Chapter 8

Dale and Tru joined the others around the kitchen table. They pulled their chairs as close as they could almost as if they were scared to let go of the other. Pops looked at Dale and Tru completely confused but he did notice a difference in his nephews appearance. The lifeless angry look that had been there for awhile was already being replaced with the same spark of happiness that had been there six months ago. "Someone want to let me know what in the sam hell is going on."

Kelly took a deep breath and briefly caught Pops up on why they were there. "And hopefully we will all know the rest of the story in a few minutes." She turned to Dale and Tru. "Dale, I know you don’t want to do this but you have to tell us everything." He nodded at her as Tru squeezed her hand. "So, you start dating Margo; how on earth did this become an engagement?"

"I don’t know. It was all so sudden, we were dating, she moved in, then she was planning a wedding. It all happened so quickly, I didn’t know what to do?" He looked at Tru, suddenly feeling 2 inches tall. "I should have stood up to them." He looked down at the table aware of how pathetic he seemed, hell, he was.

"Stop." Tru said pulling his hand to her lips before letting it rest with hers in her lap. He looked up at her wondering what she was thinking. "You are not pathetic."

"How do you always know what I am thinking?’

She smiled. "That’s my job."

Tony Jr. interrupted. "I hate to be the bearer of bad news but they are right in one sense, losing Bud will be a huge loss."

"I don’t think Budweiser will leave. When August finds out what Michael did, I think that will be the end of it. I say we go to August and tell him the truth. The question is do we go to Ty and Teresa first?" Jade said.

"You honestly believe that August doesn’t know about this?" Pops asked as he looked at Jade.

"Yeah, he wouldn’t be apart of this. Michael is betting on the fact that Ty, Teresa, and Junior are to scared to go to him. And maybe they are but I am not. I will fly to St Louis tomorrow and talk with him one on one." Jade said point blankly grabbing his cell phone to make arrangements.

"There are several questions we need answered why and what now being the two biggest ones? Kelly said finally joining in on the conversation.

"What do you mean what now? We go to August, we fix this, and get our lives back to normal." Dale said.

Pops had a feeling he knew where Kelly was headed with her comment. Kelly looked at Dale as she leaned forward on the table. "Maybe, just maybe it’s time to start your career over." Everyone’s eyes raised. Kelly was about to say what a lot of people thought but were too scared to say out loud. "Listen, I know daddy started this company to give others a chance, to give his kids a place to drive, as an income, a future for his family. It has given us all of that and more but maybe now it’s time to do your own thing. You will always be the son of the late great Dale Earnhardt, you can’t change that and no one would want you to. But you can make a name for yourself on your own. Isn’t that what you have always wanted? To show everyone that you aren’t just Dale Earnhardts son but that you are your own person. That you can do this on your own away from DEI. Yes, everyone expects you to always be there, but the truth of the matter is that you don’t have a contract and I don’t believe that daddy would want you to stay somewhere that you aren’t happy, just for him. There isn’t a company out there that wouldn’t want you in their car."

Dale raised an eyebrow. "What are you saying?"

"Dale, put everything else to the side. I have heard you say that you have always wondered what it would be like to drive for someone else. Why not try it? Don’t get me wrong, I care about Ty and Teresa, and I don’t want to leave them with an empty car but I think maybe they have lost touch with what daddy started and are too worried about the business. Can you honestly say you will trust them 100% now that they have done this?" She motioned towards Tru. "They forced you to leave the one woman you love, the one woman you were ready to give it all up for cause you didn’t want to do it without her, so they wouldn’t loose a sponsor."

"I can’t turn my back on daddy like that. What would happen if I left?"

"The doors aren’t going to close." Pops said joining the conversation. Dale’s eyes grew wide but before he could respond Pops continued. "Think about it, there are a ton of sponsors and drivers that would kill for their name on a DEI car. Yeah, they are losing Pennzoil but I know there are a few offers on the table that the are keeping hush hush." Kelly could tell Dale was completely overwhelmed by everything that was going on.

No one said a word as they sat and stared at each other for several minutes. Until Tru spoke up. "Well, I am not going to lie and say I won’t hold any animosity towards Ty and Teresa. I can’t believe that they would do this, cause this kind of pain, to not me but to you. Every week that you went out and wrecked that car they put you in danger, they hurt you, all for a car. Why didn’t they call August? They were just willing to cast me to the side like I didn’t matter. I am hurt, and I won’t be sad if you leave but I will stand next to you no matter what you decide. Your life is mine. We are in this together." Dale leaned over and kissed her passionately not caring who watched. No one had ever made him feel this wanted and loved before.

He pulled away from her but never took his eyes from hers. "I can’t do this anymore tonight, I want to go." He paused. "I can’t go home."

"We can go to mine." Tru said kissing him again and standing.

"Look, we have a week until the wedding, let me go talk to August. Then we can confront Ty and Teresa however you want." Jade asked.

"You sure you want to go to him alone?"

"Yeah, I know him pretty well and think it would be better than all of us barging in there."

"What about Margo? I won’t lie, I want her gone." Tru asked.

"And she will be, but we can’t have her pissed and rushing to daddy too soon. We need a plan first." Tru nodded, she knew Kelly was right but she didn’t like it.

"Well, I am staying at Tru’s tonight. I am not going back to Margo." Dale said as he stood pulling Tru into his arms.

"That’s fine. Not like she is expecting you to actually come home." Kelly said. "You have to go home tomorrow, though. Don’t let Margo know you and Tru are back together."

"Kel, thanks."

"What I am here for. I love you."

"Love you too." Dale and Tru took her car back to her place leaving Dale’s truck at Kelly’s, that way it would look like he was there in case Margo drove by.

They drove back to Tru’s in silence, neither knowing what to say. Between the bomb Kelly laid on them and the fact that they were back together, their minds were reeling. They found themselves standing in the living room nervous as hell and feeling like teenagers hiding from their parents. "So?" Dale said not sure of what to do or say.

Tru smiled she knew he was nervous and she wondered if he was thinking of her and Tony. There was only one way to find out. She headed for the bedroom then stopped to look at him. "You coming?"

He smirked old habits were hard to break. "Not yet, but it won’t take much."

She laughed as she pulled him down onto the bed with her. "Well, let’s see what we can do about that." She pulled his shirt over his head. She knew there wasn’t much point in trying to take this slow. Just being near him turned her on and it had been way to long since she felt his skin on hers. He unbuttoned her shirt as her hands went for the button and zipper of his jeans. They quickly rid themselves of the rest of their clothes and Tru was about to straddle his waist when he stopped her and flipped her to her back. He slid down her body and started kissing her toes and moved up until he reached her naval. His hands roamed over her thighs, her stomach, her breasts, every inch of her being. "What are you doing?" She asked as he stopped and stared down at her.

"How much weight have you lost?" His hands traced the shape of her breast noticing they weren‘t quite as full as they were before.

"I don’t know."

"How much?"

She took a deep breath knowing he was about to lecture her. "20 pounds."

"What? What do you weigh? I know you have dropped at least a size."

She was startled that he knew exactly what she had lost. "How in the hell do you know that?"

"Tru, I know every inch of your body better than you do. I have spent hours, several enjoyable hours, taking it in, studying it. Every curve, every spot that you hate." He ran his hands over her hips. "Every spot you love," He ran his fingers up the curve of her breast. "I love all those spots and all the rest that you don‘t think about. Want to know my favorite?" She couldn’t speak, she just nodded. He grinned and pulled her into a sitting position. He gently ran his fingers along her lower back. He crawled around and ran his tongue along the tribal tattoo that decorated her backside. She shivered as his tongue slid along her skin from the juncture of her lower back and her bottom. He licked all the way up her spine to the back of her neck. He massaged her shoulders and felt the tension that had built up over the past few months. "What happened, you aren’t the diet type?"

