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amputees who attempted to reach their own goals. Some wore grimaces of pain etched on their faces, others had smiles of triumph, all encouraged their fellow patients as they sweated alongside each other.
    He grinned at his own small achievement. It had been the hardest five-meter walk of his life but the world looked so much better from his normal height. He wasn’t scared any longer and he knew he wouldn’t give up. He could do this now. He would make it alongside so many others whose lives had been altered so irrevocably.
    Two things had to be done immediately. Foremost was to find Steve and grovel for forgiveness. He had to tell him that he was grateful that his life had been saved. A blush of shame covered his features as he remembered shouting at his friend when he’d come to visit him as he recovered from his injuries. David rolled his eyes as his thoughts weighed heavily on him.
    Christ! The man had risked his own life to save him, had suffered burns himself. It had been a bloody miracle that the guy was an expert with the vicious jungle knife he carried everywhere even though it wasn’t standard army issue.
    Steve had understood the bitterness as David had yelled furiously that he should have let him die rather than make him live with half a body and a savagely burned face. The guy had stood stoically and taken every foul word, every caustic lament probably knowing that David would live to regret his ire soon enough. How right the man was. David would track him down as soon as he left that afternoon to make things right.
    The second thing was to get back to work. Sitting about doing nothing wasn’t in his nature and the last months had just proved exactly how miserable it made him. He grinned again as he thought of what Ellen might say as he penned his job acceptance letter. He knew that she would be thrilled for him but he hoped that she would be thrilled for herself too. She could soon start on her business plan and he couldn’t wait to see exactly what she would come up with.

Chapter Five
     
    “Ellen!” David bellowed into the dense forest while his friends unpacked the huge car and admired the majestic château at their backs. A few more minutes passed and he yelled out again. His voice echoed right back at him.
    He ignored his friends’ shouts of astonishment at the magnificence of the old stone building while he waited for a response, worried that she wasn’t there to greet them. Gemma fooled about with Joe and Adam on the wide terrace at the front of the building while James kept pointing a blind Paul in the wrong direction. James howled with laughter as Paul fell into a pile of sand then nearly fell over himself as he tucked his crutches under his arm and hauled his friend from the gritty heap. They brushed each other off as they looked about the place. They had been standing around for more than ten minutes already.
    The French château , nestled deep in the forest was beautiful, everything that Ellen had described and more. It was so atmospheric that he could almost smell the garlic in the air but he was distracted from taking any more notice of his fabulous surroundings by Ellen’s nonappearance. It was so unlike her to be late. She had been so keen for their visit that he was beginning to panic.
    Joe stopped mucking about and let Adam find his way up the ramp before he walked over beside David. He put his hand on his friends shoulder.
    “ Stop worrying Dave. She’s just busy, probably gone to the market for fresh bread or something. Calm down, she’s sure to be back soon,” he reassured his friend quietly as he peered out from his pressure mask.
    David frowned. Joe was probably right but Ellen was nothing if not punctual. He looked down at his watch and shook his head.
    “She’d never be this late. I only spoke to her yesterday morning. She said that she would be right here. She was so excited about us coming and she was desperate to tell me some special news too but she didn’t want to