Second chances Book 4/6

Chapter 34

"Harper!"

Ella smiled as she watched Harper hold her daughter in her arms, helping her get a suitcase out of the car. They were renting a house in Arlington, classic type, red brick with ornament over the door, the windows. The house was beautiful, spacious, with a nice kitchen. Ella was finally going to be able to cook, having had time to watch hours and hours of cooking shows during her late pregnancy and her sabbatical. As she enters the house, she thinks back to the last five years. Life has not been easy for her or for him. But they managed to graduate, despite the anxieties, the sleepless nights, the hormones that made her say horrible things to Harper, much worse than what she said to him when they met, but Harper stayed while she swelled more and more. And Harper stayed next to her, with her. Her moms were present at the birth, not wanting to miss it for the world. Kara and Bethany had done so much for her, taking care of her, of her health, coming to see her regularly, accepting her despite who she was, the one who had broken up their family. Relations had been strained for weeks between Kara, Bethany and Tilly, Abigail. Clara-Rose had internalized and moved on, supported by Caity and Julia, especially Julia.

As Harper came out of the workroom, exhausted but overjoyed, he showed his mothers his masterpiece. Little Carolyn was his spitting image while Harper junior looked like her mother with his dark hair and green eyes.

His moms became completely addicted to their grandchildren.

Harper graduated and was commended for his work, presenting two robots for his final exam. His BB-8 moved with ease and responded to complex commands, scanning obstacles and navigating around them. The jury was impressed with his AI system, especially when Harper dumped several pens of different models on the table and his robot pushed them all back until he returned his blue pen. His second robot, not one hundred percent complete, according to Harper, was moving on stairs, on an uneven surface, his robot compensating for its inclination itself. Climbing a staircase facing an electronically locked door, the robot looked at the lock before pulling out a badge from a storage on its structure and unlocking the door to open it and push it, passing on the other side continuing its demonstration. Emily and colleagues from DARPA came to congratulate him, Emily genuinely enthusiastic, having watched from afar, then advised Harper closely, even being present when Ella had to be rushed to the hospital when she had a low blood pressure. Emily had remained close to Harper, her recruit as she called him. She often stayed chatting in their house on campus, helping with baby bottles, even advising him on the lab where he could work. Ella, despite the ups and downs, cutting ties with her past, found a job at the Washington Post, she was to start in a month.

"Yes my love?" he asks, turning around, his daughter Carolyn in his arms.

Ella was becoming more and more beautiful, the pregnancy had given her pretty curves, although she had lost most of it, what she had kept pleased him. His son clung to his mother's hand, never letting go.

"You help me empty the car where you already imagine how you are going to tinker all over this house?

— I was wondering especially in which room I was going to make love to you first?

— Harper! The children!

— I had to make love to you for them to be there, right?

— You want me? Empty the car!" she said, taking her daughter in her arms and entering the house.

"At your service."

Picking up two suitcases, he felt the small square box in his pocket. He had bought a ring a few days earlier and was thinking about how to make his official request. Ella was not at all typical as a girl, and her "Chicago mafia" side sometimes came out. Entering the house, he walked around the rooms, the movers had finished bringing the furniture. Going up to the rooms, he was reassured, the beds were where he had asked for them. The children each had their own room. Putting the suitcases down he went downstairs to get some boxes and the last suitcase before making the last trip, but not least, the cooler. Ella had laid the children on the couch, covering them with a sheet, and was watching them, sitting on the floor, with her back to the fireplace.