Island Fever Ch. 41

My intuition was confirmed when Kristanna first surveyed her family farm, then glanced over at me for the briefest of instants. A single tear streaked down her face, but she quickly turned away and hid it from me, and concentrated on maneuvering the vehicle into the long driveway and finding a suitable place to park.

"How many times have you asked me to visit here?" was my soft, gentle whisper. "I should have come here long ago." I reached out and grasped her hand, saying, "I'm sorry..."

"WOW! Look at this place!" Devon squealed once she got out of the car. She spread her arms outward and spun about in a circle, gushing, "Smell that air!"

Amy took her cellular telephone out and began snapping photographs of the lush surroundings. When Trish and Lindsay stepped out of the vehicle, they glanced around in every direction and took in the wondrous scenery.

This was a huge, sprawling farm - much bigger than I ever imagined it to be. There was a white, three-story house tucked in the corner, with a small barn beside it and an even bigger one further down the road.

I saw several other smaller buildings, one of which, I assumed, was the ice cream parlor/bakery where Kristanna worked at whenever she was home. Kristanna once explained that the farm attracted many visitors on a daily basis - customers looking for fresh produce, mostly - and the ice cream parlor (with a bakery included) was a little side venture that made a fair amount of profit for the family.

There was a massive expanse of green field beyond the initial structures, with a large, sprawling lake situated in the very middle of it. I also saw a fenced-in area with separate areas for sheep, goats and cows. I noticed a green-house in the distance, and a lone tractor mowing the grass on the opposite side of the lake.

"Is that your father?" Lindsay asked, curious.

"No ... can't be," Kristanna answered, shielding her eyes and glancing way out yonder. "It's one of the hired help."

As I looked at my fiancee, I began to feel a bit emotional myself. Kristanna had made so many sacrifices for me over the years. She was incredibly close with her family - the same way Lindsay was with hers - and even went so far as to say that her mother and father were her best friends in life.

Yet, how many times had Kristanna left them behind - not to mention this beautiful farm - so she could spend a couple of weeks with me here-and-there on the island to brighten my life? Kristanna did not enjoy those 7,000 mile flights (that is one-way, by the way, and not round trip), but she was willing to put up with them in order to spend time with me.

A few weeks ago, Kristanna and I estimated that over the previous four years, she had come to visit me 43 times. How could I have refused to take her up on her offer, and not spend a vacation (or 20) in Norway? I felt awful...

Oblivious to my thoughts and emotions for the time being, Kristanna knelt downward and whiffed a flower that was sprawling up near the driveway. She took an extra deep breath, letting the flower's aroma fill and flood her senses. "Gud, Jeg elsker dette stedet..."

"What did you say?" Lindsay asked her.

"Doesn't matter what I said," Kristanna countered, rising to her feet and eyeing the white, three-story home before us. "I'm just happy to be back here." With that, Kristanna began running toward her house. "Momma! Papa!" she called out at the top of her lungs. "Momma, Papa, I'm home!"

"Krissy said... God, I love this place," Devon mused.

"How do you know?" Lindsay inquired, curious.

"She's been teaching me Norwegian for a month now."

"KRISTANNA!"

"That must be her mom!" Lindsay squealed, as an older woman came rushing out of the house and wildly threw her arms around Kristanna. Indeed, I recognized the woman from the time we met four years ago in Peru. It was Rande, Kristanna's 61-year-old mother who, as I remembered, had just as much zest and energy as her daughter did.

"Papa!" Kristanna cried, throwing her arms around her father as he too, emerged from the family home. Kristof, at the age of 71, was still going strong. Listening to Kristanna, Kristof was a driven, hard-working man who had never taken the easy route in his life.

"Let's go meet them!" Devon insisted, motioning for the rest of us to follow her in tow.

"WHAT is that goat eating?" Lindsay asked, motioning toward one of the animals grazing in the pasture, as we allowed Devon to lead us to the house.

"He's eating hay and alfalfa," I informed her.

"It doesn't look very appetizing," Lindsay grunted.

"I'd hope it wouldn't for you!" Amy laughed at her.

"Momma, Papa ... these are all of my friends that I told you about!" Kristanna said to her parents as we made our way up to them. She turned toward us and explained, "Now I have no secrets with Momma or Papa, so they know all about us and the true extent of our relationship."

"If being with all of you makes my baby daughter happy, then it makes ME happy," Rande announced to us.

"This is Jeremy, but you already know him from before..."

"It's about time you came here for a visit!" Kristof blurted out angrily, before flashing a smile and patting me on the shoulder. "Four years ago, when I met you, I somehow knew that one day, you would marry my daughter."