"Mmmm." She moaned settling into his hands. "I just wasn’t hungry. I didn’t try to lose it, I tried to stay upbeat but it just hurt so bad. I thought you didn’t love me anymore. I looked at that picture everyday and wondered what I did wrong." She pointed towards the bedside table. Dale grabbed the newspaper clipping and saw a picture of him and Margo. "You know I am not one to dwell on the past but damn it, I knew something wasn’t right and it killed me that I couldn’t change it or figure it out."

It hurt him to know he was the cause of the stress in her neck, the pain she felt, the weight she lost. He wadded up the paper and threw it too the floor vowing right then that he would spend the rest of his life making it up to her. Dale didn’t give her chance to say another word. He tipped her head back and his mouth captured hers with a passion that neither of them had felt in a long while. His mouth dropped to her collarbone as her hands scratched up his thighs. "Dale, please don’t wait any more. We can do all this crap later. Please I need you."

He laughed as he slid back around to her front. "Crap? You never were one for foreplay." She separated her legs to allow him to lay between them. He pushed himself up on his elbows and stared down at her. "I love you."

"I love you too, so much." She reached down and took him in her hand and guided him to her opening. He found her mouth again as he pushed farther into her. They clung to each other not wanting this moment to end. He collapsed down on top of her as they both reached their peaks. He finally rolled off of her and pulled her into his side.

She traced lazy circles on his stomach and could feel his stare, she knew what he was thinking. "It didn’t mean anything to me. It was just one night, to be honest I was thinking of you the whole time and probably freaked him out cause I was in tears by the end of the whole thing."

"I just can’t get the image of you and him out of my head. I mean, he, you, I just." Dale dropped his head back on the pillow.

She finally looked up at him. "Dale."

"No, don’t. I am not mad at you or him for that matter. Well, maybe him. He knew how much I loved you and even if we were broke up he was my friend. Of course, I was engaged, am engaged." He muttered.

"Dale, I love you and always will."

"I know. I love you too." He knew she felt guilty as hell and he didn’t want her beating herself up for something that was his own fault. "Look, I probably would have done the same thing."

"But you didn’t. She has been under your roof for several months now and you are sleeping in the guest room."

"Cause I knew what was going on. I knew I was to blame, had you just left me with no explanation. I probably would have, no, I know I would have and I would have gone looking for it not just accidentally ran into it."

"What will happen, when you see him?"

"Nothing, simply cause I can’t have him find out we are back together. But once you are back at the track with me, we are going to have to confront him. Things were weird and I didn‘t even know why, it will only get worse."

"Yeah, but I have to admit I am dreading that."

"Why? Did he mistreat you? What did he do? He hurt you?" Dale asked getting alarmed and sitting straight up.

"No, nothing like that. He was very sweet and he actually called me a few days later to apologize and make sure I was ok. I just don‘t want things to be bad between you two, on or off the track."

"They won’t be, it will be ok." He leaned against the headboard.

"Dale?"

"Yeah."

"Are we going to be ok?" She looked into his eyes and couldn’t believe how safe she felt back in his arms.

He looked at her not even pausing to think about it. "Yes. The one thing I realized over the past few months is how much I love you and how much I need you in my life."

"I love you too." She kissed him again and rolled on top of him taking control of this round.

Chapter 9

Jade caught a flight out to St Louis the next day with an appointment at Anheuser-Busch headquarters with August. When August heard it was an emergency involving Dale Jr. and that it needed to stay between them, he made room in his schedule right away. Tony Jr. and Tony Sr. headed to the shop to see how the cars were coming along for the next race. Kelly worked on a plan she had for confronting Ty and Teresa as Dale and Tru kept buying time hoping Jade would have good news for all of them.

Kelly tried to figure out a way to confront Ty and Teresa but nothing seemed easy. She was pissed at them for lying and being a part of this in the first place and she did care about them and the business but mainly, her loyalties laid with her father’s name, she wouldn’t let it get drug through the mud; and she refused to let the company he started all those years ago fail. Her dilemma, making sure her baby brother was happy when all was said and done.

The days flew by quickly and before any of them knew it the wedding was upon them. It was two days until the big day but as far as Dale was concerned the wedding was off. Jade’s meeting with August went well and he was none too happy when he found out what Michael had done. He had been immediately fired and told that if he ever even thought of opening his mouth he would be sued and arrested for black mail.

Michael had apparently neglected to inform his daughter that the game was up because she was still in the house, that was a situation Tru was about to change.

Tru knew Dale was at the shop and knew she should probably wait for him to get home but the jealous girlfriend in her that loved Dale and told her he was hers won out over her head. She pulled up in the driveway and pulled a suitcase out of the back seat. She opened the door with her key and walked to the bedroom. She started pulling Margo’s clothes out of the closet and drawers and throwing them into a bag she found.

"What the hell do you think you are doing?"

Tru turned to see Margo standing in the doorway. "Moving back in." She smirked with a glare of her own.

"Like hell. I am marrying Dale you are going to have to get over it. Get the hell out of my house."

"Your house?" She spat as she grabbed the bag of clothes off the bed and headed back to the front door. "This isn’t your house. It’s Dale’s and trust me, I am not the one getting the hell out." With that she tossed the bag out the front door and turned back towards the bedroom. Margo stood shocked as Tru came back with another bag, all of Margo’s clothes were scattered all over the front yard. Tru grinned as she walked back into the house and grabbed the wedding dress hanging on the hall closet.

"Don‘t you dare." Margo screamed as the dress flew out the door. Tru just laughed and headed back to the bedroom to unpack her clothes. She had made it halfway down the hall and never saw Margo coming. "You bitch." Margo grabbed a handful of Tru’s hair in true cat fight tradition. "You are not getting him back." She yanked Tru backwards by the hair and laughed as she fell backwards into the wall.

Tru grabbed her head where it bounced off the wall and looked at Margo. "Bit of advice." Tru’s eyebrows raised as she smirked at Margo. "If you get them down, make sure you keep them there." And with that she jumped up and lunged at Margo. When it came down to it Margo fought just like Tru expected, she slapped and pulled hair like a child not actually able to defend herself.

Outside, Dale and Tony Jr. walked up the driveway towards the house. "Oh shit." Dale broke into a jog.

"What is it?" Tony ran after him.

"That’s Tru’s car." He pointed to the 69 Mustang, then to the BMW SUV. "And that’s Margo’s."

"Uh oh."

They both ran past the clothes thrown all over the yard and into the house. Tony tried not to but couldn’t hold back the laugh that found his lips. Tru was on top of Margo straddling her and shaking her violently. "You know if it wasn’t Tru, I would think this was kind of sexy and let this cat fight go on." Tony said as Dale glared at him trying to pull Tru off of Margo. Tony grabbed Margo although she wasn’t going anywhere, Tru definitely had the upper hand.

"Tru. Tru. Stop. Knock it off." Dale said as he pulled Tru to the other side of the room. "Come on chill. What are you doing here?"

"See, I told you, you’re leaving. Stupid bitch." Margo spat from the other side of the room.

"Oh you…" Tru took off towards Margo again and it took both Dale and Tony to keep her away from her this time.

"Tru!" Dale yelled. She finally stopped fighting them as her head started throbbing even more. She just sat and held her head in her hands. "You ok?" Dale asked suddenly concerned.

"Whore over there knocked me from behind and knocked my head into the wall. A sucker punch from behind was the only hit she could get in." She saw the concern in his eyes as he leaned down to look at the lump forming on her head. "I am fine. Just pissed. Get rid of her." She spoke through clenched teeth trying to calm herself down.

Dale grinned, her spunk and fire were two things he loved most about her. He turned to Margo. "How much of your stuff is out on the yard?"

"All of it. She threw all of it out. Even the wedding dress." Margo whined .

Dale couldn‘t help but grin he was so sick of staring at that white dress. "Good, now you don’t have to pack. Pick your shit up off my yard and get out."

Margo’s mouth fell open, she couldn’t believe what she just heard. "You can’t do this, you know what will happen." She threatened.

"Yes, I do. Jack shit. You see, we’ve had a little talk with August. Your daddy? Fired. You? Out of my life, forever. Get the fuck out."

