Ripped - Cassia Leo Page 0,49
begins to flicker again. “I will, baby. I promise. Call me when—”
The screen goes dark and the connection is cut off. The phone must have died.
This is a sign.
I didn’t get to see my twins being born.
This is a sign that I haven’t changed at all since the day Kaia was born ten years ago. And as fucking gut-wrenchingly painful as it will be, I will have to accept that I chose to come here instead of staying there. I chose this life. Surfing didn’t choose me. But that doesn’t mean that I can’t still make a different choice. The right choice.
I shake my head as the tears fall down my face. The words I told the Surfline journalist play on a loop in my mind: Learn how to fail gracefully, then get up and try again.
And just like that, I finally understand what I should have known all along.
I would rather fail gracefully at surfing than fail miserably at taking care of my family.
Seventeen
I manage to fall asleep around four a.m. after staring at the pictures Michael texted me for about three hours straight. Dr. Billings took mercy on me and asked one of the nurses to take some pictures with his personal phone as the twins were being born. I fell asleep while gazing at the images of my twin boys being born.
I wake with an ache in my chest. All I want to do is get home and hold my family in my arms, but I promised Lindsay I’d bring back that trophy, and there’s no way I’m going to let her down this time.
* * *
I’m in the Rip Curl sponsor tent, chatting with Andy, when I hear a very familiar voice behind me cry out, “Knock knock!”
My chest floods with warmth. “Who’s there?” I say without turning around.
“Kaia,” she replies.
“Kaia who?”
“Kaia-bunga, dude!”
I laugh as I spin around and scoop her up into my arms. “Oh, baby, I missed you so much,” I say, squeezing her tightly and burying my face in her pale-blonde curls. “How did you get here?”
Right as I speak the question aloud, my gaze lands on Yuri and Lena, who are standing near the corner of the tent. Lena is balancing Mila on her hip while Yuri stands stoically at her side.
“Uncle Yuri brought us,” Kaia replies. “Daddy, you’re squeezing me too hard.”
I chuckle as I set her down on the sand. “Sorry, baby,” I say, grabbing her hand as Yuri and Lena approach. Lena flashes me a tight smile as she hands Mila over to me.
I squeeze my baby girl tight against my chest, breathing in the scent of her hair. “I missed you girls so much. You can’t imagine how happy I am right now.”
Lena glances at Yuri before she turns back to me. “Lindsay really wanted you to win, so she sent in the troops for some moral support.” She links her arm through Yuri’s and nudges his shoulder.
Yuri finally cracks a smile, but he still doesn’t look at me. “I volunteered to bring them. I thought maybe a couple of nights with Mila would make Lena stop begging me about having kids.”
I laugh as Lena smacks him on the arm. “Mila’s not that bad,” I remark, planting a kiss on Mila’s baby-soft cheek. “As long as you feed her forty ounces of unicorn blood every day.”
Yuri shrugs. “Yeah, seems my plan backfired. Mila wanted to sleep with us last night and now I know why you have four of these devils,” he says, his eyes locking on Lena’s. “It was… something else, seeing those two fall asleep together.”
Lena smiles and squeezes his arm. “Just wait until we have a few of these running around. Then you’ll really be in heaven.”
“A few? You said you wanted one. Now it’s a few?”
I shake my head at their bickering as I set Mila down on the sand. “Hey, thanks for bringing my munchkins. I don’t know how to thank you two. I don’t… I don’t deserve this kindness.”
Yuri finally looks me in the eye without a trace of a smile. “You’re my brother, man. I wouldn’t miss this for the world.”
I nod as I swallow the knot in my throat.
Lena sniffs as she wipes a tear away. “Oh, you two, just hug it out already.”
I laugh as I hold out my hand to Yuri and he takes me into a tight—totally masculine—man-hug.
When I let him go, Mila is holding her arms out for me to pick her up again, but Andy