"This beautiful little angel here is Devon - Devvy - but she is known to most across the world as Miss America."

"I am NOT Miss America, Krissy!" Devon squealed.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry ... I meant Miss Universe!"

"Krissy!"

"I have heard so much about you," Rande said to Devon, even giving her a hug. "Kristanna really cares about you. She hopes to marry you one day, too." Devon blushed at those words, and even trailed the end of her foot along the ground in response.

"Here, we have Amy. Amy and Jeremy have a very special relationship. He has been helping her through a couple of health issues, and she is a million times better off with him to guide and protect her on the path to wellness. They love each other very much ... and I love Amy, too!"

"And over here ... Trish and Lindsay. Trish is a wonderful girl, and probably the sweetest and most kind-hearted person you could ever possibly meet. And Lindsay is the love of her life. They go together like bread and butter."

"Hi," Lindsay shyly murmured, her face flushed red with absolute embarrassment.

"You're the modest one!" Rande chuckled at Lindsay. "You have no reason to be modest or apprehensive around us, sweetie. We love our daughter, and trust the decisions that she makes. If Kristanna has accepted you into her life, we will do the same. You're all family to us now."

"Wow!" Devon gushed, offering Rande another friendly hug. "I wish I had parents like the two of you!"

"No wonder Kristanna can't stop talking about you," Amy offered. "All we hear is awesome her parents are."

"Lindsay is actually NOT modest once you get to know her," Kristanna offered. "She is really quite naughty."

"KRISSY!" Lindsay huffed, even more embarrassed now.

"Where is Tanya?" Kristanna asked, referring to her big (38-year-old) sister.

"Tanya is in Denmark on business," Rande answered, which caused Kristanna to sag her shoulders. "The trip could not be re-scheduled. Tanya would have been here to see you this past Friday, if you made it here when you were originally supposed to. But Tanya will be back in a few days."

"We had three different sets of families to visit in Ohio," Kristanna chirped. "Jeremy's, Lindsay's and Amy's. So we stayed there from Thursday night 'til Monday afternoon. It wouldn't have been right if we didn't go there first."

"It's okay," Rande assured her. "You are all here now, and that is all that truly matters. My daughter is home!"

"I WANT to sit down with you and Papa, and catch up on everything," Kristanna told her mother, before reaching out and grabbing me by the wrist. "But there is something I must do with Jeremy first. If Jeremy ever came to our farm, I vowed to myself long ago, I had to take him somewhere and do something with him as soon as humanly possible."

"I think I know exactly where you mean," Rande laughed.

"Where are you taking me?" I asked Kristanna, as she guided me away from the rest of the gathered group. It seemed as if we were going straight for the big barn.

"The loft in the barn," the young woman answered, and my eyes immediately went wide. I knew what she wanted there. I had heard so many stories about the loft - the upper level - of her family barn. Kristanna had taken both boyfriends and girlfriends there several times in the past. Having sex there, it seemed, validated many of her prior relationships. "You and I, dear Jeremy, are going to have a roll in the hay."

-

Several hours later, Rande served up a marvelous dinner which consisted of marinated trout, hasselbackpoteter (potatoes) and jarlsbergfylt paprika (peppers with ground beef). For dessert, we ate lingonberry cake. Tomorrow, Rande said, we would have smoked salmon quiche for dinner. Apparently, this family was big on eating seafood.

With a six hour difference in time from the island (it was 7:05pm in Norway, yet 1:05pm back home), not to mention all those airline miles spread across two exhaustive days, myself and several of the other ladies were out of sync. We were suffering from extreme jet-lag and just wanted to lay down and rest, and hopefully get some much-needed sleep.

Like the gracious hosts that they were, Kristanna's parents said that the six of us could have the first floor (the basement converted into a luxurious living room) of their home all to ourselves for however long we wished to stay. Rande also promised us complete and total privacy down there, explaining that there were four separate beds and even going so far as to tell us, "One of them will comfortably fit all six of you at once ... if you like."

"Krissy's parents are like, the two coolest people I have ever met!" Amy beamed.

Kristanna and Devon decided to stay upstairs and continue talking with Rande and Kristof, but Trish, Lindsay and Amy opted to retire to the lower level for some rest. I was so incredibly tired that once I climbed into bed, I simply lay on my stomach and did not move.

One by one, the three ladies eventually joined me. Amy snuggled up close and purred in delight, while Lindsay actually opted to use my backside as a pillow. When Trish got on top of her, they began another of their famous kissing contests. But I was too tired to really pay them any proper attention (even though I desperately wanted to).

Suddenly, I was out like a light.

***End of Chapter 41***

PLEASE NOTE: Only one more chapter to go before the story is over!