Chapter 4
Vic and I were preparing for Stars on Ice, which we did almost every spring. It was good to see Kurt and his wife Sonia once again. We had been close friends for years and Vic and I always enjoyed spending time with the two of them. Elvis was doing a tour in the States and our was in Canada, but he flew up every couple of months to spend a few days with me. We didn�t make a huge deal out of our relationship. In fact very few people even knew about it. When Elvis flew up, he didn�t come to the rink. He stayed at the hotel. We didn�t spend a huge amount of time with the rest of the tour because Elvis didn�t know them very well and I preferred to spend time alone with him anyway. In August, Vic married Maikki and I thanked him again for doing me such a huge favour. I still hadn�t told our coach, Tatiana, that I was taking the fall off in order to have a baby. He had solved my dilemma of how to break the news, by politely informing the coach that he was taking part of August off to go on his honeymoon and that he wouldn�t be back �till mid November. Tatiana was definitely not happy but what could she do about it? We continued to skate until Vic left in August. The morning sickness continued and it was all I could do to drag myself out of bed in the morning. At our skating practices, which naturally had to start at dawn, Vic would tell me that I looked decidedly green. Well I certainly felt green! By the time November arrived I was very, very big. And awkward. And definitely uncomfortable. My due date was November 20th. On the tenth Elvis flew up to make sure that he�d be around for when I went into labour. Just I went to bed on November 14th it started. The labour pains. Elvis was lying on the couch watching TV. Tapping him lightly on the shoulder I calmly informed him, �It�s time to go to the hospital.� �Really?� he inquired nervously. �Yes. And don�t worry, everything will be fine,� I smiled, �We�re going to be parents in a few hours so could you please go start the car?� He rushed to do as I�d asked while I went back into my bedroom to get the small bag of essentials I�d packed earlier in the week. We arrived at the hospital just after midnight. I was placed in a room and Elvis went to call Vic who had gotten back from his honeymoon a week earlier and had asked to be informed when I went into labour. ~Elvis' POV~ Shae remained calm and collected, apart from the occasional moan at the start of a contraction, as she was wheeled into a double room while we waited for her to become, suitably dilated, as the doctors put it. I was not nearly as calm. I was pacing back and forth along the hallways, hyperventilating the entire time. I wasn�t patient enough to go and sit with Shae, figuring that in my agitated state I would do her more harm than good. I watched, somewhat concerned as the lady in the room with her, who had arrived slightly after us, was wheeled into the delivery room. �Shae, weren�t we hear first?� She was lying on the bed in a hospital gown that did nothing for her beautiful blonde hair, flipping channels on the small television set in an almost bored manner. �Yeah. The doctors say that I�m progressing very slowly.� I wondered back out into the hall, leaving Shae to watch Titanic in peace. Another woman was admitted to Shae�s room, and was taken on to the delivery room. After this process was repeated another two times, I ventured in again. �Sweetie, how�s everything going?� �Hush! This is my favourite scene!� Apparently the hall was the only safe place. Finally, after another few hours, the doctors finally pronounced Shae fit to be moved to the delivery room. I tagged along, stopping only to receive an antibacterial gown from a nurse. The birth was, as I see it, the crowning achievement of my career. It was a magical event that I will never clearly remember, but will also never forget. The doctor handed Shae a tiny, blanket wrapped parcel, informing us that we had a beautiful baby girl. �Shania Jessica Stojko,� Shae announced immediately, �It�s only fitting, don�t you think? Her father was named after the king of rock�� My only response was an ear to ear grin. When I first held my daughter, I experienced something I�d never felt before. I counted all ten perfect little toes and gazed into her beautiful brown eyes. She was mine, and I loved her. No matter what she did in the future, that would never change. ~Shae�s POV~ Elvis passed Shania back to me, and hurried out to the waiting room, where Jamie, David, and Victor were eagerly awaiting any news. They all entered my room moments later, and my little bundle of joy was inspected by everyone. Elvis came, and perched next to me on the bed. We still had one important thing left to do. I glanced up at him, and receiving a nod of encouragement turned to the people in front of me. �Jamie, Victor? Elvis and I were hoping that you�d agree to be Shania�s godparents. �Hee! I�ve always wanted to be a Godmother!