Chapter 43

Not long after the dinner party, the Reaper comes to visit Betty – very much to her own surprise, but it looks like she is on her way to gossip heaven.



She is buried at the little chapel in Riverblossom Hills.



Even if her time came a little earlier than she had expected, Betty had made all arrangements needed in connection to her own departure. Her headstone outshines all the other graves, she has spared no costs. This comes as a surprise to everyone except Catherine, but Betty was not at all the poor friend dependent on the goodwill of others. She was perhaps not as wealthy as Catherine, but she was quite rich. Much to Morty’s surprise, he doesn’t get a penny. Betty’s testament stipulates that her fortune is to be divided equal between Sandra and Xander. Morty can’t understand why he is not mentioned at all, he always thought they had a very good relation, but of course he doesn’t really need the money and he is in fact not a very greedy person. Now his children can provide for themselves already before anyone of them has graduated, and Morty finds that to be a good thing.



Betty’s death brings other changes. The big house is really too big for Catherine and Andrew. and the heating alone costs a fortune. Now when they just have themselves to care about, they decide to move to Bluewater. There it will be much easier to lead the kind of life they want, with frequent visits to the theatre and restaurants. They find a very nice apartment in an elegant building just a block away from where Stella and Ingmar live.



Moving into town doesn’t mean that Catherine has to give up her interest in gardening, as there is a very nice back yard where the residents can grow vegetables and herbs. There even is a small orchard.



The apartment is of course much smaller than the house, only three rooms and a kitchen, but it is just big enough for them and very comfortable.





Once again the big house in Riverblossom Hills is dark and empty.



Some of the furniture Catherine and Andrew have brought with them to Bluewater, some things are sold, and others – like most of the books from the big library – are in storage ...



... but some rooms are left untouched, like Jacob’s old room behind the kitchen. And Jacob still has the keys ...



At Nellie’s little Max has become a toddler. He looks very much like his mother and is a really sweet kid, but he needs more attention now than ever, and Nellie is heavily pregnant and can’t find energy enough for all that needs to be done at home.



But Stefan still doesn’t help her out with the housework. He seems completely unaware of the untidiness and mess around him ...



... and he still leaves it to Nellie to clean up.



She has tried to bring the subject up for discussion with him, but it seems impossible to get him to realize that this is becoming a serious problem. Nellie doesn’t know what to do, she feels that she really could use some advice now. Reluctantly she calls her mother, because Marion (that is the name of her mother) has been very skeptical of the rushed marriage and Nellie’s unplanned first pregnancy, and has not hesitated to express her critical views.



But the following day as Stefan has left for work ...



... Marion arrives from Riverblossom Hills.



Nellie has the coffee ready and has prepared herself for some grovelling, as long as she can get some good advice it must be worth it. Unfortunately Marion has no comfort to offer.
“Men like Stefan don’t change. You didn’t know him well enough before you married, that is all there is to it, I’m afraid. Not much to be done. I don’t want to hurt you, but you know your father was just like him. I had my mind set on becoming a concert pianist – instead I became a housewife. It seems to me you have made the same bad choices I made. But I must say I can’t understand why this happened to you. One should have thought that girls today knew how to protect themselves. Well, now you must take the consequences. ”

Nellie feels her heart sinking. She loves her work as a music teacher! When will she ever be able to get back to that? Her prospects seem rather depressing, in spite of the happiness that motherhood brings her. She can’t regret having Max. But perhaps she could have waited a little longer ... been more careful ...



Xander’s prospects on the other hand are starting to look brighter and brighter. He introduces his new girlfriend Irene at home, and it turns out that Irene’s father is a business acquaintance of Xander’s father’s. Mr Yngwe owns the car dealership in Bluewater. Morty is very pleased with Xander. He didn’t have very high hopes for his son to begin with, but he has really made some very good progress this last year.



Not telling Jasmine about Irene of course proves to have been a very bad idea. It doesn’t take very long before she walks into a tender moment between Xander and Irene, which causes an outburst of tears, much embarrassment and dishonour for Xander ....



... and the wrath of his teacher as well. He ironically tells Xander to please try keep his tangled love life out of class – which only a week ago, to Xander would have seemed to be a very unlikely problem for him ever to experience.



His life changes so quickly now, he can literally feel how he is growing from boy to man. Going out with Irene feels very grown up. They visit places he has never been before, but Irene seems very comfortable and urbane in those places and that rubs off on Xander.



Xander feels so much more now, than he did with Jasmine. Irene is such an attractive girl and that she wants to be with him makes him feel very grown up and masculine. Just feeling this way about someone is intoxicating. He is mad about her - wildly in love.



And with Irene he also loses his virginity.



That geeky teenager with bad skin and weight problems that he was last summer, seems a very long time ago. He is cool now.



Hip and groovy.