Hey it's my first time writing for these two so pleace don't be too harsh. English isn't my first language so there might be some typos. Btw I'm not happy with how the ending turned up but maybe it's good enough... so yeah well enjoy!
"We will be fine, Dear. You just go and have a fun with Sky on your date." Ruby said kissing her granddaughter's cheek.
"Are you sure you have everything you need? You have my number Grandma, so you can call me if you need to." Sophie told her as she gave few last kisses to her son.
"Soph it's only one night, he will be fine I promise. I know what it's like to worry about your child when you leave them for the first time but you and Sky need this date, believe me." Ruby said giving the baby to Fernando so she could hug Sophie properly.
"Yeah okay... I'm sorry it's just, you know... I'll go now. Bye honey." Sophie said and waved at her son. "Thank you for doing this." She added and holded her grandmother's hand for few seconds.
"Grandpa, please watch after her. You know what she is like." Sophie winked at Fernando who smiled back at her. After giving one last kiss to Donny she left closing the door behind her.
"What should we do first?" Ruby thought out loud and walked over to Fernando, softly stroking Donny's head.
"He looks just like Donna when she was a baby." She whispered smiling sadly. Fernando allowed the comment be and placed his great-grandson back in his wife's arms, kissing her forehead softly.
"I'll go and warm his milk. He just woke up so he should be hungry soon." He said and left to their small kitchen that was behind the corner.
Now alone with her great-grandson Ruby allowed herself to think about Donna. Without realizing she started to sing.
"Schoolbag in hand, she leaves home in the early morning
Waving goodbye with an absent-minded smile
I watch her go with a surge of that well-known sadness
And I have to sit down for a while
The feeling that I'm losing her forever
And without really entering her world
I'm glad whenever I can share her laughter
That funny little girl" Donny was looking at her curiously.
"Slipping through my fingers all the time
I try to capture every minute
The feeling in it
Slipping through my fingers all the time
Do I really see what's in her mind
Each time I think I'm close to knowing
She keeps on growing
Slipping through my fingers all the time" One tear ran down her cheek and she had to stop singing before it could hurt too much.
Fernando stood in the corner watching his wife holding a feeding bottle in his hand. They hadn't had a proper talk about Donna yet but it wasn't the right time for that now either. Slowly he walked to her and without startling her wrapped his arms around her. Ruby leaned back to his embrace and closed her eyes. They stayed like that for a while but Donny's cries made them fall back to reality.
"I should feed him..." Ruby whispered and turned around taking the bottle from Fernando. He nodded and lightly tickled Donny's belly making the little boy giggle. This made Ruby smile and so she gave her husband a quick but loving kiss on the lips.
"What if I go and change him into his pyjamas? You can check the milk so that it isn't too hot nor cold." Fernando suggested. Ruby nodded and placed Donny safely on Fernando's arms and walked in the kitchen. Fernando made his way to their bedroom and put Donny down on their bed. He lifted Donny's nursery bag next to him on the bed and searched it for Donny's pajamas.
"Alright little man, it has been a while since I've done this but I'm sure we'll succeed." Fernando said smiling down to the baby. Carefully Fernando undressed the small boy and changed his diaper. Before putting on his pajamas Fernando couldn't help himself from gently tickling the boy's belly once again. Donny giggled again and the sound of his giggles were so pure and joyful.
After Fernando was done with Donny he lifted him back on his arms and lightly kissed his cheeks, his beard making the boy ticklish, giggling once again.
"Now you're ready for your milk aren't you Donny?" He asked as they made their way back into the living room. Donny blinked and lifted his hand to his great-grandfather's face. Ruby walked back from the kitchen with the bottle and took Donny from Fernando.
"That didn't take you as long as I thought like you have done it before..." Ruby said wondering and sat down on their small couch and started to feed Donny. Fernando just smiled and left the room.
Halfway through the bottle he was back to sleep but continued to drink his milk. After finishing the milk he whimpered a little but as Ruby softly rocked and burped him he stopped and fell asleep again.
While Ruby fed Donny Fernando had gone and prepared his cot for him. When he returned from their bedroom he could hear Ruby singing again.
