January 27, 2001 – Junior and Noelle’s Wedding Day

Noelle sat in front of the mirror and stared at herself. She had no idea why she was nervous now. She had been legally married to Junior for two months now. Hollie rushed around behind her, doing last minute things to Noelle’s hair and trying to calm their mother down who was acting flighty.

“Knock knock!” a voice yelled before coming in. “Hope everyone’s decent.” Tony walked in, dressed in his tuxedo. He whistled when he saw Noelle. “Wow, if I wasn’t already married, I’d ask you to marry me instead.” Hollie hit him in the arm as she passed him. “I’m kidding, honey.”

“What are you doing in here, shouldn’t you be helping Junior?” Hollie asked.

“Shit, that boy is a nervous as hell. I had to get away from him before I made him start drinking before the reception.” Tony laughed as he leaned against the wall. “He’s with Dale Sr. at the moment. Where’s the rest of your bridal party? Do they all look as good as you two?”

“Nikki is helping Taylor Nicole with her hair and I don’t know where Kelley is. Probably with the baby.” Noelle sighed. “I can’t do this.”

“You’re already married, Noelle. There’s nothing to this one.” Hollie sat down and slipped on her heels. “Hell, just go out there, put on a smile, say I do and then go party.”

“Easy for you to say.” Noelle muttered. “You and Tony haven’t been lying to everyone for the past two months. Ya’ll just came out and said you were married. If the media finds this out, they’re gonna have a field day with it.”

“You two are too much for me.” Tony laughed. “I’m gonna go see how our groom is doing and let him know that his wife…or soon to be wife. What the hell are you? I’m just going to tell him that you’re just as nervous as he is.”

“You’re such an awesome brother in law Tony.” Noelle groaned. “I’m sure Junior loves being related to you by marriage.” Tony laughed and shut the door behind him.

*******

Noelle watched as her bridesmaids walked down the aisle. Hollie turned around and made one last adjustment to Noelle, before having to walk down the aisle herself.

“Ready?” her dad asked her quietly. “It’s not like I can tell you we could book it out of here, seeing that you’re already married to him.”

“Thanks for the words of encouragement, dad.” Noelle laughed as Here Comes the Bride was played. Noelle took a deep breath and they started walking. The church was packed with friends and family. She saw quite a few of Junior’s fellow Nascar drivers standing on his side, along with his pit crew. 

They made it up to the alter and Junior took her father’s place. He took her hand and squeezed it.

“You look beautiful.” He whispered to her as the preacher began the sermon.

The ceremony seemed to take forever. Noelle kept squeezing Junior’s hand and glancing at him. He’d smile at her and mouth that he loved her and she’d feel a little better. She wanted to get it over with so that everything could go back to normal.

“I now pronounce you husband and wife.” The preacher said. “You may now kiss the bride.” Junior pulled Noelle to him and kissed her, a little longer than he should have, but she didn’t stop him. “I am pleased to introduce to you, Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Dale Earnhardt Jr.”  They walked back down the aisle to the applause of the audience.

When they got through the doors, Junior hugged her and kissed her again.

“That was a hell of a lot nicer than the first time.” Junior whispered in her ear.

“Yeah it was.” She smiled at him.

*******

A few hours later after the photographer was done with the pictures, the wedding party climbed into the limo and was taken to the reception hall. Teresa and Junior’s mom, Brenda had decorated the hall in the red, black and white color scheme that Junior insisted on having. He had said that he didn’t like any other colors and Noelle was just going to have to deal with it.

“So do we get free beer since our wedding is Budweiser themed?” Noelle asked looking at the empty Bud cans that Tony, Josh and David had hung from the ceiling.

“Why of course, you drinking bud or bud light tonight?” Junior asked.

“Let’s go bud lite…I have a feeling, I’ll be drinking a few of them.” Noelle laughed as Junior went to get her a beer.

The night was an endless party. The parents had left close to midnight, but Junior and Noelle’s friends didn’t stop partying until close to three in the morning. Junior and Noelle left just a little before that to go home.

“I’m exhausted.” Noelle fell back on the bed, still in her wedding dress. She closed her eyes and tried to get the room to stop spinning.

“Well you’re not going to bed yet.” Junior laughed and got on the bed next to her. He leaned down and kissed her. “It’s our wedding night…well, official wedding night and we’re going to start the honeymoon.” Noelle laughed and put her arms around him as he kissed her again.

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