BY TERE FIGUERAS NEGRETE

Joe Cubas was dressed as Santa Claus, handing out toy cars and teddy bears to orphaned and abandoned youngsters, when he first met the two children he now loves as his own.

The 12-year-old boy seemed especially sad, shuffling up with his hands in his pockets, Cubas remembers, ''like a fragile, little old man.'' His little sister was near tears, noisily refusing to come close and only reluctantly taking a doll from Santa.

Cubas and his wife, Maria, had no idea at that 2005 Christmas party that those children would end up living in their Coral Gables home.

And they never imagined they would find themselves embroiled in an international custody dispute -- with the girl's Cuban father fighting to take her back to the island, and the couple equally adamant she remain with them.

''The first time she called me Mami, it broke my heart,'' said Maria Cubas, who said she at first held out hope the little girl would be reunited with at least one of her parents. "We didn't want to fall in love with this girl.''

But, the couple said, they did.

They have already adopted the older brother -- a half-sibling who has a different birth father -- and say it would be cruel to separate the two.

Joe and Maria Cubas, who were not called to testify during the lengthy custody trial, spoke to The Miami Herald at their home this week.

DAILY STRUGGLE

As the contentious custody dispute continues to wind its way through the courts, the couple said they are struggling to keep some measure of normalcy within their household. They have one daughter away at college, another in high school, and the two Cuban-born children: the boy, now 13, and the girl at the center of the controversy, a curly-haired 5-year-old enamored of Disney fairy tales who insisted on a Snow White birthday party earlier this month.

There is baseball practice for the boy, ballet recitals for the girl. Homework after school, playtime by the pool behind their well-appointed home.

But there are also long nights interrupted by nightmares, the girl crying out in her sleep and grinding her teeth so hard Maria Cubas says she can hear it standing outside the girl's bedroom.

And there are moments of high anxiety for the boy, who considers himself his sister's protector and who weaves between anger and denial over the possibility that she may eventually leave his adopted home.

Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Jeri B. Cohen is expected to rule this week on whether the girl's father, Rafael Izquierdo, is a fit parent. A second chapter of the courtroom drama -- whether the girl should remain in the Cubas household -- is expected to begin in the coming weeks.

Joe and Maria Cubas admit they initially had reservations about taking care of the girl.

''I was terrified of the whole Elián thing. I had my daughters living in my house,'' Maria Cubas said of the polarizing Elián González saga seven years ago. ``I didn't want people outside my house picketing.''

Another concern: Joe Cubas' notoriety as a sports agent who helped defecting Cuban baseball players start major-league careers in the United States, most notably former Florida Marlin Liván Hernandez and his half-brother Orlando.

Ira Kurzban, one of Izquierdo's attorneys, said the couple overstepped their role as temporary caretakers of the girl. They were simply ''there to perform a temporary function of taking in the children,'' he said. ``It's time to give up that role and return the child to her father.''

The Gables couple says it's not so simple, and that they are the best candidates to give the two children a stable home.

The children's mother, Elena Perez, brought them with her from Cuba in March 2005. When she tried to commit suicide that December, the state Department of Children & Families removed the children from her care. The state sheltered them the first night, then turned them over to relatives of their stepfather, Jesus Melendres, who had traveled to the United States with Perez but did not want to care for the children.

His cousin, Nelson Melendres and his wife, Noemi, volunteered to care for them, assuming Perez would get better.

The couple, who live in Westchester, are close friends of the Cubas family. When they found out that Joe Cubas would hand out presents at a Christmas celebration for needy children, they brought their two new charges along, hoping to cheer them up.

For several years the Cubas family had been involved with His House Children's Home, a faith-based group that provides shelter for abused, neglected or drug-exposed children, and the couple was looking to do more -- maybe mentor a child.

After that holiday introduction, Joe Cubas began tutoring the older boy, who was far behind in his studies.

The boy opened up immediately, said Cubas, telling him stories of abuse at the hands of his mother, and how he wanted to stay in the United States and feared returning to Cuba. Perez has denied allegations of abuse.

Soon, the little girl began tagging along as well.

By March 2006, the judge in the case asked the Melendreses if they were willing to care for the children long-term if necessary. The Melendreses, who have two teenage sons and were caring for Noemi's ill mother, said they couldn't make such a commitment.

In a panic, Noemi called Joe Cubas. ''We were at a crossroads,'' Cubas said. "Either we were the solution or these kids went to a foster home.''

On April 5, 2006, the court awarded Joe and Maria Cubas temporary custody of the children. They say they assumed Izquierdo would arrive as soon as possible to reunite with his daughter.

But when the girl's father took nine months to apply for a visa from Cuba, they began to question Izquierdo's devotion to his daughter. Kurzban says the father did not immediately attempt to come to the United States because he believed Perez was on the mend and likely to reunite with the girl.

In the meantime, Joe and Maria Cubas say they began to feel like the girl's parents.

Their objections to Izquierdo, Joe Cubas said, have nothing to do with the fact that he is a poor malanga farmer or that he wants to take the child back to Cuba.

''This is not about Cuba, this is what is in the best interest of this little girl,'' said Cubas, who was born in the United States to Cuban exiles. ``My parents were dirt poor. My father got off the plane from Cuba and washed dishes on Miami Beach.''

''This has nothing to do with wealth,'' said Maria Cubas, pointing at the photos of her daughters, as well as nieces and nephews, that crowd their living room coffee table. "I have a huge, enormous family. I don't need to buy children.''

NOT LIKE ELIAN CASE

Their attorney, Alan Mishael, said his clients have deliberately refrained from appealing to the Cuban exile community for support, a marked distinction from the Elián González case.

''We have faith in the Florida legal system and don't see a need to take this to the court of public opinion,'' he said, adding that whatever the court's decision, the losing side will almost certainly appeal.

Joe and Maria Cubas say they have moments when they ponder what will happen if, ultimately, the girl's father prevails.

''Of course I have thought about that,'' said Maria Cubas, her eyes welling up with tears. "And if that's the case, then I know I have to let her go.''