Harry

Today was a better day, Emery was eating and playing and Alex was happy. In my book, those things are important.

I had a day off for the first time in a while, so I decided to make the best of it and woke up everyone for breakfast, then went out of the house and spent an afternoon at the beach.

I looked over at Alex sleeping beside me and smiled at how peaceful she looked before waking her up with kisses. Then I woke up Emery, who giggled when I sang the song that annoyed Alex so much. “Daddy shark do do do do dodo-”

“No! Harry, I will divorce you.” she laughed into her pillow.

“We're not married yet.” I walked over and sat down with Emery on the bed. “Tell mommy she has to marry daddy first and then threaten him with divorce.” Alex laughed out loud for what felt like the first time in a long time. I crawled over her and pressed a kiss to her lips, gently whispering, “I'm serious.”

“Someday,” she promised. “But today, we are going out.” Her small hands came to each side of my face so she can pull me forward for another kiss. The kiss, on the other hand, was rudely interrupted by a hand cutting off our kiss. We turned to look at Emery who gave us a look as if she was telling us we better stop.

“No.” She shook her head.

“But daddy loves to kiss mommy.” I dropped my head into her neck and Alex laughed before I heard Emery let out a loud cry. Alex pushed me off and hugged her quickly. “Oh baby, I'm sorry.”

She let out a cry and smacked my nose, shaking her head. It didn't matter that she was mad, I was just glad she seemed more talkative today.

We got dressed and began our drive down to the nearest beach, at least a nice one, about two hours away. We would make a day out there, going out to eat, spending the day at the beach, checking out some of the local shops and coming home. It felt as if we needed this day.

With everything going on, I wanted to just feel normal. It made me think about when I was a kid. During remission when we left the hospital, my parents were in debt, divorced, and going through a lot with almost losing me. Yet, every weekend, my mum would make sure we would do something to keep me happy. To show that things weren't as bad as I later realized they actually were.

“You're really quiet.” Alex lowered the music down in the car.

I looked behind me in the rearview mirror and looked at Emery who had fallen asleep. “Guess I'm just thinking a lot.”

“About what?” she leaned in more.

“I guess family stuff. When I was a kid and how weird it is that I'm the dad now.” she giggled. “I love you.” I looked over at her for a second before looking back at the road.

We talked some more, randomly pointing out random signs on the road or cars with different license plates than ours.

When we made it to the beach city of Seaside in Oregon where we found a small diner to have lunch. Emery woke up and looked around curiously at where we were with big eyes when she saw a man dressed up as a sandwich in front of the diner. We each held one hand as she wobbled into the diner with us.

I looked over the menu and then back up at Alex who seemed to have looked up at me at the same time. “Ma'am please stop staring at me.” she rolled her eyes.

“Sorry, you're just so handsome.” she dropped the plastic menu down and shrugged. “What are you gonna do about it?” she sat across the table from me with Emery in a high chair between us.

I pushed my hair back, sitting up in my seat to lean across the table to kiss her lips. I pulled back just an inch from her face. “I'll do that.” Alex playfully pushed me back and shook her head blushing as we heard our server walking over.

We had lunch and luckily today we all had an appetite, including Emery who had been very picky with food. We then drove to park at the parking lot nearest to the ocean where we carried our stuff, setting up a beach blanket, our cooler with drinks and snacks for Emery, folded chairs and umbrella.

The day was perfect, a great distraction for what was to come.

Alex

I was busy packing our house back into boxes today. All of our stuff for the hospital trip was put in the car which Harry took to work today. Emery would be in recovery a few weeks and we planned to stay with her. That still didn't mean we could just stay there, we needed a place to actually live.

A knock at my door caught my attention. I was expecting it to be the new landlord, here again, to remind us how many weeks we had to leave. Maybe it was Harry's friend Liam who had told us he knew of a few places leasing nearby.

It really caught me off guard when I opened my door and saw my parents.

I Knew Harry went to talk to my dad, he told me the whole thing, but I didn't think they would come to visit. “Hi, come in.” I moved aside and let them walk in. “sorry for the mess, I'm cleaning.”

“Don't worry about it, how are you sweetheart?” my dad hugged me tightly before I cleared off the chairs in the dining area.

“I've been better.” I chuckled awkwardly looking at my mom who opened her arms and hugged me as well. “Hi, mom.”

“Hi honey, I'm so sorry for not being there for you.” my eyes got big at her sudden arms around me hugging me so tightly. We pulled apart and for the first time, I could tell she had a lot of regret in her eyes. “Let's sit down and talk- hon make some coffee,” she told my dad who rolled his eyes.

A part of me wanted to just trust my mom again, especially with the circumstances at the moment. If anything, god forbid, happened to Emery, I wouldn't want to be on bad terms with my own mom. Perhaps Anne was right about forgiveness.

I watched as my dad put water in a pot on the stove to heat up when he realized we didn't have a coffee maker or a tea kettle. He took a seat beside us when I completely broke down to tell them everything. I told them about Emery and how scared I was, Harry's new job, and the fact that we couldn't find a new place to live.

My dad held me while I cried when Emery walked in from her nap and looked at the scene in front of her. I hated crying in front of Emery, I didn't want her first memories to be of her mother sobbing hysterically.

“Oh honey, your mommy's okay, why don't we get you a sippy cup?” my mom picked her up and sat with her while Emery sipped on her juice. She looked at me and sighed. “Alex, you can stay with us again- just until you guys can find a place.” I looked at her, not wanting to say what I had in my mind. “Listen I know how I treated you- believe me, I know-”

“I can't just go, I would have to talk to Harry first.” she agreed. “I really appreciate you coming here, I've just felt like you guys wouldn't care.”

“I'm sorry for making you feel that way. You have to understand that I was disappointed Alex. In my mind, you girls are so smart- smarter than I could have ever been. I raised you to want to be independent and move forward in life and not feel stuck in one spot. I know how difficult it is to be a parent and I didn't want you to struggle the way we did for years. Obviously, I love you and I love Emery, and I even love Harry, and yes I was too harsh and rude to you- and for that I'm sorry.”

“I forgive you, but it's not just me and Emery, I have to talk to Harry about this. You really pissed him off when you yelled at me and stuff.” She nodded, looking at my dad.

"I get it, just know things will be different." She promised.

“Alex, how are you coping with everything?” my dad asked. I looked down at Emery and realized that in a few days, her head would be shaved, they would open her skull and perform brain surgery on my baby.

I looked at my parents and as happy as I was that they were here for me, I felt like no one could understand what I was going through except Harry and his parents. “I'm- I- don't know. I guess I'm not.”

I'm scared.

Thank you for reading my work.

-karla