Winners (31 page)

“I’m overwhelmed. I don’t know what to say,” she said, breathless, as they returned to the front hall. “I’ve never even dreamed of a house like this.” The neighborhood was a perfect family, residential area, a few blocks from where he lived. “Bill …” She stood there crying again, and he put an arm around her shoulders, as they walked outside. She had never been so moved in her life, or felt as lucky.

“I hope you’ll be happy here, and at The Lily Pad, for a long time.”

“I don’t deserve this,” she said humbly. No one had ever done anything like it for her before. She could live there rent free as long as she was the medical director of The Lily Pad.

“Yes, you do,” he said with a broad smile. She could hardly wait to bring her children there—it was so much nicer than the house they had now. They were going to love it, even Heather, once she got over the shock of moving. Jessie was still speechless as they drove back to his house, where Lily was waiting for them. She had made a very nice dinner and was turning into a very decent cook. Lily noticed that Jessie said very little, but she looked happy, and finally got more talkative at dessert. She asked them about their Christmas plans. She could hardly wait till Chris came home for Christmas break from DU.

“We’re going to be here,” Bill said comfortably, “just the two of us.”

“And Teddy,” Lily added.

“And Teddy,” Bill corrected himself, “and then Lily and I are going to Aspen for a few days with her coach. I want to see this chair skiing she’s been doing, getting ready for the Paralympics.” He still expected it to be a relatively calm event, and had a shock in store.

The holidays were quiet in both Denver and Squaw. Jessie’s Christmas with her kids, their first without their father, was predictably hard. And they were relieved when it was over.

*   *   *

On the day after Christmas Bill drove Lily to Aspen with Oscar, and they rode up the chairlift together that afternoon. Lily was undaunted by it now. And at the top of the mountain, as her father watched, she took off like lightning, using her poles with the little skis on them for balance, as she had learned to do. Her balance was still perfect, and her speed astounding as she flew down the mountain. Bill watched her with tears in his eyes. He had no idea of what she could do until he saw it for himself.

“Holy God,” he whispered as he watched her, and followed at his own speed. Lily was as fast as she had ever been, and as skilled, and maybe more so. A year after her injury, she was as fast as the wind, and Bill had never been as grateful in his life. She was an amazing girl, and he realized that Jessie’s prediction for her was coming true—she was going to lead an amazing life. She already was.

Chapter 23

By the time Bill, Oscar, and Lily left for Aspen the week before the Olympics in March, everyone they knew was so excited they could hardly stand it.

Bill had reserved a house for them right in town, with an apartment below for Oscar. Jessie was flying in from Squaw and meeting Chris there. Carole was coming from Boston, and Joe wouldn’t miss it for the world, and was going to stay at a hotel. Walker Blake had organized a dozen people from school to attend Lily’s Alpine race in the Paralympics. Teddy was coming with Phil, and participating in the chair rugby demonstration to promote the summer games. He wasn’t competing this time, but he planned to in the summer, and the rugby demonstration was a featured event and a big deal. They were filming it for ESPN.

Lily was as excited as she had been when she entered the Junior Olympics, and when she was accepted on the adult Olympic team. And she was more nervous this time. She wanted to do well and make everyone proud of her. The pressure was enormous as she trained with Oscar every day.

“Forget the medal,” Oscar said to her on their first day in Aspen. “Just do what you’ve been doing. Have fun.
Enjoy
it!” he said, trying to loosen her up for the event. He could tell how tense she was and didn’t want it to affect her skiing. And on their second night there, at a restaurant where Lily was having dinner with her father, she ran into Veronica. She seemed very full of herself, after winning a bronze medal in the Olympics the week before. She gushed when she saw Lily, and Lily was visibly annoyed after she walked away. She was wearing the jacket that Lily had been wearing a year before, and Lily was wearing the red and blue uniform jacket of the Paralympics, and proud of it. It had been designed by Ralph Lauren for the games.

It was a tense time for everyone competing, and Aspen was crammed with people who had come from around the world to see the games. There were film crews everywhere, and Lily had had requests for interviews, and all she wanted to do was train and practice before her big race. She had been working hard for this for five months, at the state athletic training program at Winter Park, and six years before that.

