Chapter 79: Building Relationships

November, 1985, Chicago, Illinois

I managed to keep my focus properly on work, despite Stephie's upcoming surgery. My talks with Kara and Bethany had helped me get my head straight, and I was able to stay focused. Besides work, I went to karate and talked to Jess and Kara about our wedding. Our guest list was taking shape as people sent their RSVPs.

Thursday was, at least from a global perspective, an important day. President Reagan was meeting with General Secretary Gorbachev in Geneva. I held out hope that something good might come of it, but the relationship between our countries was quite frosty. Reagan's push for SDI, which the press had disparagingly nicknamed 'Star Wars', had been called destabilizing by the Russians, and of course, they had announced their own program. I had a sneaking suspicion that they couldn't afford it, given their economic troubles. But, they were talking, and as Churchill had reportedly said, 'To jaw-jaw is always better than to war-war.'

Just after lunch, Red called to let me know that Stephie had come out of surgery OK, but they were waiting to hear from the oncologist. He promised that he would have Stephie call me as soon as she was out of the hospital. I thanked him and asked him to let Stephie know I was thinking about her.

"She knows," Red said. "I'm sure you can imagine that she's been in a bad way this week. It's nothin' personal."

"I know. I'm hoping you guys can make the wedding in three weeks."

"We're hoping to. A lot depends on what the doctor says tomorrow morning."

"We'll hold your spots, so don't worry about the RSVP."

"Thanks, Steve. I'll talk to you soon."

"Thanks, Red. Be strong for her, please."

"I will," he said.

After we said our goodbyes and hung up, I took a short walk to clear my head and then went back to work. All I could do now was wait for the results and a call from Red. That came on Friday morning.

"Hi," he said, dully.

I knew from his tone it was bad news.

"Go on, you may as well tell me straight up."

"Both ovaries had cancer," he sighed. "They removed them, but they're afraid it's spread further. They didn't see anything, but in more than half the cases, it's spread. She's going to start on chemo."

"Can you tell me the full diagnosis?" I asked.

"I figured you would ask. I wrote it down. It's 'papillary serous cystadenocarcinoma', bilateral, and it usually spreads to the lining of a girl's stomach."

"And the survival rate?" I asked.

"They didn't give no numbers, but the doctor said he's hopeful."

"Thanks, Jason. How's she doing?"

"'Bout like you would expect. She was more upset about not bein' able to have no kids than about the cancer."

"Tell her I'm thinking about her and that I hope that she'll call me when she gets home."

"I will. I'm sure she will, Steve. She's wantin' to come to your weddin'."

"I would love to have you both here, but you know that her health is way more important."

"We'll sure try."

When I hung up, I sat quietly at my desk. Dany looked over at me like she wanted to say something, but just turned back to her computer. I wanted to call Jessica and ask her about the diagnosis, but I knew that she was at the hospital. I thought about calling Doctor Barton, but decided I wouldn't bother him. If Jessica couldn't give me an answer of some kind, I'd ask him on Tuesday when we had lunch. I made myself some tea and went back to work.

I did have one thing that was important to look at, though I felt it could be put off for several days. Microsoft had released something called 'Windows' that was supposed to compete with the Macintosh, but from all reports that I'd seen, it had severe limitations, such as the fact that windows couldn't overlap and it was really just an extension of DOS, not a full operating system. We'd check it out, but I didn't think it was anything we'd use, at least in the near term. I put it out of my mind and lost myself in my work until the end of the day.

"You received bad news, I guess?" Dany asked as she finished up.

"Yeah," I sighed. "A good friend has ovarian cancer. She's only twenty-two."

"That's the one you've been worried about. I can see why. If there's anything I can do to help you or cheer you up, let me know," she said with a smile.

I chuckled, "Flirting with the owner probably isn't a good idea!"

"It's fun. Don't worry, though. I know that you're engaged, and that's a line I am not going to cross!"

"Good," I said. "See you tomorrow morning."

I had a melancholy evening with Kara, and we called Jessica just before bed. I told her the diagnosis and she let out a long sigh.

"That bad?" I asked.

"I won't give you odds; I don't know enough to do that, but it's bad. You have to be prepared for the worst."

"I know," I sighed. "I got that idea from Jason's tone of voice and the way he spoke to me."

"How are you otherwise?"

"Impatient to see you. Both Kara and I wish you were coming up tonight instead of tomorrow."

"I'm beat; I usually am on Fridays and we have the whole Thanksgiving week, so I think you two can handle one more night without me. It's not like we're sleeping together at this point."

