What we become

18. London calling

London was unlike anything I had ever experienced. The parks were beautiful, landscaped to perfection. Each area had a different vibe. Shoreditch was trendy and buzzed with life, Soho had theatres, jazz bars and music shops. Piccadilly was filled with bright lights and big screens and Oxford Street was the shopping district, lit up with Christmas lights that made the store windows glimmer with a magical feel.

My first white Christmas came quickly. We spent the holidays with Harry's mother, Anne, stepfather, Robin, and sister, Gemma, in a quiet countryside home. They were kind, beautiful people, much quieter than Harry was. He was the outgoing one, loud and funny and always making them laugh. I observed the way they watched him, their faces alight with love and pride for their boy.

"So, it must be kind of cool," Gemma said, teasingly over Christmas dinner. "Dating a member of your favourite band."

"I've never dated Dougy," I replied without skipping a beat. "Or Joseph, or Jonathan, or Toby, or Lorenzo." Gemma looked confused and Harry laughed.

"Her favourite band is actually 'The Temper Trap'," Harry revealed, dramatically feigning a dagger to the heart.

"They're this really cool indie rock band from Australia." I explained to Gemma, "and probably the most amazing band I've ever seen live." I shot Harry a look. "Second-most amazing," I quickly corrected as he feigned twisting the imaginary dagger in his heart, dramatically sprawling out across the dining chair. He even twitched for a while before ultimately letting out a final gasp of breath to signal his death. 

"Are you done?" I asked.

He smiled, his dimples popping mischievously but his eyes remained closed. "You could try resuscitating me?"

"Okay," Gemma joked and Harry leapt up so quickly he fell off the chair.

"It's a Christmas miracle!" he exclaimed and sat back at the dining table.

"This is why we can't take him anywhere," Gemma explained, matter-of-factly.

"I'm beginning to understand," I nodded, seriously.

After dinner, Gemma and I cleaned up in the kitchen as Robin turned on some Christmas carols and Harry spun his mother around the living room in front of the fire, singing to her. Her face was lit up with pure joy. 

Robin called us into the living room, and we exchanged gifts beneath the tree. Harry handed me a photo of Paris. "We're going for New Years," he explained, "I know how much you want to go." Then Harry handed me a small box, with a pair of beautiful one-carat sparkling diamond earrings inside. I put them on; they were magnanimous. "They will never shine as bright as you," he smiled and kissed me softly. They glittered and sparkled in the sunshine.

I gifted him a watch; it had cost me a fortune, and I had seen him looking at it in a store in Harrods. "My other gift is for later," I seductively whispered so only could hear, and he raised his eyebrows and smiled adorably.

After we finished sharing presents, we sat around the fireplace, drinking wine. Harry slept soundly beside me on the couch, his curly head on my lap, his wine glass still half full and forgotten by his side. I stroked Harry's curls absentmindedly as I talked and laughed with his family. 

Anne smiled up at me softly and smiled. "Thank you for coming into Harry's life," she said. "You have no idea how happy it makes me to see my boy like this." She watched him as he slept peacefully. "I always worried about the girls who he would meet, and a lot of them have been after him for his fame or fortune. But I can tell, Ella, that you are with him because of who he is as a person, and that means more to me than you will ever know."