Family Forever

By Joseph J. Sollish

Family Forever features a murder trial, a legal dispute taken to the international court of justice in The Hague, a holdup of a Whitman restaurant by a gang of thieves, the brutal murder of the gangs leader, a traditional Jewish wedding, a noted philatelists hunt for a stolen stamp, and the production of a movie starring a Whitman.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Aug 2, 2017
• ISBN: 9781543442106

Joseph J. Sollish

Joseph J. Sollish is the author of seven novels, Gates of Horn and Ivory, Guardians of the Dream, Tell Me a Story, No More Tears, Bless the Children, Casey Calhoun, and Family Forever. He has also published Halls of Academe, a collection of thirteen new short stories. Sollish lives in Los Angeles with his wife of fifty years, Claudia.

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

H E ASKED, WILL you marry me?

She said, No.

They lived together for more than fifty years, and each year he asked, Will you marry me? and each year, she said, No.

**********

Carl Whitman was a Harvard Law student when he first met Virginia Radford, a Wellesley freshman. Five years passed before they saw each other again.

During those years, Virginia, who was an only child, lost her father and went to live with her mother in Portland, Oregon. She took special state courses to become a Forest Ranger, dividing her duties between speaking to tourists at the Interpretive Center south of Portland and keeping an eye on them on the Oregon Trail.

Virginia, is that you? Carl asked incredulously when he realized who it was under the broad-brimmed Ranger hat.

The leader moved the hikers forward while Carl stayed behind to talk with Virginia.

How wonderful to see you again! she exclaimed. You’re touring my Trail?

Yes, he told her, I finished at Harvard and passed the bar, and I’m with Marston, etc., etc., etc., a big law firm in Chicago. I’m on vacation.

Lucky for me you chose to go camping!

How about you? A Forest Ranger?

Oh, a long story, Carl.

He arranged to leave the group and meet Virginia at her mother’s home in Portland, a modest cottage on a street shaded by towering evergreens and elms.

Mrs. Radford was tall and stately, with a bright, smiling manner. She welcomed Carl warmly and left them to cook dinner. Carl uncorked the cabernet he had brought.

After the roast beef and baked potatoes, and crème brule, Virginia helped her mother clear the table and load the dishwasher. Mrs. Radford said, Good-night, dears. Don’t stay up all night.

They did, and talked for hours.

Virginia made up the small guest room for Carl, but spent the night with him in her bed.

I’m not going back to Chicago, he said. I think I’ll tie up with a law firm here.

Virginia laughed. Welcome to Oregon!

With Carl settled in, Virginia resumed her work as a Forest Ranger.

Every so often, Carl asked, Will you marry me?

Her answer was always, No.

It was a weird ritual that continued even when Virginia became pregnant with their first child. Amniocentesis had revealed it was to be a girl, and Virginia had her name ready: Freya.

After my grandmother, she explained. It’s Swedish. We’re from Sweden.

What does Freya mean?

Don’t really know! It’s from an old Norse legend. Love it.

Great name!

CHAPTER 2

O NE MORNING, VIRGINIA and Carl overslept because no coffee aroma had wafted in to awaken them. Virginia looked into her mother’s room.

Mom’s gone, she said, dry-eyed but sad. She went during the night. Must have figured that I was taken care of, so she didn’t have to wait any longer to be with Dad again.

Carl hugged her as she held back a sob, saying, I only wish she had waited a bit longer, and would have met her granddaughter.

**********

Freya was a beautiful baby. She never kept them up all night. She gurgled and smiled, even when she hungered for her mother’s nursing breast.

And now, Carl, I can tell you a secret, Virginia said one day.

She had his full attention.

Mom and Dad never married, she continued. They believed that marriage actually interfered with love. I grew up sharing their conviction. Which is why, Carl, I always say No.

He put his arms around the mother and child. Makes perfect sense to me!

CHAPTER 3

C ARL JOINED THE small law firm of Acheson & Ferber in downtown Portland, and it soon welcomed him as a third partner, adding Whitman to the name. Virginia became a stay-at-home Mom until Freya started school, then resumed her Forest Ranger duties.

Freya was a bright and happy child.

But the other kids make fun of my name! was her only complaint. Her teachers loved her.

When Virginia came home from her Ranger shift one afternoon, she was surprised that Freya wasn’t there to greet her. It was just a short walk from the school.

Hello, Marjorie, it’s Virginia. Is Freya at your house?

It was the first of ten calls Virginia made to the homes of Freya’s schoolmates, all in vain. Becoming more alarmed after each call, she phoned Carl, but he hadn’t seen her either.

The police issued an Amber Alert. On his computer, Carl created a MISSING CHILD poster, with a full-color photo of Freya, and offering a REWARD for information. He tacked and pasted the poster on hundreds of trees, telegraph poles, light stanchions, and mail boxes. Storekeepers displayed Carl’s poster in their windows. No response.

Virginia and her Forest Ranger troop probed the familiar woods and trails, divers dragged the nearby lakes. They found no trace of Freya.

**********

Virginia and Carl learned to live with their grievous loss. They moved to Seattle, to create new memories, in new surroundings. But Freya lived in their hearts.

Virginia gave birth to a second child, a big boy. Ten pounds three ounces.

Could we name him Max? Carl asked.

Sure, she said. But who was Max?

Nobody in particular. I just like the name!

She considered it. Max Whitman! With a name like that, he has to be one tough bruiser!

Max, red-haired and bulky, was the biggest child in grade school.

You’re not a bully, are you? his father asked. You know you have to use your size to protect the little ones!

At the University of Washington, Max was the Huskies’ star quarterback and often a high-scoring running back. He also distinguished himself academically. His only complaint about Seattle was that it rained too much. Wish you’d have stayed in Portland! he told his mother.

