Epilogue — Jackson #2
Touched by her vulnerability, I step closer. “You know you can tell me anything, right? And everything.”
“Yes, of course, but … I feel a little guilty about this because I’ve been keeping it from you.”
There we go. This isn’t a drill. It’s happening here and now. My heart slams against my ribcage with excitement, but I try not to let it show.
“Then you should tell me now, before it snowballs into an even bigger secret.”
She looks so fucking adorable, all sheepish and embarrassed. I nearly melt when she looks up at me through her lashes. But before she can say something, her eyebrows twist with a mix of surprise and suspicion.
“Wait … you already know, don’t you?” she asks.
“Know what?”
“Don’t play dumb with me, Jackson. You’ve figured it out, somehow.”
“Figured what out?”
There’s no fooling her. She knows. Squinting at me, she says, “That I’m pregnant.”
My composure cracks, and I smile like I’m the happiest man on earth. Which I am. “I think I knew it before you did, princess.”
Her expression changes to disbelief. “Now that’s presumptuous.”
“Well, I started suspecting it in Azerbaijan, late-September.”
Her jaw drops. “How?! I didn’t even know until October!”
“Your taste changed. Like it did with Ophelia.”
“My ta—” When she realizes what I mean, her pretty blush returns. “Why didn’t you say anything?!”
“Because you weren’t saying anything. I wanted you to tell me, but I figured you probably had your reasons not to.”
She becomes a little reticent again, twisting her hands together.
“I think I know what this means. And you were having such a fantastic season, I didn’t want to take that away from you.
But before you make a rash decision, Jax, I want you to know I’m perfectly healthy.
My blood pressure is normal, and there hasn’t been anything worrying or alarming. ”
I can’t stop myself from resting a hand over her stomach, a gesture I’ve been craving to do since I realized. “How far along are you?”
“Three and a half months. I was hoping you’d think I was a little bloated.”
“Well, you have been gassy.”
She answers the jab by shoving me away. “It’s the pregnancy,” she defends herself.
I keep her against me and smile down at her. “Which I knew all along, but I wouldn’t mind either way.”
The playful teasing brings grins to our faces. But then they slowly fade.
Three and a half months. A baby. Mine and Evie’s.
My hand remains over her belly, unable to leave it now that I have permission. There’s nothing to feel yet. No kick. No movement. Just the knowledge that our child is there. A strange emotion settles over me, so large I can’t quite make sense of it.
When Ophelia came into our lives, everything happened too quickly. One moment we were kids, then Evie was pregnant, and when we were finally ready for our baby girl, we ended up saying goodbye.
Actually, I didn’t. I never even got to hold her, too scared to take that risk. But this time will be different. This time, I’ll be there for the birth. And I’ll be there for Evie, attentive to her every need, devoted entirely to her well-being.
My chest tightens, not with grief but with hope. This time, I’ll get to hold my child.
I’ll become a parent with the woman in my arms. The mother of my firstborn and bearer of the second one.
Evie notices the shift in me. Of course she does.
Her hand settles over mine, where it rests on her stomach.
For a moment, neither of us says anything.
We don’t need to. But for the first time since Ophelia, we’re allowing ourselves to imagine it.
A nursery, first steps, birthday parties, family vacations, the tooth fairy … . A future that goes beyond loss.
And God, I want it. I want all of it.
I lower my head and press a kiss against her temple. “Thank you for telling me,” I murmur.
Her fingers tighten around mine. “I’m still a little annoyed that you guessed. But I should have known better.”
I chuckle and bend down to kiss her on the lips this time.
Before I can get there, the door beside us rattles. “Jackson, are you in there?!” Justine shouts from the other side of it. “I swear to God, I will strangle you if you are. We’ve been looking everywhere for you. The entire conference room is waiting!”
“Fuck,” I mumble, releasing Evie.
Reluctantly, I unlock the door and open it. I give Justine a forced smile while her eyes throw daggers at me. She looks away, only to stare at Evie, who’s still a little red in the face.
