Anne opened the door and looked at me. Her lips moved for a few seconds before her eyes widened and she stumbled back slightly, gripping the door frame to steady herself. My breath was hitched in my throat, I couldn't speak, I was too busy trying to stop the tears from falling, and by the looks of things, so was she.
"Alicia? Is that you?"
"It's me," I whispered, looking down at the ground.
She studied me again, before literally exploding.
"Why the hell did you go and run away like that?! You could have been dead and none of us would have known! I took care of you for years and then you just up and leave with no contact! You could have at least called and let us know that you were okay! Harry was in bits, Gemma went mad...and I didn't know how to comfort my little boy because you were the only one who could ever calm him down properly...where have you been?! Oh my God!"
She threw her arms around me and sobbed into my shoulder. So she'd just had a massive go at me, flailing her arms and getting red in the face, and now she was squeezing my tightly. I didn't quite understand the woman. Robin had obviously heard the commotion as he was now stood in the hall, his mouth open.
"Hi Rob," I winced, as Anne let out a particularly loud cry.
He nodded in response, clearly not too sure what to say.
"Alicia, what are you doing here?" sniffed Anne, peeling herself off of me. "You shouldn't be here tonight, Harry is coming, he'll be here soon!"
"I know."
"How?" she asked, shocked.
I told her the cliffnotes version of what had happened to me recently. I left out the part about how I'd seen Harry and about the girls. I decided she needed to see them before I told her. Her mouth fell open as I told her my situation and now both her and Robin resembled fish.
"I've got something else to tell you as well," I told them, beginning a walk back to the car, beckoning them to follow.
They looked at each other before walking down the driveway after me. I stopped outside the car, the blacked out windows blocking their view from the twins.
"I need you to both keep an open mind...you're probably going to freak out but please...don't hate me for what I'm about to show you," I stammered.
I opened the car door, pulled the seat back and moved out of the way so they could look in. Robin cursed but Anne stayed quiet, her eyes filling with even more tears. The girls were both still fast asleep, oblivious to what was going on, and at the moment, it was the best thing.
"Alicia..." stuttered Anne. "Wake them up and bring them inside. I'm not having this conversation out here."
She turned and stormed inside, Robin following her. I sighed and did as she said. The girls moaned and complained about being woken up, but cheered up considerably when they realised that we were here. They bounced up the driveway and waited for me at the front door. I could see Anne sat at the kitchen table so I ushered the girls into the room.
"Anne, this is Maddie and Ellie...girls, this is Anne, the woman that I told you about."
"It's nice to meet you," grinned Maddie.
"Are you Daddy's Mum?" asked Ellie. "Because that's what Mummy said."
"Yes I am," she smiled. "And this is Robin, my husband."
She looked up at him and he introduced himself, shock still evident in his voice. I was keeping my eyes firmly on Anne. I couldn't read her expression and it worried me. I could always tell what she was thinking before, but this was a look that I'd never seen before, and it was scaring me.
"Girls, why don't you let Robin take you into the lounge and he'll put a DVD on for you...I'm sure we've got one that you'll like...and then me and your mum can have a proper catch up."
They nodded furiously, and left the room. Robin shut the door behind him, knowing that Anne wouldn't want to be disturbed right now. I was really in for it, I knew I was. But in a way, I was glad. Zayn and Louis had been welcoming, they'd practically forgiven me straight away, but I didn't want Anne to be. She needed to shout at me, maybe that way I would learn my lesson.
"Why didn't you tell Harry?" she asked, her voice icy. "Because, and forgive me if I'm wrong, I think that he deserved to know that you were having his children!"
I hung my head and rested my arms on the table, nodding slowly.
"Seven years Alicia! How do you think he's going to react when he sees you here, and then he sees those innocent little girls? I like to think that I know my son, and I know for a fact that he is going to go crazy. He's going to throw a fit...yes, he still loves you, he's admitted that to me in the past, but this is going to push him over the edge! To find out that he has two daughters that he's never even met-"
"He has met them," came flying out of my mouth.
"Now I'm confused," she stated.
"He uh...he works in their class."
"Bloody hell," she moaned, rubbing her temples. "He is getting here in...less than an hour now, and he's going to walk in, see Maddie and Ellie, realise that he knows them, and then see you...and then go mad!"
"I know that!" I shouted, standing up. "I know that I should have told him from the start, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I didn't wanted him breaking their hearts like he did mine! He didn't do it intentionally, but after everything that happened, I knew that I wouldn't be able to face him again. I didn't want him to keep on leaving the girls when he went on tour, I didn't want him to be confusing for them...they're six years old, they deserve a normal childhood instead of being hounded by the media for being Harry Styles' children!"
"I'm not saying that they don't," she snapped. "All I'm saying is that Harry had a right to know he was going to be a father right from the beginning...and seven years later, I have you turn up on the doorstep, telling me I have grandchildren I didn't even know existed. It's sick Alicia."
"I'm sorry that I never told you. But I never would have come back if it wasn't for them. They wanted to meet Harry, they wanted to meet their Daddy. and for years, I have dreaded the time when they would ask that. But the time is right now, whether I like it or not, he has to find out. I know that he's going to go batshit crazy, but it's the course that I've chosen, it was my choice to keep it from him, and now I'm going to live with the consequences. If he wants to hate me when he finds out, that's fine, but there is no way I'm letting him walk out of Maddie and Ellie's life once he's in it."
She sighed, and rubbed her head once more.
