When Charlie Davies talks about fatherhood, he flashes those beautiful white teeth that shine. It’s a smile that makes you smile. The 29-year-old forward for the New England Revolution has become famous for that smile, but this version is different.
This isn’t the playful, boyish grin that graced the cover of magazines and newspapers and twinkles on the highlight reels of the goals he’s scored (and celebrations that followed). This is a mature smile, refined and restrained, gentler but still vibrant, strong and comforting. His eyes gleam when he parts his lips and tilts his head gently backwards. This isn’t a smile for the cameras. This is the smile of a man who’s recently become a father to twin boys.
“I’ve always wanted it and been ready for it, but when I really mentally decided I want them now was last year,” Davies says. “I just felt like this is the time where I feel that I am ready to be a father. My wife, soon after, thought it would be a good idea as well. I think because we were the right age. I think that plays a huge part in it. We didn't want to be too old and certainly not too young. I think we both felt that we've traveled enough, done enough without kids, now it's time to start and sure enough it started with a bang.”
On March 2, in the middle of the first week of the season, Nina’s water broke in the morning, sending the couple to the hospital. Doctors administered steroids to fortify the babies’ lungs. It was three days before Davies and the Revolution were set to open the 2016 season in Houston against the Dynamo, another chance for the 29-year-old to and prove that infamous car accident and near-miraculous recovery are just memories.
The bang came 15 days later. The Davies’ due date was of June 11, but babies don’t wait for calendars to tick over, and on March 17 the twins arrived three months ahead of schedule, turning the new family’s lives upside down. More than a month later, the boys – Rhys and Dakota – still haven’t come home.
Through it all, Charlie still finds a way to smile.
Charlie Davies grew up in Manchester, New Hampshire, the oldest of two boys. His father, Kofi, introduced him to soccer, bringing him to games and practicing with Charlie and his younger brother Justin for hours, pushing them on the soccer field. He also disappeared for days on end, a battle with addiction pulling him away from his family. Charlie’s mother Kathy struggled with mental illness. Despite it all, Davies became one of the best high school players in the country at Brooks School in North Andover and earned a scholarship to Boston College.
During his freshman year at B.C., Davies met his future wife. He and Nina sat across from each other in a Christian Theology class — Boston College is a Jesuit university — and when it came time for Nina to introduce herself to the class she mentioned she attended Noble and Greenough School, another prep school in New England and one of Brooks’ fiercest rivals. Davies knew Noble and Greenough grads Chris Tierney and Michael Videira – both of whom would go on to play for the Revolution – from the soccer scene, and convinced them to put a bug in Nina’s ear. Their first date was at an Applebee’s in Cleveland Circle.
Two years later, Davies left B.C. after his junior season to chase his dream of becoming a professional player and signed to play for Hammarby in Sweden’s top-division. The couple made it work from afar, and when Nina graduated in 2008, Davies asked her to move to Sweden so they could be together. She left her family and familiar surroundings in Massachusetts behind.
“I think long distance relationships, especially for younger people, are extremely difficult and 99 percent not going to work out,” Davies says. “We obviously wanted it to work.”
The young couple never could have foreseen what happened on October 13, 2009, when a car Davies was riding in was sheared in two as it spun off the highway in Washington D.C., killing another passenger and leaving his body broken and 2010 World Cup dreams in tatters. Through it all – the long nights in the hospital, the surgeries, the recovery that battered him physically and mentally – Nina remained by his side.
In France, where Davies played for Ligue 1 club Sochaux, it became clear that this was the person he was destined to spend his life with. While on a train to Paris, he called Nina’s father to ask for his blessing. A week later, in August 2010, Davies and Nina met US national team teammate Oguchi Onyewu in Barcelona. They were out to dinner at CDLC, a restaurant along the beach, when Onyewu handed Davies the ring under the table, pulled out his cell phone and began filming.
Davies popped the question and Nina said yes – Davies still carries the restaurant’s business card in his wallet as a memento. But the night wasn’t over. Onyewu had a surprise for the newly engaged couple. He guided them through the city to the backdoor of Opium, a nightclub with sweeping views of the Mediterranean. After they passing through a phalanx of security guards, they met a special guest, Brazilian legend Ronaldinho Gaúcho, who was waiting with a magnum of Cristal champagne.
The couple were married on June 29, 2012. The next year, Davies and Nina moved back home to New England, where the couple has lived ever since and where his career has been rejuvenated. Davies has 14 goals goals in 57 appearances for the Revolution and become one of MLS’s unsung stars. He’s a veteran voice on a young Revolution team that has made a habit of challenging for the playoffs and MLS Cup every season under head coach Jay Heaps.
Davies enjoyed one of his best years as a professional in 2015. He scored 10 goals for the Revs as they marched into the playoffs for a third consecutive season. He looked settled, finally, and healthy. He may not have the burst of pace that made him one of America’s most promising players — his right leg is one and a half inches shorter than his left leg after the car accident — but he’s become a complete forward.
In the midst of it all, the Davies embarked on parenthood. They just didn’t expect two at once, or for it to happen so quickly. At their eight-week check-up, the couple walked into the ultrasound room and saw two sacks on the screen. They were having twins.
“I’m seeing a little pocket. I see a baby and then I see another pocket with a baby and I’m thinking that has to be another image of that one pocket, just a different version,” Davies recalls. “And [the ultrasound technician says], ‘Surprise: two babies.’”
Like any first-time father, Davies threw himself headlong into a task he knew very little about.
After training, he often sat in Barnes and Noble reading baby books. He called another expecting father, one-time US teammate Stuart Holden, picked his brain for suggestions. He and Nina downloaded all the apps they could think of to monitor the progress of their boys.
Davies was ecstatic. He quietly announced the news to the world on social media and accepted that his life was about to change forever – for the better.
“Life as I know it is over,” Davies says. “As far as being social or anything like that, the only thing that matters is being there with them and watching them grow.”
Like anything with Davies, things didn’t go as planned.
On Wednesday, March 16, Davies was with his father-in-law at TD Garden for a jersey swap with Celtics guard Evan Turner before a game against the Oklahoma City Thunder. He planned on spending the night at the hospital with Nina, who wasn’t feeling well. Davies left in the third quarter to drop his father-in-law off before heading home to pick up clothes. He was pulling into the garage when his phone rang. The twins were on the way.
Davies grabbed his clothes and left, the night a blur of hazy memories that only parents can understand. Eight hours later, Rhys and Dakota Davies came into world. They were nearly 13 weeks premature and needed constant monitoring. Davies would have to wait to hold his little boys against his chest, skin-to-skin. That wait lasted a week, but ended with an “indescribable” feeling, Davies says.
More than a month later, Charlie and Nina are still waiting to bring their boys home. Davies goes to work every day. He finds presents in his locker from teammates and Revolution personnel. People make the couple food to ease the burden. They know it’s hard to be with your children from a distance, but that’s the Davies’ only option for the time being.
Every day after training, instead of going home and relaxing or hanging out with his teammates or friends, Davies packs his things and drives 45 minutes to the hospital. At 3 p.m. each day he gets to hold one of the boys. He gets to press their sweet little bodies against his bare chest, feeling them cling on for warmth, listening to his heartbeat.
For now, though, Davies has to continue to balance life and soccer. The twins have at least another month in the hospital. They're are stable, but doctors want to monitor their progress.
Davies knows nothing will be the same, but that’s alright with him. While things are still tough, these moments, the little ones, like the scrubs he wore during the delivery piled up in his closet, can make him smile again.
