Kristiana Pt. 03: A Risk Taken

"I can see you're very happy and very sure of this marriage, Richard."

"Yes. There were some things I had to overcome, but now that I've made my decision, I don't have any regrets or doubts. The most difficult was overcoming my doubts about Kristiana as well as raising another man's child. Those two caused me the most sleepless nights."

"I can understand that. What made you decide to go ahead?"

"I had to come to terms with the realization that I still loved Kristiana, no matter what. There were times I hated myself because I couldn't forget her. But after you and I talked a few months ago, I knew I couldn't keep denying how I still felt about her."

"Do you think she will ever be led astray again?'

"No. I don't think that will happen. I've talked to Jan and especially Hedda about it. She changed completely when she had her son. She didn't date anyone and devoted herself to raising Jan-Richard. She went back to the church to try and get her life back on track. That wasn't a sometime thing, either. She isn't fanatical about it, but she is dedicated. I can see why, too. Her pastor is a very understanding and helpful man. I've met him and talked to him and I can see how he would be able to help someone who was as troubled as Kristiana."

"And raising Jan-Richard as your son?"

"That was much easier than I thought. I loved him from the moment I met him when he was just starting to walk. I could never be angry at a child for something he had no control over. I plan to adopt him, but to be honest, I don't know how or when I will tell him about his real father."

"Has his father tried to contact Kristiana?"

"No, thankfully. I don't think we have to worry about that, but adopting him will resolve that problem."

"I really like Jan and Hedda. They are terrific people and you are very fortunate to have them as your in-laws."

"I don't really think of them as in-laws, Dad. I think of them as my 'other parents.' I don't mean to disrespect you, it just means I feel very close to them just like I do to you."

"I understand. I'm happy you feel that way about them. It will be good for you and your family."

We drove along the highway and my father was enthralled with the scenery.

"Do you think this is where you will stay?" Dad asked.

"Yes, certainly as long as I'm involved with the hotel. I'll be investing in it as a minority partner. I'm going to put Granddad's inheritance to good use."

"What about your Canadian Citizenship?"

"I think I will try and establish dual citizenship, if possible. To be honest, I haven't spent any time on that. I will have to have Swiss citizenship if I plan permanent residency and an adoption but, with my investment, I hope that won't be an obstacle."

"I'm looking at U.S. citizenship myself. It looks like I'll be living there for some time."

"That's a surprise," I said, looking at him. "You were pretty adamant that we retain our Canadian citizenship when we were in Spain."

"Things change," he said, adding nothing further.

I decided he would tell me in his own time what caused him to alter his thinking.

"Any lady friends on the horizon?" I asked after an extended silence.

He looked at me and grinned. "One or two."

"So what are you not telling me?"

"I have two ladies I am seeing."

"Do they know they have a rival?"

"Yes. They are sisters."

"Sisters! Oh, that could be awkward."

"Well, not in this case. They are twins. Identical twins."

"You're kidding! Identical twins. How the hell did that come about?"

"I've taken up skiing again after all these years. It's only about 45 minutes to the north end of Lake Tahoe from my home, so I go up there almost every weekend. That's where I met Sarah and Sonya."

"Ah hah! My father has taken up with ski bunnies," I laughed.

"We ski together, it's true. They live in Incline Village and that's where I usually ski. Either Mount Rose or Northstar."

"So how did you meet them?"

"We rode the chairlift together and got to talking, spent the morning skiing together, had lunch at the lodge, and skied some more in the afternoon. We just seemed to hit it off and when the day was done, I invited them to dinner in the village. They accepted and things just went from there."

"There's got to be more to the story than that, Dad. How old are these ladies?"

"I don't know for sure and a gentleman never asks, but I would say there aren't much younger than I am."

"Well, at least they aren't some babes looking for a sugar daddy," I cracked.

"No ... far from it. They are very wealthy and deeply suspicious of men who might be after some of it."

"So, how did you sneak under their radar?"

