Epilogue
Mack
He’d heard the national anthem played before, but never like this. The basketball stadium erupted after the final chord and the full house of cheering fans only fell silent when the Australian Wheelchair Rugby captain was called to the microphone.
Warrant Officer Dean Combs introduced the poem they all knew by heart. Hell, they lived it without knowing one word and now it had saved many of them. There was far more that united the teams on the court that divided them. Representing all sides of their respective armed forces.
“I’m not one of the smartest guys,” Combs started. “I guess if I was, I’d have been standing somewhere else when the bastards started bombing. Excuse my language, ladies. What I’m trying to say is that I’d never heard of William Ernest Henley or his poem, Invictus, before I got flattened and needed something to hold onto. Me and the guys here have all put it on the line for you, for our families and for our country. This poem pretty much sums up the way we feel, coming home. Our war may be over, but we come back undefeated as long as we come back to people like you.”
Mack felt the adrenalin pump. Xanthe and the other partners were sitting in the VIP seats behind them. Out of sight but definitely not out of mind.
Combs took a breath and looked across at both teams. “Lads, if you know it, help me out.”
Together they recited, in a thick baritone that filled the stadium as Mack visualized each of the words. Back on the field, the darkness that hid their work but also the enemy. After the blast that changed his life, the darkness that engulfed him physically and then emotionally. At times he had railed all gods and then pleaded with the one God in whom he always believed for the strength to fight harder and the faith to never give in.
Oh, but he had cried aloud and with such fury that his voice had gone horse. At the loss of lives and at his own changing life. At times forgetting what he still had in all that he had lost.
The voices grew to a crescendo for the final verse.
The answers that Mack found in the lonely hours in the hospital bed, and even more lonely hours in physical therapy. He had to be the author of his own life, and write the pages without a map or direction.
God would give him the strength, but only Mack could put in the hard work. While there was life, there was still hope and looking across at all the men ready to do battle on the court, Mack knew there was a hell of a lot of life left in all of them.
He blinked back the tears as the stadium erupted in vocal support for the teams. This wasn’t a time to get all mushy, there was a game to play!
The cheers were deafening and continued throughout the game. Australia narrowly winning 62-61 with the final goal scored on the final whistle.
He’d never been one for poetry either, but that William Ernest Henley knew the beating of a soldier’s heart.
Xanthe
“Are you nervous?” Xanthe asked Mack as they sat in the green room, waiting to become one of the faces of the Invictus Games. “One more interview and one more game before the closing ceremony.
“I’d rather be in the field under fire,” his big hands were sweaty. “I’m nobody’s hero and still that video of us and all of this is what sells tickets.”
“You dedicated your career to serve your country. You risked your life for those you serve …” Xanthe was cut off by the producer calling them to the stage. “To be continued,” she gave him one last squeeze before he raced ahead of her.
“Does he need a hand?” she hated the way people deferred to her instead of asking Mack directly. Something she could never get used to and tried not to resent.
“If he does, he has a voice.”
“Babe,” Mack swung around, in their well-worn routine of putting people politely in their place. “She means well but probably doesn’t want to embarrass me by admitting she’s never had to work around or with someone with mobility issues. Asking you is easier than talking to me.”
His smile that had removed a thousand panties melted the producer’s reserve. “As long as there’s no steps, I’m good. As long as I’ve got this woman by my side, I’m even better.”
The good thing was the short exchange had taken them to the edge of the stage where the crew was setting up for the next segment and the host was panicking without her guest.
“Hi, I’m Danielle, welcome. Take a seat – oh, I’m sorry … I didn’t mean …”
“Please call me Mack and it’s all good I’m a ‘bring your own seat’ kind of guy. This is my wonderful partner, Xanthe.”
“When you hear the Invictus poem, how does it make you feel?” Danielle started the interview after they watched the games trailer.
“It was overwhelming the first time I saw the clip. I mean, I know some of these veterans, and I’ve served with others.”
“And now you’re serving your country on the sporting field …”
“I like to think I’m serving not only my country, but that we are all serving together. I mean our bodies may be a bit messed up, some would say even broken. But we’ve never been defeated – either in spirit or in life. That’s what the Invictus Games means to me.”
“And Xanthe, I understand you knew Captain Mackenzie before his injury but you only started dating after you helped him in recovery.”
“I’d say we had a complicated relationship before his injury. I mean, this man could walk in and own a room. The first time I saw him, well, I’ve never felt that reaction.”
“It’s true, we had a sort of relationship and it was heading in the right direction. But this woman, wow. After I came back I was a complete tool, pushing everyone away, friends, my unit. Everyone.”
“You couldn’t push me away,” Xanthe laughed.
“Yeah, it was your job to be a pain in my ass – or at least make me work until I could feel the pain in my ass.”
“What can I say, it was and still is a great ass.”
“I don’t know if we can go much further down that line on breakfast tv,” Danielle interjected.
“I’m sorry,” Xanthe smiled as Mack kissed her hand. “I’ve worked with a lot of veterans, and they are all incredibly lucky to be alive and sometimes the burden of survival is a lot for them to accept. The fact that I knew Mack from before his injury made it easier and harder to work with him. I could push him in ways I couldn’t with other clients, but he could also push back.”
“Well, I’m sure Australia will embrace your love story, injured soldier has his body and heart healed by his occupational therapist.”
“Thanks,” Xanthe couldn’t wait for the interview to be over and she could feel Mack’s impatience at being in the same place for too long already had him stir crazy.
“What I’m sure a lot of viewers want to know,” Danielle threw her best fake smile. “What’s it like dating a man in a wheelchair? I’m sure there are a lot of limitations …” her voice trailed as the harshness of the words caused the studio audience to react.
Xanthe looked to Mack. It was a stupid, insulting and condescending question that needed to be handled carefully or it would be edited to backfire.
“Danielle, I didn’t walk into this relationship as an innocent,” she let Mack pull her onto his lap where she succumbed to more passion in a kiss than the breakfast viewers would have been expecting. She loved this man, adored the man and every ounce of her body and soul wanted to drown in him. It was about time the rest of the world understood about judging and loving the person and not the disability.
Looking into the ice-blue eyes that first captivated her from across a room, she knew the answer to the most important question of all, and it didn’t come from a TV host.
With a cool certainty, she looked right at the camera, “Like I said, Mack’s not my first, but I can tell you, he’ll be my last.”
“Babe, did you just tell me ‘yes’?” Mack pulled her face away from Danielle and the studio crew back to him. “Did you say, ‘yes’?”
“Danielle, you can tell your viewers that if they date based on an online profile, they’ll always be disappointed in the person. They’ll miss out on the personality and depth. The only way you know if you have chemistry is to see the sparkle in their eyes when they look at you, feel your knees go weak when you see them. The only way to know their character is to see how they treat others or watch them in a crisis or under stress.”
Still, Danielle didn’t get it, “Does Mack being in a wheelchair affect your relationship?”
“Believe me when I tell you, Mack’s more man than any man I’ve ever met.”
Xanthe didn’t hear the producer call “cut” or notice when Danielle left the set. Not when she was kissing her new fiancé.
THE END
Lest we forget
I’m so glad you finished Protect Her.
While you’re here, please leave a review on , Goodreads or both! Many thanks, Kenna.