Paradise Child Book 3 (Imprisoned in my Heart trilogy...Larry)

Chapter 16

Alice ran ahead of them, her little legs sending her careening enthusiastically forwards so that her baggy grey pleated skirt was in serious danger of falling down and getting caught around her ankles. Her bright red school sweater was equally loose, and had a stray grass stain on the cuff already. Harry huffed fondly; he didn’t know how she did it – it felt like he spent all day every day washing her little red sweaters and ironing them almost obsessively, to the point of military perfection, and then watching her systematically filthy them all from the moment he pulled them over her head. It was probably something to do with the adorable enthusiasm that she had apparently inherited from Lou.

Her dark, wavy hair had been carefully restrained into cute little bunches, courtesy of Lou; he was so much better at that kind of thing. Harry had no experience with dealing with hair – while Louis liked his hair to be gelled and raked precisely into place, the extent of Harry’s capabilities was shaking his head around so that his curls were tossed into a more satisfying arrangement. For some reason, Louis had been appointed chief hairdresser in their household.

Harry almost wanted someone to pinch him again, like Louis obligingly had several years ago, as he watched their daughter – their daughter! – almost stumble over her own feet and fall headfirst into a puddle, catching herself just before she plummeted to the ground. She had about as much control of her gangly limbs as he did, and it amused him that she had inherited so many of his and Louis’ traits even though she had no blood relation to them whatsoever. He forgot sometimes. She was so like them, really. She had Louis’ impish sense of humour and Harry’s mischievous grin; her hair was not curly, but wavy, and darker than Harry’s, but somehow very similar; Louis liked to ruffle her hair and call her ‘little curly-mop’ while she squealed in protest. Another trait that she appeared to have caught was Louis’ infectious laugh, and his love of life; Harry didn’t think he’d met another child in his life who was so obsessed with everything. Alice was fascinated with anyone and everyone, just like Louis. It wouldn’t surprise Harry if she grew up to be a psychologist too, some day.

As Louis had predicted, things had been far from easy in the beginning. From the moment they’d dazedly carried Alice back down the beach and reappeared in their police-infested garden, they’d been swarmed with officials and forced into a seemingly endless legal battle while Micheline was sought after and people tried to convince them to let Alice go – like they ever would! In fact, Harry had refused to let her out of his sight for the first couple of weeks, even going so far as to insist that she shared his and Louis’ bed, so fearful was he that Micheline would change her mind and come back, demanding her daughter. Even Louis had a sneaking suspicion that if it weren’t for the drugs, and the panic, and the fear of losing her coward of a boyfriend, Micheline would never have handed Alice over in the first place.

It had been an incredible but extremely welcome surprise when she made good on her promise – when a signed and incredibly official letter came through to the adoptions offices insisting that Harry and Louis be made Alice’s legal parents. Micheline had even sent a copy of this letter to the social services, police, and several lawyers who apparently ‘owed her a favour’ (at least, that had been their explanation when they turned up on the doorstep eagerly offering Harry and Louis their services in making sure that they won this particular legal battle once and for all. Wisely, Harry decided not to pry.) She had been incredibly thorough.

Thorough enough that a young murderer and his boyfriend the psychologist had taken the juryby storm and won the right to become fathers at last – in fact, they’d left absolutely no doubt in anyone’s mind as they stood together in the docks, Louis’ arm wrapped supportively around Harry’s waist, that they would be two of the best parents the world had ever seen. That they would love Alice as unfalteringly as they loved each other. Their earnestness, complete unity in the face of extreme stress and perhaps most of all, their unfaltering devotion to each other and their cause had all indirectly contributed to the verdict, and at the end of the day, Harry had driven almost illegally quickly to the temporary fostering arrangement where Alice had been left, and run into the house so fast that Louis had barely been able to keep up – and he had snatched Alice out of the cot she lay in and crushed her so fiercely against his chest that he gave her quite a shock and very nearly made her throw up all over him. Louis would never forget the way Harry had cried that day, with such happiness that his tears rained down on Alice’s head and left her bewildered and soggy, but far too delighted by being so enthusiastically hugged to be cross.