Dance of a Lifetime

by Frank Downey

  * * *

  Before the Original Dance, there was another day off for the dancers, and the arena was given over to the Men's long program.

  Yuri Ganyavin was brilliant. He had won two World Championships before the previous year, when he was usurped by teammate Viktor Bondarchenko. Ganyavin had fell to third in those championships. However, he had started the Olympic year with a fire in his belly and it had never let up. He won everything he entered, and when the Olympics finally arrived he was not to be denied.

  To the delight of Warren and Sophia, Jack Garrison chose the Olympic stage to skate the long program of his life. Skating to music by Beethoven, Jack combined power and grace, artistry and jumps. He wasn't quite as good as Ganyavin, but he was close.

  Bondarenko, the last skater of the night, still had a chance to defeat Ganyavin, but he didn't handle the pressure. Downgrading a quad to a triple and stepping out of a triple axel sealed his fate. In fact, he only finished third. Yuri Ganyavin became the Olympic champion, and a thrilled Jack Garrison took home a sliver medal.

  * * *

  They talked about the OD over breakfast the next day. They wanted to win. Bradochkina and Zhargov had not been defeated in any phase of any competition since the last Olympics. Every compulsory, every Original Dance, every Free dance--every one they had entered, they had won. Warren and Sophia wanted to end that. They thought they had the best Original Dance in the world. They wanted to prove it.

  "I'm nervous," Sophia told Warren that afternoon.

  "Don't be, Pookie. We're going to be fine."

  "I know. I can't help it. I just am."

  "You need a diversion."

  "What, sex? I think it's a little late for that," Sophia said.

  "I suppose you're right."

  "Hey, when we get to the rink and get into the swing of things, you'll be fine. I guarantee it."

  "OK."

  They both took a little nap, and then headed off to the rink

  Chapter 100 - Answering All The Questions

  Warren and Sophia were in the final group for the OD--in fact, they were the very last skaters to skate. However, they showed up early--they liked to do that--and the third-to-last group had only just got underway when they arrived.

  They locked up their belongings, and met in the hallway in the bowels of the arena. There were various rooms off of the corridor. Warren looked around and found a room that the volunteers used to rest. It was deserted. He led Sophia into it.

  "What are we doing here, Snugglebear?"

  "I wanted a quiet moment. Do you know what today is?"

  "Sure, it's OD day," Sophia giggled.

  "It's also Valentine's Day."

  "Damn! You're right, it is. What with the Olympics and all, I had completely forgotten."

  "I have something for you," Warren told her.

  "Oh, sweetie," Sophia said happily. They sat on a couch in the room.

  "First of all, I want you to know this has nothing to do with the baby. I planned this long before we knew about the baby. I've been planning this before Christmas. I almost gave you this at Christmas, but I figured here and now would be a better place, because it's Valentine's Day and skating means so much to us."

  Sophia was befuddled. "Warren, what are you talking about?"

  "This." He reached into his pocket, and withdrew a jewelry box. He held it out in front of her, and opened it. Inside was a perfect, one-carat, diamond ring.

  "Sophia Daniels," Warren said, "will you marry me?"

  Sophia couldn't speak. Her eyes grew to the size of saucers, as she stared at the ring. "Oh my God," she whispered. Her hands were shaking as she looked from the ring to Warren's expectant face, and the hint of tears formed in her eyes. Suddenly, she launched herself at Warren and wrapped her arms tightly around his shoulders.

  "I have been dreaming of hearing you say those words for five years," she whispered in his ear.

  "Can I take that as a 'yes'?" he asked with a smile.

  "YES!" She disengaged from him, and faced him, holding out her left hand.

  "Move the claddagh ring to the right hand, Pookie," Warren told her. She did so, and held out her hand again. Warren took the ring out of the box and put it on her hand.

  "I did good with the size," Warren observed. It fit perfectly.

  "You did good, period, my love," she told him. She held her hand up to her face. "My God, it's so beautiful," she sighed.

  "No more beautiful than the girl wearing it," Warren told her.

  "Flatterer."

