Epilogue
Emerson
After what happened last week with Palmer and Steve, I wasn’t able to ask Sawyer to marry me.
I didn’t want that memory to be tainted with Palmer’s asshole ways.
River’s been having nightmares since that day too.
The first night he woke up screaming, saying that the bad man was going to kill me.
It took a while to get him calmed down. I can’t wait for Palmer to go to trial, right now he’s in prison, starting his five years for lying in court.
I heard it’ll be a few months before his court date for him threatening us.
They’re trying to schedule it with my racing schedule.
And in five months, we get our summer break.
Which is a month off from racing. So the prosecutor put in to have the trial date start that first week.
Thankfully, when this happened, the Lake Renegade Sheriff’s Department had just started using their body cams. So everything that day was recorded.
It makes everything a lot easier when you have video proof.
It was hard to watch the footage. I was so focused on Palmer and Steve, that I didn’t know what was going on behind me.
Georgíos took care of Sawyer and River and you can hear River sobbing when Hugh, one of Sal’s deputies, got closer to us. It kills me to listen to that.
This week we’re back racing in Brazil. And I have the best surprise for my girl.
It’s been really hard to keep it a secret.
But I have the rest of my crew in on it.
I’m surprised they’ve managed to keep their mouths shut, usually they’re all gossiping to each other.
I told them they’re worse than my family with secrets.
Speaking of my family, almost half of them are here for this. I wish I could’ve done it back in Lake Renegade, but I just didn’t have time to set it all up again. So some of them are a little annoyed with me. But it’s okay, I’ll find a way to make it up to them.
Today is practice and qualifying. Right after qualifying, my plan will go into motion.
First, I need to get through doing my job.
Because now I not only race for myself, I’m racing for my family.
Five hours. That’s how long I need to focus.
For some reason it’s dragging along, it already feels like it’s been five hours.
But I’ve only done FP1. Fucking hell, this is torture.
I finally get through it, and all we have left is qualifying. My bike feels good today, and I end up with pole. I’m so fucking happy. Today is a good day. And now to finish it off with asking Sawyer to be my wife.
After I debrief my crew, I take Sawyer’s hand and walk out of my garage, pulling her with me.
“Where are we going?” she laughs.
“Come on. Stop dragging your feet,” I say as I pull her faster.
We stop and face the stands with the fans in it.
We were able to get my fan club a section in front of my garage.
I have Sawyer facing her back to them, I smile and kiss her.
I peek up at the stands and see them putting their signs up. Showtime.
Sawyer
Emerson’s acting weird and I can see all the other racers and their teams coming out of their garages. What the fuck is going on?
“I love you so much,” Emerson says to me as he kisses me.
“I love you too.”
“Thank you for making me a da and for giving me a life I never knew I needed.”
My tears start falling, Emerson always knows what to say to me to make me feel like the most special woman in the world. He turns me around to face the stands and I see the fans spelling out, ‘Will You Marry Me?’ and now they’re chanting it.
“Oh my god.”
“I think they want an answer,” Georgíos whispers.
“No, really? What gave you that idea?” Ares whispers back.
“You know we can all hear you, right?” Easton laughs.
“Oops,” they both say together.
I laugh at them and turn to face Emerson. When I do, he’s down on one knee. Holding up the most beautiful ring I’ve ever seen.
“Yes!” I say as my tears fall.
Emerson puts the ring on my finger and kisses me.
I thought having River was the best day of my life. Today is a very close second.
During our summer break, Palmer and Steve had their trials.
The judge gave Palmer twenty-five years and Steve got ten.
The reason Palmer got more was because he was the one who threatened River.
And he pointed the gun at the sheriff and his deputies.
Steve only pointed it at us. The best part is they have to serve their sentences consecutively.
Meaning one after the other, his lawyer asked for them to make them concurrent but the judge said no.
And the judge also changed his penalties to one hundred thousand dollars.
Which for Palmer, is a drop in the bucket.
He will also never be off probation, and he and the assholes can never come near me or River. Ever.
It’s a relief to know that Palmer will be in prison for at least fifteen years before he’s eligible for parole. And we all plan to be there for each one. Making our statements on why he should never be let out.
We also found out that the information we had about Palmer’s father’s will was right.
He needed a male heir in order to get the majority of his inheritance.
And he did get a girl pregnant. But it’s a girl and so he has no interest in her.
Emerson and I have been discussing whether or not we want to reach out to her.
Her baby is River’s half sibling, after all.
But we’ll see how that goes when the season is over.