When Life Shifts

Chapter 40

After Jenna is finally taken away, and Louis leaves the room to go find Cami to see if she's about ready to leave, Harry looks at Ari. "You okay?"

"I'm pissed, and still very upset Jenna almost hurt my son." Ari says honestly. "What about you, you're still a little pale?"

"Not sure." Harry shrugs. "I'm not used to caring this much for someone other than you." Harry says not noticing the shocked look on her face. "I'm not sure my thought process has caught up with what's happened here." He says as he plops on the sofa. When he does that he sees the large rock on the floor where Ari dropped it. "Jesus Christ." Harry whispers, then buries his face in his hands and starts sobbing.

Ari sigh and sits next to Harry. "He's fine, you've seen that already. Hell you caught him in mid-air because he wanted you to dress him." She whispers, laying her hand on his thigh.

"But just the thought of what could have happened." Harry says shaking his head.

"I know Harry, I was there. But it didn't, he's fine and will be in here soon begging you to let us ride wif you, and you did promise us food." Ari says as she hears the patter of her son's feet headed in their direction.

"Uncle Harry, can we ride wif you sintce mommy's car don't work? Please, I'll be good." Eddie says, placing his hands on Harry's cheeks.

With tears in his eyes, Harry hugs Eddie to him. "Of course you can. I'll even let you pick where we eat at." He says picking his son up as he stands.
...............

After spending all day shopping, everyone decided to stop by the Chinese House for take out on the way back to Louis and Cami's. Once back at the house, the ladies were in the kitchen fixing everyone's plates, while the guys were in the livingroom throwing the sofa cushions onto the floor, then gathering pillows, for everyone to sit on to eat. Now that everyone's in their place Harry looks around and notices they're all paired up in couples, except he and Ari are no longer together, except for Eddie being their link.

A few minutes after everyone starts eating, Eddie looks up at his mom. "Mommy, I have a question."

Ari wipes her mouth and puts her fork down, she then focuses all her attention on her son, impressing Harry. "Okay son what is it?"

"While we were shopping, I heard a little girl call a guy daddy." Eddie says, looking at everyone in the room. "What's a daddy, mommy?"

Ari sighs as she pulls Eddie into her lap. "A daddy is the same thing as a mommy, Eddie. He's just a man." She says.

Eddie nods, then frowns. "Do I have a daddy?" He asks.

Harry literally holds his his breath waiting to see what Ari will say. "Of course you do, baby." Ari says as she hugs Eddie to her, she then bends her head down and whispers in his ear where no one can hear her.

Eddie raises his head off her chest and looks at her. "Really? You promise?"

Ari holds her hand up. "I swear."

Eddie then looks at Harry causing him to let the breath he's holding out so quickly it makes him light headed. "If you're my daddy does that mean I'll be as tall as you?" Eddie asks.

Harry takes a breath. "You could be, I'm taller than both my parents." Harry says.

Eddie crawls out of Ari's lap and picks his fork back up. "Okay, as long as I'm taller than mommy. Everyone is taller than her I don't want that to happen to me." He says as he starts eating again, causing everyone to laugh.

"Thanks a lot son." Ari says with a smile.

"You're welcome, mommy. But don't worry, you're prettier than most people so being small doesn't matter." Eddie says rising up on his knees, kissing her cheek.

Ari kisses Eddie back. "I love you, Ed."

"Love you too mommy." Eddie says, then continues eating.

After they were all done eating, they went to the back deck to talk so Eddie could play. Cami looks at everyone there and leans against Louis. "I don't know if this has ever been done before, but we wanted to do something different at our wedding, so our attendants will be walking down the aisle together." She says. "So that means Niall will be escorting Heather, Liam with will be with Gemma and Ari you and Harry will be walking together."

"That's fine." Ari says.

"We were also thinking, since Eddie is your son and he's our ring bearer, maybe he could walk down with you or in front of the two of you." Louis says. "We can try it out during rehearsals."

"It's your wedding, we'll do whatever you want." Ari says. "Or happens to work best." She says.

"Well we have another full day tomorrow, we and I mean, me, Ari, Heather and Gemma, when she gets here, have appointments to have our nails done." Cami says. "Ari have you thought about who you're going to have watch Eddie?"

Ari shrugs, then shocks everyone there. "What's there to think about? His daddy is sitting right there." She says pointing at Harry. "Harry you want to keep an eye on your son tomorrow while I'm out having my nails done, shouldn't take to long?"

"Of course I don't mind." Harry says. "Want me to come here? Or you drop him off at my place?"

"No car?" Ari says. "I guess Cam and I can drop him off, I'm sure he'll love that."

Eddie runs into Ari's legs, almost knocking her out of her chair, causing Harry to reach out quickly to steady her. "Oh, sorry mommy. But I wanted to ask you somefin." He says.

"Okay. Asks." Ari says.

"Can I spend the night wif daddy? If it's okay wif him. Please." Eddie begs.

Ari looks at Harry, he nods and says. "You can come to, then tomorrow you can drive my Range Rover to meet the others."

Ari nods. "Okays, but you'll have to be superman good." She says.

"I promise." Eddie says as he climbs into Harry's lap.