Revved Up Hearts (31 page)

After the prerace ceremonies, Dawn stood and held Jeremiah’s helmet as he climbed into the car. When he was inside and properly strapped in, she leaned in to say a quick prayer with him, followed by a quick kiss. Then she handed him the helmet and stepped away as he put it on. His crew member started to put up the window net, but Jeremiah motioned for him to stop. He turned to her, but she couldn’t see his face because of the helmet’s dark visor. He flipped it up and looked at her. “I love you.” She saw his lips move but couldn’t hear the words over the roar of the engines. It didn’t matter. He loved
her!

She wanted to see his face when she said the words that she had been wanting to say for a while, but the tears in her eyes were threatening that. She wiped her eyes and said, “I love you, too.”

The smile that lit up his whole face was one of the greatest things that Dawn had ever seen in her life. She began to walk toward him, but a race official walked up to ask Jeremiah what the delay was. The cars ahead of him were moving off pit road, but Jeremiah was holding up the traffic behind him. He winked at her and blew her a kiss before putting his visor back down. The NASCAR official stepped away as the crew member put the window net up. Jeremiah stuck two fingers out of the small opening between the window net and car frame. She waved back, knowing that she also had a huge smile on her face. She stood there until his car was off pit road. “Thank you, Father, for the love you have given me, not just Jeremiah’s love, but for your love, too.” Then she turned and walked to Bryan’s pit
area.

A cut tire on lap 186 sent Bryan’s car into the wall and ended the day for the #33 team. Dawn desperately wanted to see Jeremiah after the race, but Bryan was in an awful mood when he climbed out of the car. “I was racing for the lead. That stupid lapped car hit me while I was trying to pass him,” he said, slapping the top of the car. “If he had gotten out of my way like he should’ve, I’d still be out there right now.” Bryan stomped off to the hauler, slamming the door behind him. The crew started packing and preparing to
leave.

I’m not going to ask to stay
, Dawn thought as she grabbed one of the laptops to help the
crew.

Dawn sent Jeremiah a text message from the car on the way to the airport. He didn’t reply. She knew he wouldn’t because the race wasn’t over yet, but he would as soon as he could. Bryan kept up with the race, so she knew when it ended. Jeremiah missed his second straight victory in Texas by only a half a second, finishing right behind Randy Brown. She sent Jeremiah another text from the plane but had to turn her phone off for take-off before he answered. Dawn sent him a third message when they landed but still no response. He was probably in the air now. When she got home, Dawn sat down in front of the TV. She really wanted to talk to Jeremiah before she went to
sleep.

The sound of someone knocking on the door woke her up. She realized that she had fallen asleep on the couch. The knocking continued. Dawn knew without looking that it was Jeremiah. She peeked over the top of the couch, and there he was at her front door with a dozen red roses in his hand. He saw her and that gorgeous smile returned. They didn’t take their eyes off each other as she ran to the door to unlock
it.

He pushed open the door and grabbed her. “I love you,” he told her
again.

“I love you, too,” she told him, hanging onto him like her life depended on
it.

“Did you hear me when I said it the first
time?”

“No, the cars were too loud, but I saw your lips
move.”

“Let me say it again. I love you,” he said as he lowered his head to hers. Dawn closed her eyes when their lips touched. They had kissed before, but this was different—special. It was the first time since telling each other how they felt about each
other.

Dawn took Jeremiah’s hand and led him to the couch. “How long have you felt this way? Why did you decide to tell me today like you did?” she asked as they sat
down.

“I’ve really liked you from the first day we met. You know that I saw you from a distance and thought you were so pretty. I was actually on my way to talk to you when the toolbox got in the way. But rescuing you gave me a perfect excuse to introduce myself. As I was learning that you were funny, intelligent, and witty, as well as beautiful, my feelings for you grew. I think I fell in love when I realized that you were a woman of principle. I learned that if you believed in something, you would not back down, no matter what. That type of integrity really impressed me. That’s what got me to seriously consider going back to church. That you believed so strong that you wouldn’t give in to my charms and the pressure I was putting on you for sex. That made me realize that there was more to church than religion. I saw the relationship that you had and I wanted it. I wanted you in my life too.” He stroked her hand with a thumb as he spoke. With his other hand, he traced a fingertip around her lips. “I decided to tell you how I felt like I did today so that if you didn’t say it back, I could concentrate on the race and wouldn’t have to deal with the rejection for a
while.”

“How could you not know how I felt?” she asked, putting a hand on his face and caressing his cheek. “How could you
doubt?”

He covered her hand with his. “I was pretty sure that you felt the same way. I just had to have a backup plan in case I had been
wrong.”

“You weren’t
wrong.”

“Wrong about what?” he
teased.