  "That's my job."

  "You just keep doing it." She sighed. "Warren, I love you."

  "I love you, too."

  "Hey," Sophia said, "I wonder if we can get into the stands! We need to tell our parents, and Liz, and Jack, and all them!"

  "Let's see."

  They walked out of the room. "Hell, I want to tell the world!" Sophia enthused. Warren giggled, and said, "I know what you mean. I've had that ring for two months and haven't told a soul. It was not easy."

  They turned a corner, and Warren said, "Hey, there's some people to tell." They walked down the corridor, hand-in-hand, heading towards the knot of people they saw in front of them--Bradochkina and Zhargov, Nicholas and Coleman, and Damphier and Gaudler.

  "Hey, is Varren and Sophia," Olga said. "You guys ready?"

  "You betcha," Warren said.

  "Handling the nerves OK?" Steve Coleman asked them.

  "Yeah, we found a way to deal with them. We just needed a distraction," Warren said.

  "What kind of a distraction?" Christian Gaudler asked.

  "Oh, instead of brooding about skating, we decided to get engaged instead," Sophia said. She held out her hand.

  Renee and Sharon screamed. Olga appraised the ring. "Good taste, Varren," she judged. "Substantial, but not too gaudy." Congratulations were spread all around.

  "Na zdarovya," Nikolai Zhargov said. Sophia looked at him in confusion.

  "Congratulations, roughly translated," Warren told her. "Spacibo, Nikolai."

  "We have to see if we can get to the stands. Our parents don't know," Warren said. He and Sophia were off.

  They were back in a minute. "The security guard wouldn't let us get by, and we couldn't tell him why we wanted to get by, because neither of us speaks French," Sophia said depressedly.

  "Come on," Renee Damphier told them. "I speak fluent French." She wasn't lying; she explained to the security guard why they wanted to get up in the stands. He smiled, said something in French, and let them by. "He says to come back here so he can let you back in," Renee told them.

  "Thanks!"

  They went up into the stands. Luckily, they got there in between the third-last group and the second-last group. The Zamboni was on the ice and the next group hadn't even come out for warm-up yet. The people associated with the US skating team--other skaters, family--were all in one section. Warren and Sophia found it. A lot of their friends were in the middle of the section; their parents were in the front.

  Sophia and Warren stood in front of the section.

  "Hey!" Jim Kelleher asked. "Look, it's Sophia and Warren! What are you guys doing here."

  "You'll find out in a minute." Sophia said. "Hey, Liz! Jack! Chris, you guys!" Their friends stopped chatting and looked over at them. "Hey, guys--Mom, Dad, Dan, Mr. and Mrs. Kelleher--we got an announcement to make."

  "What?" yelled down Liz. Sophia, with a big smile on her face, held up her left hand. Sophia's mom jumped out of her seat, screaming, as did Liz Cushman. All of their friends and family members crowded around them, offering congratulations, asking about how Warren did it, and admiring the ring. As the skaters in the second-to-last group took the ice for the warm-up, Warren and Sophia slipped back under the stands.

  Liz Cushman thought a bit, then walked over to the TV booth. She knew all the TV people, of course, and told one of the assistants that she wanted to talk to Dave Burrows, longtime color commentator and former Olympic champion himself.


  "Good evening, Elizabeth, what can I do for you?"

  "Hi, Dave. Want a scoop for the broadcast?"

  "Always!"

  "Sophia Daniels and Warren Kelleher just got engaged. He asked her to marry him under the stands about 20 minutes ago."

  "On Valentine's Day? Isn't that romantic!"

  "Yeah, it is."

  "Well, since she's pregnant, that was probably a good thing!"

  "Yeah," Liz agreed, "but he was going to do it anyway. They're just going to have a shorter engagement now. All of our friends knew this was coming sooner or later," she grinned.

  "Too true. You just have to see them skate to figure that out. Thanks for the scoop, Liz, we'll tell America."

  "My pleasure, Dave."