"That's courageous of you," she nodded. "But are you really prepared to live with Harry being angry at you after everything you want through together?"
"I am."
"I'm going to do as much as I can to help the both of you. But you need to make the first move, you need to talk him into arranging time with them...they're beautiful Liss."
"Thank you," I whispered, sitting back down. "Sometimes I'll turn to look at them, and they just look so much like Harry, it kills me. They're both just like him in so many ways, it's...incredible really...how can they be so much like someone they've never even met before?"
"You had known Harry for sixteen years when you had them...you've inherited some of his traits too, obviously without realising it...so you've both passed those traits onto the twins."
"That makes sense."
"Do you want a coffee? Or something stronger? Because I don't know about you, but I need something to take the edge off."
"Just a coffee please, I don't drink anymore."
"Oh?"
"I'm like Dad when I have alcohol...and I don't want to get how he did around the girls. I want to stay in control...so I don't touch it anymore, only when I'm really really really stressed out."
"Good for you."
"I never want to subject them to what I went through."
A quiet spell followed; the only sound was the boiling kettle. I stood against the counter, gathering my thoughts. As every second passed, I was increasingly aware that I meant I was a second closer to telling Harry everything...and the idea of just seeing him again was making my palms sweat, my stomach ache, and my heart beat a million times a minute.
"I literally put the DVD into the machine, turned around and they were both fast asleep...I think we should take them upstairs, so you can talk to Harry before he sees them," said Robin, poking his head round the door.
"I don't think they've been up this late before," I chuckled. "They both love sleep."
I followed Robin back towards the lounge and smiled softly when I saw my babies. They were curled up together, their chests rising and falling gently. I picked up Maddie, while Robin took Ellie and we walked upstairs.
"We'll put them in Harry's old room...it's a guest room now," he said, pushing the door open with his foot.
The room had changed completely, and it made me feel quite sad. It was a coffee colour, with a double bed in the middle, white linen duvet and pillows, with coffee cushions.
"Anne loves to colour coordinate," he chuckled quietly, laying Ellie down on the bed. "Will they be okay here?"
"Yeah, they'll be fine. Thanks Rob."
"No problem."
"Bless them," said Anne fondly, handing me my cup of coffee once I was back downstairs. "What are their full names?"
"Eloise Harriet Green, after Harry-"
"Green?"
"Yeah, it was Mum's maiden name...I changed it when I left so I'd be harder to find."
"Oh."
"So yeah, Eloise Harriet, after Harry...and Madeleine Anna...after you."
"Well that's very sweet of you, thank you," smiled Anne, rubbing my arm. "Do they know who they're named after?"
"Maddie does...Ellie doesn't, they don't even know what their father's name is...oh God, I'm such a bad mother."
"I doubt that," Anne laughed. "I remember the way you were with your cousins when you were younger, and the way you were with Lux...you always had that maternal instinct."
"You reckon?"
"I know."
There was a sudden knock at the door. I clutched the counter behind me hard, trying to squeeze the nerves I was feeling into it. It didn't work at all. Anne patted my shoulder and then went to answer the door, squealing once it opened. I could hear the murmur of voices and I nearly broke down in tears. The moment that I had been scared of for years was finally here. That's why I was very confused when Anne came in alone.
"He's just gone to put his bag upstairs, he'll be down in a second," she smiled, blissfully unaware that the girls were asleep in his room.
Robin choked on the water he was drinking and I sprinted past Anne and ran up the stairs, two at a time. Harry was stood in his doorway, still as a statue, his bag lying at his feet. He still had his hand on the doorknob, and he had the other on the doorframe to steady himself.
"Harry," I breathed.
He jumped and turned around.
"Alicia? What...?" His eyes widened. "No...you have got to be kidding...that's Maddie and Ellie from my class...how? No...Alicia, tell me that this is a joke, please?"
"It's not a joke Harry, I'm so sorry," I replied tearfully. "I wish I could tell you that it is, but it's not...Maddie and Ellie are-"
"Don't say it," he hissed venomously. "They are not."
"Who else's are they? Look at them...and you knew it too, when you met them, you knew that they looked like you."
"Stop it."
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you, you must think that I'm a right evil cow but-"
"I said STOP IT!" he roared, pushing me back and slamming me against the wall.
I heard a whimper from the bedroom but it amounted to nothing, meaning the girls were still asleep.
"You cannot waltz in here after all this time and tell me that...that I'm a...fuck, you just can't okay?!" he whispered dangerously, close to my face. "So maybe I did think that they looked like me, but that does not mean that I thought they were mine."
"Harry I-"
"Be quiet."
His hands were either side of my head. Seven years ago, this would have been normal, he would have been about to kiss me. I would have been able to see the love and adoration in his eyes...but all I could see right now was anger and hatred. He was breathing heavily and his bottom lip was trembling.
"If you thought, for even a second, that I would be happy to see you right now, you are seriously deluded. I want nothing to do with you anymore, do you understand that? Can you get that through that twisted brain of yours?"
His voice was getting louder with each word. I was sure he was going to wake the girls up soon, and I really didn't want them to see him like this.
"What about your daughters? What about your little girls?" I asked, a blubbering wreck.
"I...fuck this."
He pushed away from the wall and disappeared down the stairs. All I heard was the front door open and then slam, before I slid down the wall, my head in my hands, crying more than I had ever done before.
And that was a hell of a lot.
--
So Harry knows!
Did he react in the way you expected him to? Please let me know in the comments, and vote if you enjoyed this long awaited chapter!
love you.
Naomi x