Dream Runner (33 page)

“…Finishing with a time of…”

Marlea’s feet, trained for more years than she could count, slowed, but continued to run, as adrenaline ebbed low through her hot-fired body. Her mouth felt dry, and her breath pulled tight through her nose and rushed out past her open lips.

“Silk!” Eluding a line of gray-shirted security guards, AJ bolted over the chain link fence surrounding the track. Shouting her name, he ran toward her.

Flying into his arms, Marlea clung to him, screaming, “Thank you, AJ! Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

“You’re welcome, but for what?”

“Your promise, don’t you remember? You once promised me that I would dance with you, and I did. Now I’m running.” She buried her face in his neck and her warm tears tracked his throat.

“Hey!” Screams, shouts, and swarming people fell on Marlea and AJ like a heavy net. “The time, did you hear the time?” Libby was closest, and frantic. Slapping at Marlea’s sweaty leg, she seemed desperate to separate her from AJ, or to at least get her feet back on the ground. “Did you hear them? Did you hear it?”

“Hear what?”

“Your time,” Libby screeched, jumping up and down.

Suddenly aware of what she must look like, Marlea reluctantly slid from AJ’s embrace. His arm still draped her shoulders as she faced Libby. Reaching up, she found his hand and laced her fingers through his. People cavorted and danced around the field, but she couldn’t distinguish a single word. A few feet away, Elise Connor looked ready to chew nails as she brushed off the consoling hand of her coach.

“I didn’t hear it, Libby.” Marlea’s fingers tightened on AJ’s. “What was it?”

“It…was…48:20! That means gold, baby! Pure gold!”

The arena spun as Marlea’s knees gave out and only AJ’s strong arms saved her from crashing to the ground. Libby crowed like a Bantam rooster and went into her version of the Harlem Shake. Dench and Rissa found the event worthy of a celebratory kiss. Recovery took almost a full minute as Marlea took in everything around her.

When AJ’s hand moved against her shoulder, she looked up at him. “This has got to feel good. You’re going to get to stand on that podium and take gold. You’re part of the U.S team now. Everything you ever wanted.”

“Not quite everything, AJ. Will you be there with me?”

“Didn’t I promise you that I would be?” AJ looked up to see Adrian Kessler walking among the group of reporters headed across the field, and he steered Marlea away from them.

“Yes, you did.” Marlea nodded, looking down at their feet as they walked away. Funny, but she had forgotten all about her ankle. “And of course, you always keep your promises.”

“And I’m going to keep this one, too. Right with you is exactly where I’m going to be, come hell or high water.”

“There are some places where not even coaches are allowed to be.”

“How about husbands?”

Surprised, Marlea’s mouth dropped. “Whose husband are you talking about?” She stopped walking and her eyes followed the hand AJ pulled from his pocket.

“How about yours? If you’ll have me.”

“Have you?” Recognizing the small blue velvet jeweler’s box for what it was, she answered her own question and his. “And a ring, too? Oh, yes.” She blinked up at him, then had to laugh. “Rissa managed to keep
this
a secret? I can’t believe it; you must have threatened her with death!”

“Something like that,” AJ drawled.

“Whatever it took, it’s worth it.” Folding her hand into AJ’s, Marlea laughed again. “I’ve got to admit, when you tripped me at the Peachtree Road Race, when you walked into that hospital room…I knew you had changed my life, but man, I never saw this coming. Falling for you is the best thing that ever happened to me, AJ.”

“Me, too, Silk. Me, too.”

Holding out her hand and letting him slide the gold band onto the third finger of her left hand, she could have sworn she felt its warmth and promise surge through her heart. When he leaned close to kiss her, she whispered, “I guess this means that I now officially have everything I ever wanted.”

Epilogue

Eighteen Months Later

Rissa turned the band on her finger to a more comfortable place. She wasn’t used to wearing it yet, but the eight carats glittered in the sun, and she knew she would grow more than comfortable with it.

Angling herself against the sun, she leaned on the knees of the man behind her and adjusted the sight on her binoculars until she could pick out the couple on the dirt track. She found them easily, and smiled. They looked good together—like a match made in heaven. It was obvious when they turned simultaneously and looked at each other and then focused on the distance together. They were matched and mated.