"No, but we do cuddle," I said.

"Go cuddle with Kara before bed," Jessica said firmly. "Those are the doctor's orders!"

"Yes, Ma'am!" I chuckled.

Kara and I did cuddle for nearly an hour before we went to our separate beds, and it made me feel better. But it didn't take away the ache in my heart for Peaches.

Jessica arrived on Saturday just as Kara, Sofia, Stephanie, and I were arriving home from karate. I was making slow but steady progress towards my black belt. I just had to make sure that I didn't get sent to the back of class; every time that happened, it set my progress back significantly. The other girls were progressing through their belts, though Sofia had set herself back by being gone for the Summer.

"Hi, Jess," I said, giving her a kiss.

"Hi, Jess!" Kara said, doing the same.

"Hi!" she said, smiling broadly.

"Let us get our showers and we'll be right back for lunch. What time do your parents get in tomorrow?"

"About noon. They're going to take a taxi to their hotel. We'll meet them there and walk to the Hancock. I checked the map, and it's only five blocks."

"Cool. And they're going to be here on Monday?"

"Yes. I'm not quite sure of the plans as yet, but their flight home is at 10:00am on Tuesday."

Kara, Sofia, and I went upstairs and Stephanie headed to the coach house. Less than fifteen minutes later, we were all showered and dressed and back in the kitchen. While we were showering, Jessica had taken her things down to the guest room and unpacked. Jorge was arriving shortly and would use the other guest room, while Leila and Alejandra would use the room vacated when Charlie and George had left for Oklahoma.

"Sofia, is your friend Stavros coming any time besides Thursday?" I asked.

"He's spending the week with relatives in Racine. He doesn't have a car, so I might go see him before Thursday. I'll go get him on Thursday morning and then take him home late on Thursday evening."

"Steve, who all will be here on Thursday?" Jennifer asked.

"You and Josie, Stephanie, Kara, Jessica, Sofia and her friend Stavros, Bethany and her friend Nicholas, Jorge, Alejandra, and Leila. The rest of the gang are traveling. Elyse went to Ohio, and so did Dave and Julia. The other usual suspects — Pete and Melanie, Chris and Cindi, Jackie and Jamie, Katy and Kenneth, and Kathy and Kurt, are all going home."

"Jennifer, how was your last pre-natal exam?" Jessica asked.

"Good! I had an ultrasound. You can actually tell that it's a boy!" she giggled. "Only three months to go!"

"How are things going to work with Nuvatec?" I asked.

"It's actually working out well — I'm in the middle of helping design and test an upgrade to the Brunswick bowling hardware, but we should be done about two weeks before Jesse is due. I plan to take a total of about six weeks off, and I've worked that out with Scott and Bill Howsman. Once Christmas is over, Josie and I are going to start conducting interviews for a daytime nanny. Steve will be here, of course, but he has to work."

"What are you doing about a nursery?" Bethany asked.

"The crib will go in our room, which will work well for Jenny nursing," Josie said. "When Dave and Julia move out, Stephanie will move into their room. Technically, I guess she could move in with Bethany. I hear that Kara and Jessica are sleeping in Steve's room!"

"Yes, we are!" Kara said primly. "I love Jess just as much as Steve does!"

"You gringos are CRAZY!" Jorge laughed, then looked at me and lowered his voice. "You, Sir, are lucky. I can only hope that someday I'll find someone who will love me even half as much as any girl in this room loves you."

I nodded a silent thanks.

It was Thanksgiving week, which meant nobody had any pressing homework, so we ended up just hanging out around the house for the afternoon and evening. Late in the afternoon, we heard that an EgyptAir flight had been hijacked by terrorists and was being forced to land in Malta. Things appeared to be going from bad to worse in the Middle East, and plane hijackings were seriously out of control.

I made Chicago-style deep-dish pizza for dinner, which was met with rave reviews from everyone, though in my opinion I still hadn't quite perfected it. That evening, there was nothing anyone wanted to see in the theatres, so we rented Ghostbusters. After the movie, we turned on CNN Headline News to get updates on the hijacking, and heard that the terrorists were threatening to kill hostages, and had already shot at least two.

Not much happened on Sunday at home, but we did watch the reports on CNN of the hijacked plane being stormed by Egyptian commandos. The reports were sketchy, but it seemed that at least twenty people were dead, and possibly as many as sixty.

"This is just fucked up," Elyse said. "Those crazies are really getting out of control."

"I wonder what Jamal's take on this is," I said. "It's something to ask him about when we see him again."

