I Will Always Love You (2 page)

a job.”

Dr. Foster furrowed her brow. “If you don’t have a job, how do you
support yourself and your daughter?”

“We live with my parents in their apartment on Lake Shore Drive. My
father is the senior partner in his CPA firm, so money really isn’t an issue for
them.”

“When you were in school, what did you want for your future?” Dr. Foster
asked. “I mean, did you intend on going to college or immediately joining the
work force?”

“My plan was to be Stefan’s wife,” she blurted out. Melissa quickly
looked away as hot tears once again sting her eyes.

“Melissa, who is ‘Stefan’?”

“Stefan,” she whispered as she looked back at Dr. Foster. “Stefan is the
only man I have ever truly loved. And now he’s gone forever.”

Dr. Foster glanced at the forms Melissa filled out in the waiting room and
noted that she did not check a box in the marital status category. “Was Stefan
your husband?”

“No,” Melissa replied as she began to tell the doctor the story of how she
met Stefan and how much he means to her.

Chapter 2

Chicago, July 1985

“Melissa, are you ready to go?” Greta asked as she walked into her
daughter’s bedroom.

“I would have been ready twenty minutes ago, Mom, but I can’t get this
suitcase closed,” Melissa said in a huff as she struggled with her suitcase.

Laughing at the look of total exasperation on her daughter’s face, Greta
said, “Here let me help you. Both of us can sit on the suitcase, and then we
should be able to get it closed.”

They both sat on the huge suitcase and bounced a couple of times until
Greta was finally able to get the locks closed.

“There. That was not too hard,” she said with a smile to her daughter.

“Well, that should be about it.” Melissa walked over to her dressing table
and picked up her hairbrush. Checking her reflection in the mirror, she saw
that her mother was watching her. “What is it, Mom?”

“I just cannot believe how grown up both of my daughters are.
Sarah
married
her high school sweetheart,
Neal, two weeks ago and moved away
and now you are going to Germany to stay with my sister and her family for
six weeks before you start college. I am beginning to feel so old.”

“You, old? Oh, come on, Mom, you’re beautiful. You don’t look forty
-
three
years old. And
Sarah
and Neal are living in the apartment two blocks
away that you and Dad bought them as a wedding gift.”

“I know, but I cannot help feeling that the well is empty.”

Melissa smiled at her mother. “The nest is empty, Mom, not the well.” It
was hard to believe that her mother still mixed up American sayings after
living here for all of these years.

“Yes, well, come and sit down with me. I want to talk to you before your
father and I take you to the airport.” Greta sat down on Melissa’s bed and
patted the space next to her.

“Yes, Mom, what is it?” Melissa sat down on her bed next to her mother.

“I just want to go over some things with you before we leave.”

Melissa saw the serious expression on her mother’s face and became
alarmed. Slowly, she said, “Okay. What things?”

“First of all, I know that you are upset that Valerie cannot go with you to
Germany because of her father’s heart attack last
week
.”

“Yes, I did plan on taking this trip with my best friend, but I understand
that Valerie needs to be with her family right now.”

“Yes, she does. I spoke to her mother this morning and she told me that
Richard is getting better each and every day.”

Melissa nodded. “I talked to Valerie this morning, too. She said that her
father may be able to come home in a
day or two
.”

Greta nodded and took her daughter’s hand in her own. “Yes, that is good
news. But, there is something else that I want to talk to you about.”

“What’s that, Mom?”

“Boys.”

Melissa rolled her eyes. “Mom, you and I had this talk when I was twelve.”

“Yes,
schatzi
, I remember. But, I just want to make sure that you think of
the consequences before you do anything, especially when you are in
Germany. All of the boys will be chasing after you. They will see you as an
American tourist that they can have a summer fling with. And I do not want
you to get hurt.”

“Oh, Mom, I hardly think that ‘all of the boys will be chasing after me’.
Besides, I’m only eighteen. I’m not ready to start a sexual relationship. I want
to wait until after I’m married.”

Greta was relieved
to hear that particular declaration
. With a heavy sigh, she said, “I am very happy to hear
that.”

“Mom?”

“Yes.”

“Did you think of Dad as a summer fling? I mean he was in the army and
stationed in Germany when you met him.”

Greta smiled at the memory of the first time she met her husband. “No,
your father was not a summer fling. When I met your father, I fell head over
heels in love with him.”

“But your mother and father weren’t very happy with you wanting to date
an American soldier. Were they?”

“No, especially when I came home late from our first date. But after some
time, they grew to love him almost as much as I do,” Greta said as Peter poked
his head in the door.

“Are the two of you ready to go? Otherwise, I might have to charter a
private plane to take you to Germany.” Peter walked into the room and
grinned at his wife and daughter.

“Yes, Dad, I’m ready.” Melissa stood up and checked her reflection in the
mirror once more. She slipped her hair brush into her purse and turned back
to her parents.

