A/N: There has been a time jump since the events in the previous chapter. 6 months has passed. We are seeing where Hailey and Harry are at in terms of their relationship, personal lives and family lives, 6 months on.
Sydney and I are sitting on the lounge on the left-hand side of the room, whilst Harry is sitting on the lounge facing the television. We're currently watching 'Up' which was chosen by London who watched the first 10 minutes of the film before ditching us and heading upstairs to her room instead.
I have my iPad on my lap and I'm going through my emails. I check my emails every second day for updates about work, but they still get flooded. Most of them aren't even for me, they address my children and collaboration offers. I may be bias, but I know how gorgeous my girls are. They would look adorable being models and wearing brands for clothes, but Harry is completely against it. As much as I would love to give them this opportunity, I respect Harry's opinions.
A loud yawn escapes my lips which catches Harry's attention. "Big day of auditions?" He asks with a small smile playing on his lips.
I nod my head while another yawn involuntarily appears. "Sorry." I place my hand over my mouth. "Yeah, another early start tomorrow. Final day of auditions."
"Think you've found the next superstar?"
I shrug my shoulders. "You know that I legally can't tell you that."
"You legally couldn't tell me about the guy who sung my song and had my face on his t-shirt, yet you did."
"That I couldn't resist. Please don't tell anyone otherwise I will get sued and fired."
I previously mentioned work. About five months ago I was proposed with an offer to be a judge on the next season of The Voice Australia. The role was impossible to turn down. The crew have been so flexible with me and my schedule. They even pushed the audition process back one week so that I could attend London's end of term concert. I am enjoying being back in the public slightly and actually being able to work again. Even if I am not building my own career, I am so honoured to have the ability to help so many people build their own through their Voice journey.
Harry and I are still separated. While there have been some moments where we have almost slipped up and done something we shouldn't have, we were able to be mature adults and stop ourselves from making any mistakes. We have been co-parenting extremely well. It hasn't been easy, but both of us have learnt to keep our personal lives separate to our family lives. We are keeping our opinions of each other to ourselves and only commenting on things to do with the girls.
I'm sure I do things that Harry doesn't agree with, but respectfully he does not comment. Meanwhile there are some things that I don't love that he does, yet I remain silent too. However, he often tells me that I don't need to speak because my facial expressions speak a thousand words.
Alright, I'll tell you what it is. Harry is a great father and I have always said that. He is an incredible person with many great qualities. But one thing which pissed me off towards the end of our relationship and this habit has continued over the last six months. His drinking.
Harry hasn't been himself pretty much since he stopped touring. He came to Australia to be with his family and I know how much he loves the girls, but he still isn't completely happy. He doesn't speak about it and it isn't my business anymore to pry. But in my opinion, Harry us using alcohol as a coping mechanism. He isn't happy and instead of doing something about it, he uses alcohol to numb his pain.
Bringing myself back to reality, I continue scrolling through my long list of unopened emails. This one is for London specifically. Now I know that this girl was born to be in front of the camera.
Sydney is gorgeous, she really is. But she is a rule breaker. The photographer would ask her to pose in a certain way and she would purposely do the complete opposite. She's 18 months old and still so young, but she knows exactly what it means to do the right thing and she is completely aware of her actions when she does the opposite. Her cheeky grin gives it away.
"Mummy work." Sydney points to my iPad screen with her sloppy finger which she just pulled out of her mouth. She leans against my shoulder to take a closer look at the iPad.
I look at her and put my hand around her back, pulling her closer to me. "Yes, this is for mummies work."
Sydney wraps her arms around my neck and rests her cheek against mine. Her curls tickle my ear as her face presses against mine. "Sydney eye ouchie. Mummy pad." I can see in the corner of my eye that she squints her eyes shut before opening them and blinking a couple of times.
