Baby of Mine

Chapter Thirty-Two: Dealing with Parenthood

“Oh Sergio… she’s hermonsa,” Paqui cooed as she looked down at Aoife-Belle, she couldn’t believe that had another granddaughter; Sergio beamed as he sat down next to Gabriela and wrapped his arm around her.

The footballer’s family had only just arrived to meet the newest addition to their family, they all knew that the couple were now together and Sergio had insisted that if they weren’t going to be nice to Gabriela then they weren’t going to come to his home.

“She is,” Sergio said proudly as he watched his mother with his daughter, he had loved showing Aoife-Belle off and was looking forward to the end of the season when he would get to take her to the stadium and show her off; he had already gotten her a strip that said papa on the back of it with his number.

“So how has training been?” José María asked as he sat down and sipped on his drink, he looked at his son with the blonde; he wasn’t sure what to make of the sudden relationship between them and he worried that this would only cause problems later on when they needed to focus on their daughter.

“Training’s been fine,” Sergio said as he nodded at his father, he could sense that there was something unsettling his father and he had a feeling that it was to do with his relationship with Gabriela; however he had no intentions of allowing it to ruin today.

“She a wonderful mixture of the two of you,” Mirian said as she smiled down at her niece, she could tell that the little girl was going to cause her father some problems when she got older.

***

Sergio smiled as he watched Gabriela with their daughter as she prepared the little girl for a nap; even in the days since her birth, the footballer hadn’t been able to leave his daughter alone for long.

“Sergio… you don’t need to watch every time someone picks her up,” Gabriela said as her boyfriend stepped into the nursery, he made his way over to her and carefully wrapped his arms around her; his lips brushed against her neck as he looked down at Aoife-Belle.

“How are you?” Sergio asked as he glanced at his girlfriend, he didn’t want anything off setting her while she was slowly recovering from the birth; the last thing that he wanted was for her to suffer in anyway, he wasn’t sure if he could deal with her getting postpartum depression.

“I’m fine… a little tired but I’m okay,” Gabriela insisted since she knew what Sergio was looking for and she was glad that they had sat down and talked about this; the footballer had insisted that the blonde talk to him if she felt that she was starting to struggle.

The Sevillian frowned before carefully lifting Aoife-Belle out of Gabriela’s arms, he held her close as he looked at Gabriela; he nodded at the door making the blonde chuckle as she nodded her head knowing what he wanted.

“I can handle this,” Sergio insisted as he held Aoife-Belle close, he watched his girlfriend leave knowing that she needed to rest; they still had a lot to do and he didn’t want her exhausting herself so soon.

The footballer listened for a moment and sighed as he looked down at Aoife-Belle, who pouted at him; he chuckled as he brought her closer and moved to sit down in the chair in the room so that he could hold her for a while.

Sergio had been doing a lot of research into what would happen now that Aoife-Belle had been born, he didn’t want anything upsetting Gabriela; especially with everything that was going on and the hormonal changes that she was now going through.

“Time for bed,” Sergio said as he carefully got to his feet, he grinned as he looked down at Aoife-Belle who was starting to fall asleep in his arms; the footballer carefully put his daughter to bed and smiled knowing that Gabriela’s birthday was in a couple of days.

***

“Did she settle okay?” Gabriela asked as she looked at Sergio as he entered the bedroom, he frowned as he looked at his girlfriend knowing that she was meant to be resting; he sighed before an idea formed in his mind and he headed for their en-suite bathroom.

The blonde watched him confused as he left without saying a word before returning with a smile on his face, she raised an eyebrow at him wondering what was going on as he sat on the bed next to her; the sound of their bath filling reached her ears.

“She’s fine… sound asleep,” Sergio reassured her before he took her hand and smiled at her, he knew that she hadn’t had much time to herself since he was a training all day and was soon going to be spending a couple of nights away from her and their daughter.

“Come on,” Sergio said as he got up from the bed and pulled her towards the bathroom, she raised an eyebrow at him as he nudged her towards the room; she stepped inside and looked at him wondering what was going on.

“The bath is for you… I’ll look after Aoife-Belle for tonight, you just relax,” Sergio insisted knowing that Gabriela deserved a break, she smiled at him before she kissed his lips grateful for what he was doing; Sergio grinned as he kissed his girlfriend knowing that everything was going to be fine.

The footballer soon left Gabriela alone and she locked the bathroom door behind her, she had considered asking him to join her but the idea of having a bath to herself sounded too pleasant.

Since Aoife-Belle had been born, the blonde hadn’t had much time to herself and she couldn’t have been grate fuller for Sergio’s offer so that she could relax.

The blonde carefully stripped off her clothes and climbed into the water, she grinned to herself as she looked at the candles that Sergio had put around the tub for her and she sank back into the waters.

Gabriela’s lay in the water as she thought about her approaching twenty-sixth birthday, she hadn’t really mentioned it to Sergio but she had a feeling that he already knew; she didn’t know what he was planning since he had gone into his office to make a couple of calls after his family had left.

Gabriela splashed her hands in the water as she thought about her last birthday, she sighed knowing that this would be the first one without her family and she wasn’t sure how she felt about that; she didn’t miss her father but she wished her mother was round.

There was nothing that the blonde wanted more than to introduce Aoife-Belle to her mother, she knew that if it wasn’t for her father then Andria would have adored the little girl; Gabriela wiped a stray tear from her face.

Her father had always been abusive and even now that she had escaped from his control, she feared for her mother; she didn’t want to one day get a call that Josep had murdered her in a fit of rage.

Gabriela ducked her head under the water for a moment before she wiped her face, she didn’t want Sergio to catch her crying; she knew that he would be worried when this had nothing to do with her being post pregnancy; she was just missing her mother.

Taking a deep breath, Gabriela started to think about how perfect Aoife-Belle was; she couldn’t have asked for a more perfect daughter, she knew that she had been blessed in a very special way.