If I Could

{36} - Alice

Belle and Brian greeted the maternity nurse who was keeping Alice company as she slept, the redhead woman kept tossing the baby's socks inside a drawer.

"Here she is", Belle said as she lovingly looked at her sleeping daughter, dressed in a small yellow dress, her tiny hands balled up into fists as her eyelids fluttered.

"My God, she looks so peaceful", Brian crooned, resting his forearms on the cradle's side to take a better look. "Even her breathing sounds peaceful".

"I know", she said. "And I like that she has a lot of hair already".

"Of course you do - she's going to continue your ribbon legacy".

Belle and Brian sat in both of the nursery's rocking chairs, facing each other.

"But where are Beatrice and Diana? I thought they'd be coming with you", Belle asked as she fixed the hemline of her long green dress.

"There's something I need to tell you about me and Beatrice, Belle", Brian stated, his joyful expression vanishing.

"What - what happened, Brian?", Belle asked with a concerned look on her face.

"Beatrice and I have broken up. For good", he confessed, his eyes instantly welling up. "We're not living together anymore. It's over. She promised me I'd see Diana regularly but I overheard a call she had yesterday saying she wanted to move to Newcastle with her father. I don't know if she was talking to Rami, but if he mentions this to you, please tell him to convince her not to leave London".

Belle narrowed her eyes, heartbroken by his statement. A separation wasn't new to Brian and Beatrice, but they had a daughter now. She stood silent for a moment, before proceeding to ask him the obvious.

"But what about Diana?".

"That's why I'm so concerned", he muttered. "I don't want Beatrice to take Diana away, you know?", he paused as he started to cry. "I want to watch her grow up. I want to be with her every day".

"Hey, Brian, it will be alright", Belle said as she stood up and got closer to him, rubbing his arm. "Beatrice is not the type of person to just leave and avoid you from seeing your daughter. Whatever problems you both have, I'm sure they are not bad enough to restrict you from being close to Diana".

"Well, I still hope they can come here and visit Alice. At the end of the day, Diana and Alice are biological cousins, which is so very crazy to think about", Brian digressed, trying to talk about something else in order not to break down in tears.

"I know. It's a fact that blows my mind".

Belle comforted Brian, and they both asked for a warm cup of coffee as they chatted about the situation. Several minutes after that, Brian felt better, so they changed the subject into one that would turn out to be a controversial topic.

"So after seeing that you've got all this help, I mean, all of your people decorated this nursery in less than a week", Brian uttered, referring to the domestic workers. "I assume that you guys hired them in order not to bother your parents and ask them to come and help with Alice".

"Not at all", she said. "I actually never knew that Rami would hire domestic workers until they were here. It was all his idea. I wanted my parents to be here".

"And why aren't they here?".

"Because Rami told me they had said they wanted us to do our own thing and they didn't want to intervene", she stated.

"How can you be sure of that?".

Belle frowned, wondering why Brian sounded so conflicted.

"Because Rami said my parents let him know that they had changed their mind and they wouldn't be helping us".