"Morning dear" said Molly as she watched me walk in to the kitchen. She was about to start to prepare breakfast.

"Morning" I said smiling at her, "How did things go last night?"

She rolled her eyes, "I felt like we were back at home, but it wasn't a good thing."

I felt bad for leaving her, "Bad, huh?"

She nodded, "Usual Katherine, bossing everyone around including her son."

"Did Wade say anything to her?"

Molly looked torn, "How could he? He's probably just really happy to be seeing them after so many years. He loves them so much."

My hand rose up to my chest. I could only imagine Katherine criticising everything and everyone, but they were just going on with it because they knew that Wade was really happy to see his parents again.

"But other than Katherine, everything else was fine. How did the wedding planning go?" she asked.

"We got most of it done. Adele is stressed as ever" I said.

Molly frowned, "The poor thing, I can only imagine."

I nodded. Then I looked up toward the stairs and Harold was slowly making his way down. When he approached the dining table, I pulled out a seat for him, "Morning, Mr Barrett."

He smiled at and chuckled, "Please call me, Harold."

"Okay... Morning Harold" I beamed, "Did you sleep alright?"

"I did thank you" he said, "Katherine won't be joining us; she left to do some errands. She took Peter with her."

"Poor Peter" whispered Molly to me. I tried not to smirk.

"Where's Wade?" he asked.

I had no idea where he was. When I woke up, I thought he was already downstairs. "He must be here somewhere" I guessed as I glanced around the house.

"Oh no didn't he tell you? He told me that he was going to see Phillip and Adele" said Molly.

My eyes grew wide from surprise. "He went to see them?"

She nodded. "He left about half an hour ago."

I was thrilled to know that Wade had gone to see them. I took a seat next to Harold, "So what would you like to do today, Sir?"

"I'd actually like to learn more about you, Lea" he said, "I think my son chose well, when he found you."

"Thank you, Sir" I said. I felt intensely honoured to hear him say that.

"I'm really interested in your art gallery, would I be able to see it?" he asked kindly.

"Of course you can" I spoke, "We can go after breakfast, if you like?"

He smiled shyly, "That would be marvellous."

...

Harold stood outside of my gallery while I keyed in the code to unlock the door, once I opened the door I turned back to see the excitement in his face, "Come in."

He followed behind me and gazed around, "This is beautiful." He wandered down the halls and stared at each painting. "You have quite a talent."

I blushed, "Thank you."

"You must be selling these for thousands?" he asked.

"Um... some but others I like to keep" I said following after him, "Like that one." I pointed out a painting I had done of Wade, Molly, Peter and little Adele. I had given to Adele but she wanted me to hang it here.

"You love them all so much" said Harold, "You have so much love and respect for Molly and Peter."

"I feel like they're another set of parents to us. No offence to you and Katherine but Adele sees them like her grandparents."

Harold looked saddened. I was worried that I might have hurt his feelings. "Katherine and I never even thought of them this whole time they were here taking care of our son" he blubbered.

I was surprised at how emotional he had become.

"They've pretty much raised him since he was an infant, Katherine and I have done nothing but hurt him. We have no place here" he spoke weakly.

I sat him down on one of the stools and sat next to him. "You both love him so much and he knows that. He's always thought of you two. Wade knows that when he wanted to get married to Nicole and you two said no that it was out of love. It was just..."

"Just when we banished him..." Harold spoke.

"Yes. When you told him that you didn't want to see him again" I said, "That wasn't love."

Harold's green eyes turned glazed as he looked at me, "No matter how his mother acts, as tactless as she is. He will always hate me more."

I shook my head, "How can that be possible? I can see that Wade gets his nice genes from you."

He lowered his head, "Wade and I were very close. We always held a best friend bond over a father and son bond. But then when he came back from America to England and we met Nicole... I just had the worst feeling about her."

I rolled my eyes, the blood boiling in my body as I thought of her. "Tell me about it."

