When Harry Met Hailey

29: Surprised

Harry's POV
"Hailey?" I said groggily, lifting my head off my pillow. Looking at the clock, I saw how early it was, 6:37 AM. I heard Hailey over the baby monitor talking softly to Darcy and I smiled. I got out of bed, deciding that if Hailey was up, I wouldn't be able to go back to sleep. I went downstairs into the kitchen and made tea. Hailey came down moments later, her curls still messy from sleep. She stood behind me, wrapping her arms around my waist. "Too early for this." She said softly. I chuckled. "I know, Hails." I replied. "Why are you up? Did her crying wake you?" She asked. "No. Being alone in bed woke me up. I figured if you're up, I better be up." I answered.

"Tea?" I questioned. "Please." She nodded. I poured both of us a cup and handed one to Hailey. "Thank you." She smiled. "First week of this and you look exhausted, pipa." I cooed, stroking her cheek softly with my thumb. "I look, how I feel then." She responded. "Don't worry, baby. You still look absolutely beautiful." I smiled. She cooed and stood on her toes, bringing her lips to mine. I held her by her waist and kissed her back. "I love you, Harry." She smiled. "I love you too, Hailey." I replied. She ran her hands down my back, I jolted as she pinched my bum. "Hey now." I chuckled. She smirked and I ran my hand under her tank top, squeezing her breast.

She whined and attacked me with kisses. Lips hitting anywhere the could reach on my face. We'd been lacking physical activity in our relationship for months now. Hailey and I hadn't had sex since she was six months pregnant. Which was a little over three months ago. Hailey, when she was really showing, lost a major portion of her self-esteem. She just didn't feel pretty by the time she entered her second trimester, which took a huge toll on her sex drive. Now, even after a week of having the baby at home, Hailey was extremely randy all the time. And, because the Darcy was home, we hadn't done anything about it, but knowing full well we both wanted to.

I lifted her up and placed her on the counter top. She wound her arms around my neck and we locked lips again. I smiled and pulled back slightly. Tea on her breath and a smile spread across her beautiful ruby lips. I brought my lips to her neck, softly kissing it, up and down. Hailey giggled softly as I continuously repeated the action. "Harry. Stop it...." She giggled. "Stop what?" I teased as I nipped her earlobe. "That...." She whispered. I chuckled against her skin and pulled back. "You know you like it." I said, smirking. "I love it, but there's no point in starting things, we can't finish." She reasoned, jumping down from the counter. I immediately felt a bit bad.

She really seemed upset. She looked over her shoulder at me. "I'll be in my office." She said. I nodded. She had gotten a desk and put it in her art room. She spent a lot of time in there over the course of her pregnancy. I had never asked her why she started spending so much time alone in that room because I figured she just wanted some time to herself. Hailey spent nearly all day in her art room until around four that afternoon. "Harry." She called from the top of the steps. I turned from where I sat on the couch, facing her. "Yes, love?" I questioned. "I'm gonna take a shower, can you keep an eye on Darcy?" She asked.

"Yeah, I'll watch her." I nodded. "Thanks babe." She said. "I love you." I called. "I love you too." She responded as she disappeared into the bathroom to take her shower. I went upstairs a few minutes later, to check on Darcy. She was fast asleep in her crib, suckling on a little white rubber pacifier. Once I knew she was okay, I started to go back downstairs. That was, until I saw Hailey's art room door wide open. I had never been in that room before. Because Hailey kept it locked. My interest piqued and I couldn't resist taking a look inside. I stepped into the open space and immediately noticed different things painted all about the room. Hailey things, creepy and beautiful things.

Even the small desk in the back of the room was painted. On the front of it, in Hailey's beautiful, large, loopy, cursive writing, it read, "Hailey & Harry, together forever." Her laptop sat closed on her desktop but beside it was a stack of printed pages. As I look at the top page, Hailey entered the room. "Oh Jesus! Harry, bloody hell. You scared the life outta me." She exclaimed. "Sorry, beautiful." I responded. "How the hell did you even get in here?" She asked. "Came up to check on Darcy, you left the door open." I answered her. She shrugged her shoulders. "Sorry, if I'm intruding. I just kinda wanted to see what you been doing up here all the time." I said.

"You're not intruding. C'mere. Lemme show you something." She smiled, taking my hand and pulling me back over toward her desk. "Look." She said, pointing at the large stack of paper I'd been looking at moments earlier. "What exactly is it, love?" I asked. "A novel." She answered. I looked at her and grinned. "You've been writing?" I questioned. "Quite a bit, yeah." She nodded. "Baby, that's a lotta paper. How much novel are we talking?" I asked. "29 chapters." She answered. "Good God, when did you start this?" I asked. "Just before I got pregnant." She responded. "And, it's still in progress?" I questioned. "No, actually. Done. Spell checked. Pending copyright." She grinned. "Oh my God. When were you gonna tell me?" I asked as I embraced her in a tight hug.

"When I heard back from at least one of the publishers I emailed it to earlier." She replied. "You've sent it to publishers? Already? And, I've heard nothing about it?" I questioned. "Are you mad?" She asked. "No. Baby, of course not. I'm just extremely pleasantly surprised. I mean, just....wow." I grinned. She giggled and pushed her lips to mine.