Greta stood, grabbed her daughter and gave her a big hug. “I feel as if I am
losing both my daughters,” she said with a tear in her eye.

“Mom, you’re not losing me. I’ll be back in six weeks,” Melissa said as
she pulled away from her mother.

“Besides, Greta, this can be a second honeymoon for us,” Peter said as he

pinched his wife’s behind.

“Peter!” Greta exclaimed. “Not in front of the children.”

Peter looked at Melissa with a big grin on his face and winked at her.
Melissa laughed at her father as the three of them picked up her luggage and
headed for the airport.

Chapter 3

Knauppshausen, Germany

“It’s so good to be here,” Melissa said to her cousin, Brigitte, while they
were unpacking Melissa’s suitcases.

“I know,” Brigitte said. “We are going to have so much fun together. I
hope that you do not mind sharing my bedroom with me. You could have one
of the guest bedrooms, but I thought that it would be more fun to be together.”

“No, that’s great. I really like the way you’ve decorated your bedroom.”
Melissa admired the posters of one of the hottest bands of the year, Duran
Duran
. She hung up the last of her clothes in the closet and turned back to her
cousin.

“I have school for one more week,” said Brigitte. “Then my summer
vacation begins. And only two more years of university, then I am finished
my education. I cannot wait to begin my career as a computer programmer.”

“I wish that I only had two more years of school. I start college at the end
of next month for four long years.”

“What will your career be when you are finished your studies?”

“I’m not sure yet. But I have plenty of time to figure that out,” she said
with a dismissive wave of her hand. “Brigitte, your English is very good. I’m
really impressed.”

“Thank you. I have been studying English in school since the second
grade, as all young people
in school
do. So, everyone my age in Germany can speak
English. Even a lot of adults can speak it, so you should have no problem
when you go places.”

“That’s good because my German is awful. My mother doesn’t speak
German at home.”

“I am sure that you will do fine. Do you want to go get a snack?”

“That’s sounds great,” Melissa said as she followed her cousin out the
door.

* * *

One week later, Brigitte and Melissa drove the five miles to the next town

where there was a three-day festival.

“I am so glad that school is finally out for the summer. Now you and I can

go sightseeing, shopping, and to all the neighboring festivals.”

“That sounds like a lot of fun. So, who will be at the festival tonight?”

“Oh, just about everyone from Knauppshausen and the four surrounding
towns,” Brigitte replied as she pulled her car into the parking lot.

As Melissa followed her cousin into the enormous tent where the festival
was being held, she couldn’t believe how many people were there. She saw
that directly ahead on the opposite side of the huge tent opening was a dance
floor on a platform where a band was playing. To the right of the dance floor
was the bar and to the left of the dance floor was the kitchen. In the middle of
the tent were tables and chairs where everyone could eat, drink, and visit with

their friends and neighbors.

“This is wonderful,” Melissa said with a big smile on her face. “Where do
you want to sit?”

“Come with me. My friends are at a table over there.” Brigitte began to
make her way through the maze of tables.

“Hello, everyone,” Brigitte said as she and Melissa approached the table.

“Everyone, this is my cousin, Melissa, from America. Melissa, these are my
friends. This is Petra Weiss, Franz
Radler
, Gabi Braun, and Stefan Koehler.

And you already know my boyfriend, Rolf
Holzer
,” Brigitte said as she sat
down next to Rolf.

“Hello, Melissa,” they all said.

“Hi, everybody.” Melissa took a seat next to her cousin.
Melissa was enjoying herself as she spent the night eating, dancing,
singing, and sharing a drink or two with her new friends. After being at the
festival for a few hours, she leaned over to her cousin and whispered,

“Brigitte.”

“Yes?”

“Which one of the girls is Stefan’s girlfriend?”

Brigitte giggled. “Neither of them. Why?”

“I think he’s really cute,” Melissa stated as she stole a sideways glance at
the tall man with dark hair, mustache, and incredible eyes. “I’ve never seen
eyes that were such a light blue color.”

“Yes, he is cute. But Stefan does not have a girlfriend. He is so shy. I am
not even sure if he has ever been on a date with a girl,” Brigitte remarked.

“Oh,” Melissa said as she thought that she and Stefan already had
something in common. Although Melissa had been on several group outings
with friends her age, she never really had a date with a boy. She attributed this
to boys not being interested in her because she was always at least twenty
pounds overweight from other girls her age.

“Do you want me to tell him that you like him?”

“
Nooo
,” Melissa cried.

Brigitte laughed. “Okay, okay,” she said just before Rolf whisked her off
to the dance floor for one of their favorite songs.

Melissa watched them dance as she glanced around the table and realized
that she was left sitting alone with Stefan. With butterflies in her stomach, she
gave him a slight, nervous smile.

“How are you enjoying your first festival in Germany?” Stefan asked as
he moved closer to Melissa so that he could hear her reply.