Turning Point (A Reaching Out Novel)

One Hundred Twenty

Harry
Seven months ago, I thought my marriage would end. Three hits from a really hard pillow made me realize that, it's not gonna end that way. And that we are gonna stay and stand strong.
Now, I'm having breakfast with my wife and son in the gardens. Zachary is trying to feed himself and well, it's messy, Allana didn't want the chairs in the dining room to get messed up with bananas and milk.
"Zach, no, follow Mum okay?" Allana said
This is actually funny because Allana kept on telling Zachary to follow her but Zachary is not even looking at her. He was focused on mashing the already mashed bananas on his hand.
"Zachy, look at Daddy." I said as I pulled up my phone to take a photo of him.
"I mean, I have to take advantage of the natural lighting!" I said
"You're learning, babe." Allana said, smiling.
And I took a photo of that.
"Did you just take a photo of me?" She saod
"No."
She just shook her head and then looked at Zachary.
"Do you ever think about having another one?" I asked
"What?"
"Well, he's starting to talk, and walk on his own-"
She smiled.
"What?" I said
She hugged me and said, "Babe, when it comes, it comes. There is no harm in trying."
We were scheduled to go to a polo match today. William and I are gonna play, Catherine and her kids will be there, and of course, Allana and my son would be there. Zachary has been loving playing outdoors, and looking at horses.
"Daddy's gonna be playing with horses today." Allana said as she was preparing Zachary.
"Howses?" Zach said
"Yeah, and what does a horse say?" I said, then Zachary did his baby neighs.
"That's correct, love. Good job." Allana said as she put a shirt on Zachary.
"Your son's smart." I said
"Did you know that majority of a child's intelligence comes from the mother?"
"And you were just a few pages away from your doctorate dissertation." She stopped tending to Zach as soon as I said that.
"What?"
"I just think that you should finish it."
"Again, what?"
"You shouldn't have stopped it just because of me."
She blinked.
"No, it was getting nowhere actually." She said as she went back to Zachary.
"No, it wasn't." I said
She sighed.
"It wouldn't have the same ring to it." She said
"What won't?"
"My pre-nominal title and my post-nominal titles." She said
I hugged her.
"Love, you do know that you have had your post-nominal titles before you knew me."
"Harry, I literally basically grew up with you and your family is in the money I spend—your grandmother is everywhere." She said
"You know what I mean. No offense meant but you do know that Her Royal Highness, the Duchess of Sussex is a whole lot different with Allana Kavanagh, MD and whatever FA something." I said
She turned around and hugged me.
"Thank you but it doesn't matter. I am happy where I am and to be honest, those titles don't matter to me ever since I first heard Zachary's heartbeat." She said
I could see Allana, Catherine and the kids at the sides, the kids are playing and Kate and Allana were just talking. It's actually a good day today, the sun came, and the grass isn't that muddy.
A few minutes before the match ended, I didn't see Allana with Zachary or with Catherine and her kids. She left Zachary with Kate who was now busy juggling four kids. She came back a bit after that however, and then we took a family shot, but she wasn't that enthusiastic as she usually is when taking photos. Maybe she was tired. She was also quiet on the way back and not to mention she declined when I asked her to shower with me.
Something was definitely bothering her.
"Love? Are you okay?" I said
She looked up from her phone.
"What?" She said
"You okay?" I said
"Why wouldn't I be?" She said
"You just seemed off-" I said
She looked at me.
"You do know that I love you with, I don' t know, all of me, right?" She said
"Uh, yeah?"
"And that I'd do anything for you and Zachary right?you know, without asking for anything in return?" She said
I nodded.
"You're scaring me here."
"Actually, I'm pretty scared too." She said
"What's wrong?" I said
"I think you saw me leave for a few moments during the match a while ago." She said
"Yeah, I was wondering where you went. I kinda had this crazy idea that someone was following you and just said that I have a kid with them, with you know, supporting documents."
"What kind of supporting documents? A sex tape?" She said
"What? No! I meant, maybe a paternity test result?"
"Why? Would I be expecting that to any of your exes? I swear, if that happens I'm running off and I'm taking Zachary with me. And it won't be kidnapping because I am getting the Queen on my side." She said
"Okay, now that's pretty scary." I said
"Yes, and I am serious. For maybe, seven months you will have no idea how the hell am I and Zachary are doing or even where we are. And I'll also have the Queen and other members of the parliament to force you to deny your paternity to the child. And probably have your finances strictly monitored, to prevent you from giving it money." She said
"Love, that's a child-"
"Yes, while that maybe true, it is still your lovechild and Zachary is your legal one? And here you are claiming that I am the epic love of your life." She said
"Okay, noted."
"And I am serious, Harry. I'm not even gonna give you the satisfaction of divorce, you and I are staying together and Zachary will never know the truth. You know, if that actually happens."
"It won't happen. Ever. I promise." I said
"Well, you have to make sure because if another one of those incidents happen again, I'll hate you for the rest of my days, and you are going to live your days seeing me hate you." She said
I nodded.
"Wait, that plan was pretty elaborate though. You've actually thought about this?" I said
"Harry, not just thought. One word from me to the Queen's executive secretary or even the Queen herself, this one's a go."
"Fuck? Really?"
"I didn't leave my life plans just to be caged and treated like that. As we said, you and I are forever." She said
"You, madame, are scary."
"Do I scare you?"
"Pretty much."
"Good, so no more of those women claiming that you put your sword in them because I really promise you, you're getting more than my sword."
I hugged her.
"You do know that I could never do that to you."
"Good because that's not the reason why I slipped out briefly in the match a while ago." She said as she let go of me.
"Okay, then what's the reason?"
"Six weeks." She said as she stood up and went to the table where she had food brought up a while ago.
"What's with six weeks? Are we taking a trip? That's too long though, we'd probably get sick of the place or run out of things to do. Too long for Zachary." I said
But then she handed me a piece of slider bun, literally the bun, no plate, but still is warm.
"What am I-" I started.
"It's fresh from the oven." She said
I looked at her.
"Am I supposed to be getting something? I don-" she rolled her eyes and went back to whatever she was doing on her phone.
Sometimes I just could not understand her, I mean I love her, I really do but sometimes she's playing and sometimes she's not. I took a bite out of the bun. What the fuck does this bun mean? Did she bake this?
"You're baking now?" I said
She just ignored me and was still on her phone.
"This is pretty-" I started. Hold on, I am actually missing something. A warm slider bun, probably still fresh from the oven, and then she said six weeks.
I felt that she was looking at me now. And then I gasped.
"There you go." She said
"You're..."
She looked like she was waiting for me to say it but I couldn't.
And she just nodded.
"What?!" I said as I hugged her, and boy was I crying.
"Again." She said.