� Jamie enthused. Victor�s reply was calmer, he gave a simple nod. �Well, that�s settled. Now I would like to spend some time alone with my daughter. Shoo people.� * * * ~Elvis�s POV~ I flew back to the tour as soon as Shae and my daughter Shania left the hospital. As much as I wanted to be there with the two of them I had a job to do. Before I had flown up to visit Shae-Lynn once every couple of months. Now I made a vow to myself that I would fly up twice every month. I really wanted to be a part of Shania�s life. I loved her and her mother and I wanted to be with them as much as possible. How much was possible? * * * ~Shae-Lynn�s POV~ Less than a week after Shania and I got home, I was back on the ice training my butt off. I�d let Vic down by getting pregnant and I wasn�t about to do it again. For these training sessions I had no choice but to bring Shania along. My coaches, Tatiana Tarasova and Nikolai Morozov, watched curiously the first time I excused myself from the ice to go and quiet my crying daughter. �So that�s why Vic went on such a long honeymoon,� Tatiana observed dryly when I got back on the ice. Nikolai looked very upset. I couldn�t figure out why. Could he possibly be jealous? We�d been on a couple of dates before I started seeing Elvis but the relationship had never gotten serious. �How old is he?� Tatiana asked me. �She is ten days old.� Vic smiled and took my hand. �Do you think we could get back to skating now?� He said plaintively. Days turned into weeks, Shania got bigger and Tatiana finally decided on what music Vic and I would be skating our free dance to. We practiced every day for hours so that we would be somewhat prepared for our first competition of the season. Normally we had our music picked out by September so we were really very far behind. * * * ~Elvis�s POV~ I was back at the Canadians, primarily because Shae had told me that she needed me to look after Shania. I also kind of wanted to see who would take the crown that had been mine for so many years. I thought that Emanuel stood the best chance; after all he had been second for ages. Then again he was coming back from an injury and that Jeff Brown had finally mastered the quad� This was shaping up to be an interesting competition. I had no doubt that Shae and Vic could pull of their tenth national title, despite the fact that they hadn�t started practicing until part way through November. Patricia and Martin were good but I couldn�t see how they could beat Shae-Lynn. For the compulsories Shania and I sat in the back of the stands. I was wearing a toque and hoping that no one would recognize me. I didn�t want to be forced to answer any embarrassing questions. Like I had been certain they would, Shae and Vic were in first after the compulsories, but not by much at all. Then in the original dance Shae-Lynn tripped. It was a relatively small error but it was enough to move her and Vic into second going into the free. Shae was devastated. She knew it was her fault that they were sitting in second and she felt that she had disappointed Vic. Vic was much more optimistic about their chances. �It�s only the OD, we can still win this. The Free is our strongest dance. We are going to win this!� he reassured her quietly. Well they did. No surprises there. In the men�s short Emanuel skated cleanly and was placed in first; with Jeff hot on his tail. Then in the long Emanuel landed a triple lutz on his butt halfway through the program. Jeff was up next. He skated a magnificent program landing his quad and six triples. Jeff was off to the Worlds as the Canadian Champion! Finally it was time for the women�s event. Shae and I sat together for this one. Jennifer Robinson had been planning on retiring at the end of the previous season but had stayed in for one more year. She skated beautifully and won the competition. Joannie Rochette also skated a magnificent program reserving her a spot on the World Team. A week later I was back on tour once again. Shae was busy training for the Worlds and I didn�t get to see as much of her as I would have liked. I called her all the time and visited as often as I could. Since we were both really busy training Shania was spending a couple weeks with Shae-Lynn�s mother. We didn�t like not having her around but it was the only practical thing to do. Shae wouldn�t be prepared for Worlds if she couldn�t get any sleep.
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