Missing Pieces (Sebastian Vettel)

13. About A Boy

"Tell me about him. Tell me about my son."

Several seconds of silence followed.  Then Ella leant forward, resting her elbows on her knees.

"What do you want to know?" she asked.

"Everything. I want to know everything," Seb told her.

"Then I guess I should start at the beginning. Wait here, I'll be back in a minute."

Seb watched as Ella stood up and left the room.  While he was waiting for her to return from wherever she had gone he picked up his mug and took a sip of the hot chocolate. 

He then put the mug back down and gave a loud sigh.  He felt relieved.   Everything seemed to be going ok.  Ella had believed him.  That was one battle he didn't have to face.  The next thing he had to worry about was how to tell Dylan.

A couple of minutes later he heard Ella coming down the stairs. As she walked back into the lounge he saw that she was carrying a cardboard box, with a photo album balanced on top of it.  He was expecting her to sit back down on the other sofa, but to his surprise she sat down next to him, placing the box on the table in front of them. 

She lifted the photo album and put it on the arm of the sofa and then opened the box. 

"Weeks after we returned from Fuerteventura Grace got sick.  Every morning she'd be throwing her guts up. I hadn't spoken to her really since the holiday.  I was still pissed at her for messing up my chance with you."  Seb couldn't help but give a little chuckle. "Anyway, one morning I made some comment about her having a hangover. I can't remember all of the conversation now but it ended with me asking her if she could be pregnant.   I told her I'd get her a test on the way home from college.  She took the test and it was positive.  At first she wasn't sure what to do but she eventually decided to keep the baby."

"It must have been scary for her finding out she was pregnant at such a young age."

"It was. When she told our parents shit hit the fan. Big time."

"They weren't happy?"

"That's an understatement.  They threw her out Seb.  They told their twenty year old daughter that if she didn't have an abortion she was dead to them."

"The bastards!"   Seb couldn't get his head around anyone treating their own child like that.  His own parents had always been loving and supportive. 

"I told them a few home truths, and in the end I left with Grace.  We moved in with our grandparents, our father's parents. This was their house."

Ella felt her eyes filling up with tears as she remembered the past, about how close she and Grace and grown over the course of Grace's pregnancy. 

Seb noticed and put his hand on her knee, squeezing it gently. 

"I know this is probably hard talking about Grace, but please know I do appreciate it." Ella nodded.  She then continued speaking.

"Anyway, it was November sometime when Grampy came home from a friend's house.  He had this big pile of magazines. Grace picked a racing one up, commenting on how fit Alonso was."

"I thought she had better taste than that!" Seb joked.  Ella laughed.

"I thought so too. She began flicking through it and there was an article about you.  She recognised you instantly. So I found out the address for your team and Grace wrote you a letter.  Weeks passed and we assumed there was going to be no reply.  Then a few weeks into January she finally received a letter back.  I haven't managed to find the letter yet but I told you what it said."