busy for us, but it will strengthen our relationship and expand our family as we both have dreamed of.
I love you,
Charlotte
"It is true," I tell him, and he wraps his arms around me. He pulls me against his body and kisses me feverishly.
"Since when do you know?"
"I had this feeling that I might be pregnant but with the stress of the wedding then the honeymoon, the book tour for my latest book and then the start of the production of the movie, I thought that I didn't have my period because of it. But as of yesterday, when I had my check up with Dr. Davis in London, I know that I am at the beginning of my second trimester which means that the chance of loosing the baby have drastically shrunken. I hope you are not mad at me," I say and press my lips together because I should have thought about it more and listened to my body. Sighing he takes my head between his hands and lifts it up, so I have to look at him. A warm smile is on his lips.
"How could I be mad at you. I love you, Charlotte. We are going to be parents. I would be lying if I said that I am not disappointed that I didn't see our child as well, because I want to be there for you every single step of this pregnancy. However, there is always the next time," he says and kisses me softly. Confused I draw my eyebrows together.
"Are you talking about the next ultrasound or the next baby?" I ask him as I am not sure what he tried to tell me with his statement.
"Both, love," he chuckles as he kisses my temple softly. Carefully he places his hand on top of my lower abdomen.
"Don't get ahead of yourself, Henry. We will start with one and see how it goes," I laugh, when I see that he has this confident grin on his lips.
"I know you will make a great mother. I have seen you with my nephews and nieces. And I think there are lots of not used bedrooms in our home in LA and here in England," he whispers into my ear before placing open mouthed kisses down my neck which make me moan.
A/N: That's it guys... Sadly, I need to say goodbye to these two. It was a lot of fun to write this short and cute story and I hope that you enjoyed reading it!
Thanks to everyone who left a comment - receiving (constructive) feedback is always appreciated and makes my day! ❤️