Chapter 21: Talladega Nights

July 25, 1986, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee

"Have a safe flight, Lyudmila Alekseyevna," I said as she picked up her carry-on to board her flight.

"Thank you, Stepa. I will call you on Wednesday with my address. And thank you, Kara Alanovna!"

"You're welcome, Lyudmila!" Kara said.

"Kara, may Stepa give me a proper kiss?"

Kara smiled and nodded.

I pulled Lyudmila into my arms and kissed her deeply.

"Thank you for loving with me, Stepa. It was wonderful!" she whispered.

"And thank you for loving with me!" I whispered back.

We exchanged a second soft kiss, and then she and Kara exchanged Russian-style kisses. Kara and I watched Lyudmila hand over her boarding pass and then, with a wave, walk onto the Jetway to board her flight. As soon as Lyudmila was out of sight, Kara and I quickly made our way back to my car and set out for Dawsonville.

"Now that she's gone, I have to ask, how do you feel?" Kara said.

"I was a bit surprised you didn't ask last night," I said.

"I wanted to give you some time to think about it, and I knew you had talked to Jess before you came to bed."

"I'm fine," I said. "Jess seemed fine, too."

"What does 'fine' mean?" Kara asked.

I chuckled, "You won't let me off the hook with a simple answer, will you?"

"Of course not!" she said with a smirk that I saw out of the corner of my eye.

"Before I forget, I need to teach you to drive stick," I said.

"Too late! Jess has been doing that when she's visited! That was our secret! Now quit trying to change the subject!"

"Busted," I admitted. "I enjoyed it and I don't feel bad about it. Lyudmila told me that she was very happy, and she certainly enjoyed it."

"And?"

"And I think Jess was right. I have no regrets, and it was fun, but it just didn't feel completely right, if you know what I mean."

Kara smiled, "I do. That's exactly what Jess said you would say when I talked to her the other night. That something would feel 'off' and that other than Bethany, you'll most likely turn down any girls that ask for a long, long time."

"A long time?" I asked.

Kara giggled, "If Kathy has a redheaded daughter who asks you to deflower her, there is no chance in this lifetime, or any other, that you'll say 'no' to her!"

I chuckled, "You are all going to enjoy that, aren't you?"

"Not as much as you will, Snuggle Bear!" Kara teased.

"Can I ask why this doesn't bother you?"

"Because I know you," Kara said. "You're changing, and that's a good thing. It's gradual, and that's how I think it should be. I tried to make radical changes to you in High School, which is why your sister called me your 'ball and chain'."

"I guess I didn't really see it that way. I saw it as me trying to take a good, Christian girl to bed."

"Yes, but I changed what I wanted when I decided to make you mine, and only mine. And I pushed you towards something you couldn't do. So now, I'm not pushing, just encouraging."

"But you encouraged me to be with Lyudmila!" I protested.

"Yes, that's true. This is a journey, and you need to take it one step at a time, without any shortcuts. It's why I talked so much with Jessica beforehand. If she tried to get you to change radically and quickly, it would backfire horribly and there might be another 'Becky incident'. If you had felt smothered, you would have run to Bethany and what would that have accomplished? Even more disaster in the long run."

"But you two are sending me to Bethany!"

"It's different. You aren't going to her because of you, but because of her. Do you see the difference? Running to her because you were unhappy with the situation with Jessica would either have wrecked the engagement or led to divorce, if it happened after we all married."

"You really believe that?" I asked.

"How do you react to someone trying to force you to be who you are not?" Kara asked.

"Badly," I said.

"Exactly! To be honest, Jess wanted to push you harder on the dalliances at first. I convinced her that if she wanted to win that battle, so to speak, that it would be a really bad idea to push you that way. Later, when you two were getting closer, I felt you were ready for her to pull the reins back just a bit. I think I was right."

"For Pete's sake! Did you orchestrate EVERYTHING that happened in the last year and a half?"

"Of course not! Do you think I arranged for Bethany's accident and your chance meeting with Jessica?"

"No, of course not!" I said, replied that she would even suggest that I had thought that. "I would never, ever even imply something like that!"

