Love Always Wins

80

Sunday September 6th. Monza, Italy.

It had been good to be back at the Armani Hotel in Milan and the luxurious suite felt very familiar to her, it was the same suite that they'd stayed in last year. This time her life felt very different to the last time she'd stayed here, this time she was married and a mother to a six week old baby boy. Last time she'd come here as single woman but left having begun to reunite with the man who was now her husband. She rubbed her tummy as her cramps returned. Great, this was the first race of this season that she'd actually get to be there for and not just stuck in a motorhome or hotel room and her period was about to make an appearance. Mother Nature sure knew how to time things perfectly.

Seb emerged from the bedroom, carrying Luis in his car seat. He put him down carefully on the floor and looked to see his wife standing with her back to him, he didn't have to see her face to know that she was miles away in her head. "Are you ready Chloe? We have to be going in a couple of minutes."

Hearing his voice she spun round to face him, noticing the car seat on the floor. "Yeah, I'll just get my shoes on and grab the changing bag."

As she walked past him to get into the bedroom, he followed her, needing to pick up his black rucksack. She'd been rather quiet this morning and he guessed that her pre-race nerves would be kicking in, just like they used to do when she'd accompanied him to races last year.

As her cramps were feeling particularly sharp right now, she decided to nip into the bathroom just to check whether she was bleeding. She had an awful feeling that she was. "I just need to use the loo before we go."

He watched as she disappeared around the corner. "Are you ok? You've been very quiet this morning."

She darted into the walk in closet and rummaged in her case for her pack of Always pads, thankful that she'd remembered to pack it. She'd had a feeling that this might happen.

Seb stood waiting, listening as she closed the door to the en-suite. Maybe she was sick. The thought made him go cold, just because he was now allowed to have his wife and child with him and his parents had been allowed to stay at the hotel it didn't mean that the threat of Coronavirus had gone away. He sat down on the edge of the bed to wait for her.

"Seb!"

Her voice calling him made him jump to his feet and he ran to the bathroom door. "I'm here liebe." He called softly.

"Can you grab me a pair of knickers from my case?"

He rose his brows, had she had accident or something? He did as she asked and went across to the walk in closet, stooping to look in her case and pull out the first pair of her skimpy underwear that he came across. "Are you ok in there?" He asked once he got back to the door.

She opened the door just enough to poke her hand out and take the clean underwear from him. He looked worried. "It's nothing, it's just my period." She replied, wanting to reassure him.

"Oh."

He looked a little surprised, as if he'd forgotten that she had a menstrual cycle since she'd been pregnant. She closed the door again, needing the privacy.

"Are you in pain?" He asked the second she reappeared into the bedroom.

She smiled softly as his concern. "Yes but I'll be fine. It's my first time since the birth so I was kind of expecting to be like this."

"Have you taken anything for it?" He stepped in front of her to stop her from leaving the bedroom, examining her paler than usual face to make sure that she really was ok.

"Not yet but I will do. What I could really do with is one of those heat patches you sometimes use on your neck or shoulders."

"Ask Heikki for one, he'll have some in his rucksack, he always does."