"Mom! We're home!" Stevie and Peter walk into the house after coming back from Zandvoort.
"Hello my lovelies! How was it?" Trudy is walking around with a crying Zara in her arms so Stevie quickly drops her bags and rushes to her daughter.
"She's got some colic I think. I'm sure she is very happy to be with her mommy again." Trudy hands her granddaughter over to Stevie who immediately starts to rock her little girl.
"Oh my poor baby, does your tummy hurt? I've got you sweetie. Mommy is here again." She puts Zara over her arm, the little girls head resting on her arm and her tummy on Stevie's hand.
Usually this works like a charm as she gets a bit of a massage because of the pressure.
Again it does it's magic and about five minutes later Zara is relaxed and comfortable resting on her mothers arm.
Peter gives his wife a big kiss, happy to be home after an amazing weekend.
"We had a great time, right Stevie?"
She nods stroking Zara's back, they sure did, but being here with her baby back in her arms is where she feels even better.
"It was surreal to be honest. We've met some amazing people and being at the race was fantastic."
She looks back on the Saturday. After they had breakfast with Daniel, Seb and their trainers, she told Christian that she would come to the Monza race weekend with the kids.
She then went back to Daniel's garage to watch free practice and later also qualifying.
Daniel and Seb had locked out the front row with Daniel on pole position.
He even came to her to celebrate real quick with a high five, before he had to go do his media duties and later her dad and Stevie went into town to get a bite to eat.
Race day was insane, there were people everywhere, but again they were allowed to stay in the garage to watch the race.
Daniel won and even though they aren't even friends, Stevie still felt proud that he managed to win.
She watched the podium ceremony standing with the team which was surreal.
After that they had to leave to be on time for their boat back, but they both had the best time and it's a weekend they will never forget.
~~~~~~~~
When Daniel looks down from the top step of the podium he can see Stephanie standing there surrounded by his team members.
When he crossed that finish line his first thought was that he hoped she was proud of him.
It might be crazy, but he really wanted to impress her by winning. It's like he's back in school, showing off for the girls.
But this is just one girl, one beautiful blue eyed girl who has somehow managed to steal a large chunk of his heart in these few days.
After the podium ceremony he has to go give interviews which feels like they take forever.
He really wants to go find Stephanie and ask her out to dinner tonight or maybe get her number.
He can't find her in the garage anywhere or in hospitality.
He does find Michael, who has been collecting his stuff to pack so they can leave for Monaco.
"Michael, have you seen Stephanie?" He asks his long time friend.
"Yeah I think she already left. When you were at the media pen I saw her and her dad leave through the gates, so I'm guessing they have gone home. Maybe they had a flight to catch."
Daniel shakes his head.
"No they came by car and by boat. Peter told that during breakfast yesterday. Fuck! Now I'll probably never see her again."
He feels so deflated, his euphoria about his win is suddenly gone.
He doesn't even know her last name, he just knows her first name, her age and where she lives. Or well the town that is.
"Sorry mate, but Christian knows her so maybe he can tell you a bit more." Michael suggests.
Of course! Why didn't he think of that. Sometimes he can be such an idiot.
"Thanks, I'll go find him."
"Don't forget we have a plane to catch tonight. Don't be late!" Michael calls after him.
He sticks up his hand to acknowledge he heard Michael and then rushes out the garage to see if he can find his boss.
Unfortunately Christian is caught up in interviews and meetings, so he doesn't get a chance to talk to him before they have to leave for the airport.
He is so bummed that as soon as he sits down he puts his headphones on and shuts everybody else out.
Now he's going to have to wait until Thursday in Monza to speak to Christian again.
Let's hope he will give him the information so Daniel can maybe get in touch with her.
She might not be interested, but he still wants to give it a try.
He knows for sure Stephanie is a girl he won't easily forget. And he doesn't want to either.
Shouldn't he though?
She is eight years younger after all. Maybe that's too big of an age gap and she would probably not even be interested in a guy that much older.
He's torn about what to do, try to find her or forget all about her...
