Chapter 12: In My Wildest Dreams

And so it began, my pursuit of Ginny and what I hoped would be our happiness. To be honest, she didn't put up any resistance to my advances. It started with the occasional dinner date and of course regular Saturdays at the Chevrier Ranch. About three weeks after our first date I had taken her to a play and we were having a drink at a nearby lounge before I took her home.

"Tell me, Ginny. How am I doing in my quest to win you back again?"

She smiled. "You didn't really have to try too hard, Hal. I've thought about you a lot, particularly when I was married to Brad. I kept comparing him to you and he kept falling short. I was constantly asking myself why I married him and I couldn't come up with a good answer. We weren't right for each other and, in the end, what happened was predictable.

"So, if you're looking for a confession ... I never did stop thinking about you. You were someone special but it's like the saying, you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone. I don't regret becoming a vet, and I don't regret my two little girls but I regret they couldn't have been yours."

I was stunned into silence. I had never expected any kind of confession like this. She was all but saying she still loved me and wanted me in her life. I couldn't believe my good fortune.

"I'm right here, Ginny. I don't think I've changed all that much. A little older, a little wiser, but not much different."

"I hope not. The Hal Berglund that I remember is someone very special and if I can have him back after all the mistakes I've made, I'd feel pretty lucky."

"You already have me back. I never left ... I mean ... like you, I thought about you many times. I think I'm still single because I never found anyone who replaced you in my thoughts. I didn't want to settle for less. I'm still yours ... in my heart."

She put her hand over mine. "It's your heart I want, Hal. I'll happily give you mine."

Again, I was thunderstruck with her admission. It took me a few moments to recover.

"What about the girls? How will they feel about me being in their lives?"

"As far as I can tell, you are a TV star and let them ride ponies. You can do no wrong," she smiled.

"Well, that's fine for now but I'm not just talking about you and I being in love again. I want them to like me for being me, not just a guy on TV or someone who gives them something they want."

"I don't think you have to worry about that. They had so little contact with their father and they were so young that being just your normal self will make it easy for them to love you."

"I think I might just have had a heart attack when you told me you loved me. I was afraid to ask because I was afraid of the answer. I don't know if I could have handled that."

"Well you can relax because you never have to ask," she said. "I'll be the first to tell you ... and probably until you're sick of hearing it. I'm still pinching myself that we were both single when we met again. Talk about karma."

"The gods are being kind to us. Especially you. The divorce must have been hard on you but you kept on and here you are, back in my arms."

"Which brings up another subject. When are you going to show me your apartment?" Her sly grin gave her away.

"Anytime you want. But be prepared. It's a very thorough tour and takes quite some time."

"Then if I told you that mother said if anything happened that would keep me out overnight, not to worry about the girls. She'd look after them."

"Do you want to call her and let her know?"

"I think she already knows, Hal. She's on your side as well as mine. Having you as a son-in-law would make her very happy."

"You've got this all figured out, haven't you?"

"I've had a lot of time to plot and scheme," she smiled.

"Shall we go?" I asked, picking up the tab.

"Yes ... please."

When I closed the door of my apartment she was in my arms almost at the same moment. We kissed and held each other for some time before I took her hand and led her to the bedroom.

"Don't rush this, Hal. I've been trying to imagine what it would be like with you again and I want it to last a long time."

I knew exactly what she meant because I felt the same way. We weren't going to have sex. We were going to make love, to reconnect and mend all the broken pieces from years ago. I wanted this night to communicate just how much I loved her and wanted her in my life.

We were tentative at first, perhaps a bit nervous but with patience on both our part, we found our way. It was slow developing but Ginny kept telling me that it was just the way she wanted it. When we finally joined, she howled a cry of pleasure and release ... a cry she could no longer contain. It was the final statement that we were one once more and we would remain that way.

There wasn't a part of her glorious body that I didn't remember. While the evidence of childbirth was there, she was still the most beautiful, voluptuous woman I had ever known or imagined. I made love to every part of her that night, leaving nothing that did not tell her of my devotion to her. When we could no longer continue, we slept, tucked perfectly into each other.

