The Footballer's Girlfriend

Part Two - Chapter Twenty-Five: The Rehearsal Dinner

Cristiano smiled as he wrapped an arm around Eliana, he drew her close and he couldn't believe that they were at their rehearsal dinner; their wedding was just around the corner now and that was something that made him happy. 

Things had been a little awkward since the dinner with William and Sara, the couple had agreed that it would be better if Sara wasn't invited to their wedding and they would both understand if William refused to come to the wedding because of that. 

"You look beautiful," Cristiano whispered to his fiancée, the mesh overlay print dress that she had picked for the rehearsal dinner was nice and he was glad that they were another step closer to getting married. 

Eliana kissed Cristiano softly, she couldn't have been happier that they were getting closer to getting married and she was excited to find out where they would be going on their honeymoon. 

"What the hell is she doing here?" Eliana whispered spotting her father and Sara entering the restaurant, she had made it clear that Sara wasn't going to be invited to the wedding because she didn't want any drama on her big day. 

It wasn't going to be easy and tonight would be the first night that William and Jennifer would see each other since their divorce and it was going to be awkward enough without Sara hanging around all night. 

Cristiano frowned looking over at William, he had warned the man himself not to make any trouble and he couldn't believe that Sara had come to their rehearsal dinner; he didn't want any trouble and he doubted that Jennifer was going to be happy about this. 

"I'll handle it," Cristiano murmured not wanting this to ruin Eliana's night, she deserved it after all the hard work that she had done for the wedding and having Elsa most of the time.

***

"Cristiano," William greeted smiling at his future son-in-law, he knew why Cristiano looked far from happy and he hoped that he wasn't going to force Sara to leave; he didn't see what it could hurt for her to be here with him. 

It hadn't escaped William's attention that Jennifer was here alone, he really did hope that she would find someone that loved her; he was happy with Sara and he did want Eliana to bond with her. 

"What is she doing here?" Cristiano asked not wasting any time, he peeked around the room knowing that he didn't want to ruin tonight and he hoped that William wasn't going to cause any more drama for Eliana. 

Sara looked down at her hands, she had told William that this wasn't a good idea and that they couldn't rush things with Eliana; however her fiancé would hear none of it and had insisted that she come with him. 

"You said Sara wasn't invited to the wedding... you said nothing about tonight," William replied smiling, he took Sara's hand knowing that he was in the wrong but he didn't see what the problem was; it wasn't like a fight was going to break out or anything. 

Cristiano gritted his teeth, he had a feeling that William had done this on purpose and he hated that he was trying to make this about him when it was Eliana's night. 

"I don't want any trouble tonight," Cristiano warned eyeing the couple, he didn't want them showing off when they were in the wrong for what they had done; they had cheated and that wasn't going to be forgotten about. 

William and Sara nodded their heads before they walked away, they had a feeling that it was in their best interests to keep their heads down during this meal; they doubted that Cristiano would give them a second chance if anything messed up the evening.

***

Sipping on his water, Hugo tried to ignore the amount of alcohol that was around him and he knew that he wasn't going to mess up; he was doing so well with his recovery and his wife was starting to trust him again. 

Things had started to get better for him recently and Hugo was so happy to become a father for the second time; he couldn't wait to hold his son in his arms for the very first time. 

Lilian took his hand and kissed his cheek, she was so proud of him for turning his life around and while she knew that there were times that Hugo struggled, things had never been better between them. 

"I'm okay," Hugo reassured knowing that everyone was worried about him, he wasn't going to touch a drop of alcohol and he was pleased with how supportive everyone seemed to be about what he was doing. 

From across the table, Cristiano watched his elder brother and he knew that this wasn't going to be easy for him; he had made it clear that there wasn't going to be a lot of alcohol and tonight wasn't going to be about getting drunk. 

"He'll be fine," Eliana reassured kissing Cristiano, she knew that he worried a lot about his family and she didn't blame him; she was sure that things would be okay, she was sure that his time in rehab had been good for Hugo. 

The couple kissed making a couple of their friends whistle at them, everyone was so happy for them and while the dinner had been a little tense with the presence of Sara things had gone better than expected. 

Elsa was at home with a babysitter since she was only five months old and her parents didn't want to keep her up past her bedtime; they were looking forward to going home and spending time with their little girl. 

They couldn't believe that in a matter of days, Elsa would be six months old and it felt like only yesterday that they were bringing her home from the hospital.

"I love you," Cristiano whispered knowing that he truly couldn't believe how lucky he had gotten, he wanted to show the world how much he loved Eliana; she was everything to him and he couldn't see himself with anyone else. 

Eliana kissed him again before her maid-of-honour got to her feet, it had only been right for her former university room-mate to take the role since things were tense between her and Behati. 

"Hola, for those of you who don't know me I am Rosie Torres," Rosie said introducing herself, she was so happy for her best friend and she hadn't been expecting Eliana to ask her to be her maid-of-honour out of all her friends. 

The wedding was going to be a star-stunned attraction and the couple had so many friends that they worked with who wanted to celebrate their big day with them; most of the Victoria Secret girls had been invited to the wedding as well as a lot of Cristiano's current and past team-mates. 

The couple had tried to keep their wedding list down but they still had around 1,300 people coming to their wedding in about two weeks' time; they were surprised at just how many people were going to be there. 

Cristiano felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, he peeked around only to spot one of his friend's dates staring at him; she smiled at him but he didn't respond instead focused on the beautiful woman that was going to become his wife. 

The woman frowned staring at Cristiano, she hadn't known what to think when she'd been invited to this evening but she knew one thing; she now only had eyes for one man in that room, the groom.