~~~~~~~~
"You just missed Cole, he wanted to stay up, he was just so tired that he couldn't keep his eyes open. But he will be over the moon to see you again tomorrow." Trudy tells Stephanie who just sat down to give Zara her bottle.
"Yeah it would have been nice, but if he was that tired he just needs to sleep. I'll make sure to give him a kiss when I go up to take this little one to bed."
She realizes that she held Zara when she walked in and she wasn't supposed to do that. At least not standing up.
But it didn't hurt and at that moment all that mattered was consoling her baby girl.
It feels so good having her in her arms again, those big blue eyes looking up at her as she is drinking the formula.
They ran out of pumped breastmilk a week after surgery so now Zara is fully on formula.
Stevie thought about trying to get Zara to breast feed again, but her doctor advised her not to and she also feels her milk has completely dried up. It's sad, but Zara will also grow up just fine on formula.
"So I heard you caught the eye of the Red Bull drivers?" Trudy asks, not seeing her husband frantically shaking his head, trying to stop her.
"Dad really?
Look mom it's nothing I just talked to them and Daniel and I had a walk on the beach. Nothing more nothing less."
Trudy slowly nods her head, she doesn't believe it one bit, but the look on her daughters face makes it very clear she shouldn't push the subject further.
"What about that job? I only heard a little bit about it so tell me, what's the idea now?"
Zara finished her bottle and Stevie puts her over her shoulder so she can let her burp out any trapped air that might have gone down with the milk.
"It was an amazing offer. Christian is willing to pay me way too much, but if that's what he's offering who am I to object? Besides that, he has a nanny who has worked for his family for the last year and I'm going to meet her Tuesday. He invited me, Cole and Zara over to his place to meet this girl. Or well... she's only three years younger than me."
Zara lets out a loud, very unladylike burp which makes the three adults chuckle.
"Nice one. Definitely one of my grandchildren." Her father laughs.
Trudy rolls her eyes, she loves her husband more than anything, but sometimes he acts like a child. Still, she wouldn't trade him for the world.
"Where does Christian live then?" Trudy asks.
"He has two homes, but I will be going to the one in Banbury, so that's very close to here. He's got an entire farm there with his family, so I'm sure Cole is going to love that."
She can feel Zara's diaper is being filled up, so it's time to bring her upstairs for a nappy change and then for bed.
"Ok somebody here needs to be changed. Come on little stinky, let's go."
She wants to get up holding Zara, but her mom quickly comes over to help.
"Mom I can do it." She protests.
"I know, just under three more weeks and you will do it yourself. Your body is still healing. So please don't push yourself."
Reluctantly Stevie lets her mom take Zara from her arms to carry her upstairs. She follows right behind them and after making sure her little girl is all cleaned up and tucked in bed, she turns on the little light projector which creates a starry ceiling and it plays soothing music.
"Goodnight my darling." She kisses Zara on her head and then quietly tip toes into Cole's room.
All she sees is his dark, curly hairs sticking out from under the covers, so she pulls them back a bit, ensuring herself he is sleeping safe and sound.
The long eyelashes are resting on his chubby cheeks, his mouth is slightly parted and he looks like an angel sleeping like this.
Very careful not to wake him, she gives him a kiss on his soft curls before making her way back downstairs.
Her parents are in the kitchen, her mom with a glass of wine and her dad has opened a beer for himself.
"Can I get you something darling?" Trudy asks.
"It's ok mom, I got it."
She puts some milk in a small pan to heat it, once it's hot enough she stirs some spoonfuls of Nutella through it to make her favorite hot chocolate.
It might not be a real hot chocolate, but she loves it like this. It's her guilty pleasure.
In the cupboard she finds some chocolate chip cookies. Loaded with enough chocolate to last her a while she joins her parents at the kitchen table.
"Did she fall asleep easy?" Her dad asks her.
"Yeah, she's such a good girl. Always goes straight to sleep as soon as she hits the mattress." Stevie replies before blowing on her chocolaty drink to cool it down a bit.
