Daughter

Chapter 14

Amelia woke up in the morning and felt incredible relief. She felt very rested and relaxed that she had at least partially confided in someone. It didn't bother her that it was almost noon. Nor did anyone else in the house. As she looked around she realized that she wasn't in her room and, that she was curled up asleep, pressed against Kelly. 

"Good morning my little girl how did you sleep?"   "Good mom." Amelia smiled. 

"Honey I know it's probably not the most appropriate or pleasant to broach the subject first thing in the morning. But it hurts me so much to see you suffer. Please if anything is wrong tell me. Okay? Come to me with even the stupidest thing. If you want to talk about last night's dream, I'm here to listen to you. Okay? I'm listening to you. Know that I'm always here with you." 

Kelly looked into Amelia's eyes and stroked her cheek soothingly.  "Tem sido um pesadelo, ultimamente tenho sonhado o tempo todo. Na maioria das vezes, ele tem um final ou alguma forma de descrevê-lo." ( "It's been a nightmare, I've been dreaming all the time lately. Most of the time it has a punchline or some way to describe it.") Amelia sighed and switched fluently to Portuguese.

"Ele está sempre presente. Na maioria das vezes, é um acidente em que ele morreu, uma discussão antes do acidente ou uma lembrança ruim da infância. Mas tudo está ligado a ele. Isso não me deixa dormir." ("He's always there. Most of the time it's an accident in which he died, an argument before the accident, or a bad childhood memory. But it's all connected to him. It doesn't let me sleep." ) She explained.

 "É por isso que eu estava tão cansado agora que tinha medo de dormir. Eu estava com medo de ver aquilo várias vezes, várias vezes. Foi muito assustador." ("That's why I was so tired now I was afraid to sleep. I was scared I was going to see it over and over again, over and over again. It was so scary.") Kelly pulled Amelia tighter into a hug and kissed her hair.

"Por que não nos contou antes, querida? Nós teríamos tentado ajudá-la. Mas estou muito orgulhoso de você por ter confiado em mim agora. Fico muito grato por isso. Você está começando a me surpreender com a perfeição com que fala português." 

("Why didn't you tell us sooner sweetheart. We would have tried to help you. But I'm very proud of you for confiding in me just now. I appreciate it very much. You're beginning to amaze me how perfectly you speak Portuguese.")

Kelly smiled. "Morei no Brasil por alguns anos até que tivemos que nos mudar para a França. Às vezes sinto muita falta do Brasil, eu gostava muito de lá. Não queria ir para a França de jeito nenhum e não entender ninguém lá, não gosto quando as pessoas não me entendem."  ("I lived in Brazil for a few years until we had to move to France. Sometimes I miss Brazil very much, I liked it there very much. I didn't want to go to France at all and not understand anyone there, I don't like it when people don't understand me." )

Amelia pondered the matter. Kelly pointed out. "Sim, você não gosta quando não entende as pessoas, mas quando as pessoas não gritam com você, isso faz você se sentir bem, certo?" ("Yeah you don't like it when you don't understand people but when people don't growl at you it makes you feel good, right?")  "Como você me adivinhou assim, mãe?"  ("How did you guess me like that mom?" )

Kelly laughed with relish. "Você é fácil de ler em algumas coisas, querida." ("You're easy to read in some things sweetheart.") 

It has been some time since that small talk and a much needed one at that. Amelia was recovering fast. The time had come and Max was getting ready for the Azerbaijan GP it was a sprint weekend. That meant there would only be one practice and there would be two Qualifications.

 One for the sprint and one for the race. Amelia couldn't wait. Max had done well in the last race. He was second in the Saudi Arabia GP but at least Checo was first and that meant good points for redbull.   After arriving at the paddock, Max disconnected from them to go do his chores. They only had one FP1 today which meant they had a short time to adjust to the track and set the correct modes on the monoposts.

 The day before, Max had been in the paddock alone as he had mainly media duties and Amelia had asked both Kelly and Max if they could look around while Max was working as she had never been to Azerbaijan before. They took a lot of pictures and saw a lot, had a lot of fun and finally Amelia spent a good day with Kelly and Penelope. 

The beginning of FP1 was pretty normal but after a while it all started to happen. Alpine (Pierre Gasly ) started having hydraulic problems and his monopost started to burn. "Is Pierre okay?" Amelia turned to one of the mechanics.

" Sure, he jumped right out of the car so I think he's fine." He replied to her. Amelia just nodded and continued to watch the training. Ocon wasn't doing too well here either. It had been a bad workout for Alpine. Right after Pierre, Kevin Magnussen also had problems with his monopost and had to leave practice as well.

 A red flag was called and that meant that all the monoposts had to go back to the garage. After it was lifted, Carlos damaged the barrier wall which caused surprise and later some laughter from Amelia as he somehow managed to get the monopost undamaged. Yuki, however, was not so lucky and when he didn't turn the corner and ended up in the barrier he damaged his tyre.

 In the end, Max was the fastest here, with Charles right behind him.  Amelia was very happy for both of them.

Hi, I'm so sorry it's taken so long, I had this chapter ready longer but I got writer's block halfway through and didn't know how to proceed. Also, I'm reporting back to you as a successful graduate and I'm very happy to be able to share this with you. After an incredible amount of exams, I made it and after a big surprise, I got accepted to the high school I dreamed of. I'm also happy for Charles's win at Monaco. And immeasurably disappointed about the DNFs of both Ferraris at Canada in Montreal. And yet, the world doesn't come crashing down with this and life goes on.  

Yours Lia.

     1134 words.