Chapter 10
The rest of the week passed in a blur of paperwork, renovation updates, and the regular demands of running LSIMT’s administrative operations.
Mary spoke with the contractors daily, eagerly awaiting word that the county had inspected the renovations and that the occupancy permit had been issued.
And just as she hoped, it all came through on Friday.
She pulled into the driveway with Bert right behind her. He hopped out quickly but stayed to the side, allowing her to exit her van as usual. Somehow in these months, Bert managed to instinctively assist with what she could use help with and leave her to her own devices when she was able.
They met Carol from the contractor’s office for her walkthrough.
Rolling up the ramp that led to the porch, she glanced back to see Bert right behind her.
As they approached the front door, she reached out to take his hand, giving it a squeeze before letting it go to grasp the wheelchair handle.
He smiled, seeming to know she needed the touch to ground herself before entering her newly renovated home for the first time.
Once over the threshold, she gasped. Looking around, she viewed her new interior with a pounding heart.
It was well over twice the size of her apartment.
They widened doorways and installed smooth transitions between rooms. The living room had a gas fireplace and a mantel low enough that she could reach to place decor items. The area for her TV was also low enough and not wired to be mounted high on the wall.
The owner’s bathroom was completely renovated with a roll-in shower, accessible vanity, and carefully positioned grab bars that looked like design elements rather than medical equipment.
The kitchen was her favorite, with a combination of lowered countertops, a shallow sink, and an island designed so she could roll underneath to prep food comfortably.
There was also a standard section, allowing any guests or visitors to feel comfortable.
The master bedroom was spacious, with a large closet that had been reconfigured with lowered rods and pull-down shelving. The two guest bedrooms were left largely untouched, ready for when her nieces and nephews visited or her parents stayed over.
But it was the outdoor spaces that made Mary’s heart sing.
A wide deck stretched across the back of the house, accessed by a gentle ramp disguised as part of the deck’s design.
The front porch was deep and covered, with enough space for comfortable furniture and a view that looked toward the mountains in the distance.
The attached garage had been renovated to flow directly into a large laundry room, which connected to the kitchen. No more struggling to unload groceries in bad weather. She could pull right in, close the garage door, and wheel everything inside without ever going outside.
It was perfect. It was hers.
She didn’t realize she had reached out again until Bert’s hand wrapped around hers in a steadying grip. Looking up, she reveled in his warm smile.
“What do you think?” She suddenly wanted to know his opinion.
“The question is, what do you think?” he replied.
“I love it,” she said, surprised that her voice was breathy and not her usual confident tone. Her gaze still searched his, wanting his reaction.
He knelt so they were eye to eye. “I do, too, Mary. I’m really happy for you to have this place.”
She looked down to see his hand still enveloping hers. Sucking in a deep breath, she turned to Carol. “It’s perfect.”
Moving day arrived on a bright Saturday, and Mary pulled up to the house to find the entire team already there. Trucks and SUVs filled the driveway and lined the street. They had picked up her furniture earlier and were now unloading everything from her apartment.
Bert directed the others after speaking with her about where to place the furniture. Sisco and Devlin were arguing good-naturedly about the best way to carry her couch. Frazier and Dalton were hauling boxes with easy efficiency, while Todd and Timothy wrestled with her dresser.
Casper moved silently with a stack of carefully balanced boxes, and Cory was helping Cole maneuver her bed frame through the front door. Landon and Sadie were working together to unload kitchen items, and Sadie called out a greeting when she spotted Mary.
But it was Bert who immediately came to her van, opening the door with a smile that made her pulse skip.
“Welcome home,” he said simply.
Mary felt tears prick her eyes. She’d lived comfortably in the apartment for several months, but this was different. This was permanent. This was really, truly home.
“Thank you,” she managed. “All of you. This is incredible.”
“This is nothing,” Sisco called from the front door. “Wait until you see how fast we can get you unpacked. Military efficiency at its finest!”
