My Hero

The next weekend it all came out. It seems that Daniela was 'smitten' with one of the Governing Body's representatives. One thing led to another and both ended up in his room for the evening and most of the night. The glare Melody gave Daniela throughout this confession gave me the impression that there was more than she was willing to admit to until Libby was in bed.

As we all sat around the kitchen table later that evening the real truth spilled out, Daniela had only just turned twenty-one, he was forty-five and right up until he got a call from his wife in the early hours of the morning, she believed he was single. With the train wreck approaching, Daniela got the hell out of his room and tried to keep as far away from him as possible for the next couple of days.

It seems his ego was one of "I drop the women I bed, not the other way around." Melody flew in, pulled Daniela out of there and holed up at the country club until both Governing body people went back home. Daniela went back to the country club that evening and I got showered with love from Melody, not to mention make up for missed sex.

As I sat at my desk on Monday I replayed in my mind what both Daniela and Melody had told me, it left me with a few questions to which I didn't think I would like the answers. I picked up the phone and asked to talk to my newspaper friend. Turning up at his office the next day also got me a few pictures and some unsubstantiated facts about Mr. Ernst Brunner.

He was a rising star within the ranks of the Olympic Governing Body, rumor had him on the committee within the next five years and untouchable if past history was anything to go by. My friend smelled a story judging by the information and follow up questions I was asking, since I had nothing but a bad feeling and concern for the young lady that I loved like a daughter. My friend was happy with the drink at the bar around the corner from the newspaper and a promise from me that if anything turned into a story, he would be the first to hear about it.

*******

The next few months were anything but peaceful, the build up to the Games had commenced, although Melody and I talked about what might happen we couldn't plan for much. Once the Games started Daniela would be isolated from us and with her team down at the course. The only advantage we had was that all the water events that Daniela had were on a site built two years before the Olympics over seventy miles away from the main Olympic complex.

Daniela wanted us all there, even for the opening ceremony. We wanted to keep Libby out of the loop on the sordid details, but doing that would mean lying to her and none of us wanted that, so the day before Daniela was due to leave for the meet up with the team she sat Libby down at the kitchen table and told her everything, or rather as much as a young lady her age could grasp.

The all night activities were kept off the table. Libby didn't need them since she was already berating Daniela for even kissing a man older than her dad. Daniela, for her part, took it all on the chin, agreed with her sister and told her that it might well be a decision that would haunt her for some years to come. They cried and hugged after an hour, and I had both my girls back from then on.

We stayed for the opening ceremony and then moved to the white water centre. Melody and her people had been busy, and she had no doubt paid well over the odds on a rented house two miles from the centre. My parents and Libby stayed at the house whilst Melody and I were in the hotel a block away. My folks took the opportunity to see the sights and shop; they had to drag Libby out one afternoon since all she wanted to do was stay at the house and watch the training and then the start of the white water events.

Melody and I watched everything and since we both knew what Mr. Brunner looked like, we watched out for him as well. It was just as we both started to relax and feel that we could finally just enjoy and watch the events and not have to worry anymore, that we got that fateful phone call.

*******

Daniela was distraught, Mr. Ernst Brunner, it seems, had placed himself amongst the Olympic representative for this sites events and although they fidgeted, he held firm, and judging by the look on Melody's face she was set to explode, as well. The Olympic rep, or rather Mr. Brunner, again stated the rules verbatim, the committee looked on Daniela's jacket as advertising and for the Olympics, only those who had paid to advertize could do so, and since Daniela's wetsuit wasn't an officially sanctioned one, then she either changed it for another one or she would be in breach.

We argued that she had this same jacket on through our countries qualification events and all the rounds so far and no one had made the point they just had. His colleagues looked at him for direction and all he did was sidestep her statement with a shrug of his shoulders, it gave us an inkling into how this conversation was going to end, as well. Our country's governing body had backed the Olympic committee; they had no choice they said. It still left Melody propping up Daniela, who was in tears, and this confrontation proceeding along the lines of destroying one woman's hopes.