"I was sick and tired of everything
When I called you last night from Glasgow
All I do is eat and sleep and sing
Wishing every show was the last show
So imagine I was glad to hear you're coming
Suddenly I feel all right
And it's gonna be so different
When I'm on the stage tonight
Tonight the
Super trouper lights are gonna find me
Shining like the sun
Smiling, having fun
Feeling like a number one
Tonight the
Super trouper beams are gonna blind me
But I won't feel blue
Like I always do
Cause somewhere in the crowd there's you" Ruby smiled down to Donny who was sound asleep on her arms happy smile on his face.
"I'll go and put him in his cot. It's almost nine anyway so no wonder he's so tired." Fernando said as he walked closer to Ruby who was smiling widely. Ruby shook her head and stood up.
"I'll go... You go and find that bottle of red we opened yesterday." She said winking and walked away with the baby. As she reached their bedroom she turned off the light and slowly walked to his cot.
"Super trouper lights are gonna find me
Shining like the sun
Smiling, having fun
Feeling like a number one...
Tonight the
Super trouper beams are gonna blind me
But I won't feel blue
Like I always do
Cause somewhere in the crowd there's you..." She sang quietly and rocked him on her arms. She gently kissed his forehead and then placed him down to his cot, tucking him in and gently stroking his face.
"I will be a good great-grandma I promise you that Donny. I failed your grandmother and your mother as well but I will succeed this time with you." She whispered.
"I love you and I will prove it to you every day until you believe it." She said and leaned down to kiss his forehead once more before leaving the room.
As she walked back into the living room she could see Fernando sitting on the couch holding a glass of red wine in his hand. She smirked and walked to the couch sitting down next to him. Automatically he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her cheek. Ruby crapped her own wine glass from the coffee table and leaned back into his embrace.
"I hardly did anything with him and still I'm exhausted. I didn't remember it was like this..." Ruby sighed and placed her head on his shoulder.
"Neither did I, mi amor." He replied kissing her hair.
"Wait what? How could you know what it's like to take care of a baby? Ruby asked turning her head so she could look him in the eyes.
"You never wanted to talk about these things so I never did. Now that I think about it I should have said something before we got married because not being able to invite my daughter nor her family to the wedding was one of the hardest things I've ever done." Fernando said facing the other direction while talking.
"Fernando what are you saying? You have a daughter? You had a child with another woman?" She asked. Fernando placed his wine glass down on the coffee table and sighed.
"Few years after you had left I met this girl... she was young almost 19 years old. She fell hard for me and maybe I had some feelings towards her. We dated for a few weeks but after that it started to be too painful to wake up in the morning hoping you would be there sleeping next to me and then realize that it was someone else. So I ended it. Didn't see her for a month but then she turned up behind my door telling me that she was pregnant and wasn't waiting for me to be involved in the baby's life." He took a deep breath and continued.
"Even though it wasn't the right thing to do then we decided to raise the baby together but separately. Eight months later she gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. We decided to name her Alicia. She's around forty now and she's married to a good man named Phil and they have three children. Terese, Michael and Louisa." Finally, he turned to face Ruby again who kept watching him her mouth slightly open.
"She knows about you and so does her mother, I think that they always knew. Even when Alicia was little she knew that I loved somebody that I thought I could never have again. And so when I saw you on the balcony that night you know who was the first person I called to tell about it?" He asked smiling sadly at her.
"Alicia.." she answered for him taking his hand in hers lifting it to her lips kissing it.
"She was so happy to hear that I had found you. My sweet little girl happy for me for finding my true love again. She is the best thing that life has given me after you and this family I found right here on this island." He said a tear in his eye smiling to Ruby.
"Have you told her about Donna? About Sophie?" She asked wiping the tear away. He nodded and closed his eyes.
"Yes, she was sad first when I told her that she had an older sister who has passed away but after I told her about Sophie she didn't sound that sad anymore. Her children have a cousin and she's an aunt. She started to plan a vacation on the island and I had to tell her not to because I hadn't told you about her." He said his smile dropping.
"But now that you know maybe I can finally invite her here to meet you. And Sophie and Donny..." He suggested looking deep into her eyes.
"I think that you should invite her and her family here... And now that we got your skeleton out of the closet maybe it's the time to talk about Donna..." Ruby said taking a sip of her wine glass.
"We don't need to if you don't want to... Hasn't this been enough new information for one night?" He asked taking a sip of his wine glass as well.
"I have to do it now..." She said looking sad. Fernando nodded playing with her hand that he was holding.
"I didn't know that I was pregnant when I left... I was scared to settle down and even though I loved you more than I had never loved anyone or anything it wasn't strong enough to stop me from being afraid..." She took a deep breath and closed her eyes.
