For The Longest Time

Chapter Ten: The Parents Arrive

Opening the door to their parents, Lionel swallowed nervously as he allowed them into his home, he knew that this wasn’t going to end well and he hoped that there wouldn’t be too much shouting; the children were currently with Gerard and Shakira so that they could talk.

“Madre, padre,” Lionel greeted showing them into the living room, he glanced at Diego and Claudia knowing that they weren’t happy about this; however he was surprised about how calm they were being about all of this.

Rosalie glanced up from her seat and bit her lip as she spotted Lionel with their parents, the footballer was quickly back by her side as their parents sat down; the couple were ready for whatever their parents threw at them.

There was an awkward silence as the two sets of parents stared at the couple, Lionel took Rosalie’s hand making her smile at him as they waited to hear what their parents had to say.

“Why?” Diego asked looking at his daughter, he was more than relieved that he finally knew where she had been for the last seven years and he wished that things would have gone differently.

“Would any of you have let us marry if you knew?” Rosalie asked softly as she looked at her parents, she knew that she might have been wrong but they would have never agreed to allow them to be together; they hadn’t liked it when they were dating, so marrying was out of the question.

Claudia sighed knowing that there had been a lot of damage done in the past and she didn’t wish to lose her daughter again, not now that she had found her again.

“I know that none of us were very supportive of your relationship… we never expected you both to last, but you could have told us that Lionel was the padre of the baby,” Claudia said making Rosalie look at her mother, she knew that her mother was hurting but that didn’t fix how they had left things when she was pregnant with Peyton.

Lionel swallowed knowing that this rift was his fault, if he hadn’t of asked Rosalie to keep their marriage quiet then they wouldn’t be in this situation.

“That was my fault… I didn’t want anyone to know that we had married,” Lionel admitted making Rosalie smile at him, she knew why he had done it and he didn’t need to explain himself; she kissed him softly as her father looked at them confused.

Diego watched Rosalie with Lionel, he didn’t understand why they had gone through so much trouble to keep all of this quiet; he would have supported them when he had learnt the truth.

“But why?” Jorge asked trying to get to the bottom of all of this, he didn’t understand why the two of them had gone through so much trouble when they would have come around sooner or later.

Celia glared at the blonde across from her, she couldn’t believe that they seemed so completely in love and she was sure that it was sure that it was an act.

“Because I never wanted Rosalie to suffer… I’ve seen what the media do to people like me, I never wanted them to make things difficult for our family,” Lionel said looking down, he knew that he had been stupid but he had wanted what was best for his family.

***

Rosalie shifted uncomfortable as she spotted the look that Celia had shot her, it was clear to see that Lionel’s mother didn’t like her and the blonde knew that it would be a while before Celia would come around.

“You know that we didn’t mean what we said that night,” Claudia said as she spoke softly with her daughter, she had regretted the words that she had said to Rosalie all of those years ago and she wished that she could take it back; she watched her daughter as Rosalie rested a hand on the swell of her stomach.

Rosalie was wearing a burgundy sweatshirt with cowl neck and high waisted skinny jeans paired with white high top trainers, it made Claudia proud to see how her daughter had matured in the years of separation.

“I know… and if I could have told you about this I would have, but it was for the best I could never have dealt with the media attention when I was nineteen,” Rosalie said as she watched her parents, she knew that they had missed a lot of her life and it would take time for them to adjust to being around each other again; she had only ever spoken to her sister after she had left her family behind.

“Can you handle it now? I mean… Lionel is someone important,” Diego said looking over at the footballer who was talking with his own parents, he could see that Celia wasn’t happy and he had a feeling that she was going to cause the couple some trouble if she didn’t accept that they were married and happy.

“I may have spent eight years in the shadows but I know that I can deal with this now,” Rosalie said confidently, she was no longer the nineteen year old that had run away to Barcelona without telling them; she was an adult now and a mother herself.

Claudia smiled knowing that Rosalie was so much more confident now and she hoped that she would be able to see more of her daughter and meet her grandchildren; she adored Benjamin and she wanted to have more grandchildren.

“How long are you in Barcelona for?” Rosalie asked curiously, she knew that they wouldn’t be staying long since they had lives back in Argentina but that didn’t mean that she wanted them to leave in a hurry.

Diego and Claudia looked at one another, they had already made the decision to stay for two weeks so that they could spend time with their daughter; they wanted to be a part of her life again and were willing to accept her marriage to Lionel.

***

“That went better than expected,” Lionel mused as he wrapped his arms around his wife, she smiled at him as they cuddled up on the couch; their parents had headed back to their hotels and the children would be home soon.

Rosalie rested her head against his as they sat in silence for a moment, she doubted that this was over.

“Your madre didn’t look happy,” Rosalie said making the footballer sigh as he looked at her; he knew that she had picked up on the fact that his mother wasn’t happy.

Lionel pressed a kiss to her head, he closed his brown eyes as he held her close.

“It doesn’t matter… she’ll just have to get used to the fact that you are my wife,” Lionel said making Rosalie smile as she pulled away and looked at him.

The couple kissed as they thought about what had just happened, they knew that with their parents in their lives that this might be easy if they were all accepting on the fact that they were married and happy.

“I love you,” Rosalie said running her fingers through his hair, she knew that he needed to hear it right now if his mother was going to make things difficult for them.

Lionel wrapped his arms around Rosalie as there was a buzz at their gate, the couple sighed knowing that it would be Gerard with the children; Lionel pulled away as he went to answer it.

Rosalie smiled softly as she watched him as she realised that finally the future didn’t look so clouded for them.