"They both have been angels the whole time you were away. Cole kept saying that his mommy was watching race cars to everybody we came across. He's such a sweetheart." Trudy smiles loving when she talks about the little boy.
"Well next week he will be able to see race cars himself. I really wasn't sure about this job, but now I'm kind of hoping both of them will be ok with traveling and being at the race track. I'm even starting to have my fingers crossed that this nanny is as amazing as Christian said."
Deep down she really wants to take this job. It will be a challenge, but it would also be amazing to be able to part of that world. And to see Daniel more.
She quickly shakes that thought out of her head. Yes if she accepts the job, she will see him all the time, but it won't matter.
This weekend she realized her dad was right, she does need to be away from home for a bit, she hasn't really had any life experience. She only traveled with her parents when they went on holidays. Once she started working and got together with Mitch that was all she had. Work, Mitch and later Cole and Zara.
When has she ever done anything for herself? Maybe this could be just that, maybe now she will be able to leave Mitch and the heartache behind her.
It's worth the shot. Worst case scenario she will quit and move back to her parents. She can always find another job and another house.
"Have you heard anything from the realtor yet?"
Stevie asks. She gave them her moms number because she didn't know if she would hear her phone in the garage.
"They had some people coming to see the house tomorrow I think. Who knows they might call with an offer." Trudy says.
That would be nice. It hurts that she has to sell the house, but she would never be able to feel at ease there anymore. She's sure something better will come up sooner or later.
But for now she might be living from a suitcase for a while and in between she will go home to be with her parents.
She finishes her hot chocolate and a cookie but then decides to go to bed, Zara will probably wake up somewhere during the night and now she's back home she isn't going to let her mom do everything.
She missed her babies, but those full nights of sleep were a true blessing. Hopefully it won't be much longer until Zara decides to sleep through the nights, that would make life so much easier.
In her dreams she sees Daniel standing on that top step of the podium looking down at her with his beaming smile.
When Zara wakes her up at 5 in the morning Stevie has a smile on her face as she walks towards the nursery.
Her mom meets her in the hallway and raises her eyebrow when she sees the goofy smile in her daughters face.
She decides not to say anything, it's just amazing to see Stevie smile again and this smile is a real one. Her eyes are sparkling even though it's five in the morning.
Somehow she feels that if Stevie takes that job, her life will become a whole better.
~~~~~~~~~
"Holy shit look at that house." Stevie whispers when she reaches the end of driveway that leads to Christian's house.
"Mommy! You shouldn't say that." Cole giggles from the backseat.
"You are right. I'm sorry sweetheart."
She parks the car next to a Range Rover and a very expensive looking Aston Martin.
And then there's her Volkswagen Golf which is only just big enough for her little family.
It's not the seats that are the problem, it's more the space in the back for everything she always has to take with her for her kids. Zara's pram, diaper bag, toys. She's just glad Cole decided he didn't want to wear diapers anymore shortly after his second birthday and he rarely has had any accidents.
"Ok buddy, you wait while I get the frame for Zara's car seat out of the back ok?"
Cole nods and watches his sister like a hawk.
She makes sure the handbrake is on before getting out of the car.
In the trunk she pulls out the frame and unfolds it.
She decides to leave the pram part of it in the car. If Zara gets tired she can always get it. Or she can put her in the wrap so she can sleep against her body.
Now comes the part that she really shouldn't be doing and that is lifting the car seat with Zara in it out of the car.
Maybe she should have asked her mom to drive them there as it's close by. But she didn't want to bother her more than she already did. Besides she had an appointment at the hairdresser, so she would have had to reschedule to take them there.
Stephanie makes sure to put the frame really close so she don't have to lift the car seat too far.
Just when she's about to lift it up there's somebody calling out her name.
"Stephanie! You're here. Wait let me help you." It's Christian, who obviously knew she was here because he opened the gates when she rang the buzzer.
Stevie wants to tell him she can manage, but also knows the smartest thing to do, is to let him put the car seat in the frame.