“Were you two snogging in here?”
“Uh … Yes. That’s exactly what we were doing,” I lie.
“Ugh. Go now, you insufferable man-child,” she orders, pointing in the direction of the media pen.
“Can she come with us?” I ask, taking Evie’s hand.
After a blank stare at me, she turns to Evie. “Darling, if you need a way out of your marriage with that ridiculously obsessed husband, blink twice.”
“He’s probably the one who needs rescuing, if I’m being honest,” my wife answers with a wince.
Justine shakes her head. “I genuinely can’t believe you two are high school sweethearts.
How did you find each other so early? It should have taken you thirty tries to get such a perfect match.
” She sighs. “Anyhow, yes, you can come with us, Evie darling. You’ll stay in the back with me. Now, let’s go. Chop, chop, chop!”
We follow Justine through the hallways, and when we come across a bathroom sign, I say, “Wait, I need to wash my hands real quick.”
“Why?!” Justine frustratedly asks.
“Uh … We snogged really hard?”
She gets what I’m trying to say and rolls her eyes. “Jesus Christ, you two are annoying. It shouldn’t be legal to be this happy. I’m on my third divorce, for God’s sake.” She closes her eyes and pinches the bridge of her nose. “Go, Jackson. Go wash off the snogging.”
I’m off and back in a blink, then I retake Evie’s hand and we resume our walk to the media pen. I only let go of her at the last moment. They have to enter through the journalists’ door while I’m coming through the backstage one.
“I’ll do this and skip all the other shit, okay?” I tell Evie. Justine’s clearly about to argue, but I ignore her and lean closer to my wife to murmur, “And then we’ll go back to our room, order all the hotel’s desserts, and have a little celebration.”
She’s all smiles when I pull away. “I’d love that, Hot Wheels.”
The other two drivers who made it to the podium are already there, and they give me a slightly irked glare for my tardiness. “Sorry I’m late, guys. I usually arrive first,” I joke with a smirk.
“I almost had you today,” von Ranzow says.
“The keyword being almost, buddy. Better luck next season.”
The playful jab sits oddly in my chest. Yes, his chances will be better next season. All of their chances, really. But no one knows that aside from Wesley, Rosie, and Justine. Not even Evie—though she might suspect it.
We’re let into the room, and I sit in the middle of the white couch. As the FIA moderator introduces us, I scan the room, looking for Evie. I find her all the way to the back, slightly to my right. We exchange a smile from across the room, then I’m forced to focus on the first question.
This has all become so very familiar that I can’t remember my life before Formula One. It’s all a blur, except for Evie. She’s like a lighthouse, a steady and guiding presence that’s been there from the start. She’s my anchor.
“Jackson, there’s been a lot of talk about Altron’s junior-focused initiative, which will be in place next season,” the moderator says at some point. “Do you support Wesley Pryce’s investment in the Altron Junior Academy Program, also known as AJAP?”
“I’ve been there from day one, and I’m not only supporting it, I’m invested in it.
Wesley made the decision to build it in Colorado, my home state, so we could be central and welcome kids from all over the country.
The facility is twenty minutes away from my house, and my wife was one of the three architects who worked on designing it.
“With three, soon to be four, Grand Prix weekends set in the US, I think it’s smart to invest in that territory.
Formula One has always been international, but we can’t deny its European focus.
Thanks to Wesley’s dedication to the sport, we’ll now get to seek and encourage talents in a new area of the world.
We’ll have karting camps and development programs for younger drivers.
The most promising talents will receive full onboarding, scholarships, coaching, simulator access, and opportunities to progress into Formula 4.
From there, we’ll support them as they climb the ladder, and I’m sure we’ll find the champions of tomorrow among those kids. ”
“That’s a beautiful sentiment. As someone who came from a rather unique background, aren’t you finding it unfair that some kids will have their chance handed to them, in comparison to what you had to do?”