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. J
oe 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.
She watched the first racers take off, and was impressed with their style and their speed. Several of them had competed before, and the previous gold winner was in this race too. Her injury was slightly less acute than Lily’s, and she could walk with braces when she wasn’t on skis, but it made no difference once they were skiing. And then suddenly it was her turn, and with a silent prayer she took off and just concentrated on the mountain and what she was doing. The time flew, and before she knew it, she was at the base. She was exhilarated and out of breath, and she saw Teddy and the others beaming at her. She went over to Teddy as soon as she could, to wait for her results, and her father came to praise her for how well she’d done. His eyes were shining with pride. And Chris gave her a thumbs-up.
“How did I do?” she asked Teddy breathlessly as she took off her goggles.
“You looked like a bat out of hell to me.” He beamed at her.
They announced her speed minutes later, and her timing had been good, not as good as the previous champion, but very close. Her coach had come down the mountain, and he was thrilled with her numbers and her speed.
“We’re going to win the silver,” he said in his heavy accent, with tears in his eyes. “You watch.” But nothing was sure until all the others did their runs. And at the end of the event, they would announce the winners. It was an interminable wait as she listened to each one’s score. But Lily was still up there, as they announced each one, and then they gave the final results. Lily had come in second. She had won the silver medal, and suddenly she was sitting in her chair ski as they put the ribbon with the medal around her neck, and the anthem was playing, and she was crying, and when she looked over, so were her father and Oscar, and they were hugging, and then everyone she knew came over to kiss her and congratulate her when the medal ceremony was over. It was even better than winning the bronze in the Junior Olympics. This was one of the greatest moments of her life. Walker grabbed her and picked her up right off the ground with her ski dangling while she laughed. She leaned over to kiss Teddy when he sat her down, and Chris put an arm around her and looked into her eyes with a wide smile.
“I was really proud of you!” he said with a voice full of emotion, and there were tears running down Jessie’s cheeks. A year before in the hospital at Squaw, she had never expected to see this, nor had Bill or Lily.
They stayed for the rest of the races and then went back to Bill and Lily’s house to celebrate. She had to join her teammates for dinner that night, but she stayed at the house while her father poured champagne for everyone, and Chris stood very near her. It had been the most incredible day of her life. The gold medal winner had congratulated her. She was nine years older than Lily and had been doing this for eight years. She told Lily she was sure she would win gold one day too.
It was a long, exciting night full of congratulations and celebration. The next day they all went to watch Teddy play chair rugby, and Lily had her heart in her mouth watching him, as she always did. It was so aggressive and so violent, she was constantly afraid he’d get hurt. But he scored a goal and his team won, and everyone was impressed by what they did, and Teddy had a great time. They all did. And ESPN interviewed Teddy after the game.
It was a magical moment and Lily couldn’t wait to compete again in four years. It made her even more determined to start a sports program at The Lily Pad, where they would have competitions with medals once a year. It gave everyone something to strive for, and four years was too long to wait. They all stayed for the full ten days of the games in Aspen and went to many of the events. And Lily had a ball with her team. The closing ceremony was deeply moving. Lily was wearing her silver medal, and she knew it was something she would never forget. And after it was over, she thanked Phil for everything he’d done.
The day after the closing ceremony, they all went home. Chris told her he’d call her in Denver. He wanted to go skiing with her again, and suggested they go out to dinner.
“That would be fun,” Lily said, smiling at him, as he left for Denver with his mother. And Jessie stopped to talk to Carole for a minute before they left.
“Have you decided?” Jessie whispered.
“I’m in. I’ll give notice when I go back.” Jessie smiled broadly, hugged her, and gave her a thumbs-up, and then she rushed off to drive Chris back to DU. She had been watching him with Lily, and she could see a romance blossoming between them, and she was extremely pleased. She couldn’t think of anything better, for either of them. And she was thrilled that Carole was moving to Denver. Now she would have a good friend there when she moved herself. And best of all, Lily had won the medal she had worked so hard for.
Lily was wearing her medal around her neck, as she slept in her father’s car all the way back to Denver. He looked over at her and smiled. He had never been happier in his life.
Chapter 24
ON A SATURDAY morning in March, after she was back from Aspen, Jessie screwed up her courage, sat down to breakfast with her children, and told them her decision. She had been dreading it all week, but she knew she was doing the right thing.
; “We’re what?” Adam looked at her in amazement.
“We’re moving to Denver,” Jessie said calmly, trying not to feel guilty at the look on his face. “I took the job as medical director of the new rehab facility there. It’s a very good job. We will live in a beautiful house that goes with it, and I hope we’ll all be happy there.” She waited for the storm to hit, and predictably, it did.
“Don’t you care what we think or how we feel? I have friends here! We all do!” Adam shouted at her. He had just turned twelve. He played soccer and Little League and was on a ski team.
“Of course I care how you feel. But you can do all the things you do here, in Denver. You can ski, do Little League, all of it. And there is a very good school for you and Jimmy.” Jimmy was sitting at the table, looking shell-shocked, and worst of all, Heather was sitting in total silence with tears rolling down her cheeks.
“How can you make me move for senior year? How can you be so mean?” Heather asked with a horrified expression. Jessie felt like a monster. It was the reaction she had expected and was dreading. And she didn’t totally disagree with her, and still felt guilty about it.
“I know, baby, it’s hard. But it’s a great job, and we’ll be able to do a lot more things than we can now. It’s hard for me without Daddy to help.” She said it as gently as she could, and Adam looked outraged.
“Then get a better job here. Dad would never have made us do this.”
“Probably not,” she said honestly. “But I think it’s a good decision, and we’ll be able to see more of Chris, since he’s in Denver too.”
“I want to stay in California to go to college,” Heather said miserably.
“You can come back here for college. And I’m not going to sell our house. I’m going to rent it. So we can always move back here if we want to.”
Winners Page 25