"You told me that you asked Karin about whether or not Jonas might have purposefully sailed out into that storm."

"I did, but that was different! And it was just a question. I do NOT think you orchestrated the accident for me to meet Jessica! Unless you're a witch or sorceress, there's no way you could have done something like that! But after that?"

"You spoke with Jessica on your own. You had coffee with her. You went on a date with her. That was your doing, not mine."

"OK. But you have had a plan of some kind from even before the accident — in fact, ever since you came to make love with me at Christmas three and a half years ago."

"My only plan when I came to you on Christmas Eve was to restore some semblance of a relationship with you, even if that was the only time we had ever made love again. You had shown me what it meant to love someone unconditionally and I would never have forgiven myself if I hadn't at least tried to make things right. I never expected you to take me as your wife. In fact, I never expected anything from you, and only hoped for your friendship. Once you took me back into your confidence, I was content. Once you took me back into your bed, I vowed to do everything in my power to help you be the man you wanted to be. But you made your own decisions at every step."

"But you were feeding Jessica inside information. Isn't that cheating?"

"Leveling the playing field," Kara replied with a sly smile. "I didn't tell Jessica anything that Bethany didn't already know! And you had already told Jessica quite a bit."

"True, but wasn't it my place to tell her what she needed to know?"

"She needed to hear a female perspective. And from someone who knew you for exactly who you were. It turned out right, don't you think?"

"Yes, of course. But I can't help but think about Bethany."

"Nothing I did changed that — you would have continued to go on dates with Jessica and put things off while you worked on things with Bethany. You still would have told Bethany you were ready to marry her. And things would have gone the same way that they did — she would still have met Andrew and he still would have proposed."

"But you didn't know that!" I protested.

"No, I didn't. But as I said — once I met and talked with Jessica, and before I told her anything in detail about you, I knew that she was the person you should marry. And here's the thing — you knew it as well."

"I knew it?"

"Of course you did! First, you knew that there was something wrong between you and Bethany. Second, you were intrigued by Jessica. Third, you were challenged by her. Fourth, and most importantly, you refused her offer of her virginity. I'm only aware of two instances where you did that — Michelle Bateman and Lyudmila. You remedied that second one last night."

"I made you wait," I said.

"Yes, for exactly the same reason that you made Jessica wait. You knew subconsciously, from the beginning, that we were meant to be together."

"Seriously?" I asked.

"Why did you flirt with me?" Kara asked.

"I was teasing you because you asked Mrs. Brewer to give you a new lab partner. And I'll point out that you told me that you knew what I was like and that I was going to Hell!"

"Because that's what I was conditioned to say," she smirked. "You know what I really wanted to say, right?"

I chuckled, "Yes, I do."

"And what did you think of me then?"

"That you were cute, had a great body, but that you were a 'Holy Roller'."

"Did you think you had any chance at all of getting me into bed?"

"No. None at all. I was just going to have fun teasing you and making you feel uncomfortable."

"There was more to it; you just didn't realize it at the time."

"Destiny?" I asked.

"If you believe in that kind of thing, yes."

"Do you?" I asked.

"I believe in you, Snuggle Bear. That's all I need."

"I have to ask, what did Doctor Alborg say about your fixation on me?" I asked.

"Well, in the end, we agreed that I was strictly monogamous. Once you and I made love, I could never make love to another man."

"Can you explain Joyce and Jessica?" I asked.

"They aren't men," she giggled.

"I know THAT!" I chuckled.

"Joyce was an experiment. One that at the time I thought had failed, but it led me to the correct solution for our future. The only solution that would actually work."

"And you're truly happy?"

"Oh my, yes! I have exactly what I need and you have exactly what you need and Jess has exactly what she needs! Soon enough, I'll have babies with you! I couldn't be happier!"

"And without Jess, you and I couldn't be happy?" I asked.

"We couldn't be complete without her. And she couldn't be complete without us."

"Interesting," I said.

"Each of us made compromises to get what we needed. You need both Jess and me. I need both of you. Jess needs both of us. I'm positive none of us would have been truly happy without the trio."

