A few weeks later Gabby sat at her parents kitchen table trying to make sense of everything that had happened. "Mom, I don’t know. I can’t believe you agree with her. I thought for sure you wouldn’t want me to go."
"Gabriella, your father and I love you so much but we knew that one day you would leave. Whether it would be because you met your other family and wanted to get to know them or your career took you away, something was going to pull you out of Georgia. Charlotte has a wonderful hospital that you could do your residency at and you could even finish your last two years of school there." Gabby stared at her mother in disbelief. "Baby, I love you so much. I’m just worried that if you don’t try and get to know them now you’ll regret it."
"If I finish school up there I have to leave in 2 months." The tears welled up in her eyes over the idea of leaving her parents and everything she knew. "I don’t want to leave you and this is all Robby knows."
Her mom pulled her into a hug. "That’s exactly it, baby, your son has a whole other family and me and daddy are all he knows. You are only going to North Carolina, it’s not like it’s the other side of the world. We will come up to see you all the time and don’t you ever forget, you can always come home again." Gabby hugged her mom knowing that she was right, she owed it to her son to give him the chance to know who he was.
**************
May
"So when is Gabby suppose to be here." Taylor asked for the 3rd time that morning.
Teresa laughed. "Soon. You like her don’t you?"
"Yeah, it’s going to be cool to have a sister who is close to my age around."
"Well, I am just glad she is going to have a friend in one of you cause I don’t know if June will come around."
"Yeah he will mom. June has always been this way. He’s still having a hard time dealing with daddy’s death and who could blame him. With the exception of you with the trial, we have all been able to stay out of the media circus, he’s in it week after week. As soon as he starts to deal with all of that he’ll realize he needs to get to know her. He is already better than he was a few months ago. You know he doesn’t let people in, doesn’t trust anyone until they give him reason to. He’ll be ok, just going to take some time."
Teresa hugged her daughter. "Man, when did you grow up on me."
*********************
Later that afternoon there was a knock on the door. "I got it." Taylor yelled as she ran to the door. "Gabby." She pulled her into a hug. "I am so glad you are here."
"Hey, Taylor." She stepped into the house. "Hi Teresa."
"Hey you two." She took Robby out of Gabby’s arms. "Come here."
"Hi gma."
"Let’s get you two settled." Teresa led them to two guest rooms.
"You sure it’s ok that we stay here? We can find a place or get a hotel."
"Don’t be silly. Lord knows there is plenty of room and with Dale gone the house has been pretty quiet. It will be nice to have people back in here. I know eventually you will want a place of your own but with school and until you get use to the area you are welcome here as long as you like."
"I appreciate that, thanks." They walked into one of the rooms. The walls were painted a brilliant shade of royal blue with white trim. It had a very nautical theme with a mural of the ocean on the wall. "Wow. This is beautiful."
Teresa opened the door connecting it to a second room. That room was painted in a darker navy blue trimmed with greens and palm trees adorning the walls. "I figured these rooms would be great with the joined door."
"They’re perfect. Robby which room you want?"
He ran back into the other room. "Water room."
"I think we have a winner." Gabby laughed. "Can you get in that bed or do you want your smaller one?"
He walked to the bed and stared at it. "Me bed."
"That’s what I thought. Is that going to be a problem?" She looked at Teresa.
"Of course not. We will move this one down to the basement and put yours up." She ruffled Robby’s hair as she left the room and headed to the basement to make room for the bed.
They spent the rest of the afternoon unloading Gabby’s truck and getting them settled. Kerry and Kelley kidnapped Dale Jr. and forced him to come over to welcome Gabby. They walked into Robby’s new room as Gabby and Taylor stared at all the pieces of his bed laying on the floor. "I swear I took it apart by myself. Course I didn’t think of having to put it back together."
"Hey guys need some help?" Kerry asked as they walked into the room.
"Oh thank goodness. Here." Taylor laughed and handed the screwdriver to Dale Jr.
"Thanks." Junior said sarcastically as Kelley, Kerry, and Taylor carried the old bed out of the room. Dale sat on the floor and started trying to piece the bed together.
Gabby slowly sat across from him and started trying to figure out what he would need next to have it laid out for him. "They always just leave you to do this stuff?"
