“Heath.”
Bella’s voice broke across the sound of his name, and it was so vulnerable, so intimate, I felt like I had no right to witness it.
I peered down the hall. Where were the medics? What the hell was taking so long?
When I turned back, Heath was embracing Bella, his face buried in her hair.
His palm pressed to her abdomen.
Before I could fully process the moment, the medical team rushed in.
“Her blood pressure is extremely elevated,” the lead medic reported after a few minutes of ministrations. “She needs to go to the emergency room.”
Bella seemed to flare back to life. “No, no, they’re skating soon. Can’t it wait?”
We’d missed the introductions and the warm-up. The first skaters in the final group were already on the ice, the muffled melody of their One Direction program music providing a strangely cheerful counterpoint to the drama unfolding backstage.
“I’m afraid not, dear. The ambulance is on its way.”
I glanced at Heath. He didn’t take his eyes off Bella.
How had I missed it, all these months? The connection between them. The love. Maybe not the same love he and I had felt for each other, but love all the same.
“You should go with her,” I said.
Now he looked my way. But Bella was the one who spoke.
“I’ll befine.You have to skate. This is your last chance.”
Applause rumbled as the team finished their free dance. Then, in the silence afterward: the wail of approaching sirens.
I knew we were thinking about eight years before in St. Louis, another ambulance racing toward another arena. Another difficult choice that wasn’t really a choice at all.
Maybe Bella was right. Maybe itwasour last chance. All I knew was, I couldn’t ask Heath to choose me this time.
“Go,” I told him. “I’ll be right behind you.”
Kirk Lockwood:I assumed their sudden withdrawal was due to Heath’s injury. They were real tight-lipped about it, but anyone could tell he was struggling.
NBC’s coverage of the 2014 U.S. National Championships cuts away from the competition to show an ambulance pulling up to the TD Garden arena in Boston, Massachusetts.
Kirk Lockwood:Then I got a report that Bella Lin was being rushed to Mass General.
Bella is wheeled out on a stretcher and loaded into the ambulance. Heath climbs in beside her.
Ellis Dean:I said I wouldn’t write about it on the blog, and I didn’t. Well, not right away.
The ambulance drives off, leaving Katarina standing alone, snowflakes swirling around her.
Garrett Lin:Andre and I were watching the broadcast back in the Bay Area. As soon as we saw Bella, I started packing, and Andre got on the phone to book airline tickets.
Francesca Gaskell:I didn’t know what was going on until after Evan and I had already skated. That was probably for the best. Maybe that sounds heartless—but I know Bella, and she would have wanted me to focus on competing, not worrying about her.
Jane Currer:The Olympic team selection was scheduled to take place immediately following the competition. And once again, at the last possible second, Katarina Shaw and Heath Rocha threw everything into doubt.
Katarina emerges from the dressing room in casual clothes with her hair back in a messy knot, though she hasn’t washed off her free dance makeup. A horde of reporters waits for her.
“Katarina! What happened tonight?”