"Thanks Christian, I appreciate it."
Of course she can trust him with this, he is a dad himself after all, so he knows how it works.
Stephanie walks to the other side to help Cole out of his seat. Luckily once she has unbuckled his seatbelts he can climb out of his car seat himself.
"Oh wow aren't you a carbon copy of your mom. Hi there sweetheart, let's get you out of the car so you can come see all the animals." Christian is talking to Zara in a soothing voice and she seems totally fine with this stranger hovering over her.
He puts the car seat on the frame and makes sure it's secured safely.
With Cole's hand in hers Stevie walks back around the car and sees Christian is making funny faces at Zara who is smiling at him.
Usually it takes her a while to smile to new people, but somehow he manages to accomplish that within seconds.
"Hey there buddy, what's your name?" Christian squats so he's on the same level as Cole.
"Cole."
Christian holds out his hand to shake Cole's and that's exactly what the little boy does. He feels like a big boy shaking the hand of the friendly looking man.
"Now that is an awesome name. Nice to meet you Cole I'm Christian. I hope you're hungry, we have a whole stack of sandwiches and, don't tell your mom." He leans in closer to whisper in Cole's ear.
"We also have cupcakes."
Cole's eyes light up when he hears the word cupcakes, but Christian puts his index finger to his lips.
"It's our secret ok?"
Cole nods vigorously before looking up at his mom with a cheeky grin on his face.
"Come mommy, sammich eating."
Stevie laughs, as soon as Cole hears there is food available he is happy.
They follow Christian who is pushing Zara in her push chair into the large backyard. You can't really call it a backyard. It's such a big property and they see some donkeys in a field, there are goats, chickens and a lot more.
"Mommy! Donkey!" Cole points while he's shaking Stevie's hand.
"I see them, I'm sure we can go meet them a bit later."
Cole is such an animal friend, so this place is like a playground for him.
"You will meet all of the animals today Cole. Don't worry about it."
Christian takes the car seat with Zara in it from the frame to carry her up the steps of a giant porch area.
"Geri?" Christian calls out to his wife, former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell.
She comes through the large glass doors with a jug filled with lemonade and ice cubes in it.
"I'm here! I thought I'd get some drinks out."
On the table there is a diversity of sandwiches, brownies and cupcakes. But also there's a large bowl of fruit salad and cucumber with tomatoes.
"Oh wow you could feed your entire team with this." Stevie dryly remarks.
"Yeah my wife is always afraid we don't have enough food for our guests." Christian laughs.
He puts the car seat on the floor and looks at Stevie.
"May I?"
She nods, Zara seems fine with him which means so is she.
Christian unbuckles the straps that keep Zara secure in the seat and picks the little girl out of the seat.
"There that's better, now you can see a bit more. Stephanie, that beautiful redhead there is my dear wife Geri. Geri this is Stephanie."
Both women shake hands, but Geri quickly pulls Stephanie in for a hug.
"It's so good to meet you. When Christian told me he was trying to get you to work for the team I was so excited. We had quite some dinners at the restaurant you worked at and we have never been disappointed by the food you cooked. I'm really glad to finally see the face behind that amazing food."
Stevie starts to blush from all the compliments and she quickly turns to Cole to divert the attention from herself to her kids.
"Thank you. This is Cole and Christian is holding Zara."
Then her attention gets drawn to the door again where a young woman appears.
She has chocolate brown hair, long and full. Beautiful brown eyes and an incredibly sweet smile.
"Tina! Come meet Stephanie, Cole and Zara." Christian says and the young woman steps outside.
"Hello Stephanie. I'm Tina, it's so nice to meet you. Oh my god look at your kids, they are so precious. Hey little man, you must be Cole."
There's an instant connection between the little boy and the Slovenian girl who might become his nanny.
When they take their seats around the table Cole even gets on Tina's lap and they enjoy lunch together. Zara is comfortable in Christian's arms while he is eating and Stevie feels a bit strange not having to mind her kids at all.