Oh, sure. You could call it a Kodak moment—the two of them caught in the sun and sharing a mutual glow of perfection—if you had a limited vocabulary and only a bit of imagination. But Marissa Yarborough Traylor had words for it.

My brother and his wife, just the way they were always meant to be.

Rissa tightened the focus on the binoculars again. At trackside, Marlea held her side, a stopwatch balanced on her belly. Facing into the wind, she screamed at the running kid to pick up his kick. AJ cupped his hands around his mouth and joined her yelling.

Enjoying the sight from her place in the stands, Rissa jumped when AJ turned suddenly, his image leaping through the magnifying lenses.

“What did he say?”

Rissa lowered the binoculars and listened. Stunned, she let the heavy binoculars fall to her breast and looked back at her new husband. “Dench, baby, he said, time…It’s
time
!”

“What’s happening?” Dench pulled the strapped binoculars and Rissa to him.

Arms flailing, struggling not to follow the strap around her neck when he stood, Rissa tugged the binoculars back from him. “Baby, you know she’s pregnant; well, her water has just broken. Looks like that honeymoon baby is on the way!” Tangled between the bleacher seats, Dench pulled Rissa to her feet, and they rushed from the stands.

On the field, a richly pregnant Marlea was already waddling toward AJ’s jeep. Solicitous and frantic, he hurried behind her.

Jogging from the stands, not wanting to miss anything, Rissa swatted at her silly man as she managed to pull her cellphone from her pocket. Still running, she hit speed dial and was rewarded by a brief ring, followed by a warm greeting. “Mom? Have you got film in that old camera of yours?”

“Sure and again, good morning to you, too,” her mother said. “You know I always keep film and flash around for…why?”

“You know how you always wanted a picture of that first grandchild? Well, you’re about to get one of the best shots of your life! But you’ve got to hurry, ’cause we’re headed straight to the hospital.”

Her mother screamed and Rissa laughed. “Don’t worry, Mom. AJ’s driving. Marlea’s not running—this time.”

From
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

USTAF and International Paralympic 400-meter gold medal winner Marlea Kellogg and husband, recent NFL Hall of Fame inductee AJ Yarborough, have been named to the President’s Council On Fitness. The couple designed and will head the Southeastern region of Project ABLE, a pilot program designed to support “other-abled” athletes in sport, fitness, and wellness careers.

Project ABLE, based in Atlanta, will combine the efforts of Morehouse Medical School, Georgia State University, Emory University, Georgia Technical Institute, the National Football League, and the United States Track and Field Association. A long-time dream of Kellogg and Yarborough, both career athletes, Project ABLE will provide housing, training, support activities, and funding for athletes.

Parents of a healthy and active two-year-old son, Jabari, and ten-month-old daughter, Nia, Kellogg and Yarborough lead very busy lives. A special education teacher for the Runyon School, Kellogg continues to actively support USTAFA and Paralympic-sanctioned events. Yarborough operates a successful physical therapy practice and participates in ongoing NFL-sponsored youth programs.

Yarborough says that Project ABLE is a challenge, destined to make dreams come true.

“But if you have a dream,” Kellogg adds, “you have to be willing to run for it.”

Author’s Note

Dear Readers,

Thank you more than words can say for your ongoing support of my work and your faith in the stories I love to tell. This one was a long time coming but it was a labor of love and I hope you found it worth the wait. Marlea and AJ have rested in my heart and mind for quite a while and I hope you’ve enjoyed sharing the workout these two give to the adventure of love.

Life is not always easy and, as Marlea would be quick to tell you, it certainly doesn’t always go the way we’ve planned. On the other hand, AJ would tell you that one of the best things in life is the chance to change and grow.

I’m wishing you well, and hope that the reading blesses you as much as the writing does me.

Gail McFarland

P.O. Box 56782

Atlanta, GA 30343

[email protected]

Visit my website: “http://fitwryter.tripod.com

About the Author

Gail McFarland
was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. She attended Cleveland State University where she was psychology major with a special ed. Minor. She is a certified aerobics and American Red Cross CPR/

AED/First Aid Instructor. Her hobbies include reading writing, yoga, Pilates, swimming, cycling, and enjoying far too many of Atlanta’s wonderful restaurants. She works in wellness/fitness as an Activities and Program Director and she also teaches aerobics. She now lives in Atlanta, Georgia and loves it!