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 Chapter 23

   The next leg of our journey was to meet my ex-wife and kids.  I was
looking forward to this but for obvious reasons, Jennifer was somewhat
anxious.  Hard as I tried, I didn't seem to be able to ease her anxiety. 
As I was starting out on the journey that led me to Haida Gwaii, I'd gone
and met my ex-wife and the two boys and had done some fence mending.  My
wife and I had talked on the phone several times and she was aware of the
situation around Jennifer and that I had proposed.

   The air trip was, as most trips are, uneventful thought is seems we
spend more time getting on and off the plane than we do actually flying. 
Once we were on the ground with our luggage, we headed off to the hotel and
checked into our suite.  "Jennifer, my love, (oh how I like the sound of
that!), I'm going to take a nap.  Care to cuddle with me?"

   I didn't take long for Jennifer to strip to her undies and the two of us
lay down and, snuggled up to one another, had a sleep.  It seemed like no
time at all passed before we heard our wakeup call.

   I'd arranged with the concierge for a cab to take us to my ex-wife's
home.  After a relatively short ride we arrived and were delighted to see
the whole works of them standing outside waiting for us - Sheila and her
husband Don, my sons Harry and Ken and Harry's wife Rachel.

   I turned to Jennifer and said "I think your fears can be put to rest."
Jennifer smiled and visibly relaxed.  As soon as the cab stopped Sheila
came out on the street to meet us.  "Wally, how nice to see you again, and
Jennifer, I'm glad to meet you finally.  I've seen Wally's pictures and
he's told me all about you but I'm glad to meet you in person.  Let's all
go inside." Sheila and Jennifer headed for the house and after I paid the
cab driver I followed.

   Once inside, introductions were made.  Of course I knew the boys but
both Don and Rachel were new.  It almost immediately seemed like we'd been
close friends forever.  I looked at Jennifer and she gave me a big smile
letting me know she was happy.  During the conversations, Jennifer and my
wedding came up.  After explaining the accommodation issue, we assured them
that we'd come to visit again on our honeymoon.

   Harry and Ken both wanted to talk about Haida Gwaii.  "I dug out that
old atlas that we had and couldn't find Haida Gwaii anywhere," Henry said.
"Finally Phillip suggested we Google it and I discovered that the name had
changed.  It sound like a pretty remote place but it also sounds like a
pretty neat place with all the totem poles and stuff.  How come you ended
up there?"

   Over the next half hour or so I told them of my wanderings and finding
that I felt at ease for the first time when I got to Haida Gwaii.  Everyone
had questions and of course the discussion finally got to how Jennifer and
I met.  Jennifer looked at me and I nodded for her to tell the story.  She
went a bit further than I had expected when she told about some of the
things that happened while her arm was in the sling.  Lots of laughs and
some good natured "Naughty, naughty" comments aimed at me.

   While Sheila, Jennifer and Rachel went into the kitchen to bring out the
coffee and squares, Don started asking me about the issues of living `off
the grid'.  Henry and Phillip chimed in that they wondered about that as
well.  I told them what I'd done with the original cabin to make it
somewhat livable by today's standards and what we'd been able to do with
the new house.  I promised to send a bunch of pictures of the new house
once we got back home - and the wedding dealt with, of course.

   Finally the time came to leave.  I'd made arrangements to contact the
driver who brought us to Sheila and Don's house and I called him to come
back and pick us up.  I got Don and Sheila and the kids to agree to meet us
for lunch the next day.  And with that we said our good nights and headed
back to the hotel.

   *****

   I'd rented a car for a few days and in the morning went and picked it
up. The hotel had a parking stall for me in their garage which meant I
didn't have to search for a parking space.  I guess if you rent one of the
most expensive suites in the hotel, little things like a reserved parking
space is pretty easy to come by.

   As agreed, at noon the five from Sheila's family arrived and we sat down
to a nice lunch in our suite.  Sheila was aware that I was well off
financially and wasn't surprised to see the suite however I noticed that
others were surprised at the surroundings.  "I hope you don't think I'm
being ostentatious with this suite but I don't travel a lot and when I do,
I like to be comfortable."

   Nothing more was said and we had a wonderful time over lunch.  I had
told Sheila that we were going to meet with Jennifer's parents' families
before we came to see them and she was curious to know how things went. 
Jennifer looked at me for a moment then answered Sheila.

   "Sheila, I was a tiny bit apprehensive about meeting my dad's family
since Martin had told us they were sorry that the rift occurred in the
first place.  As soon as we arrived at the meeting, I saw that I needn't
have worried as everyone was so wonderful.  I wouldn't be surprised to find
a bunch of letters waiting for me when we get back." Jennifer paused for a
moment then continued.

   "When it came to my mom's family I was very anxious.  Wally and I had
agreed that if things started to get uncomfortable we'd make our excuses
and go back to the hotel.  It was obvious to me who the matriarch in the
family was - the woman who was my grandmother and when I addressed her as
`Naani' which is her title in Urdu, I could see that any resentment she
might have had was gone.  I knew my mother's family spoke Urdu and before
we left on this trip I decided to learn how to say the names for
grandmother, mother, daughter, husband, uncle and cousin.

   "Once I addressed her as Naani, she asked how much Urdu I knew.  I told
her just the title of individuals and told her I was sorry I hadn't learned
more.  Being able to speak that little bit of their native language was all
it took to break down the barriers and we left feeling like we were
accepted by Mom's family."

   Sheila was delighted and hugged Jennifer.  "Oh how wonderful.  I'm so
glad that you did that.  And I'm so glad that differences have been swept
away.  I hope both side of your family will keep in touch with you." As I
looked at Jennifer I could see tears forming in the corners of her eyes.

   After lunch, Sheila and her family went back home leaving Jennifer and I
alone in the suite.  I called for room service to come and clean up the
lunch things and once that was done, I decided it was time for some
cuddling.

   "Want to have a cuddle?" I asked as I stripped off my clothes.  By way
of answering, Jennifer followed my lead and soon we were snuggled up
cuddling and kissing.  It didn't take long for the cuddling and kissing to
turn into a full blown lovemaking session.  I was glad that our suite was
well soundproofed as Jennifer, as usually happened, was quite vocal when
she came.

   *****

   Over the next few days we explored the city and had the occasional meal
with Sheila and Don.  Finally the time came to make our way back home.  One
last meal with Sheila, Don and the kids then we were off towards home.

   Jennifer had never ridden a train before (other than at Disneyland) so
I'd made reservations for us on Amtrak.  We would travel to Seattle then
change trains and continue on to Vancouver BC.  Over the next few days
Jennifer and I enjoyed ourselves - chatting with other passengers or just
enjoying the scenery outside the train windows.

   We tried, if at all possible to sit with different folks each time we
went to the dining car for a meal.  This gave us a chance to meet some
interesting people and to share our story with them.  Quite often, our
table-mates would assume that Jennifer and I were father and daughter and
we found it interesting to see the various reactions when they discovered
that we were about to be married.  A couple of times Jennifer had a hard
time not to laugh but we managed to not offend anyone.

   Finally our trip was just about over.  Tomorrow we'd make the trip from
Seattle to Vancouver then get on the plane to go home.