***

Michael

Diana and Michael had been at the pool for over an hour and were becoming increasingly concerned. Where was James? Why wasn’t he here yet? What could he be doing? Joel had worked himself into a frenzy. Michael had spent the early part of the morning searching for Anna but had come up empty-handed. He had his suspicions that James was still out doing the same but he had no proof. Michael held a not so secret desire for his son to find Anna rather than turn up to swim without her.

James ran through the doors and crashed straight into Joel almost knocking him on his arse. After helping him up, James scurried into the change rooms. Joel looked up into the stands to where Diana and Michael were sitting and nodded silently. They all knew what that meant. James had arrived and everything was going to be okay.

A few moments later, after having received her official accreditation pass, Anna clambered into the stands and sat down next to Michael. “Hi,” she cooed sweetly. She didn’t know how they would react to seeing her after everything she had put them through in the last twenty-four hours.

“Thank God he found you,” Michael said, letting out a sigh of relief. He stood up and gave Anna a huge hug. Just then James appeared on pool deck and shot his father a disapproving look.

“Hey! Hands off,” James called to his father. Both men’s face broke out in wide smile. Diana stood and gave Anna a hug before they all took their seats waiting for the first race to start.

“Would you please welcome the competitors in the first race in the Manchester 2001 World Championships? The men’s four hundred metre freestyle. In lane one, representing America, Bronson Smith. In lane two, Charles Clancy, representing Britain. In lane three, Kenneth Brennan, representing South Africa. In lane four, representing Australia, James Thompson. In lane five, Jiro Takashi, representing Japan. In lane six, Ian Gray, representing Australia. In lane seven, Giovanni Van Bronkhurst, representing the Netherlands. And in lane eight, Pedro Sosa, representing Brazil,” a sultry voice boomed over the microphone system.

It was only the heats and no one really expected anything extraordinary from anyone. This was simply a race to ensure they qualified for tonight’s final. In the men’s four hundred metres there were only four heats, each containing competitors from every corner of the globe. James had drawn heat one alone with Ian. This was the first time James and Ian had been pitted against each other at an international meet. They often raced each other at training but this time it was serious. Just as Ian knew all of James’s strengths and weaknesses, James knew his.

They dived in and James came up stroking first and in front. This was what everyone had learnt to expect from James. To lead early and maintain that position the entire race. By halfway James held only a slender lead over Ian, but it was the back half of James’s swims where he would usually bury a competitor. At the final turn James had moved two body lengths ahead before he eased off and glided into the wall. When he spun around and looked at his time, something that was an ingrained habit, he saw that he had just broken the meet record by more than a second. James was in sensational form and now all that was left to do was wait for his competitors’ times to be registered and make sure he was in the top eight. Even eighth would secure him a place in tonight’s gold medal final.

As it turned out, James had nothing to fear. He was safely through, ahead of all the competition by more than a second. A wave of relief flushed over both James and Anna’s faces simultaneously. In the past twenty-four hours they had overcome so much and now everything was as it should be. James was doing what he did best. Swimming. Competing. Winning. And Anna was sitting in the stands ready to stand by his side no matter what. Now that he was through to the finals they could breathe again.

***

Anna

After the heats had all finished, Anna decided that she needed some air, just to calm her nerves. Michael insisted that he accompany her for her own safety. Together they walked through the cold, damp streets of Manchester, past an oval where small kids tried to play soccer but kept tripping over their own feet, before arriving at a small church. Anna’s face lit up as she marvelled at the beautiful sixteenth century chapel’s stained glass windows.

“Come on.” Michael smiled, grabbing her hand and leading her towards the door. “Let’s get out of this cold for five minutes.”

Blowing on her hands to warm them, Anna didn’t hesitate to agree.

Chapter 13

Anna

The old wooden doors groaned as they forced them open and stepped through. Inside the church, Anna saw a minister standing in the centre of the aisle dressed in his white robes. A tall man stood just off to his right, while a woman was standing in the second row of pews. It only took a brief moment for Anna to recognise them. James and Diana were here. As they headed down the aisle, Michael took Anna’s arm in his own and walked her slowly down as the bridal march began.

James saw Anna and Michael walking down the aisle arm in arm and simply smiled widely. Ian appeared beside him and Joel lingered further back. When Anna reached James, Michael leaned over and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. “This is your official welcome to the family.” He grinned before taking his place next to Diana.

The minister performed a very brief ceremony in front of the intimate few. Anna knew in that precious moment all her dreams had come true. She was marrying the man of her dreams in a romantic little chapel. Life couldn’t get any better. The only thing missing was her family and friends, but in that moment, Anna couldn’t summon the energy to care. Her dream had come true. She would make it up to them when she got home.

After a short ceremony the minister announced, “You may kiss the bride.” Without missing a beat, James bent down and clasped her face in his hands. He kissed her gently before looking up to see smiling faces surrounding them. Anna reluctantly climbed out of his arms and darted over to Diana and Michael.

She wrapped one arm around each of them and hugged them tightly. “I can’t thank you enough. For everything. Thank you for making this possible,” Anna cried on Diana’s shoulder.

Michael smiled and kissed her forehead. “Now we officially are family,” he whispered into Anna’s ear. Despite Anna’s joy and relief, Michael saw through her act. He saw just how much she wished that her own family had been here with her. “We’ll do it all again properly once we’re home. I promise,” he reassured her, sensing tears. “Family and friends. The whole shebang.”

***

James

Anna and James strolled out of the church hand in hand. Neither of them wanted to let go, but James’s time was nearly up. He had to be at the pool within half an hour, preparing himself for his finals campaign. Tickets were sold out and James himself knew just how big the night would be. Not only did he have his individual swim in the four hundred but also, less than an hour later he had to back up and anchor the men’s relay team against the much-fancied American outfit.

What felt like minutes later, James was changed and walking out on the pool deck to be greeted by a deafening roar. People were screaming out words of encouragement and distraction. Some waved banners while others held up photographs of him. James was a very popular personality on the pool deck. The rest of the Australian swimming team started up their war cry led by the female squad. Anna watched James as he walked out and was introduced to the crowd.