Songbird [H.S]

FORTY-EIGHT

"You are my sunflower, my only sunflower,

You make me happy when skies are grey,

You'll never know just how much I love you,

Please don't take my sunflower away"

Josie's little fingers wrapped around Harry's index finger as he sang softly to her in the golden hue of Marley's fairy lights. The small girl was laying in Harry's arms, her tired eyes fighting to remain open as she watched her Dad rock her gently to sleep. Her toy bunny was nestled in the little space between Josie's body and Harry's arm in an attempt to get her settled and ready for bed but the baby was as stubborn as her mother.

Every night was the same with Harry having to rock Josie in his arms until she finally allowed her eyes to close. Sometimes Marley would try but they'd found out pretty quickly that she settled much easier when Harry sang to her.

"Come on little lovie, I can see you're sleepy." The boy mumbled to his daughter, stroking the bridge of her nose lightly to encourage her to close her eyes. "Nothing exciting you're missing out on I'm afraid. I'm only doing my assignment."

At his words, Josie let out a big yawn, causing her dummy to tumble from her lips. Harry was very quick to scoop it back up and place it into her mouth, knowing all too well that if he didn't act fast enough there would be tears.

"See, told you it was boring Sunny." He chuckled to himself, continuing to hum quietly as Josie finally began to let her tiredness take hold of her. The sound of the bedroom door opening very quietly caught the boy's attention, glancing up to see Marley creeping in to avoid waking Josie up.

"Do you want me to take her so you can keep painting?" She whispered softly, pressing a kiss to Harry's cheek as she bent down to check on her daughter.

The teenage boy was working on his submissions for the end-of-year art exhibition and had completely taken over Marley's bedroom with his supplies, not wanting to spend all his time painting in his studio at Anne's house in case Marley needed help with Josie. She had no objections to having her room transformed into a temporary studio space for Harry to work, taking the chance to start introducing Josie to sleeping in her nursery so she wasn't disturbed by Harry being up into the early hours of the morning. In fact, Marley loved being able to watch her boyfriend painting peacefully in the middle of the night as it reminded her of when she used to sleep around Harry's when they first started dating.

The boy had only just set all his things up to start painting for the night when Josie started crying because she was tired and he'd had to stop to get her ready for bed. Not that he minded, he was more than happy to spend time with his daughter - it was just nicer to really savour that time without the most important deadline of his career so far looming over him in the distance.

"Sure, she should be settled now. I would stay with her a bit longer but the acrylics will start to dry out if I leave them too long." He explained briefly, very carefully handing Josie over into Marley's arms so she could continue to put her down for the night.

"I'll be back in a minute." Marley smiled softly, pecking Harry on the lips a couple of times as she went to leave only to be pulled back as the boy demanded a proper kiss.

"Love you." He hummed with a lazy grin, watching Marley blush as she left the room.

With a loud sigh, Harry forced himself to get up from the bed and continue prepping his space ready to start painting. Numerous canvases in various states of progress were stacked neatly against the back wall where Josie's cot used to be, ready and waiting for him to choose which one to continue working on. His apron was slung messily over his easel, his brushes sitting in a cup of fresh water and his palette of paint already mixed up for him.