REDAMANCY [h.s. au]

41

"I'll never finish falling in love with you."
- Nicole Williams

⭑Harry⭑

It's funny how much can change in a year.

On my 29th birthday, I was single as could be, pining after the girl I so foolishly let go five years prior, with nothing but hope and my daughter keeping me going.

And now, on my 30th birthday, I've got the love of my life mixing pancake batter in our kitchen with Ivy attached to her hip and I've got a pretty ring sitting inside a shoe box in my closet that'll be on her finger by the end of next week.

Everything I've ever wanted.

I don't know how I got so lucky or what I did to ever deserve this kind of pure, blissful happiness in life, but I won't ever not be grateful that I've been allotted this.

I stand there, leaning against the doorway with a smile etched onto my face, watching my girls as Holland helps Ivy pour the cup of blueberries into the batter. The pale February sun that's peeking out from behind the clouds saturates the room, leaving a puddle of light on the floor through the big window above the sink. A bouquet of fresh flowers, blue and yellow, sits in the middle of the island. Cherry is hiding under the table. Holland is wearing a worn grey sweatshirt of mine over plaid sleep shorts, fresh faced and glowing. Ivy is giggling and swaying to the George Harrison record that's floating through the air. The most perfect morning.

I hope 30, and every year after, has lots of this. Lots of beaming smiles, gentle laughter, dancing in the kitchen—maybe a new baby or two or three. Lots of love bleeding into every nook and crevice of our sweet little existence in this corner of the universe.

I stay there, watching the beautiful scene in front of me, wanting to memorize everything about it, immortalize it into my mind. Holland turns, her face catching a bit of the light that's streaming in and illuminating it, the soft flush of her cheek and the blonde tips of her lashes.

Fuck, she's so beautiful.

"There's the birthday boy!" She exclaims with a wide grin, letting Ivy down who comes running over to me and I scoop her up in my arms.

"Happy birthday, daddy!" Ivy tells me as I squeeze her and then walk over to Holland who's now carefully pouring perfect circles of batter onto a hot pan. "Thank you, love," I say to my daughter.

"This for me?" I ask, my hand placed on the small of Holland's back. I lean down, kiss that mouth of hers that's like a slice of heaven, tasting the tart sweetness of the blueberries she must've eaten.

"Of course it's for you," she says, flipping the pancakes over and humming with satisfaction as they're perfectly golden brown. "You only turn 30 once!"

"You need any help? I can make some eggs? Bacon?" I suggest, seeing she's got a lot going on at the moment and is just getting over being ill.

Her face scrunches at that. "No eggs!" she blurts out. "But, I can definitely go for some bacon."

"Do you have something against eggs now?" I ask, reaching into the fridge with my free hand as I've still got Ivy balanced on my hip, feeling for the bacon that I know for certain is in there somewhere.