Renaissance (Sequel)

Chapter 13

"Daddy!" The word escapes from Brooklyn's mouth before she even truly registers the sight before her. 

Harry closes the few feet between them and picks her up, spinning her around and around and around. 

"Daddy missed you." he whispers to her. She pulls back just far enough to meet his eyes.

"I miss you too Daddy. Will you stay?" Brooklyn asks. Harry pushes strands of her long,curly hair behind her ear and smiles slightly.

"Daddy's not going anywhere, sweetie." he promises. A kiss is swept across her forehead, her cheeks, her nose. 

"Daddy?"

"What sweetie?"

"I no like it when you and Muma fight." Brooklyn says. To this day, she continues to astound me with how clever and observant she is. 

"I don't like it either, baby. But ya know what?" He smiles.  "Everything will be okay. Daddy loves your mum very much. He'd do anything to keep this family together."

"Dada, do you wove me too? And da baybies?" Brooklyn asks.

"Of course, sweetheart. I love you and the babies very much." Harry answers. Brooklyn smiles.

"Good! Because I wove you too Dada. And da baybies wove you. Even though they don't talk yet." Brooklyn twists a few of her daddy's curls in between her chubby little fingers. 

Harry leaves another kiss to her cheek, squeezes her once more, and then sets her down before walking over to the babies' crib. I reach out to stop him, but it's Daliah and Nicholas' tiny fingers that find him first. 

Tears pool in his eyes, trailing down his cheeks. Hurriedly, he wipes them away, but not out of embarrassment. No. It's something else entirely that incites him to keep the tears from forming. 

"I can't believe I've missed out on over three months of your lives." He whispers. 

For a while, he does nothing but hold them both, playing with them, catching up on time long since lost, and marvelling over how much children can grow in three months. Eventually, their breathing evens and their fast asleep, having been comforted in the arms of their father. 

"Harry? Can I uh-can I talk to you for a second? Please?" 

"Yeah. Sure." He gently, carefully sets the twins back in their cribs before turning back to me. I walk down to the living room, Harry trailing close behind. 

I sit down on the couch, pulling my legs beside me before deciding to talk. A million thoughts are running a marathon in my head, but I decide to start off with the center of all of them. Taking a deep breath, I start. 

 "I just...I have a question."

He nods, meeting my gaze. "Anything." He says.

"Why?" I ask. He looks away, closing his eyes and gritting his teeth as if he's angry. But not at me, at himself. For everything he's done. 

"I know..I know I keep screwing up. I know I've said I'm sorry and I know I've said I was going to stay away, but I just can't. And I am sorry. I really am sorry." his voice cracks pathetically at the end. I stay silent.

Harry gets up silently and walks towards the door.

What am I doing? I can't just let him go! After all we've been through I'm just gonna let him walk right out the door? Am I really gonna be so selfish that I'm going to torture my kids by taking their father away from them? No. I can't do that.

"Harry!" He turns, confusion written in big, bold letters across his forehead. 

I run to him, not thinking about anything else except for wanting to fill my need of feeling him. His arms around my waist, his nose in my hair, his lips at my ear. My arms fling around his neck, pulling him close. For a split second, I wonder what the hell I just did and why the hell I just did it. And then he wraps his arms around my waist, just like he used to, and that fear disappears almost as quickly as it came.