We watched the news until it was time for Jessica, Kara, and me to get ready for dinner. We drove to North Michigan Avenue to meet Jessica's parents for dinner. At the hotel, I handed my car over to the valet, and then we went inside. Jessica saw her parents and Kara and I followed her over to them. She hugged them, then introduced us to her parents, Troy and Angela.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Wilton," I said, opting for a bit of formality.

"Hi!" Kara said brightly.

"Hi, Steve; Hi, Kara," Mr. Wilton said.

"Hi, kids," Mrs. Wilton said.

"We have reservations for 6:00pm at the 95th, which is in the Hancock Center," I said. "It's only five blocks, so we don't need to rush."

We began a leisurely walk to the Skidmore-designed building that Anala had given me more detail about than anyone could possibly want. The one key fact I shared was that the Hancock Center, despite being shorter than the Sears Tower, had the highest residential floor in the world. It had been the second-tallest building in the world when it was completed in 1969 — only the Empire State Building was taller. Shortly thereafter, the Sears Tower had surpassed both of them.

"Jessica tells us you're running your own business, and you just graduated from college," Mr. Wilton said.

"That's correct, Sir. In High School, I wrote software for a friend's veterinary practice that I and some friends then sold to other vets, and when I came to college, I sold my company so I could focus on school. Once I graduated, I hired three of my college friends and we started a new company together."

"And I hear that you own a house as well," Mrs. Wilton said.

"Yes, well, partially. My dad owns half and financed the other half for me. I'm paying him the equivalent of a mortgage each month. I rent out the other rooms and the coach house, which covers that, plus leaves me with some extra income."

"And Kara, you're a student?" she asked.

"Yes, I just started my second year at IIT. I'm studying chemistry. I want to teach university-level chemistry, so I have five more years to go to get my Master's. Eventually, I'll probably get a PhD."

"And you and Steve met in High School?"

"Yes! He was a Senior, and I was a Junior. I took two years between High School and college because my dad died and my mom needed me. Steve was very supportive during that time. I was supposed to be in Chicago with him two years earlier, but because of what happened, I delayed coming here."

"And your mom and Steve's parents are in Ohio?"

"Yes. Our families used to live about five miles from each other," Kara said. "His parents sold their really big house after Steve's sister moved to Chicago to go to the University of Chicago. They moved to Mason, which is a bit further away from my mom, who still lives in Milford."

We arrived at the Hancock Center and took the special elevator to the 95th floor where the restaurant was located. We were a few minutes early, but were seated right away. I took my cues from the Wiltons, and when they ordered soft drinks, I did the same. I wondered if they were not drinking because they were Baptist, or if they were simply respecting Jessica's abstinence.

I had noticed a bit of discomfort her parents were obviously suffering from. The situation was, to be sure, difficult for them to grasp, especially coming from a Baptist church in a conservative state. I wasn't sure how to even broach the topic, or if I even should, so I decided to wait to see what they said. It was clear that both Jessica and Kara were thinking along the same lines, and our conversation before we placed our orders was all small talk.

Finally, Mrs. Wilton broke the ice.

"So, how is this three-way marriage supposed to work?" she asked.

I figured that allowing Jessica to answer, if she chose, was the best course of action, and I was happy when she did.

"There will be two ceremonies, which I told you about," Jessica said. "We'll have one for the three of us, and then Steve and I will have a private ceremony for the legal marriage. We don't want to do that in public because we don't want people to get the idea that I have some kind of priority over Kara. So only the minister, Kara, Steve, and I will be there, plus two of Steve's friends, to serve as witnesses. Then Steve, Kara, and I will go to Stockholm for two weeks on a honeymoon."

"But legally?" her father said.

"I'll be Steve's legal wife," Jessica replied. "The three of us don't really care about that and it won't make any real difference to our marriage. We'll sign documents to make sure that Kara is treated equally if something happens, and we'll share in the raising of our children and in expenses. I know this has been a lot for you to swallow, but this works for the three of us."

"Don't you think three people on a honeymoon is a bit, well, odd?" her mother asked.

"What's wrong?" Jessica asked semi-snidely. "You object to the idea of me being in bed with Kara and Steve at the same time?"

I felt she was pushing too hard, but these were her parents, so it was up to her. But I had to try to temper it a bit.

"Jess," I counseled. "Take a deep breath."

She nodded, "Sorry, Mom and Dad. I guess I'm just asking you to accept our decision. You guys always taught me to think for myself and make my own decisions. That's what I've done here.