the secret

Chapter 68

"Okay, let's get your shoes. I will take you to their house" I sigh. I hope she's back home, or that Pablo can calm him down with an excuse.

____

We make it to their house, by this time it is around 9:00pm. I hope someone is awake. We knock at the door a few times until I see a light turn on. Pablo opens the door, shirtless and with sweatpants on, clearly he was asleep.

"Pedri?" He yaws, wiping his eyes.
"Papi! Papi!" Mateo cries out and jumps into Pablo's arms. He continues to cry as Pablo rubs his back.

"Campeón, what's wrong? Hm?" Pablo says to him. He signals for us to come in as he shuts the door behind us.

"I missed you and Bella and mami" Mateo sobs.
"Well, I'm here with you now. Your mami is staying with your tio Joao. Do you remember him? He wanted to meet Isabella. You will see them soon, okay?" He explains to Mateo.

She's with Joao? I guess they've talked already if he knows. Mateo seems to calm down and nods his head.

"Si, tio Joao, he makes goals with Madrid right?" Mateo smiles.
"Yes he does. See, you do remember him! Bella and mami are safe. See? Nothing to cry about" Pablo smiles and kisses Mateo's cheek. He wipes his tears away.

"She's not my mami, right papi?" I can hear Mateo whisper as he looks over at Catalina. Luckily Catalina scrolls on her phone, and seems to not hear.

"No, she's not. But she's a friend, and we have to be nice to our friends okay? Because your papa loves her, and you love him. So we need to learn to get to know new people" He explains. Mateo nods.

"Sorry Pablo, I didn't know what else to do, he wouldn't stop crying" I sigh.

"It's okay. He's just growing and learning how to express his emotions" Pablo smiles.

He begins to rock Mateo to sleep until eventually he's passed out. Pablo holds him in his arms.

"Look, Catalina you seem very nice, and you make Pedro happy it seems. But you two were introduced too fast I think. We should have slowly introduced her to Mateo. He's not used to meeting new people and I think he's confused" He sighs.

I nod, knowing he is probably right.

"She was right" I say
"Who?"
"Delaney, she was upset that I introduced Mateo to catalina without telling her. But you both knew how he would respond. I am a terrible father" I say as my eyes water.
"Pedro, you're not. We're all learning. I promise you are far from a terrible father. Mateo loves you. We just need to have more communication when it comes to these things"
"I know. Gracias Pablo." I respond.
"It's late, you guys should stay over so we don't wake Mateo. You can sleep in the guest room. I'll take him to his room" he tells me.
"Sure" i reply.

He walks away toward the stairs, a few minutes later walking back down.
"So, i guess you've talked to her? Since you know she's with joao"
"She reached out to me. We're going to work through it" he replies.
"When is she back?"
"I don't know. She said to give her some time, but she'll be back soon" he gives a small smile.

I know tomorrow is an important day for him. It's the gala and he might possible win an award. So it must be hard that he'll be alone for that.

"I'm going to head to bed. The bedroom is down the hall, let me know if you need anything" he says. I nod as he walks upstairs.
"Well, we should rest too" i say to Catalina. I grab her hand and we walk to the guest room.

Gavi POV
I lay down and grab my phone.

Princesa ❤️

are you awake?

si, everything okay?

sort of. mateo had a melt down, pedro brought him over, i was able to calm him down and he's asleep now..

ugh. I knew this would happen. i feel so bad :(

it worked out in the end. just thought you should know. how are you? how's my baby girl?

im fine, trying to get some rest. she's perfect, im sorry for taking her...

dont be, i was stupid. but im glad we talked earlier. i love you and miss you ❤️

i love you too pablo. we'll be home in a few days. you should rest, tomorrow is a big day

i don't care about an award, i only care about you and our family

im proud of you regardless. you deserve it, goodnight pablo ❤️

buenas noches princesa, give isa a kiss for me❤️

I'm so glad we talked earlier. She called me to explain where she was and we talked about fixing things. I promised to stop drinking and we're going to work on communication. She didn't say when she'd be back, but im just glad she's coming home soon.