The next few hours were controlled chaos. Mary directed where the furniture should go, and the Keepers moved everything with impressive speed and coordination. They worked well together, anticipating each other’s movements, communicating with the kind of shorthand that came from training and trust.
Mary watched them transform her empty house into a home, and her chest felt tight with gratitude and something deeper. These people had become her family over the past year. They’d accepted her, respected her, and made her feel like she belonged in a way she hadn’t felt since before the accident.
By late afternoon, all the major furniture was in place, and most of the boxes were unpacked.
Mary had ordered pizzas from the best place in town, and they gathered on the back deck, sprawled on the new outdoor furniture she’d bought, and ate directly on paper plates so she would have nothing to clean up later.
The sun was warm, and the conversation flowed easily.
This was what Mary had missed most after her injury.
Not the physical abilities she’d lost, though those hurt.
But the camaraderie, the easy companionship of people who understood each other, who’d been through things together and come out stronger.
“I can’t thank you all enough. I could have hired movers, but I would have felt awkward with a bunch of men in my house who I don’t know.” She shrugged. “There are always stares and uncomfortably pitiful looks sent my way.”
“So, Mary,” Timothy said, finishing his second slice and reaching for a third. “Can I ask about your van?”
“Sure, you can ask anything you want.”
“I was just wondering how long it took you to learn how to operate it.”
The question hung in the air, and Mary felt everyone’s attention shift to her. If she wasn’t mistaken, Bert bristled as he sat beside her. The Keepers knew she’d been in a car accident, but she’d never offered any specifics, nor had anyone asked.
But Timothy’s question brought up so much more than just learning to drive a vehicle that was adapted for someone who couldn’t press the pedals with their legs. Looking around, she acknowledged these were her friends. Her team. And she wanted to give them the truth.
She set down her pizza and took a breath.
“I’ve never really talked to you all about what happened, but I know you know it was a car accident.
It was several years ago. I was on the Navy base.
Had left work and was heading to my quarters.
I had a cute apartment off base that I shared with two other women, also in the Navy.
A young man, distracted by his cell phone, ran through a red light. He T-boned me on the driver’s side.”
The memories came back with painful clarity, but she pushed through. She was aware of how quiet everyone had become, how still. Even Devlin had stopped eating.
“The firefighters had to cut me out,” Mary continued, her voice steady despite the way her hands wanted to shake. “I was unconscious for most of it. But I remember waking, and I couldn’t feel my legs.” She swallowed hard. “I had to look down to see if they had been amputated.”
“Jesus,” Devlin cursed.
“Fucking hell,” came the curses from several others.
Her expression tightened. “It was an incomplete spinal cord injury at the T12-L1 junction. The doctors said I was lucky. If the injury had been complete, I would have no sensation or function below the waist. As it is, I have some sensation, just no motor control of my legs.”
“Surgeries?” Sisco asked quietly.
“Three of them, trying to reduce the swelling and stabilize the spine. Although with a lot of physical therapy, including electrical stimulation therapy, I was able to regain some feeling in most of my pelvic area. Not to be indelicate, but at least I can tell when I need to use the bathroom. I had months of hospitalizations, surgeries, and rehab. By the end of the first year, I could stand upright as long as I had leg braces on and was holding a walker, but I couldn’t move my legs to actually walk.
For mobility, I have to have a wheelchair. ”
She lifted her arms and flexed her muscles. “At least my upper-body strength is good.” She laughed.
The others chuckled, and she caught Bert’s intense gaze, a pained expression on his face as his eyes seemed to devour her.
Mary looked around at the circle of faces, seeing understanding rather than pity, and it gave her courage to continue. “The hardest part wasn’t the physical stuff, honestly. It was accepting that my life had fundamentally changed. That I couldn’t be the person I’d been before.”
“Where did you live during all this? Were you far away from family?” Sadie asked.
“I wasn’t able to stay at my apartment during rehab, so my parents moved to the naval base and rented a two-bedroom handicapped-accessible apartment.
So when I got out of the hospital and rehab, I had a place to live.
My mom retired a little early from the school system she worked in, and she stayed with me.
