Year 5 with Jane and Tony Pt. 01

I returned to my seat for the rest of JP's performance. When it was finished, we all walked home in the chilly November air. JP, again, thanked Judy and Vigga for their help in arranging the performances and expressed his happiness with how well they went. "Perhaps I should consider performing again when I get home. I had a lot of fun doing this!"

By Monday, Bea and JP had to return home, which allowed us to concentrate on our studies again because finals were looming on the horizon. Axel's commencement was, also, approaching, when he would be bestowed with his PhD in physics. The weather was getting colder as well and a few days after JP and Bea left we got a 6" snow fall.

Another big change was the one that Jane was going through; she was getting very large now since she was carrying twins. Queenie had her under constant observance and told us that the babies were developing perfectly. One day, Jane proclaimed, "If my boobs get any larger they'll be dragging on the floor as I walk!" She got to the point where she decided she had to wear a bra to, in her words, 'keep her boulders under control'!

Once we got through finals, our lives slowed down a bit. Ginevra's parents arrived on the Saturday after finals. I rode with Ginevra in Ernesto's limousine to meet her parents at O'Hare. She had a tearful reunion with her parents as she and her mother cried as they hugged. I got the traditional 2 cheek kiss from Jules and Anaïs when we greeted each other. Jules was raving about getting 1st class seats on their flights and thanked me profusely for flying them to Chicago in such style. When we got to the house, Jules and Anaïs were set upon by everyone else in our family with hugs and 2 cheek kisses.

Once we got the couple settled down in their room, we told them that they needed to stay awake as long as possible in order to get a handle on their jet lag. Jane and I had bought them heavy winter coats knowing that they didn't have anything warm enough for a Chicago winter. Ginevra and her parents were very happy to be together again after their long separation.

Jane, Astrid and I attended Axel's commencement as he was given his PhD. We were very happy for him, but, at the same time, quite sad because we knew that too soon he and Astrid would be leaving us. We had lived in the same house together for 4 years and had grown very close to the Swedish couple. As we walked home together, Axel asked, "So, are you and Jane coming to Uppsala to help us find a house?" Jane looked at me quizzically and it dawned on me that I had forgotten to tell her about the arrangement I had made with Astrid and Axel.

After I had explained the situation, Jane said, "I like the idea of getting a big house for all of us to use, but I don't think I can make the trip with this giant belly and being so close to my due date. Why don't you take Judy, because you will need her, and Shelly, since I don't think she has been to Europe yet."

"I'm not too sure how much I like the idea of being apart from you," I said. "We haven't, really, been apart for more than a couple of days."

Jane smiled and said, "Well, I will miss you, but consider it practice for when you and Lily are off doing your field work. We will be apart much longer then."

I acknowledged that she was right and said, "Okay, I'll ask Judy and Shelly. I hope it only takes a week to secure an appropriate house."

When we got home, I wandered over to Shelly's house and was let in by John. He gave me a hug as did Louise when she greeted me. The three of us talked for a few minutes until Shelly came into the room. "Hi there," Shelly said, "What brings you over here?"

"I just wanted to ask you a question. We were returning home from Axel's commencement and the subject of a promise I made to Astrid and Axel came up. I promised to help them find a large house suitable for visits from us and buy it. Their requirement was that Jane and I come to help them find a place. Well, Jane doesn't want to fly in her current condition, so she recommended you and Judy accompany me. She said she didn't think you had been to Europe yet and might like the opportunity. So, what do you think?"

Shelly stared at me for a few moments and then said, "I don't know. I don't want to leave Mom and Dad alone."

"I understand," I said, "I'll see if someone else wants to go."

As I moved towards the door, Louise stopped me, turned to her daughter and said, "Honey, I think you should go. Tony is a nice man and you like him. Daddy and I will be okay. You should go."

Shelly looked at her mother with a tear in her eye and asked, "Really? You think I should go?"

Both Louise and John nodded and hugged their daughter. "Yes," John said, "You don't get to have fun very much. You need a vacation!"

Shelly smiled, hugged and kissed her parents, looked at me and said, "I guess I'll go. When are we leaving?"

"The day after Christmas for, hopefully, just one week," I replied.

Shelly hugged me and said, "I look forward to it!"

When finals were finished, everyone was able to relax. We bought plane tickets for Cindy and Matt to fly to Minnesota to have Christmas with Cindy's family. We, also, payed to fly Jenny and Elsie to Kansas to be with their parents. Sofia had decided to stay and be with Martin.

On Christmas Eve, Tomte made his traditional visit to our house. Em was overjoyed as always and Jeanine loved Tomte as well. John and Louise were, also, enchanted with the Swedish version of Santa Claus. We had invited Rufus, Ronnie and Janie to join us for the evening as well. Janie was sitting in my lap when Tomte arrived and was a bit apprehensive at first, but warmed up to Tomte when he gave her presents. When Tomte left, he was hugged by all three little girls.

Christmas day was fairly melancholy because we were all aware that it was our last full day with Axel and Astrid in our house. We opened presents in the morning after a breakfast of Swedish pancakes. Jane, Astrid and Barb sat together the whole day holding hands and reminiscing about all of our years together. At bedtime, Jane decided she should sleep with Axel and Astrid should sleep with me, so Astrid came to our room and Jane went to Axel's.

Astrid and I made sweet love until quite late at night. As we were falling asleep, I could hear Astrid weeping, so I pulled her to me and asked her what was wrong. She said, "I love you and Jane so much. These years here with you have been the happiest of my life. I'm going to miss you both."

I hugged Astrid and said, "I'm going to miss both of you as well. But, remember that anytime you want to come visit all you need to do as call and we will get you a plane ticket. That's one of the advantages of having a lot of money. We will come to you as well." We fell asleep in each other's arms.

The next day, as Ernesto's limo pulled up in front of our house, there wasn't a dry eye to be seen as everyone was crying and saying goodbye to Astrid and Axel. Shelly kissed her parents and I kissed and hugged Jane. Ernesto asked what was going on, so I told him that Astrid and Axel were returning to Sweden to live. He nodded and said, "I will miss you as well and will look forward to driving you when you come back for visits."

As we drove to the airport, Judy said, "Another chapter in our lives begin as one ends. All I can say is that I'm liking the book so far!"