There is something about the scent of a woman in the morning. In her bed, warm and tranquil, she exudes an aroma which I find irresistible. I want to pull ever closer to me, yet it is impossible as she is already welded to me. My arm around her, my hand gently cupping a breast, I am as content as it is possible for me to be. My morning erection lies between the lovely soft cheeks of her bottom, waiting for any invitation to enter her once again.

I'm not sure she was awake when she accepted me into her body that morning. In a way, I thought it might be better if she would wake to find us joined once more. I felt her move against me, slowly, groaning her pleasure as I gently made love to her. I wasn't trying to penetrate deeply into her, just to tenderly move in her and wake her to the sensations her body was feeling. I had all the time in the world now. There was no need to hurry.

I felt her nipple stiffen as she became aware of my intrusion. I didn't change anything, simply continued my slow, continuous movement. I felt her stir, then sigh, then push back into me as I pushed inward. The brought another groan of satisfaction and a more insistent push back. She was awake now and well aware of what I was doing, apparently with her full approval.

She rolled over and faced me, kissing my face as she grasped my erection. Climbing on top of me, she lay prone as I entered her and began once again to move in her, this time more forcefully.

"Take me, Hal," she mumbled. "Don't be gentle. Take me ... please."

I rolled her over on her back and began to be even more vigorous. I wrapped my arms under her legs and lifted them to increase my penetration.

"Oh yes, that's it. More, Hal. Make me yours forever."

In the end, it was a crashing together of two bodies in a furious rush to finish together. We lay side-by-side, breathing heavily.

"We are so good together it's scary," she gasped.

"Yeah. Good thing, huh?"

"The best. Why did I waste ten years of my life when I could have had this?"

"You didn't waste them. We just lost each other for a while. But that's all in the past. That's yesterday. I want to think about tomorrow. That's where our future is ... all four of us."

"I love you, Hal."

"I know. I love you too, Ginny. And I love your daughters as if they were my own. I can't tell you how happy I am."

"You don't need to. I can tell."

We bought an engagement ring the next day, and Ginny proudly wore it to show her parents, the girls, and later that day, my parents. It brought universal congratulations and happiness to our families. They all felt this was something that was long overdue for us, knowing how we felt about each other, even when we were apart.

Eric confided in me that what had made me something special in their eyes was when I spent that first Christmas that Ginny was away at school with them. Like me, they were missing her terribly, and my being with them helped temper that feeling.

My parents had an awkward feeling about the two little girls. They wanted to be their grandparents, but in fact they weren't. At least, not yet. Ginny and I talked about how to remedy that. Brad's mother had passed away some years ago from cancer, and his father had become an alcoholic recluse, hardly a role model for his granddaughters. As a result, only Cynthia had even the vaguest memory of him or her father.

Brad Fisher had worked in the oil fields of Alberta as a supervisor to a number of crews. He was well paid but on the road almost every week. It made a shambles of their home life and contributed to the deterioration of their marriage. An additional irritant was Ginny deciding to keep her maiden name, ostensibly for work purposes. She admitted later that she was glad she had because it would allow her to maintain it after the divorce.

When the marriage collapsed, Ginny discovered Brad had a lady-friend in Leduc that he had been seeing regularly. He admitted it before the divorce was finalized and he was doing everything he could to belittle her as a wife. At the core of it all was her inability to provide him with a son. He saw it as an affront to his manhood. The acrimonious parting of the two provided little relief for Ginny until he had moved out and into the home of his lover.

Cynthia was just three and Hanna only one when the marriage dissolved. Cynthia was in bed only an hour or two after her father came home from work when he wasn't travelling. He paid little attention to either daughter, displaying no love or interest in them or their activities. It was up to Ginny to interact with them, and that took place after her work day, making the evening meal and looking after the house. The weekends were for catching up on laundry and housekeeping. It didn't take long for this to wear on her.

When he announced he was leaving, his bags already packed, she felt little remorse at her failed marriage. It was only a day later that she discovered he had cleaned out the bank accounts and left her with all the bills, including the mortgage. It took her two years to dig herself out from underneath the debt and clean up her financial affairs in Calgary. When she was offered a move back to Ottawa she quickly grabbed it, recognizing a chance to move up and start over.