She was stunned and speechless. She ran out the door grabbing what she could and tore out of the driveway. Tony slammed the door behind her and smiled as he turned back towards Dale and Tru. Dale was sitting next to her holding an ice pack to her head cradling her in his arms. He was happy to see these two back together and wasn’t about to interrupt the celebrations that he was sure was about to happen. "We will talk later."

Dale looked up forgetting he was there. "Sorry Tony, you sure, I can…"

"No, you stay with her. We will talk tomorrow." Tony smiled and let himself out.

"What were you thinking?" Dale asked Tru as he led her down the hall.

"I was thinking I am sick of this shit. You are my boyfriend, not hers and I wanted you back. I know I should have waited till you were here but damn it I didn’t want to. I wanted her gone."

He smiled. "And now she is." He quickly placed his lips on hers. "No more sneaking around, no more guest room, no more sleeping alone." They quickly moved his things back to the master bedroom and unpacked her things.

"I just grabbed a few things."

"We can go move everything else out of your apartment later. I have a better idea of what we should do now." He brought her down on the bed with him and let his fingers trail over her body.

Tru suddenly sat up. "You know what I just thought of?" Dale looked at her. "There is a whole wedding that needs to be cancelled. You have what 800 people coming in two days to see you get married. We have to cancel everything, call everyone."

"Well, 500 of them were her nearest and dearest so I am pretty sure they have already heard her whining about it." He looked at Tru a light bulb going off.

"What? I have seen that look before Earnhardt and it is usually followed by a whole lot of trouble." She grinned.

"Why cancel the wedding?"

"Cause it’s rude to let all those people show up and have no wedding. Not to mention all the food and flowers that would go to waste."

"No they won’t." Dale just stared at her, suddenly everything in his life making perfect sense. "Marry me. I know it isn’t ‘our wedding’ by why not. Let’s get married. I will understand if you say no cause she did plan all of it but Tru I love you and want to spend the rest of my life with you. So if you say no, I am still asking, we will just push the date back until we can rearrange my schedule to do it our way."

Tru stopped his rambling with a searing kiss that Dale was pretty sure meant yes. He looked at her wondering what she was thinking. "Yes, Dale I will marry you. We have paid long enough for their actions, why not let them pay for ours."

He didn’t let her say anymore, he pulled her even closer to him and brought her mouth to his. They spent the rest of the night in each others arms. They knew they still had Teresa and Ty to deal with but for now they finally felt like things were going their way.

CHAPTER 10

The next day every newspaper across the country had the same front page news, ‘Earnhardt wedding cancelled on the eve of the big day.’ Word was out and Dale couldn’t be happier at seeing his name in the paper. That same afternoon everyone found themselves sitting in a conference room at DEI and they weren’t too sure as to why. Kerry, Taylor, Michael Waltrip, and Slugger were also there. They all had received calls that morning that there would be an emergency meeting at DEI. Ty and Teresa found out about the wedding and their visit to August but why was everyone else there?

Teresa walked into the overly full room and everyone hushed. “Thanks for coming on such short notice. I know you are all wondering why you are here and I am going to explain everything I promise. First, however, Tru, I want you to know that it was never anything personal with you and I am so sorry for how we handled the whole situation. I don’t expect you to forgive us for what we did but do know that I am truly sorry.” Tru just nodded not sure of how she should react, not sure of how she felt.

“Second, I know a lot of you are unaware of what has happened and I am sure you will soon know and I know you are all wondering what you are doing here. Well, I won’t keep you long. The events of the past few months have made me realize, I don’t want to do this anymore. I have been in the racing business for so long but since Dale died it’s been different. Not at all what I want anymore. My main goal is to keep Dale’s legacy and name going and make sure that it doesn’t get slandered. In doing so I don’t have the time for the company that it deserves, which brings me to why we are here.”

Everyone looked around the room confused except for Kelly who seemed to have figured out what was going on. “On my God.” She whispered as Dale and Tru looked to her. She clamped her hand over her mouth and just shook her head.

Teresa continued. “I am no longer interested in owning and running this company and am selling it.” The room exploded into a constant chatter. Everyone started talking at once and suddenly someone shouted out.

“Teresa come on, you can‘t be serious.”

She held up her hands to hush everyone. “Let me finish, please, my proposition is this. This company still means the world to me and I don’t want to see it fail. In the best interest of everyone I want to see ownership be split into quarters. A fourth going to each Kerry, Kelly, Dale Jr. and Taylor, I will keep Taylor’s share in a trust until she is of legal age. I have no intentions of selling it too you for the full value of the company, a dollar amount can be determined when the papers are signed. I know you kids can work well enough together to see that it becomes the championship company it should be.”

No one knew what to say they all seemed to just stare except for Dale Jr. “What if we aren’t interested?” He said meeting Teresa’s stare. He couldn’t believe this was happening. First the whole Tru situation, now this.

“Then I will have to find another buyer. I don’t want to do that, I don’t trust too many people to continue what your father believed in and to do what he would have done. I haven’t even been doing that as of late, I don’t want to sell but if I have to I will. I am serious, my head isn’t in this and I owe it to you, him, and everyone related to this company to do what is right. Please understand, how hard this is for me to walk away from, but I know it’s right.”

Dale was visibly mad. “This is bullshit, all daddy worked for you are willing to just throw away. What the hell is your problem lately?” There were few people in the room that new the truth of the Margo/Tru situation and everyone stared in disbelief as Dale exploded. “You are just going to stand there, wanting our forgiveness for almost ruining our lives, and now telling us that you are just casting all this aside.”

Teresa started to speak but Tru interrupted her and Dale’s tirade. “June stop.”

“What, you are taking her side after all they did to you?”

She stood getting right back in his face. “I am not taking anyone’s side but this isn’t about just you, and screaming and yelling isn’t going to solve anything, so stop acting like this.” He just stared at her knowing she was right but he was angry and it was all he could do to calm himself down. Tru took his hand in hers and lead him back to their chairs. He sat next to her and she could see the emotional struggle he was having to calm himself down, his leg bounced uncontrollably and he rocked ever so slightly taking deep breaths. This company meant more to him than most people thought and she now knew that any plan Kelly had for him driving for someone else would never happen. Dale would never take the chance at his daddies company failing.

Kelly spoke up. “Look, I think we,” she motioned to Kerry, Taylor, Dale and herself. “need to talk about this.”

Teresa nodded gathering her things and leading everyone else out of the room. Dale grabbed Tru as she started to leave. “You’re staying.”

“No, I’m not.” Dale started to interrupt her. “Dale listen, this is something you need to do with them.” She leaned closer and whispered. “And anyway, I have a dress to go buy.”

Dale grinned, kissed her and let her go.

After several minutes of silence Kelly looked at Dale. “So much for confronting them.” She said trying to lighten the mood.

“Well, I guess this puts an end to your insane idea about me leaving DEI.”

“What? You leaving DEI? Want to let us know what the hell you are talking about?”

“Taylor Nicole!” Dale scolded.

“What? Oh come on I am 16 I am not a child, maybe you all could start treating me like it.”

“Listen I won’t be…” Dale started.

“Ok, both of you knock it off.” Kerry interrupted. “Look, I don’t know what you guys are talking about you leaving DEI but we have one hell of a decision to make here. Think we can do it like civilized adults?”

“And anyway daddy ran this company and didn’t drive for it so why can’t you?”

“Fuck Kelly, what is with you and this whole cockamamie idea. You have lost your mind.”

“Look.”

“Am I the only one here that remembers that we are on the verge of buying a multi million dollar business or losing our family business to some stranger if we don’t?” Kerry yelled over his siblings bickering.

Everyone stopped suddenly looking at him. “You’re right. I’m sorry.” Kelly said. “Ok, so what are we going to do?”