"I knew that she was not right for him but then he just would not listen to me, he was so blinded by that woman that he chose her over what I was trying to tell him. He and I got into a huge argument and then he said that he was going to marry her no matter what I or his mother said. This made me so angry. He was tarnishing everything; his life, our status, our name... everything! I was so angry that I told him that I never wanted to see his face again and I never did... until yesterday."

He looked exhausted. "Wade loves you a lot. If he didn't, he wouldn't have let you and Katherine live here with us."

"I'm glad to see him and my granddaughter" he smiled, "She does look like me."

I smiled, "She does."

"She was the only good thing to come out of that horrible situation" he spoke, "I wish everyday that I hadn't had said those things to him. I always thought about calling him but I just couldn't."

"Well, Wade has done very well for himself here. He's very successful and he's a very good father" I said, "You should be very proud."

"He also has you" he said, "I can go home happy knowing that I have a marvellous daughter in law."

"Thank you Harold... but I have a question. Now will you not threaten to take Molly and Peter from us?" I pleaded.

He raised an eyebrow, "I'm sorry?"

"You and Katherine were angry about Wade getting married to me... so you were saying that you were going to take Molly and Peter back to England?" I said.

He looked to not understand anything that I was saying. "I assure you that I would never do that."

I stared at him blankly, "Um... alright." If Harold had no idea what I was talking about then what was all that hullabaloo about Molly and Peter leaving. I decided not to say anything else about that.

"Thank you for showing me this, Lea" he said, "You're a very talented woman."

"I'm glad I can call you my friend Harold" I said.

...

When we arrived back Wade was back and unfortunately so was Katherine. As soon as she saw us she headed our way, "And where have you two been?"

"Lea showed me her Art Gallery, it was wonderful" spoke Harold. I smiled at the fact that Katherine didn't look too pleased.

"Really?" she said sourly, "Well it doesn't take much to please you, Harold."

I resisted saying anything mean to her, for everyone's sake. But after listening to Harold's story, I really wanted him and Wade to come together again. "I was glad I could show you, Harold" I said to him.

He smiled and patted my shoulder, "It was an absolute pleasure, my dear."

Katherine gritted her teeth as she watched me happily walk away. I felt like I was having the upper hand. I spotted Wade sitting with Adele; it looked like he was helping her do her homework. "Mum" cried Adele, "Where did you go?"

I brushed my hand against her long ponytail and kissed her cheek, "I went to show Grandpa the art gallery. He really liked that painting I did of you, Molly, Peter and your father."

"That's my favourite too" she said. I took a seat next to her and across from Wade; I couldn't really look at him. I felt like I was just going to be disappointed if I opened my mouth.

"It feels like a lifetime ago when I painted that" I sighed as I leaned my jaw against my hand and stared at Adele's homework.

Adele glared at Wade to signal him to make a move or something toward me. Wade looked hesitant, not knowing what to do. "I really like that painting too" he finally spoke.

I glanced up at him as he stared at me, a small smile on his face. Had I entered the twilight zone or something? Was that a smile on his face? A SMILE?

"Molly told me that you went to see Phil and Adele this morning. Was everything alright?" I asked coyly.

"Yeah, I just wanted to see how they were and apologize for not going the other night" he said, "I helped them with the rest of the wedding planning, so they said that you don't have to go to their place today."

Was this a sign that he wanted to keep me at home? I wasn't sure to be happy or worried. "Oh...alright" I spoke softly.

Wade noticed my hushed demeanour, "It's just that I invited your father and Stephanie over tonight. I thought that it would be great if they could all meet each other. I thought you might like that."

The thought of Dad and Steph coming over was so comforting. Seeing my Dad just made me feel so much better, I hadn't seen him in a while. It made me love the idea so much more especially since I've been living in a house full of Brits and finally another American would be here. It was nice to know that someone from my side was going to be here for me. "I miss Dad so much."

Wade looked a little saddened, "I could tell." He then continued helping Adele with her homework.

