Ella loved Ireland, she always had.. she wanted to go over all of the time but because of her parents work schedules that wasn't realistic. She even tried to get her mother to send her over with her grandmother and let Annette keep her for the summer this year which Rebecca said no and Colby told her there was not a chance.
The way Christmases had went in the Lopez household were rotations.. meaning that Ella's first Christmas was spent in Iowa because the little girl was only 12 days old at the time. Rebecca was upset that she wasn't going to be home for Christmas so Colby took things into his own hands..
5 Years Prior:
Christmas was spent with Holly at her home, they exchanged gifts, ate lunch and spent some much needed family time.
Holly refused to let her granddaughter go from the second they stepped foot into her home.
Colby knew Ella would be spoiled by him but he never could have guessed how spoiled she was going to be by his own mother. She had been waiting for grandchildren for years, he didn't know that until Holly admitted it to Rebecca after Ella was born.
Rebecca noticed how he kept checking his phone every 15 minutes towards the end of their visit and she began to get suspicious. She didn't want to be one of those girls that were constantly wondering who their partners were talking to or where they were.
She trusted him and she knew he wouldn't do anything to jeopardize what they had so that put her mind at ease.
It wasn't until she was putting Ella in her carseat and heard Holly and Colby talking in the kitchen that she began to get concerned
"How are you keeping this from her?" Holly questioned
"It's not easy" he said and she looked over at them, moving closer to the door
"She just had a baby Colby, Her emotions are already all over the place and now you're doing this" Holly said and Rebecca looked at Ella who was fast asleep and she felt her heart begin to break, was he actually cheating on her? Was she wrong about everything?
She didn't know anything anymore, but she did know she felt stupid for not catching on sooner.
The drive back to the house was quiet, Colby didn't say anything and Rebecca focused on keeping a fussy Ella calm in the backseat.
Once they arrived at the house, Rebecca put Ella down for a nap and she decided to join her, she was exhausted after the busy day and also the sleepless nights and then top off the emotional battle she was having with herself.
Rebecca woke up to the sounds of her daughter a few hours later, Ella was laying in the co-sleeper next to the bed and she was clearly awake, but not crying, she considered that a good thing. She looked over at her with a small smile as she sat up and grabbed her carefully.
"It's dark outside El" she said in a whisper "It's 8 at night my love, we slept the entire day away" she said and she stood up and she was fully prepared to confront Colby as she walked down the stairs towards the living room
She was fully expecting to see him sitting on the couch playing whatever video game was the choice of the night but he wasn't there.
"Where is your daddy?" she asked Ella who just stared up at her
She walked into the kitchen and saw a piece of paper sitting on the counter, she walked over and began to read it
Merry Christmas beautiful, I know you're probably wondering where I am, come to the back yard and find out.