The four of them stayed in that conference room for what seemed like days, it was only a few hours but they came to an understanding. They called everyone back into the room and Kelly stood to greet them. “We aren’t thrilled with this outcome, we assumed you would be in charge here for years, and there is a whole lot more that needs to be talked about on all ends. However, if you are serious about selling this company, we won’t let it go to some stranger. We are willing to accept your proposal and even though Taylor has no legal say over anything that happens, she will be included in all business decisions. She actually has some great ideas of things that should be happening. One hell of a little business woman in the making there.” Kelly smiled at the younger woman.

Teresa looked to her daughter and Taylor just shrugged. “You never asked.”

“So I guess you have a deal.” Kelly looked from Dale and Kerry to Teresa.

Teresa stood and hugged Kelly, Taylor, Kerry, and Dale. “I am so glad, I know this is the right thing to do.”

“Look I have to run, gotta meet Tru.” Dale wasn’t sure how he really felt about everything that was happening, it was all just too fast.

“Where did she go?” Teresa asked.

Dale stopped realizing Teresa had jumped in and they hadn’t gotten the chance to tell everyone the wedding was on. “Oh yeah, by the way, for those of you that are interested and don‘t have plans for tomorrow. Tru and I are taking advantage of the church and everything that couldn’t be cancelled and are getting married tomorrow at 5pm.” He didn’t say another word just walked out leaving everyone in another state of shock.

He met Tru at a restaurant an hour later. “So?” She asked excitedly.

“I was going to ask you the same thing.”

She looked at him in disbelief. “Yes, I have a dress. Now Dale Jr. what was the outcome back there?” She slid into the booth next to him. “What’s going on?”

“I want to hear about this dress.” She glared at him. “Ok Ok, we agreed to take her up on the offer. I don’t know what is going to happen now but we accepted.”

“You aren’t happy. Why?”

“I don’t know. I just never thought this would happen. I thought Teresa would run that company for years and then, well,” Dale suddenly got quiet realizing how selfish he sounded.

“Until, YOU, were ready to take over.”

He looked at her. “Yeah, but this makes sense you know. I am not the only child involved here. Why should I get the company?”

“Because everyone expected you too. You aren’t all that interested in running it right now, especially with Chance 2 and you still want to drive so yeah, this makes sense, you know you have a say in what happens and they will take care of it when you want to just drive and not worry about it.”

Dale took a deep breath. “So what about this dress?”

She let it go. They had both been through a lot over the past few months and their brains were tired. He was overwhelmed and really didn’t want to think at all. Hopefully after tomorrow everything would just start to fall into place. “Well, it’s a little plain for a wedding dress but it’s still gorgeous.”

He wrapped his arms around her as the waitress brought their food. “I don’t care if you wear jeans and a tee shirt as long as you are there.” She kissed his cheek as he grabbed his fork suddenly starving.

She just laughed as he grabbed an onion ring from her plate. “Thought you wanted fries?”

“Yeah, but those look good too. I am starving.”

“When was the last time you had a good meal?”

“It’s been a while.”

“We are going to have to get you use to some real cooking again.”

“You hiring a cook?”

“You brat.” She smacked at his hand as he grabbed another onion ring. “No, but room service on our weekend honeymoon will do the trick.”

He laughed. “It’s ok baby, I will start cooking again, now that I have someone to cook for.”

“Did you tell everyone?”

Just then both their cells rang. “Oh yeah, I told them.”

Chapter 11

Dale and Tru’s phones rang off the hook for the rest of the evening. No one had any idea what the hell was going on with the wedding and if it was really happening. Tony Sr. finally made his way to Dale’s to get some answers.

"So what’s going on? What do you mean you are getting married?"

"We decided there was no reason to let everything go to waste, so yeah, we are getting married tomorrow." Dale said.

"The wedding was cancelled but certain things were nonrefundable with only 24 hours notice. This way it stays small and private. The media thinks it’s not happening. We can actually have a nice ceremony that no one will intrude." Tru said trying to add a little more information for Pops.

"What about your family?" Tony asked looking at Tru.

"My friends have been great, they made all the calls and will be here with my parents tomorrow at noon."

"We thought about waiting until we could plan our own but with my schedule we would have to put it off for awhile."

Tony shook his head. "And why not let them pay for part of it." He smiled. "Can’t say I blame you kid. I am so happy for both of you. I will help pass word around. You guys just get some rest and we will see you tomorrow."

Dale hugged him. "Thanks pops."

The Next Day

"What are these?" Tru asked staring at the black dress bags hanging in the brides room.

"Well, you can say no if you would like, but we took it upon ourselves to get dresses. We didn’t know if you had any bridesmaids." Kelly said.

Tru unzipped the bag and looked at the navy blue dress. "Wow, it’s gorgeous."

"We knew your favorite color was blue so we took a chance."

Tru laughed and walked over to a closet. She pulled out a bag and pulled a very similar navy blue dress out of the closet. "My best friend from back in NY is wearing this as my Maid of Honor but I would love to have you two stand up there with me. Thank you so much, for everything." She looked at Kelly referring to more than just the wedding. "If it weren’t for you I wouldn’t be the one he is marrying today."

Suddenly there was a knock on the door. Taylor grabbed the door as Kelly and Tru stopped the hug they were in the middle of. "Hey mom."

"Hey, you guys mind if I talk to Tru for a minute."

They all turned and looked at Tru. "No, we will be back in a bit. Gonna go check on June."

Tru eyed Teresa still uneasy around her. "I know I am not your favorite person right now and I understand that. I hope you know I never meant anything personal by it."

"You know what I think bothers me most?" Teresa didn’t say a word. "That you would do that to him. I love that man out there with all my heart and would do anything to keep him from getting harmed and you, his family, those he trusted more than anyone, hurt him the most." Tru turned away from her and stared out the window. "I don’t know what kind of relationship we can have, you will be a part of out lives because you are his step mother and Taylor has become the little sister I never had, but I don’t know if we can ever be friends."

"I respect that and I don’t blame you. You do need to know, not trying to make excuses but I felt trapped. It’s been hard since Dale died, I love Junior so much and won’t forgive myself for any harm I brought to him. I hope you and I can eventually be friends and I hope I can stay in your lives." She paused before turning for the door. "Maybe I shouldn‘t be here today."

Tru looked at her as she headed to the door. She thought about Dale’s death. She had met Junior in April the same year. She never knew Dale and didn’t know the Junior that existed before he died but she thought about them now and how she would cope if she lost Junior the way Teresa lost the love of her life. "Teresa?" Teresa turned but remained silent. "Stay. You should be here. It isn’t going to be easy by any means but you are a part of our lives, it’s just going to take some time to get past all this."

Teresa nodded and opened the door. She turned. "For what it’s worth, I am happy you found each other again." With that she walked out the door.

Taylor walked back in shortly there after. "You ok?"

Tru took a deep breath. "Yeah, I just…" She got quiet suddenly realizing who she was talking to.

"It’s ok, I’m pissed at her too." Tru looked at Taylor. "But I honestly don’t think she did it maliciously and I know she isn’t happy knowing what she did to him. I didn’t realize what was going on till you did but I saw her behavior change at home. She was sad and not sad like she has been since daddy died but sad like everything else was falling apart. She recently started dating someone," Tru looked shocked, she had no idea. "which not too many people knew about, and even that didn’t seem to do it. I think it may have made things worse, made her miss him even more. We all do, it hasn’t been easy, for anyone. It’s ok to be pissed at her, just try not to hate her, I think she is doing enough of that for everyone right now."

Tru wiped a tear away from her cheek as she pulled Taylor into a hug. "When the hell did you become an adult? Thank you."

Dale was oddly calm as he, Kelly, and Tony Jr. sat in the grooms room. "You are a lot more calm than I expected you to be." Kelly said looking at her baby brother.

"Why wouldn’t I be? I know this is where I am meant to be."

There was a knock on the door and Ty entered. "Dale can I talk to you?" He felt Dale’s eyes bore into him.

"Lot of that going on. We will go check on the guests." Kelly said as her and Tony left them alone.

