Between the Lines

Dakota's POV

World War III was taking place when we got home. My mother and father were yelling at the top of their lungs with broken glass, plates, and anything fragile on the ground. Just like always. Mother hits father before storming out of the room angrily.

“What happened?” Harry asks, clearly unhappy.

“Nicole is being a bitch and doesn’t want to admit it,” Father grunts and fists his hands. He calms down a little and sighs, “Sorry for the mess. She gets her hands on anything she can break when she’s angry.”

I back up and hide behind Harry and hold onto him by his biceps. Father looks towards me causing me to yelp in surprise. I hold onto Harry tightly. I whimper, scared of what might happen. “Harry,” I mumble into his shoulder blade.

Father scoffs, “Great. My own fucking daughter is scared me. Perfect. What are you supposed to be? Her protector?”

Harry stands tall and crosses his arms, “Yes. When you love someone, you’d protect them from anything they are afraid of and you, she is afraid of.”

“She’s my daughter,” He tries to reason, but none of us buy it. He stopped being a father to me a long time ago. “Look, Styles, that is my daughter. Don’t stand between us.” I whimper when he stepped forward. I wrap my arms around his waist and bury my face in his back.

“And this is my house. If Dakota feels threatened, I will kick you guys out. Be glad I’m letting you stay here because I have a small sliver of hope that you guys can make up. But if it comes to it, I will get rid of you and send you back to Wolverhampton,” Harry threatens.

He says, “Well, I apologize if I actually want to try to make amends with my only daughter." He storms out of the room without anymore words.

I slowly step away from him to inspect the damage. It only plates and glasses, things easy to replace, thankfully. Nothing too personal was broken so I guess this was a small fight. Before, both of them would be bloody if they didn't get their hands on me. "Sorry for my parents. But in my opinion, this is actually not bad. Before, I had to stay home from school to clean the whole house. I'm just glad it's only the kitchen." Harry sighs. "Do you really think my parents can, you know, be my parents?"

He shrugs, "I want to believe that every person should have a happy family, but these days, it's hard to."

I wrap my arms around him and he holds me close. "I do have happy family, Harry. I have you, Duchess, the boys, Robin, Anne, grandma, and some of your cousins. I have a family. It may not be the same as everyone else's, but it's a family. My family."

He smiles and cups my cheeks, "One day, I promise that we'll have a family all our own. There'd be mini me's and you's running around and we'd be glad to call them ours."

I giggle, thinking of our family-to-be. "If we have a boy, can we name him James Stark?"

He chuckles, "Absolutely. We can even name our girl Zoey. Or Stevie Rae, or any or your favorite book characters."

I smile, "What would you name our child?"

He shrugs, "I always wanted a girl named Darcy, but I'm rethinking the decision.”

“How about Lenobia Darcy Styles?” I ask. “Lenobia is my favorite professor in the House of Night.”

He smiles, “I like it. A little of both of us in the mix.”

“And maybe we could get a cat and name her Nala!” I say, thinking of all the possibilities of my family.

He kisses me lovingly before saying, “Anything for you.”

Notes

As you can see, I love the House of Night books. You guys should read them, seriously, or go on the website for it.