Chapter 49

The growing friendship between Keith and Diana is watched very anxiously by Sandra. She hates to admit it, but she would rather see them not being friends. She is jealous; it is as simple as that. When she learns that Diana is going to accompany Keith to the graduation dinner at his faculty it feels awful. She has great difficulties to hide her feelings as Diana is getting ready for the evening. She looks beautiful! Surely after this evening they will be a couple.



“Have a nice evening!” she tells them, but that does not sound at all sincere. Her voice cracks at the end of the sentence and she sounds like she is going to cry. It feels like she is going to cry too, and she can feel them stare after her when she goes inside the dorm.



She can’t take this any longer, she has to know, so she waits up till Diana gets home again. Diana does not seem at all surprised to see her though. She sits down beside Sandra and asks her:
“What’s the matter, why are you still up?”



“I am waiting for you, “Sandra confesses. “I can’t stand this any longer, I have to know: Are you in love with Keith?”



“Of course not!” Diana says. “Keith is a very good friend – but I am in love with you, don’t you know that?”



No, Sandra didn’t know. In fact she didn’t know for sure that she herself was in love with Diana either, not until this very moment. Another thing also becomes apparent to her: she has never been in love before.



Diana and Sandra getting together as a couple, makes a lot of people very surprised. No one saw this coming, everyone was expecting Diana and Keith to hook up. But Keith doesn’t seem at all surprised. And not at all sorry. Quite the opposite – he seems to be delighted. Jules gets very curious and has to ask him how he feels about this.
“I thought you two had something going.”



“This is the first time you ever speak to me, are you aware of that,” Keith answers and looks both pleased and amused.
“Well, uh ... I’m ... uh ...” Jules stutters and feels like an idiot.
“Oh, don’t take me wrong – I am happy that you finally do,” Keith says. “I have been trying to get to know you this whole year, but you kept avoiding me.”
When she thinks back, Jules can see that she really has. And every time Keith has spoken to her, she has been afraid that her feelings for him would show. Now she really feels like an idiot.
“So, now when you’re talking to me I must grasp the chance and ask you out on a date. What do you say? Do you want to go out with me?”
“But what about Diana?” Jules blurts out before she can stop herself, still somehow stuck in the idea of Keith being in love with Diana. What a stupid thing to say, she could slap herself.
“Diana is a very dear friend”, Keith answers, “and now I am very happy for her. I didn’t think Sandra would ever let someone into her heart – she seemed to have her feelings so shut off. I am very glad I was wrong. But what is your answer – do you want to go out with me? Tonight?”



Of course Jules wants to go! She can’t believe this is actually happening and is afraid that she will make Keith disappointed, but he is very easy to be with. It doesn’t take long before she stops being afraid of not being cool enough for him. They have fun together. Laugh at the same things.



And he wants to know all about her – what she thinks and what she feels. He wants to get close to her.



He wants to get really close to her.



Less than a week later they have all had their final exams but before they part there is still time for a last big party.





Sandra brings Diana with her to Bluewater, so she can meet her mother. They stay in Alex’ old apartment (that he has still not sold) for a couple of days, and the house is filled with youthful joy and laughter.



But soon Sandra and Diana leave again. They are going to travel for a couple of weeks before Sandra starts working with her father.



When they are gone, everything suddenly feels very quiet and empty. Even more so, as Ingmar often goes to visit Alex, Patricia and the children. But one day Stella bumps into Alex outside the grocery store. He has a little girl with him, and Stella immediately understands that this must be the daughter Patricia has with Morty. She can see both Patricia and Morty in her features.
“Hello”, she says. “My name is Stella, what’s your name.”
“My name is Faith!” the little girl answers and then she starts telling Stella all about her baby siblings. She seems very proud to be a big sister now. Stella finds Faith absolutely adorable. She has of course no idea who Stella is and she talks about Alex as her father. Alex looks a little nervous at first, but as Stella seems so pleased with the meeting and is so nice to Faith, he starts to relax – and they take a warm farewell.



When Stella gets home she feels the need to revaluate her feelings. Perhaps she would be happier if she could find it in her heart to forgive Patricia? Little Faith is innocent of course. Alex and his family are very important to Ingmar and it feels very sad that she can’t share this part of her husband’s life. She decides to call Patricia and tell her that she wants to talk and hope that Patricia feels the same.



Patricia gets very nervous when she hears Stella’s voice, but relieved at the same time. She still feels very guilty about the affair with Morty, and if Stella wants to talk, it would be wonderful if she could get the chance to apologize and be forgiven and at last be able to feel peace at mind.



They agree to meet in the park the very same day. It feels very awkward at first.



The atmosphere is a bit stiff, to say the least, but after a while they both start to open up and express their feelings, and as they have experienced this whole thing from different sides they certainly don’t agree on everything – it gets a little heated now and then.



They stay in the park until they both feel that have come to the bottom and reached an understanding. It is getting dark when they leave. It would be an overstatement to say that they now are friends, but there is no animosity anymore. No misunderstandings. No hurt feelings. They have both spilled their guts and are exhausted as they come home to their anxiously waiting husbands.



When the twins celebrate their first birthday, Stella is also there and a part of the family.