Part One - Chapter Eleven: Meeting the Aveiros

                                    

                                          
“You look fine,” Cristiano murmured lacing his fingers with Eliana’s, he knew how nervous his girlfriend was about meeting his family but she had nothing to worry about; he had warned his mother to be nice.
                          
Eliana rolled her eyes, it had taken her ages to settle on the blue dress paired with strappy patent heeled sandals that she was wearing; she wanted to make the right impression on Cristiano’s family.
                          
Cristiano slowly led Eliana into the restaurant where they were going to meet his family, he wanted the meeting to be on neutral ground since he didn’t want anyone scaring Eliana off; he could only imagine what his mother and sisters were going to be like.
                          
“Ronaldo,” Dolores Aveiro called getting to her feet and moving to greet her youngest, she couldn’t believe how long it had been since she had seen him; the only downside being that he had found himself yet another model to date.
                          
“Mãe it’s good to see you,” Cristiano murmured wrapping his arms around his mother and hugging her close; he did miss his family when he was working and he wished that he could spend more time with them.
                          
Eliana was silent while Cristiano greeted his mother, she didn’t wish to bring attention to her until it was necessary and she could already feel his sisters staring at her.
                          
“Mãe… this is Eliana my girlfriend,” Cristiano introduced stepping back from his mother allowing her to see the blonde that was trying and failing to hide behind him.
                          
Dolores took a deep breath before she turned to look at Eliana, she pursed her lips at the model that had caught her son’s attention for what she was sure was all the wrong reasons.
                          
“It’s nice to meet you,” Eliana said trying to sound more confident than she was, she didn’t know what to expect from Cristiano’s mother or sisters.
                          
***
                          
“So Eliana… tell us more about you,” Elma requested sipping on her glass of water, the air around them was filled with silence and she knew that if her mother and sister had their way then they would ignore the blonde for as long as possible.
                          
Cristiano smiled at his eldest sister, he was thankful that she wasn’t making things even worse; Dolores seemed happy to ignore his girlfriend.
                          
Eliana blinked suddenly panicking on what to say, she didn’t like to be put on the spot and the last thing she wanted to do in front of Cristiano’s family was to ramble like an idiot.
                          
“Where are you from in Portugal?” Elma asked taking a bit of pity on Eliana, she wasn’t like the models that Cristiano had dated in the past and it made her a little curious.
                          
Eliana seemed incredible shy and Elma wondered why someone like that had become a model, she seemed happy taking a back seat when it came to everything instead of being so overconfident with herself.
                          
“Funchal, Madeira… we used to live in the same area,” Eliana replied making Cristiano smile, he hadn’t told his mother or sisters much about her and he was sure that they would warm to Eliana.
                          
Hugo hadn’t been able to make the dinner since he was at work and Cristiano was hopeful that his older brother wasn’t doing anything stupid; he had a bit of a drinking problem that reminded them all of how José Dinis Aveiro had been.
                          
“Really,” Dolores mused unimpressed, she always feared that some gold-digger would get her claws into her son and she wasn’t pleased to hear where Eliana was from.
                          
Eliana nodded her head, she could already sense that Dolores was starting to dislike her; she had no idea what the woman would do if she did. 
                          
“Eliana went to the same primary school,” Cristiano announced making Elma blink surprised, it was rare to run into anyone from their former neighbourhood; she looked at their mother knowing she’d use this against Eliana.
                          
Dolores frowned, she knew that a lot of people from their home back in Santo António would use any excuse to get close to Cristiano and now this model had somehow managed to do it.
                          
“You were in the same book club as my mãe, she spoke very highly of you,” Eliana revealed feeling self-conscious at the look that Dolores was giving her, she could already tell that the woman thought that she was nothing more than a gold-digger.
                          
Cristiano blinked a little surprised, she hadn’t told him that and he hoped that his mother had been good friends with hers; he had no idea what they would do if Dolores decided that she wasn’t going accept that they were dating.
                          
“Your mãe?” Dolores asked raising an eyebrow at Eliana, she knew that the blonde’s surname was Silva but she couldn’t recall anyone from back in Funchal with that name; she didn’t really speak to a lot of the women that she had used to hang out with.
                          
The moment that Cristiano had become famous had changed everything for them and Dolores had found that a lot of her former friends were only interested because of her football famous son.
                          
“Jennifer Silva… she was an art teacher,” Eliana replied doubting that Dolores remember her, she hadn’t seen the woman in years and they had stopped talking before Cristiano had signed for Sporting CP.
                          
Dolores stared at Eliana wracking her brain, she couldn’t remember a Jennifer Silva and she was sure that the woman wasn’t anyone important.
                          
***
                          
“That wasn’t so bad,” Cristiano murmured knowing it could have gone worse, the last time he brought a woman home to meet his mother someone had ended up getting slapped.
                          
Eliana raised an eyebrow at Cristiano, she guessed that he had seen worse in the past when it came to his mother; she hadn’t really paid much attention to Eliana and it was clear that this wasn’t over.
                          
“It’ll be fine… she’ll get used to us,” Cristiano continued wrapping his arms around Eliana and looking over at the car that his mother was on; he really liked his girlfriend and he wished that Dolores would just give her a chance.
                          
Eliana raised an eyebrow at her boyfriend, she didn’t believe that for a moment but she would deal with Dolores; she was sure the woman was only concerned with who was trying to use her son.
                          
“Let’s head back,” Cristiano mused taking Eliana’s hand, in a couple of days they would be flying to Madeira to meet with her parents who still lived on the island while Cristiano’s family now all lived in Vilamoura or Lisbon.
                          
Eliana nodded her head, she followed Cristiano towards his car and wondered what would happen now; her parents were a little on edge about meeting the footballer, even if she had tried to reassure them that he wasn’t like what the papers said.
                          
Cristiano held onto Eliana’s hand he wanted nothing more than for things to be okay for them; they had been dating for three months now and they had been good for him.
                          
It made Cristiano wonder what would have happened if he would have run into Eliana sooner, she was clearly meant to be with him since they had pretty much lived in the same areas for the majority of their lives.