"When I found out I was even more scared I didn't have anyone to talk about it and I had no idea what it was like to raise a child. I did thought about telling you I even wrote you a letter but was too afraid to send it to you. Before I knew it I was giving birth to a perfect baby girl. I did love her you know. Maybe I didn't show it but I did and I still do. Before she started school everything was great between us. We sang together and did all the normal stuff parents do with their child, but after starting school she became more distant and so did I. That's what I'm good at being distant and taking care of me and only me. She didn't need me anymore or if she did she didn't show it and so I gave her space to cope on her own." Ruby was crying now tightening her grip on his hand.
"Then I started touring and she was there with me few times but then she stopped coming not because she didn't like seeing me perform but because she didn't want to see how much more I seemed to love performing than her. I'd give anything for being able to tell her that she was wrong, there's nothing I've loved more than her nothing except you, my love. But it's too late now..." She broke down, falling to his arms.
"When she called me about her pregnancy and not knowing who the father was I got mad... because I hadn't been good enough of a mother, because I never was able to tell her who her father was... I was mad at her for making her own child go through the same as she did. And that is why I wasn't able to allow her to come back home... To see how she was going to make the same mistakes I did, but she didn't... She did it all on her own and I couldn't be any prouder of my baby girl. She raised Sophie all by herself without anyone's help. And in a way, I was angry to myself that I hadn't been able to do that but in the same time I was proud that even after being a terrible mother to Donna, she succeeded in being an excellent mother herself." Ruby couldn't talk anymore. She just cried against Fernando's chest.
"Shhh... Mi Amor, it's okay... It's okay." He kept telling her kissing her hair and holding her close.
After what felt like three hours they stood up from the couch and made their way to their bedroom. As they reached their destination they made sure to keep quiet not to wake Donny. They changed their clothes in a complete silence and after that, they went under to covers and held each other close. It didn't take long for them to fall asleep.
Around three o'clock Fernando was woken up by Donny. He gently removed himself from under Ruby and walked up to the baby's cot and took the crying baby on his arms.
"Shhh Donny... Let's not wake up your great-grandma huh buddy?" He whispered and left the room to go and warm him some milk. While the milk was heating Fernando talked to Donny.
"You're very lucky Donny. Your mother is the sweetest person I've met and your father is so protective that you'll never have to be afraid of anything. You have three grandads who love you, two loving crazy great-aunts and you have a great-grandmother who loves you so much, she's not perfect none of us are but she's really trying to be just for you little man. So when you grow up and if she messes up something please try to remember that we all do mistakes and that she really is trying." Donny looked straight into his eyes like he understood everything he was saying. Fernando smiled and poured the milk into a bottle and started to feed him.
Donny fell back asleep as soon as the bottle was empty and Fernando took him back to his cot. Before he got back to bed he went and cleaned the living room. After being done he sneaked back into bed and wrapped his arms around Ruby falling asleep quickly.
The next morning went quickly, Fernando called Alicia and suggested that she should come and visit them as soon she could, of course taking her family with her. The only thing to do before they would come was to tell Sophie about them but that could wait for at least as long as it took for her and Sky to come and pick Donny up.
Around two in the afternoon Sophie and Sky turned up on their door ready to take their son back home. While Sky went to grab Donny's things from the bedroom Fernando and Ruby sat down with Sophie who was holding her son in her arms.
"Sweetie we have to tell you something." Fernando said smiling, holding his wife's hand who was smiling as well. They had discussed everything that was told last evening and everything was okay. They had no more secrets and everything was okay.
"What? You both look so happy that it can't be anything bad right?" Sophie asked.
"Sophie dear, this might be a shock but um... you have an aunt that and three cousins that live in Los Angeles." Ruby said biting her lip.
"Wait what..?" Sophie asked clearly not understanding what they were trying to tell her.
"I have another daughter and she has three kids, all of them are younger than you but the oldest is only a few years behind you." Fernando tried to explain.
"Oh cool... Mom would have loved this." Sophie said somehow sarcastically but her serious tone could be heard loud and clear.
"They're planning on doing a vacation here in few months so just thought we should inform you about their existence before they appear." Fernando added laughing slightly.
"This is okay with you?" Sophie asked from Ruby who was smiling to her husband.
"It is... Everything is okay." She answered smiling.