"Just my native charm and crushing good looks," he laughed.

"Seriously," I said.

"I guess it was what they learned about me. What I did and who I was. I wasn't coming on to them and I think they recognized that. We had dinner that first evening, after which I thanked them for allowing me to spend the day with them and left for home. A couple of days later there was a message from Sarah on my home phone and I called her. She invited me up to her place the next Saturday and I accepted. I assumed it was to go skiing with her.

"When I got there, I found that I would be skiing with both Sarah and Sonya. I was fine with that and we had another very nice day on the slopes. I'm no expert skier and I don't do the crazy stuff that I did in my youth, so we all skied at about the same level. It was another fun day and I really enjoyed being with them. This time they insisted on making dinner, so we ended up back at their lodge. It is quite some place, Richard. More like a log mansion than anything I can think of."

"Wow, that's really something. So ... where are you with them now? Which one do you date?" I asked.

"Both," he said, taking a sidelong glance at me.

"Are they doing that identical twin switcheroo thing?"

"Nope. I know one from the other. They don't try and fool me anymore?"

"But they did try," I said, hoping for more.

"Oh yeah, but we won't go into that. That's in the 'off limits' category."

That pretty much ended my interrogation, but left me with some suspicions about my father's relationship with these two women.

"Send me a picture of them. I'm really interested in how all this turns out for you."

"I am too," he laughed. "I'll e-mail you something when I get back."

We had a light lunch and a tall glass of lager at the outdoor tables of a tavern in Andermatt. The sun continued to break through the fluffy white clouds and although it wasn't warm at the five thousand foot elevation, it was nice enough.

We drove back to Bellwald that afternoon and continued our talk. I felt very close to my father and the only conversation that was uncomfortable was about my mother.

"You know I invited Mother to the wedding, don't you?"

"I expected that. Will she come?"

I shook my head. "We didn't even get an acknowledgment of the invitation. It's like I've been excommunicated."

"I'm really disappointed in your mother, Richard. I realized she and I were heading in the direction of a divorce for some time, but to completely cut you off is really uncalled for and downright nasty. I have to admit I don't know her any more. I haven't talked to her in over two years. She's certainly a different woman than the one I married and who raised you."

"I guess it all came to a head when I was first dating Kristiana. She really didn't approve and went out of her way to ignore her. Some of the things she said to me behind her back were really quite insulting."

"There isn't much point in beating a dead horse, Son. She's decided to be out of our lives and that's what she's doing."

The rest of the drive back to the hotel was quiet as my father continued enjoying the scenery while I was thinking about our conversation. Twins! Who'da thunk?

Our wedding day dawned mostly sunny, but with a chill wind. The little church was walking distance from the hotel, but we decided that we would use the cars to transport the wedding party. My Mazda held four comfortably and Karl's Opel held another four. There were eight of us in the wedding party and it worked out well. We had limited the number of people invited to the service in the little church.

The service was more formal than I expected and was my first experience with the Swiss Orthodox church. I found I was comparing it to what I thought was a conventional Protestant service. It was more like what I'd experienced in Spain at the Catholic wedding of two school friends. I was told the origin of the church was Russian and I suppose that was the connection. I didn't really care as long as at the end, I was married to Kristiana Rita Nordberg.

Her dress was classic; traditional white full length dress with a tiara and a full veil. She looked stunning, but then, I didn't expect less. She looked stunning every day and it was only a matter of decoration that day. Her brothers, whom I had met only two days earlier, walked behind her, smiling at everyone. For twins, they didn't look a great deal alike, but they were good natured guys and we seemed to take a liking to each other. They still teased their sister, but there was nothing mean about it.

When I lifted the veil and kissed her as the ceremony concluded, I felt a tremendous burst of energy pass though me. Her eyes glistened with unshed tears and her lips trembled in anticipation. I had won a prize beyond any calculable value. It hadn't been easy and it hadn't been without heartache, but I had done what I knew I should do and I had no doubts.

