Little Things

Chapter 48

About a month and a half after Harry had finished traveling for all of the Dunkirk premieres, we sat down to plan Elizabeth's first birthday party. We were going to have it in London since I couldn't travel anymore, and the majority of our friends and family were in the U.K. now anyway.

"So, Will and Allie are going to fly in the day before the party," I said to Harry from the couch. "Madison wants to fly in a week in advance so we can spend time with her and show her around the city."

"Isn't that Niall's job now?" Harry teased, walking in from the kitchen with Elizabeth in his arms. Madison and Niall were still going strong after meeting at Harry and I's wedding.

"Best friends always beat out boyfriends," I replied smugly. "Do we have room for Madison, Will, and Allie here or are we going to recommend a hotel for them?"

Harry sat down with Elizabeth and sighed, "We'd definitely have room for Madison here, but I'm not sure about all three of them, love."

I opened my mouth to reply but was cut off by Elizabeth giggling, "Da-da!"

"Oh, my god, Harry," I said, completely forgetting about my siblings and Madison.

"Did she just say what I think she said?" Harry asked in disbelief. "Come on, baby, say 'dada' again for Daddy."

"Dada."

"Our baby is talking!" I said, picking her up to kiss her cheeks. "Can you say 'mama,' Elizabeth?"

"Dada!" she squealed.

"Don't worry, babe, she'll get there eventually," Harry teased. I rolled my eyes at him and shook my head. Elizabeth's first word being "dada" was not going to help curb Harry's narcissism.

After laying Elizabeth down for her afternoon nap, Harry and I were able to solidify arrangements for Will, Allie, and Madison, as well as party details. The theme we chose for Elizabeth's party was simply pink and gold. I thought it was kind of ridiculous to throw an extravagant theme-party for a toddler and Harry agreed. We were hosting the party at home and my job was ordering decorations.

"Oh, my god, Harry, look at this cake," I said, turning my laptop to show Harry a cake covered in baby pink frosting with a gold, sparkly topper that said one. "We need to get it for the party, it's perfect."

"I think we can arrange for that," Harry said, kissing my forehead.

"Who else has responded to the invitation?" I asked. "So far we have Will, Allie, Madison, your mom, Gemma, and Niall."

"Louis, Liam, James, and Nick are all coming," he replied. "Are you sure you don't want to invite your parents, Sara?"

"They already know about the party since Will and Allie are coming."

"But they aren't invited."

"That's correct."

"They're your parents, love. And they're Elizabeth's grandparents."

"Well maybe if they didn't treat our children like unwanted accidents, they would be invited," I snapped. I hadn't spoken to my parents since I'd told them to get out of our house in Los Angeles when Harry and I announced that we were pregnant with Matthew. They hadn't reached out to me at all, which hurt. What hurt most was how they viewed Elizabeth and Matthew; they acted like the fact that I was pregnant again was some awful thing instead of the blessing it was. I still spoke to Will and Allie almost every day, and they updated me on major events back home with our family.

"I'm sorry I brought it up, love," Harry cooed. He kissed my forehead again and sat down next to me on the couch. We ordered gold letter balloons to spell out "Happy Birthday Elizabeth" and some other decorations for the party, the subject of my parents squashed for the time being.