If I Could

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"I was so embarrased. I could have actually stayed a little longer, I could have fed Alice and put her to sleep, it's not like we had not brought her milk and her pram. But I couldn't bear to stay there and look at Roger and Mailen in the eye when my husband had ruined the night for them", Belle confessed as she twirled the orange juice around in her glass, sitting with her father in his living room.

Freddie did not respond, he was playing with some hand puppets with his granddaughter.

"Hello, I'm Jimmy the lion!", Freddie picked his granddaughter's nose playfully with the puppet.

"Dad, are you listening to me?", Belle asked after noticing that Freddie was very focused on his game with Alice.

"Oh, absolutely", Freddie quickly answered, slipping the sock out of his hand. "I think you did the right thing by leaving early. It would have been way too awkward to stay there, but I think you should visit Roger. Rami must have hit him really hard and he must still be in pain. If he gets to see you again, at least his pain will not be in vain".

"Really?", Belle's head snapped up, and he nodded vigorously.

"Just make sure that Rami doesn't find out, because imagine what will happen if he does", Freddie said.

"I know. It's just that I don't know where to find him. I don't think he went to work today, he must be all bruised and swollen".

"Well, you could go to Taylor Enterprises and ask where he is. I highly doubt they would deny to tell you about his whereabouts. It's time to take advantage of your star treatment", Freddie jested. "You know, I always secretly hoped that you'd end up dating Roger. I never told you this, but when we travelled to Barcelona in July, I met with him in a summit, a day after you left. We didn't get to have an actual real conversation, but I remember that he had told me about how much he admired you and what a great woman you were in his eyes. Talked to me about the time when you guys met and about more recent outings. As a parent, hearing someone say those things about your daughter is a really nice feeling. I'm sure you could understand that a little bit better now".

Belle raised an eyebrow, looking as confused as she was. Freddie's words didn't sound as encouraging and joyful as they should have. Maybe because they really were not supposed to be encouraging and joyful — Freddie was talking about a married man who was in love with a married woman.

"Well, you know that I have always loved Roger. Things were complicated between us when we first met. And when I reunited with him again, he was just.. different, in a good way. An upgraded version of his 23-year-old self. But it's been seven years. It's such a long, long amount of time, and nothing has really happened between us, so that makes me think that we probably don't belong next to each other".

Freddie frowned because that was not the answer he was expecting at all.

"But your relationship with him shouldn't be generalised. It differs from any other relationship. I think that you sometimes forget that you just turned twenty-three years old. You're too young. Don't act as if your whole life has already been settled".

"But I know where I belong now. And it's not with Roger Taylor".

Freddie couldn't tell if his daughter was acting that way because she was excited or nervous about what Roger said about her or because she really did not feel anything at all for Roger anymore. But something that he didn't know about Belle was that she was frustratingly good at keeping up an attitude of not being bothered at anything. Where was the girl who couldn't keep her feelings from showing on her expression, especially when they were about Roger? It was like motherhood had made her defense a million miles taller.