My apologies for the delay in getting this completed. Computer issues meant that I had to completely re-write this.
This story starts from where the first part finished, so you may wish to read that before continuing.
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The team were all there after we finished in third place at the biggest race of the year. There were lots of handshakes and congratulations. Mel, the girls, my sister Brooke and her husband Simon were all there too enjoying the celebration. Chloe and Jessie even went and sat in the racing car. After a short while Mel took me by the arm to a quiet corner of the garage.
"I'm so proud of you Matt. You drove so well. I love you so much."
"I love you so much too."
Mel looked nervous and began biting her bottom lip. I asked "What's troubling you Honey? You look worried."
Mel sighed and said "Ummm Matt... I'm pregnant." She looked down a little.
The big smile I already had on my face only got bigger. I was so happy. "Oh Mel, that's wonderful." I said as I wrapped my arms around her and kissing her.
"I thought you might be upset Matt. We weren't trying to have ..."
"No Mel. Why would I be upset? We will be adding to our family. That is great news. You have made a great day even better."
We cuddled together, holding each other close, celebrating our amazing news together. I kissed her again and a thought raced into my head.
"Mel I do have one concern." I said.
Mel who had been looking happier suddenly looked worried again. "What is it?"
I had a serious look on my face. "We will have to redecorate the office now to be the nursery." I said with a laugh.
Mel laughed with me. "I love you Matt."
"I love you Mel."
************
We kept the news of Mel's pregnancy to ourselves, not even telling Chloe and Jessie that they were going to be big sisters. It was still very early days, only a little over 3 weeks actually and was a big surprise as we weren't trying yet to start adding to our family. Mel and I worked out it must have happened when we 'celebrated' our engagement.
Mel and I had planned to get married the following year, possibly in March or April, while the weather was still warm. With our very exciting news we decided to bring our plans forward and get married this December. Mel wanted to be married before she had our baby, but also didn't want to be 'too pregnant' on our wedding day. So we got busy getting this all organised.
By pulling in a few favours from friends, we were able to organise our wedding date to be 3rd December. We were only going to have a small ceremony, just family and close friends, about 60 people in all. The ceremony was to be held in a vineyard not far from where we lived, with the reception in the restaurant there on site.
While my personal life was wonderfully hectic, my professional life got even busier after the great result we achieved at Bathurst. I had lots of interest from other teams wanting me to drive for them for the following season. Some wanted me for the endurance races and others wanted me for the whole season or even multi-year deals. I was flattered by all the attention, but I told them all that I would only negotiate a week after my contract was finished for this season.
For my final race of the year I travelled to the Gold Coast alone. The girls had things on at their schools and Jessie was getting organised to go into 'big school' the following year. It was hard to be away from them, particularly as Melissa was suffering with morning sickness. As Mel hadn't been sick like this with either of the girls, she somehow thought that she was going to have a boy. While I was at the races I spoke to Melissa as often as I could and she watched on TV at home, recording the races so we could watch it together.
The racing up there was tough work. I had never raced on the Gold Coast before and being a street track it was like racing in a 'concrete canyon' with very little room for mistakes. I was pleased with my own performances, getting quicker every time I went on track. We finished 8th in the race on Saturday and a very commendable 4th in the rain on Sunday. My stints in the car went without incident, and while I would have liked to have been even faster than I was, I kept the car in one piece for our lead driver Sam to work his magic.
Outside of the car however the atmosphere within the team was a little strange. There was nothing that I could specifically put my finger on as to what was wrong. Everyone was great to me, but things in the crew around our car felt a little strained.
After the race Team Boss Andrew came up to me and thanked me for my efforts. He appreciated what I brought to the team and he said he would be in touch very soon. I again thanked him again for the opportunity to drive for them. After saying goodbyes to all the crew I headed home late that Sunday evening.
On the Monday I was at home with Melissa. The girls were at school and pre-school, and we were watching my races from the weekend on replay, cuddling together when my phone rang. It was Andrew from the racing team. He was ringing me from his personal phone, not from his office. He asked me to come down to the offices the following morning for a meeting. He wanted me to also bring down my passes and team shirts as cover for the meeting. I was also to enter via the workshop and not the main doors.
I told Mel about this and she laughed at all the 'cloak and dagger' stuff they wanted me to do. Something was definitely up.