"I’m not going to stay. I can’t imagine you wanting me around. I just came by to let you know I am going to clean out my desk and be out of your hair right away." Ty said never actually leaving the doorway.

Dale took a deep breath and stared at Ty for a moment before finding his words. "I can’t speak for the other three but I don’t think you should leave, not right away at least." Ty looked at him astonished. "No you aren’t one of my favorite people right now but you didn’t act alone and in a round about way I can see how you thought it might be the best thing for the company." Dale sighed. "I miss him so much, today especially, I try to do everything in my life now that I know would have made him proud, the way he would have done it." Dale looked Ty straight in the eye. "If you feel leaving is the best idea then feel free, I can’t stop you but I think we all need to sit down and discuss the future of this company. I also don’t think you would be stupid enough to do something like this again but if you ever even try to pull another stunt like this, I will not only fire you but make sure the entire racing community knows what you did. You won’t have another job in this town or this sport."

Ty just shook his head and started to leave. "Ty?" He stopped not turning. "Please stay today." He slowly turned to face Dale, questions in his eyes. "We will work it out later, I can’t imagine today going on without you and Teresa here."

Ty never said another word just nodded his head and walked out to the church.

Dale heard the music begin and made his way out to the church, he took his spot next to Kerry and Tony Jr. He watched as Kelly, Taylor, and Tru’s best friend Katie walked down the aisle towards him. His breath caught in his throat as Tru appeared in the doorway with her father. She was right the dress was fairly plain but it suited her. She was never the fairy tale type of girl.

He took her arm from her father and they stood in front of their friends and family professing their love to one another. Later at the reception Tru jumped up on the stage and grabbed the microphone. "This was such a short notice ordeal that we didn’t have enough time to write our own vows like we talked about, so this is the next best thing I could come up with. Now keep in mind, that this song was originally sung by a man but the message is still there. No matter where I go or what I do, nothing is as amazing or wonderful as me just being with you." She looked from Dale to the DJ to get him to start the music and she sang never taking her eyes off her new husband.

Dale made his way to the stage and took his new bride in his arms. "I love you so much baby." He kissed her passionately not caring about the hoots and hollers coming from behind them.

Tru pulled away laughing and lead him to the dance floor. "I love you too."

The party roared on long into the night as the new bride and groom danced the night away. They weren’t going to have a honeymoon right away due to the race schedule, a fact that was fine when he was marrying Margo but now Dale just wanted a few moments away from the world with his new bride.

He settled for a couple night stay at a lavish hotel room in downtown Charlotte. They locked the door, turned off the phones and spoke to no one except for the room service attendant and the maid for two whole days. It was back to racing way too soon as far as Dale was concerned but Tru was back at the track with him and it felt perfect.

However, there was one more thing that needed dealing with that neither Dale nor Tru had given a second thought too …Smoke.

Chapter 12

Tru was waiting for practice to get over so her and Dale could settle in for a nice quiet evening to themselves. The past couple days at the track had been quite insane. Everyone had heard about the Margo situation and the truth about Teresa and Ty. The possible selling of one of Nascar‘s largest companies and the rumors about Dale and Tru getting married were starting to fly. They hadn’t had a moments peace since getting there Thursday evening.

"Wow, so I guess the rumors are true."

She heard his voice and took a deep breath before turning. "Hey Tony, how are you?"

"I’m ok. So you guys really got married?" He noticed the ring on her hand.

"Yeah, we did, last week actually." She looked to the ground. "He already had the church you know." She half laughed trying to settle the uneasiness of the situation.

"Yeah, I heard the rumors about Ty and Teresa, she’s selling DEI? Tru, what the hell is going on over there?"

"I don’t know but it’s all true. Kerry, Kelly, Taylor and Junior are or at least will be the owners of DEI. It won’t be official until all the paperwork is done which could take several weeks to a couple months to finalize."

"What about the whole Margo thing?"

"Unfortunately, that part is also true. They forced Dale to break up with me," She looked down at the ground and back to him. "It’s a really long story."

"So he never stopped loving you and never wanted to break up with you?" Tony’s guilt was growing by the second. Tru just nodded. "What a good friend I am." Tony said berating himself more and more.

"Tony, you need to know, Dale knows about, uh, that night."

"You have to be kidding, fuck."

"He married me anyway." She half smiled trying to lighten the mood. Tony didn’t look too sure. "Really Tony, it’s going to be ok."

"No it isn‘t, I mean I haven’t been all that close to him lately but I’ve noticed him acting differently around me this weekend, now it makes sense. Tru I should have figured it out, I knew he loved you, I should have…"

Tru sighed. "Tony, don’t do this to yourself. No one knew what was going on. This can’t be blamed on just one person, well, maybe Teresa." She said letting her real feelings show briefly. "Look, he’s your friend and things will get back to normal, I promise."

"Yeah, right after he kills me."

She smiled sympathetically at him. "He won’t kill you. Look, I need to get going, we were going to try and have an evening to ourselves. Take it easy Tony, I will talk to you soon."

"Hey Tru." She turned back to him slowly. "I really am happy for you guys. Glad you got back together."

"Thanks Tony." He watched her go still uneasy about the whole situation. He and Dale had been friends for years, he was friends with his father and this is how he treats him. He knew a pissed off Earnhardt wasn’t anything you wanted to mess with, on or off the track.

Dale had watched the whole interaction between them from the Napa hauler where he had stopped to talk to his teammate before heading back to his coach and his wife. He knew they both regretted what had happened and knew it would never happen again but he still felt a wave of jealousy wash over him. He fought with himself as he made his way back to the coach.

"Hey baby. Hungry? It will be done soon."

"Smells good." He kissed her on the cheek and then walked to the bathroom to clean up.

She watched him go and quickly realized something was wrong. She fixed him a plate and sat it down as he walked back into the kitchen. They ate dinner in almost complete silence except for some small talk about the car. Once she had cleared the table of the dirty dishes she wandered back to the bedroom where he was laying on the bed staring at the ceiling.

"Wanna tell me what’s going on?"

He lowered his eyes to her as she stood in the doorway. He let out a deep breath and sat up reaching out an arm silently telling her to join him. She walked to the edge of the bed and he pulled her down next to him and wrapped his body around hers. " I saw you and Tony today." She looked at him. "I can’t help the feeling I get in the pit of my stomach when I see the two of you together."

"Dale, it was one night and it didn’t mean anything. We have been through all this."

"I know. But I love you and just knowing that he and you were together drives me crazy."

"Junior, you need to let this go before you get in that car. You are going to hurt yourself or him."

"I know and I thought I could but now I don‘t know how to." He stood and started pulling his tee off. "Every time I look at him I see the image of you and him. I want to make this all go away more than anything but I can’t just forget that my wife fucked one of my best friends." As soon as he said it he wished he could take it back but she wasn’t about to let it go.

Tru stood, shocked. "Hold on, first, you said you were ok with this, that you forgave me cause it wasn’t my fault and now you throw it in my face. Second, I wasn’t your wife then, hell, because of you I wasn’t even your girlfriend."

"Tru…"

"No, I can’t even believe you. I am sorry that it happened, I am sorry all this happened but it did and we either have to deal with it or we need to forget it all, hell, we should have made this decision before we got married." Dale started to speak up but she cut him off. "Don’t. We both need some time. Look, go take your shower and think about Tony, me, you, DEI, think about all of it and figure out if you are even willing to try or if you are just going to play the jealous husband role, because if you are I‘m not so sure this is where I want to be. I am going to take a walk, I’ll be back later."

He watched her walk out the door and thought about going after her, he also knew that she wouldn’t listen to him right now anyway. He hadn’t meant what he said, all he wanted out of life right now was to be her husband, to come home to her every night, for her to be the mother of his kids but instead he saw Tony in place of him. He stepped into the shower and banged his head against the wall. "Damn it, how do you keep getting yourself into these situations?"

********************

The sun had set and the track was fairly quiet. Tru had stepped over the pit road wall and had been walking circles around the track for what had to be an hour. She heard steps behind her and stopped walking when she heard her name. "Hey Mikey, I thought you ran in the morning?"

