EXTENDED EPILOGUE
Mary
Twenty years later
“Come on, Maureen. Come on!”
I look over at Cash who looks as cool as a cucumber, but I know he’s anything but.
I raise my hands to my face and stare at the finish line.
It may be freezing temperatures out here and I barely have a jacket on but I’m on fire. I’m burning up actually.
Watching my baby girl compete for a gold medal against the Russian snowboarder is too much to take.
I look up at the jumbotron big screen and see that they’ve made the final turn and are headed for the checkered flag.
It’s neck-and-neck, just like the first time my baby ever got on a snowboard.
My mind flashes back to me backpedaling down the hill back home in Aspen as I filmed Maureen and Mikey finishing their first run while they held hands.
And right on cue I feel Michael’s hand take mine.
“She’s got this, mom. I know it.”
If anybody knows his baby sister it’s Michael. They’ve been inseparable since Maureen was born.
And how amazing that we’ve come full circle. It was Michael who first took Maureen’s hand to steady her and support her that first time they ever rode together, and now he takes my hand to steady and support me.
And I feel Cash take my other.
I’ve got my men on both sides of me and Mark and Michelle right behind me.
I look up and see them come into view.
“It’s America versus Russia just like old times,” the announcer says. “Guy versus Putin.”
“Now this is a real cold war,” Mark says behind us. He’s the joker in our family, but the double entendre, even though humorous, is not about to get a laugh out of me.
They race towards us both leaning for the checkered flag.
“It’s a photo finish!” the announcer says.
Immediately the jumbotron replays the last few yards of their run. Again I can’t help but remember filming my little baby for the first time twenty years ago and now here she is on film for the entire world to see, but this time with an Olympic Gold Medal on the line.
The crowd oohs. I can barely watch.
The video freezes right at the line and the camera zooms in.
I see it instantly. It’s the technique Cash has been working on with her for years for situations just like this. Her special lean where she gets her entire body weight forward to a level that’s literally impossible for other riders…but not her. She’s been perfecting this with her daddy for years.
And today she needed it more than anything.
“The gold goes to Guy!” the announcer shouts.
The crowd in this beautiful country that is Chile cheers.
“Guy! Guy! Guy!” they scream.
“Woo-hoo!” Mikey yells and jumps so high in the air he almost lets go of my hand. But he doesn’t, just like he didn’t that day twenty years ago with Maureen.
“She won, mom. She really won!” Michelle says.
“Cold war victory,” Mark says.
And then I turn to Cash.
“You see what you’re little girl just did out there with the whole world watching.” he says.
I throw myself into his arms and try to stop crying, but it’s a losing fight. The tears are flowing and I don’t care anymore.
“Our girl,” I say, removing my head from his chest. I feel his skin against my face as he wipes the tears away. It’s as warm as mine.
And then suddenly I feel a spray of snow only to turn and see Maureen has given us a fishtail maneuver spraying us all with snow as she stopped abruptly just in front of us.
“We won, everybody!”
She throws herself forward into the snow and we all dive on top of her.
She rolls over and looks up towards the sky, but there’s no sky to be found. Only the faces of her family there to smile back at her.
“This is the best day of my life!” she says. “Thank you so much you guys. I love you.”
“We love you!” her dad says.
And we dive right back on top of her all over again. There’s no way she’s getting up anytime soon.
She’s got ten arms wrapped around her body hugging her, loving her, and remind her of our family motto.
“One for all and all for one.”
And today all of us took home the gold.
Together.