By Noor-Jehan Yoro Badat
It is the calm before the storm for former Springbok rugby star James Small and his on-again, off-again girlfriend Christina Storm.
Earlier reports this month said that Small was in a court battle for custody of the baby he'd had with Storm.
A gracious Small said he wasn't allowed to talk about it but that his main concern was for his child.
Asked how he was holding up, he said he was okay, but "I miss my child".
He added that his and Storm's one-year-old daughter, Ruby, looked like a mixture of both of them. "She is the best of both worlds."
Neither Small nor his former girlfriend was seen in the Cape High Court two weeks ago. It was reported in The Independent on Saturday that both parties decided to send their lawyers to battle it out on their behalf.
The lawyers tried to make it a private affair and were tight-lipped about details of the case. They asked that the proceedings be held in-camera.
Acting Justice André le Grange ruled in their favour and asked the media to leave the court. He was reported to have said: "The case must be heard in camera because it involves the custody of a child."
The relationship between Storm, one of Cape Town's top models, and Small started during a fashion shoot for a women's magazine. However, riddled with turbulent times, it hit the headlines in 2001 when they broke off their engagement.
In that year, Small confessed to physically abusing her. Storm also spoke out about her ordeal in a Fair Lady article, where she said they "both had strong personalities that resulted in a stormy relationship with little room for compromise".
Then Small made news again when he was taken by ambulance to Somerset Hospital in Cape Town after suffering an apparent breakdown.
Conflicting reports said it was a suicide attempt, but his family denied these claims.
This all happened before the couple announced early last year that they were expecting a baby. Storm gave birth to a girl last August.
Attempts were made to contact Storm through her modelling agency, but she told them she was not prepared to comment.