"I do but Macy is sick and Buffy was up all night with her so I took the morning shift before practice. I didn’t think you ran?" He joked.

"I don’t."

He heard the edge in her voice. "Oh, honeymoon over already?"

"I am not sure it ever started."

"Want to talk about it?"

She looked up at him. "Don’t you have like five miles to do?"

He swatted his hand out towards the track. "Pfft, I can run anytime. What’s going on?"

"Everything. I know he is stressed out over the whole DEI thing."

"Yeah, tell me about it."

Tru heard the edge in his voice. "You aren’t concerned about your future are you?" He just shrugged. "Oh, Mikey don’t even stress it. They all love you and even if one of them thought it June would never let it happen."

"You know, we never thought Teresa would sell either and she did. Anyway, we’re suppose to be talking about you."

She eyed him. "You aren’t going anywhere." She looked out ahead of them at the empty track. "Can I confide something in you? No one except for Dale knows and I would like to keep it that way but I really need some advice."

"Of course, tell Uncle Mikey, I won’t tell a soul." He kidded suddenly realizing how serious the situation was.

"After Dale and I broke up, I kind of had a one night stand that should have never happened but it did and now he is having trouble getting over it."

"That doesn’t sound like Dale. He knows he left you without any warning and he would have done the same thing had the tables been turned."

"That’s what he said, and I understand that he didn’t stop to think about the fact that he had to see him and race him every week but..."

Michael stopped. "Huh? Tru, who is it?"

Tru let out a deep breath. "It was Tony."

"Stewart?" Tru nodded. "Oh, wow." He ran a hand through his hair. "Darlin, you know I love you to death but anyone but him would have been better."

"I know. I didn’t exactly go looking for it. We ran into each other right after I found out about Dale’s engagement. I had gone out drinking and I mean drinking. We ran into each other at the bar, I was lit. He drove me home and, damn it, I was pissed, hurt, devastated, I though he had been cheating on me the whole time."

"It did kind of look that way. We were all shocked cause we knew how much he loved you and…"

"Exactly, so I just assumed it was all a lie. I started it with Tony, he did try to stop me at first but eventually he gave in, he had seen the paper, the way Dale was acting all of a sudden and I think he believed Dale had been cheating on me just like I did. I regretted it as soon as it was done and I know he did. He feels so guilty still. He and Dale hardly speak to one another and I am guessing it will only get worse now that Tony knows that Dale knows."

Michael sighed. "On man Tru, so what happened that you are out here tonight?"

"I told Dale about Tony the first night we got back together and he said it didn’t matter that he loved me and couldn’t live without me. But tonight he throws the ‘my wife fucked my best friend in my face‘."

"He said that."

Tru nodded fighting back the tears that threatened to fall. "Of course then I said that maybe we should have hashed this out before we got married so if it wasn’t going to work it would be easier to walk away from."

"Hey, come here." Michael pulled her into his arms as the tears ran down her cheeks. "You didn’t mean that and I can guarantee he already regrets saying it. He is probably sitting in your coach worried that you aren’t coming back. Junior is a very jealous person, you know that. He also has a problem controlling his temper, again not anything new to you, I remember all the knock down drag outs you two had in the beginning. You worked past those and you will work past these."

"I know, it’s just that those weren’t about us. They were about the car, the race, the business, they weren’t personal. We have never had a problem with us before and I worry. He has to get in that car tomorrow and he is so mad and jealous he is blind right now. I don’t want him to get hurt or hurt anyone else."

"Dale isn’t stupid, stubborn, hot headed; yes, stupid, no. Go back to him, talk to him, work this out. Him and Tony just need to hash it all out, get it out there and stop tip toeing around the subject. Everyone will be a lot better off if they do. I bet it will quickly fall by the wayside when they see how childish they are being."

"I just don’t want them fighting and ruining a good friendship over this, over me."

"Don’t worry sweety, it will all work out." He grinned as they walked back towards the pit road entrance. "Go on, he is probably a wreck right now."

She hugged him. "Thanks Mikey."

"I’m here if you need to talk anytime."

She wiped her tears away as they walked their separate ways to their own coaches. She opened the door quietly realizing she had been gone for over two hours. The living room was dark but she could see a dim light coming from the bedroom.

She walked into the room and saw him laying in a pair of lounge pants on top of the covers face down. She walked into the bathroom without saying a word to not wake him. When she stepped back out he was leaning against the door frame and pulled her into his arms before she could react.

"I’m sorry, I didn’t mean what I said. I know it wasn’t your fault and we didn’t make the wrong decision getting married. I want to spend the rest of my life with you." He was smoothing her hair. "Tru baby I love you so much…" He pulled her away from him slightly to look into her eyes and that’s when he saw how red they were. "Oh baby, please don’t cry. I told you I don’t like seeing you like this." He pulled her back into his arms and walked her to the bed. She didn’t fight him as he gently let them both fall and he wrapped his body around hers. "I‘m sorry, I told you once I was a jackass."

"And you weren’t wrong." She smiled at him as he settled himself between her legs resting his head on her chest. She played with the hair at the base of his neck. "I love you too, it’s just you piss me off so much some times and June I’m scared. You really do need to talk to Smoke and get this settled cause we can’t go on like this forever."

"I know and I will I promise." He leaned up and kissed her, then laid his head back on her chest. She looked down at him as he snuggled into her arms and closed his eyes. He reminded her of a child that had been scolded and would do just about anything to get out of trouble. She knew this was far from over, that he was saying what she wanted to hear for the sake of them not fighting. She decided to let it go for the night if he didn’t clear his head and prepare for the race, there would be hell to pay tomorrow on the track. She pulled the covers up over them both and settled in for the night.

Sleep wouldn’t come anytime soon for Tru but he seemed ok for now so she held him as his breathing evened out and sleep overtook him. She laid in the dark for what had to be hours wondering how they got themselves into this mess, how their world had fallen apart.

This wasn’t what their marriage was suppose to be like.

***********FLASHBACK*****************

As the music played on Dale held Tru next to his body as they swayed slowly forgetting that anyone else was in the room or that the wedding that just took place was his sisters and not theirs. "I can’t wait till the day that this is our wedding." He whispered in her ear.

She pulled her head off his shoulder to look him in the eye. "What?"

"I want to make you my wife, spend the rest of my life with you. Can’t you see our children running around. They would be awful cute kids." He grinned.

She looked in his eyes and saw the love mirrored back in them. "Are you saying you want to get married?"

"Someday, don’t worry I know you aren’t ready for that and I’m not either but yeah, I want to spend the rest of my life with you." He kissed her again and they danced the night away. Tru couldn’t remember ever being so happy in her life.

*******END OF FLASHBACK********

Tru sighed as Dale shifted in his sleep. His grasp on her was strong, almost as if even in his sleep he was trying to make sure she didn’t slip away. She looked at the clock, the alarm would be going off in 3 hours. She closed her eyes and hoped for even a few minutes sleep.

Chapter 13

The next day Tru and Dale walked hand in hand down the pit road towards the 8 pit. "Hey guys." They stopped in front of the Napa pit and Tru’s breath caught as she saw Tony standing with Michael.

"Hey." Was all Dale could muster. "I gotta get to my pit." Dale said as he started to pull Tru with him.

"I will be right there." Dale eyed Tru before turning and walking on alone.

"I gotta go too."

Michael and Tru watched as Tony and Dale walked in separate directions. "Well, that went well." Mikey said looking at Tru. "You ok?"

"Yeah, just tired, didn’t sleep too much last night."

"Everything ok?"

"No, we’re ignoring the issues and pretending everything is ok. I better go. Have a safe race."

Tru kissed Dale before he climbed into the car. She then stuck her head in the window. "Have a safe race baby. I love you."

