Turning Point (A Reaching Out Novel)

One Hundred Nine

It was almost Valentine's Day and Harry is in Denmark, it's a little close to home but he's still a little busy with his meetings.
And today, we decided to have our FaceTime at about 4 in the morning.
"Hey." He said
"Good morning." I said, I didn't even bother to comb my hair, it was a messy bed head because Zachary wouldn't sleep if he doesn't play with it. And babies do have a lot of drool stuck in their hands.
"Nice hair."
"The little spawn of yours did it."
"He's more of your spawn than mine." That is true, not only is Zachary closer to me, but he looks exactly like me. My iconic features are with him.
"Well, how is Denmark?"
"It's good, but it's a lot better if you're here. With Zach."
"Zachary and I have that affect on people." He smiled, making me miss those lines near his eyes.
"I miss you." I said, breaking the silence that came before that and creating another.
Harry suddenly put his hands on the screen, as if touching my face.
"I miss you more. You created a bigger hole in me after New Year's Day." He said
I smiled.
"Well-" and then he turned around because he got something.
"Oh my god! Forget my bed head, Harry. You're losing your hair." I said
"No, I'm not."
"Yeah, you are. Also, you know better to trust your wife."
"That I do."
I looked at him.
"Zach's birthday is coming up."
"I know."
"You can't really spare a day or even six hours?" I said
"Well, you were too mad at me to even entertain my idea of having an advanced party for Zach."
"I am still mad now, even madder because you're in the same continent but you can't come here to even kiss me and our son."
"Time is a luxury that we cannot afford." He said
"And to think we can have anything."
"...ddy!" Zachary suddenly said, he was walking around the bed but then he settled down in front of me and the iPad.
"Hey, buddy." Harry said, Zachary started tapping and tapping on the iPad.
"...ddy." Zachary repeated, with a smile on his face, but then he looked behind the iPad and he probably thought that Harry was behind it.
"I think you need to come home before Zach thinks that you're a robot or something."
"I think he'd think that I'm an iPad first."
"And that thought doesn't scare you?"
He just looked at me.
"It does. It scares me so bad that he'd start to call a fucking iPad Daddy."
"And I am doing my best to prevent that from happening. I just really wish you'd come back soon."
"A few more days, love."
I felt so close to tearing up, because I really miss him and the whole place seemed bigger the longer he's gone. But the good thing is that this place is big enough for Zach to walk around, but the marble floorings are a bit harsh on his knees.
"Hey, I gotta go. I'll call you back later, yeah?" He said
I nodded.
"Make sure you do, I'm not calling your phone just to be answered by Austin. It's so annoying."
He smiled.
"Okay, I'll call you. I promise."
"And you don't have permission to die on me."
"What?"
"It's just that your line a while ago is so bad and overused in movies."
"I miss you, my love." He said
"I miss you too, more than you know."
"I think I do, it's February 8th and I'm still hungover from New Year's Day." He said
I smiled.
"Well, if you weren't overseas that long, you wouldn't have waited that long."
"And now whatever happened that night, is stuck between being a distant memory and a memory that happened a few hours ago." He said
"Hang up now, you're busy. Zach and I need to go on with our lives, he's scheduled to walk around again. And you're scheduled to do something again, so have a great day." I said
"I love you very much, Allana." He said
"And I love you very much, Harry." I said, even though it's hard for me to watch him stare at me through the screen, I just hung up the call, for both our sakes. Because we might end up just video chatting each other for the rest of the day. We'd be that couple who can't get over each other or that couple that technology ate.
The next five days was the longest and yet still the shortest days of my life, I have been planning a small get together with both our families for Zach's first birthday and I don't think anybody would come. Everybody on Harry's side has an engagement to go to and just sent gifts for Zach, great. Dad is overseas, in Singapore to be exact, for some business transaction, and my brother, whom I was really expecting to come was regretfully in New Zealand.
So, that leaves me and Zach alone in this whole place, hell, even his father can't come. My son's first year and we're celebrating it together, and to think he is a Prince's son.
"Your Highness, about Prince Zachary's birthday-" Marco, the head chef said
"Marco, I just did the final head count and it would be just me and Zach and all the helps around here." I said
"Pardon, Your Highness?"
"Oh come on, you understand me. It's not like I'm speaking in a different language. Plus, you know that everybody is busy, are all the helps going away too?" I said
He smiled.
"No, Your Highness. We would all love to celebrate the young Prince's birthday."
I smiled.
"Just make sure you make food enough to feed everyone around here." I said, standing up and carried Zach to our room.
He slept shortly after I settled him down his crib. And I settled down on my bed, to come and think of it, a year ago, I laid down this bed, talking to Harry about what would our kid be like and then wham, my water broke. And now, my baby is asleep, turning one in a few hours.
And I think, I have never felt so alone in my entire life.
"Hello?" Harry said, I couldn't take it, so I decided to call him, to break me away from my thoughts.
"Love, I thought you said you'd wait for my call."
"Did I catch you in a bad time?" I said
"No, never. What's wrong? I was about to call you anyway." He said
And then I started crying.
"I just wanted to hear your voice." I sobbed.
"Oh dear." He said
"Just tell me things, keep talking. I just feel that everybody has let me down and left me." I cried.
"I'm so sorry you feel this way, love."
"I feel like crap, I couldn't even organise a good first birthday party for my son. The invitees were your family and mine, and I ended up with me and Zach, and the 49 helps that we have here. We'll celebrate for two hours and then..." I kept on crying and crying because I really expected my self to have planned something good.
"..my only comfort is that Zach won't be able to remember any of this. But holy fuck, I would. And the worst part is, his dad won't be able to come." I cried
"Shh, shh. Stop crying, please." Harry said
"I won't. This is the only thing that I have now and Zach is asleep. Just talk to me." I said
"Well, I can't give you advise because you hate me right now and the idea that I can't be there on Zach's birthday."
"And I won't accept your advise because you don't have the right to give advise because Zach is also your son." I said
I laid down the bed and placed my phone near my ear.
"Can I tell you something about royal birthdays?" He said
"What about them?"
"The thing about them is that, most of the time, it's just the Queen's birthday that everybody is making a fuss about. And it's usually just the parents, if the kid is lucky, he gets both of them."
"So, my kid is not because his father is working. Not that it's weird, but I just hoped that my son's birthday, at least first birthday, would be different with my birthdays before." I said
"When I get back, I swear the three of us would celebrate, I promise that." He said
I closed my eyes.
"Keep talking. I think I really just need you right now."
"Okay. I'll keep talking until I fall asleep."
"Tell me about how your day went."
"Okay, so-"