It's A Game, But Who's Keeping Score?

The next morning I was woken up by Grecie and Alma jumping on my bed, perma-smiles on their faces as they realized I had arrived in Spain. I started jumping on the bed with them, and then we collapsed into a heap on the floor, where they started to plant kisses all over my face.

A flash went off by the doorway and I looked up to see Yolanda with a camera and a huge grin on her face. “They act as if you’re their older sister,” she cooed.

“Well, I was an only child so I’ve always dreamed of having younger siblings.”

“I think today marks the day where you’re officially part of the family.”

The tears started flowing down my cheeks before I had a chance to stop them, my real family was all gone and I had stopped contact with them after my father had passed away. Now I was getting a second chance.

The next couple days were pretty quiet; our boxes from England finally arrived so I could start arranging my wing the way I wanted it to look. This gave me an excuse to not think about Fernando and his upcoming wedding. Pepe was a best man and Yolanda was a bridesmaid to Olalla, while I was just a guest. The wedding invitation taunted me and then made me remember that I hadn’t told Lukas where the wedding was being held. And then I realized I was using Lukas as a crutch, this was the one thing in my life that I needed to do by myself.

I walked out into the backyard and sat down in the gazebo and punched in a familiar number.

“Hey Bec, how was the move?” Lukas’ deep voice greeted me.

“It was good; I basically have a whole wing to myself.”

“Well aren’t you royalty,” he joked.

“But that’s not the reason I called,” I said and was met with silence, so I continued. “I don’t want you to come to the wedding. This is something I need to do myself. I’m somehow going to tell Fernando about the baby.”

“And what about your feelings?”

“If Fernando still wants to marry Olalla even if the baby’s not his, then my feelings will stay my feelings.”

“I hope this doesn’t backfire on you Bec, because I think this time I won’t be able to put you back together.”

“Me too,” I choked out before walking back into the house. It was the day before the wedding, Olalla and Pepe were both with their respective part of the wedding party, while I was waiting for Grecie and Alma to come back from preschool. The girls came tumbling into the house and we played for hours. They were a good distraction for me.

“Becca?” Grecie asked me, tugging on my shirt. “Why aren’t you with mommy and daddy?”

“They’re helping Nando and Olalla with the wedding.”

“But don’t you like Nando and Olalla?” Alma whispered.

“Yes,” I choked out. “I do like them, but they have lots of people helping them. Because if I was helping them, who would be watching you two?”

The girls giggled and proceeded to run off to the playroom. The evening pasted by quickly and I put the girls to bed. I went back to my room, settling into my bed and started watching the Disney Classics. I drifted off to sleep somewhere in the middle of Beauty and the Beast, because the next thing I knew it was morning and the DVD Player was replaying the menu.

I sighed and went straight to the bathroom to take a shower. Half an hour later, I walked down to the kitchen in a bathrobe. I threw myself into one of the stools that outlined the centre island.

“Rough night?”

“Surprisingly not,” I said quietly. “I’m just preparing myself for a rough day.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself,” Yolanda tried to reassure me. “Iker and Sergio are going to be there, plus a bunch of people from the team.”

“One positive doesn’t out balance a thousand negatives.”

“Olalla’s pregnant, so she’ll look fat.”

I snorted as I ate my cereal; I waved my spoon in the air. “That is true.”

“You’re horrible,” Yolanda laughed and went off to get the girls ready for their grandmother who would be taking care of them as we would all be away at the wedding. I went back up to my room to get ready for the day. I pulled out my cranberry dress with silver heels, crème clutch, my favourite necklace and sunglasses, as the weather outside was absolutely beautiful.

I sat down at my vanity and looked in the mirror and debated with myself if it was worth it to put make-up on. Seeing as the person I wanted to impress the most would be getting married that day. I finally decided to put the minimum amount of make-up on; liquid eyeliner, mascara, blush and lip gloss. My hair didn’t seem to want to co-operate, so I ended up having to call Yolanda to help me. We settled on curling my hair and pinning it off to one side.

The car ride to El Escorial wasn’t long, as it was just outside Madrid. The wedding was at the church that Olalla’s family had attended for a very long time. I slipped my sunglasses onto my face, as we exited the car into the midday heat.

I settled into my seat, while Pepe and Yolanda went off to their separate ways. The church started to fill up with people, many people that I did not recognize. The seats around me seemed to stay empty, as if there was a sign above my head that read “I’m in love with the groom.” I nervously looked down at my watch, the wedding was supposed to already be started. I looked back to the entrance and saw Sergio looking straight back at me. He waved me over and I scurried to him.

“What’s up?” I asked nervously.

“Fernando won’t go through with it unless he talks to you,” Sergio said, concern dripping off his every word.

“He wants to talk to me?!”

“Yes!” Sergio basically yelled at me, before tugging me off to the room where the groom and his party got ready. “By the way,” he said, as we walked. “That dress looks amazing on you, glad to see that the English weather didn’t take the colour from you.”

I blushed and murmured back a thank you and complimented Sergio on his outfit. We finally made it to the room where the rest of Fernando’s party stood outside the door; Pepe was running a hand over his face, David Villa was fixing his hair in one of the mirrors that hung on the wall, and his brother Israel was attempting to talk to his brother through the door.

Sergio cleared his throat which made all three men look in my direction. “Finally!” Israel exclaimed, before pushing me towards the door and shouting, “Rebecca is here.”

I stumbled into the room where Fernando sat on a couch with his head in his hands. He looked up when the door slammed shut. “You came,” he smiled.

“Of course I came; you wanted me to be here.”

“I know, I just wasn’t sure if you would actually come. Seeing as you and Olalla aren’t on the best terms.”

I nodded grimly and realized that Fernando needed to know that Olalla was lying to him. It didn’t matter that it was his wedding day; this was something he deserved to know.

“Everything alright?” Fernando asked, standing up.

I shook my head no; even Fernando’s eyes showed me that he was nervous. “You should sit down, because after what I tell you, you’ll want to sit down.”

Fernando shook his head, “I’ll stand.”

“Fine,” I sighed. “Nando…the baby isn’t yours.” I waited for a reaction, but Fernando’s face stayed emotionless. “Olalla is just using you for your money, the baby is from a one-night stand that Olalla had some time last year. I’ve wanted to tell you for so long, but the others didn’t want you to know.”

“So you waited till my wedding day to tell me?” he growled, his temper obviously rising.

I narrowed my eyes at him. “At least I had the decency to tell you!”

Fernando pulled at his hair, “You frustrate me so much sometimes!”

“Well, I guess it’s a good thing you’re not getting married to me then.”

Fernando’s look soften, “What are you saying?”

“Fernando, we can’t be just friends,” I whispered.

“What do you mean?” he said, stepping forward, taking my face in his hands.

“I didn’t want to have to put you up to this, but…you have to choose; it’s me or Olalla.”

Fernando dropped his hands and his expression looked hurt. His eyes looked more like dull than usual and the emotion they were conveying to me was I’m sorry.

“I guess that’s your choice,” I choked out before pulling my sunglasses down to shield the tears that started to stream down my cheeks. I didn’t wait for Fernando to reply, I just ran out of the church and away from Fernando.