It seems 'My Hero' was advertising. Damned if I could figure that one, but when you have some stuffed shirt so called 'know it all' with what seemed like his own agenda telling you so, then it seems you're not allowed to argue the point. Daniela looked on that jacket and it's meaning as her lucky charm, she just hadn't stopped winning since she had it and now, with the final race for the medals in two days, we had Daniela stripped of her lucky charm.

The Olympic people with Mr. Ernst Brunner left, I think, to him, his job done. Melody held onto her daughter and I looked out the window of her apartment waiting for divine inspiration to slap me across the back of the head. When nothing happened I went for a walk, not a clue in what direction or even how far, but I was most certainly outside a park. The sun had already started to head towards ending the day, there were still a few people with camera's in hand hoping to spot someone famous.

My wandering seemed to take me towards a cheerful group in the park across the road. A group of guys were using some of the equipment that was built into the park, some did press-ups amongst themselves while others lifted their body weight on a bar, hell I was impressed and was exhausted just watching them. There were young ladies standing, watching and occasionally giggling.

The guys just continued to show off their muscles, even taking vests off and showing bronzed bodies and tattoos that graced their arms and torsos, as well. Nothing like feeling just a little inferior when you have a specimen like that standing next to you. They were all happy to pose for photos with the ladies, and that's when that slap across the back of the head finally got me.

I quickly called Melody and told her that I had a solution, and to let Daniela know I had this covered. I closed my phone before the barrage of questions started. At first, talking to the beefcakes got me a bunch of guys looking very suspiciously at me. I guess they don't often get men asking them about where they got their tattoos done. I felt incredibly lucky that most of these guys were locals.

The taxi driver became my best buddy when I handed him twice the already inflated cab fare and asked him to wait right next to the tattoo shop. The person I needed to talk to was reluctant at first, but as I explained in more detail, he eventually picked up his cell and talked to someone else. A few nods and finishing with "I'll tell him." He put his cell down and told me to wait by my cab.

My taxi driver smiled even more when I fed his pocket again. It took another hour before she turned up, I took one look and seriously thought I had got this all wrong. She was dressed all in black, her nose was pierced and I couldn't count the number of piercings her ears had. I'd never seen a Goth up close before and looking at this five foot Pixie with the attitude sure made me realize why.

"You Henderson?"

Other than nod my head, I was at a loss, my own fault I suppose for not thinking all this through more thoroughly.

"Well?" came her next response.

That's when I shook my head and pulled my cell out and showed her the picture I had, she glanced, and I swear that's all she did.

"Five hundred, four now, and the rest when I'm done."

I thought my wits were returning and said. "You haven't even looked long enough at the picture, how can I know you're as good as they say?"

She sighed, and started to speak to me like I was the village idiot here.

"My cousin does canoeing; he was using the complex before it became the Olympic venue. I talked to him and he told me the background to all this. Your Daniela Carlson's lucky charm, rumor in the village is that the Olympic people have told Daniela to surrender her wet suit or be taken out of the finals."

She smiled, and the perfect white teeth and shinning eyes proved something to me; she knew she had me over a barrel.

"And that's where I come in. I have what you want and can get the job done, so are we going to get this done or am I going home to watch the event on TV?"

I opened the taxi door for her, she placed her cosmetics box on her lap and held it tight to her body. Her hand came out and I handed her four hundred; she didn't even count it, just placed it into her pocket and looked directly in front of her.

Both girls were fit to burst when I got back; the only thing stopping Melody from using her charms was the little pixie standing next to me. I thought I would start with the dramatic and be ready to duck if things started flying my way.

"You have to give up your jacket; I'm not letting you come all this way and have the Olympic people steal it from you right at the end."

Both girls opened their mouths to talk, I held up my hand to stop them.

"I think you should let this little lady here tattoo it to your back."

