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She came off the ice and hugged Amber.
"You did so well," Amber said. "I'm incredibly proud of you."
"Thank you. I'm proud of myself."
They watched as Hua Ping and Olena Brutka skated. There was something off about Ping's performance, and it was glaringly obvious. Amber thought she might be nursing an injury, because her jumps weren't as high, and she stumbled on one. That just wasn't like her, since Ping was always technically proficient. Plus, she had no luster.
It showed in her scores, too. She dropped quite a bit, down to sixth, which helped Tia's positioning.
Brutka skated well and ended up getting decent scores. But Amber knew she could do better.
Amber changed into her skating outfit. She stared into the full-length mirror, making sure her hair was perfectly done. She wore the front part of her hair braided, the back falling straight. All the beading on her outfit had been set to perfection. Her outfit was lavender and blue, the beading made to look like a starry sky.
She was skating tonight to rock music, and she intended to rock the entire arena.
She inhaled a deep breath, let it out, then repeated the action.
She had waited a lifetime for this moment. This was her last chance.
And now it was time to find out if the past four years of preparation, if her new program, was worth all that effort she'd put into it.
Yegor braced his hands on her shoulders.
"You have prepared four years for this," he said. "No one is more talented than you, more confident than you. I believe in you. Now go and show the world your magic."
She nodded and made her way onto the ice, taking in the cheers of the crowd. She set her toe pick into the ice, waited for the queue of the music. When it started up, so did she.
Normally she didn't think at all during a performance. She just went through the motions, prepared for one jump, went into the other, making sure she had it all in line.
Tonight was different.
She was loved, and she was going to let that love flow through her, to show the audience what it felt like.
She'd always held herself in check. Tonight she let her emotions free, showing the beauty, the angst, the uncertainty of love.
She felt it from her skates all the way to the tips of her fingertips--the power of it as she flew into a triple axel and followed it up with a triple flip. She sailed out of that and swirled over the ice, letting her heart take over, showing the audience and the judges the freedom of love as she spun out of control.
Only she had the control, and when she came out, she went on, hoping she showed the audience how beautiful love was, how it could change someone. How Will had changed her, how he'd opened her up.
She'd never felt this free, had never skated so openly before. Each jump felt so easy, each connection an extension of her skates.
When she finished, she glided onto one knee on the ice, raised her hands and her face toward the rafters, and expressed the joy on her face.
She knew love. She was loved. She was happy.
The music stopped and the crowd noise was incredible. She rose to her feet and smiled, waved and knew she had given it her very best.
Win or lose, she was satisfied. She waved to the crowd and skated off.
Yegor and Valeria were there to hug her and accompany her to the waiting area.
"That was the best I have ever seen you skate," Yegor said.
She smiled. "Thank you. I felt really good about it."
Valeria kissed both of her cheeks. "You were magnificent."
She squeezed Valeria's hand. "Thank you."
They sat and the waiting began. Her heart pounded and her pulse raced. She had all the control when she skated. But the judges had all the control now.
"You will receive very high scores," Yegor whispered in her ear.
She hoped she wasn't setting herself up for disappointment. But she knew she'd done the best she could, the best she'd ever skated. It had to be enough.
When the scores came up, her eyes widened, her entire body and mind in shock.
She'd never scored that high before. The marks for both technical and program elements were higher than she'd ever received. Her hands flew to her cheeks and she looked over at Yegor, who nodded at her.
"I told you. High marks."
"I cannot believe this. Did it just happen?"
Valeria rubbed her back. "Believe it. Believe in yourself. You were wonderful."
"And now you are in first place."
She could hardly breathe. Now only one thing stood between her and the gold medal she'd worked all these years for.
Sasha Petrova.
And she had no control over that, either.
Amber knew that for Sasha to beat her, she'd have to skate a flawless program. She'd let Yegor figure out the math on what it would take, because Amber wanted to take these last few minutes and float on that cloud of bliss. Her entire program had been an out-of-body experience.
She had Will to thank for that.
Okay, that wasn't entirely true. Will had given her additional motivation, but she'd skated the program of her life. She had to give herself the credit. It had been her on those skates, feeling those feelings and translating them into what she felt was a beautiful performance.
