Family Ties

Chapter Sixty Nine

Eve
Harry and I left our baby girl at home with Anne and are on our way to the beach house. Harry's hand is in mine; it feels soft and warm but also protective, safe.

Harry has to sign some documents so that the house will be completely Jonas'. This is my first time back at the place where Thomas threatened to kill me, where he almost seriously injured Harry, where I thought I had lost the love of my life. It will be incredibly hard, but I need to do this, and it means a lot to have Harry by my side. I know Harry loves me and wouldn't let anything happen to me. An image of Harry on the floor covered in blood suddenly flashes in front of my eyes, my body freezes and rather abruptly, I stop walking.

"Angel? Are you okay?" Harry asks in a worried voice. I close my eyes, take a deep breath and swallow the lump in my throat.

"I'm okay." My voice sounds hoarse. With both hands, Harry cups my cheeks and pushes his lips to my forehead.

"You know, you don't have to do this." Harry says. I open my eyes, and Harry's green ones are staring back at me. Harry has been through a traumatic experience too, and still, he does everything in his power to protect me from having to relive it again. He has been back at the house numerous times to pack, but he didn't want me to go with him because he knew it would be too much. I take Harry's both hands and bring them to my mouth before I kiss his knuckles numerous times.

"I know, babe but before we leave, I need to close this chapter. If I don't do this, it will keep following me. "Harry puts some of my strawberry blond hair behind my ear and kisses my cheek.

"When we leave tomorrow, I want to leave all the bad memories behind us and take the good ones with us. When we arrive back in England, we'll be back home where we belong and where we will start over fresh as a family." I try to explain how I feel, Harry nods his head and gives me a bright dimpled smile.

"I'm so proud of you! You are so strong." Harry pulls me close against his chest, and I immediately nuzzle into it, I can't stop myself from sniffing all the smells that make him Hary.

"Let's do this! You and I, together, are going to face Jonas, one last time as a united front, a team, a couple." I look up to Harry and smile.

"Come on, let's do this!" I say under my breath while Harry takes my hand, and we start walking again.

When the beach house comes into sight, I suddenly start sweating, and my heart is racing.

"You need answers! You can do this. Harry is here with you!" the voice in my head says. I'm surprised to hear her. In the last couple of weeks, she has barely been there while before she was always blabbing to me. I wonder why that is? Is she my subconscious talking to me? I guess I will never know, but she has helped me a lot and when I leave Spain I want her to stay behind because she belongs to the past.

"You ready?" Harry pulls me out of my thoughts with his question. I close my eyes, take a deep breath and let the air fill my lungs before I let it leave my body in a big sigh.

"Yes, now I am." I look up to Harry, who squeezes my hand. We go up the stairs of the porch, the door of the house stands wide open. A flash of me running through that door, trying to escape from Jonas flashes through my mind. I take a step closer to Harry, instinctively he slips his hand around my shoulder and pulls me in.

"Be strong, Eve! You can do it!" I hear in my head. She is right. I can do it. We cross the porch, and after a knock on the glass door, we walk inside the house.

"Jonas!" Harry yells when we're inside. His tone is harsh, almost rude. He has seen Jonas before, but from what he has told me, Harry didn't feel the need to talk to him, which is understandable after everything he did to him. Jonas comes from the stairs, his eyes on his feet. He looks up, and when his eyes fall on me, he stops. He doesn't look good, he has gained weight, has red spots on his face, and he looks exhausted.