If I Could

{90} - Mother Love

chapter dedicated to jazzyjazz56784 💜

today's Freddie's birthday and I may or may have not posted an emotional message about it on Instagram. happy birthday Freddie, I love you endlessly 🎀

i was reading this book's first chapters and my writing was pretty bad🥵 thank you all for sticking with me haha 😂 only 10 chapters left! (also I think this is the shortest chapter of this story?) I cannot believe this is happening. it's been almost TWO years of writing this story. thank you all for reading it!

Life goes like this: we don't always get what we want and if we get it, we do not always get to keep it. Far more common is the story where happiness happens in moments: maybe that moment is a kiss, a concert, or the moment you get good news. Belle Taylor has her fair share of moments in which she's found happiness: when she and Brian travelled to South Korea, when she went skiing with Freddie, when Alice was born, when she married Roger, and the list goes on.

Her newest happy moment is right this moment, the rainy afternoon of April 10: Belle is holding her 10-hour-old daughter Charlotte in her arms, gazing lovingly but stupidly at her. She swears she's not thinking this because she's her daughter, but Charlotte really looks like a dream: her face looks like a doll's, her silky hair is golden blonde (a contrast against Alice's pretty black hair), she has long eyelashes that echo her mothers', eyes a beautiful shade of green. She is a chubby baby who weighed seven pounds, wrapped in a pretty pink gown, her skin soft and smelling like lavender lotion. Belle brings Charlotte closer to Alice, and Alice smiles, making Belle be overwhelmed with mother love:

"Look, she's your sister, Alice," Belle tells her daughter, who seems to be in awe at Charlotte. Belle feels blessed to have her daughters so close to her, her mind immediately starts to think of all the cute things they will be doing together in the future: all of their cute matching outfits, them playing together. Just the idea of them having each other for their entire lives is a concept that makes their mother smile.

Roger Taylor feels like he's living the best moment of his life, tears of joy sliding down his cheeks, eternally grateful for the scene in front of him. The love of his life holding their daughter, the three of them were together, safe, healthy, happy. Never in his wildest dreams did he imagine he would be able to be this happy: but he finally has a child with his wonderful Belle and she looks just as he imagined she'd look. Roger marvels at how prepossesing his daughter is, he holds her so close to him and presses countless tender kisses on her head. She's an angel. He keeps replaying the moment he saw her for the first time because it felt so magical. He's so excited, he's so happy, he's in ecstasy, he looks at Charlotte and promises her to protect her for the rest of his life at all costs.

A few hours later, Ben is holding Charlotte for the first time and he's immediately consumed with pride and wonder. He looks at her like she is made of the finest gold, like she's a very rare beautiful flower in one bouquet, like she is the most delicate and exquisite human being that has ever walked the Earth. He spends the following minutes staring at her, checks if she's fine and feels relieved to confirm she's a very healthy baby. Ben caresses Charlotte's face and she cooes, making him beam with joy at her reaction. Their time together is limited, but he hopes to see her soon. Beatrice brings the baby to the nursery where Freddie and Mary are waiting for her. The proud grandparents can't take their eyes off their new granddaughter, and even Freddie has brought his own camera to document every single moment of Charlotte's first day of life.

When Freddie finally gets to hold Charlotte, he kisses her and promises her she will be always looked after and will always be infinitely, endlessly loved.