Black Sheep

"So what were you doing outside?" My mum asked. The question was loaded. She knew something.
"We were just having a chat"
"Is that all?!" She was obviously expecting something.
"Yeah that's all"
"It would be so lovely to see you and Harry to end up together" she nodded my attention to the dance floor where he was waltzing with my grandma.
"It certainly would be" I mused out loud.
I noticed my cousins sat by the bar like we used to when we were legal to drink (and maybe a few times before), and I went to join them.
"Where's this lad of your's he needs to join in with our celebrations!" My cousin Matthew shouted, obviously drunk
"Hes over on the dance floor dancing with Grandma."
"Well get him over here, so we can carry on the traditional drinks!" The tradition between my cousins and I was that every time one of us got married we would drink an alcoholic beverage from each country of our heritage. When we were younger it was our excuse to get as drunk as possible, but now it was more about honouring our roots, something we were all proud of. Harry had spotted us by the bar and found his way over.
"So to start us off we have Ouzo from our Greek ancestors!" Sarah announced, passing us all a shot glass of Ouzo.

The night carried on with various drinks; Scottish whiskey, schnapps from Austria, cognac from France and of course a whole pint of Guinness from our uncles in Ireland.

****
The next morning the cows in a nearby field woke me, followed by the sheep and chickens. Harry groaned as he rolled over, throwing his arm over me pull me closer.
"Is someone a little worse for wear this morning?" I asked quietly. He nodded into the pillow. "If I didn't love you so much I would leave you here to wallow in your self pity " he turned so we were eye to eye.
" your cousins are terrible influences"
"Yes but it wasn't them shouting 'we need to do more shots' long after the bar closed"
"Did I really?" He questioned, eyes wide
"Of course, you also asked my auntie if you could buy her farm from her"
"My dad would love to have a farm" he thought out loud.
“He does doesn’t he?”
“He would love to have his own farm and spend all his time there in the paddocks with the cows and sheep.”
We both lay there in a comfortable conversation for a while while the morning sun doused the room.
“Imagine if we had a farm.” He said, running his thumb up and down my arm.
“What do you mean?”
“Our own little farm in the middle of nowhere with kids running about the fields.”
“And you would have a tractor and a flat cap and wellies!”
“Of course I would. And we could have sheepdog too!”
“I want to take you somewhere today on the way home.” I noted, stretching my back out.
“Where?”
“It’s a surprise. Somewhere special.”
“Does that mean I’ll have to let you drive?”
“Not if you don’t mind taking directions.”
“In that case I’ll have to let you drive.” He kissed the top of my head before getting out of bed and pulling his jeans on.
“I have to talk to you seriously.” He said sitting back on the bed and holding my hand. Was this it? Was he making up for last night’s interruption? “I want to do another tour. It’ll probably be back at Camp Bastion to help finalise everything.” That hit me like a truck. He wanted to go back? Of course he did, it was part of who he is. It would’ve been so selfish of me to beg him not to go. “What do you think?” He asked.
“I think” I started, but I couldn’t find the words to say.
“I don’t need an answer. I just need to know that you’ll be happy and safe while I’m there.”
“I could never be happy if you’re not here.”

****
“you will come back soon won’t you?” my mum said, giving Harry a hug at the front door.
“Of course we will.” I said moving to hug my dad goodbye.
“He’s a good lad.” I dad whispered.
“I know.” I whispered back. There was a squeal from inside the house, followed by the sound of tiny footsteps running towards the door.
“HARRY!” Poppy squealed as she ran towards him, arms wide open
“Princess Poppy!” Harry shouted back. He bent down and scooped her up for a cuddle.
“Are you leaving?” She said.
“We are but we’ll be back to visit soon.” I said, stroking the curly locks on her head.
“Maybe tomorrow?” she asked, eyes wide.
“Maybe tomorrow.” Harry promised.

*****
“Turn right into this carpark here.” I said pointing out directions. The sun was bright in the clear sky and we could see the sea from the cliff top where we parked. The air conditioning was on icy cold to try and cool us down. We pulled into a car parking spot and cut the engine.
“So where the hell are we?” Harry asked,
“This is called Staithes.” I said getting out of the car. He nodded happily getting out and walking round the car to meet me, catching my hand in his. We walked along a path that was flanked with wild bushes and bees flying around. “My mum and uncle used to come here every summer with my grandma and grandad.” We carried along the path enjoying the warmth of the sun.