Jane had directed some of the others to bring dining room chairs into the living room and had Pavel and Axel move the couch and chairs from the entertainment room to the living room as well. It was a little crowded but we all had places to sit. Bettina suggested that Jane and I should open our gifts. Barb decided that she should record who gave us what so that we could send thank you notes. It took us an hour to get through everything. We got a wide variety of kitchen articles, dishes, towels and other household goods. The Nuns had given us a medium sized picture of the orphanage with a signature of all of the Sisters who worked there. I was so touched that I hugged all three of them and thanked them.
At long last all of the packages had been opened. Stan then stood and said, “I have one more gift for you two. We love you two very much and are so happy that you have found each other. We wanted to give you something to start your married life out right.” Bettina then handed an envelope to Jane then hugged and kissed her. Jane looked at me then opened the envelope and pulled the paper out and read it. She squeaked, handed the papers to me and then gave her Mom a bear hug. I read the paper to discover that the house we were in had been signed over to Jane and I. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I hugged Stan and then Jane and I traded and I hugged and kissed Bettina.
We looked at our friends and saw the delight and confusion on their faces so I told them what Jane’s parents had done. Everyone stood and hugged Stan and Bettina. After a while Jane, Barb and Astrid went into the kitchen to make tea and cut up the bread that Pearl had brought. We set everything on the dining room table so everyone helped themselves. People broke up into small groups with Pearl, Anne, Barb, Denise and Debbie discussing the Literature department at our University. Pavel and Axel were talking physics. Jane, Sofia, Bettina, Stan and I were huddled around the Sisters. Every now and again someone would drift away and someone else would drift in. At about 6:00pm the Sisters, Pearl and Jane’s parents all left. We returned all of the furniture back to where it belonged and then someone asked what should we do for dinner. Astrid said, “How about Chinese?” Everyone cheered so Barb and Astrid worked up an order to be delivered.
Axel then called everyone to attention saying he had one more wedding present to give to Jane and I. “Nils told me to give this to you at the ‘appropriate’ time.” He handed the small box to Jane who unwrapped it and then opened it as we stood beside each other. In it were two nipple rings and a ‘triangle’ ring, each of which looked like Jane’s engagement ring in rounded soft gold with a small diamond set inside. Jane gasped as she saw them and then showed everyone what was in the box.
Jane then said, “Actually, there is one more gift to bestow tonight.” Jane ran upstairs and back down quickly and stood next to Barb. I moved next to her as well as Jane said, “Barb, thank you for being my maid of honor, for being our friend and being the love of our lives. We can’t do it legally but we can marry you symbolically.”