The last several days hadn’t been all practice. Once they’d finally gotten out of bed, Micah had taken her to see the sights: the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, and the 9/11 Memorial had been their first stops, Micah teasingly saying he felt like a tourist instead of an actual New Yorker. She’d let him feed her junk food from some of his favorite places to eat; the most memorable were Coney dogs from a street vendor.
In so many ways, it had been a magical week. Not only had she enjoyed her trip to New York immensely, but she’d been able to share all of those things with Micah.
“Ready?” he asked, looking more nervous than she was.
She reached for his hand and nodded, leading him toward the exit of the small preparation room.
She couldn’t hear the madness of the crowd as they approached the area where she’d wait her turn, but she knew it was probably loud. People were screaming from the stands, standing up every time the skater on the ice landed a jump.
Knowing she was up next, she took the covers off her blades, smiling as she saw so many of her friends sitting in the front row. She bent down to hug each one of them. All of the Sinclairs were present with their wives. Jason and Hope also had a front-row seat beside Liam, the chair next to her brother sadly empty, even though Tessa knew that Micah had given her brother two tickets.
Beatrice and Elsie had Julian between them, Micah’s brother having no choice but to listen to them.
“Beatrice, I think you can have these back now,” Micah told the elderly woman as Tessa hugged her.
Beatrice blinked at him in surprise as she held out her hand to receive the two Apache tear stones from his hand. “Why, yes. It does look like you two don’t need them anymore.” She winked knowingly at Micah, and he smiled back at her.
Beatrice promptly gave one of the rocks to Julian, then reached across him to give the other one to Kristin. “I think they’re going to the right place now.”
Tessa looked at Micah, then watched the expressions of horror on Julian’s and Kristin’s faces as they tried to give the stones back to Beatrice. She was having none of it, so they both put the rocks in their pockets without looking at each other.
Julian and . . . Kristin?
Tessa thought they were an unlikely pair, since they didn’t even get along, but no more unusual than her and Micah. She was learning to respect Beatrice’s wisdom without questioning it anymore. Really, she almost wished the elderly woman had given one of those stones to Liam, but she guessed that it still wasn’t his time.
She took a deep breath before she walked to the door that led out to the ice.
“Everything will be fine, Tessa,” Micah said, carefully tugging her head back using the French braid that had been carefully crafted not long ago.
Micah kissed her, careful not to mess up her hair or smudge her makeup.
When they surfaced, she replied, “I know it will be. Everything I do, every move I make during the performance, I’m doing for you.”
This skate would be a celebration of the happiness she’d found with Micah. Maybe they hadn’t figured everything out, but it didn’t matter.
“That’s your cue, sweetheart.” Micah nodded subtly at the ice.
She knew they’d just called her name, and she stepped out onto the slick surface, taking a warm-up lap before taking her posed position facing Micah.
All she had to do was wait for his signal to start.
I love you. He mouthed the words right before giving her the okay to start.
It seemed so strange for her world to be completely silent when she knew, between the arena and viewers on the TV, she had millions of people watching her. There was a full audience, yet she couldn’t hear a single one of them yelling or clapping from the stands.
Peace flowed over her soul as she got caught up in the joy of skating, her movements flowing as she set up for her first jump combination.
She landed the two jumps in succession flawlessly, effortlessly, growing more confident as she made move after move without a problem.
Checking Micah’s signals, she knew that she was flowing with the music, even as she picked up the tempo, doing a few choreographed sassy little moves as the speed of her routine grew faster.
Throughout the performance, she skated with happiness, a joy like she’d never experienced, trying to use her body to convey her emotions.
I have a man who loves me exactly as I am.
That realization freed her, elevated her until she felt like she was flying as she leapt into the air for her final jump, landing it lightly and perfectly.
She was panting and out of breath as she finished the routine with her usual flamboyant stance, holding the position for a moment before she covered her face with her hands and cried.
I did it. I finished without a flaw.
She made a small circle, her hands still over her face. Then, she made herself move her hands and started waving to a crowd who were all on their feet, even though everything was silent.
The air in the stadium vibrated with enthusiasm and excitement. She couldn’t hear it, but she could feel it.
Tessa startled as a body slammed against her, and she turned quickly only to realize it was Micah. He was on his skates, an enormous bouquet of roses in his arms.
“These are for you,” he told her, laying all but one carefully on the ice. “This one is from me.”
She reached out to take it with a tearful smile on her face, not noticing there was something attached as she accepted the gift from him. Then, when she had it in her hand, she saw it. Simultaneously, Micah dropped onto the ice on one knee, looking up at her.
He started to sign, putting emphasis on every movement he made.