By the woe in his voice, it sounded like he was concerned that I was missing my Dad so much. Was Wade beginning to go back to how he used to be? It gave me a little hope. I glanced around the house and looked at what Katherine was wearing; she looked so elegant and well-designed. I stared down at what I was wearing, a cotton t shirt, jeans and sneakers – not so graceful. Harold had opened up to me and I felt like we had made a connection but with Katherine it was difficult. From the moment she saw me, she's just not liked me. I just wished that I could have one conversation with her that didn't involve me having to bite my tongue because I didn't want to say something that I might regret. I slid out of my chair, Adele and Wade both glanced up at me. "I'm just going to change into something, a bit more... graceful."

Wade and Adele exchanged similar glances. I left the two and walked upstairs to the bedroom. I looked through my closet for anything that would be alright to wear. I found this deep purple Herve Lerger belts neck dress, "Perfect" I said as I spotted it. I put it on and then swept my hair on the side and pinned into a chiffon bun. As I fixed my hair, I heard someone walk in. My heart jumped a little when I saw Wade's reflection in the mirror, standing behind me.

"Lea, why are you changing your clothes?" he asked.

"I just wanted to look a little more polished" I said, "It's a little intimidating when your mother in law is walking around your house in Chanel."

Wade rolled his eyes, "That's because she thinks she's at Buckingham Palace!"

I shrug my shoulders.

He walked toward the door as he was about to leave, "You don't need to change for her. Not for anyone." I think you look beautiful no matter what you have on."

...

I ran downstairs in excitement after I saw Dad's car pull up onto our driveway from the bedroom window. I had changed back into my t shirt and jeans and my hair was down. As I came down Wade glanced at me and gave an approving nod at my appearance. I smiled at him and then went to open the door. "Dad!" I cried after seeing him and Stephanie walking toward the front door.

"How's my baby girl?" he asked with a large grin on his face. I hugged him so tightly, his arms grappled my body. "It's so good to see you, darling."

I really missed my Dad, just with everything that was happening I missed having him there for support. I closed my eyes tightly hoping to restrain any pathetic tears. "It's good to see you, Daddy."

I broke out of his hug and kind hearted Stephanie by his side, "I've missed you too, Steph."

She gave me a quick cuddle, "I've missed you too. Should we be scared of the in-laws?"

"I think you two will do fine" I said winking at her.

Dad walked inside and Wade was standing by, "Wade!" he cried as he shook his hand.

Wade shook his hand firmly, "Thank you for coming, Sir." Wade's eyes then moved to Steph. "You look lovely, Stephanie."

"Thank you Wade" she said, "It's been a while."

Harold and Katherine were sitting on the couch, they both stood up as Dad and Stephanie walked toward them. "This is my Dad, Paul and this is his girlfriend Stephanie" I introduced to them.

Wade stepped in, "This is my mother and father, Katherine and Harold."

Dad put his hand out to Harold, "It's a great pleasure to meet you; you've raised quite a man."

Harold chuckled as he shook Dad's hand, "Thank you, you've got quite a beautiful and talented daughter."

Katherine stared at Stephanie, her eyes moving from top to bottom. "Girlfriend? Is that what you said, Lea?" she said bitterly, "So you're not Lea's biological mother."

I couldn't believe how rude Katherine was to Stephanie. But Steph took it with such grace, "No, I'm not her biological mother but I wish I could have been. I'd be honoured to say that Lea is my own."

Katherine sneered and sat back down. Stephanie gave me a look like, 'Was she for real?' I took her arm and sat her down near Dad. Dad was getting a long greatly with Harold. I stood near the dining table with Adele and we let the two pairings meet. Wade came from behind and whispered in my ear, "How do you think this is going to go?"

"Maybe it'll be good" I said with intense hope.

His mouth inched closer to my ear; I could feel hot breath heating my skin as he whispered to me again, "By the way, I think you look very... graceful." He walked back toward the group and began conversing with the others.

...

Sorry I couldn't get this up quicker, but here you go. Thank you guys so much for all of the reviews, over 400! That's incredible! Thank you to therealchamps for currently reading the story and leaving a review for every chapter- greatly appreciated. Special shout out to my gorgeous friend Simran, hope you enjoy the chapter and sorry to make you wait. Enjoy guys!