She observes Tina's interaction with Cole and she can tell it comes natural for the young woman, she doesn't even have to try and it makes Stevie feel even more like she could actually take that job.
If this is how Tina is with kids then she is amazing.
She hears Cole giggle the entire lunch and in the mean time Tina makes sure he eats some of the healthy sandwiches before he can have a brownie or a cupcake. Exactly how Stevie would want it.
When Zara gets hungry Tina asks if she can give the baby her bottle and Stevie realizes she has to let her, she might be good with Cole, but that doesn't mean she is just as good with infants.
But she proves her qualities when she skillfully feeds her baby and changes Zara's diaper.
After that she takes the kids to see the animals so Stevie can have a talk with Christian.
"So what do you think so far?" Christian eagerly asks.
"She seems very nice and the kids like her. Of course it's only been a minute, but so far I think she's amazing."
Stevie can't do anything except admit that Tina seems to be a great nanny.
Suddenly her phone rings and she sees it's her mother.
"Do you mind if I take this?"
Geri and Christian shake their heads and start clearing the table as everybody is done eating now.
"Mom? What's going on?" She asks a bit worried. Her mom knows where she is, so why call her unless it's important.
"Your realtor called, the people who came to see the house made an offer." She tells Stevie what the offer is and she knows it's an amazing one.
Even though accepting it means she really has to say goodbye to her house which doesn't come as easy as she thought it would.
But it is what she has to do to leave the past behind her and move on. She wants to erase as much from Mitch out of her life as possible except for the kids of course.
"Alright, tell them I accept the offer. Let's get this over with." She sighs and then they end the call.
She doesn't want to cry, but still a tear trickles down her cheek just when Christian comes back out.
"Is everything ok?" He asks worried.
"Ehm yeah, it will be. I just sold my house."
"Really? Where are you moving to?" Geri who comes out with tea asks.
"Back to my parents. I already have actually." She swallows and decides to be honest with the Horners, if she is going to possibly accept the job after the Monza weekend they should know everything.
"If I tell you something can we keep that between us?" She asks them and they both assure her it will.
"On the 5th of August I got diagnosed with breast cancer. I had surgery the next Monday and they were able to remove everything so I'm perfectly fine now. I'm still healing, but I'm doing good.
The day after the surgery my, now ex, boyfriend and father of Cole and Zara told me he was leaving me. His 20 year old influencer girlfriend was even waiting for him outside my room door. Apparently they have been having some sort of a relationship for a while behind my back and he felt that it was the perfect moment to end our five year relationship."
Geri shakes her head in disgust about what Mitch did and Christian is rubbing the stubble on his chin.
"What a fucking asshole." Geri grumbles, looking around to make sure the kids aren't nearby.
"That's being nice. But he has had that girl over in my house and I know they shagged there. That's why I don't want to live there anymore. Me, Cole and Zara need a fresh start, so I put the house up for sale. I didn't expect it to go this fast, but I guess it's a good thing."
"Is he still in the picture for the kids though?" Christian asks.
Stevie sadly shakes her head.
"He never really gave a shit about them. I hate that they don't have a father figure, but he wasn't a father so they are better off without him."
He nods understanding.
"I get your determination about having your kids with you better now. You are all they have."
"And my parents, but I am not going to leave them behind so long and often. But Tina seems really nice."
Geri looks back at where Tina is in the yard with the goats. Cole is stroking the white coat of one of the smaller goats while Tina is watching him closely and in the mean time they see her rocking Zara who seems to be falling asleep.
"She's the best. It's that our kids are now old enough to not need a nanny anymore and I'm home so much that it's just not necessary. But for you she could be an amazing help."
"So your surgery has only been about a month ago? Do you think you are ready to get back to work yet?" Christian asks.
"Yeah I am. I'm feeling fine and more than ready." Stevie says, knowing she really is.
"So what do you say? Shall we take Tina with us to Monza?"
What Stevie doesn't know is that he has his fingers crossed under the table.
After a brief moment of contemplating about it Stevie nods.
"Yeah let's give it a try."