Being Harrison Bloom’s Girl

“It’s excellent practice for the rest of our lives. I have a feeling we’ll have to find a lot of compromises.”

Harrison smiled at the woman he loved, with all of his heart, fondly.

“I have a feeling we’ll manage just fine.”

“I have a feeling we will, too. We should tell Mom and Dad. And Emily. And Hana, she’ll have to know. Maybe we can throw a party here – Hana would love to come here. And the next time we have something interesting going on, that wouldn’t bore you, you could come down to campus and spend some time with me.”

Harrison felt the last bit of weight that he hadn’t known he was holding on to lift off him.

Leigh was letting him in again.

“That would be nice. And there are a bunch of balls and dinners coming up. I’ll need to make an appearance at a few. If they don’t interfere with school…”

“I guess I can’t let you deal with the rubbery chicken alone. Especially if they try to do that horrible so-called mushroom risotto. Who caters these things? Even if they hold the dinner at hotels with excellent restaurants, it’s always awful food.”

Harrison grinned.

“It will be nice to have you there with me. Leigh…Leigh, I told you that I can explain…”

Leigh silenced him with a soft kiss.

“You told me that nothing happened. Nothing happened, right?”

Harrison nodded emphatically.

“Nothing happened.”

“That’s enough for me for now. Maybe, if it’s a funny story and everybody else knows it, you could tell me later. So that I don’t stand there like a fool when they’re talking about it.”

Harrison pulled her closer and kissed her again, softly.

“I will,” he promised.

It was a night for promises. And the night had just begun.

“For now,” he whispered, his hand sliding down her bare skin, sensually, and Leigh’s breath caught in her throat.

How could he do that to her with just the simplest of touches? How could he wake her up and make her hum with need so easily?

“Harrison…”

“I’m not done with you tonight, Leigh. I want more of you. I want to touch you, and taste you, and… You’re already wet for me,” he whispered, sliding his hand down her bottom and between her legs, feeling her lips swollen and slick from the need he had awakened in her again.

“I am. I need you. I’ll always need you,” said Leigh, and they lost themselves in each other, in everything they could evoke in each other, all over again.

Three years later…

“You were magnificent.”

Harrison was glowing with pride as he watched his Leigh – she was his Leigh – standing tall, that ridiculous gown and hat suiting her right down to the ground.

“So are you,” said Leigh, and hugged him impulsively.

“Hey Harrison, can we bum a limo off you or something?”

Hana, audacious as ever, walked up to them with that cheeky grin on her face.

“Somehow, I knew that you would ask,” remarked Harrison, as Hana tugged the gown off unceremoniously.

“Of course you did. And?”

“And I’ve already arranged for it.”

Hana whooped.

“Emily! I thought I saw you. Got yourself fired recently?”

Emily grabbed Hana, who was now a fast friend, in a hug before turning to Leigh and Harrison.

“You’re wearing the rock,” said Emily, almost casually.

Leigh glanced down at her hand, where the rock – the emerald, surrounded by little diamonds – was indeed on her ring finger.

“I am. It’s time.”

“I think so, too. I think we should have a party at Harrison’s place. Don’t you think we should have a party there? An army could party there.”

Harrison sighed.

“I had a feeling you’d say that, too, so I arranged for that, as well. I… Ah, finally, Martha and Samuel have managed to tear themselves away from their friends.”

“I’m so proud of you, darling,” said Martha, for the twentieth time. Samuel beamed, and his smile wasn’t dimmed by the sight of Harrison’s arm around Leigh’s waist.

Time, thought Leigh, could do some wonderful things.

“I say that we go out for dinner with Mom and Dad, and after that, we have that party. I don’t think Mom and Dad would enjoy it.”

Martha shuddered.

“I can only be glad that I don’t have to deal with the aftermath like I did at your high school graduation parties,” said Martha, and Leigh was happier than she could remember being.

Her worlds – they weren’t so separate after all. She had only needed to find a compromise. It all worked.

Later – much later – she found herself in Harrison’s arms, where she belonged.

“Have you decided what you’re going to do?”

Leigh was quiet for a moment.

She had offers – she had graduated almost top of the class, and she had plenty of offers. Including an offer from her old firm, which had always been part of her plan. She knew how things worked there. She knew she could rise there.

And yet…

“I think I want to join Roger Hutton’s practice,” she said, softly.

She knew that Harrison had come to terms with that long ago. But if he wanted to go into business with Diane Masters, in something that meant that he would work in close proximity with her, she might have a few misgivings, no matter how much she trusted him.

She was human, after all. It was a human failing.

Harrison was quiet for a while.

“That means that you’ll be here, in the city, with me.”

“Yes.”

“Is this what you truly want, Leigh?”

Leigh knew it was.

She had discovered that she had a knack for criminal law, after all. And she had found that what she really wanted to do was find a way to balance the scales of justice.

Being a public defender – she would be that, too, when she worked with Roger – was what she needed to do. There wouldn’t be the fame and fortune that she could’ve had with any of the big law firms that had offered her jobs and benefits of all kinds.

And she didn’t want those benefits. She didn’t want those perks, she realized.

She wanted to know that what she did with her life would have some impact on people who needed that help.

“I think so. No, I know it is. This is what I want.”

“Then I’m with you, every step of the way. Besides, Roger seems to be fairly happy with his wife now.”

Leigh chuckled.

Roger had found what he deserved, about a year ago. He had rescued a damsel in distress, fallen in love with her, and given her his heart and his name. Now she was on the verge of giving him a child – something else he hadn’t known he needed so desperately in his life.

“He is. He’s so thrilled with how his life has turned out. And Mia is amazing – in every way. I want to help women like Mia. There are so many women like Mia.”

“You will help them. You’ll do everything you want to do, Leigh. I have faith in you. You’ll be a light in the world, like you are to me. I’ll be a proud man when they write about me as your husband.”

The burst of affection she felt for him was almost too much to contain, as she held on to him and kissed him soundly.

“We have come a long way, haven’t we?”

Harrison chuckled.

“A very long way. Longer than I thought we’d have to. But we’ve managed, I think.”

Leigh was quiet for a moment.

“Harrison, I think it’s time we set a date. And plan that wedding.”

“Are you sure? You don’t have to be pressured into it.”

“I’m not. Besides,” went on Leigh, with a rather wicked grin, “it’ll be great publicity for Roger and me to be written up in the papers.”

Harrison chuckled.

“You are incorrigible. And I love you. We’ll set the date. We’ll do it right.”

“We will,” affirmed Leigh, and she knew that they already were.

The end.