The Ex Files

Winds of Change

"We can't let Eleanor do this!" Kelly ranted. 'She'll flush her life down the toilet for another thirteen years, and be worse off than ever."

"The last time I looked," Belle reminded her placidly, "Eleanor has reached legal adulthood, and does not require our permission to marry, even if it is a bad choice."

"The only reason Hal is doing this is because Dziadek put his house up for sale and he needs a place to live."

"Dziadek?" Belle asked. "Who is that?"

Ooops!  Kelly felt her face heating up.  "It's the Polish word for Grandfather," she said as casually as she could. "Mr. Wiensczyslaw invited me to call him that."

"Grandfather?  Mr. Wiensczyslaw is  part of your family now?"

"It certainly looks like it. He offered to pay my university tuition."

"That is a magnificent offer," Belle said.  "If you don't want to commit to Feng Shui Magic, why don't you apply to the University of Calgary and live with Rolf?"

"The deal is, I get to move in with Dziadek and help out.  Anyway, Rolf doesn't want to live with me until we're married."

"So – when's the wedding?"

"We haven't even announced our engagement yet. Rolf wants to wait until his career is established."

Belle raised her eyebrows.  "But that will be years!"

"Apparently long engagements are common in Europe."

"It appears that you will have to negotiate a compromise."

Kelly squirmed. "I know.  No matter how hard I try, I can't see myself waiting six years or more to get married.  It's just that we are so happy right now that I don't want to do anything to upset the apple cart. But let's get back to my point. What are we going to do about Eleanor?"

"Nothing. You know Wulfi. Give him enough rope, and he'll hang himself. They'll break up in a few weeks, and that will be that. No cowboy wedding on the rodeo grounds in Rocky Mountain House."

"But he's taking fertility drugs. What if he gets Eleanor pregnant?"

"We'll have to rely on her common sense."

"I would be glad to, if she had any. Maybe one of us could seduce him – or we could hire a professional. She'd have to let him go if she caught him cheating."

"Or she might decide that true love can conquer everything. Stop acting like a mother hen! Eleanor will work this out."

"She's been through so much," Kelly said.  "I just want her to be happy."

"Maybe a baby is exactly what she needs to make her feel complete."

Kelly sighed. "Maybe. But it would be stressful too, for her and for us."

"If she sells the Blue Elephant, we'll both be looking for new homes."

"Hopefully, that won't happen until after Rolf leaves and I take over Dziadek's care."

"Is Pam's duplex unit still vacant? You and I could share it."

"No. New tenants moved in right after Christmas. A family of six. Husband, wife, grandmother, three children. And a dog."

"Too bad.  But I'm sure there are other options.  If we pool our resources, we shouldn't have any problems finding a decent apartment."

"I want to stay in the Blue Elephant," Kelly said. "It's my home."

"Mine too, in a way," Belle said. "I've been happier here than I ever was with my parents. I have my own little kingdom in the sky."

"How are things with your father?" Kelly asked.

"It seems that I've been forgiven, but he hasn't reinstated my allowance. Akio confessed that he was the one who broke the engagement."

"Did he get fired?"

"It didn't come to that. Akio had already found another job."

"So why aren't you getting your trust fund payments anymore?"

"According to Mother, the payments are still being made, but they are being held until I am thirty. Mother said that Chichi is proud of the way I have managed to establish my independence, and he doesn't want to take that empowerment away from me."

Kelly shook her head.  "That's just weird.  It's like he's punishing you for not rolling over and playing dead."

Belle smiled wrily. "It's some sort of convoluted honour thing – a compliment to my ingenuity. Anyway, I'm making more money than I am spending, so all is well. Mother has offered to invest if I need capital for expansion. "

"But you could be living in your fancy apartment again!"

"I've discovered that simplicity is much more relaxing. My home is a place for rest and restoration, that's all. My career is where the action is."

"You've done so well," Kelly said with unfeigned admiration. "You're a natural business genius."

"Mother has been mentoring me. The Feng Shui makeover thing was her idea. Also the idea of buying unscented cleaning products and letting client chose their preferred aromatic oils. She pitched it to Chichi years ago, but he wanted her to stay home and keep his slippers warm. It was very frustrating for her. She wanted to spread her wings and head up a new division: Takeshi Home Designs. She thought it would be a perfect career opportunity for me, with my education in interior decoration and feng shui. Chichi couldn't imagine that people would be willing to spend thousands of dollars to have their furniture rearranged."

"Or maybe he was afraid that his women would be more successful than him."

"You might have a point. Takeshi Designs has been stagnating for quite a while. He needs to hire some new blood and make some innovations. But he is not a risk-taker. He thinks hard work and flattery will get him everywhere he wants to go. Takeshi Designs would not be what it is today without my mother's input. Even when she wasn't working there any more, she wielded an enormous amount of influence."

"You know – she would be the perfect business partner for you."

Belle grinned. "I've thought of asking her. Chichi would be livid."

"It would serve him right! Your father is an intolerable bully and needs a good shaking-up."

Belle's grin faded into a serene smile.  "He's not a bully.  He's Japanese."