Her parents happily accepted her back into the family home, delighted to get to know their grandchildren and relieved that their daughter had shed herself of a worthless husband. Her mother had almost immediately mentioned that I had become a regular on the Channel 4 news and that wouldn't it be something if we got together again. About as subtle as a ton of rocks, Ginny thought. But it stuck in her mind and, when she saw me walking down the hallway in the ministry building, she grabbed the opportunity instantly. And now, here we were.

Our first objective, even before setting the wedding date, was to find a home. We talked about it with both sets of parents and decided a four bedroom home would be the most practical. It would give each of the girls their own bedroom and have a spare guest room, or if the need arose, another bedroom if, by chance, we had another child. Our parents left little doubt they would welcome another grandchild, boy or girl.

We decided on concentrating our search on the Ottawa side, the Ontario side. Taxes and regulations were the reason. Both of us spoke and read reasonable French but that wasn't the issue. It was schooling for the children that was on our minds. There was no doubt in our minds that they would receive a much more well-rounded education in Ontario.

I had some savings but Ginny could contribute nothing but her salary toward qualifying for a mortgage. We were going to have to borrow heavily on a high-ratio mortgage to get into anything like what we wanted. The more we looked, the more we knew we would have to move further out. It took weeks of looking and disappointment before we found something.

It was a 1920's farmhouse that had been renovated in the seventies but not since. It need a lot of work to bring it up to modern standards but from what I could see, it looked solid and had been reasonably well looked after. Better still, it was for sale at a price much lower than the nearby subdivisions that were sprouting up in west of Ottawa.

I wanted an unvarnished opinion on the place and I thought I knew where to find one.

"Marcel, it's Hal Berglund."

"Hello, Hal. How are you today?"

"Good sir. I called because I need your advice. Ginny and I are looking at a house in Stittsville. It's actually an old farmhouse built in the '20's and modernized about thirty years ago. I need a professional opinion on whether it's a good buy. I was wondering with all your engineering background, if you knew of someone who could give us an honest appraisal of its condition."

"Ha ha, very good Hal. You know perfectly well I'd be happy to look the place over myself. I'd hate to see you two young people buy something that will become a burden to you and your family. When would you like me to look at it?"

"That's very generous of you. If we could look it over next weekend that would be very helpful."

"Fine. I'll meet you at your apartment on Saturday morning and we can go from there. That way I won't get lost."

"Thank you, Marcel. I really appreciate your doing this. It will help us make the decision if we have someone of your experience give us an opinion."

Ginny didn't sleep over on the Friday night knowing I would meet her Saturday afternoon at her parents' home. Marcel arrived promptly at nine am on Saturday and brought a large case with him. We put that in my car and headed out to Stittsville, a forty-five minute drive from my apartment on a weekend morning.

"Oh, I can see why you would be attracted to this house, Hal. It's a classic two storey farmhouse with a veranda. How much property is involved?"

"One-point-three acres. That's all that's left of the original farm. The land was sold off piecemeal apparently."

"There was a time when this was as far out of town as our ranch is today. Times change. There'll be neighbours soon enough, I suspect."

He pulled the case out of the trunk of the car and set it down on the veranda.

"I don't have a key but the agent should be along shortly. The house has been empty for over a year. There's some furniture still in it, but for the most part, it's empty."

"Probably just as well. I'm going to want to poke and prod and see what the bones look like. I'm sure there's a basement so I'll want to start there."

He pointed to the case.

"This is probably overkill but it's a kit we use for inspecting government buildings. Not all of them are built of stone and concrete so we do have experience with older heritage sites. That includes the Prime Minister's residence."

He was taking some instruments and a very large battery powered light out of the case while looking around the outside of the structure. There was a small barn like building fifty feet from the back of the house that was used as a garage. There would be plenty of room for two cars and garden tools.

The real estate agent arrived and I introduced him to Marcel, explaining that he was here to inspect the house. Our agent had no problem with that. Apparently it had been inspected more than once in the last year and he had kept the reports on file. He was willing to share them with us but didn't have them with him. I requested he fax or e-mail them to me and he agreed.

We spent all morning at the house with Marcel beginning in the basement and working his way upward. He was making notes and testing wiring and plumbing lines as he went. I chose not to interrupt and the agent, while very patient with this process, went back to Kanata for some coffee and sandwiches which he insisted on paying for.