"I love you to." Dale closed the visor on his helmet and watched as Tru walked up towards his pit. He couldn’t get his mind off her he knew he flat out lied to her last night. They weren’t ok, he danced all around the topic just to keep her there with him. He felt horrible for treating her like that but he had lived his life without her once and he would never do it again. "As soon as this race is over Earnhardt you are dealing with this and Tony. I won’t let you fuck things up again." He said to himself. He watched as Tru made it to his pit and Tony helped her over the wall and too the wagon.

"You ok?" Tony Jr. asked helping her over the pit wall.

"Yeah, I just didn’t get too much sleep last night."

Tony grinned but quickly lost the grin realizing it wasn’t an all fun night for the newlyweds. "Everything ok?"

Tru looked back towards the car. "I hope so." She whispered before turning and climbing atop the wagon to settle in for the race.

With five laps left Dale was in the lead but an orange streak of lightening was quickly closing the gap having moved from 6th to 2nd in only 2 laps. "The 20 is faster." Tru heard Ty say over the radio. "He is moving up fast on the high side."

Dale had decided that at least for the time being he was keeping Ty as his spotter. Although his trust had been hurt by Ty he had never steered him wrong on the track and he knew he wouldn’t. They would deal with everything once the paperwork was final and the season was over. Dale was silent and Tru was getting concerned. Tony was moving up fast and she wasn’t sure if Dale would race cleanly.

Tony pushed up right behind Dale and ran there for a couple of laps. With 2 laps left Tony pulled along side of Dale and the 8 car wobbled before pressing up along side the 20 leaving a message on the door. "Oh shit." Was all Tru could say as her and Tony stood to get a better view of the race.

Michael was running 4th watching as Tony and Dale bumped against each other in a battle of wills. He couldn’t help but grin at the war taking place, although he knew poor Tru’s heart had probably stopped at this point.

They ran nose to nose for the final lap and as they took the checkers no one in either pit was sure who crossed the line first. Both cars came to rest in the grassy area in front of pit road and both drivers climbed from their cars and stood face to face, helmets still on. The sound coming from the crowd was overwhelming. Two of Nascar’s hottest and most popular drivers and good friends in a dual to the finish. They didn’t know how true that was. Tru climbed down and headed across pit road with a few of the crew. She watched closely as both drivers pulled their helmets off and stood nose to nose once again.

Even from the distance that she was, Tru could see the anger and torment flash across Dale’s face. "What the hell are they doing?" Tony Jr. asked not aware of the tension between them.

After what seemed like an eternity, but in reality was only a minute or two, the voice on the loud speaker announced Dale the winner of the race by literally just centimeters. Tru held her breath as she watched Tony and Dale both start to grin. She finally let the breath she was holding out as she watched Tony raise Dale’s arm in true wrestling fashion. Both drivers started to laugh as they embraced and as Tru and everyone watched, everything seemed to be forgotten. Tru felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to look up at Mikey standing behind her. "Fighting isn’t necessarily always about throwing punches. There ain’t nothing some good ole fashion racing can’t solve."

Tru watched him go shocked at how everything went down and just shook her head and laughed turning towards Victory Lane. She suddenly felt arms around her waist. "Where you think you‘re going young lady?"

"To get the party started." She grinned turning in his arms. "Good race baby. You did real good out there." She wasn‘t talking about just the race and he knew it. "Yeah, I know." He grinned.

"So is all ok?"

"Everything is fine baby. I know I have been a jackass lately and I promise it’s all behind us." She eyed him and couldn’t help but laugh as he held up three fingers. "Boy Scout Honor."

"Yeah, you a boy scout, you so would have been kicked out for messing with all the girl scouts."

He just grinned devilishly. "Can I mess with you later?"

"You bet your ass you can."

They walked to Victory Lane hand in hand a cloud being lifted off of them. They both felt good, just like things use to, how they should. The season would soon be over and they were both looking forward to the off season and some rest and relaxation.

**********************

Over the next several months during the off season, some major changes were taking place at DEI. Dale had suggested Kerry, who was having difficulty finding a ride, should drive the vacant #1 car for the upcoming season. Kerry decided, however, that yes racing was in his blood, but he had started racing to help pay the bills and he would much rather spend more time at home with his wife and kids. So he decided to hang up his racing shoes and take on a more active roll in helping Kelly run the company.

Tru and Dale decided that Kelly had enough on her plate with DEI so Chance 2 would remain on DEI property but Tru was taking over the running of the company. She was a little apprehensive about the whole idea but Dale knew his company was in good hands and Kelly guaranteed her that she would still have time to help Tru out when she needed it.

Taylor was now 17 and in her final year of high school. She had decided that once graduation was over she would start traveling with the teams. She had been paying attention all those years in the shop and in her father’s office and now she wanted to get a first hand look at the business side of Nascar at the track. Teresa wasn’t too happy about her decision but Taylor and Kelly both reassured her it was only for the summer, as soon as the fall came she would be starting at the University of Charlotte to get a business degree. Dale promised to keep an eye on her at the tracks, how much trouble could she get into.

After a lengthy conversation between all parties, Ty chose to take a lesser position and stay on as Dale’s spotter instead of leaving the company. The biggest obstacle in their way was the empty #1 car with no sponsor. They met several different times on this one problem and no one seemed to have the answer, no one but Taylor.

"Can I make a suggestion here?"

"Sure, we’re open to just about anything." Dale said leaning back in his chair.

"Have you thought about calling the previous driver of that car, the guy who doesn’t have a ride, the guy that I still say didn’t get a fair shot and the guy that I know daddy wouldn’t have given up on." All eyes turned to Taylor, they all had thought it but no one said it. They all thought that it was his team just as much as it was him. They figured that Ty and Teresa just didn’t want to deal with it.

"I’ll give Steve a call." Dale said grabbing his cell phone.

A few hours later Steve found himself back on familiar ground. He sat in Junior’s office, the same office that he sat in to sign his original contract all those years ago. "Hey Steve, sorry to keep you waiting. We were interviewing for a new crew chief."

"Really? For who?" Steve asked shocked that either crew chief would be leaving.

"Hopefully you."

Steve’s eyes grew wide. "What?"

"Basically, we need a driver for the 1 car and we all think you are the man for it."

"Excuse me for being shocked about this but wasn’t I fired from that car?"

Dale laughed. "Yes, but not by us. Look, can I be blunt and completely honest?" Steve just nodded. "We are concerned that perhaps you came back too soon from your wreck and we are also concerned that perhaps your head isn’t completely in the game. Now I am not saying you don’t want to win but I honestly think your confidence is shot and I don’t blame it. We want to offer you a three year contract on the terms that you agree to talk with someone. They will travel with you to the tracks if you want or keep it strictly here in town during the week. Which ever is more comfortable for you. Completely paid for by us of course."

"A shrink?" Steve’s eyebrows raised.

Dale cringed. "Look, daddy believed in you and so do I but you can’t do this alone and I think you have been trying for too long. We are hiring a whole new team for that car, there have always been the rumors of you getting the bottom of the barrel in equipment, and honestly, maybe you did. I haven’t exactly paid that much attention to that team or the company for that matter, until now. I guarantee you, you will have the same as the 8 and the 15; but we need to know that you are doing everything you possibly can and are serious about this." Dale looked at Steve waiting for a response.

"You know I have a possible deal with Orleans Racing?"

"Yeah I know, that’s why we are here today. Pennzoil has agreed to come back as our number 1 sponsor as long as you are the driver for the car. Man, they love you over there. Steve, I am serious about this, we want you back but we understand if you don’t want to come back."

Steve leaned back in his seat and sighed deeply. He was tired, tired of trying to prove himself, tired of the talking behind his back, he was emotionally drained. He stared at a photo over Dale’s head of him, Mikey, Junior, and Dale Sr. taken just a few hours before the Daytona 500. He stared into that face again and honestly, he hated driving for anyone else. He looked back to Junior and half laughed.

"Is that a good laugh or do I just want to leave now?"

"Just thinking about how proud your daddy would be. You are more like him than even you realize. I would love to drive for DEI again."