She was proud of herself.
But now it was time to watch Sasha.
Amber tried to watch Sasha skate from a dispassionate angle. There was no doubt she was technically proficient, and her jumps were very good. But Amber just couldn't be objective where Sasha was concerned. She mentally picked out every perceived flaw--probably even where there weren't any--hoping to ascertain where the judges might take off some points.
She wanted to walk away, not watch, but Sasha's performances were always mesmerizing. She drew you in with her magical movements, then made you gasp with the height and perfection of her jumps.
Amber felt the gold slipping away with every minute of Sasha's performance. There was no way she could match that level of precision.
But she thought back to her own performance. She'd skated better than she ever had. She'd been flawless, too, and she knew her program had a level of magic that had captured the audience.
She closed her eyes and clasped her hands together.
Believe in yourself, Amber.
She was just as good as Sasha Petrova. No, tonight she had been better. She had to believe that.
As was typical, Sasha received loud applause and cheers from the audience. She had skated a great program. Was it flawless? Amber didn't know since it wasn't possible for her to be objective. Not tonight, anyway.
All she could do was wait until Sasha's scores came up.
No matter what, Amber would receive a medal. Considering the talented figure skaters here, that was amazing. She was thrilled.
Yegor came up behind her and laid his hands on her shoulders, both of them watching and waiting for Sasha's scores to come up. It seemingly took forever. Amber knew Sasha was nervous as well.
When the scores went up, Amber just stared.
Oh, God.
She felt the squeeze of Yegor's fingers on her shoulders, but she was numb. She heard the roar of the crowd, but it seemed as if they were far, far away, that she wasn't even in the ice arena any longer.
She'd just won a gold medal.
Her lifelong dream ha
d finally come true.
Yegor turned her around and picked her up in his arms. She was already crying. Valeria was crying. Yegor hugged her, and when he put her down, there were tears in his eyes.
"You were magnificent tonight," Yegor said. "You fought for it and earned the gold medal."
Valeria hugged her next. "I'm so proud of you, moya myla divchyna."
Valeria had often called her "my sweet girl" in Ukrainian when she was little, but now it made the tears prick her eyes again. She squeezed Valeria around the waist. "Thank you. Thank you both. I couldn't have done this without you."
"Go out and wave to the people. They want to see you."
She nodded, swiped at the tears, then walked out to wave at the crowd, who burst into applause and cheers.
It was an incredible moment and she soaked it in, because it was one she'd never forget.
After, she did several quick media interviews, then went over to congratulate Sasha, who had won the silver medal, and Olena, who'd won the bronze.
"You were amazing," Sasha said, giving her a hug. "I have never seen you skate so well. You deserve the gold tonight."
"Thank you," she said. "You are very hard to beat."
Sasha smiled. "That is a very nice compliment."
Since Sasha was only twenty, Amber knew she'd be back in four years. Amber wouldn't.
This was the end-of-game competition for her. But she'd gotten what she wanted.
Tia came up to her and hugged her. "Oh, I'm so happy for you."
Even Tia was crying. "Thank you. And congratulations on fourth place. That's amazing."
Tia smiled. "Thank you. My coach said for my first time it's very good."
"It is very good. In four years when you come back, you'll be on the medal stand."
Tia squeezed her hand. "Thank you for that."
When she stood on the medal stand and that gold medal was draped around her neck, she fought back tears again. She'd waited a lifetime for this, and when the national anthem played, she put her hand over her heart and let the tears fall freely. She was so proud to represent her country, and she hoped she'd made the US proud.
She did several interviews with networks and journalists after the medal ceremony. It was nearly midnight by the time she finished. When she grabbed her phone, she saw several text messages from her mother and father. Her mother had also left her a voice mail. She had several text messages from Will.
She texted Will: You still up?
He replied right away with: Hell, yeah. Been waiting for you. Where are you?
She sent him a reply letting him know she was leaving the arena. He told her he was on his way to meet her. She smiled at that. Then she sent a text message to her mother letting her know she was just now getting out of the arena after interviews, that she was exhausted, and she'd call her first thing in the morning, so they could meet for breakfast.
