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 Chapter 17

   The next morning I discovered that Jennifer was already up.  Normally, I
had to prod her to get up since she liked to sleep in.  When I went out to
the main room, I saw Jennifer at the table with the pad of writing paper -
a letter to her cousin I guessed.

   I came over and gave Jennifer a kiss on the cheek then sat down across
from her.  "Can I assume you've made up your mind?" I asked her.

   "Yes, I think I'm going to send Martin a letter directly." She got a bit
of an anxious look on her face.  "Do you agree or should I send it through
Mr.  Dufor?"

   "Sweetheart, if you feel comfortable sending the letter directly, then
that's the right thing to do." I paused and mulled a though over in my
mind. "Let me make a suggestion.  If you feel comfortable about this, tell
Martin you'd like to meet him face to face.  Ask him to suggest a time and
place giving us at least a couple of weeks time to get things arranged."

   *****

   Six weeks later with and couple of exchanges of letters we headed out to
meet Martin.  We'd arranged for a friend from the main island to come over
and `house sit' - or maybe it should be `cabin sit' - for us.  Both Maggie
and Ralph were familiar with her as she was a frequent visitor to our
island and she was happy to help us out.

   We'd agreed on meeting in a hotel in Seattle.  We'd also agreed that the
first one there would leave a note for the other indicating what room they
were in.  As it turned out, Martin got there before us and once we were
settled in our room, we called Martin and agreed to meet in the dining room
in 30 minutes.

   We arrived at the dining room just as a man was speaking to the hostess
and overheard him say that he was expecting two others to join him.  I
spoke up and asked if he was Martin and soon all three of us were escorted
to a quiet table.

   I could sense that Jennifer was quite nervous to start with, but after
talking to Martin for a few minutes I saw that she was slowly relaxing. 
Martin appeared to be slightly younger than myself, about my height with a
fairly slender build and was quite handsome.  As we chatted while waiting
for our meal to be served, we discovered that Martin was quite soft spoken
and was easy to talk with.

   We spent about an hour over our meal talking, allowing Martin and
Jennifer to get to know one another.  Finally we needed to vacate the table
so the staff could use it for other patrons.  After agreeing to meet Martin
again the next day, Jennifer and I went back to our room.

   *****

   "Wally, I was pretty scared about meeting Martin," Jennifer said.

   I smiled and hugged her.  "I know.  I could tell that from watching you.
Now that you've met him, what do you want to do next?"

   Jennifer thought for a bit.  "I'm not sure," she said then smiled as she
continued, "I guess this is another one of those `sleep on it' things. 
Hopefully by the morning I'll know where we go from here."

   The next morning Jennifer was wide awake and sitting in one of the
chairs in the main room of our suite when I woke up.  At first I thought
she was sleeping but I realized she was deep in thought.  "Good morning, my
love" I said very quietly.

   Jennifer opened her eyes, ran and jumped into my arms, almost knocking
me over.  "Oh Wally, everything is okay.  We can set a wedding date now. 
I'm so happy." Before I could say a word my mouth was covered by hers as
she started to passionately kiss me.

   Finally I managed to get disentangled.  "Uh, I'm not sure I understand
what's happened.  Can you fill me in?" I asked her.

   Jennifer looked at me with the most contented look I'd seen on her face
in a long time.  "Remember when you'd ask me if I'd decided on a wedding
date?" she asked.  I nodded `yes'.  "Well, every time you asked me,
something seemed to tell me to say `no'.  Last night I dreamt of our
wedding and one of the guests was Martin.  I think something was telling me
to wait until I met Martin.  I think we can set a date now."

   I pulled Jennifer to me again and hugged her for the longest time. 
Finally we parted and I made a suggestion.  "Let's get dressed then call
him and ask him to come up here.  We can order a breakfast from room
service.  How does that sound?" The smile on Jennifer's face told me
everything I needed to know.

   While Jennifer was having a shower and getting dressed, I called Martin
and asked him if he'd come to our suite in 30 minutes.  Once Jennifer was
finished I'd made myself presentable then called room service to order
breakfast for three.  I'd no sooner hung up the phone than there was a
knock on the door.  Jennifer opened the door and invited Martin in.

