Lean on Me

Part Three - Chapter Thirty-Two: Merry Christmas

“Olalla,” Fernando greeted opening the front door to his ex-wife, he had invited her to see the children since it was Christmas and Cassidy had agreed to be civil with her on this day.

Olalla nodded her head warily at Fernando, she wasn’t sure how she felt about being in the house that her ex-husband shared with his new wife; she knew it wasn’t going to be an easy day.

“Feliz Navidad,” Nora said hurrying out of the living room and moved to hug her mother, she wrapped her arms around her mother’s legs followed by Leo who seemed equally excited to see his mother.

Olalla ducked down to hug her children knowing that she had missed them since they had moved in with their father but it was for the best.

“Why don’t you take your madre into the living room and show her what you’ve gotten so far?” Fernando said knowing that he couldn’t leave Cassidy in the kitchen for long, she was twenty-nine weeks pregnant and was meant to be resting as much as possible.

Nora nodded her head taking her mother’s hand and started leading her into the living room where Leia and Noah were.

Olalla looked at Fernando a little worried as he left her alone with the children, she wasn’t completely sure about being around his other children.

Heading into the kitchen, Fernando shook his head as he moved to stop his wife from doing more; she was determined for their first Christmas as a married couple to go well.

“Amor,” Fernando said stilling Cassidy’s hands to stop her from cutting up more veg, he chuckled as she glanced at him knowing that she wouldn’t stop unless he pulled her away.

Cassidy was wearing a red maternity dress with belt and scoop neck paired with nude wedges; she had wanted to still look nice for Christmas even if she was pregnant.

***

Olalla averted her eyes as Cassidy entered the room, she couldn’t bear to look at the heavily pregnant brunette knowing that it could have easily been her.

Olalla was going to go and stay with her parents after Christmas and really focus on making a life for herself; there was no point in holding out for futures that wouldn’t happen.

Cassidy seemed to understand that Olalla was struggling and kept her distance from the other woman wanting today at least to be peaceful.

“When do you leave for Spain?” Fernando asked sitting down and watched his four children, a content smile on his face as he watched them play together.

Fernando didn’t think that he had ever seen anything as happy as this and he didn’t want to look away from them.

Olalla looked at her ex-husband as he watched their children, she knew that he would be going to Madrid on the 30th and she would be far from her children then.

“The day after tomorrow,” Olalla said her parents were setting things up for her, she swallowed knowing it was going to take a lot of time for her to adjust to being around Georgie again and having him in her life.

Fernando nodded his head as he looked at Nora, she was the image of his mother as much as Leia looked like Cassidy; it seemed perfect to him since both Leo and Noah resembled him so much.

Fernando wasn’t sure what his next son would look like but he hoped he’d be a perfect blend of him and Cassidy; he wasn’t sure if they would be having any more children after this one and he didn’t want to pressure Cassidy into doing something that she didn’t want to do.

***

Cassidy took a deep breath loading the dishwasher, she knew that Fernando had said that he would do it but he was busy with the children and she didn’t mind since it wasn’t as if she was doing much anyway.

“Should you be doing that?” Olalla asked as she stepped into the kitchen, her brown eyes watching Cassidy knowing that Fernando had wanted her to rest and the other woman seemed to be ignoring him.

Cassidy paused turning to look at her husband’s ex-wife, it was an unspoken agreement that they weren’t going to speak to one another because it wasn’t going to end well.

The two women stared at one another knowing that they were never going to get along and that Cassidy was the one that Fernando loved now.

“No but someone had to do the dishes,” Cassidy said she wasn’t going to fight today, she wanted Fernando and the children happy and that was all that mattered to her.

Olalla frowned she would have left them alone until Fernando had time to do them, especially if she was six and a half months pregnant.

The two were silent as Cassidy wondered why Olalla had come to speak with her, they didn’t like each and never would but they would be civil for the sake of their children.

“I’m not going to fight anymore,” Olalla said moving across the room towards Cassidy, she needed to speak with the brunette alone and she had known this would be her only chance.

Fernando was protective of Cassidy barely leaving her alone for more than a few minutes unless the children held his attention.

“You win Cassidy,” Olalla whispered knowing that she had to let go of any thoughts that she had about having a future again with Fernando; she did however had a warning for the other women.

Cassidy sighed as she looked at Olalla, she had never seen this as a challenge between the two of them; she knew it could have gone either way and she was grateful that Fernando had chosen her.

“But if you ever do anything to hurt Nando… I will be waiting in the wings to take him from you,” Olalla said knowing that she would always love Fernando and she hoped that it would never have to come to that.

Cassidy frowned as she looked at the older woman, she had always known that she would be easily relaxed in her husband’s life if anything happened between them.

Cassidy didn’t need Olalla telling her that she would take Fernando back to know how much it could happened.

“I could never hurt him,” Cassidy said shaking her head as she rested a hand on her bump, she wouldn’t ever do anything that would scare Fernando away or do anything to hurt him.

Olalla laughed softly as she stared at her ex-husband’s wife, she knew that Cassidy had a chance to make Fernando extremely happy.

“You know what the funny thing is… I once thought the same thing,” Olalla said looking at Cassidy, she knew that when she had first been with Fernando that she had thought the same and now look where they were.

Cassidy had never thought that she would end up watching him being happy with someone else and now she knew that maybe they weren’t meant to be.

Cassidy stared at Olalla as she turned around and walked away, she couldn’t pretend that the other woman’s words hadn’t hit a spot because they had.

Cassidy was all too aware about how lucky she was to have Fernando in her life right now, it could have been her alone with the twins; she hated to think about how she would have coped.

Closing her brown eyes, Cassidy took a deep breath knowing that she couldn’t allow this to plague her; she was sure that it would only hurt to think more to think about that.

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Author's Note:

There's only four chapters left xxx