Chapter 59
Wednesday January 4th
Harry's POV
Like every other night of the week nowadays, I was at Lennon's house. It's become so frequent that Jeff asked me the other day if I was even still living in his house because he rarely sees me anymore. I mentioned to him that it probably is a good time for me to find my own place, but he assured me that I can stay with him as long as I need. I didn't want to be a bother though, I know he worries about me, especially more so in the last two months because of my relapse.
Speaking of, I've been doing okay. I'm almost 2 months sober now, and I've been doing what I can to stay on top of myself and try to avoid making another mistake like I did back then. It's been just as difficult as the first time, because once I had those drinks, the feeling of longing for them was prevalent in my mind again. I've had to work just as hard as I did the first time to get this far.
Lennon also has been helping me. She texts me during the day often to check in on me, which some people may find annoying, but I can't help but smile every time her name lights up on my phone. She sends me pictures of the kids often as a cheer me up if I'm honest and tell her it's been a hard day. On New Year's Eve, she brought over Capri suns for us to drink and I made a joke asking if we were 5, but I realized moments later it was because I couldn't have champagne like many other people on that holiday do.
"Theo, your mom said to go get your pajamas out" I looked at our 4 year old. Lennon had told him to pick out what clothes he wants to wear to bed tonight while she started setting up the bath for the kids, but Theo didn't budge and just continued to play with his toys.
"But I don't want to go to sleep. I want to be with you" Theo whined, inching closer to me.
"Okay fine" I shrugged. Sorry Lennon, but I'm not denying that.
It wasn't long until Lennon joined the kids and I back in the living room. "Theo, bath time"
"Oh! I like baths" Theo jumped up from the ground, tossing his toys to the side.
"Where's your PJ's?" She asked, taking notice of his empty hands.
"In my room" He answered nonchalantly.
"Okay" She sighed. "H, will you watch the twins for a few? Then we'll switch"
"Yeah of course" I agreed, always willing to help her out, especially when she asks for it. With a wave, Theo and Lennon disappeared down the hallway to her room and I was left with the babies.
Luckily tonight, Delia has managed to avoid calling me Da. I knew that it was slightly messing with Lennon's head to hear Lia calling me that, and I completely understood why. For Lennon's sake, I hope she's done calling me that because I don't want to upset Lennon or anything.
We're in such a good place recently, and even with how much I love Delia, I can't have her ruin this for me.
I focused my attention on the babies, they were teething again which was making them quite crankier the past few nights. Right now they were both chewing on every thing that they can find, so we've given them some teethers to help soothe their pain and it seemed to be working decently.
I couldn't believe how big they were getting. They were still smaller sized babies, Lennon said they were still measuring slightly behind because they were born prematurely, but the difference from when I first met them to now was a lot. I couldn't believe it's been about 3 and a half months since I first met Delia, the time when Lennon and I were talking and she woke up from her nap early to join the party. It's crazy to think how far all of us had come.
Atticus threw his teether to the side, scooting himself over to the couch and using it to pull himself to a standing position. I've never seen him do that before so my eyes widened.
"Go buddy!" I cheered him on, and a wide smile appeared on his face as he looked at me.
I felt little hands grab onto my thigh, Delia now crawling to me and trying to climb onto my body. I chuckled at her, holding her underneath her armpits and standing her in front of me. "What're you doing princess?"
Delia squealed when the nickname came out of my mouth.
"You know you're the princess of this house, don't you?" I chuckled, bouncing her gently.
Delia stuck her fingers in her mouth and drooled on them.
"Oh. We have teddy bear, princess" I stopped to look at Atticus. "What're we going to call you?"
Atticus looked at me, held onto the couch, and bounced himself up and down.
I thought for a minute. "Munchkin. Because you devoured that donut I brought you the other morning"
"What are you doing?" Lennon chuckled, coming out of the bathroom with Theo who was wrapped in a towel and dripping water all over the floor.
"I gave the kids nicknames" I told her. "Say hello to princess and munchkin"
"Very fitting" Lennon giggled. "Well if you don't mind, I need to steal munchkin and princess for a bath. Theo wanted to put his Pj's on with you"
"Sounds good" I lifted Delia up in the air to Lennon, after she had grabbed Atticus. The three of them left the living room, so it was just Theo and I. I helped Theo dry off and get his clothes on so he wasn't freezing, and then I took the brush that he had brought and gently ran it through his long hair.
