Stephanie’s P.O.V.
I looked up to see Harry exiting the bathroom and I quickly set his phone back on the table with no trace I was on it. My heart began beating fast as he approached me with a confused look.
“Hey, are you alright?” he asked.
“Yeah, I just needed to get out of the water for a few minutes,” I lied.
“Oh, ok,” Harry replied, smiling and taking the seat next to me. “Are you still having fun, though?”
“Oh, yeah!” I answered. “Today has been amazing.”
“And it’s not even over,” he winked.
“You and your surprises,” I said, rolling my eyes.
But no matter what Harry had in mind, I couldn’t forget about that picture. I wanted to tell someone, but I didn’t want to ruin anything, especially with Harry, even though I knew he was the one I needed to discuss this with. I tried to ignore the incident throughout the rest of the London trip to not start any drama, but I will admit I probably seemed out of it, despite Harry’s efforts to make this trip memorable. And it was, it was an amazing memory, but with a small twist.
Once we were back in Holmes Chapel, Rachel and I only had about 3 weeks left of being in England. I wanted to make these last 3 weeks special, but there was another bump in the road. I had totally forgotten about visiting with my aunt and uncle to work out my living situation until Eli called us the night we got back home.
After Harry finished the conversation with him, he turned to me and said, “Wow, I forgot all about that.”
“Don’t worry, me too,” I responded.
“We’ll be going tomorrow. Eli’s picking us up,” he informed.
“Ok,” I breathed, beginning to get nervous.
“It’ll be okay, Eli said they already want you,” Harry comforted, chuckling a little bit.
“Really?” I asked.
“Yeah,” he replied, cuddling me.
That night was just a relaxing night because earlier that day, we left London and had a 3 hour drive back home, so all we wanted to do was unwind. We watched some TV and a movie and ended up falling asleep halfway through it, which was to be expected. I slept well that night, the first good sleep I had gotten in a few days because my thoughts were clouded with that one picture. That one text resulted in a loss of slumber for a couple of days, but because we were distracted by the TV, I didn’t even think about it.
The next morning, I woke up feeling great. Elijah was going to pick us up at noon, so Harry and I quickly got ready and waited for him to come. He arrived exactly as the grandfather clock in the hallway of Anne’s house chimed 12, the knock on the front door in sync with the clock’s rings. Not long after, we were on our way to Middlewich.
“They’re really excited to see you,” Elijah began as we drove out of Holmes Chapel.
“I’m nervous,” I admitted. Eli and Harry laughed.
“I can tell,” Elijah responded. “There’s no need to be nervous, though.”
“I know, I just can’t help it,” I replied.
“How was London?” Eli asked, changing the subject.
“Great!” Harry answered.
“It was really fun,” I added.
“What did you all see?”
“Um, we went on the London Eye, visited Big Ben, and we also went across the bridge,” I informed.
“Oh, cool!” Eli said. “So basically all of the famous touristy places?”
“Not all of them. We didn’t have enough time,” Harry contributed.
“Oh, that sucks. Well that’s an excuse to go back, isn’t it?”
“Yup,” I replied.
Elijah let the radio break the silence as we continued driving, although it wasn’t long before we reached the small town of Middlewich. I recognized it immediately because we were here a while ago for that festival, but then Eli took a side road to a part of the town I hadn’t gone to. Trees lined each side of the street and I could see a small lake on the other side of one row of trees, glistening in the sun’s rays. I noticed that there weren’t many houses out here until I spotted one up ahead. As we neared, Elijah pulled into it’s driveway and parked the car, a signal for us that we were here. We clambered out of the car and approached the front door, Harry pressing the bell.
The glass door opened and a woman appeared. She had short blonde hair neatly brushed back and was wearing a casual dark blue dress, complete with a matching pair of flats and few pieces of jewelry glittering her wrist, neck, and ears.
“It’s so glad to finally meet you!” she greeted, opening the door a little wider to let us in. We followed her lead and walked inside. She closed it behind us and showed us into the living room.
“Sit, sit,” she encouraged, motioning at any of the nice couches. She settled in a rocking chair while the 3 of us relaxed on the biggest couch.
“My husband is currently at the market right now, he should be back in a few minutes,” she explained. “Shall we start with some introductions? I’m Christina.”
“I’m Harry,” Harry began, knowing that Eli didn’t need to be introduced.
“And I’m Stephanie,” I proposed. Christina could not stop smiling.
