When Damien heard Harriett say those words at the breakfast table, his heart jumped out of pure excitement. He was happy that she was finally beginning to let go of the past. All he needed now was to get her forgiveness and win her trust.
“I thought about what room you’d sleep in and I decided to give you a separate room from the kids. That way, we won’t invade your privacy because we certainly won’t leave our grandkids for a single minute.” Stacy said once they were done with the breakfast.
Her first thought was for Harriet and Damien to share a room but her husband, Thomas made her realize that she was moving too fast. Even though the two had children together, they weren’t married and their relationship needed a lot of patching up.
“Thank you, Mother. They are your grandchildren. You can spend as much time as you want with them.” She laughed.
“Who wants to go out with Daddy today?” Damien asked and little Adrian immediately started jumping happily on his seat, clapping his hands to show his excitement.
“Me!” He screamed after a while, Addison joined in. It warmed Damien’s heart to finally see her acknowledging him as her father and not Tony.
Speaking of Tony, he noticed that the man had been out of sight for a while and as much as he was happy with the new development, he wanted to know why he suddenly disappeared.
“Why don’t you all go together?” Thomas suggested and in that moment, Damien wished he could give his father a hug.
“Dad is right, Harriett. We could spend the day together… with the kids, of course.” He cleared his throat as he stared at her.
Harriet knew that there was no way out of this as she was surrounded by the Daniels who wanted her to spend time with her ex-husband. Well, she did too.
“Of course. Do you have a place in mind?” Damien held himself from planting a kiss on her forehead and only replied with a nod.
“I do.” He replied.
Two hours later, Harriett was seated in Damien’s car with the twins in the back as they were all headed to an amusement park.
To Damien, this was both a family outing and a date for him and Harriett so he planned on doing his best.
All through the car ride, he had been playing songs from Harriet’s favorite artist. At first, she thought it was a coincidence but as the songs kept coming, she realized that he was doing it deliberately as a part of his plan to win her heart.
“Spill it, Damien. We both know I have never told you who my favorite artist is so, who told you?” She asked, bobbing her head to Anne Marie’s 2002.
“I have my ways.” He replied with a smirk, not taking his eyes off the road. Harriett found herself staring at the outline of his well defined jawline and how his Adam’s apple bobbed every once in a while.
“Find something you like?” He asked, noticing her gaze on him and she immediately turned her head away, her cheeks reddening in embarrassment.
“You can stare as much as you want, Harriett. I’m all yours.” He said before he could stop himself and he heard Harriett suck in a breath.
Biting her lips to hide the blush on her face, Harriet turned to check on her twins who were having a conversation with themselves about the buildings they drove past.
Thirty minutes later, they arrived at a familiar amusement park. It was the same park that Harriet had taken Tony to a few days after they returned to England. It was her favorite when she was younger.
Where was Damien getting these information about her from? Could her parents have briefed him about her life?
‘Not possible.’ She thought. Her parents wouldn’t have gotten so comfortable with Damien.
“Do you want to get on a ride?” He asked her as picked up Addison who agreed without a fight.
“I don’t know. It’s been forever since I got on one of those.” She confessed, her eyes gleaming as she watched the children play with their parents. She looked at her own children and smiled.
They had both their parents too.
Throughout their stay at the park, Damien made sure that there wasn’t a second where his family wasn’t smiling.
They finally decided to leave as it was almost 1pm and they had spent almost entire day in an amusement park. Damien left to get ice cream for them only to return with a rose for Harriett.
“I found someone who sells these and I thought I should get one for you.” He said with a warm smile.
Harriet muttered a low ‘ thank you ‘ as she took it from his hands.
As they entered the car, a man in a black mask stood afar off and clicked his camera, zooming in on Harriett and her family. When the car took off, he pulled out his phone and placed a call.
“I have the pictures. You’ll need to double the pay. That’s Damien fucking Daniels.” He said with a smirk, holding onto his camera like it was gold.
*
*
“I haven’t seen your brother Adrian for a while. I thought he’d visit in the hospital but he didn’t. Is everything okay?” Harriett asked as they pulled up at the mansion and Damien groaned inaudibly at how his brother and son shared the same name.
When he remarries Harriett, he’s surely going to change that. He didn’t care if she got the name from a priest. His son wasn’t going to share a name with his brother.
“Adrian is out of the country. He manages a branch of the company is Canada. He only came back because he heard that you were in New York.” Damien replied.
It was a lie.
He had no idea where his brother was and why he wasn’t around but he wasn’t going to ask. The last thing he wanted was for him to show up now that things are looking good for him and Harriett.
Adrian had feelings for Harriett and having him around would only ruin things for him as Harriett’s attention would be divided.
Adrian was not just her brother in law four years ago, he was also her friend.
“Oh. I had no idea.” She replied.
As they got out of the car, Damien noticed an unfamiliar car in the compound that gave him a strange feeling but, he shrugged it off and walked into the house with Addison in his arms.
As soon as they entered the house, all the happiness on his face disappeared and was replaced with a scowl.
“Welcome, you guys. Look who just returned! Oh, this is going to be a pleasant weekend!” Stacy announced happily.
“Hello, brother.” Adrian, Damien’s brother said with a fake smile before turning to Harriett.
“I didn’t think I’d see you here. Mom is right. This is going to be a fun weekend.”