Lean on Me

Part Two - Chapter Twenty: Merry Christmas

Fernando grinned as he helped Noah unwrap his Christmas presents, the footballer held his son close knowing that eight month old had no idea what was going on, only that there was a lot more of stuff in the house.

“What’s this?” Fernando cooed as he held up the new toy to his son, he grinned as he pressed a kiss to the top of Noah’s hand; the couple had recently baby proofed the house since the twins were soon going to be crawling around and the last thing that they needed was for them to get injured in any way.

Cassidy smiled as she appeared holding Leia, she carefully set the infant down next to Fernando knowing that the footballer was having so much fun with the twins since he had a couple of days off from training and got to spend more time with his family.

Llanta was quick to move and sit next to the little girl, the female bulldog had taken it upon herself to look after the twins; she acted like a nanny and kept them out of trouble when their parents weren’t around.

“What time do you have to be at Olalla’s?” Cassidy asked brushing some hair from her face and moved to tidy up a little; this was the only way that Fernando would be able to see Nora and Leo for the holidays since Olalla refused to allow them to spend much time at the house.

Over the last few weeks Fernando’s ex-wife had been making things difficult for Fernando when it came to his children; Nora and Leo spent two and a half days week with their father but pick up and drop off was becoming a nightmare for the couple.

Olalla simply refused to hand the children over if Cassidy had to do the pick up when Fernando was busy and she never had them ready in time for when he did go and pick them up.

“After three,” Fernando said smiling at his fiancée, this wasn’t easy for her and it wasn’t ideal for him especially since his children were meant to spend half of Christmas day with them.

Olalla had simply refused and had demanded that Fernando come to her home for the holiday but only for an hour to see his children so that he didn’t interrupt her holiday.

Cassidy nodded stuffing the used wrapping paper into a bag, she knew that he was upset about the arrangement but there was little that could be done without upsetting Olalla more.

Cassidy was dressed in a red knit skater dress with lace detail paired with black block heel ankle boots, she was going to head up to her parents’ home so that they could see the twins and so she could see her pregnant sister; Fernando had wished to join her but his own plans cancelled that out.

Fernando was determined to have a nice Christmas with his family, he had spoken to his parents that morning before they’d insisted that they put the twins on the phone.

They loved having more grandchildren and kept hinting that they would love another one or two from the couple sooner or later.

***

“Papa,” Nora squealed in excitement as she hurried to greet Fernando, she hugged him as Leo followed after his older sister; they had both been excitedly awaiting the arrival of their father and now that he was here it made them happy.

Fernando hugged his two eldest children wishing that this holiday season could have been easier; they had spent last Christmas with him and Cassidy and it had been so easy for them even with his fiancée being pregnant with the twins.

“Have you had a nice Christmas?” Fernando asked glancing at the mountain of presents that the two had, he felt a little jealous that he hadn’t been able to be there to see them open them; Olalla had made it clear that he wouldn’t be welcome and Fernando knew that he still wasn’t.

George was watching them from across the room and he didn’t want Fernando spending time inside of the house.

George wanted Fernando out of his life with Olalla, knowing that as long as the footballer was involved he would be nothing more than the man that had destroyed Olalla’s married life.

“We have papa… come look at our presents,” Nora said taking her father’s hand and started to led him into the living room; she ignored the warning look on George’s face as she happily chatted about how today had been.

Olalla sighed as she looked at her ex-husband, she knew how George felt about the footballer’s presence in their lives; he had made it perfectly clear that he wanted them to start over without Fernando in their lives.

However there was two problems with that and they were Nora and Leo, she couldn’t take them away from their father and she doubted that her ex-husband would let her.

Olalla could see even now how much he loved them and it hurt to know that he had once felt like that for her.

Olalla sighed as she heard her nine month old son cry, she glanced over at George knowing that he wasn’t going to see what their son wanted; he wouldn’t relax until Fernando had left and gone back to his own family.

***

“No Torres today then?” Jason asked watching Cassidy with the twins, he smirked knowing that this was too good to be true; he hoped that this was the start of some trouble for the couple that would lead to them breaking up.

Cassandra rolled her eyes as her husband before she moved to hug her sister, she was five months pregnant and had started to speak to her older sister a lot more as she prepared to become a mother for the first time.

“No… he’s gone to see Nora and Leo,” Cassidy said ignoring the tone in Jason’s voice, she knew what he was trying to do and she wasn’t going to let him bring her down.

Jason wanted her back with her ex-boyfriend and Cassidy had no interest in returning to the man that had hurt her so much.

Jason frowned as he realised that he wasn’t getting under Cassidy’s skin, he watched her as she talked with Cassandra and held Leia.

She seemed so happy that he wasn’t sure how his friend would take the news that there didn’t seem to be trouble in paradise like he thought.

“Okay… we found out what we are having,” Cassandra said excitedly, she ignored her husband’s protest knowing that he didn’t want anyone to know but she couldn’t help herself; Cassidy had told her everything about the twins and she wanted to do the same.

Cassidy looked at her younger sister curiously wondering what she was going to have, she wanted someone else to spoil and she wanted to prepare for the birth as much as her sister would.

“It’s a boy,” Cassandra revealed making Cassidy and Andrea coo as they congratulated her, she smiled ignoring the look on her husband’s face; she refused to talk about what he wanted since this was her home and she had no interest in leaving anything behind.

Jason pursed his lips as he watched his wife and his in-laws, no one knew what he had discussed with Cassandra but he hoped that she would agree; he wanted to start a new life in America and he would go with or without her.