I entertained Theo while we waited for Lennon to give the babies their bath. About 15 minutes later, I heard her start to make her way down the hallway, along with hearing her voice and it didn't sound like she was just talking to the twins.
I looked over and Lennon was holding a baby on each hip, and her phone was dangling in one hand as she made her way over to us.
"Theo, Grandma's on the phone, say hi baby" She said, struggling slightly until Theo grasped onto the phone and took it. For a second, I was confused because I thought lennon wasn't speaking to her mom anymore, but that was when I heard my mom's accent come through the phone.
"Grandma!" Theo exclaimed once he saw her face, and he waved at the camera. "Hi Grandma"
"Hi buddy, I'm sorry I haven't seen you in a while, what're you doing?" My mom spoke.
"Just playing" Theo responded, and that's when he turned the camera towards me. "This is my best friend Hawwy"
My mom chuckled, but played along and pretended she didn't know who I was. "Hi Harry, nice to meet you"
"Hawwy" Theo tapped my shoulder. "Dat's my grandma"
"Hi grandma" I waved to my mom, also playing along. I was glad to see that either Lennon or her called one another, I knew Lennon mentioned they stayed somewhat in touch while I was gone but not an awful lot, but hopefully that can change so Theo can have a relationship with one of his grandmothers.
"Can you dress him?" Lennon whispered to me, handing Atticus and his pajamas in my direction, so that she could do the same for Delia. It was something small, but once again I was glad that Lennon was starting to ask me to do things for her. A few months ago, she would've changed both of them while I sat and watched, but now she's more receptive to letting me do things for her. It was making both our lives easier, I hoped.
Theo rambled away to his grandma about his life recently. He talked about school (mostly his dislike of it), his siblings, and the recent holidays. Then he showed her almost every gift that he got for Christmas, pointing out which ones were from Santa, his mom, or I. Then of course, most importantly, he had to show off Mr. Brownie Dog, which really shocked my mother.
Once Theo got all his stories out of his system, he handed the phone back to Lennon so she could show my mom the twins and update on their lives. I noticed that my mom would be the only sort of grandmother the twins would have, since Lennon's mom is out of the picture, and Lennon told me there was no family around on Hudson's side. It was really just a reminder of how alone Lennon really is, and how much she truly has done on her own for almost the last year. I've only come around recently, and even then I was trouble in her eyes for some of it.
"Yeah! We would love for you to visit, you let me know when a good time is" Lennon said, right as I stopping thinking to myself.
"I was thinking maybe March? Would that be a good time?" My mom asked, and I lit up. I was really looking forward to seeing my mum again.
"That would be perfect. Theo has spring break so maybe we can line those up"
"Okay, great. But spring break for a daycare? That's odd"
"It was weird to me too" Lennon shrugged. "I was going to pawn the kids off on good ole Harry right here"
Quickly, my head snapped to look at her. "What now?"
"You'd babysit again, right?" Lennon giggled, looking at me with a sparkle in her eyes.
"You'd let me babysit again?" I stared at her.
"Why wouldn't I? Plus, it should be way easier now. The kids will be healthy, and they love you. Piece of cake" She chuckled.
"Oh" I shrugged. "Then yeah of course I'd watch them. Whatever you need"
"And, now grandma might be in town so it'd be even easier" She chuckled. "But of course we'll talk about it. I'm not going to leave them with you if you don't feel comfortable"
We talked a little bit longer on the phone before it was time to say goodnight and goodbye. After hanging up, Lennon took Theo outside to read stories, and I took the twins into the room to do their bedtime routine with him.
The babies cuddled in my lap and drank their bottles while I read a story to them, Lia grasping onto one of my fingers with her whole hand, and Atti playing with his ear the entire time. I kissed them both goodnight and set them in their cribs, quietly leaving the room.
I looked out the window and saw that the other two were already finished reading stories, and must be in Lennon's room already, so I took it upon myself to clean up the living room from the evening. I picked up all the toys, loaded the dishwasher, and wiped down all the surfaces before Lennon came and interrupted, insisting I didn't need to do any of that.