I laugh at her while turning my iPad away from her. "It hurts your eyes does it?" I feel her nod her head. "Have you been reading all of the emails?" She lets go of me and instead climbs onto my lap. Her hands are on my collar bones to keeps her balance.
"Ya."
The way she says it makes me laugh again. She's so cute without even trying to be. "You can read now, can you?"
Sydney smiles. "Ya."
"You are such a clever girl, aren't you." I put my iPad down and cuddle her. "You are growing up way too fast. I hope you will always want to cuddle me when you get bigger."
"Syd big girl."
I nod my head. "Yes you are."
Harry opens his arms out wide. "Come and give Daddy a hug. I haven't got a Syd hug all day." He pretends to be sad.
Sydney lifts up her head to look at Harry, before placing her head back against my chest and cuddling into me again. She giggles to herself, purposely ignoring him.
"Aww, thanks baby" I hug her back as she continues to laugh. "I love you."
"Love mummy." She moves her head to in front of my face and kisses my lips. "Love mummy" she repeats before kissing my cheek and then my nose. She looks over at Harry before planting more kisses on my face.
Harry's jaw drops and I fall into a fit of laughter as we both catch onto what Sydney is doing. Sydney has always been attached to me. A few months before she turned one, she was old enough to be aware of people's actions and would often get jealous whenever Harry would show me affection. Whether he was hugging me or leaning in for a kiss, Sydney would whine. If he didn't stop, she would throw a tantrum.
Eventually she grew out of it because I guess that's when our relationship began heading south.
"She's trying to make you jealous."
"Yeah, she is getting me back for all the times I kissed you to make her jealous. I thought she would have forgot about that."
"Are you trying to make Dad jealous, Syd?" Harry asks with a smug expression.
"Mummy." She says, puckering her lips while holding my face with her two hands. "No Daddy." She points her finger out towards Harry.
"She's definitely trying to make you jealous." I look back at Sydney and stare into her big green eyes that mirror her father's. "Did it work?"
Harry's facial expression softens and he stares down at his lap. "Yeah..." he pauses and let's out a heavy sigh. "I'm jealous."
Feeling sad for Harry, I take hold of Sydney's hands and gently remove them from my face. "Daddy is sad, Syd. Do you want to go and give him a hug?"
She shakes her head.
"But look how sad he is that he gets no cuddles."
Harry pouts his lips and sniffles, pretending that he is about to cry. "I'm really sad."
Sydney's facial expression softens and she runs over to Harry. She wraps her arms around his neck and gives him a hug. He encloses his arms around her and holds her tightly to him.
"I love you so much." He tells her while playing with her light-brown curls. I really thought she would turn blonde like my hair colour, but I guess she has Harry's hair after all.
With one arm still holding onto Harry, Sydney turns around to face me. "Mummy." She holds out her hand while opening and closing it, gesturing for me to come to her.
"What's wrong baby?" I ask, despite knowing exactly what she wants me to do.
"Mummy" she calls to me again. Harry stares between Sydney and I, also catching onto what our daughter wants.
I remain frozen in place, deciding whether or not this is a good idea. Sure Harry and I have exchanged a quick hug here and there when greeting each other. But sitting here in the living room with our daughter and taking part in a family hug ... I feel like that might be over stepping. She is looking at me with such innocence in her eyes. Surely I can't deny her sweet gesture.
I stand up and walk over to them. Harry opens his arm and I sit beside him. I take hold of Sydney's hand and place my head on her shoulder. Harry holds us both and I close my eyes, enjoying the comfort that his hugs bring. I feel warm, safe and happy inside his arms, just like I have always felt. Flashbacks of images race through my mind as I remember all of the happy times in our past when he was holding me. When I realise that I am getting too caught up in the memories, I quickly remove his hand from around me and sit up.
I stand up and walk back over to the lounge where my iPad is. After picking up my iPad, I shake it in my hands. Syd is staring at me. "You keep giving Dad cuddles. Mummy has to get back to her work."