Chapter 75: Our Life Together

January 6, 1989, Goshen, Ohio

When Stefan arrived, he invited Kris and me into his study to go over the paperwork.

"Changing Rachel's name is simple, as I've said," he began. "Mike, I'll just need you to sign this retainer and then sign the request. Nothing needs to be notarized. Please check that all the information is correct on the form, as any errors might become permanent."

I reviewed the form and saw that her birth name and birthdate were correct, as was the information about her parents, though it noted that Elizaveta was deceased, and that was written into her signature block. I signed both the retainer and the form to request changing her name.

"The filing fee with the court for the name change and issuing a corrected birth certificate is $78," Stefan said. "There are no other fees associated with that process, and my fee is usually $75, but I'm waiving that, as I'll simply consider it received as part of the fee for the adoption."

"Thank you."

"Do I need to sign at all?" Kris asked.

"No. It's a bit complicated, but legally, you don't have a say because your name isn't on Rachel's birth certificate. Because that document lists Elizaveta as Rachel's mother, I'll submit a copy of her death certificate along with the form."

"I thought being married made Kris Rachel's legal mother and guardian," I replied.

"It does, for most things, but anything like this requires Elizaveta's agreement, or, because she's reposed, a copy of her death certificate. Once the formal adoption goes through, which isn't technically necessary, then Kris has all the usual legal rights which would attach to a biological mother. In effect, and please don't take this the wrong way, but the adoption papers will terminate Elizaveta's legal rights and transfer them to Kris.

"You could do without it, and likely have no trouble, ever, but it's better to do this and have a formal court order. Adoption is more common in divorce cases where parental rights are terminated, but there are enough subtle traps in the law to make this worthwhile. The fee to the court is $495, and my fee is normally $5000, but I'm reducing that to $2000. I'd reduce it further, but the firm sets limits, and I can't do pro bono work for relatives. Mike, your mother insists on paying that fee."

"And I know better than to argue with Mom!" I chuckled.

"As we discussed, I'll file the petition with Family Court, and they will assign a social worker to conduct an investigation and interview. In all likelihood, it will be done by letter, as there do not appear to be any grounds for the State to object, at least as I see it. If, for whatever reason, Family Services requests a personal interview, call me, and we'll discuss strategy."

"Why strategy?" I asked. "Answering their questions truthfully should resolve everything in our favor."

Stefan smiled, "You would think so, and in a perfect world, I would agree. I believe you're aware that Family Services staff have their own agendas, and that the truth is not particularly relevant at times."

"Sadly."

"And that's why we have impartial judges who have the job of weighing what both sides say and making a determination. Just remember, nothing Family Services can reasonably do could change the fact that Kris is Rachel's mother. Your marriage, together with Elizaveta's repose, means there is literally nobody who has standing to object to any decision you might make together.

"The one time the adoption would absolutely come into play is if something were to happen to you, Mike. At that point, while I seriously doubt it would happen, Viktor and Yulia could try for custody. Viktor is, in my judgment, an honorable man, and I wouldn't expect that to happen, but as an attorney, I'm required to think of every possible outcome and protect you, Kris, and Rachel in every eventuality."

"Is there any chance Family Services could raise the situation with Liz?" I asked.

"I assume Kris knows all the details?"

"She does."

"Not as far as I can see, and Fred Winston agrees. If they ask any questions at all related to that, immediately end the interview and get in touch with Fred and me. We'll take it from there."

"Mike," Kris said, "I thought all of that was removed from the records."

I nodded, "It was, but there were a couple of newspaper articles at the time, though finding them would require going through the microfilm archives of the Rutherford newspaper. And one thing we can't be completely sure of is what individuals might have knowledge of what happened, even if they don't have any documents."

"According to Fred, he has all the necessary documents to demonstrate your innocence, including the admissions of nearly every party involved on behalf of the State of Ohio. But in the end, that cannot actually affect Kris' application for adoption. You both need to sign the form, which has Rachel's new surname. I'll file it as soon as the Hamilton County Court issues the writ changing her name. It's easier that way and prevents any bureaucratic silliness."

"Of which there is plenty in medicine, as there is everywhere else!" I replied.

Stefan laughed, "I wouldn't even know where to begin with the medical bureaucracy! We attorneys specialize as much as you doctors!"

"He's not a doctor just yet," Kris interjected.

"I think that's a mere technicality at this point," Stefan replied. "I'm positive he'll pass his exam with flying colors and graduate in May."

"As am I," Kris agreed. "But we don't want it to go to his head just yet! Doctors are egotistical enough as it is!"

"Lawyers, too," Mom declared from the door to the study. "Dinner in ten minutes."

"Thanks, Rachel," Stefan said flatly.

"And now you see why I say I intend to turn into my grandfather to exact my revenge!" I declared.

Kris rolled her eyes in response, then she and I signed the documents. Stefan verified them, and I gave him the copy of the marriage certificate we'd obtained earlier. With that completed, we re-joined the family in the great room to wait for dinner.

