Until Tomorrow (20 page)

Christy liked the simple, reconstructed church that originally was built almost eight hundred years ago. “Just a little different from Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome, don't you think?” It intrigued her to see how people through the ages built special places to worship God. The inborn longing to make a meeting place where humans could connect with the eternal God carried on from generation to generation. She was even more amazed to see something this humble stand after eight hundred years.

Todd wasn't overly impressed with the ancient church, but he came alive when they toured the
Kon-Tiki
Museum. They stood side by side, staring at a very small raft constructed of logs that had been intricately roped together.

“Can you believe six men spent one hundred and one days floating on this raft in the Pacific?” Todd studied the raft from every angle. “That's unbelievable. Don't you think that's incredible?”

“Yes,” Christy agreed.

“They must have driven each other crazy. There's barely enough room for six people to sit on that raft, let alone sleep and carry supplies. But, man, what an adventure!”

Christy didn't want to admit it to Todd, but she knew if
she were sent to sea on such a small raft with Todd and Katie for one hundred days, she would go crazy. She was challenged enough to be with them twenty-four-seven for just three weeks. This little break alone with Todd was refreshing to her.

They also viewed the
Ra II
, which was the second craft Thor Heyerdahl built. This one he constructed in Egypt out of reeds to test the theory that such a boat could have reached the Americas before Columbus did. For whatever reason, the
Ra II
didn't astound Todd as much as the
Kon-Tiki
.

“You know, I've been thinking about getting a new surfboard,” Todd said.

“What happened to old Naranja?” Christy asked. Todd's orange surfboard had been a part of his life long before Christy had entered it. She couldn't imagine him giving up Naranja.

“I'll keep Naranja around, but I've been looking at this really sweet board that was made by a guy I know in San Clemente. If I buy this new board, I'm going to name it
Kon-Tiki
.”

Christy smiled as they strolled back to the bus stop. The afternoon seemed to grow only more beautiful under the clear skies. She knew that at this time of year, in this land of the midnight sun, they could expect more than eighteen hours of daylight. The light felt different to her, even at 2:00 in the afternoon, because the sun came at them from a different angle than she had ever experienced. Norway felt like a crisp, clear, completely different world than the one she had spent her life in.

Christy tried to express those thoughts to Todd as they took the bus back to their lodgings. The more she tried to describe it, the more Todd nodded, and the wider his grin became.

“Do you realize how close we are to the Arctic Circle?” he asked.

“How close?”

“We could take a train out of here tomorrow morning at 8:00 and cross the Arctic Circle at 4:00 that afternoon.”

“Wouldn't it be all frozen?” Christy hadn't missed her jacket since their camping trip. A visit to the Arctic Circle didn't seem like a good idea unless a person had at least a jacket for the journey.

“It's not the North Pole,” Todd said. “The Arctic Circle is basically the line where the Atlantic Ocean stops and the Arctic Ocean begins. A dozen or more Norwegian towns are above the Arctic Circle.”

“It sounds like the end of the world.”

“I know.” Todd's expression lit up. “So how about it, Kilikina, do you want to go to the ends of the Earth with me?”

15

As adventuresome and appealing as Todd's invitation sounded to Christy, they had only one problem with going together to the ends of the Earth: Katie.

“I can't explain it,” Katie said during dinner that night in downtown Oslo. Even at 8:00 the city was as bright and warm as it had been at 3:00 that afternoon. “I just don't want to go to the ends of the Earth with you guys.”

“We can't go without you,” Christy said, remembering her parents' restriction that she and Todd should never travel alone.

Katie looked at Todd and then back at Christy. “It sounds boring to spend all that time on a train just to see some marker in the ground and herds of reindeer. Sorry.”

They had been discussing their options for more than an hour, and clearly Katie wasn't about to budge. As much as Christy hated it, she knew what she needed to say. “Todd, why don't you go by yourself? You really wanted to go to Pompeii, and we didn't make it there. I think you should go to the Arctic Circle. Katie and I can take a boat ride around the fjords tomorrow. If you decide to fly back, like you were saying earlier, then maybe you could fly into Copenhagen instead
of here. Katie and I would take the train to meet you there.”

Todd studied Christy's expression. “Are you sure?”

In truth, Christy liked the idea of traveling north to the ends of the Earth with Todd, but she still was bothered about not having a jacket. And it did sound a little boring. With their limited travel time, she wanted to see Copenhagen more than she wanted to see an Arctic Circle marker and herds of reindeer.

“I'm sure,” she said.

“Oh, now I feel like the toad of the week,” Katie said.

“Don't,” Christy said. “I think this will work out fine. We'll stay here tomorrow night and then take the train down to Copenhagen to meet Todd. You said there were openings on the flight out of Narvik, right?”

“Right. That would work out perfectly,” Todd said.

Christy couldn't tell if he was sounding calm because he was disappointed she wasn't going with him or if he was just being his easygoing self.

The next morning, when Christy and Katie walked Todd to the train station and sent him off for what Katie called his “male bonding with the polar bears,” Todd appeared much more enthusiastic about his solo journey. Just before he boarded the train, he reviewed the details of where and when they were to meet in Copenhagen.

“We'll be there,” Christy said. “Have a great time.”

“Say hi to Santa Claus for us,” Katie said.

The conductor called out something, which Christy guessed meant “All aboard” in Norwegian. Todd grabbed her, wrapped his arms around her, and kissed her soundly. Then he leaped onto the train and waved good-bye as if he were a soldier going off to war.