The reception was held at the hotel dining room and there were almost eighty people attending, including the mayor and a number of local hoteliers. It was a tightly-knit community, and the marriage of "one of their own" was a big event and worthy of their time. I was almost considered one of them, but not quite yet. The fact that I was staying and would be part of the Hotel Glacier Aletsch family counted in my favour.

Jan-Richard had sat quietly though the ceremony and watched as his mother and I were married. I'm not sure how much he understood, but with Gramama and Grampapa on each side of him, he knew he should be on his best behaviour. At the reception, I was pleased that there were a few children from the village invited and that helped Jan-Richard feel more at ease. In a little town like ours, everyone knew everyone, and that included the children as well.

We left on our eight day honeymoon the next morning. Jan-Richard wasn't happy that he didn't get to go along with us, but with his grandparents' help, we got him to understand it was just for his mother and me. We were driving south to Milan, then Genoa and the Italian Riviera for some late spring sunshine. Three days later, west to Monaco for two days, then further west to Nice before heading up the Rhone Valley to Lyon and Geneva and returning home.

My father extended his stay in Europe and followed us south by train before diverting to Rome and then home. We would be in touch by Skype as we had in the past and he renewed his promise to send me pictures of the twins. I was beginning to obsess about just what the three of them were up to, but chose not to question him further. I wanted him to be happy. If this was what it took, then so be it. I had not yet explained his unique situation to Kristiana.

We had run out of room for apartment space in the hotel and before the wedding, I rented a cottage on the road to Fiesch. It was still within walking distance of Bellwald, even for Jan-Richard, but it was very expensive, even in this remote area. I would be paying 900 Swiss francs per month. It came with two bedrooms and a single bathroom along with the usual kitchen, living area and what I would describe as a mud room. Only 1100 square feet of space, but I was assured this was a bargain.

The cottage rental was good for the balance of the year, but of course, when ski season came along, the rent would go up substantially. The owner lived in Geneva and considered it an investment property. Jan, Karl and I discussed building a home and we set about looking at the costs. The only property for sale in our town was listed at almost a million francs, far above our budget.

The property around the hotel and rental/storage building was all owned by the Nordbergs. It was zoned commercial, but it was adjacent to residential zoned property. I let Jan and Karl discuss strategy, listening carefully to their thoughts. They knew the lay of the political landscape in this town and crafted a plan that was very clever if they could get the agreement of the Canton (district) manager.

Jan presented Kristiana and me with their idea. We would convert the rental/storage building into a residence after having a portion of the land rezoned residential. At the same time, we would build another rental/storage building on the hotel property, out of sight behind the hotel, adjacent to the parking lot.

The current building was no beauty, but it could be made much more attractive with new outside finish, windows, and some decorative woodwork. The cost would be a fraction of building a new home. It was already serviced with water, electricity, gas, and sewer connection. At one time in the past, someone lived in the building during the winter and summer rental seasons, but it had been operated from the hotel since the Nordbergs had bought the property.

Karl proved to be adept at drafting and drew up the plans and elevations of the proposed renovation. Kristiana and Hedda contributed to the discussions and happily there was little disagreement about the overall design. The outside dimensions and the location of the services were fixed, so that limited our options. The designs were scanned and translated to a software design template which would allow color and some structural change in the manner of door and window size and location.

Karl, Jan and I made an appointment to meet with Reinhard Kellar, the manager of the Valais Canton. His approval was essential and, when given, seldom disputed. We had sat in the hotel a number of evenings working out how to present our ideas and who should attend. We were not at all sure this would be approved, but we were determined to give it our best effort.

It was up to me to make the presentation and, having established that I could make it in either English or German, Herr Kellar chose to allow me to use English. His English was accented, but very good. I was extremely nervous since there was so much riding on this. I reviewed the objective as far as the zoning was concerned and displayed some pictures of the property that had been altered to show what the new configuration would look like. It wasn't a sophisticated version that you would find from a large, corporate firm, but it clearly showed what was and what might be. I saw Kellar nodding as I compared the two.

