The Maiden in Winter // Harry Styles Series #4

FIFTY SEVEN

~A~

Holy shit. His daughter. Fuck. Wow.

I was silent, speechless, for a moment. He began to look afraid. I needed to say something.

"Tell me."

"Her name is Amaris, it means child of the moon; they call her Mari. She's ten. I didn't know. I met her mother on a long weekend in Ghana after we filmed the video for Red Nose Day. At a resort called Moon Bay. We... well I guess it's obvious what we did. She assured me she was protected. She even showed me the pills. It was all a ruse."

I did some quick mental math. "Harry, how old were you?"

"Nineteen. Well, a few days from it."

"How old was she?"

"Thirty four. Married, but there was something wrong with him, he couldn't, you know, at all... and he knew she took lovers now and then. She'd go to the resort and have a weekend fling."

"Jesus. Did she coerce you? Force you?"

One corner of his mouth lifted slightly. "No, she didn't coerce me. I suppose maybe you could say she seduced me, but in the end it was all completely consensual, and pretty fantastic."

"And the baby?"

Now his face darkened. "No. I had no idea. Olivia made the connection and that's why she reached out. Annie recently moved to Washington, DC, and Mari started at Kate's school. Olivia saw them in the parking lot and couldn't believe the resemblance."

"I've seen pictures of you at that age, and it's definitely striking. So, did she just see her and get in touch with you?"

"No. She introduced herself to Annie. Didn't mention me, just asked questions about where they were from, how they liked the school, the usual. When Annie mentioned that Mari was born in Ghana, Olivia did the math and decided to call her friend Emma, who called her mum, who called mine."

"Oh my god, what does Anne think about this?"

"Olivia just asked her to tell me those three things and give me her number. Mum doesn't know. She mustn't ever know."

"But Harry, that's her granddaughter..."

"She mustn't ever know, Alex. I mean that."

I didn't like it, but I nodded. I couldn't begin to imagine what a shock this had been for him. What an enormous thing to take in.

"You know you're forgiven, right? I wish you'd told me that you needed some time, that you weren't ghosting me, but you're forgiven." I leaned over to kiss his forehead, then sat back before I continued. "Have you met her?"

"No." The shake of his head was emphatic. "Olivia gave me Annie's number. I flew down to DC as soon as the jet got back to LaGuardia and called her in the morning. She wasn't happy to hear from me. To know that I'd seen a picture of her and Mari and that I wanted to know the truth."

"And?"

"And we met, in a park near her home. We sat on a bench and she told me everything. That I had been young and healthy and looked enough like her husband that people would think the child was his. That she'd never told him who Mari's biological father was, although she thought he might have figured it out. That the days she and I spent together were cherished memories," his voice cracked with emotion, "but that she had used me, unashamedly."

He dropped his head into his hands, first sniffling, then beginning to sob as he leaned into me. Wrapping my arms around him, I rocked him the way I rocked Bean when he was tired or sad or scared. I'm not sure how long we sat there, but as his breath slowed and his shoulders stilled, I spoke.