How Will I Know

Chapter Forty-Four: Back in Manchester

Robin grinned to himself kissing Elena's swollen stomach making her rolled her eyes amused as she watched him; she was twenty-six weeks pregnant and the couple couldn't have been happier. 

A small kick to Robin's hand made the smile on his face grow, he loved every move that the baby made and he couldn't wait until the moment that he held her in his arms for the very first time. 

"You have to get ready for the match," Elena mumbled making Robin look at her for a moment before he said something in Dutch to her stomach. 

Elena rolled her eyes as she watched him amused, she had slowly getting better with her Dutch and she was sure that it would come in handy later; she wanted to be prepared for when their daughter was born. 

 "Are you sure that you'll be okay?" Robin asked concerned, he didn't want to leave Elena alone while he headed for the hotel for the night before Manchester United played West Brom. 

"Go I will be fine... my parents are here plus I'm meeting with Roxanne and Coleen later," Elena replied making Robin nod; he wanted to make sure that the brunette and their children were safe before he did anything else. 

Cookie wagged her tail as she clambered onto the sofa next to Elena; the puppy had taken to the van Persie family home very well and seemed excited whenever any of them went out. 

"I'll miss you," Robin murmured as he ran his fingers through Cookie's fur as the puppy laid down next to Elena, who smiled at her husband as she kissed him. 

"Ik hou van je," Robin whispered making Elena smile softly back at him, she was still slowly learning Dutch and understood most of it even if she couldn't speak the language very well. 

"I love you too... now you have to leave or Sir Alex will kill you," Elena insisted making Robin chuckle kissing her softly one last time before he got to his feet and prepared to leave.

***

"It's beautiful Lena," Coleen said admiring the wedding ring that Robin had gotten her friend for Christmas, it was so much better than the other one and it was something that had clearly been bothering Robin. 

Roxanne nodded in agreement looking at Elena, it was clear to see that the brunette was coping well with what had happened to her parents and it was a good sign that they had both recovered well after what had happened. 

"Not long left now... how are you feeling?" Coleen asked making Elena bite her lip thinking about how little time that was before she was due to have her baby girl and she couldn't help but be a little nervous. 

Roxanne rubbed Elena's hand in comfort with the three women expecting, they knew that they would have to rely on one another while they were each pregnant; it was going to be crazy when the news broke and whispers of a Manchester baby-boom didn't help. 

"Robin's just starting to put furniture in the baby's room... I honestly haven't put much thought to it," Elena murmured with a shrug making Roxanne nod understandingly, the brunette had had a lot on her plate recently and now things were finally looking up. 

Coleen sipped on her drink, she was now four months pregnant herself and looking forward to finding out if Kai would be getting a little brother or sister. 

"How have you been feeling Roxy?" Elena asked her Maltese friend making Roxanne smile at the younger brunette, as she nodded; the three of them were enjoying the silence of having the boys away for the night.

Cookie padded into the living room making Coleen coo while Roxanne grinned at Elena, she had to admit she was surprised when the younger woman had told her that she had gotten Robin a puppy for Christmas. 

However Cookie was completely adorable and it was clear that she completed the van Persie family, there was no denying that things were starting to look good for the family at last. 

"We should do something for New Year's Eve... you know for us adults and the children," Coleen suggested turning her attention to Kai and Shaqueel who were playing football in the garden. 

Elena nodded along with Roxanne at the moment, there weren't any plans in place for the New Year and everyone was just spending time with their families in celebration. 

The match against West Bromwich Albion on the 29th was the last match of 2012 and the first match of 2013 was against Wigan Athletic on New Year's Day; there was little chance of them being able to do much but they could do something as a team. 

"We could hold a party at one of the houses," Elena proposed knowing that they would need to plan now if the party was to go ahead; they didn't have long really to pull anything together especially since it was running down the last few days of 2012. 

"How about we hold it at mine and Nem's?" Roxanne offered making Coleen and Elena nod in agreement before the three woman slowly started to plan the Manchester United New Year party.

***

Frowning while he stared down at the newspaper in his hands, Ewan glanced over at his new wife who was chatting happily with her mother about their wedding; he was surprised that she was still going on about the crappy ceremony. 

Ewan hadn't had much choice but to marry Bouchra while they were in Morocco visiting her parents; she was starting to get bored with him and Ewan couldn't have her going back to Robin and screwing up his plans. 

Ewan had made sure that they were out of England so that he wouldn't be suspected of any foul play when Elena's parents crashed their car because their breaks had been cut. 

"Ewan, is everything okay?" Bouchra asked making her new husband look up at her and smile as he set the newspaper down and nodded; he couldn't believe that he had managed to get away with this so far. 

"Of course, I was just reading some horrible news about Robin's wife," Ewan lied making Bouchra look at him, she tilted her head as she took the newspaper from the table and looked at it. 

Ewan couldn't believe that he had managed to trick Bouchra into first leaving Robin for him, and now she was married to him completely unaware that Ewan was using her to hurt Robin and now she was his cover while he attempted to make Robin suffer. 

"What a shame, I hoped it ruined her Christmas," Bouchra muttered bitterly, she didn't care what people said about how nice Elena was; the brunette was playing mother to Bouchra's children and the Moroccan-Dutch didn't like it.

Ewan nodded wrapping his arms around her and kissed her softly, Bouchra smiled at him; she couldn't help but think how lucky she was to find someone like Ewan after she had married Robin. 

Even if the Dutch footballer had been her childhood sweetheart, he had never made her feel the way Ewan made her feel; she felt truly lucky and the only thing missing were her children. 

Ewan made her feel special and even though she regretted starting an affair with Ewan while she was married to Robin; she just couldn't deny that she was falling in love with Ewan and she hoped that they would be blessed soon with a baby of their own.