Til Kingdom Come [Harry Styles- Bk 4]

ch.64

"Candy," I spoke up. She turned around hesitantly. I nodded at Darcy. She threw a punch right at Candy's nose. Something cracked. Droplets of blood streamed down to Candy's cheek.

"That's what you get for screwing with my brothers," she hissed. I grinned. Harry took a deep breath.

Candy and Brock exchanged glances. Then they helped each other limp off. I sighed in relief. Those two had been eating me alive the way they were tormenting my children.

J.D. and Des turned to Darcy. They stared at her blankly a moment, then they hugged her. Darcy looked even tinier in comparison to them than before. I took a deep breath, recalling the times when I used to make the kids hug each other after they said a bad word or insulted one another.

"Thank you guys," Darcy whispered to them. Des and J.D. wrapped their arms even more tightly around Darcy's waist. Des kissed her cheek.

"No guy talks to my sister like that ...except me," he declared.

Darcy smirked. "I love you, Dessy."

J.D. rubbed her back. "You were right all along. All along," he shook his head, disappointed in himself.

Darcy squeezed both their cheeks and then kissed the red marks from her lip gloss. They laughed lightly.

"And thank you, dad," Darcy nodded at Harry. He reached for her and kissed her cheek. 

"Anything, anything for my baby angel princess," he whispered. Darcy smiled shyly. That was the nickname Harry had given her when she was a baby.

***

Harry’s mopping about made me anxious. Maybe it was better when he was overly protective and he shouted about little things like Darcy being late from a party or Des losing a wrestling match. Or even bigger things like whether J.D. had driven the car past curfew. But still.

I couldn’t deal with Harry refusing to speak at dinner except to ask for the salt or to see what the Packers scored on their last game. I wanted Harry to have a balance of happiness and solemnity— but he was never balanced. Not twenty years ago, and certainly not now.

But it wasn’t fair for me to be critical of how Harry was coping with Lux’s passing. I certainly didn’t do a good job of taking care of the kids or the house when Nonna died. Poor Farah was a newborn and I barely smiled at her.

Even so, I have to help Harry in whatever way that I can. He was there for me when I needed him most…

It was a random Tuesday night and everyone happened to still be in the same room, even though it wasn’t dinnertime. I glanced down at my folder of notes. These past few days, I’ve been researching houses. I really felt that we all needed a change of scenery, a new house.

“Guys, I’ve got an announcement to make,” I spoke up.

Darcy looked up from her phone. Des set his Adidas bag down. J.D. and Farah looked up from their game of chess on the coffee table. (Yes, Farah was quite good at chess. She had a blossoming knack for piecing things together and strategizing). And Harry just stared at me blankly from the kitchen, leaning against the counter.

“Could you all gather around the living room?” I asked.

“I swear, the joint wasn’t mine, I was just holding it for a friend,” Des held his hands up, as if he were under arrest.

“Joint?” I asked.

“Never mind.” Des slumped down on the couch.

I opened my mouth to ask about the drugs, bit decided to question him later