My little Gothic friend moved to a table and placed her cosmetics box onto it. Daniela stood there totally stunned while Melody sure made up for her daughter inability to speak. She started very low key for her, the "are you out of you fucking mind" was a given considering what I had just asked. It was then that Daniela grabbed her mothers arm.

"He's up to something; he's got that smirk on his face again, the one that makes you apologize when you know you got it all wrong."

Pulling the handbrake up mid-rant wasn't easy for Melody, but she listened to her daughter and watched me a little closer. Her eyes narrowed when she also saw me smirking.

"Okay talk, I also have a feeling I'm going to spend tonight making up for this aren't I?"

I nodded and Daniela giggled. "Told you so, he's my hero."

Leaving my Gothic friend to unpack, I told both my girls about my walk in the park and that light bulb moment, tracking my friend down took a while, but word amongst the muscle men at the park was that she was the best in the business around there. It was also then that Daniela took a real long look at Lucy and her question to my new friend sealed the deal.

"You're not a tattooist are you?"

"Nope, I work with Henna. I prefer to call myself a body artist."

Daniela went over to talk to Lucy, while Melody walked up to me and pushed me in the chest, I stumbled backwards and fell onto the couch behind me, she was on my lap before the second bounce.

"I hate you when you do this to me; you know that, don't you?"

She then proceeded to nibble on my ear and I shuddered, Melody knew my weaknesses and I was going to suffer through her apology; that was for sure. I held my love close to me and explained as best I could while she worked her magic on me. We couldn't stop the Olympic people doing what they were doing, but Daniela had come too far for her to walk away. Rumor was that the bookies had all but closed the books on Daniela taking the gold, and short of doing something really stupid she knew it as well.

Then the Olympic people took away her jacket, advertising my ass, but they were the governing body and this close to the race taking on city hall wasn't wise and bad for Daniela's concentration. With a Henna 'My Hero' on her back her mental state would ease, Henna only took a couple of hours to sink into the skin and lasted the best part of a week to ten days, and above all, no drugs involved.

By the time I had finished and got a deposit on the night via a kiss from Melody, I felt truly blessed that I was with those girls, and then I looked over at what was happening across the room.

"Whoa there! At least let me get out of the room before you take your clothes off."

Melody looked and giggled as Daniela walked over to Lucy with her T-shirt and bra over her arm. Lucy looked her up and down and wolf whistled before pointing to the towel on the floor at her feet.

"Nice tits girl; if I ever finish with my girlfriend I may have to look you up."

"Enough, I'm out of here." I held my hands over my ears and headed for the door, to the muffled sound of three women laughing.

*******

When I was asked to come back, Daniela was still face down on the floor of her room; she watched me look around for her mom and Lucy.

"Mom's taken Lucy home, I wanted to talk to you alone and I promise not to get up. I'm under orders anyway, for the next hour that is, after that, how you answer my questions will dictate my next move."

I sat on the floor next to her to make life easier for her; she smiled when she realized what I was doing.

"You just can't help yourself can you? You've been looking after me for almost a year now. At first it freaked mom out, but now she just knows that it's your nature."

Her smile got just a little brighter and her eyes held that mischief within them.

"She loves you; I know you are made for her, as well, and all three of us are waiting for you to do something about it."

Daniela looked at my hand, hers moved to hold mine.

"Ask her, I know she's just waiting for you to do that, so put her out of her misery."

Her features became just a little more serious and for just a second, coldness crept down my spine.

"You've saved my life twice, Martin, Marry Mom so that Libby can be my real sister. Because if you save my life one more time, I may have to marry you myself."

This time I laughed, then something about her made me stop. Daniela smiled one more time as her finger pointed towards her back, the Henna looked good, I understood it would look even better when we peeled the ink off to expose the true tattoo.

"You got me this, Martin, and I'm going to use it to stick my manicured middle finger up at the Olympic people. That's your gift from me and Libby, your gift to us is to make us sisters and I mean officially sisters, because I want the whole nine yards of adoption, as well."

