Barbara toasted Gail.
"Here's to miracles. And the two best friends a girl ever had, and their beautiful, adorable baby."
Gail clinked her wine glass against Barbara's. "We'll always be best friends, and never jeopardize our friendship. No matter what, forever."
Barbara repeated the pledge, then they both leaped up out of their chairs at the kitchen table. Timmy had begun to cry.
When Paul returned the next day, Barbara thought he looked just as boyishly handsome as ever, but he was not bathed in sunlight. Though looking tired and careworn, he put on his usual happy face and voice in greeting her with a hug and another brotherly kiss on the cheek.
After Mass at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Evanston, Barbara and her best friends and their baby stood with two other couples and their infants around a baptismal font by a side altar. Thomas Riordan was clothed in the long white lace Christening gown Barbara had insisted she be allowed to buy for her grandson. As an elderly priest blessed each new babe and poured holy water over its head, he spoke the words that made them children of God.
Barbara felt proud, knowing she was baby Timmy's godmother. She thought she could hardly be more proud, or love him more, if he were her own son.
Afterward, they went to Luigi's to celebrate and exchange more news.
"Not that much has happened here," Gail said casually, trying not to show Paul how worried she was. "Just having the baby and Paul flying almost more than he's able to be home."
"It's paying off," he said cheerfully, refilling all their glasses with Chianti. "We're saving, and I'm learning more about planes. You should apply for a license to deliver the mail, Barbara. It can be a big boost to business."
"After I get my air show going, I'm going to do just that."
She had been thinking about her promise to Gail all during dinner. It presented a dilemma because she had left Chicago almost as much to give her friends a life of their own as she had to try to escape from Chet Armstrong. Should she suggest something now that might put her back where she had been, feeling like an intruder, or at least an eavesdropper, in their happy lives? Then, too, Paul wanted to make a success on his own. He wouldn't accept a helping hand.
Barbara thought she had to offer the solution she had come to.
"I'm almost ready to reopen the airport and put on my first show. If all goes well, it'll be a pretty exciting future. How about you two coming in with me? It's no gift. It'll mean a lot of hard work for all of us. But we'd make a great team, wouldn't we?"