Sway with Me

Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Story of Penny Lopez

Isabelle fanned herself as she watched Cristiano in the pool with Junior, she knew that they should have been rehearsing but the day was so warm that the red head couldn’t resist her boyfriend’s offer of spending the day by the pool.

The couple were due to dance a Charleston and the Viennese Waltz  for the next show and they knew that it was only the beginning if they made it into the final, Cristiano was working his hardest and he was glad that he didn’t have any football training so that he could spend time working on his dancing with Isabelle.

“Why don’t you join us?” Cristiano asked as he looked at his girlfriend who was wearing a purple towelling beach playsuit, she was starting to tan slightly and the footballer was thrilled that they were getting to spend a lot more time together.

Isabelle looked up at him from where she was reading, she rolled her eyes at the sight of her boyfriend knowing that they needed to start thinking about the future; she knew that there was a chance that Más que baile wouldn’t offer her a new contract and other shows had shown that they were interested in her.

“Por favor,” Cristiano said pouting making Isabelle sigh as she pushed herself off the sun lounger, she carefully moved her stylish black flip flops under it before she pulled off her purple towelling beach playsuit to reveal her purple strapless air bikini top and bikini shorts.

The footballer grinned as he looked at his girlfriend, he knew that she was thinking about the future but he hoped that Más que baile would offer her a new contract; he didn’t know what he would do if she took a job in another country.

***

“I can’t believe it’s so warm and it’s only the start of June,” Isabelle muttered as she stepped into the shade holding Junior in her arms; she glanced back at Cristiano who nodded his head as he wiped the water from his hair.

The couple moved back into the house to get out of the sweltering heat, they knew that there was no way that they would be able to rehearse today and Isabelle hoped that they would at least get a chance to rehearse later on when it was cooler.

“I know… reminds me of home,” Cristiano said with a smile on his face, he knew that with the show over in two weeks that he would get to travel back to Portugal and he hoped that Isabelle would be joining him; the footballer glanced at the red head as she sat down with Junior.

“The weather reminds you of Madeira?” Isabelle asked as she looked at her boyfriend, he nodded his head as he moved to sit down next to her; he knew that she was still curious about his life before her but it was something that he had shared with Penny and was still a painful memory for him.

“You miss her,” Isabelle guessed making Cristiano nod his head as he looked at his son, he knew that there was never going to forget his first love; they had been together for five years and one cruel accident had taken her away from him.

Cristiano took a deep breath as he looked at Isabelle, he knew that he was going to have to tell her about what happened; he had been waiting for the right moment to do so after they had been together for over a month now.

“You don’t have to tell me Cris,” Isabelle said as she sensed that he was about to tell her something important, she glanced down at Junior; she had a feeling that it was a story that was more painful than she knew.

“I want to,” Cristiano said as he ran a hand through his hair, he watched her for a moment before he smiled sadly at Junior; he didn’t want to tell his son about his mother until he was sure the little boy could handle it.

“I’m sure you know that before I came to Madrid, I was with Penny,” Cristiano said making Isabelle nod her head, she watched him knowing that this couldn’t be easy for him, she wished that there was some way that she could make this easier for him.

“Penny was my childhood sweetheart and we officially started dating back in 2005, she came to live with me in Manchester and we were happy together,” Cristiano said as he carefully explained the story of him and his first love, he swallowed as he felt his heartache that she couldn’t be with him now; he wouldn’t wish this sort of pain on his worst enemy.

Isabelle nodded her head as she ran a hand through Junior’s hair, she could tell that this was hard for her boyfriend and she had a feeling that he had never recovered from whatever had happened.

“We were together for five years… she’s Cristiano’s mother,” Cristiano said as he smiled sadly at his son for a moment, he knew that she would have loved to see her little boy grow up and he hated that she would never get to see Junior grow up.

Isabelle bit her lip wondering why the woman wasn’t around to see the little boy grow up, she didn’t know how Cristiano had coped with losing the mother of his son and being forced to raise his own son alone.

“I was away playing in the World Cup when the news broke… Penny had been in a car accident and had been rushed to hospital, my Mãe had convinced me not to fly back because everything was okay,” Cristiano said bitterly, he knew that he would have done anything to be with Penny if he’d have known she was dying.

“It wasn’t until the next morning when Cátia told me that I had a son that I learnt that Penny hadn’t made it,” Cristiano said as he felt the tears burn his eyes, he swallowed stiffly as he tried to wrap his head around what he had lost; he couldn’t believe that it had nearly been three years since she had died.

Isabelle stared at Cristiano sadly, she looked down at Junior who seemed completely unaware about what his father had just said; she knew that he would have questions later on in life and she hoped that Cristiano was prepared to answer them.

“I’m sorry,” Isabelle said as she looked back at her boyfriend, she felt horrible that the media had judged him so harshly over something like this; he had reacted the only way that he knew how and the media had taken advantage of him as had Irina.

“It’s okay… I learnt to deal with it a long time ago, maybe not in the right way but thanks to you it’s getting better,” Cristiano said with a small smile, the red head was his light at the end of a long dark tunnel and he knew that if it wasn’t for her then he would still be unhappy with his life and he would still be with Irina.

“I’m glad that I can help… no one deserves to go through that,” Isabelle said shaking her head, she looked at Cristiano who smiled at her weakly as he wiped his eyes as he tried to wrap his head around the fact he had told someone about Penny.

The couple were silent for a moment before Junior clambered away from Isabelle and sat on his father’s lap, he was still too young to really realise what the couple had been talking about and Isabelle was sort of glad about that.

Cristiano held his son close, he knew that he had been angry for a while about losing Penny but he had been lucky in a way that he still had his son; he didn’t have a double loss to mourn and he knew that some people weren’t that luck.

The footballer looked at his girlfriend and realised for the first time in a long time that he was lucky to have Isabelle in his life.