Carole and Joe came up from Denver together and were staying at the same hotel, near the house Bill had rented, and they had dinner with Bill and Lily, and the following day Jessie arrived with her oldest son, and stayed at the same hotel too. Jessie introduced Chris to Lily, and they hit it off right away and talked about school, music, skiing, and he said he was on the ski team at DU, and was impressed by her Olympic history and the schools Lily had applied to. She was obviously a smart girl, but not stuck up like a lot of the girls he knew and had met at school.

“Do you want to ski tomorrow?” Lily asked him casually, and he was interested to see how she did it, and agreed to go with her, before she started working with Oscar at noon. Her coach was all in favor of taking a morning off, and thought it might do her good so she could relax.

The next morning Chris came to pick her up at the house, and went to the locker with her where she kept her ski and poles. He watched with interest as she put the monoski on, fitted it with the chair, and rolled her wheelchair into the locker, and she took off with ease once he had his boots and skis on. He was a good skier, but had to work to keep up with her, and they went up the ski lift together, chatting easily, while he asked her about the Paralympics. His mother had been telling him about it, and Lily told him about Teddy playing rugby.

“Do you miss Squaw Valley?” Lily asked him amiably on the chairlift. He was good-looking, and she liked talking to him, and he didn’t seem to care that she was in a wheelchair. He thought she was beautiful, and he was intrigued to ski with her and see how she managed on the monoski with the small seat.

“I miss Squaw sometimes,” he said easily. “But I’m having fun in Denver.” He had been on the skiing team in Squaw too, but he said he hadn’t been good enough for the Olympics, unlike her.

He gave her a hand off the chairlift when they got to the top, and she moved into position with ease, as he got ready next to her. They took off, slowly at first, and then at full speed. He was a perfect match for her, and they skied easily side by side. She raced with him for a while, and then they eased off and relaxed. She was an exquisite skier, and he was impressed as he watched her handle the monoski and her poles and race down the mountain with him. She skied faster than he did but gave him a break here and there, and they both looked exhilarated when they got to the base, and went up the lift again.

“Wow! You are some skier!” he complimented her, and she smiled and adjusted her helmet, and he shared a candy bar with her, and then they took off again. They got three good runs in before she had to leave him and meet Oscar, and Chris looked as though he had seen nirvana when he met up with his mother and Bill.

“How was it?” Jessie asked him. “Did you have fun?”

“She is an incredible skier!” he said to both of them, and her father agreed.

Lily stopped at one-thirty, met them for lunch, and then went up with Oscar again, and she invited Chris to join them, and Oscar was pleased. Chris was just what she needed to distract her from her intensity and anxiety about the race. And by the time Phil and Teddy came to Aspen the next day, she was in a great mood. The three young people had a good time together, and then they joined forces with Walker and his group late that afternoon, and suddenly the house Bill had rented was filled with Lily’s friends, and then some of the Paralympic competitors Lily had met came too, and the place was a zoo of music, food, voices, and laughing, talking kids everywhere.

“I feel like I’m running a school!” Bill commented to Jessie, with a grin. He could hardly get to his own room.

“Get used to it,” Jessie said to him. “You will be soon.” He laughed at what she said.

They all went to the opening ceremony that night, and it was deeply moving, as all the competitors entered, and at the end the Paralympic flame was lit. The games had officially begun.

They managed to have a quiet dinner with Carole and Joe afterward. It was the night before Lily’s event. The young people were happy on their own, and Lily had to get to bed early. And after dinner, Joe, Carole, Bill, and Jessie took a walk around Aspen. The two men walked together, and Carole and Jessie looked in the shop windows at jewelry and furs and all the high-priced temptations of Aspen.

“I’ve got something to tell you,” Carole said with a mischievous look as they stopped in front of one of the shop windows. Jessie wondered if she had changed her mind about dating Joe. He looked enchanted every time he saw her, and Carole seemed to be comfortable with him, although she seemed determined so far to treat him as a colleague and friend. “I’m considering leaving Boston. I’ve gotten so involved in The Lily Pad, I want to move to Denver, and take the job out here. Maybe I’m nuts to leave Mass General, but it just feels right to me now. What do you think?” Jessie’s face exploded into a smile.

