today is the day that Molly would have been born if the backyard universe was real life. in honour of that, here’s a tiiiny drabble about how it went.
july 30, 2017
Harry knew that the baby was due soon. He just wasn’t sure how soon. Mara never told him anything, had never let him go to any appointments. She rarely even let him see her.
It killed Harry to leave the country for Dunkirk promo, knowing that his child could very well come into the world without him knowing, but he had to go anyway. He got back to England just in time to move into a new home in the outskirts of London, where Mara and the baby would live with him. They were still hopeful that the baby would be a secret from the world, and the new property would help that. Between all the promo for the movie, no one even noticed that Harry had moved house.
It was a relief when Mara moved some of her things in, and Harry saw that she was still pregnant. It wasn’t like she’d even tell him when she went into labour, or she’d even let him be at the hospital when she gave birth. But, Harry still had the slightest bit of hope that she would come around.
Even late in her pregnancy, Mara was nonstop. She was no longer Harry’s publicist– that had ended when they found out she was pregnant– but she had other clients that had her preoccupied every time Harry saw her. The fact that she was still working so much had Harry thinking that her due date wasn’t as close as he had calculated.
Harry had offered his help in bringing her stuff in from the car, but Mara had just sneered and said she could do it on her own. So, he sat in the kitchen and pulled up the calendar on his phone to try and count back to when he had found out she was pregnant, and the last time they had sex. Like always, early August was the conclusion he found for the due date.
If she was really due in the next few days, Harry knew he’d be angry that she was still lifting heavy boxes. But, he had no conclusive proof. She’d throw that back in his face and deny anything he had counted himself. Even if he was right.
As Mara walked through the kitchen again, he found himself almost regretting that he had slept with her at all. Her true colours had come out way too late in the relationship, and by the time Harry knew what a bitter person she was, he already knew she was pregnant with his child. And despite that all encompassing terror he felt when thinking about being a father, and having to protect a child from the media shitstorm that was his life, he was the tiniest bit excited to be a dad.
“Mara,” Harry stood up, following the path she had taken out of the room. He had decided that he wouldn’t mention anything about her carrying his baby when he offered to help this time. Only the fact that it would go faster if he helped. But, he was sidetracked when he noticed the trail of liquid on the floor. “Did your water just break?”
“No,” She bit back, slamming her trunk shut. Mara’s stubbornness made her a damn good publicist, but she couldn’t deter Harry that easily. Harry set his jaw and listened to her make a phone call to the company’s private car service.
“Then why aren’t you just driving yourself wherever it is you need to go so urgently?”
“Get your nose out of my business, Harry Styles.”
“If you’re in labour with my baby that’s my business too, Mara Kennedy.”
“Fine, that was my water breaking. All over your kitchen floor,” She glared at him, almost daring him to say something.
“Let me drive you to the hospital,” Harry finally said, not taking his eyes away from Mara.
“No,” Her voice was ice cold, just as it always was when Harry brought this up. “You will come to the hospital a respectable amount of time after she is born, as if you are just an ex-client coming to visit.”
“It’s a girl,” He breathed, hanging onto the piece of information Mara had let slip. He didn’t say anything more, but his thoughts swirled; he was going to have a daughter. And, Mara’s reasoning made sense to him. She was trying to protect their daughter’s identity. That didn’t mean he liked it, but he couldn’t fight it as easily.
“My car is here,” Mara leaned in to pull a duffle bag out of her backseat. With that, she left Harry standing in the driveway. He was hoping someone would call him once his daughter was born, but wouldn’t know until it happened.
While he waited, he called his mum to let her know that Mara was in labour. Her excitement took away some of his anxiety about the whole affair, but until his phone rang six hours later with a call from an unknown number, Harry was a bundle of nerves.
“Hello?” He answered after deliberating over letting it go to voicemail or not. As a general rule he never answered a number that wasn’t in his contacts, but he decided to do it. Just in case.
“Is Harry Edward avaliable?”
“Speaking,” He was confused as to why they had used his middle name in place of his last name, but figured it was some matter of privacy that Mara had thought up.
“This is Highgate Private Hospital. Mara Kennedy wanted us to call to inform you that she gave birth to her daughter about an hour ago.”
“Did she say when she’ll be up for visitors?”
“No, but visiting hours end in two hours. If you can get to the hospital before then, I’m sure they’ll be happy to receive you.”
“Thank you,” Harry hung up, and hurried to get to the hospital. He sped most of the way, and felt the adrenaline coursing through his veins as he parked and headed inside.
Unlike what the nurse had said, Mara was not happy to see Harry. Her face fell from a rare smile when he entered the room, but passed the bundle into his arms nonetheless. An immense calm fell over his body when he looked down at his daughter for the first time. There was no doubt in his mind that she belonged to him.
“What are we going to name her?” Harry asked after he had spent a good five minutes just looking at his daughter. She was swaddled in a hospital blanket, and had a pink beanie pulled onto her little head. “I was thinking Molly for a girl.”
“No,” Mara’s expression turned sour. “Her name is Margaret.”
“Molly can be a nickname for Margaret.”
“So can Mara.”
Harry finally looked up at Mara, trying to keep his expression neutral. He would never call his daughter Mara, and the woman knew that. She had to be egging him on. They stared each other down for a few more seconds before the baby moved in Harry’s arms and he looked back down at her.
“Her middle name is Anne,” It was Harry’s turn to speak with finality in his tone, and Mara must have sensed that he wasn’t going to budge on it.
“I’ll finalize the birth certificate when the next nurse comes in,” He was surprised that she relented so easily, but wasn’t going to question it. The next 18 years of Molly’s life were not going to be as smooth, especially since he was definitely going to call her Molly and not Mara or Margaret. Mara was a difficult woman, but despite this fact Harry somehow knew that his daughter would make it well worth it.