Velocity - Daniel Ricciardo

Chapter Forty One - Revelations

📍7th August 2020 - London, United Kingdom
Daniel's POV

I was only planning on proposing to Ian's daughter and I thought he'd be thrilled.

I never expected this type of reaction.

One of the worst moments of my life so far had to be delivering the news the Amelia that her father had been rushed to hospital and that we needed to go immediately to see if he's alright. Amelia didn't believe me to begin with, thinking I was trying to wind her up.

"Dan, I'm not falling for this." She waved me off and continued to bounce Heath on her lap as he watched the world go by with wide eyes.

"Mi," I said in a hushed tone as I kneeled before her as she stayed sat down, "I'm really not joking about this. Why would I want to make a joke about something like this?"

Amelia's eyes widened with my own as she shook her head again, her cheeks appearing flushed as she looked over my serious expression. "Y-you're serious?" Her voice heightened.

I nodded timidly, "Baby, I'm so sorry. H-he just passed out. That's all we know."

"You were there?" Amelia said in barely a whisper as Heath started to babble, placing his full fist into his mouth. "What happened?"

I couldn't tell her why her father had passed out, and I surely hoped it wasn't because of the news I had delivered to him in that moment.

"He just, went." I explained as Ellie came beside us with Sam holding onto his mother's hand.

"Hey, Dan." Ellie beamed. "Do you know where Jacob's gone? I can't find him anywhere."

I looked up at Ellie with a heavy heart, shutting my eyes for a brief moment before exhaling deeply. I was going to explain to Ellie what was happening, but Amelia surprised me and stood up with Heath on her hip.

"M-my dad has gone to hospital." She blurted out with a blank expression.

"What?" Ellie asked in shock.

"What's wrong with grandad?" Sam asked as he looked up, trying to catch drift of the conversation and get involved himself.

Looking at this confused six-year-old was enough to break anyone's heart.

"I take it that Jacob has gone with him?" Ellie asked in a whisper as I nodded in confirmation. "Right, I'll get the boys back home. Text me when you're there and let Jacob know to call me once he knows more."

"Okay." I placed a comforting hand onto Ellie's shoulder with a sympathetic smile, knowing she felt the same as I did. Yes, he wasn't our father, but he was a massive part of our respective partners, and if anything happened to him, it would prove devastating for the family. "Thank you, Ell. I'll call you with an update later."

"Please." Ellie looked at me with glossy eyes, keeping it together simply for her son who was tightly clutching her hand. "Mi, can I have Heath back, please?"

Amelia snapped out of her gaze as she quickly nodded before giving Heath a cuddle, handing him back across to his mother seemed to pain her greatly. She then kneeled in front of Sam and gave him the same warm goodbye, pretending as if nothing was wrong, because we didn't want to upset the small boy for no reason.

I managed to get Amelia back to my car, but she didn't utter a word, nor did she say very much during the short car ride to the hospital. I watched as she picked at her nails and nervously tapped her foot inside the cars footwell. I placed my hand across her thigh for a moment whilst my other hand gripped tightly onto the steering wheel, which seemed to ease her nerves for the journey.