Buttercup [H.S]

Epilogue Part One

*This is part two of a triple update! Make sure you read the previous chapter first!*

Two weeks later.

"And you're sure there's enough to drink? Should I get more wine? I don't know how much wine normal people drink!"

"Babe, calm down," Harry says, holding my face in his large hands to stop me from pacing the kitchen any more than I already was. "You've got enough to drink. You've cooked enough food, and Niall and Louis are bringing more later. Everything is fine."

"I've never had this many people in my house," I admit. "I've never thrown a party before. What if it's shit?"

Harry laughs, and kisses my nose the way he does when he thinks I'm being cute or ridiculous or a combination of both.

"It won't be shit. It's a New Year's Eve party, not the queens coronation, and everyone that will be here loves you. So stop worrying."

I grimace, feeling the nerves that had been gripping my stomach all day strangle my insides.

"That's up for debate," I grumble, and Harry kisses my nose again.

"Who are we talking about? Mitch, or my family?" He asks gently, rubbing my shoulders to try and loosen them. "Because Mitch already told you-"

"I know, I know. If you love me then he loves me. It's your mum and your sister I'm worried about. What if they don't like me?"

Harry sighs, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me close.

"Riley. I already told you they don't care about what happened at school. My mum told you herself she doesn't care."

And she had. When Harry had asked me to drive over to his mothers house to spend Christmas Day with him and his family, and I'd had to turn him down because I was already spending it with Lucy and Janis, he'd video called me on the day instead.

He was tipsy, his eyes red and bleary on the screen as he told me how much he missed me and loved me, and then the phone was torn away and I almost dropped mine when Anne's face appeared instead.

"Oh...H-hi Anne," I'd scrambled, feeling my face burn and my stomach drop to my toes.

"Hello my Love," she'd said, and her words and her smile were as warm as I remembered and I'd ached for that hug she'd given me. "Look at you," she had beamed, and I realised there were tears in her eyes. "Aren't you just beautiful."

"Yes, she is and I'd really like my phone back!" I'd heard Harry in the background, but Anne was walking away and closing a door behind her.

"Um. How have you been?" I'd asked, feeling the need to say something so I didn't just stand ashen faced, as if I'd seen a ghost.

"We've all been fine," she'd waved off quickly. "Look, I just wanted to get a chance to say that...well, Harry doesn't blame you for what happened at school. And neither do I. I never have. You know, I've thought about you so often over the years, wondering how you are and if someone is looking after you. If you've been looking after yourself."

I wanted to tell her that I had been, but I couldn't lie to this woman. The woman who had given me a home, a real home, on the night I needed one most. A woman who had shown me more compassion and love in one night than my own mother ever had.