"I just think it's a little dramatic, that's all."

"Oh, that's all," Harry repeats sarcastically. He smiles and puts a block on Sophie's tower while Miloh squirms around on the floor between his legs.

"Yes. Look, I understand that we need to figure this out, but at a certain point I think we just need to let this be and see what he does next."

"I'm tired of waiting for him to make the next move, Savannah. A private investigator will be able to find out what he needs the money for, if he even needs it for anything."

"They're also notorious for using people's paranoia and pain to exploit money from them. As long as we're paying him he's going to find what he thinks we want him to find," I argue, putting down the knife I was using. Harry sighs and continues watching Sophie when I sit down next to him. "I just don't want him using you."

"Us," he corrects. "I know it's not a great option, but we don't have a lot of other ones. Except paying him, but we already agreed that wasn't an option."

We didn't really agree. Harry decided. I didn't push it because it's his father and he's dealt with that issue a lot more than I have. "Did you tell your mother?"

"I'm twenty-nine years old, you know." Harry lifts Miloh off the ground and kisses his forehead before helping him stand on his weak little legs. "Besides, I don't want to worry her more than I have to."

"Harry, this makes me nervous," I tell him, sitting so I'm facing him.

"I know, baby. When you think of a better idea, then I'll fire the PI, okay?"

Before I can argue anymore he stands up and offers to help me with dinner. Maybe a private investigator will help, but I'm just nervous that he's going to take advantage of Harry's family's past with Des. I want to believe that he would be on our side but Harry and I have had enough bad experiences to last the rest of our lives.

"So, are we ever going to plan a wedding?" he asks, putting Miloh in his high-chair. "We've been engaged for six months now and you haven't asked me about flowers or colours once."

"With everything else going on it seems a little silly to plan a wedding. Gemma's asked a few times, but-"

"I gave you that ring so I could call you my wife."

"Oh. I didn't realize," I say sarcastically. He laughs and chops the carrots I was working on earlier and I take the opportunity to wrap my arms around his waist from beside him. "It's not that I don't want to do it, but I want to be able to give it my full attention. Then I'll drill you about chair covers and cake tasting and ties or bowties."

"Definitely bowties," he says, smirking at me.

"Wrong answer."

He laughs. "You know, I'm enjoying this whole domesticity thing."

"Honestly, I thought I would miss the busyness of New York. I loved it there."

"Yeah?" He stops and lifts his arm so I can fit under it. "This life a little too boring for you, sweetheart?"

"No," I laugh. "I'm so happy. So much happier than I thought I would be."

"Your surprise is a little offensive," Harry says. He smiles when I roll my eyes. "But I know what you mean."

"Hopefully we can master this casserole recipe your Mom gave me."

Cooking in our incredible kitchen with Harry is a lot more peaceful than I thought it would be. This was never a life I thought I would want, but turns out it's the life I needed. And now it's what I want more than anything. Tasting it and having it taken away would be torture and at this point I'll do whatever it takes to protect my family and my life.

"Harry?"

"Yes, baby."

"I'll go along with it. The PI." He glances at me and raises his eyebrows. "Until a better option comes up. We have to do something, right?"

"Yeah. We're going to figure this out one way or another."

---

"Want to go see a preschool tomorrow, Soph?" I ask, tucking her under her covers. She shakes her head and fiddles with my hair. "No?"

"No, I stay here wif you forever."

"I want that too, but you have to go to school." She sighs and rubs at her eye. "We'll talk about it tomorrow, princess."

She mumbles something else and closes her eyes as I kiss her forehead. Harry's been taking pride in getting to put Miloh to bed for once. But instead of being in his room where I thought I'd find them, Harry is in our room, laying on our bed and holding Miloh over his head.

"Harry." I try to sound displeased but they look way too cute to be upset. "He's supposed to be asleep by now."

"But he's so cute," Harry says, grinning up at him. He lifts him higher, then lowers him down and continues the process until Miles is laughing. I lay down next to him on my side, my head right next to Harry's. His point made it hard to argue, so I just watched them play for a few minutes while my eyes slowly got heavier.

