Change My Mind

54 - O, brother!

Harry was incredible. He talked me down to a tolerable level of anxiousness, and assured me that no matter what, I would be safe. He would do whatever he could to make sure, I never had to worry about Aiden Baxter again. I loved him for being so protective, but the inner turmoil of how it would impact our families, was much more complicated and impossible for Harry to fix for me. 

Syl and Sarah had insisted they would come up to London for dinner and drinks. They planned to stay at a hostel or a hotel, but Harry and I convinced them to stay at Harry's house. There were several guestrooms, and in the end they accepted kindly and allowed Harry to send a car to pick them up at the train station. Syl had initially insisted that they would make their way over without a private car service, but Harry had assured him that it was actually easier on all parts if they were picked up and taken through the gates to his neighbourhood. 

It was late afternoon when the car rolled up on the gravel outside Harry's place. I hurriedly opened the door and stepped out to greet them. Sarah was let out by the chauffeur, while Syl got out on the other side and looked at the Mansion with huge eyes and his mouth open in a perfect o-shape. Sarah hurried over and hugged me and Harry, only turning to pretend she caught Syl on a fishing hook and that she was pulling him in.

"What... This is... I'm..." Syl stuttered while he shook his head and took in the grandeur of the place. He held his hand out and shook Harry's hand, while he kept gushing over the architecture of the place. Harry gestured for him to come along for the tour and Sarah and I followed along.

"How are you doing?" Sarah asked and squeezed me into her embrace. "Are you happy?"

"Mm-hmm," I nodded and smiled while looking after Harry, who was two steps from having to scoop my brother off the floor, if he impressed him with anymore original features or authentic architectural design. "I'm doing okay. This place is like a dream come true, isn't it?" Sarah nodded and looked around like she was at a museum. 

"You wouldn't think he was a mansion owner, would you?" She asked and nodded towards Harry, who took us upstairs to where the guest bedrooms were. I shook my head in agreement with her. It wasn't obvious that Harry was a billionaire. At least not from the way he acted and treated people. "It's almost as if he's prepared himself for a family already." 

I nodded and tried to pretend like I hadn't thought about it. There was plenty of room there; he could easily have a wife, four children, a dog and a cat there and there would still be room for guests. I wasn't allowing myself to think about it, because the idea of being the wife in that imaginary scenario seemed to be jumping a lot of steps. If I grew too attached to him, and he decided I wasn't right for him, I could spare myself the heartache by not thinking about a future with beautiful little green eyed, curly haired kids with an English accent. 

Sarah nudged my shoulder, snapping me out of my thoughts. I looked surprised at her, only to notice that both Syl and Harry had turned around and were looking at me like they were waiting for me to answer a question. I looked dumbfounded from one to the other, trying to read the room, but I had no idea what they were waiting for me to do. 

"I'm sorry, what?" I said and furrowed my brows while I blushed at my own distractedness. 

"Harry was just telling us that you're going to meet his family soon," Syl said giving me a quizzical look. "And Sarah asked if you were excited about it?" 

I chuckled embarrassed and nodded. "Yeah, yeah, I'm excited. I'm just very nervous." 

Harry smiled lovingly and shook his head at me, while both Syl and Sarah started pouring reasons why I needn't be nervous out their sleeves. 

"I've been telling her that for a while. My mum is going to love El. My sister and my niece too. There's no doubt in my mind." Harry reached out for my hand and I placed it in his, letting him pull me closer to him.