"I'll take your word for it."

"Are you upset with me?" Kara asked.

"I don't think 'upset' is the right word. It just feels like you might have manipulated Jess and me."

"Let's say, for the sake of argument, that I did. So what? Do you think things should have turned out differently?"

"Now you're trying to fight dirty! You know I don't do those 'change the past' questions very often because you can't change the past, and if you could, you have no idea how things would have turned out. I learned about those in my logic class. It's called the 'Hypothesis Contrary to Fact' fallacy, and is, effectively, unfalsifiable, so you can predict any outcome you wish without being able to prove it one way or the other. The only exception is an 'either or' question like flipping a coin. If it didn't come up heads, it had to come up tails."

"Or it could land on edge," Kara giggled.

"Which neatly demonstrates my point!"

"Are you unhappy in any way?"

"About our marriage? No! Honestly, sometimes it seems too good to be true. At times, I think I'm going to wake up back in Milford with you next to me in bed, right after Bethany told me about Andrew's proposal."

Kara reached over and put her hand on my arm.

"I'm not saying it's going to be easy," she said. "I suspect that we'll hit some rough patches, but we'll get through them. Remember, we'll all be under one roof for a couple of months when Jess comes up next Friday. Until now, it's been sort of a honeymoon each time we've been with her."

"But even two months is short," I said. "I managed reasonably well for ten months with the Jonssons in Sweden despite things being less than optimal. I think the rubber meets the road when she's here and going through her Residency and she's here but not here, if you know what I mean."

"And we'll get through it," Kara said firmly.

"Because of you," I said — a statement, not a question.

"Because of all of us," she corrected.

Kara squeezed my arm, and we rode with the only sounds being the radio and the hum of the tires on the road.

July 25, 1986, Dawsonville, Georgia

"Hey, Peaches," I said, pulling her into a gentle hug.

"Hey, Yankee," she said.

"How are you?"

"OK, I guess. All we can do is wait and see. You're heading over to Red's house, right?"

"We are. I guess he's been at the track since Thursday night?" I asked.

"Yeah. They practiced today. Qualifyin' is tomorrow. I planned for us to go to the swimmin' hole with Emily and Walter. If Kara don't mind LeAnn coming, we can ask her when we get to Red's."

I released Stephie from the hug, and she and Kara exchanged a quick hug.

"I don't mind!" Kara said. "I'm glad to see you, Stephie. How's school?"

"A bitch," Stephie said. "The chemo made things tough, but my professors have been helpful."

"Did you earn a full year's worth of credits?"

"Yeah, I barely managed, but I did it. I should get my Master's on time."

"And everything is set for your wedding in November?"

"Yes!" Stephie said happily. "Did Steve tell you the details?"

"He did," Kara said. "I think it's perfect for you and Jason! We'll be there! Steve booked tickets and a hotel as soon as you told him."

"Cool. Come by after breakfast. Emily and Walter will meet us at the swimmin' hole. Bring LeAnn if you want."

"Is she going to the race with us?"

"Yeah, she's usin' Jessica's ticket 'cause only one of your wives is a NASCAR fan!"

Kara and I hugged Stephie again and got back into my Daytona to drive to Red's house.

"Is she really OK?" Kara asked as I backed out of the Grant's driveway.

"She says so. She's showing some signs of wear and tear, but Jess told me that the dull hair and pallid skin tone are pretty normal, though eventually she'll look like her old self again. She looks like she put the weight back on, not that she was all that big to start with. Jess said all we can do is wait and see."

We arrived at Jason's house a few minutes after leaving the Grant's, and LeAnn was waiting for us on the porch.

"Hey, Steve! Hey, Kara!" she called as we got out of the car.

"Hey, LeAnn!" Kara and I said.

"You have a lot of explaining to do!" LeAnn laughed as she walked over to the car. "But we can talk tomorrow. Jason told my parents that you and Kara are married."

Kara and I both laughed and held out our left hands to display our rings.

"You know about Jessica, right?" I asked, keeping my voice low.