by Sasha Winter
That was surely why he was going. Deep down he must have known that she would sway his decision if given the chance, and that was exactly what she intended to do if only fate and circumstance would allow. Put a flock of birds on the runway or something; a giant banana in the exhaust pipe—whatever, just let her reach him. Let her talk and confess all her feelings, then later on—when the plane had gone without him—she could tell him how furious she was… and happy that he had confessed his love for her.
Never had half an hour felt so long. Every time the brake was applied or the driver seemed to be going slower than she thought he should, which was most of the time, Ashley could not help but picture Marcus boarding a plane, or already taking off. The depth of her despair if he was lost to her was unthinkable. Their relationship was so young it felt foolish to imagine it could survive such a distance and timescale, and the outcome might be far worse. Marcus could be making the biggest mistake of his life in that he might not actually come back at all. He was fatalistic, that had been obvious, turning up at her office one day because he was going with the flow rather than because he was actively seeking to improve his happiness and well-being. Within his letter was an untold tale of a man who believed he did not deserve happiness because he had stolen any hope the family of that civilian had. Ashley needed to persuade him otherwise. His mistake had occurred through misfortune, not malice. Everyone deserves forgiveness and a second chance and she wanted to do her part in helping him come to terms with that.
Arriving at the entrance to the airport, Ashley threw some notes into the front seat as soon as they were at a distance where she saw it would be quicker to run, not even waiting for the driver to come to a complete stop before jumping out. Some word of protest was made that she ignored, but there had been something like a twenty dollar tip there so he should have been quite happy to have put up with her impatience after all.
Once inside, Ashley was overwhelmed by the size of the place, not to mention the crowd of sluggish people dragging wheeled suitcases that she had to negotiate her way through. Finding a lone individual in such a place demanded luck in itself, as well as being on time and having to hope that Marcus had not passed through any security checks yet that she would not be able to go through herself without a ticket or passport. It was no longer a good time in US history to be running through passport control like an actor in some cheesy rom-com.
Telling her mind not to panic, while keeping her fingers crossed, Ashley followed the signs for Departures for as long as she could, her legs taking her deep into the airport and within sight of the terminals. At the time it didn’t look like any were in the process of boarding and Ashley began a scan of all the seating areas, shops and cafés where Marcus might be, hoping to catch sight of him but seeing only unfamiliar faces. Of course he might have been in one of the seating areas beyond security and so that was when she came to the conclusion that drastic action needed to be taken. Another test of assertiveness that failing would mean losing the man she loved.
From the airport’s loudspeakers echoed various updates about upcoming flights, causing her to despair that she had not even asked Blake where Marcus’s destination was, but an announcement system could also be used to locate someone and so she made her way towards the Help Desk.
Securing their assistance might be problematic. She was not looking for lost luggage and there was nothing as serious as a missing child to earn their attention with, but hopefully they would acquiesce if she looked pitiful. What else were big doe eyes for?
“I’m trying to catch a friend before he gets on his flight,” she told the individual charged with manning the desk, who looked disappointingly like a cardboard cut-out and caused her to fear there would be no compassion there. “I don’t suppose you could put out an announcement for him?”
“That’s not standard procedure,” the man replied, “but if you tell me where he’s going I can check whether he’s passed security yet.”
“I don’t know where he’s going,” she replied, causing him to look very put out, but then she thought to add, “I have medication for him, though, you don’t want him to get on the flight without it, do you?”
From the look on the man’s face it was clear he did not quite buy this excuse, but with a sigh that did not disguise his irritation, he reached out for the announcer.
“What his name?” he asked.
“Marcus Wilson,” she informed him, grateful for what he about to do in spite of his attitude.
The man then proceeded to announce: “For the attention of all travelers: could a Marcus Wilson please report to the Help Desk in Terminal 1; that’s a Marcus Wilson, please report to the Help Desk in Terminal 1.”
“Thank you,” she said, not caring that the man was too humorless to acknowledge her politeness.
The next desperate stage of her chase followed. Marcus had to come to her now and, if he did not show up, it would have to slowly dawn on her that she had lost him. That would be a hard pill to swallow and she went to rest her legs by sitting down outside the nearest café, afraid that she might otherwise just collapse from the worry.
Time ticked away and she watched people emerging from the shops, turning the corner from where the restrooms were located, praying that one of them would turn out to be Marcus. Five minutes passed and he didn’t come, by which time she was fearing the worst.
Don’t give up, Ashley, she urged herself, deciding she would pester the cheerless man one more time to make an announcement in case it had not been heard, but it was when turning her eyes back towards the Help Desk that she saw him. Marcus had seen her first, in fact, having arrived from some direction she had not been vigilant enough to keep up with. As a result, the man who had made the announcement was pointing at her, an unlikely hero reuniting them when all had seemed lost.