"Lennon, baby, it's going in one ear and out of the other" I told her, finishing up.
"You drive me crazy" She groaned, trying to snatch the Clorox wipe out of my hand.
"Oh I drive you crazy?" I smirked, holding the wipe above my head because she was much too short to be able to reach it.
"Yes" She huffed, no luck at grabbing the wipe.
Instead, I shuffled my way around her and threw it away since I was done with it anyways, and swiftly snuck my arm around her waist so she was pressed against me. Smirking, I leaned down and lowered my lips onto hers. Instantly, she kissed me back and it was like all of the stars aligned.
Each moment that we kissed, it got deeper and deeper, until the lower half of her back was pressed against the kitchen counter and I was towering over her. My one hand rested on the counter, trapping her on one side, while my other cupped her cheek.
She bit my bottom lip, and I opened my mouth to let her tongue start to move alongside mine. The feeling of her hands running themselves down my chest and how her lips were kissing me was getting me all worked up inside.
I knew the second that she felt myself hardening against her leg, because she breathily pulled away from the kiss and muttered. "We probably shouldn't, again"
And I knew she was saying no, mostly because of the fact the kids were here and the way that we did that on the couch the other night was far too risky for her liking after the fact. She was right though, it would have been extremely embarrassing and traumatizing if Theo had woken up and headed to the living room.
"Mhm" I agreed, pulling away despite desperately not wanting to. I just wanted her. I wanted to kiss her, and touch her, and make her feel good for as long as I possibly could. I didn't want to stop.
"I feel bad though, you're always being left with a uhm, situation" She giggled quietly.
"It's fine" I assured her. "But I think it's time we get Theo into his own room"
She laughed. "Harry, I'm not just going to make him switch rooms so we could have sex"
"What? Why not?" I stared at her. Personally, I thought it was a great idea.
"Because it comforts him. He goes to sleep more than we have fun. And he was there first" She explained.
"Okay, technically I was sleeping in your bed first long before he was even a thought" I defended. I didn't really have a rebuttal for her first two points, but I definitely was in Lennon's bed before Theo was and that's just the truth.
She shook her head, laughing. "Well, I have another reason"
"Which is?" I urged.
"I... I'm going to tell Theo the truth very soon, and I think it'd be harsh of me to kick him out of my room and then tell him news that's going to change his life right after"
Shit. I couldn't believe she was actually going to tell him. This was what I've been waiting for since she told me she wasn't telling him right away, and now it's here. I was overjoyed. It made me really happy that Lennon trusts me enough to feel confident to tell him. And I was slightly nervous, because I was hoping that Theo reacted to the news okay. I would hate for our fears to come true of him backing away or freaking out, so we'd just have to hope for the best. '
"You're really telling him?" I double checked, just in shock.
Lennon nodded her head. "He should know. You've done an amazing job. And I think with the direction that we're heading, it's better to tell him you're his dad before anything else progresses with us..."
"Lennon this makes me so happy" I beamed, and threw my arms around her in a tight embrace. I held her in my arms, and squeezed her, just so happy with how my life is going. It took me some time to get here, but I've finally found my way.
"I'm really proud of you" She whispered.
My heart melted. "Thank you"
If someone told Lennon 6 months ago she'd be telling me that she's proud of me, she would laugh in their face. We're at a moment that neither one of us thought would happen, and because of that I felt the tears start to stream down my face.
"Are you crying?" She giggled, but her words were muffled into my chest.
"No" I sniffled.
"Harry"
"Yes" I told the truth.
I let go of her shortly after, and she pretended to gasp for air when I finally did.
"I haven't decided between this weekend or next weekend. It seems so soon, but next weekend is my birthday and if he reacts badly then I'll be upset. But then again, my birthday isn't a hugeee deal, so I don't know. I'll think about it, but what do you think?"
"It's up to you" I held my hands up.
"Maybe this weekend. If I wait too long, I might start overthinking it. It might be better to just rip the band aid off" She thought through it.
"Whatever you decide, I support" I told her.
"Do you ever stop and think about how crazy life is? Like one year ago, I never thought my life would be as drastically different as it is now" She looked up at me. I loved how short she was compared to me.
"All the fucking time" I mumbled.