Virginia and Carl were very proud of him, but they couldn’t help wondering what Freya would have been like at his age.

CHAPTER 4

O LIVIA KARLSSON TAUGHT fifth-graders at Lindberg Grade School in Stockholm. Although she herself had lived abroad most of her life, the Karlsson roots were long and deep in Sweden. She was a single Mom, divorced, with her own daughter in the second grade.

Hello, there, Maja! She loved greeting her child as they passed through the halls, but did nothing to embarrass her daughter with other students rushing by. Maja waved a hand cheerfully in recognition.

They lived in a small red-brick cottage on the banks of Lake Malaren, within walking distance of Lindberg School. On warm Sunday afternoons, mother and daughter enjoyed the sun with neighbors at the lake.

On one such afternoon, four-year-old Norah Johanssen went under, unnoticed by families spread out on the grassy banks. She would have surely drowned had it not been for Olivia, who dove into the lake and found her on the muddy bottom. She swam with the limp child to the lawn. She revived her with artificial respiration. While the child’s parents heaped their gratitude on Olivia, she herself collapsed.

Rushed to the hospital, Olivia recovered quickly, but told no one what had really caused her to faint. While she was pulling Norah to safety, she had seen the image of another girl who called, Save me, Mama! Save me! It’s Freya!

The image troubled her day and night, so that she couldn’t concentrate on her classes. Her poor performance brought her to the principal’s attention.

What has happened? Dr. Nilsson asked. You were the best teacher in my school!

Olivia broke down. Sobbing, she described the image of the drowning child that haunted her, the accusing eyes, the name Freya.

Dr. Nilsson put Olivia into the hands of Dr. Liam Berg, Sweden’s finest psychotherapist. During many sessions, which included hypnosis, he helped Olivia to see the early years of her life, which had been locked deep in the recesses of her mind.

Olivia scoured the entire country, but even though she found a few Swedes named Freya, they led her nowhere. By chance, she ran across a tattered old MISSING CHILD poster which must have been nailed to a tree in Portland, Oregon, some twenty years ago. The photo was all but obliterated.

Her next step was clear. With Maja at her side, Olivia headed for America.

**********

The Portland police had a file on Freya Whitman, under Closed Missing Person Reports. They could only tell Olivia that Carl and Virginia Whitman had moved to Seattle.

How do you like the U.S.A.? Olivia asked her daughter as they drove north.

I like it, Mom! Are we there yet?

**********

The Seattle police helped Olivia locate Carl Whitman at his law office.

He stared at her. Freya? he asked tentatively. Freya?

They stood like frozen statues. Then the years fell away and recognition overcame them both. They hugged. They cried.

Mama! a small voice called from among the office staff surrounding Olivia and Carl.

Oh, Maja! Olivia cried, and she raised up her child to be hugged and kissed by Carl.

It was Virginia’s turn to be overwhelmed when Carl brought them home. She was stunned speechless. Years of frustration and self-recrimination, then this? She swept Freya into her arms, then little Maja.

Say hello to your grandchild, Grandpa! she cried to Carl, tears rolling down her face.

CHAPTER 5

T HE NEW FAMILY settled in. Max welcomed Freya and Maja, although he still seemed confused.

I’ve decided to go to law school, Stanford, and become a lawyer, he announced. Not one like you, Dad, with wills and trusts and contracts, but a prosecutor, maybe one day a District Attorney.

I’m relieved, his father said. With your size, I was afraid you’d be a Sumo wrestle!

Max’s mother joined in with, I think a 200-pound prosecutor would scare the hell out of a lot of crooks!

One more vote for Law and Order! Carl Whitman shouted.

My vote, too! Freya said.

While packing for his trip to Stanford, Max ran across Virginia’s old Forest Ranger uniform. He came down from the attic wearing the Ranger broad-brimmed hat.

Look what I found!

Oh, put that away! You look silly! Carl Whitman said.

Virginia looked wistfully at him. From a long time ago, Max. Another life.

She waited until she felt that Freya was comfortable being back with her real family before broaching what had happened to her the day she went missing.

Freya sometimes still found herself thinking she was Olivia Karlsson, but she told her mother what she remembered, much of it in fragments.

I was walking home from school with my friends and suddenly found myself alone in the woods, she began.

What woods? Virginia asked.

Don’t know. She paused. Next thing I remember is being in a car – no, a ship! There was a porthole. I saw the ocean.

Virginia said, If this is too much to –

No! Let me tell all I can. She took a deep breath. Then I met a family, the Karlssons, and I was told that I am Olivia, their long-lost daughter. Olivia Karlsson.

Where were you?

In Stockholm. Sweden.

Sweden?

They welcomed me back and I grew up there, became a school teacher. She paused. Now I’m Freya again!

She hugged Virginia, saying, I’m so happy you found me, Mom!

**********

The Seattle Times dispatched a crew to do a feature on the Whitman family. With lights, tape recorders, reporters, and photographers, it took an entire week to produce, visiting Carl at his office, Freya and the others at their home. It appeared as a two-page Sunday feature with a cover lead-in.

A month later, Carl Whitman received a letter from Pedersson & Johansson, a law firm in Stockholm, Sweden.

Dear Sir and Madam, the letter read, this is to inform you that we are initiating, on behalf of our client, Enid Karlsson and Family, a lawsuit accusing Carl Whitman and Virginia Whitman of abducting their daughter, Olivia. Formal papers are being sent to proper authorities.

"We abducted their daughter?" an incredulous Carl quoted, after reading the letter to Virginia over the phone.

She said, At least, we will learn what happened, who really did the abduction!

CHAPTER 6

W HILE AT STANFORD Law, Max changed his name to Maxwell, telling his father, "Maxwell Whitman sounds more serious,