A tear trickled down her cheek and I choked. I hate seeing people in pain, and when it's one of my girls, it's even worse. It had only been the last couple of months that the term 'my girls' just felt so right; feeling that warm fuzzy moment reminded me why. When it became just Libby and me, my instinct was to shut down any and all emotions and concentrate on keeping my daughter sane.

Then came Daniela, and hot on her heels came Melody and I was now being forced, in this very room with a half naked woman on the floor, to admit to those very feelings. Daniela recognized the smile and held my hand even tighter, if that was at all possible.

"Atta boy. So when are you going to ask Mom?"

"One thing at a time, Daniela; let's get you and these games done and us all back home before I get on one knee and ask your mom to marry me."

The voice from the shadows startled both of us. "It will be a yes from me when you do."

Melody just seemed to glide across the room and fall on top of me, the kissing was frantic.

"Like eeww, if you're going to get all sweaty, can you at least do that in your own hotel and not on my floor next to me? Healthy girl here, who hasn't had sex in awhile and is as frustrated as hell."

We all giggled, even more so when Daniela and I caught Melody trying to straighten her clothes. I was sent back to the hotel, Melody stayed to keep Daniela company until it was time to pick Lucy up and help remove the Henna paste. With this time table, poor Daniela wasn't going to be getting much sleep that night. Thankfully, the morning was a practice session. The organizers had put it into the schedule in case the preliminaries got held up in any way, and leaked over to another day.

*******

I woke with Melody wrapped around me; she woke when I tried oh so hard to get out of bed and let her rest. I was on the phone ordering coffee and some breakfast as she passed me; the shower started running seconds into my order. She came to the table wrapped in one of the hotel's robes.

She was smiling when she said, "You're staring again."

Melody knew why and her cheeks turned a healthy pink color. She was just so damn beautiful; I only got to see her natural beauty in moments like those. Going out into the big wide world without makeup on is a deadly sin, more so if you just happen to own the largest cosmetics company in the US, or so I was led to believe. On one of our now many intimate moments, I even confessed that given a choice I would prefer to see her walk around all day naked.

When she finished laughing, and whilst rubbing the growing bruise on my arm, her reply was that if she did that, she couldn't see herself getting much work done. Reluctantly, I agreed with her, but she did humor me when time and opportunity allowed and I sure got to see her naked a lot. She also reminded me that was also when she got to see me hard a lot.

I was still eating my toast when the door to our room sort of exploded. Poor Melody dropped her coffee on the table; it was left to me to clear that up while she answered the very loud banging on the door. Daniela bounded into our hotel room, her whole body just glowed.

"It worked, and I have you to thank."

What little space that there was between us simply evaporated as Daniela wrapped her arms around me and hugged me ever so tightly.

"Once again you have given me my life back. I'm not going to let you down, that medal's ours."

The kiss on the cheek was unexpected but always welcome before the human tornado hugged her mom before running out of the hotel room to get to practice on time. Melody was still holding the door open as her hand gently touched her cheek. She was still looking out the open door when I wrapped my arms around her; I felt her whole body shudder.

Her voice was only just the level of a whisper when she said. "I'm sorry."

Just as suddenly she twisted her body to face me, her arms around me as heart breaking sobs poured from her soul. As I held this woman tight to me, I was so afraid. Kicking the door shut, I lifted her tight to me and put her back to bed. We were still in the same position an hour later when exhaustion finally claimed this woman.

It took so long for Melody's breathing to take on the slow steady pace that sleep demands, her body heat increased to the point I was about to pull the covers off, only for her body heat to dissipate and the feeling that I may need to look for another cover. All the time my mind sought the answer to just one question, what was she being sorry about?

********

When Melody woke, we only had just enough time to shower and get to the white water centre. Even then, the practice had already started. The same question would occasionally seep to the front of my thoughts, but I knew Melody to leave well enough alone.

When she was ready we would speak again; she shared in my call to Mom and Libby, and her spirits seemed to lift for the duration of the call.