January 6, 1989, Circleville, Ohio

We arrived home just after 9:00pm, and after changing Rachel's diaper and giving her some juice, we put her into her bed that we'd bought that had a side railing, The crib, which was still in her room, would very likely get two more uses, and if the kids were spaced two years apart, we'd make do with just the one.

"Our life together as a family really begins now," I said once we returned downstairs.

"Yes, it does!" Kris agreed.

"Did you want to open gifts tonight?" I asked.

"I think we can wait for tomorrow. We don't have any plans except for Vespers."

"We also need to do laundry, or at least I do, and at some point I should practice my guitar."

"If you feel up to playing now, I wouldn't object. Then we can christen our bed!"

"That sounds like an excellent plan!"

I went to the study, retrieved my guitar and sheet music, then returned to the great room and sat on the couch next to Kris.

"Any requests?" I asked.

"No. Just play whatever you like. Do you mind if I get some wine? Mom left a bottle of white in the fridge and two bottles of red on the counter."

"I don't mind you having a glass of wine now and then, plus with your evening meal. It's your cultural tradition, though you know how I'm handling it."

"I'll be right back."

While Kris was in the kitchen, I selected ten songs, all of them 'slow'. She returned with a glass of red wine, and I began to play. Just under an hour later, I put away the guitar and music, then Kris and I went up to our bedroom. We went through our usual nighttime routines of brushing our teeth, then got into bed.

"Same as our first night?" Kris suggested.

"Yes," I agreed.

We made love as we had that first night, and, as we had done that night, cuddled and fell asleep snuggled together.

January 7, 1989, Circleville, Ohio

I woke with Rachel calling for me. I carefully disentangled from Kris and got out of bed. I put on my happi and, after tying the sash, went to Rachel's room. I changed her diaper, then took her downstairs to give her breakfast. Kris came down a few minutes later and put on a pot of coffee.

"What do you want for breakfast?" Kris asked.

"Waffles, bacon or sausage, and eggs. I can help if you want."

"You're feeding the Tsarina, so I'll make breakfast. Teamwork!"

"At least she doesn't seem upset to not have seen us for a week."

"You did say she coöperated with Papa's play time!"

I laughed, "That's not quite how I put it, but that's not inaccurate."

"Did she have a favorite?"

"Lara," I replied. "But I'd say that's most likely due to Lara being her main caregiver. She really likes Serafima and Alyssa as well. Of the kids, she likes Abigail best, but then again, she sees her more than any of the other girls, except the ones at daycare."

"Lara!" Rachel exclaimed.

"You'll see her at church tomorrow," I said. "Now be a good girl and eat your breakfast so Mama and Papa can have theirs."

"Waffle!" Rachel demanded.

"You'll get some," I chuckled. "Just be patient!"

And good luck with that, I thought, because her biological mom had not been patient about anything she wanted me to do!

"I'm not sure toddlers are big on patience," Kris commented.

"Nor adults," I replied.

"Me?"

"You're impatient with behavior you want to change," I replied. "Not that you aren't correct, but you are insistent on change occurring immediately."

"For things you can change immediately, why wouldn't I be?"

"Because change is difficult," I replied.

"Is it? Really? Or are you just stubborn?"

"That is a well-known Borodin trait which I inherited from my grandfather through my mom, and which I am sure Rachel has inherited and will display in good time!"

"You say that like it's a good thing!"

"In some cases, it is. My grandfather's stubborn refusal to allow Bishop ARKADY to control the situation that arose was what led to Bishop ARKADY effectively being deposed, though he was permitted to retire to spare the Church the scandal that would have arisen otherwise. If my grandfather hadn't stubbornly persisted, even in the face of being denied the Eucharist and removed from the parish council, I'm not sure the wrongdoing would have been brought to light.

"In my own case, it is only through stubborn persistence that changes will be made to the practice of medicine. While it's not really comparable to what Doctor King and the Civil Rights leaders did, it is the same stubborn demand for justice and equality that will prevail. So, yes, it is a good thing when applied in the right way. What you want to correct is the improper stubbornness, and that's fine. But the trait, in and of itself, is a good thing."

"You do have a point, but it has to be tempered."

"Something my mentors have pointed out as well, and I don't disagree, but changing twenty-six years of behavior stemming from at least a century of stubborn Borodins is a serious challenge, and one I've been working on. May I give another example?"

"Yes."

"Angie's treatment," I replied. "I'll be damned if I'm going to give up on seeking justice for her and bringing her former psychiatrist to justice for his treatment of her."

"I understand. Does it bother you that I tell you what I think ought to change?"

"Not at all. May I give a silly answer?"

"Of course!"

"Why should our relationship be any different from my previous ones? Women have been telling me what to do for my whole life, starting with my mom, then Jocelyn, then Clarissa, then Anicka, then Elizaveta. And of course, Doctor Mertens, Doctor Gibbs, Rachel, and now you!"

Kris laughed softly, "Not your grandmother?"

"No. She was never like that. Even when she and her friend tried to fix me up with Dani, Grandma Borodin was fairly mellow. Dani's grandmother, on the other hand..."

"Well, to use a phrase I've heard from my friends here, 'you snooze, you lose'!"