“Stephanie,” she repeated. “I haven’t seen you since you were a tiny baby. My, have you grown.”
Harry squeezed my hand in response to let me know that this was going off to a good start and I realized I wasn’t that nervous anymore. I was actually happy.
“You’ve had quite a life, haven’t you?” Christina continued. “With moving to a new location every couple of years, that could drive someone crazy!” She chuckled and we all smiled.
“Yeah. I don’t even remember my original parents,” I started, making it serious. “I was living in Holmes Chapel with my first adopted parents, Helen and Charles. We moved to a small city in Wisconsin in the U.S. when I was 8, and they’re still there, but they’re not my legal guardians anymore, so I’m parent-less.”
“Aw, honey,” Christina sighed. “Why aren’t they your legal guardians anymore? If..you feel up to sharing.”
“No, no, it’s okay,” I said. “It’s kind of a long story, but I’ve known Harry since we were little, and this past year, we somehow got in contact with each other, and he invited me to come back here for the summer. Helen agreed, surprisingly, but a week after we got here, ‘we’ meaning my best friend Rachel from Wisconsin, Helen and Rachel’s mum showed up and demanded we go back home, thinking it was unsafe for us to be here. When we refused, Helen threw the adoption papers at me and left. I think she purposely came just to do that, but yeah.”
“Did she really…” Christina gaped. “I can’t believe someone would actually do something like that.”
“To be honest, I’m kinda glad that she did that. Once I hit high school, she started becoming less of a mum to me. She was always complaining that I was a trouble child but I never understood that because I never did anything wrong. Like, I’m on the honors roll at school, I’ve never gotten a detention, I’ve always done my homework, I participate in school activities, I spend time with friends, like what’s so bad about that? My explanation is that she thought I was too much to handle, like I was always involved in something and she was getting tired of taking me everywhere. I think by that time, she realized how much work it is to take care of a teenager and she just wasn’t in it anymore,” I explained.
“You seem like a great kid, Steph. It’s unfortunate you’ve had to go through all of this,” she replied.
“Hey, you should tell her your plans for next year,” Eli whispered.
“Oh, yeah,” I agreed. “So, since I have one more year of high school, I figured I would stay in Wisconsin and live with Rachel. Her mum has been amazing to me and she would take me in as like a ‘host mum’ for next year. Once I graduate, I’m planning on coming back here and hopefully living with you. I’m not quite sure what I’m going to be doing after high school, but I’d like to spend the rest of my life here in England.”
“That’s a great plan!” Christina responded. “And I’d be willing to take you in.”
“Really?” I exclaimed, my eyes growing wide.
“Mmhmm, of course, I’ll have to talk it over with my husband. It’s weird, he should be here by now,” she informed.
“Thank you so much,” I responded.
“You look so much like your mother,” Christina breathed, looking into my eyes. That was the first time I had ever heard someone say that and it just made me feel happy and sad at the same time. Happy because I’ve always wondered if I look like my mum, considering I had never seen a picture of her before, either, and sad because I wished she was still alive so I could understand the comparison. I wanted her alive more than ever at that moment because then my life wouldn’t have been so complicated and I could have a normal family and live a normal life and not have any drama like I’d been living with my entire life so far. And that was also the first time I had ever truly missed my mum.
“I-I’m sorry,” Christina apologized, noticing a tear running down my face. I hadn’t even realized I was crying until she pointed it out.
“It’s okay,” I told her, wiping it on my sleeve. “I have just never heard anyone say that before.”
Just then, the door opened and a middle aged man walked through with some bags of fresh food. Christina jumped up to help him and they headed into the kitchen to drop them off, but they didn’t take very long for they were back in the living room within seconds.
“This is my husband, Harvey. Harvey, this is Harry, Stephanie, and you already know Eli,” Christina introduced. We all stood and shook Harvey’s hand.
“Wow, it’s great to finally see you again after all this time,” Harvey muttered to me, a smile etching onto his face. I returned it and we all sat down again.
“We were just having a nice chat before you came in,” Christina explained. “Actually, it became a little emotional…”
“Oh dear, were you telling them the story of your mum’s questions?” Harvey said and Christina started laughing. Harry and I exchanged glances of confusion.
“No, I wasn’t!” Christina defended, giggling. Harvey looked at us and he saw how confused and curious we were.
