Step-Daddy

Chapter 35

"Harry! Your mother is here." I hollered after hearing a horn honk several times. I looked through the curtains in the living room and a tiny white, beat up car sat in our driveway.

I was incredibly nervous to meet his mother, but at the same time I wasn't. Harry made me feel comfortable about it all. He said that no matter what she said or did while she was here, we were in a better place than her.

"Okay, just give me a second. I'm trying to get Ads socks on. It's cold in this house!"

"Well we need more babies to warm it up!" I joked.

"Eh, no." Harry poked his head out of the nursery.

A few seconds passed and the doorbell rang a few times. Harry came to the door with Adeline in his arms and opened it hesitantly.

A middle aged, but not middle aged looking woman stood at the door. She resembled Harry to a tee. Her hair was brown and brittle, her skin was tan, probably fake though. She had makeup on caked. She wore sunglasses , but I'm sure her eyes were green like her sons.

Her first strike came from the cigarette between her fingers.

"Hi, mum. Could you put that out before you come in? Adeline is not to be around smoke. Her lungs aren't well." Harry said, immediately backing up.

"Sure, honey. What's wrong with her lungs?" She asked. Tossing the stick out in our yard , carelessly.

"She was born about a month early. So, their's some things we have to watch with her. Smoke, perfume, she can't cry very loud." I spoke up, feeling too quiet.

"She's beautiful." His mother smiled. "Oh! You must be Marie!"  She hugged Harry briefly before hugging me. She smelled like cigarettes and Ed Hardy perfume.

"Mia." I corrected.

"I'm sorry, I must've heard wrong! You're beautiful yourself."

"Thank you." I smiled.

"Well, you can go have a seat mum, I'll let you hold her." Harry said, walking ahead of us.

"I should wash my hands first, I've been smoking." She spoke. "Where is your restroom?" She asked me.

"Just go through the archway there, it's the black door on your left."

"Thank you!"

I went to the living room and sat beside Harry.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"Oh, yeah. I'm fine."

"Are you having a hard time?" I asked. "I'm sure you are."

"I'm okay, I just haven't seen her in a while and it's weird for me."

"I'm sorry, babe." I frowned.

"Alright! Give me that baby." She said a bit loudly as she entered the living room. "You know Harry when you were a baby, you were so good. You never cried , I always had you in my arms. " she spoke quickly as she sat on the love seat.

"You and Adeline look a lot alike , when you were a baby you weren't very fat either you were tiny as can be. You're a big man, now. Very tall and handsome. I'm proud of you, you know it?"

"Um, mum, can we talk in the kitchen?" Harry asked  "here, Mia. Hold Addie."

I took her, confused as to why he wanted to speak to her alone. That woman talked an awful lot. Maybe it was because she was nervous though. When some people get nervous they ramble.

After a few minutes, I started to get a bit worried, but I wouldn't get up and listen in. I wasn't the nosey type. He obviously wanted to talk to his mother in private that's why they didn't stay here.

"I can't believe you would assume that!" I heard his mother's voice rip through the whole house. I popped my head up from staring at Adeline, I stayed frozen in my seat.

"No, you listen to me, Harry! You have no right to tell me what I'm doing wrong with my life!" Her voice shook as she yelled. Adeline squirmed around in my arms and I slowly got up and took her to her crib. I shut the door behind us and sat in the chair beside her crib.

She didn't like sudden loud noises, she would get restless and scared. We figured that out when Harry would come home from work and he would holler out loudly that "daddy was home" even though it was her father's voice, she still cried.

After the faint yelling stopped, Harry came through the door.

"Mia, I'm sorry." He frowned. "She was on drugs, I could tell. She said she wasn't, obviously, but she was."

"How could you tell?" I asked.

"Well," he kneeled down in front of me, and peeked at Adeline through the bars. "She was talking too fast and too much. Her movements were quick and sharp. She was on something, I could tell. Cocaine, heroin, something."

"Is she gone?" I asked.

"Yeah, you know she had one chance.." He frowned, resting his head on my lap. "She had one chance to see her son and granddaughter. She couldn't at least be sober for that? I smelled alcohol on her, too when she hugged me. She tried covering it up with perfume."

"I'm sorry." I sighed, rubbing his hair. "What can I do for you?"

"Can we put Addie in her little vibrating chair thing in the living room so we can cuddle I the couch? We can watch movies on Lifetime."

Harry loved Lifetime movies, he watched them during the night if Adeline was restless.

Harry got the chair while I got the baby, I grabbed her pacifier and blanket as well. We put her in the chair and Harry grabbed a blanket for us. We laid on the couch in spooning position until it was time to feed the baby.

The rest of the night I laid in Harry's arms and thought of our life and everything that has happened. My mother died, I have a baby, and my father is on the brink of disowning me because of it. He announced to me that he and Emerald were moving to Florida in about a month. Why he would do that when he just had a grandchild, I don't know.

"I need to take you out, Mia. I love you." Harry mumbled, his voice was full of sleep.

"I love you, too."

"We need to go out, not for very long. But we need to go out to eat or something and talk. It's been a straight month."

"I know, Harry. But it's okay."

"I can't wait until we have to stop waking her up."

"well she goes for her two month shots in about a week. Her crying is progressing, maybe we won't have to."

"I still will."

"Yeah, probably for the rest of her life." I laughed. "You're so caring over her. I love it."

"She's my daughter. I'll be protective over her until I die. And you, too. You're my girls."

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It's about to be the end. And it's about to get emotional.