December 25, 2000 – Christmas at Dale Sr. and Teresa’s House

The ride over to Dale Sr. and Teresa’s house was a little tense. Junior and Noelle had decided to tell the family that they were already married, but still wanted to have an actual church wedding. Noelle’s family had taken it pretty well the night before, when they had gone to Charlotte for Christmas Eve. However, they took Hollie’s announcement that she was already married to Tony, a little harder. There had been a lot of yelling and Hollie leaving in tears with Tony running after her. Noelle and Junior had decided not to stay the night after that and drove home.

“I’m shaking like a leaf.” Noelle clasped her hands together in her lap as they pulled into the driveway. “I don’t know if I can do this.”

“We handled your mom and dad; we can surely handle my dad and Teresa.” Junior patted her leg. “What’s the worst they can do? Scream?” Junior parked next to his sister’s car and got out. Noelle followed and helped him bring in the presents and the dish that she made that morning. They walked inside and Noelle swore that they already knew and people were staring at her. “We’re here!”

“Hi!” Came a chorus of voices. Noelle waited for Junior to take the bags from her before she went into the kitchen to help Teresa.

“What can I help you with?” She asked as she walked into the kitchen. Teresa turned around from the stove and smiled at her.

“If you could set the table that would help a lot!” She sighed. “Kelley was helping, but she’s feeding the baby.” Noelle nodded and retrieved the plates from the cupboard. She went into the dining room and started setting the table.

“We’ll tell them when we open presents.” Junior whispered as he came up behind her. “Dad just told me that he wants me to ask you to marry me again in front of the family since my grandma doesn’t know yet. I need your ring.” Noelle slipped it off her finger and placed it into the palm of his hand. “Love you.” He kissed her quickly and shoved the ring in his pocket.

“Love you too.” She watched him leave the room and went back to setting the table.

Dinner went by without any problems. Noelle sat across from Junior and kept glancing at him. He’d smile and make silly faces at her.

“Ok, let the women clean up and then we can open presents.” Dale Sr. said as he got up from the table.

“That’s so sexist!” Kelley griped as she gathered up the dishes. The men laughed and went into the living room.

Once that was done, the women made their way into the living room. Junior was sitting on the couch next to his brother Kerry and motioned for Noelle to sit in front of him. She sat down on the floor and leaned back against him and took a deep breath.

After everyone had opened their presents Junior stood up and then motioned for Noelle to stand up with him.

“I have one more present.” Junior said looking at Noelle. Junior’s grandmother looked like she was going to start crying. Junior pulled out a ring box and went down on one knee, taking Noelle’s hand in his. “Noelle, you know that our relationship hasn’t always been the best. We’ve had our share of fights, but we’ve always made up. I love you and want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?” He opened the box and took out her ring and slid it on her finger for the second time. Junior looked up at her and saw that she had tears running down her face. He stood up and wiped them away as she nodded and kissed him.

“Did she say yes?” his grandma asked when she saw them kissing and hugging in the middle of the living room. Everyone clapped and Noelle pulled away and started laughing.

“Well…uh…we have something else to tell you now.” Junior took Noelle’s hand again and squeezed it.

“She’s pregnant too? I think I’m going to faint.” Noelle covered her mouth to hide her laughter when his grandma said that.

“No, no…not that we’re aware of.” Dale Sr. said patting his mother’s back. “Let’s hope not.” He looked at Junior. “What is it, son?”

“Well…we kinda already got married in November.” Junior said quickly. A hush fell over the room and everyone was staring at them. Noelle looked at the floor and couldn’t bring herself to look anyone in the eye. Especially not the eyes of Dale Sr. and Teresa.  “We still want to have a church wedding and we’re planning it, so that everyone is invited.”

“You what?” Dale Sr. finally said.

“Are married.” Junior repeated. “We shouldn’t have, but we were both drunk. It was the same night that Hollie and Tony got married.”

“So if Tony jumps off a bridge, are you going to do the same thing?” Dale Sr. wasn’t hiding the anger in his voice. “You’ve been married almost a month and just tell us that you’re engaged? What the hell is wrong with you two? He shook his head and looked at Teresa who got up and left the room. He followed her into the kitchen, leaving everyone else looking at each other, wondering if they should say congratulations.

“Ralph Dale Earnhardt, Jr. get your ass in here now!” Dale Sr. yelled ten minutes later. “Noelle, you too!”

“You’re in trouble!” Noelle said to Junior, trying to ease the tension.

“Good thing he doesn’t know your full name yet.” Junior smiled at her. “C’mon and let him blow some steam off. He won’t stay mad long.” Noelle hoped not…she didn’t know how much yelling she could take after hearing her parents go off on Hollie and Tony.

“Sit down.” Dale Sr. commanded when he saw them. Noelle sat on a chair while Junior choose to stand behind her with his hands on her shoulders. “I don’t know what to say to the two of you. I really don’t.”

“How about congratulations?” Junior offered with a slight laugh. His father shot him a glare that made him shut up quickly.

“Who else knows this?”

“Just my parents, Hollie and Tony and now your family.” Noelle said quietly. She glanced at Teresa who was sitting across from her, her head in her hands. She almost looked like she was going to have a nervous breakdown.

Dale Sr. paced the kitchen, muttering something under his breath. “Of all the stupid things you’ve done.”

“Dad, it’s not like we’re not going to get married soon anyway.” Junior said calmly. “No one else has to know! We’ll have a church wedding before the season starts and everything will be fine.”

“Did she sign a prenup?” Dale Sr. asked. Noelle shook her head. “Well you need to.”

“That’s fine.” Noelle said quickly. She didn’t care; she wasn’t after Junior’s money. Dale Sr. stopped next to Junior and held out his hand. Junior looked confused than shook it.

“Congratulations, son.” He said as he pulled Junior into a hug. “You got a fine woman, keep her happy.” Junior didn’t know what to say. He expected his father to go off on him. “Noelle.” Noelle looked up at him. “Welcome to the family.” He pulled her into a hug as well. “Keep my boy in line, ya here?” She nodded and then looked at Junior who hugged her.

“We thought you were going to kill us or something.” Junior laughed.

“Thought about it.” Dale Sr. sighed. “But, you already did it. What am I supposed to do, make you guys get divorced, just so you can have a wedding the right way? Just do me a favor, don’t let anyone else know…go on with the wedding like you would. Set a date and so on.”

“We want to do it before Daytona.” Junior looked at Noelle who was looking up at him, her eyes wide. “The last Saturday in January.”

“That’s a little quick, don’t you think?” Teresa asked. “There’s a lot of ground to cover. A caterer, a church, the reception hall…” Her voice trailed off as she mentally thought of everything. “I don’t think it’s possible.”

“Anything is possible.” Junior laughed. “Noelle’s mom is already making the invitations. We talked to her about it last night. Ya’ll have to come meet them. They’re good people.”

Chapters: 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10/11/12/13/14/15/16/17/18/19/20/21/22/23/24/25/26/27/28/29/30