My dad was close to retirement, but he would fly back and forth from Montana to where I was stationed.
“Of course, I was medically discharged from the Navy, but since the accident happened on base, everything was covered. But when I was released from my final rehab, I had no desire to stay there. So I came back to Montana and got a job as a civilian with the Army.”
She looked over at Timothy and winced. “I’m sorry…
you asked me about the van. The person who caused the accident had insurance, and I was able not only to have all of my rehab paid for but I was also given money that I used to purchase the van.
It took about two months of training to use the accelerator and the brake on the steering column.
Once my therapist felt sure that I could handle it, he arranged for the driver’s test so that I could be licensed to use the van. ”
She looked around to see all eyes pinned on her, and thought she might feel overwhelmed.
But in truth, it felt good to have gotten the story out all at one time to people who obviously cared for her.
But seeing their expressions, she laughed and shook her head.
“It’s okay, guys. Don’t pity me! We all have challenges.
Believe me, when I was in the rehab facility, I saw people who were much worse off than I was. ”
“It’s not pity,” Sadie said softly. “It’s admiration. You’ve adapted to new circumstances. Adapt and overcome.”
Mary smiled at her. “Yeah. That’s exactly it.
And I’m lucky. I have family who supported me, doctors who were honest with me about what I could expect, and therapists who pushed me when I needed it.
Plus, I’m stubborn.” That got a laugh from everyone.
“I refused to let this define me or limit what I could do.”
Mary picked up her water and took a long drink. “I don’t like to dwell on what I don’t have. It doesn’t change anything, and it just eats you up inside. I’d rather focus on what I can do, what I have built, than what was taken from me.”
Logan nodded, his expression thoughtful. “That’s the mindset of a Keeper. Eyes forward. Finding solutions.”
“Exactly,” she agreed. “And this job? I’m just grateful that I found my way here. It’s made me feel valuable in a way I hadn’t felt since the accident. So thank you. All of you.”
The moment threatened to become too emotional, and Devlin broke the tension by raising his beer. “To Mary! May her new house always be warm, her beer always be cold, and her administrative skills continue to save our asses!”
Everyone laughed and raised their own drinks, and the conversation shifted to lighter topics. But Mary noticed that throughout her story, Bert had barely moved. He’d sat on the edge of the deck railing, his blue eyes fixed on her, and she’d felt the weight of his attention like a physical thing.
He’d listened to every word as if committing it to memory, his expression cycling through emotions she couldn’t quite read. Concern… definitely. Anger at what had happened to her. But also something that looked almost like grief, as if her pain had become his pain somehow.
When their eyes met, he didn’t look away. He held her gaze, and something passed between them that made Mary’s breath catch. Understanding, maybe. Or recognition. The acknowledgment that they saw each other, really saw each other, in a way that went beyond friendship.
Someone asked Cole about his latest flight, and the moment broke. Bert looked away, taking a long drink of his beer, and Mary tried to steady her racing heart.
As the sun began to set, painting the sky in shades of orange and pink, the team started gathering their things and saying their goodbyes. They’d done an incredible job, and Mary’s house looked lived-in and welcoming rather than empty and sterile.
Logan and Landon were the first to leave.
Logan was taking the first mission and was leaving for Alaska in the morning.
Sisco and Devlin left together, arguing about whose turn it was to buy groceries for the bunkhouse.
The Dolby brothers headed out with Todd and Timothy, all of them making plans to hit the bar in town.
Cole had a charter flight the following morning, so he left with a wave and a promise to visit once Mary was fully settled. Casper simply nodded at her and melted into the gathering darkness. Cory and Sadie were the last of the group, and Sadie gave Mary a quick hug.
“Your house is beautiful,” she said. “I’m so happy for you.”
“Thank you for all your help today,” Mary replied, meaning it. “Both of you.”
“Anytime,” Cory said with an easy smile. “That’s what teammates do.”
Then they were gone, and it was just Mary and Bert standing on her deck as the stars began to emerge overhead.