“Hallelujah! Are you kidding? I’d love it! Have you told Bill?”

“No, I told Joe I was thinking about it today. I’m debating about giving notice when I go back. I want to give them a month. If I do, I could move here in April. And I like Denver. It’s a nice city, and with you moving here, and Bill and Joe, I have friends here. It’s a start. Maybe I need a new beginning.” She looked pensive as she said it. It was a big decision for her. Huge.

“Don’t we all,” Jessie said with a serious expression. “That’s the best news I’ve heard all year. I hope you do it.”

“I’m pretty sure I will. I’ve been mulling it over seriously since Thanksgiving.”

“Does Joe have anything to do with the decision?” Jessie asked cautiously, but Carole shook her head.

“At least not yet,” she said honestly. “He’s very sweet to me, and he’s been calling me in Boston. But he hasn’t been pressuring me about the job or anything else. I just like it here. And so much bad stuff happened to me in Boston. I’d rather be here, helping to get The Lily Pad off the ground.”

“So would I,” Jessie said. “I can’t wait till June. I’m going to tell the kids when I go home. I figure that gives them enough time to get used to the idea.” The months since she’d made the decision in September had already flown, and she was coming to Denver a lot. Bill was paying her for the consulting, and he was starting her on the payroll as medical director in June. But her finances were already greatly improved from the consulting, and so were Carole’s. It had already changed both their lives. “Well, welcome to the team,” she said, giving Carole a hug. It sounded like it was a sure thing she was moving to Denver, and it would make it more fun for Jessie too. And the two women had become closer than ever since working on The Lily Pad together.

“What are you two ladies talking about?” Joe asked, as he and Bill joined them. Joe gave Carole a warm look, and she smiled.

“Work,” they both said at the same time.

“Don’t you two ever think about anything else?” he scolded them, and they laughed. They were hard workers and smart women, and both brilliant in their fields, and he admired them a great deal.

They went back to Bill’s rented house after that, and the young people cleared out. Many of them were competing in events the next day, or training before their races. Teddy was staying in a hotel with Phil, and they all had lodgings close by. Chris was just leaving when Bill got home from dinner. He seemed reluctant to leave Lily, as Bill went to his room. They seemed to have a lot to say.

“Good luck tomorrow,” Chris said to Lily with a warm look in his eyes, and then he leaned down and kissed her cheek. She was still smiling when he left.

“I’d say you have an admirer,” her father commented later, when he saw her in the kitchen. Lily was excited about her race the next day, and Bill poured them each a glass of milk before bed.

“I like him. He’s nice,” she said shyly. He was the first boy who had shown a romantic interest in her since she got hurt. Jessie had been right apparently—there were boys out there who would like her and maybe even want to date her, even though she was in a wheelchair. It was exciting to think about.

She lay in bed that night, thinking about the race the next day and hoping she did well. It was hard to sleep, and she was up at dawn. Her Alpine race was going to be the second event of the day, after Nordic, which was cross-country. Teddy’s chair rugby demonstration was scheduled for the second day. It would give spectators an opportunity to see a sample of the events at the summer games.

“Ready?” her father asked her, as they left the house together, and she nodded. She looked scared, and he tried to give her confidence as they went to meet Oscar. They had to get to where the ski team was meeting, and she had to join the other members of her team. There were competitors from all over the country and around the world, and when they talked about her officially, they always said that she had been scheduled for this year’s Olympics and favored to win, and had won bronze in the Junior Olympics four years before. Both were a big deal, but so was this, and it was serious competition. The entrants were just as intense about it as competitors in the Olympics and trained just as hard.

They all took the chairlift up the mountain, and as she waited with her team, Lily wondered if she was ready. She didn’t want to make a fool of herself or her team. Their coach spoke to them all before they started, and she got in the lineup with her number on her back. She was number nineteen. And she knew that her father and Jessie, Chris, Carole and Joe, and Teddy and Phil were all waiting for her at the finish line at the end of the run. Walker was there with a huge crowd, and had promised to cheer and hoot loudly when she came down. She was so nervous she could hardly think, and Oscar was hovering as close as they would let him.