Lean on Me

Part Three - Chapter Twenty-Nine: Full Custody

Fernando took a deep breath stepping into the kitchen and looked at his ex-wife as she sipped on her coffee, she was looking out of the window and into the back garden that was filled with flowers.

“Olalla?” Fernando said softly closing the kitchen door in case there was shouting, he wanted to talk to her first about what her mother had told him before he took any drastic actions.

Olalla raised an eyebrow turning and looked at her ex-husband, her eyes flickering from him to the shut door; she knew that she shouldn’t get her hopes up about why he had closed it.

Olalla had never seen him this loyal to anyone as he was with Cassidy, her heart ached knowing that in the end it was her fault that their marriage had collapsed.

If she hadn’t of forced him to move to London so that she could be closer to George then he would have never have met Cassidy and fallen for her.

“I want to talk to you about Nora and Leo,” Fernando said watching her, he knew that him moving back to Madrid was going to cause problems but they had to do something about this.

Olalla nodded her head as she tried to hide her disappointment, she didn’t know why she allowed herself to hope that somewhere inside of him, he still loved her in some small way.

“Your madre says that you are having trouble coping with three children,” Fernando said carefully, he watched his ex-wife as he moved to sit down at the breakfast bar in her kitchen; his brown eyes taking in her defeated form knowing that they needed to work this out.

Olalla huffed a little annoyed that her mother had told Fernando about that, she nodded her head knowing that there was no point denying that she was having problems.

“Do you ever think of us?” Olalla asked crossing her arms and leant back against her counter, her brown eyes looking at Fernando curiously.

“Olalla we have talked about this,” Fernando said thinking back to their talk when they had been in Brazil, he didn’t like where this was going and he was sticking with what he had said.

Olalla sighed shaking her head and walked towards Fernando, she knew that he wouldn’t leave his second wife for her; she had hurt him so much by cheating on him for two years and nearly having him raise the George’s baby.

"I know… but I can’t help but think about the past,” Olalla whispered wondering if there would have been any chance for them if they had never come to London, if she had never cheated on him with George.

Fernando stared at his ex-wife for a moment, he knew that she was hurting since everything seemed to be going against her but he was sure that one day that she would find someone who made her happy.

“Cassidy is my soul-mate Olalla… I would have met her one way or another,” Fernando said messing with his wedding ring, he truly believed that as well.

Fernando didn’t know how he could have a life without the woman that was now his wife and she was definitely his soul-mate.

Olalla stared at Fernando as she realised that he had never called her that, she had always been his first love and his childhood sweetheart but never his soul-mate and it hurt.

“I want to take Nora and Leo with me when I go to Madrid,” Fernando said knowing that it would be best if his children came with him, he wouldn’t stop Olalla from seeing him but she needed time to herself and to rebuild her life.

Fernando hoped that his ex-wife would listen to him about what he was about to suggest; she needed to leave London if she wanted to rebuild her life for herself.

“Olalla… I want you to go back to Santiago de Compostela, start a new life there for yourself like you planned to,” Fernando said softly watching his ex-wife, he wanted the best for her and while he had moved on with his life it was time she did as well.

Fernando knew that George had interrupted her plans last time and had brought her back to London before dumping her again; he had destroyed Olalla’s chances of moving on.

“Don’t do this for me… do it for yourself and Georgie,” Fernando said knowing that he didn’t want her doing more damage and that she needed to focus on herself, he couldn’t remember the last time he had actually seen her happy.

Olalla blinked at his request, she stared at Fernando as she took in his words as she wondered what he was trying to do.

The brunette knew that she had nothing tying her to London anymore when Fernando returned to Madrid with his new family.

“How would this work?” Olalla asked knowing that she didn’t want to hand over Nora and Leo completely, she was still their mother and wanted to see them as often as possible.

They were the only link that she had to her life with Fernando before she destroyed it, it was the reason that she had kept them away from him because she didn’t want them around Cassidy and forgetting that she was their mother.

“They can visit you anytime you want,” Fernando said knowing it was a five and a half hour drive from Madrid to Santiago de Compostela; he was willing to do anything to ensure that Olalla would agree.

Olalla nodded her head knowing that this was for the best, she had hung on to Fernando for too long and she hadn’t really been alone since George had broken up with her.

***

Cassidy furrowed her brow brushing some hair from her face and walked out of the kitchen as she paused from making dinner; her brown eyes glanced up at the clock knowing that Fernando wasn’t meant to be back until later.

Cassidy felt her jaw drop in surprise as Nora and Leo hurried into the house followed by their father; she wasn’t sure what had happened while he had been gone.

“Why don’t you two go and see Leia and Noah?” Fernando said nudging the two towards the lounge where he knew the twins would be. Fernando moved to set down one of the bags that was in his hands that continued clothes for his eldest two children.

“Olalla’s given us full custody,” Fernando relieved moving closer to his wife, he knew they were in the process of packing to go to Madrid in a few weeks.

Cassidy nodded her head stepping closer to her husband and wrapped her arms around him, she was twenty-five weeks pregnant and it was starting to get difficult to hug him.

“What happened?” Cassidy asked concerned knowing that there was no way that Olalla would have handed over the two children without a reason to.

Fernando pressed a kiss to her lips knowing that he didn’t want her to worry about anything, the footballer was just happy that everything had worked out well without any legal problems.

“I’ll tell you later,” Fernando said moving into the kitchen to make sure that dinner wasn’t burning, he knew that was a surprise and he wanted to talk with Cassidy when the children were all in bed.

Cassidy furrowed her brow as she followed her husband into the kitchen, her hand brushing against her bump knowing that she was going to have her hands full with four children under the age of five living under the same roof.

Cassidy just hoped that there wasn’t going to be any trouble from Olalla in the future for what was happening right now.