Page 138 of Love Not Qualified

Tristan was the last to enter, pushing the hospital bed right next to our tree from one of the rooms on the first floor. He thanked the boys and then came by my side, taking my hands away.

“I wanted your first Christmas to be perfect,” he murmured, brushing my tears with his thumbs. “And I knew you’d think about your mother the entire time, so I brought her here. I prepared her room and from now own, she’ll stay here with us.”

“Tristan…” I started, my throat tightening.

He shook his head. “Don’t say anything yet, I want to show you something,” he said and dragged me by my hand.

When I looked back at everyone on the couch, the girls were all crying, holding tissues under their eyelids to prevent tears from slipping to their cheeks.

I gulped and looked down at my mother. I got her hand in mine.

“Hi, Mom.” I smiled through tears.

“Diane, can you show her?” Tristan leaned down, looking at my mother.

“Show me what?” I asked, glancing between the two of them, but before he could reply to me she shakily raised a hand in the air.

I couldn’t remember the last time I saw my mom moving from her bed, so I didn’t know how to react or what to say. My brain stopped working at that moment.

Tristan brought my mom here as a gift and on top of that, she moved. She fucking moved. It was more than a squeeze of her hand, or lifting a finger. This was different. This was an improvement that gave me the confidence she was going to recover.

And I never thought I would be as happy as I am now. Looking around, I felt a sense of calm. Somehow, I knew that these people were going to become my family.

I wiped my tears, laughing. “Can you do that again?”

My mother repeated the motion and Tristan squeezed me tightly in his arms. I could feel his smile on my cheek when he kissed me and I smiled like a fool.

“I can’t believe you did that,” I whispered.

He took a strand of my hair and put it behind my ear. “There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you. No limit, no God could stop me from taking care of you.”

EPILOGUE

TRISTAN - FOUR YEARS LATER

After the kids dropped tired in the playroom, Haelyn and Esmeray joined us in the viewing box that was rented specially for our family. It was a little after an hour and a half when all of us were moving from side to side as Serrari and Wizz were racing for the first place.

This year, Gorig’s team abandoned the idea of racing after at their first race the car was dismantled and their driver almost died on the circuit. But with or without him, we still had some strong competitors.

“Come on,” I muttered under my breath.

Our car was a little behind Wizz in a curve, but I knew he could have him. I just knew it deep down in my bones. But why wasn’t he doing that? He had two more minutes and the race was about to be over.

My throat locked when Wizz passed us by a mile and I slapped a hand on the window. “What is he doing?”

A hand on my shoulder helped the tension ease away and my wife kissed my neck. I breathed out, letting my hands drop beside my body. “We have to win.”

“We will. He’s just letting him taste the victory and the adrenaline rush into his blood so when he doesn’t expect it, we drive past him at the finish line.”

I turned to look at her. “Who’s idea was this?”

She bit her lip. “Before coming up here, they were changing his tires and I knew they kept being next to each other on the circuit, so I had to think fast. When I told Andrew, he said it’s a good idea and might be the only way we can outdo him.”

“He’s doing it.” I heard Kiaran with excitement in his voice.

I didn’t have time to register that my wife told me she spoke with the driver and most likely saved the race before I turned around to follow the cars.

Andrew was in front of Wizz the slightest and stayed that way long enough to give me a heart attack. “Come on, come on,” I breathed.

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