Amore Mio ➤ Daniel Ricciardo

Cheeky bastards

Daniel and Elvira burst in laughter when she finished the story. More people began to laugh. "Remember when you fell on the porch that day?" Elvira said in one breath and stopped laughing.

Daniel gasped for air and stopped laughing as well. His eyes met Elvira's, and they locked their eyes. "Yes," he said softly. They both started to laugh again. "You knew?" Daniel asked his mother.

Grace nodded with attitude. "You really thought I wouldn't know? And by the way, who got you the window replaced?"

"Lukas," Daniel said.

"We needed a car to drive to the Home Depot, and Lukas was the only one with a license..." Elvira told.

"Oh, my goodness. What kind of children have I raised?" Juliana said, embarrassed and disappointed.

"But pappa replaced the window." Elvira couldn't stop laughing and brought her hand up to her mouth.

Grace widened her eyes and looked confused at Floris. She closed her eyes and deeply inhaled. "Fine. It happened fifteen years ago, and I cannot punish you anymore, but what on earth did you guys do?" She tried to keep herself calm, but the touches of laughter of Daniel and Elvira couldn't help it, but it made her laugh as well.

"I really did not see this coming from you. Wow, you guys are insane," Max laughed. "Unbelievable."

"Anyway, to continue my talk. A lot of stupid things happened in your relationship with each other. All I can say is; I wasn't surprised when you said you would marry, this was a mild plan in contrast to the stuff you both have done before. I really hope this will work out for you both, that you will finally will see the true love in each other. We wish you much love and happiness," Grace ended her talk.

Daniel licked his lips. "Thank you, mum, dad, Mel." He nodded at them and placed his leg over his knee. His eyes were scanning the guests for the next person to talk.

"Bonsoir," Blair said and got up, she showed a modest smile. "I'm Blair, a good friend of Elvira-"

"Best friend," Elvira cut her off and smiled proudly.

"Elvira's best friend," Blair corrected herself. "And favourite colleague. When I met Elvira, she was mentioning Daniel a lot. A Daniel I didn't know of, so I assumed he was her boyfriend. I got confused when El told me Daniel was just a best friend and absolutely not her boyfriend. It is still a thing I don't believe, but it is what it is. I got to know Daniel, and I must say; he's a cool bloke." Blair kept looking in Elvira's eyes. "El helped me with my wedding, probably with the start of my relationship with Hugo. She is like a sister for me. So when she told me she is gonna marry Daniel in less than I week, I immediately said yes on helping El. I thought it was impossible, but yet we are standing here, and it is stunning. El, Dan, please do listen to your heart for one time and let love do its thing. I love you, and I wish you a lot of happiness, love, peals of laughter and jokes in your marriage. Merci."

Elvira smiled widely when Blair was telling her story. Blair was wearing a beautiful sand-coloured dress she and Elvira bought last week. Elvira was thankful for Blair in her life. "T'es le meileur." (you're the best)

Michael cleared his throat and took a sip from his glass champagne. "I have known Daniel for a long time now and...I never thought the man was responsible enough to plan a whole wedding in a week."

"Oh, yes, thanks," Daniel said sarcastically.

Michael snorted and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Since the start of Daniel's racing career, I travelled a lot with Daniel and spend a lot of time with him, including Elvira. Being a personal trainer is hard, but planning a wedding doesn't even come close to that. Fitting tuxes, the rings, talking about what decorations and focussing on a race at the same time, it sounds impossible. We spend hours and hours after the practices, race to sort this stuff out. And Dan, you did it right, and you are the luckiest man on earth. El, you can say you have found the lottery and won it. The man you married is everything you need in your life. Congratulations Ricciardos!"

Max took a deep breath and watched Michael sat down on his stool again. He got up and smiled at the family and friends of the married couple. "Hi, I'm Max, Daniel's teammate." Elvira got a soft smile on her face, it was cute to see Max his shy side. "I have known them for a couple of years now, and I am still surprised nothing has happened between you two. That's all I want to say since I am not good with words. It's short but powerful. I wish you a lot of love, sweet love, happiness and touches of laughter in the future."

Daniel laughed. "Short, but powerful. Just like your pace on the track." His ears filled with laughs of the rest of the people. "Just kidding," he told Max.

The sun disappeared behind the mountains. The small light bowls above the table were lightning up the area. It was a soft, cosy light bulb. During the speeches, the food from the barbecue was served.

"We saved the best for the last," Sebastian said when he stood behind Hanna. "I'm Sebastian, a former teammate of Daniel, and this is Hanna, my partner." He placed his hands on Hanna's shoulders. "It was six years ago when I got to know Daniel and four years ago when I got to know him better. I have to say you are one of the funniest and best teammates I have ever had."

"Kimi is not going to like that," Andy mumbled and sipped his champagne like he spilt some high-class tea.

"We have had an amazing time, I feel like I made a friend for life. I also know you care about Elvira. The shy, quiet girl at first, but a storyteller and a joker when you get to know her. You two are made for each other. I always see Elvira supporting Daniel, no matter what. Even when she has deadlines, she knows how to find time to visit Daniel - even if it means she has to bring her laptop to the garage. Since the beginning of Elvira's career at Vogue, Daniel keeps talking about how fantastic she is in her job. When the new edition got published in a week he is at the track, he would go to a store and have a look through the magazine to observe her work and sometimes even buy it."

A soft smile was shown on Daniel's face, and lightly blushed appeared on his cheeks.

"I like how this wedding is spontaneous. It is personal, small, just perfect in my eyes. We wish you all the best and please, please, please remove the blindfolds from your eyes to see the real world and know what is going on in your mind and heart," Sebastian said with a smile on his face. "And you finally married an Italian guy." He winked at Elvira and sat down again.

Elvira chuckled and shook her head.

"Italian what?" Daniel asked curiously and first looked at Elvira, then at Sebastian.

"Oh, nothing. She always said she would marry an Italian guy because every Italian guy can cook and that is what she needs in life," Andy explained and took a bite from his burger.

Daniel chocked in his water and looked at Elvira. She was staring at a wine glass, pretending there was an imaginary camera like in The Office.

"What?" Daniel said and squeezed his eyebrows together.

"Well, technically I did, but the man can't cook. So it doesn't matter anymore. Besides, that's a long time ago I said that," she tried to talk herself out of it by standing up. "Thank you..."