“Ashley!” Marcus exclaimed as they met halfway. “I didn’t expect to see you.”
“No shit,” she responded, realizing she was fighting back tears. “Attempting to fly off into the blue yonder without me. What are you playing at?”
“Ashley, I’m sorry. I didn’t know how to explain—I left a letter with Blake for you to…”
“Where do you think I’ve just come from?” she said, holding up the envelope.
“You’ve read it already?”
“Of course I’ve read it,” she replied, “and it’s not good enough, you hear me?”
“Ashley, don’t you understand? I’m trouble for you,” he said, not clueing on that his mistakes meant nothing to her. “You don’t need someone else like me in your life, especially after what you’ve been through.”
“Someone else like what?” she bit back. “You’re a gentle soul, Marcus. If the world was a peaceful place you would never have been in a war. You’re just unlucky for what happened; that could have happened to anyone. Stop kicking yourself.”
“Yet it nearly happened again with your ex,” he replied. “Look, I’m sorry. I can’t talk long, my flight boards in ten minutes, I had to talk security into letting me back through when I heard my name called.”
“Then tell them to shove it,” she urged. “Stay here with me. You wrote here that you love me.”
“I do love you, Ashley, I just don’t think I’m what you need—and I’m a soldier…”
“I love you too, you idiot,” she almost shouted back. “Don’t you know that? When two people are in love they sort things out together, not disappear halfway around the world for covert special ops missions.”
Seeing how insistent he was had caused her distress to grow, but something changed when she said those words. In spite of his plane’s boarding time closing in, he paused in his response and looked at her differently. Not as a person of pity to whom he had to apologize, but as if to someone he had never seen before. Ashley could see he was about to change his tone and feared something more final, but then he said:
“You love me?”
“Yes,” she replied. “What did you think all this has been about?�
�
“Just…” he began, shrugging.
“Just what?”
“I knew you liked me, of course, but… no one’s ever told me they love me.”
“Well, I’m telling you now. I love everything about you, Marcus, and I don’t want you to go.”
He drew her close to him then. It was the first time they had touched since setting eyes on each other and, though Ashley still needed to hear the words, she let him kiss her, losing herself in the strength of his embrace.
They stood there for some time, not caring who saw. When Ashley finally opened her eyes to look into his it was clear his expression had softened again, looking upon her as if all reservations had been set free. As if belonging and certainty had kicked out pride and stubbornness and set up home there.
“Say you’ll stay?” she pleaded.
“Are you sure I’m good for you?” he asked.
“Surer than I’ve been about anything my whole life,” she replied.
“I was going because I thought that would be good for you.”
“That would be the worst thing that’s ever happened to me,” she said. “Not to mention Max. Say you’ll give it a go.”
“Just to be with you, I’d try anything,” he said, then at last Ashley smiled, and all the worries that had followed her around that day fled in one glorious rush to move on.
“Now let’s get home,” Marcus said. “There’s a four-legged friend who’ll be very pleased to see us.”
Arm-in-arm they left the airport, along with an empty seat on the plane. Later that evening, Marcus would have to call Captain Forrester and give him his apologies. Ashley had given him a reason to put his own life first; the life of a civilian who the army would still have had if it had treated him better in the first place.
Marcus would always regret his error on the battlefield, but his discharge was no longer dishonorable.
Epilogue
“So, that all feels good then? No more itching to get at a problem you can’t scratch?” Ms. Forster, who Marcus now knew as Rose, asked.
“Not at all,” he replied. “The last couple of months it feels as good as new. A tad weaker than the other leg maybe, but no pain to speak of.”
Physiotherapy had been a success. A year had now passed since Ashley had talked and loved Marcus into staying, keeping him from the terrors of battle and, although he had done so for her, the decision also meant that his leg had been allowed to heal properly. Not being Ashley’s patient had done nothing to get him out of keeping up with his exercises each day. She might not have been his physiotherapist anymore, but she saw a lot more of him so was able to draw promise after promise from him that he would take her seriously. Ms. Forster had been told he would be a good patient and so he had more than just his own word to live up to.
Ashley’s persistence was a quality he loved and it had proven wise. Over the course of twelve months he had learned to listen to his friends and loved ones a lot more, relieving himself of some of the pride and stubbornness that had held him back.
“Glad to hear it,” Rose said. “We’ll miss you around here, you know; we do get attached to our regulars.”
“Likewise Rose,” he said, “but you and Ashley meet occasionally at functions and things, don’t you?”