“Well!” Katie said. “Good thing I'm along on this excursion
to chaperone you two. When did Mr. Casual turn into Captain Passion?”

Christy smiled. Her lips still tingled from Todd's kiss. She remembered when he had kissed her that way once before. They were in Maui, and he was about to jump off a high bridge. Her heart had cried out with fear that he might not surface from the water below. But he had. Now she had confidence he would return from this “leap,” as well.

“Do you want to find a little Konditorei and have a morning pastry with me?” Christy asked, changing the subject as they left the train station.

“You're going to put food past those lips while they're still sizzling?” Katie teased. “Man, if I were you, I wouldn't be able to use my lips for a week.”

“Katie, come on. It wasn't that wild.”

“You should have had the view I did. It was wild. In all the years I've been around you guys, that was about the most intense outward flash of emotion I've seen from Mr. Cool. Or does he kiss you like that all the time, and I just never see it?”

“No, he doesn't kiss me like that all the time. He doesn't kiss me very often, actually.”

“That must be hard.”

“No, I think it's just right. It would be hard if we were more expressive.” They entered a café, and Christy tried to change the subject. “Do you want to sit here, or should we buy something to take with us and go on down to the harbor? I think the next tour boat of the fjords leaves in an hour.”

“Let's take it with us,” Katie said. “I don't want to miss the boat.”

They bought several delicious-looking pastries and decided to take a cab to the harbor. Katie found it humorous that the taxicab they rode in was a Mercedes. “Only a slightly
different experience from our taxi rides in Rome, wouldn't you say?”

About two hours into their relaxing boat tour, Katie brought up the subject of Todd again. “How do you guys keep your kisses to a minimum?”

“What?”

“I want to know how you and Todd have stayed so pure and controlled for five years. I think it's hard. It was hard for me when I was going with Michael. I mean, you want to be close; yet the closer you become, the more you want to be even closer. Do you know what I mean?”

Christy nodded. She knew exactly what Katie meant.

“So what's your limit? Where do you guys draw the line?”

Christy had to think a moment. “Light kisses, I guess.”

“And you're going to tell me what I witnessed at the train station was a ‘light' kiss? I don't think so, honey.”

“He doesn't usually kiss me like that,” Christy said quickly, although she did remember that his kiss when he arrived at the train station in Basel had pretty much taken her breath away. And then the kiss on the boat to Capri hadn't been light.

“Have you guys ever talked about it?” Katie asked.

“Not exactly. It hasn't been a problem.”

“I'm sure it's helped that you haven't been on the same side of the globe for half of your relationship, whether Todd was leaving or you were.” Katie leaned back in her seat on the deck of the tour boat. She closed her eyes and took the sun's full force on her face. “I'm going to have so many new freckles by tonight, but doesn't this feel incredible?”

“I love it.” Christy looked over at an inlet their boat was about to enter. Dramatic, sharp cliffs shot straight up from the water and towered above them like a great stone ogre with a gnarled face. “Look, we're entering another fjord.”

Katie only opened one eye and glanced, unimpressed, at
the magnificent sight. “Yeah, it's gorgeous. Just like the last twenty-five fjords we've visited. You see one fjord, you've seen 'em all.”

Christy thought it was funny that there they were, finally in Norway, Katie's destination of choice, and they were on a tour of the one thing she wanted to see, fjords, but she was about to take a nap.

The silent time Christy now had to herself was a precious gift. She basked in the sun's warmth and felt comforted by the boat's peaceful motion as it motored through crystal water. The quietness gave her a chance to reflect on what Katie had said about kissing.

Christy wondered if she should draw up some guidelines and standards for herself. She never had to consider that before because over the years Todd had been so slow and sparing in expressing his feelings for her. She had broken up with Rick before kissing had become a problem. It never had been an issue when she went out with Doug because he had made a personal vow never to kiss a girl until his wedding day, and he had succeeded. A special sense of celebration had filled the air at Doug and Tracy's wedding because of their intense purity.

I'm glad Todd has given me his kisses over the years. Each one has meant something different. If Todd saves my tears in his heart, I save his kisses. And I'm saving thousands of kisses to give back to him if we get married
.

Christy allowed herself a few moments to consider the possibility that she and Todd wouldn't get married. She had no regrets about the kisses and tears she had bestowed on him over the years. But she also knew that she didn't want to give him a whole lot more, just in case it would be too hard to stop. The full expression of her dreams of passion was wrapped in innocence, and she wanted that delicate wrapping to stay on those dreams until her wedding night.

Pulling her new diary from her day pack, Christy wrote her thoughts out as quickly as they came to her. Part of what she wrote was,

I have so much saved up inside my soul that I'm sure it will take me a lifetime to fully express physically my love to my husband. I want to save all of that until we enter into “holy matrimony.” I think that's part of what makes it holy. I think God honors virginity in a special way. When He chose to send His Son to earth, He did it through the body of a virgin. I want my marriage to be holy before God. For the first time I've begun to think that maybe I need a plan instead of just assuming that's how everything will go. At this point in my life, I assume I'll marry Todd. But I don't know that for sure. It's as if I need to save myself
from
him to save myself
for
him
.

The concluding thought on the topic came to Christy that night as she and Katie walked through Oslo's streets at 9:30 in what felt like broad daylight. The sky carried only a tinge of tangerine-shaded dusk as they strolled past a row of shops. Dozens of people were out, walking or sitting in open-air cafés, talking as if it were lunchtime.