  * * *

  The first of the contenders to skate in the OD were Yatserova and Vaglach, the second Russian team, and they weren't all that impressive. The British couple, Breneman and Watts, were good--Sophia and Warren thought that they were better than the Russians, but they were placed behind them. Damphier and Gaudler, the Canadians, were fantastic, and moved into the lead--but only for a few minutes, as Bradochkina and Zhargov passed them. Sharon Nicholas and Steve Coleman were next, and were very impressive. In fact, they were placed ahead of Yatserova and Vaglach. Sophia and Warren were amazed by that development--maybe the judging was fair. That was reinforced when the French, Borisina and Dravouche, fell, and were actually marked down for it--they were way back in sixth place.

  That only left one team to skate--Warren and Sophia.

  "Well, future Mrs., Kelleher," Warren said to her as they took the ice, "shall we show these people how a Swing OD is supposed to be done?"

  "You betcha!"

  That's exactly what they did. "If You Can't Rock Me" started, and Sophia and Warren were dead-on right from the start. They stayed right with the music, executing their difficult and intricate steps with ease. Their enthusiasm and speed, always good, was even better tonight. The side-by-side step sequence, the hardest part of the program, was perfect. As they ended, the crowd was on its feet. They pumped their fists in triumph, embraced, took their bows, and practically danced off the ice.

  "My God in heaven," Kathy intoned. "You guys should get engaged before every program!"

  The marks came up. They were great--but Warren and Sophia were looking for the ordinals. They came up. One third--from the Russian judge, no big surprise--two seconds, and the rest were firsts. They had won the Original Dance.

  The first person to congratulate them when they got off the ice was Olga Bradochkina. "Congratulations, darlings," Olga said, giving both of them the two-cheeks Russian kiss, "you deserved that. Great skating."

  "Thanks, Olga," Sophia said. "That's very classy of you. I know you can't be happy about losing a phase for the first time in four years."

  "Eh," Olga shrugged, "we'll get you in the free." They all laughed at that. "I was sincere--you deserved this. I watched it. And I am classy--the American media just don't know that!"

  Dave Burrows did the interview for the TV network. "Let's see, you beat Bradochkina and Zhargov, which nobody's done in four years. You win the Original Dance. And, before hand, you got engaged. I think this would qualify as a good night, yes?"

  Sophia laughed. "You know about the engagement? Jeez, Dave, I've always been told you know everything that goes on in skating, but..."

  Dave smiled at her. "Your friend Elizabeth Cushman made a point of coming up to tell us, so we could announce it on the broadcast."

  "Good ol' Liz," Warren smiled. "We don't mind, but the only problem is some dear friends of ours probably found out from you. Guys, this just happened. Really. We planned to call all of you."

  "Oh, and Jessica?" Sophia said to the camera. "Get ready to be a maid of honor!"

  "Now, back to the skating--you guys are in second place, but could win the gold if you win the free dance."

  "Never happen," Warren laughed. "We'll be happy to stay on the podium. In fact, we'll be delirious."

  "No international judging panel has seen our free dance, since we've only done it at Nationals," Sophia told him. "It's a bit out of the ordinary, and we're just hoping we don't get hammered for it."

  "We love it, and we think the folks watching will love it. We don't know about the judges," Warren added.

  "So, we just want to skate our best and see what happens. Quite frankly, Dave, we're having way too much fun to worry about placements and medals," Sophia said.

  "Ah, that's right, it's your first Olympics," Dave said. "Besides the whole getting engaged thing, are you enjoying yourselves? Getting out to some of the events?"

  "Yeah," Warren said. "We've seen skiing, bobsled. After we're done tomorrow, we have tickets to the ski jumping the next day, and we're really looking forward to it."

  "We saw the Men's Downhill a week ago, and somehow found ourselves in the midst of a bunch of rowdy Austrians cheering for Gerhard Weichenbauer. What a trip that was," Sophia said.

  "Watching ski-racing with a bunch of happy Austrians well-supplied with bratwurst and beer is about the most fun you can have outside in the snow," Warren quipped.