‘Occasionally, yes.”
“So maybe we’ll meet up again somewhere I can keep my pants on.”
“That’s very true. How is that annoyingly beautiful girl, anyway?”
“Good! She asks after you as well,” he replied. “As a matter of fact, we’ve now moved in together.”
“Sounds serious.”
Putting his jacket back on, Marcus felt like admitting that it was more serious than she realized upon feeling the solid object sticking in him from his breast pocket. He had been so excited since making the purchase that it was more difficult than he had imagined not to tell everyone—even though he never told anyone anything.
When he had said goodbye to Rose and her receptionist, Marcus headed back to the park. It was a rare day that he didn’t have Max with him, but because Ashley had the whole week off from work right now, his dog had stayed at home. In spite of the happiness they had both found together, somehow Max still managed to come across as the happiest creature in the world and he was the favorite of everyone they knew.
That was with the exception of people the dog knew to be bad. About one month earlier, Max had paused in the park to growl at a man sitting on a bench. In response, Marcus had said, ‘He might be bad, boy, but he isn’t doing anything wrong right now’. This much had been true but then Marcus suddenly thought he recognized the sheepish looking individual and memory flooded back; it was none other than Ashley’s ex. Nervous of Max, the man had shuffled off without saying a word. It was unlikely that he knew who Marcus was and luckily Ashley was not with him that day, so he decided not to trouble her with the recollection. Some people just aren’t worth mentioning, even if they are worth growling at.
That week, Marcus was also due to have time off and he and Ashley were planning on doing lots of exciting things together; day trips, a music gig and also a meet-up with Blake and Veronica—even though those two were a little off and on. What they enjoyed doing most, though—other than what might transpire in the bedroom—was walks in the park with Max. The three of them would trek far out into the national park, Ashley feeling safe with a trusty dog, an ex-serviceman and, if ever required, a lion to protect her; while Marcus was more and more able to enjoy making the most of a healthy leg and knowing he could walk all day on it without having aches and pains other than those that were entirely normal and that everyone suffered from.
On the day that followed being discharged from physiotherapy, both of them concluded it would be just such a day for making the most of a long walk together. Perhaps they would find a dog-friendly café somewhere along the way and make for a real outing, not coming back until the light was dying and cuddling up on the sofa, and later in bed it would feel twice as satisfying as usual.
The weather was just the perfect temperature for a walk. No strong breeze or sign of clouds, while not being too warm to make the trek arduous either. They walked until they were far out into the country, with no one around, when Ashley decided the view was just too glorious and she simply had to stop and take some photos. A selfie or two, including some with Max, would serve as a real reminder of the day.
It was then that Marcus decided he should make his move.
Having wondered when the perfect moment would come, seeing Ashley delight in taking photos made him realize they could really catalogue the occasion. They had the before photos—that would tickle him more than anything to see her face unsuspecting—and so they would also be able to take the after photos and see the look of joy and surprise (providing she said ‘yes’ and living with him had not led to second thoughts).
“Ashley, I’ve got another souvenir for the day, if you want it?” he told her.
“Really, what’s that?” she asked, her eyebrows furrowed with confusion.
“It’s in my inside jacket pocket,” he said. “Just reach in and take it.”
“If this is another way of getting me to put my hands on you….” she warned with a mischievous gleam in her eyes, but doing as he said and reaching into his pocket.
“I’d just ask you nicely if I wanted that,” he replied with a wink. “Have you found it?”
“I’ve got something,” she said, drawing the object out. As she did so, Marcus sank to one knee. Only then did she start to understand what was going on, simultaneously realizing what the object was and that he was assuming the position.
“Ashley, I’ve got a question to ask,” he said, “but you have to open the box first.”
All her coolness shattered, Ashley was suddenly unable to say anything, but she did as he said, opening the velvet box tenderly as if it held the most precious item in the universe inside. Unless she was completely misreading the situation, it would symbolize his heart.
> “Ashley, I’ve been crazy about you ever since we met,” said Marcus, when he saw the diamond ring’s reflection sparkling in her eyes. “Would you do me the honor of being my wife?”
“Yes,” she managed to squeak out, unable to say anything else.
Sometimes words were not really needed.
Smiling then with a happiness his face muscles had not known one year ago, Marcus stood up and held Ashley’s left hand. She trembled to the touch but with anticipation, not fear, as he slid the ring onto her finger.
“I’m your Mane Man now,” he joked, and she laughed.
Then they kissed, uninterrupted even by Max who sat as good as gold, looking out over a green and fertile landscape that would always hold their memory.
THE END
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