The Weeks Between • HS

Week 20 • Harry

"Darling, of course I would love to have Nola and the girls up for a few days. What day are you five thinking about coming up?"

"We talked about Tuesday morning," I tell mum, "Helen and Albert are flying back to California on Monday, and I feel like the distraction would be a really good one for her. Plus, I desperately want you to meet the girls."

"Desperately, huh?" mum questions, her tone suspicious. I have no idea how she always does it, but she knows whenever that I'm calling for a reason other than the conversation we are currently in the middle of having. "Out with it, Harry."

I start to anxiously pace my living room, even though I'm on the phone with her and she can't see me doing it, its a habit at this point when I'm anxious. "I have the jet booked for us to go back to Italy in two weeks, not knowing that Helen and Albert were not going to be in England at that point. I've already talked to Gemma, and she is willing to help with the girls, but I think that Nola would feel more comfortable if it were both you and Gemma who stayed to watch them."

"Ahhh. I see," she says, I'm sure making some disapproving face. "Does Nola know about this trip?"

"No way! I wanted the girls to meet you first and get comfortable with you. I wanted Nola to see that she can trust you and that the girls will be fine. Then, as long as everything goes well, I will tell her about the trip."

"Smart man, but maybe then you should ASK her about the trip."

"I was raised by a brilliant woman." As I say it I can almost hear her eyes rolling from the northern part of England.

"Enough buttering up Harry. I have no problems watching the girls and you know that. It's your partner that you have to convince."

"She's my girlfriend now," I say proudly.

"Is that so? Well, seems that I am meeting your girlfriend and her adorable girls on Tuesday, then."

"Thanks mum. We are going to stop at Pinnacle, but I plan to be there at lunch time."

"How would you like me to arrange the rooms?" she asks, all but asking me if I would like to keep my current location of the room farthest from hers, and if Nola will be sharing that room with me. She probably wants to know the girls room arrangements, as well.

"Nola and I will share my room. The twins can have the guest room with the queen bed. They can share. I sent a portable crib to your house, should be delivered with a high chair this afternoon. You can put that up in the upstairs den, the room next to the girls." After we get the room arrangements set, we go over food options for the girls, but I already sent a few of their favorites via Amazon, so we don't have to pack a ton and mum doesn't have to go out and shop right now.

"See the five of you on Tuesday."

•••••

I spent most of the afternoon tending to the final garden cleanup. My garden is tiny compared to the garden at mum's house. I'm so thankful to be bringing the girls home at the time of year that I am because the fall harvest at her house is nothing short of magical. She has a grove of Apple trees, in four different varieties, lining one side of the gardens. Yes, some of them peak in September, but there's at least one variety that hangs on until October and this year has been an unseasonably warm fall, so I suspect there are still some on the trees. Even if the apples have all been picked from the trees, I know that she will have bushels in her shed that we can use to bake.

Then, there is my favorite fall crop: pumpkins. Mum grows every color from oranges to whites to greens, even grey-blue colored pumpkins she calls Cinderella pumpkins. When we talked about activities to plan for the girls, I told her not to pull too many pumpkins from the field before we get there so that we can give the girls a picking experience with lots of choices. Mum reminds me that her sweet neighbors also have a giant pumpkin patch that they grow in their back garden. So, if the girls want a bigger selection to choose from, Roger is happy for us to pop over and pick a few there. When mum asks me about carving pumpkins, I realize that I haven't expressly asked Nola if they celebrate Halloween but I feel like we've had conversations before about picking out costumes. This afternoon I'm hoping we can talk about what we'd like to do for Halloween. My daydreaming about matching Halloween costumes for the five of us is interrupted when I get a phone call from my estate manager.