Isn't She Lovely (h.s)

Chapter 35

Harry

'One Direction Baby FEVER: Inside Harry Styles's Secret Past'

This was it, this was the day our lives were going to change forever. Sure, I'd faced a lot of change before: my parents' divorce, my sister going to Uni, stardom, becoming a father... But I had people behind me. I had people supporting me, this time, sure, my friends and my family would be behind me, but the rest of the world? What were they going to think of me? What were they going to say? I always wanted to be one of those people who don't care what others think of them... but, I'm just not.

How is everyone going to react when they find out I'm a teenage parent? That I had a child out of wedlock? That I got my best friend pregnant when we were drunk? Oh God, this was not going to go down well. I can take criticism, but I knew from now on I wouldn't be the only one criticized. They'd start judging Samantha and Catherine also.

Nothing was going to be the same. Samantha's worst nightmare was coming true, my worst nightmare was coming true: Catherine was going to be in the public eye as "Harry Styles's daughter". I knew they'd never have a normal life now, and that's not what I wanted. I didn't want my daughter being judged because of the mistakes I've made in my life. Not that she was a mistake. No, no, no, Catherine was far from a mistake. After all, my Mum had always said, 'Children are never mistakes, sometimes they just have bad timing.' I was so grateful to have Catherine in my life, I just didn't know if the rest of the world would see it the same way.

When I went to Starbucks to pick up breakfast for Samantha, Catherine and myself, right away I saw that magazine sitting on the wire rack. I snatched it up immediately and I demanded to know where they'd gotten it, but all they knew was that it had arrived with the morning delivery. The tired barista had said that it was distributed to every store in the area. As soon as I saw it I knew we were screwed.

I didn't know what to do, my personal life was just invaded in the worst possible way. If the fans weren't disappointed by the fact that I had a daughter at sixteen, they would definitely be disappointed that I wasn't man enough to step up and tell them myself, a magazine had to uncover the truth.

That was the start of the many questions I had. How the hell had the media found out about Catherine? It just didn't make any sense... we had been so careful! Whenever we took her out we made sure that she was wearing some sort of beanie or scarf to cover her curls and part of her face, and we never, ever let her wander away from us. Ever since the news of Louis and Eleanor broke, we had been even more careful than normal, rarely leaving the flat together unless it was absolutely necessary. Up until this point, everyone still believed the nanny story. Well, obviously the jig was up now. How could they have possibly found out?

'Someone must have told the press,' the logical voice in my head responded, but I refused to believe that anyone close to us would have given us up like that.

I quickly paid for our scones and coffees, along with the magazine, before hurrying to the car and heading home. The longer it took to get home, the more anxious I got. How the hell was I supposed to explain this to Sam? How was I supposed to tell her that her life was no longer her own? That it was going to be scrutinized by people that knew nothing about her?

The longer I thought about it, the angrier I became. Who did this person think they were telling the tabloids my personal business? How would they feel if their personal life was put out in the public to be judged by millions of people? Of course this wasn't the first time that my personal life had been blasted all over the front page, but it was the first time that it was 100% truthful.

I pulled into the car park of our apartment building and rushed inside. I knew exactly who I needed to talk to about this. I rushed into the apartment, throwing the food down on the counter and tossing the magazine haphazardly on the living room coffee table before grabbing the phone and dialing the number I knew oh so well. I felt the tears burning my eyes as the ringing continued. I quickly scrubbed at my eyes with the back of my hands as the phone connected and I heard someone yawn.