Chapter Three

“And this is your room,” Kelley added, completing the tour she’d just given Macayla of Dale’s house. Pointing to the room directly across the hall from her, she added. “Occasionally, one of our Busch drivers lives here. His name is Martin. Well, technically he lives here, but it all depends so, don’t scream or anything if you see a guy about 6’ with dark hair and hairy stuff on his chin around here. He’s a pretty good guy and he’s a huge help to Dale… Or has been, with Kellen.”

Macayla nodded and turned to look at her room, surprised by the large canopy poster bed that overtook the room, stacked high with pillows and a plush duvet. “Wow…” she muttered stepping into the room, unable to contain her amazement. The room was much larger than she’d anticipated.

Kelley smiled. “I was hoping you’d like it. Dale kinda put me in charge of decorating in here and I don’t know about you but I’m a sucker for the Ernest Hemingway collection.”

“It’s gorgeous…” she responded as her fingers followed the scrolling wood of one of the posts.

“This door right here is your bathroom,” Kelley added opening a door along the far wall. “There’s a connecting door into Kellen’s room so if you’d like to, you can sleep with these doors open at night so you can get to him if he cries. Dale’s a little further down the hall. He can hear him but you’ll get to him faster.” Kelley stopped momentarily to watch the look of complete calm come over Macayla and could tell at that moment that they’d made the right choice. This was going to be good for her and they could only hope it would be just as good for Dale. “Well, I’m gonna get going. Dale will probably be home around 6 or 7 so just take a few hours to rest and get situated. Look around or whatever, just stay out of his room and Martin’s. God only knows what you might find in there.”

Macayla followed Kelley to the door and let her out, locking it behind her before padding into the living room and flopping onto the large couch.

She locked her hands over her stomach and chewed on her bottom lip as she let her eyes roam over the room. Her gaze fell on a stack of photo albums on the bottom shelf of a bookcase and unable to hide her curiousity, she grabbed a couple of them and sat on the floor, leaning back against the couch.

The first album was more of a scrapbook with newspaper clippings, awards, photos, and other memorabilia from Dale’s racing career. A few clippings in memory of his father were casually stuck between the pages and on the last page was a photo of him with his dad, Kelley and what she could only assume was his brother. Whoever he was, he was definitely a relative.

The moment she picked up the second album an obituary well to the floor. She picked it up quickly letting her eyes scan the words.

EARNHARDT, PAIGE MADISON age 27, of Mooresville, North Carolina , was called home to rest with the Lord on Friday, October 29, 2004. She was born the first child of the late Noah Lytle Madison and Carolyn Drake Madison, also of Mooresville. She was a graduate of Lake Norman High School and a member of The Cove Church . In spite of physical and medical adversity, she was kind and generous of spirit, and will be greatly missed by her family and friends. She is survived by her loving and devoted husband, Ralph Dale Earnhardt Jr. and son, Kellen Dale Earnhardt. Other family members include Brenda Jackson, Theresa Earnhardt, Taylor Earnhardt, Jimmy, Kelley, and Karsyn Elledge, Kerry and Rene Earnhardt and their four children all residents of Mooresville. A private memorial and burial service is planned. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorials be made to the Dale Earnhardt Foundation, Victory Junction Gang or St. Jude’s Ranch for Children.

She wiped her eyes and slid the slip of paper back into the front of the book then opened it to find a picture of Dale and what she could only assume was his wife, standing on a beach with the sun setting behind them and her hand outstretched showing an elaborate diamond solitaire.

Macayla studied the picture. The woman was beautiful. Her long blonde hair curled around her like a halo and her perfect teeth smiled the brightest, happiest smile she’d ever seen.

Her gaze then fell on Dale, noticing the sparkle in his eye and the happiness on his face as he looked at the woman next to him.

She took a deep breath and closed the album, unable to continue. She felt like she was invading their privacy and that’s the last thing she wanted to do.

Deciding that she needed to get a good nap in before he came home with Kellen she went upstairs and unpacked the few bags she had, then crawled into the large bed moaning as her body sunk into the pillowtop mattress. “Oh my God, this feels great…”

“What’s your bed got that mine doesn’t?” A deep voice asked from the doorway, startling her.

She jerked to a sitting position and swallowed hard at the sight before her. A man, she could only assume was the Martin the Kelley had referred to, leaned against her doorframe in gym shorts and a sweaty t-shirt with his had turned around backwards but she could’ve sworn he was absolutely the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen. “Um…”

He chuckled and stepped into the room, holding out his hand. “Martin…”

“Macayla…” she replied softly, taking his offered hand, surprised when he bent forward to kiss the back rather than shaking it.

“I guess we’re neighbors now?”

She gave him a shy smile and nodded. “Yeah, seems that way.”

“Well, I just wanted to say hi. Sorry to have interrupted… your…”

“Nap…” she blurted. “I was about to take a nap.”