Then I showed him the alterations to the rental/storage building, pointing out the efforts we made to have it blend into the appearance of most of the houses in town. Again, while Herr Kellar had said little during my presentation, I did see him nod. What I couldn't tell was whether it was in understanding or approval.

It took forty minutes to present our ideas and hopes for the property. Kellar couldn't arbitrarily approve it without referring it to the members of Valais Commune, the district's government. He could, however, reject it without referring it to the Commune.

I thought the collective sigh of relief could be heard all over town when he agreed to put it before the Commune with his recommendation. We expressed our gratitude more than a couple of times. He did mention that he was impressed with how much thought went into the project and that it would serve the community well.

"It's pretty much guaranteed to be accepted by the Commune," Jan told me. "They very seldom go against Herr Kellar's advice."

"I'm glad we spent as much time as we did on the preparations," I said. "I think that impressed him ... that and the fact that we did it ourselves without outside help."

We all got a big hug and a kiss from both Kristiana and Hedda when we announced our success. We all participated in developing the plans and it had paid off.

~*~

I wanted to adopt Jan-Richard, but I learned I had to wait five years. Our lawyer said it would be automatic if I was a Swiss citizen. The good news was, Switzerland permitted dual citizenship. I could maintain my Canadian citizenship and passport. With our lawyer's assistance, I filed my citizenship papers and notified the federal government of my intention to adopt Jan-Richard. The adoption would be permitted after having been married to Kristiana for at least three years when my citizenship was granted. I now knew my future and it looked brilliant.

In the meantime, we could go ahead with the renovations to the existing rental shop, but not until we had the new rental/storage building in place. We chose a pre-fabricated building and when we saw how much room we had to work with, we added an exercise room and an enclosed passage to the hotel. It would save us a great deal of money making the addition here instead of trying to squeeze such a room into the existing hotel. In the future, we could move the hot tub and sauna into the same area.

Within two months, the new building was in place and operating as the rental and storage place with the exercise room and passageway yet to come. That permitted us to gut the old building and begin transforming it into our home. We had no difficulty in finding local workmen and the renovation was well underway by the end of summer. I was hoping we could move into our home by the end of the year and it looked like that was at least possible.

Hedda and Kristiana went on a hunt for appliances and came up with all our needs at bargain prices. Usually they had been trade-ins on newer machines, but still very serviceable and much less costly than new. They had also turned their attention to furniture and did equally well in that regard. They got a great deal of satisfaction from their efforts and our appreciation.

My father sent several pictures of Sarah and Sonya via e-mail. One look told me he had struck gold in more ways than one. They were two very attractive women and looked younger than their years. One of the pictures showed my father sitting on a bench with the women perched on each of his knees. The grin on his face told me exactly what he thought of having the two to himself.

I showed the pictures to Kristiana.

"Oh my, Richard. Which of these is your father's girlfriend?"

"Both," I said, not elaborating.

She looked at me in surprise. "Both? How is that so?"

I shook my head. "Just the irresistible charm of the Barton men, I guess."

She was trying to process the idea that my father could have two women at the same time and it looked like she was having a hard time of it.

"It wasn't his idea," I explained. "They talked him into it."

"Two women at the same time?" she said, still uncertain.

"Yes."

"And in the same bed?"

"As far as I know, yes."

"Oh, my. Your father is a ... very powerful lover?"

"I have no idea, but I'd have to think he was at least pretty good to keep two women satisfied," I smirked.

"Oh, my," she repeated. "Does he keep this a secret?"

"Not from me ... but ... I don't know who all knows about his private life."

She looked at the pictures for quite a long time, then turned to me.

"Is this something that you would like?" The expression of her face looked a lot like worry.

"No, Kristiana. You are all I want. With you, it is like being with two women. You are a very powerful lover," I assured her.

She smiled and kissed me. "That is nice to know. I don't think I want to share you."

"You already know I don't want to share you," I stated emphatically.