  "And, of course, we watched our friends Andrea and Brett, and Jack Garrison, skate so well. We're also good friends with Jennie Sellers and Denis Poulin, so watching them win was fun," Sophia added.

  "Did Olga Bradochkina say anything to you after the OD?" Dave asked.

  "She was the first person to congratulate us. She's much nicer and more classy than American skating fans realize." Warren told him.

  "Really! Well, congratulations to you two, for the performance and the engagement, and good luck tomorrow night." Dave said.

  "Thanks!"

  Sophia and Warren walked out of the arena, ready to celebrate their skate--and, of course, their engagement.

  Chapter 101 - Skating For Gold

  "So, have you set a date?" Mrs. Kelleher asked Warren and Sophia. They were getting a late supper after the OD.

  "Well, we've got two possibilities. We have to get married in the summer. Late July or August," Warren said.

  "After the tours end, so all our skating friends can be there," Sophia clarified.

  "So," Warren continued, "We have two choices. We can get married this summer, which means we'd get married before the baby came, but Sophia would be walking down the aisle very pregnant. Or, we wait until next summer--which means the baby gets born to unmarried parents, but Sophia won't be getting married in a frilly tent."

  Sophia giggled. "Also, waiting a year gives us more time to plan."

  "So, that's what you're leaning towards?" Peg asked them.

  "Yup. We'll make a final decision after the Olympics," Sophia told her.

  "I'm just so glad it's actually going to happen," Peg smiled.

  "You got that right!" Ellen chimed in.

  Sophia and Warren laughed. "We agree," Sophia said.

  * * *

  Sophia suitemates in the Olympic village, Andrea and Liz, had gone out dancing, giving Sophia and Warren a couple of hours where they wouldn't be disturbing anyone. They enjoyed themselves and each other, and fell asleep in each other's arms.

  Sophia emerged from her room in the morning. "Liz? Andrea? Are you guys here?"

  "Yeah" Liz called from her room.

  "Me too," said Andrea.

  "OK, Warren's here, so you might want to be decent when you emerge," Sophia giggled.

  "Oh, must we?" Andrea joked. They all came out and decided to get some breakfast together.

  "You guys ready?" Liz asked them over breakfast.

  "Yes, we are!" Sophia told her.

  * * *

  Sophia put her hair in rollers after breakfast, while Warren caught them both up on some of the internet postings. Then they were ready to head to the rink.

  The final group had five skaters. Sophia and Warren were smack in the middle, the third pair to skate, after Sharon and Steve and the Canadians, and before the two Russian couples.

  As th
ey took the ice for the warmup, the French were in first. They had been all the way in sixth before the free dance, however, so weren't a factor for the medals.

  The warmup ended, and the final group was ready to skate. Sharon Nicholas and Steve Coleman were the first to skate of the final group. Warren and Sophia liked their program--skated to the soundtrack from some heroic-warrior movie--but knew it had some deficiencies. The judges saw that, too--Steve and Sharon were placed behind the French.

  The Canadians, Renee and Christian, were next. Sophia and Warren made sure to stand by the boards and watched, because they were very fond of the soul/funk free dance that their friends had come up with. It was upbeat, and energetic, and the crowd loved it. Most of the judging panel at least liked it, as seven of the nine judges put them in first place.

  Warren and Sophia took the ice, took their starting positions, and waited for Dire Straits' "Romeo and Juliet" to start. It did, and Warren skated down the length of the ice to meet Sophia, as their program began.

  Compared to Nationals--where they got 7 perfect sixes for the presentation mark--this was better. Technically they had upped the ante a bit more in the weeks after nationals. Artistically, this was a free, uninhibited, attacking performance. They hit each position, performed each step, executed each turn and edge, with an easy grace and style.

  They finished the program in a happy, excited embrace. They skated off, greeted June and Kathy, and waited for their marks.

  "Can't do it any better than that," Kathy told them. The technical marks came up. Mostly 5.7s and a few 5.8s.

  "Not a problem," June said. "These will go up," she said, waiting for the presentation marks.

  They did--in fact, there were three more sixes. They moved into first place on every judge's card.