We Took the Fall

35: How Can I Defend You Both?

“Catalina” Santiago mused as he moved to wrap his arms around his daughter, greeting her with a tight hug. It had been a while, with his wife and older daughter seemingly intent on making things hard for Catalina, Santiago had been trying, mostly in vain, to get them to back off, but he was pleased to see his youngest child. She looked good, even if he could still spy the last hints of Alicia’s scratches on her cheek, and he could tell that most of it was related to the man who sat quietly beside her. It wasn’t ideal, not by any stretch of the imagination, but he could tell that Catalina was contented, something she hadn’t been for a while. She looked happy and it made Santiago proud.

“Papa” Catalina mused, hugging him back “I have missed you” she added.

“I have missed you too, Lina” Santiago cooed “I am sorry that it has taken me so long to find a chance to see you, but with your mother and sister being the way they are, I was trying to be tactful” he explained, moving to sit on the seat opposite Fernando who merely stared on indifferently. He didn’t like it, being around any one of Catalina’s relatives, and he couldn’t help but distrust Santiago slightly. The older man had promised to help, he had given Fernando his word that he would deal with Alicia, and thus far, he had proved useless.

“They’re still not over this?” Catalina posed gently.

Santiago shook his head. “It would have been around now that your sister would have been on her honeymoon with Fernando, Lina, she’s still not taking the fact that she isn’t that well, but let’s not talk about her. How are you Lina?” he posed interestedly.

“I am good, papa” Catalina replied softly “I mean, the knock on effects of that piece Cia had written about me are still evident at times, but I think I am doing alright. At least she hasn’t done anything else” she mused, her voice a little hopeful. It had been a couple of weeks since Alicia had sold her story and Catalina couldn’t help but hope that they had gotten through the worst of it. Fernando’s agent, along with a lawyer, had been quick to handle the situation and she hoped that the measures that they had taken would keep her sister at bay. Catalina didn’t know if she had much more ‘coping’ left in her.

“That’s a good sign” Santiago mused, offering her a smile.

“I hope so” Catalina noted.

“And you two are alright?” Santiago enquired, his eyes drifting to Fernando who had proceeded to peruse the menu.

Catalina nodded. “Things have been pretty good” she enthused softly “Obviously, we are still trying to get used to one another again, but I like to think we’re going in the right direction” she smiled.

Santiago returned her smile briefly before he flicked his attention to Fernando, noting just how quiet he was. “Fernando?” he posed gently.

The striker, who had been moving to order himself some lunch, looked at the older man, offering him the least offensive expression that he could muster. He didn’t want to cause a problem, after seemingly losing her mother as well as her sister, the last thing Fernando wanted was to cause fractures between his girlfriend and her father, but he couldn’t help but feel a little let down by the older man. Santiago had promised to help, he had said that he would talk to Alicia, but from where Fernando sat, it didn’t look like he’d done a thing. “Yes?” he posed softly.

“Are you OK?” Santiago posed “You’re being oddly quiet” he added.

Fernando smiled. “I am fine” he enthused gently.

“You sure?” Catalina posed gently.

Fernando nodded his head gently and placed a kiss against her cheek, something which made Santiago smile. He liked just how happy his youngest looked.

“You can’t have many more games to play this season, Fernando?” Santiago posed.

The striker shook his head. “We’ve got a couple left, the biggest obviously being against Barcelona at the Calderon, but I am kind of looking forwards to the end of the season” he admitted.

Catalina smiled. “Your talking about football is my cue to head to the little girl’s room. I’ll be back in a second” she mused, pushing herself out of her seat, kissing his head gently.

Fernando watched her go, a little dumb smile on his face, before he turned his attention back to Santiago, his brown eyes narrowing fractionally on the older man.

“You don’t think I am as upset as you are?” Santiago muttered, knowing precisely what the look on the footballer’s face meant.

“You’re not doing much to protect her” Fernando replied.

“And what do you want me to do, Fernando? I have two daughters who can’t even be in the same room any more, a wife who seems to hate that I just want to be happy for Lina, and a future son-in-law who thinks that I can defend him. What you did was wrong, Fernando, you led Alicia on and you hurt her, even if it seems like she didn’t care about you, she did and she is hurting. I can’t barrel in and defend the girl who did fall into bed with you less than 2 months later” Santiago reasoned.

“So you’re on Cia’s side?” Fernando muttered.

“No” Santiago refuted “I want Catalina to be happy and I think what Alicia had done to her has been out of line, but how can I defend you two. You both refuted the idea that you had feelings for each other and within 2 months you were together. It is suspect, Fernando, and I cannot explain that away. Alicia was right, at least in part, that you left her for her sister and that doesn’t make you, or Catalina, look fantastic” he explained gently.

Fernando shook his head. “I can’t defend her by myself” he murmured gently.

“You’ve done a good job thus far” Santiago refuted softly “And I have faith in you to keep doing a good job of looking after her, but you need to accept that you’re at fault. You lied about your feelings, both of you” he added.

Fernando sighed gently.

“You’re good for each other, Fernando” Santiago noted gently “And I have a lot of faith that you and Catalina could have something wonderful here, but you need to stop fixating on me, or my wife, or Alicia. There are going to be things thrown at you, but you can deal with them as and when they come about, for the rest of the time, you should just focus on being happy together” he smiled as Catalina appeared once more, sitting down at Fernando’s side.

The striker eyed his girlfriend’s father for a moment before he placed his arm around Catalina’s waist. It was his job, Fernando was the one who had to take care of her, and Santiago could only hope he could do a good job of it. Catalina was smitten and he didn’t want her heartbroken.
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