Dale looked at her. "Yeah, pretty much. Apparently since I can change oil in a car in 15 minutes they think I can do this kind of crap to."
Gabby smiled and silently laughed at the serious thought that crossed his face as he picked up a piece of the bed. "Thanks."
Dale met her stare and smiled back. "Your welcome."
****************
August
Gabby had spent the last few months getting settled and learning her way around the Charlotte area. She was excepted right away into Wake Forest Graduate School’s medical program. She would be driving an hour to school each day but she really didn’t want to move to Winston-Salem, she would need help with Robby especially once her residency started.
Robby was adjusting well, he missed his grandparents but Teresa made a lot of time for him and he loved playing with Karsyn. He was attending the same day care as Karsyn which Gabby felt comfortable with knowing Kelley must have checked the place out completely. Dale hadn’t spent a lot of time with Gabby but found himself over at Kelley’s more when Robby was there. Robby loved when Dale showed him the cars and Dale loved showing him. He liked having someone around to pass along what he knew about racing to, just like his dad did for him.
It was still 3 months until Robby’s 4th birthday but since school started in two weeks Gabby knew she wouldn’t have time to do anything really special for him so she asked him what he wanted to do and his answer surprised her.
"aces with Uncle June."
"What?" She wasn’t happy about that answer she had no intentions of going to the track.
"Go see cars."
"Are you sure? Out of everything you can do that’s what you want?"
"Uh huh."
Gabby sighed. What was she going to do now?
******************
A week later she found herself sitting in the coach Teresa loaned them for the Bristol race. Robby was out with Dale watching the Busch race. She had been in the coach for over a day now and knew Dale was going to ask why, she wasn’t sure what to tell him.
"Mommy, we saw cars on the rack and sat in June’s car. Helped put a ire on and."
"Whoa, slow down buddy." Gabby laughed as Dale stepped in and shut the door behind him. "You have a good time?"
"Yeah, morrow, we watch June race."
Gabby glanced at Dale a look of worry in her eyes. She tried to hide it but it didn’t go unnoticed. "Hey buddy why don’t you go lay down for a little bit and then we’ll all go get something to eat." Dale said wanting to talk to Gabby alone.
"Ok." He kissed his mom and started down the hall but stopped and turned running back to Dale pulling on his shirt till Dale bent down. "ank you, Uncle June." Robby kissed him on the cheek and ran back towards the bedroom.
Junior smiled as he watched him go. "He is an amazing kid. His manners, his behavior, it‘s unbelievable for a 3 year old." She looked at Dale. "He hasn’t had many men in his life though, has he?"
Gabby offered him a bottle of water before sitting across from him at the table. "No, just my dad and well, Dale. He didn’t see him as much but enough that he notices that he isn’t here."
"Gabby who is his father? I know you know and you’re trying to hide it."
Gabby’s eyes got wide. "You can’t , no, it doesn’t matter." She stood walking away from the table.
"Look, it’s none of my business, but you have been sitting here in this coach for over a day. You have only been to a track once, granted it may not be your seen but your son loves it and I can see it’s killing you to not be apart of it with him. That someone you’re avoiding has to be here. And honestly, I see a resemblance in him, I just can‘t put my finger on who or what it is." Gabby swallowed. "Look, I know we didn’t get off on the right foot, I know I was a pain in the ass, I have a tenacity to do that, but if you need help or want to talk I am here."
She was silent for a moment weighing her options closely. "I don’t blame you for being skeptical about me. I know it was a shock and I appreciate your offer but I don’t want to do this."
Dale studied her for a minute he knew fighting about it right now wouldn‘t help their still strained relationship. "Ok I‘ll let it go, for now, you are going to watch the race tomorrow with him though? You have to, he is looking so forward to it."
"Yeah, of course." She said not wanting to but not about to let Robby down.
"I am going to go clean up, then we are all going to have dinner, no arguments." Dale stood and headed to the door. "I will be back here in a couple of hours to get you guys." She nodded and watched him walk out the door.
"What now?" She said to herself. "How can I hide from him out there and I can’t let any of them find out. Damn, I knew this would go badly." She walked back and watch Robby sleep before laying down beside him. "I won’t let anything happen to you, I promise." She kissed his cheek and closed her eyes.