"So you agree to our terms?" Dale wanted to make sure they were on the same page.

"Yeah Junior I do. This place is like home, nothing I wouldn’t do for you guys and I promise I won’t let you down." He stood as Dale came around the desk.

"I know you won’t and I want you to know that we are all here for you. You need anything please don‘t feel you need to hide it." He shook his hand and lead him down to the shop. "I plan on seeing that car back in Victory Lane." They walked into the #1 shop and everyone was there waiting.

"What did anyone think I would say no?"

"Not a chance in hell boy." Tru said hugging Steve.

Steve made the rounds hugging and shaking hands being welcomed back into the family. "I hear I have you to thank for this." He said taking a seat next to Taylor.

"Nah, they all were thinking it I just lit a fire under their asses."

Steve laughed. "Man, I gotta get use to you being an adult. I still remember the 11 year old in pigtails wishing her daddy good luck before the race."

"Yeah well," she hugged him. "Isn’t it just a kick in the ass knowing that 11 year old is now your boss."

Steve shook his head and laughed as she turned away and Mikey and Junior joined him. "When the hell did she grow up?"

"I don’t know but I don’t like it." Junior said watching her saunter across the room. He knew he would be taking his daddy’s place in scaring the hell out of any guy that dared get near her.

"They aren’t going to know what hit them out on the track now that DEI is just like it was 5 years ago." Mikey said.

Dale looked up at a photo of his dad hanging in the main hall. "Not just like it was." He smiled hoping his daddy would be proud. "But it’s close."

Chapter 14

For a season that held such high hopes for the DEI clan, it was sure slow starting. A wrong setup took all three DEI cars out of contention for the 500 for the first time ever. It was a whirlwind trip downhill from there.

By the end of July Taylor had been with them on the road for two months and Dale had to admit she was a tremendous help. She helped with the PR work for all three teams and being the youngest Earnhardt she was well taken care of and respected around the track. It was a good thing she was there to take the load off cause Dale was at his wits end. He had had only 2 top fives, Michael had 1 win and Steve had 2 top tens. He couldn’t figure out what the problem was, why this funk had settled over their heads.

He had been a bear to live with he knew and he tried his hardest to not take it out on Tru but when he did she was there to bring him back down to earth.

"Just fucking drop it." He screamed before stomping back to the bedroom and slamming the door.

Tru watched him go. "Not a problem." God, this was getting old. He had been like this for weeks and she had just about had it. She cleared the table, picked up his mess of magazines and video games and jumped when she heard the deafening volume of the radio coming from the back of the coach.

‘Good grief he is going to wake up the whole compound." She marched back to the bedroom but he didn’t hear her over the music. He was laying on his back eyes closed in nothing but his boxers, his arousal pressing against the fabric. He had been so crabby lately that they hadn’t even thought about sex. She raised an eyebrow, ‘obviously frustrated’ she thought, she got a wickedly evil but fun idea. If this didn’t chill him out nothing would. She quickly pulled her jeans and panties off and made her way to the bed. She didn’t waste any time taking off the rest of her clothes or his. Before Dale could even open his eyes or realize what was going on Tru was straddling his waist and guiding his hardness into her.

She met his stare as she pressed herself down on him leaning back, causing him to go deeper than he ever had. "Jesus, Tru." He gasped at the feeling of suddenly being inside of her. He grabbed her hips to slow her down. "I won’t last long at all at this rate." She was riding him harder than she ever had and the sweat was already forming on his brow. "You couldn’t have taken my boxers off first?" He realized they had never had ‘a quickie’, they had always made love, slow, sweet, spending time on each others bodies and it had been great but this, this was incredible. "Tru, slow down."

"No, you frustrated? Need to get all that out?" She moved over him masterfully. "Then get it out." She growled into his ear.

He saw the lust in her eyes and sat up grabbing her shirt, literally ripping the buttons off and pushing her backwards onto the bed. Her head was hanging off the end of the bed and he quickly pulled the boxers off and was back inside of her. He couldn’t control himself it was like some primal instinct took over and he found himself pounding into her harder and faster than he ever had. His head told him to slow down before he hurt her but his body won out, he had no idea if she was close to her release and he honestly didn’t care. He pushed inside of her one last time spilling his seed into her and collapsing down on her.

He quickly realized that they were half off the bed and he gathered her in his arms and pulled her back to their pillows. "Baby, you ok?"

Tru was still trying to catch her breath, she knew she would be sore as hell tomorrow but boy was it worth it. "Yeah, June, I am fine. That was amazing."

"It really was. Thank you. I needed that."

"Tell me about it."

"I know I have been pretty unbearable lately. Why do I find myself continiously apologizing to you?"

"Cause you’re a jackass." She laughed rolling halfway onto his chest and wrapping her arms around him.

"You’re evil and in more ways than one."

She grinned up at him, kissed his jaw and closed her eyes resting her head on his chest. "Love you baby." She said letting herself drift off to sleep.

He laid there watching her sleep for several minutes. He kissed the top of her head. "Love you too."

Things started looking up in the second half of the season. All three cars were back on track and although a championship wasn’t in the near future, they would at least have decent finishes on the season. Tru was going over some sponsership information with Truex Jr. for the Chance 2 car when Jeff Gordon entered the garage.

"Hey Tru, can I talk to you for a sec?"

"Yeah, I will be right back." She said looking at Martin. "What’s up?"

"Is Taylor ok?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I saw her running from Vickers coach earlier, she was pretty upset. I know he wasn’t there he was in the garage so I'm not sure what was going on."

"I don’t know either, you know where she is now?"

"No, she headed towards the grandstands last I saw her."

"Thanks, I am going to go find her." She turned to Martin. "Can we pick this up later I need to deal with something?"

"Sure just come find me."

"Hey Jeff, Dale is headed out to practice, don’t say anything to him. I don’t want to worry him if it’s just her 17 year old hormones overreacting. You know how he is with her."

"No problem, I hope she’s ok."

"Thanks." Tru headed to the grandstands which were luckily empty since it was just practice. She didn’t see her anywhere so she tried something else. She dialed Taylor’s cell phone and hoped she would answer. 3 rings later she heard her pick up. "Taylor where are you?"

"I want to be alone." Came a sniffely answer.

"I don’t care, where are you? Let me talk to you, you know you don’t want to deal with your brother."

"No, please don’t tell him."

Tru heard the panic in her voice, which scared her. Taylor wasn’t one to get overly emotional, she got that from her parents. "Where are you?"

"North Grandstand, 15th row."

Tru jogged over to that section and saw her sitting there alone, head in her hands. "Tay, what’s going on?" As Taylor raised her head the look on her face scared Tru. "Taylor, sweety, what is it?"

"Oh God Tru, I screwed up. He is going to be so disappointed in me. He wouldn’t be proud of me anymore?"

Tru sat taking the shaking girl in her arms. "What? Who? Junior? Taylor, please what is wrong?"

"No, daddy, but God I hadn’t thought of Junior and mom. They are never going to talk to me again." She started crying even harder.

"Taylor, your father loved you, nothing could ever change that and Junior and your mother wouldn’t turn their backs on you. Please tell me what is going on? You‘re scaring me."

She looked at Tru. "I…I…I’m pregnant." She choked out between sobs.

Tru tried to hide her shock to not upset her even more but she was having a hard time doing so. "Oh God, Tay, who? When? I didn’t know you were seeing anyone?"

"We aren’t, well, we sort of are. We just kept it quiet cause I know what Junior and Mom and everyone else would have said."

"Taylor whose is it?"

She choked on her own tears and Tru tried to calm her down. "It’s…it’s…Brian."

"Brian." Tru paused racking her brain then remembering where Jeff said he saw her. "Vickers?" Taylor just nodded and fell into her arms again, crying uncontrollably. "Shh." Tru smoothed her hair. "It’s going to be ok." Tru said as she watched the red flash of the 8 car take his first practice lap. She watched the car make several laps knowing nothing would ever be the same again for any of them.

Chapters 15-21