The Roanoker - November/December 2016 - 80

Fearless:

A Christmas Story at Hotel Roanoke
A young girl can be intimidated by a new stepfather, but when he reaches
out to her at the holiday season, two lives can be magically changed at once.
BY ALEXIS STONE

MY STEPDAD'S NAME WAS FEARLESS. He was
a retired Air Force Colonel and that was the name he
earned in the service for reasons unfathomable to the
common man. Like the time he flew his B-52, leaking
jet fuel into a snowstorm, attempting to land at the
nearest fuel station, dangerously close to enemy territory. Legend has it that when he landed, he pushed the
door open to his plane and as a plume of snow settled
he demanded, "Where can I get a drink around here?!"
One other reason I think they gave him that name is
because he had a commanding presence and he could
walk into any room-whether it was the waiting room
at a tire and auto shop or a first-class place like The Hotel
Roanoke, one of the finest institutions in Roanoke, Virginia, where we lived, and be treated like a king.
He had an unshakeable confidence, and, I would later
learn, a crisp supply of $10 bills on hand for tips for anyone who helped him. From my perspective as a young
girl, he seemed like the master of his universe.
Before I met Fearless through my mom, I never would
have even thought about stepping foot into a place like
The Hotel Roanoke. Built in 1882, it was a beacon on
the hill, something that maybe I would be worthy of seeing someday, but I would be much older, certainly richer
and more distinguished.

NOTE
A similar verson of this
story appeared in the
November/December
issue of The Roanoker's
sister publication, Blue
Ridge Country.

GROWING UP, I never knew my real dad. I would
always envy my friends who had dads. They would pick
them up from school, or plan special father-daughter
dates with them or generally give them that ol' "Hey, I'm
your dad and I'm proud of you" pat on the back kind
of thing that can really build a young girl's self-esteem.
So even though I was standoffish with Fearless at first,
I knew that he was the person I'd always dreamed of
meeting. I had so many ideas for us! He would take me
to ball games and teach me how to fish and maybe even
take me shopping. And even though he wasn't my real
dad, I knew he cared about my mom and that he cared
about me, too.
I wasn't exactly sure how to approach the whole

80 | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016

"You're my dad now, let's go do all these fun things together" conversation. I thought for several days on how
to ask him to assume his new role as "My Dad," and I
couldn't come up with any ideas.
So when Fearless invited me for the first time to be his
date at The Hotel Roanoke for brunch, I was relieved,
but I still wasn't quite sure what to say. It was a moment
I had been waiting my whole life for. Was I worthy of
this? I didn't have time to think about it because I had
already blurted out an exuberant, "Yes!"
AS WE PULLED UP to the grand roundabout with the
100-year-old pine tree in the center greeting us with open
arms, I gazed up at the magnificent Swiss-looking castle
and listened to the fountain. It sounded as if individual
diamond pendants were being dropped into the water,
a thousand per second.
There's no way he would use valet, I thought. Surely
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