TATTOOED -h.s.

Chapter 37

All of a sudden, the ringing of Harry's phone erupted through the room. He grabbed it off the nightstand and looked at the screen. I watched as his face drained color, and pure shock seemed to replace it. "Who is it?" I asked. "My mom..."

Sarah's P.O.V

I was woken up by Harry haphazardly shoving things into a suitcase that was on the foot of the bed. "What is going on?" I yawned. He didn't respond, he flashed two plane tickets at me with a smirk plastered across his face. "Harry..." I excitingly jumped down at him from the bed and engulfed him in a hug. "Where are we going?" I hugely smiled. "I'll tell you on the way to the airport." He said before he gave me a quick kiss. "I'm going to bring our stuff down to the car. Get dressed." He said as he pointed towards an outfit of mine that he laid out on the edge of the bed. "How did you get this?" I asked confused. I then noticed my old, hardly used suitcase handle in the opposite hand that wasn't holding his suitcase. "Courtney." He shrugged with a slight grin. He stepped out the door and I quickly got dressed into the outfit he had picked. "Fuck, I knew those were the ones." He bit his lip as he re-entered the apartment. "What?" I asked. "Those leggings." He licked his lips. "Shit, we don't have time, but when we get there you're mine." His hot breath tickled against my neck. "But airplanes do have bathrooms." He winked before following me out the door with a pat on my bum. After the hassle of almost missing the plane and bag checks, we were finally aboard. Harry let me have the window seat without protest. After sitting down and settling in, he intertwined his fingers with mine and just smiled at me. "Harry! Baby, look!" I looked out the window like a mesmerized child. He leaned over me and took a quick glance out the window before turning to me and kissing the corner of my mouth. "I love to see you happy." He gleamed. I smiled in return, my cheeks turning hot. I quickly kissed his cheek before looking back at the view. "So where are we going and why?" I remembered, grinning at him. He looked down at me and said "Well after a whole night of staying up and thinking, I took what you told me into consideration and called my mom. I didn't forgive her, but I'm giving her a chance because of you. She didn't even mention this on the phone," he reached in his pocket and handed me a small envelope with a card inside of it. As I opened it, he finished. "That's where we are going." I slipped the card out of the envelope and read the first line, clearly informing me what it was immediately. A wedding invitation. "I'm not prepared for this or even seeing her again but it's worth a try." I tightened my grip on his hand. "I'll be with you through it all." I said as I rested my head down on his shoulder, him resting his on mine soon after. "I love you." He whispered as I watched his thumb move across mine. "I don't know what I'd do without you." He added. "Ditto, baby, ditto." I lifted my head up and kissed him before returning back to our previous position.

Slowly pulling into the gravel driveway with a rental car, Harry and I stared in awe at the huge, beyond gorgeous house that sat right on the lake. "She lives here?" I asked astonished, unable to take my eyes of what could most likely be classified as a mansion. Harry informed me that his mom would not budge when he told her we were going to stay in a hotel. She insisted we stay with them and now I understand why. I knocked on the door as Harry carried both of our suitcases. "They're here, Robert! Oh God, they're here!" We heard her on the other side of the door. She let us in and Harry didn't even have time to let go of the bags before she suffocated him with a hug. "My baby, look at you. The long hair and the tattoos, I could hardly recognize you." She gushed, about to cry tears of joy as she studied her son. "Well, it's only been about 9 years..." his remark was quiet, but loud enough for me to hear it, I just hope she didn't hear it also. I nudged his arm and gave him a warning glare. I was surprised by her wrapping her arms around me warmly. "And you must be the Sarah I've heard so much about." "Oh really?" I smiled to Harry, who was scratching the back of his neck embarrased. "Oh gosh, honey, how rude of me. We all know I'm Anne, but this is my soon to be husband, Robert." "Please, call me Rob." He said as he shook Harry's hand and then kissed my cheek. I noticed the tension between him and Harry grow after his act of kindness. "We have a couple guestrooms, I thought I'd let you two choose which ones you'd like...or if you're staying in the same room, sorry it just slipped my mind." Anne nervously stammered. Harry looked at me for an answer and I nodded my head and looked back to the harmless, glowing woman. "Just one room." I smiled.

After settling in and unpacking, we walked back downstairs and found Anne and Rob in the kitchen. "We have dinner reservations in an hour. We forgot to mention it, but if you don't want to go we will understand, I didn't plan on this last minute invite." She nervously stammered once more, treating us too guest-like. "I don't..." I raised my voice over Harry's and said "We'd love to." Her happiness sprouted once more. "Great." She excitingly clapped.

We drove separately, to lower the level of awkwardness. After scanning the menus, Harry and I ordered the same thing and we were all left to chat while the food was cooking. "So Harry, do you have a certain profession?" Rob attempted to get to know his almost step-son. "Boxing." He kept it simple. "Interesting, do you plan on keeping it that?" He pushed. "You know, I think it'd be wonderful for you to move here, it'd be an honor for you to work for me." Rob encouraged. "Babe, that's huge." I squeezed his knee where my hand sat. "I'll keep it in mind." He forced a smile across the table, but I knew that answer already meant no.

The small talk ended when the food finally arrived. The plates were set before us and it was a mouthwatering sight. "Here, babe." I said as I picked the mushrooms off of my meal and placed them on Harry's plate. He placed a kiss on my cheek and I laughed, still not breaking my eye contact from my careful mushroom moving. "They're so cute." Anne gushed to Rob. Not knowing we heard her, me and Harry just looked in each other's eyes and smiled. "So do you two have any plans?" Anne nonchalantly asked. "What do you mean by plans?" Harry chuckled. "You know..." Anne said, pointing to the sparkling rock on her finger, followed by a wink. Harry didn't answer her, he just stared into my eyes as if he could find the answer there.