"Like this time last year I was pregnant with the twins, and now I couldn't imagine life without them" she wrapped her arms around my waist and held onto me.
I asked a question, just out of curiosity. "Do you want more kids?"
"You know I always wanted like 4 or 5 of them" she said.
"Yeah, but that was before we even had Theo" I told her. Back before either one of us knew how crazy the journey of parenthood was, but mostly her...
"True. I think I still want more though. I love being a mom"
"You're really good at it" I complimented. I mean truly, she's raised Theo amazing so far, and majority of the time she was all on her own and kept it together for the 3 of them. She's smashed it. "You're good at taking care of people. The kids, your patients"
"I think some of it comes from not ever getting love from my mom. Like, I had my dad and he loved me and took care of me, but I never had that motherly love every child yearns for, which is why I'm so motivated to give mine the best childhood they could have" She muttered, and I knew how deeply that goes for her. I witnessed for years how Lennon's mom treated her and broke her down, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't glad Lennon finally put a stop to it.
"You excel at it. Theo is so smart, and intuitive for his age. He has so much compassion and love. He's the best big brother. He's empathetic, he's kind, well mannered" I reminded her.
"But he's shy... and that's not a bad trait. I'm not saying that, but I think that his lack of friends and such is part of choices that I made and how I let him lead" she started to doubt, which I was eager to put a stop to.
"Theo's a good kid. It doesn't matter how many friends he has or doesn't have, because you're raising a good person. He's respectful, he's a lover. Plus, by you letting him lead, it shows him that he's able to make his own choices about who he's comfortable with. He feels safe enough to do so, because of you Lennon"
"You're right"
I still wanted to validate her thoughts in that, so I said "But if you feel you're not doing enough in that sense, maybe you could mention to him something like choosing a sport or extracurricular. He'll be around other kids, in a space he's interested in. maybe that will motivate him to branch out. We know he doesn't like school, so maybe it's harder for him to make friends if he doesn't want to be there"
She looked up at me. "That's a good idea. I'll see what he says"
I was glad she wasn't crazy enough to suggest pulling him out of school.
"imagine if your next pregnancy was like... quintuplets or something" I blurted out.
"Why on Earth would you put that into the universe?-" She glared at me.
"Okay maybe not 5, but what if it was triplets?" I chuckled, and triplets felt more realistic. Then she'd have 1 baby on her first pregnancy, 2 on her second, and 3 on her third.
"I need to zip your mouth shut" She pulled away from me, laughing.
"Oh but then how will I eat y-"
She cut me off "It is time for you to go home"
"Damn"
She was only joking, so I stuck around a little while longer before heading out.
Thursday January 5th
"I've never gotten to pick them up from school before" I said giddily, in the passenger seat of Lennon's car. I spent the day looking through scripts for a new movie. I wasn't exactly set on starting something so soon, because I'm enjoying the freedom that I have right now, but if I came across the perfect opportunity, I was going to go for it. After that, I headed over to Lennon's house and we grabbed some food from a local place and ate it in her car before driving to the kids school to pick them up.
"He'll be so shocked to see you" Lennon pointed out, shutting the car off.
I followed her inside, holding the entry door open for her, and recognized the kid that was working behind the desk from the Christmas performance last month. He smiled at Lennon, but that quickly faded when he saw me, and I tried my hardest not to laugh.
They talked for a minute before he disappeared to get the children, and I looked at Lennon and shook my head. "I told you so"
Lennon smirked at me. "I know. He's asked me out before" She whispered.
"I'll kill him"
"Don't be so dramatic. I said no" She laughed.
"Oh, cause you're in love with me" I finished.
"It was back before we even kissed" She denied.
"Oh. I still won though"
She didn't answer because the kids were all heading towards us with wide smiles on their faces. Theo ran over to Lennon and hugged her tightly, before shouting my name and doing the same to me. The twins babbled until Lennon took them from what's his names grip, and I blew kisses at them.
"Thanks Lucas" Lennon thanked, and Theo and I held the door for her and the twins.
"Teddy bear, princess, and munchkin. We've got them all" I counted.
"Hey I'm Teddy bear" Theo gasped realizing. I don't know why, considering he knows he's called that, but whatever.