He raised a brow and looked at her curiously. “Uh-huh…”

“No… really I was. I just wasn’t expecting the bed to be as soft as it is.”

He chuckled and nodded his head. “Well. I’ll let you get back to your nap then. You’re gonna need all the sleep you can get around her because between Kellen and Dale, you’ll be lucky if you average 10 hours a week.”

“What about you?”

Martin just winked and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.

“OH MY GOD!” She managed to whisper as quietly as she could before kicking her feet like a teenager. It had been three years since her husband’s death and that had been the first sign of life she’d felt since then. Maybe it was time to put things to rest and move on.

---

Dale shuffled into the kitchen surprised to see Martin with his head stuck in the fridge. “What are you doing here?”

He snapped up to a standing position and smiled, holding out his arms to Kellen, who happily jumped away from his father into his “Uncle Martin’s” grasp. “Wondering why I didn’t have a nanny that looked like that when I was growing up…” he said, motioning upstairs.

“Hmph…” Dale just frowned and grabbed some juice out of the fridge and a few crackers, setting them on the bar that separated the kitchen and living room.

Martin watched him for a few minutes trying to gage his reaction as he sat Kellen on the counter and made googling noises at him. “I can’t believe you Dale. You don’t like her already and you haven’t even given her a chance yet.”

“Don’t start with me, Martin. I’ve got too much on my mind right now and the last thing I need it to worry about is Kellen being with some stranger all of the time…”

“She didn’t seem strange to me. She was actually quite nice…” he shrugged in response.

Dale shook his head. “You just think she’s hot. Where is she anyway?”

“Taking a nap. I told her it’d be a good idea to get as much sleep as she could before you got home because between you and Kellen she’s gonna be worn out.”

“So what’d you come home for anyway? I haven’t seen you here in a few weeks.”

Martin looked at him blankly. “Just thought I’d come home and offer my support because I knew she wouldn’t get any from you.” He took the cup of juice and bag of crackers that Dale had taken out, picked up Kellen then went upstairs to the nursery and put him on the floor and sat with him as he played with some cars and stuffed animals.

---

Macayla woke to the sound of squeals coming from the nursery and before she could think twice she was out of the bed, running through the bathroom and to the doorway of Kellen’s room.

She took a deep breath when she found Martin laying on the floor with Kellen raised above him, giggling and squealing happily as Martin made airplane noises and flew the little boy through the air. “I hope he hasn’t eaten anything recently…”

Martin looked back to see her watching him and sat up, sitting Kellen on the floor next to him. “Care to join us?”

She smiled and sat on the floor on the other side of Kellen. “I guess Dale’s home?”

“Yeah,” he said softly, handing Kellen his cup before looking at her. “Look, I know this isn’t going to be easy… Working for him, with Kellen. I just want you to know that I’m here. You know, to listen to you rant and rave at the unbelievable baste…”

“Hey!” she yelped, quickly covering Kellen’s ears with her hands as the little boy began to laugh. “Language.”

He blushed. “Sorry. I’m still working on that. Anyway… when you need to vent about Dale being a jerk… you know where I am…”

She smiled and nodded.

“I’m sure she’s glad she knows that…” Dale spoke from the doorway, his voice harsh but not quite angry. “Why don’t you get out of here and let Macayla do her job…”

Martin rolled his eyes. “I’m playing with Kellen right now Dale, so why don’t you go and let me do what I was doing before you decided to bring your dark cloud in…”

Macayla watched the exchange between the two men, briefly making eye contact with Dale before he turned and left the room. A few moments later they heard the front door slam.

“I really am sorry about him. He hasn’t been himself since… well, since Paige died. None of us have.”

She looked down at her hands not ready to see the pain that she’d heard in his voice. “I understand… were you two close?”

He gave a reminiscent smile and smoothed Kellen’s hair back. “Paige was totally my big sister. Always there to tell me when I screwed up and what I was gonna have to do to fix it. And to Dale… God, she was his savior. I don’t know what this years going to be like without her but they got together at a time when his life was really starting to crumble and I don’t know if I can watch that happen again. Especially, when he’s got Kellen to think about.”

“I’m sure he’ll be fine. And I know he may seem hopeless right now but things will get better. It’s definitely going to be a slow process and he’ll never completely heal but…”

Martin looked at her thoughtfully, his eyes narrowing slightly. “How do you know?”

“Because I’ve been there…”

He nodded, not saying another word. He’d ask Dale or Kelley about it later but at that moment the last thing he wanted to do was rehash bad memories for her.

“What time is it?”

Martin glanced at his watch quickly before looking back her in confusion. “Around 8…”

“Well, I’m going to give Kellen a bath and get him to bed. I’m not sure what time he normally goes to bed but he needs a set schedule. Maybe we can get that started before we head to the track.”

He nodded in agreement and helped her get his pajamas ready, showing her where everything was that she would need. “I’m gonna let you do that… just remember. My ears are open…”

She smiled and nodded. “Got it…”

-next-

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