La Rosa Gialla

Epilogue

August/September 2027

"Just because you're a three-time world champion doesn't mean that you're going to hang out here and leave the kids up to me," I laughed while Charles was sprawled out on the couch staring at the ceiling. "Jules needs a clean diaper and Lia just butchered a whole bowl of tomatoes."

"I thought we were on vacation," Charles chuckled, but he got up and headed for the kitchen, where a cursing in French soon followed. "How can such a small child make such a big mess?" he sighed and meanwhile I grabbed the other of the twins and went to change him.

It took us a whole year before I finally got pregnant again. Fate decided that if we persisted so much, we would have double the fun. When they told us at the ultrasound that I was expecting twins, I almost passed out. I was worried about how we would handle one child, let alone two at the same time. But when Jules and Rosalia were born on September 1, 2026, I knew it was a godsend. I thought I would never love anyone more than Charles, but I was wrong. Those two miniature babies became the center of our universe and filled both of our hearts with so much love. As they both grew, I saw more and more of the two of us in them. They both inherited big green curious eyes from Charlie and a small nose and luckily ears from me. They were curious, brave and eerily empathetic for their age.

We put the kids to bed and had a bottle of wine on the balcony. The house stood on a rock and looked down on the rest of Amalfi and the sea. It was a beautiful warm evening with a light breeze and live music and laughter coming from somewhere below us. "This is nice," Charles commented, putting his arm around my shoulders. I rested my head on his shoulder and nodded. Our life was disgustingly perfect at that moment, and we lacked absolutely nothing. I breathed in the fragrant sea air and was about to reach for a glass when I heard a scream from the bedroom. We both smirked, sighed, and stood up at the same time. We reached the room and froze in place in shock. The twins were holding onto the edge of the cots and standing on their feet. For the first time. I turned to Charles, whose mouth spread into a wide smile. "They're standing up," he commented as if I had no eyes. While Jules stopped screaming as soon as he saw us, Lia continued to scream like wildfire, so Charlie grabbed her in his arms and began to soothe her.

Before the next race after the summer break, we returned to Monaco and discussed whether the four of us would fly to the Netherlands or whether I would stay at home with the children. Since they were now so hard to keep in one place and constantly needed to move, it was quite a difficult decision. I wanted to be with Charles and I knew he wanted all of us with him. But at the same time, I didn't want to cause a commotion in the garage by having two almost one-year-old little devils waddling around there. "Joris will also go. You can give him one of the twins to babysit. He wanted to be an uncle, so let him try," Charles suggested and I looked at him scared. "I like Joris, really. But the last time he was in charge of Jules, he forgot him in the elevator," I reminded him of the Silverstone incident. "Yeah, but that was a long time ago. He certainly learned his lesson," Charles waved his hand. "It's been two months," I grumbled but slowly resigned myself to the fact that another panic attack would come when Joris left one of our children somewhere.

I was packing a giant suitcase and while doing so, I was melting over the photos from our wedding that were hanging on the wall in the living room. We got married on July 16th, 2025, exactly 14 years after we first saw each other as little kids. The wedding took place at the same venue where Enzo and Charlotte got married a year earlier. We invited only our closest family and friends and enjoyed the whole day immensely. It was the beginning of the life I always wanted. The beginning of a new life together with a man who meant the world to me.

When your kids smell like motor oil instead of baby powder, it feels weird at first. But it became so common for me that I even started to miss it during the breaks between races. Charlie hasn't been doing particularly well in the championship this year and Zandvoort was just further proof that a fourth title was not going to happen, but he took it bravely. He had already achieved his dream, even three times, and was thinking quite seriously about quitting racing. Not only the team tried to talk him out of it, but also everyone I knew and the whole family, including me. Although I was tempted by the idea of "retirement" in our new summer home in Amalfi, I knew deep down that he would suffer without racing and would soon realize that he had made a mistake. In the end, he decided to postpone the end of his career, but it was still in his head.

"I can't believe they're already one year old," Dad gushed as we all gathered in Gorzano before the Monza race to celebrate the twins' first birthdays. "Come to Grandpa, Lia," he held out his hands to my daughter, who came to him obediently. Meanwhile, Charles lit the candles on the cake, which he eventually blew out, because the one-year-old twins didn't understand the principle of blowing out cake candles. Wearily Charles and I collapsed next to each other and excitedly watched as my family divided the children between them and we had a moment of peace. "How about we make another one?" Charles asked with a serious face, and I looked at him scared. "Are you crazy? Wait at least 3 more years," I smirked, but in the end, I kissed him anyway and snuggled up to him. "So, are you open to that option?" Charlie continued and I shrugged. "In a few years, sure," I finally said.

Fortunately, I didn't have to entrust either of the children to Joris in Monza, because my dad accompanied me to the garage, because he wanted to spend every free minute with the twins before we flew to the other side of the world. "Look, Jules. There's dad over there, see?" he was trying to engage my son, who was much more interested in the empty water bottle with the long tube than the Formula 1 car on the screen. I, on the other hand, could not tear myself away from the screen, because after a long time, Charles was fighting for first place with Kimi Antonelli from Mercedes. If Charles won again in Monza, it would definitely put new energy in his veins and he would forget about retirement for a while.

On lap 47, Charles finally got less than a second gap to Kimi and thus was able to use DRS, and a lap later he whizzed past him on the straight like it was the easiest thing in the world. The tifosi in the stands burst into cheers and I got goosebumps all over my body. With one hand, I held Lia to my chest, who was watching the rejoicing mechanics in consternation, and I was nervously biting the thumbnail of my other hand.

Charlie parked in front of the number 1 sign and jumped out of the car. He ran after us, kissed both of his children on the heads, and then kissed me on the lips. His eyes lit up as if he had won his first race, and when he stepped onto the top step of the legendary Monza podium, he smiled so much that it infected Jules and Lia as well. Even if I heard the Monaco and Italian national anthems for the three hundred and twenty-eighth time, I would never be tired of the combination. 

Ok, so here it is. The very last chapter of Adri's story. 
Thank you for reading, voting, and commenting. I enjoyed this one very much and hope you did too. 😊
Hopefully, see you soon when I start publishing another story. It's going to be called Recipe for Love. The love interest is Charles, but there'll be also a lot of Lewis Hamilton, so if you think you might like that, follow me so you know when it comes out. 😊
Yours,
B. ❤️