“Okay, so it was the reception on our wedding day. We were casually sitting at our table eating and suddenly Christina’s mum came up to us and began asking us so many questions. At first, they were just random questions about things that didn’t really matter, but then they got more serious and she asked us stuff that you don’t ask at a wedding, especially to the couple. She asked us if we had done it, how many times, were we expecting, what positions, where we were doing it, just all these questions about our private lives and it was completely embarrassing,” Harvey informed.
“We laugh about it now, but at the time, it was so awkward!” Christina added.
“Oh, my God!” I expressed, wide eyed.
“Yup. Great memories of our wedding,” Harvey delivered.
And as they continued telling us stories about themselves, I realized how easy going and fun loving my aunt and uncle were. After that day, I knew I wanted to live with them and be able to call them family, although they technically already were. I wish they had come into my life a little sooner so all this mess wasn’t in the way, but they were there when I needed them most and that’s the most important part.
They said they would think it over before we left, so we didn’t get a clear answer on if they were going to take me in or not, but I had a good feeling that everything was going to work out. I had an amazing time with them and all I was hoping for was for that fun to continue. Just a few more days and they would have their decision. I didn’t think I could wait that long.
As soon as we got back, Harry basically left right away, just himself. He explained that management wanted him for some music business, but why just him? What about the other boys who are part of the band? Liam informed me that management wanted him to record his solos for a couple of songs, so obviously they didn’t need the other lads. Questions still swarmed my brain but I let it go.
It was still weird that night not having Harry around me and I wasn’t sure what to do. I hadn’t hung out with Rachel in a while, but she was always around Niall and that’s when I realized, we’d been getting too wrapped up in our boyfriends that we hadn’t had a girls night in a long time, especially since we always have the boys around us.
“Hey,” I greeted Rachel and Niall who were tangled on the couch.
“Hey!” Rachel repeated, turning her attention towards me.
“Harry left for a recording and I’m so bored,” I explained.
“Well, we’re watching a movie if you want to join,” Rachel suggested.
“Um, can I talk to you? Alone?” I asked.
“Sure,” she replied, getting off of the couch. She followed me into the hallway and into one of the open bedrooms.
“What’s up?” she questioned, sitting on the bed.
“We haven’t really hung out together, like just the 2 of us,” I confessed. “Since Harry’s gone, I realized how much time I was actually spending with Harry and not with you, and I feel really bad. I miss our friendship and sure, we still have good times, but it’s with the other boys too, not just us.”
“Now I’m realizing how much time I spend with Niall. I’m sorry, Steph, I..I don’t know-”
“It’s okay. We’re both at fault here,” I interrupted. “Are you busy with something right now or would you like to do something tonight? Maybe a little bit of shopping? I could show you around Holmes Chapel.”
“That would be amazing! Yeah, I’ll go with you!” Rachel responded, smiling. I grinned back at her and we walked back out to the living room. She explained to Niall that we would be heading out and he was totally fine with it, so we grabbed our stuff and headed out.
We walked the few blocks downtown and I showed her a few places that I would always remember, like the little park by the river and even my old elementary school. I even took her to my old house, the one I used to live in before everything went down. Sometimes I wish I never even moved and Helen kept us here. That would have solved a lot of problems. She was a real mum for the first part of my life, but after we moved, that was when things began. I would have been okay with her being my mum and I know it’s surprising to hear me say that, but if she could have listened to me and kept us here, I wouldn’t have minded.
But then I looked over at Rachel who was staring at my house and realized, if I never moved, I wouldn’t have met her, and another huge part of my life would be gone. I couldn’t even imagine how different our lives would have been if we didn’t have each other, which is also why I wanted to hang out with her that night.
For the rest of our little getaway, we walked around Holmes Chapel and talked like we hadn’t in years. There was so much going on in each of our relationships that we had to dish to each other, and it felt just like old times.
And now that I’m retelling this story to you guys, I just realized that that was my chance to tell her about that picture. That entire day was crazy and I’m surprised I never even thought of that. But soon you’ll understand what happened with that situation in the next few chapters. It wasn’t pretty, my friends.

Notes

Hey guys! So I just wanted to let you know that there will only be a couple of more chapters left of this story! I'm not sure how many yet, but I'm hoping to get them all done before I go on my Christmas break in about 2 weeks. So hopefully, if all goes well, there will be more frequent updates!

We hope you guys are liking this story and feedback is appreciated! Also, please recommend this fanfic to anyone you know who would enjoy this!

Rachel and Stephanie :)