   After a couple of minutes of small talk, Jennifer took control. 
"Martin, we only touched on what happened when Mom and Dad died.  Let me -
with Wally's help - tell you the full story." Over the hour or so, with an
interruption to deal with the room service breakfast, Jennifer told Martin
what had happened and what we were planning.  From time to time she would
look at me for confirmation of some fact or name but she'd got everything
right.  Martin was somewhat taken aback at a few things he'd heard but
after some explanations he soon understood the situation and seemed at ease
with things.  Once she'd finished telling Martin what had transpired,
Jennifer looked at me for a moment then turned back to Martin and started
talking again.

   "Martin, this may sound strange but both Wally and I have had strange
things happen to us on our island." Taking a deep breath, she continued. 
"After Wally proposed and I said yes, I was left with the feeling that we
shouldn't set a date yet as there was something going to happen first.  I
didn't know what to think, but based upon what had happened in the past, I
told Wally I couldn't set a date yet.  Wally has asked me several times and
my answer has always been the same - not yet.

   "Yesterday, after we met, Wally asked me what I wanted to do - meet with
you again or just go home.  I thought about this and couldn't make up my
mind.  Last night I had a dream - a dream about our wedding - Wally's and
mine that is.  As I looked out at the guests, most of them were folks that
we've become friends with since I arrived on our island.  One guest stood
out however - that guest was you." Martin's mouth fell open in surprise and
was about to speak but Jennifer held up her hand to stop him then
continued.

   "I believe I wasn't meant to set a wedding date until I'd met you and
that once I'd met you I was to invite you to our wedding." Jennifer stopped
and looked at Martin who was still somewhat in shock then continued. 
"Martin, will you come and `give me away' - act as my father?" Jennifer
asked Martin.

   If Martin was shocked by what he'd heard before, he was even more
shocked at what Jennifer had just asked of him.  Realizing the importance
of Jennifer's request, he quickly got himself together and said that he
would be honoured to do as she'd asked.

   "Jennifer, I have some things to tell you as well." Martin continued. 
"I was hesitant to talk about this yesterday as it means reopening some old
issues.  After listening to you this morning though, I think you should
hear what I have to tell you."

   Martin paused to take a bite of his Danish and have a sip of coffee then
continued.  "I believe you're aware of the cause of the upheaval between
your parents and the rest of your father's family." Jennifer nodded.  "I
believe the main cause of that problem has been resolved.  Since I started
communicating with you, a number of your father's relatives have indicated
that they would like to meet you." Martin paused again to take another sip
of coffee.

   "You remember that it was the minister who told your parents to leave
the church and take you with them?" Jennifer nodded and Martin continued.
"Well, after a number of years of putting up with that minister, the
congregation decided that he wasn't really much help to them - in fact he
was often the cause of problems.  About 3 years ago they asked him to leave
and chose a different man to be their minister.  The new minister is much
more about reconciliation and helping one another and has managed to mend a
number of rifts in families - rifts that started as a result of the
previous minister's actions and words.  As a result of the new minister's
actions, there have been discussions in our family about getting together
with your folks to mend fences as it were.  Unfortunately, your folks died
before that could happen."

   I looked at Jennifer and saw tears in her eyes.  I pulled her to me and
hugged her whispering that it was okay.  Finally Jennifer managed to wipe
her eyes and after looking at me with love turned back to Martin.

   "It's such a shame that people are able to do that - to cause strife and
dissension" she said.  "I'm glad that your - our - family has started to
get things back together.  Wally and I need to talk some about this meeting
but tentatively, I'll agree to it."

   I could see that she was close to breaking down so I pulled Jennifer
close and hugged her for a moment to help her gather herself together
again.

   "Martin," I said, "maybe for right now, could you leave us to talk about
this."

   Martin immediately agreed saying he was sorry if the news had upset
Jennifer.  We agreed to meet again in the dining room next morning.