"I'm going to go clean up before I fall asleep," I tell Harry. "Put him to bed, okay?"

"I'll be down in a minute."

The mess of dishes in the kitchen was much less appealing than the toys all over the living room, so I decide on my own that Harry can take care of that while I clean up the kids' mess. There's not a lot of housework that bothers me, but loading a dishwasher is my least favourite activity in the world. I would rather clean a toilet.

Harry took longer than I expected to come downstairs and when he did my stomach dropped. The expression on his face is terrifying and he doesn't look up until I'm standing directly in front of him.

"Harry?" He meets my eyes. "What happened?"

"My mother." He clears his throat and shakes his head. "I don't understand."

"What? Understand what? You're scaring me."

"She just called," he says quietly. "She has to go to the morgue."

"The morgue," I repeat. He nods once and my blood runs cold. "Why?"

"They think...the police think they found my father's body."

---

When Harry gets home hours later I haven't slept one minute. As soon as he told me the news I didn't have a chance at sleeping and if I could have gone with him i would have, but someone had to stay here with our children. I sprint down the stairs and run to hug him, not noticing until after that Anne and Robin are there as well.

"What happened?" I ask, hugging Anne as well. She doesn't seem as shook up as Harry. In fact, she seems...calm.

"It was him," Harry tells me quietly. He leans against the wall and digs the heels of his hands into his eyes. "This doesn't make any sense."

"Why?"

"It's too...it feels too easy." I peel his hands from his face and the bags under his eyes make my heart hurt. "He's just gone? I don't understand."

"You don't need to understand," Anne says. She hangs up her coat, acting like this is the most natural conversation in the world. "He was a threat to all of us and now he's gone."

"I don't know," Harry mutters.

"It's over." Anne takes his hand and the strength in her eyes is almost overwhelming. "He can't hurt us anymore."

She excuses the two of them to the guest bedroom and Harry watches them walk up the stairs. He doesn't move or say anything until we hear the door shut upstairs. Then he looks at me with anxiety and I wrap my arms around him again.

"Are you okay?" I ask, brushing my fingers through his hair. He sighs and wraps his arms around my waist.

"I don't know. It's a weird combination of feelings. He was a piece of shit but he was still my Dad, you know?"

"I'm sorry," I whisper. There's not much else to say; I didn't know him well enough to be sad about the good parts of him. When Harry was a kid they must have had some good memories, but he didn't share a lot of those with me.

"Something's wrong," he says in my ear.

"What do you mean?"

"She...she wasn't surprised."

I lean back and the worry in Harry's eyes has only increased. He glances towards the stairs and pulls me to the couch to sit down with him, continuing in quiet voices.

"I watched her the whole time. I picked her up and went in with her. I watched them lift the blanket and I watched her look at his body and..." He shakes his head and pushes his fingers through his hair. "She didn't feel anything."

"She's probably in shock," I offer.

"No, that wasn't it. It was like she already knew it would be him. She barely looked at him before she confirmed it and she just doesn't seem to care. Yeah, he was a bastard but she was still married to him. It's like going to identify the dead body of her ex-husband is an everyday thing. She's not reacting at all."

"Okay..." He stared off into space and I tried to figure out where he was going with this. "What are you saying?"

"I think she knew," he whispers.

"What? As in...you think she had something to do with it?" His lack of response is confirmation enough. "Harry, that's insane. Your mother isn't a murderer."

"I don't think she did it," he says.

"Then what?"

"She knew. If she didn't help someone find him, at the very least she knew it would happen."

"Harry." I couldn't believe that Anne would be able to do something like that. She was the kindest person on the entire planet, she would never be an accomplice in a murder.

"I know," he mutters. "I don't want it to be true but...I think my mother hired someone to kill him."

Notes

:|

so yeah.
im so sorry this took so long :( i dont think ive ever waited this long to update a story...but i was super sick and i was on a roll with my other one so this one kind of got put on the backburner. i tried to write so many times but i just had no ideas.

what do you think?? did she have something to do with it??