Back to Francesca’s interview, as she stands up and walks out of frame, leaving an empty chair in front of a row of rosebushes. The shot zooms in tight on a golden yellow cluster of blooms.
Garrett Lin:I don’t think Kat and Heath cared about the medals anymore. That’s the truth.
Kirk Lockwood:A few days after the hearing, Heath’s doctors determined it would be safe for him to travel back to the United States.
Security camera footage shows Katarina and Heath arriving incognito at Logan International Airport in Boston. Heath appears thin and weak, and Katarina pushes him in a wheelchair.
Kirk Lockwood:They got back just in time for the birth.
Candid snapshots from the hospital show Bella and Heath cradling their infant daughter. Garrett, Andre, and Kirk take turns holding her too. Finally, the baby is placed in Katarina’s arms. Katarina looks stiff and uncomfortable, but she smiles at Heath.
Garrett Lin:She was so freaking tiny! The most beautiful baby I’d ever seen, and it’s not even close. Bella and Heath decided to name her after our mother. Not the name everyone knew her by, but her given name. Her real name.
A Kiss & Cry post announces the birth of Mei Lin-Rocha and wishes the family well.
Garrett Lin:I figured we’d all go back to California. But when my sister told us what she had in mind, she shocked everyone.
Kirk Lockwood:Bella didn’t want her baby raised in the Hollywood limelight like she and Garrett had been. So she decided to move to Illinois and start a new skating school there.
Garrett Lin:There had never been some great romance between Bella and Heath, but they turned out to be great co-parents. And Kat was a surprisingly excellent stepmom.
Ellis Dean:I’m not saying they were a throuple, but it seemed like they were a throuple.
Garrett Lin:As for Kat and Heath…I won’t claim they lived happily ever after. I’d say they’d proven, though, to themselves and everyone else, nothing could keep them apart for long.
Producer(Offscreen): So what do you think is the true legacy of Katarina Shaw and Heath Rocha?
Jane Currer:They had such promise, and it’s a shame they never lived up to it.
Kirk Lockwood:I’ve noticed definite changes in ice dance over the past ten years. More skaters taking creative control, asserting agency, pushing the limits of the sport. I can’t say it was all due to Shaw and Rocha’s influence, but they certainly had an impact.
Inez Acton:Katarina Shaw set an example for women—not only female athletes, women everywhere—that you can speak your mind, do things your own way, and win on your terms.
Ellis Dean:Kat and Heath were themselves, always. Whether you loved them or hated them, you sure as hell couldn’t ignore them.
Nicole Bradford:Even as children, they were sointense.That was their greatest strength, and their greatest weakness. But they loved each other, and they loved skating. I think that’s what people will remember most: their love.
Garrett Lin:I don’t like that question. You’re making it sound like they’re dead or something. As far as I’m concerned, if you think Katarina Shaw and Heath Rocha are done, you don’t know them at all. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re just getting started.
Epilogue
“Oh my god, did you watch it?”
The sun isn’t even up yet, and two girls sit beside the rink, lacing their skates.
“Yes.It waswild,right?”
They’re too busy gossiping to notice my presence. I ease the door shut behind me and lean against it, listening to their animated voices ping back and forth.
“The part about the thorns in her boots?Ouch.”
“That Francesca lady seems super sus. The way she stormed off at the end?”
“Totally. Oh! And what about that video of Coach Shaw throwing a chair at—”
“You think that was wild?” I say.
The girls startle at the sound of my voice. They’re so young. They remind me of myself and Bella—except we never spooked that easily.