Lennon strapped all the kids in the car and I put the radio on for them. It was a short drive to our next destination anyways, so we didn't have to keep Delia happy for too long.
When we wrangled all the kids inside, we were met with the classic barbershop smell.
To our left was a small waiting area of a couple chairs, and to our left was some shelves of hair products for purchase. In front of us was the hair cutting area with several different stations, some were empty and some were filled with older men getting their hair trimmed. Lennon signed us in and I took a seat with the kids.
We waited 10 minutes before an employee came out from the back and told us to come on over to his section. Both Lennon and I were baby wearing one of the twins, in a carrier so we could have our hands free. Delia was strapped outward facing to my body, and Lennon had Atti, but I lifted Theo up onto the barber chair so Lennon didn't have to.
Lennon told the guy what we were doing today, and he nodded along and double checked what we wanted. All I could focus on was how cute Theo looked in the chair and taking a bunch of photos of his first haircut. Yes, first hair cut. Lennon told me earlier she never took him for one because she just loved how long his curls were growing out, but it didn't start getting in his face until recently.
Theo got his hair washed so it'd be easier to cut, and then I lifted him back into the hair cutting chair when it was time. The barber, whose name we learned was Antonio, strapped one of the black capes onto Theo's body, and I think that's when it became real to Theo what was happening. In the waiting room he was talking about how excited he was for his hair cut, but I think now that he's in the chair he was starting to second guess.
"No more" Theo shook his head, right when Antonio put the brush down and grabbed his scissors.
"What? Buddy you were so excited" Lennon looked at him.
"All done"
"Theo, are you sure? You said you wanted to get the hair out of your eyes lovebug" Lennon moved closer to him, trying to comfort him and figure out what he actually wants.
"Hurts" Theo whispered to Lennon, and I determined why he changed his mind the second he saw the scissors.
I had a better idea.
"Can I see those?" I asked Antonio, who gave me a confused look but handed them over.
"Look buddy, it doesn't hurt" I got Theo's attention.
"Harry what are you doing?-" Lennon looked at me.
I used Antonio's scissors and cut the smallest piece of hair off of my head. It wasn't that serious to me, it would grow back and by the way my hair has been styled recently, you can't even tell I cut anything off of it. Antonio thought I was crazy though by the look on his face.
But it worked, because Theo busted out laughing.
"My turn!" Theo's eyes lit up.
"Wow" Lennon said. "Okay, Theo, you ready now?"
"Yes!" Theo exclaimed.
"You're welcome" I told Lennon. "My parenting tactics are amazing"
"They're definitely something" Lennon teased.
Antonio got to work on Theo's hair, and it didn't take long at all. It was practically over in 3 minutes. A whole lot of commotion for a hair cut if you ask me, but I was happy that I was here for Theo's first ever hair cut of his entire life.
Antonio announced when he was all done and gave Theo a mirror to look in. It was the smallest amount of hair that got chopped off, but Lennon looked like she was about to ball her eyes out.
"Oh my gosh" Lennon covered her mouth with her hand.
We were probably Antonio's most dramatic customers of his entire career.
Antonio helped Theo off the chair and gave him a selection of lollipops to choose from. He chose a strawberry one and opened it right away, and we followed Antonio to the counter to pay for the service. I was surprised Lennon didn't ask for a baggy full of Theo's hair on our way out.
"It's so short" Lennon commented as we walked to the car.
I was starting to wonder if I should get her eyes checked out, because Theo's hair honestly did not look any different than it did 20 minutes ago.
Then again, I'm surprised I'm not falling on the floor heartbroken over the lost hair either.
To finish off the evening and to make everyone feel better, we stopped and grabbed food from the drive through for dinner. Lennon didn't feel like cooking tonight, and neither did I, so it was just easier to grab something.
The night commenced on with arts and crafts, taking Mr. Brownie Dog for a walk, and lots of bedtime stories. After the kids were asleep, we found a show on Netflix to start watching together, but that turned south very quickly and ended up with me eating her out in the bathroom. Eventually, we finished an episode and I was able to go home.
It was quite the day.
How do we think telling Theo will go ????
THEY ARE THE CUTEST FAMILY EVER
I Love them 😭
Xoxo
Sierraaaa