Evee's last year resolutions were to resolve having meaningless sex, loose a little of weight so her gut didn't jiggle anymore when brushing her teeth and notching it down with the drinking. To say that didn't go well was the least. This year she was going to do it differently. She was going to stop lying to herself because really, no one liked a skinny, cheap, sober bitch anyways.

Her resolution was to not make any resolutions.

She was going to see how everything went. If one thing 2016 learnt it was how unpredictable life could be. One day you wake up with a black eye, hungover as hell, the other you're miraculously falling in love with a god damn prince. "Do I look okay?" Evee spoke, pulling her coat a little closer to her body.

"You look gorgeous. You always do." Harry smiled next to her, pushing the doorbell to his brother's household.

"You look mighty fine as well, Wales." She shot a cheeky smile at him, running her eyes across his long lean legs.

Harry didn't have time to reply because the door was opened by none other than his older brother. "Hey guys! Come in." He stepped aside, pulling the door more open. Harry quickly wrapped one arm around his brother, giving him a sideway hug. "Evee." William smiled, leaning down to plant a kiss on the short woman grinning towards him.

"Happy holidays, Will."

"Happy holidays, Eveline. Come on, Kate's been eager to introduce you to her family." Nodding her head, she quickly took off her coat handing it towards William, who already had Harry's coat in his hands.

She felt  Harry wrap his arm around her waist as he escorted her towards the living room. Stepping inside the room, she could see the big Christmas tree in the corner of the room. It looked absolutely gorgeous. Hers was tiny and unorganized compared to this one. She always bought one cool ornament a year, this year she bought a huge Grinch one. Her tree never really matched well with all the different ornaments but it did mean something.  "Evee!" Kate smiled, immediately stretching her legs.

"Hey Kate, hi everybody." She noticed everyone's eyes turning towards her little frame and shyly waved. There were too many people in the room she hadn't met yet. She presumed that the older couple sitting on the other couch were the duchess her parents, since her mother looked so much alike. The young brunette closest to her was probably her sister, they had the same eyes.

"Hi Harry." Kate quickly kissed his cheek. "I'll introduce you, Evee. So everybody this is, Eveline, Harry's girl. Evee, these are my parents Carole and Michael Middleton. This is my sister Pippa." A lightbulb went off in Evee's head as she recognized the brunette from mayhem the girl's behind caused at the royal wedding. She remembered her now. "And her fiancée, James and then this is my brother also named James."

She noticed how they all stood up and shook her hand. James even pulled her in for a kiss on the cheek. "James is the youngest."

Evee smiled, nodding her head, "I'm twenty six."

"I'm still in my twenties as well, not for long though, still not as old as this guy here." James laughed, slapping Harry's upperarm.

"Very funny." Harry laughed, taking a sip of the Champagne Kate handed him and Evee a minute ago. "How's Hong Kong?"

"You live in Hong Kong?" Evee asked, smiling at the bearded man in front of her. Even she had noticed how pretty his eyes were. She loved Harry, she really did, but this guy had the genetics in his favor. Hell, this whole family had.

"I've been there for the last half year, yes. I have a company over there, we're trying to expand. It's been amazing."

"Donna's over there with you?" Harry questioned, asking Kate's brother about his girlfriend.

"Donna and I actually broke up two months ago. The distance didn't really work out for us."

"I'm sorry to hear about that." Evee smiled, knowing how much it really sucked being single on the holidays. The first time she was alone on Christmas in almost eight years after breaking up with Nathan was terrible. Her family made an effort to cheer her up but it was no use. She had spent Christmas sulking in her little apartment back in Belgium.

"It's fine." He shrugged, looking at her with a smile.

"I'm just going to check on Kate, see if she wants any help." The blonde spoke, smiling at James and kissing her boyfriend quickly on the cheek. "I'll see you in a minute, alright?"

He nodded his head at her, his eyes following her backside when she walked away. He couldn't help but notice James doing the same. "Where did you manage to strike a woman like that?" He heard Kate's brother speak.

"Luck. Plain luck." Harry grinned.

"Kate can't keep quiet about her." The prince knew Kate's brother for quite some time now and knew the tone in his voice.

"She told you, didn't she?"

"Told me what?" James looked at him with a spark in his eyes.

"Nevermind." He mumbled, placing the glass on his lips once more.

"If you're interested, I think you guys look really great together."

"Thank you."

"She quite sure had all the right settings." James cheekily spoke. "If you know what I mean."

"Hey!" If it were to be someone else, Harry probably wouldn't have been able to laugh about it, but this was James and they were both still men. "But she does have good settings, yes... Remarkable even." He heard himself mumble underneath his breath, trying not to grin.

"Gorgeous face as well."

"Right, I'm leaving you to search for my brother. Keep your moves to yourself will you, I'm planning on keeping this one." He managed to warn him with a grin.

"So I've heard." James smiled. "You should."

Down at the kitchen, Evee was leaning on the kitchen counter, watching how Kate took another bottle of wine out of the refrigerator. Trying to not feel so guilty towards the professional chefs cooking up a meal for them on New Year's Eve, she turned towards the duchess. "How was Christmas?"

"It was alright. Same old, you know. I still wanted to thank you for the gifts, George was really happy with his helicopter. He hasn't put the remote down."