I laughed, "I'm not sure I'd say that to her or her grandmother, but that does sum it up nicely."

"Seriously, though, Mike, she only had to wait a short while. According to Lara, you had more or less made up your mind, but because it wasn't August, you were still open to meeting new girls."

"Would you have been patient?"

"Who says I wasn't?" Kris said with a twinkle in her eye.

"Why do I sense a conspiracy of which I was not aware?!"

"There was none, per se, only that I had mentioned to Oksana that I thought you were handsome, but I knew you were seeing Dani. When that fell apart, Oksana let me know, and I asked her to make the introduction. May I say I'm very happy at how things turned out?"

"You may! I'm very happy, too, and unbeknownst to anyone except Clarissa and Lara, I did have some minor concerns that I saw Dani as a replacement for Elizaveta, not as a successor, if you understand what I mean."

"That you were concerned that you were interested in Danijela because she was so much like Elizaveta."

"Yes. It was also the case that I had, at various times, felt a stay-at-home mom was best for Rachel, but, in the end, what I needed was not just a partner, but an intellectual equal, and someone who was their own person, not an extension of me."

"Good thing, or I would have told you 'no' right off the bat!"

"It simply took me some time to get past the notion that the only thing that mattered was a mom for Rachel. I felt that way mainly because I was scared to death of raising a daughter on my own."

"And how did that turn out?" Kris asked.

"We'll have to ask Rachel in about fifteen years!" I chuckled. "But so far, so good, at least as I see it."

"You've done a very good job," Kris replied.

"Thank you. I've had a lot of help, too."

"But doesn't everyone? I mean, you told me how your grandmother watched you when you were little, when your mom went back to work, and my grandmothers did the same, not to mention the government daycare and schools in France. So you're doing what almost every parent in Europe does. I know it's not the norm here, but I don't understand why people here think women have to give up everything to be wives and mothers. That's certainly not Orthodox thinking!"

"In case you hadn't noticed, despite my best efforts, America is still basically Protestant in outlook and belief, even though we have plenty of Roman Catholics here. And not just Protestant in outlook, but Calvinist. You mentioned it in the context of the Spanish Falangists."

Kris nodded, "Your politicians cater to the reactionaries."

"On both sides," I replied.

Kris rolled her eyes, "'Reactionary' is a term for those on the political right who object to socialist progress! It generally applies to traditional conservatives who object to political, social, and economic change. It's the opposite of being 'progressive'. Reactionaries in the USA are the ones who want to return to the 1950s, which they think somehow represents the ideal, when it was truly an aberration."

"You'll forgive me if I'm not up on political terms! And yes, I'm aware of the 1950s being a complete aberration, mostly due to the fact that the entire industrial world was bombed flat except for the US. While South America and Africa weren't destroyed, neither had much industrial output, focusing more on raw materials and commodities. It's easy to dominate and be rich when you have the only factories around, and the only society that doesn't have to spend their national treasure trying to rebuild while caring for a displaced population."

"I was thinking more about the images of women being homemakers and mothers, greeting their breadwinner husbands with a pipe, slippers, and whisky of some sort."

"Bourbon, usually," I replied, "though Scotch in some circles. What is a bit strange is that so many young women had worked in factories to support the war effort because the US basically mobilized every able-bodied male in their twenties. In the end, something like twelve million men were in the military by 1945, which was over ten percent of the total population. When those men came home, they needed jobs, so women mostly left the workforce, and had to fight to return to it in the 60s."

"And developed the ideal of a single breadwinner, on whom the economic success of the family depended. You know my opinion on that."

"I do, and while I see the value of a stay-at-home mom, I don't think it's the only way, nor perhaps even the best way. It's what Elizaveta wanted to do, and if I understand proper feminist theory, her choice is what mattered. Of course, I know that radical feminist theory would disagree."

"I think," Kris said, "the best description for you is to use 'liberal' in the European sense. You are, I think, right of center, at least on a European scale. You believe in personal freedom, liberty, and the rule of law, but also believe in some aspects of social democracy. I know in the US the word liberal is basically a swear word, but then again, you Americans always make a mess of ordered French political theory!"

I laughed, "Because, of course, France is the standard for all politics!"

"We did develop the terminology! Both 'left' and 'right' come from the seating arrangement in the French Parliament, with the reformers on the left and the monarchists on the right!"

"Or the radicals on the left and the traditionalists on the right," I replied with a grin as Kris brought waffles, eggs, and sausage to the table, then poured juice and coffee for both of us.

"You would say that!" Kris replied, sitting down.

I said the blessing, and we began eating, with Rachel happily munching on a waffle square, which had been spread with maple syrup.

"I'm Orthodox, so, of course, I support tradition!"

"And the gospel is, at its heart, socialist."

"But voluntary," I replied. "We had the discussion about Ananias and Sapphira last Fall. I'd prefer not to rehash it, but if you insist, I will!"

Kris smiled, "Thank you for not summarily cutting off the conversation with your usual 'I hate politics' declaration once you've made your point!"

"I can be taught," I chuckled. "It just takes some serious effort!"

"So I have been told!" Kris said mirthfully. "I think this morning's political education is finished."