“Wrong that I didn’t love you. I do, you know. Love you. I knew who you were before we met. I was flattered when you were nice to me. I was happy that you wanted to be my friend. Part of me was excited when you let me know you that you were interested in more than friendship, but my wounds were still fresh. I couldn’t risk further injury. The other part of me couldn’t stay away from you. But you kept chipping at the walls I had put up. I admired that so much. At first, you wanted no part of God because you had been hurt too. I guess we were each chipping at the other’s wall and helping each other heal. When you finally accepted Jesus, I knew that your final barrier had crumbled. That caused my last defense to fall. That’s when I knew that I was in love with you. Those feelings have been growing ever
since.”

He took her hand from his cheek and moved it to his mouth to kiss it. “Why didn’t you tell
me?”

“For the same reasons that you didn’t tell me. I was afraid that I had read the signs wrong and you didn’t feel the same way. I couldn’t deal with the hurt and
embarrassment.”

“Well, no need to be embarrassed because I love
you.”

She couldn’t hear it enough. “I love you.” She couldn’t say it
enough.

“I want to stay, but we have a long day tomorrow. I’ll leave so that we can both get some sleep. Can you be ready to go by eight in the
morning?”

“Go? Where?”

“Did I not tell you? As you know, next Sunday is Easter, and we don’t have a race. Before I came down here, I stopped at Bryan’s. He’s giving you all week off, and I’m taking you home to see your
dad.”

Dawn called home while Jeremiah was still there. She didn’t think she would get to go home until Thanksgiving. Her mom was so excited. Dawn could hear the emotion in her voice. Then Jeremiah talked to Dawn’s mom for the first time. He told her that he couldn’t wait to meet her. After Jeremiah left, Dawn spent the next two hours packing. She finally went to bed around 2:00 a.m. but she couldn’t sleep. She was too excited. She was going home.
Home!
The word kept running through her
mind.

She finally fell asleep around 5:00 a.m., and her alarm woke her up at seven. She showered and put on the clothes that she had laid out the night before. She was putting her suitcases by the door when she saw Jeremiah pull into her driveway. He got out carrying a bag from a fast food restaurant and two cups of coffee. “Good morning,” he said, smiling at her as he climbed the porch steps. “I know you don’t drink coffee, so I’ll drink these. I got a soda for you in the truck.” By this time he was in the house. Since his hands were full, he couldn’t hug her, but he did manage a kiss. “Are you ready to
go?”

“Yes,” she answered. “I was so anxious about going home that I forgot about breakfast. What’s in the bag? It smells
great.”

“Sausage biscuits and hash brown
patties.”

“Do we have time to sit and eat before we
go?”

“Yeah, but what about your
soda?”

“I’ll save it for the road. Do you want some orange
juice?”

“No thanks. I need this coffee to get me going.” When they finished eating, Jeremiah carried Dawn’s bags to the truck and then drove them to the airport. Dawn wanted to stay awake on the plane, but the fact that she didn’t get much sleep last night caught up with her. Jeremiah woke her up three hours later, after the plane had landed. “Wake up, sleepyhead.” Dawn opened her eyes to see him leaning in close, pushing a hair out of her face. “Did you have a good
nap?”

“Yes. Did I
snore?”

He grinned, and Dawn knew the answer. Blushing, she turned away to wipe the sleep from her eyes. “You’re just as beautiful in your sleep as you are when you’re
awake.”

“Except that I snore like a freight
train.”

“It was
cute.”

“Whatever.”

A car was waiting for them when they got off the plane. Dawn did the driving this time, because she knew the roads. A little more than thirty minutes later, they were getting out of the car in front of Dawn’s parents’ house. Dawn’s mom came outside to greet them. “It’s so good to see you,” Donna said as she hugged her daughter. “How was your
flight?”

“I slept through most of it,” Dawn answered and turned toward Jeremiah. “Mom, I’d like you to meet Jeremiah
Jones.”

“Nice to meet you,” Donna said, hugging Jeremiah. “Thank you for everything you’ve done for my
daughter.”

“It was my pleasure,” Jeremiah said as he returned the
hug.

“Where’s Dad?” Dawn
asked.

“Asleep. He got back from physical therapy about an hour ago. He’s always exhausted when he gets
home.”

Dawn could see the kids from her mom’s daycare standing at the front door. “That’s Joy, Carly, and Tatum.” Dawn pointed out. “The older kids are at school.” Dawn, her mom, and Jeremiah went inside. Dawn and her mom were able to talk some but not much. Donna couldn’t take her eyes off the little kids, but she didn’t have much to worry about because the youngsters didn’t wander far from Jeremiah. Since he was new, they had to introduce him to all the baby dolls, stuffed animals, and other toys. They also told him the rules and let him know that he would go to time-out if he disobeyed. That made Dawn laugh. Jeremiah had told her that he hadn’t been around kids much, so she had wondered what he would think of the chaos of running a daycare. He seemed to be doing well.
Wait until the others come home from school
, she
thought.

About an hour later, Dawn’s dad walked into the living room. Dawn got up from her chair to give her dad a hug. “Hi, Daddy. How are you
feeling?”