"We were really struggling to find something for him. He already has so many toys." Evee replied, smiling at the brunette. "Harry thought the helicopter was quite convenient. I saw it at Hamleys the other day."

"You shouldn't have, really. How was your Christmas? I heard it was a little dull."

"I definitely had better ones, yes." Evee shrugged, placing the glass around her lips and emptying it.

"I promise it will get better." Kate smiled, placing her hand around Evee's wrist. "Come on, let me fill up that glass of yours so we can celebrate properly."

Fifty minutes later, the family was well into their first course. Dinner was actually really nice. Eveline sat next to Kate's sister Pippa and they had managed to get along quite well. Harry, sitting right across from her, was seated in between his brother and Pippa's fiancée. "So when's the wedding?" Evee grinned, Pippa's left hand resting in hers as she carefully eyed the huge rock on her ring finger.

"July. It's a small gathering in Scotland on his parent's property." She smiled at the blonde.

"I bet it's going to be gorgeous. Harry and I went to Scotland in September and I absolutely loved it there."

"It is really beautiful, yes."

"But look at this ring though." Evee grinned at the square diamond on the girl's ring, swallowing a big gulp of wine as she realized it was probably worth as much as her apartment, if not even more. Her stomach turned by only the thought of wearing such an expensive thing on her own fingers. "That diamond is huge."

"You know what they say, a diamond's a girl's best friend." Or the way to bankruptcy if you lose it.

"Picked it out yourself, James?"

The tall man grinned at his fiancée, "Yes, it's custom made."

Custom made? That's even better. Remembering how her most expensive ring was worth about 50 pounds, she took another gulp. "You did a good job, the ring really fits you."

"Thank you. So you and Harry, huh?" Pippa's eyes sparkled at the blonde's flushed cheeks. "No wedding bells, yet?" Kate's eyes almost bulged out of her skull as she looked at her sister from behind Evee's back.

"Oh no, no, no." Evee chuckled. "Slow and steady, one thing at the time."

"I'm just messing with you." Pippa ignored her sister. "But you wouldn't say no to him right?"

That was an odd question. "Urhm, well I love Harry."

"Good." The girl grinned, placing a small tomato in her mouth.

"I'm just going to the restroom real quick. If you would excuse me." Evee spoke, smiling at everyone. She didn't mind the questions and didn't think twice about it. She only thought it was awkward because Harry's was actually there, listening along to their conversation. The last thing she wanted to do was scare him off.

"Right, so much for having a light conversation at the table." Harry stepped in as soon as Evee left the room. "Kate, control your sister." 

"I'm trying to!" Kate spoke up, staring at her younger sibling.

"Look, at least you know how she feels now right? She just said she loves you and she didn't say she would say no."

"Right. Thank you for that Pippa. Let's just focus back on your wedding. Or no, let's just talk about something else entirely. How's your dog, James?" Harry spoke, turning towards Kate's little brother sitting next to him.

"Ella's been doing quite well in Hongkong. I do think she has a bit of a stomach flu." The man replied, swallowing a piece of his beef carpaccio. 

It was two minutes before midnight when the family stood outside in the gardens. Evee could hear all the noise coming from Hyde Park. People were obviously setting up to watch the fireworks. She wrapped her wintercoat closer to her frame. She could feel Harry pulling her closer to him. The wind was blowing her hair back. "Did you have a nice time at dinner?" She could hear him ask in her ear.

"Yeah, Catherine's family is really nice." She smiled, leaning her head on his shoulder.

He didn't want to ask her how she felt about Pippa's questions, she didn't seem to act strangely so Harry decided to let it go. He nodded his head, watching how George ran around in a thick coat. The little boy wanted to watch the fireworks and threw a tantrum every time they wanted to take him to bed. "Are you missing yours?"

"Just a little." She sighed, "I'll skype them tomorrow, it'll be fine. Plus, I'm here with you, makes it all worth it."

Evee couldn't help but remember last year's New Year's eve. The countdown on Primrose Hill. Jared hurting himself when he wanted to climb the fences. The midnight kiss she shared with Fred. Fred, she hadn't even heard from him on Christmas. Swallowing her pride, she heard how the crowd started to count down.

Ten

She didn't want to think about Fred now. She finally had the man of her dreams in her arms. He was charming, caring and she loved him with all of her heart.

Nine

But he was one of her best friends for godsake. Why hadn't he even texted her a Merry Christmas? He'd done it at her birthday. She had thanked him over the phone.

Eight

She did do it by text though. Maybe she should've called him.

Seven

It didn't matter. It didn't.

Six

She cursed internally and felt a little guilty. Why was she thinking about Fred when she had Harry in her arms? She was just concerned, being in Hyde Park, it brought back memories of last year. She was allowed to think about last New Year, right?

Five

Right. It's good to reminisce. She wouldn't change her location for the world.

Four

Evee watched George resting on his father's shoulder, eagerly looking up at the sky.

Three

She could smell Harry's cologne as he quickly pressed his lips on her blonde hair.

Two

He was her world now. It was okay.  

One

"Happy New Year, baby." He mumbled, throwing his arms around her neck. She could feel him pressing his lips against her, his warm breath hot on her tongue.

Evee's eyes fluttered open. In the lightning of the fireworks, his eyes looked more blue than they ever were. "Happy New Year, Harry."

It was then that she decided it was okay to get excited about the future. The past wouldn't mind.