Barbara put everything else on hold and took a commercial flight to Chicago.
They didn't waste any time, she thought while looking out the window as the sleek American Air Lines passenger plane flew her home. But how had nine months since their wedding flown so fast?
She felt almost a stranger when the plane landed on the Saturday before the planned Christening and she took a taxi to her friends' coach house in Evanston. Paul could not meet her at the airport. He was on an overnight mail run to Cleveland, but would be back for the Christening.
"He is beautiful," Barbara agreed after arriving at the coach house and she and Gail had a happy and tearful reunion.
She half expected to see the baby bathed in bright sunlight, and he was. But she could not be sure if it emanated from the infant or the real sun which was shining on him in his crib.
Gail told her to hold Thomas Riordan in her arms, so Barbara did. Cradling the baby in her arms, she kissed his fuzzy blond head, then played with his tiny fingers and toes.
"He smells so sweet."
"I guess babies do," Gail said. "And from Talcum powder. He's named after Paul's father, but we call him Tim, or Timmy."
"He's just beautiful," was all Barbara could say again and again.
The evening was windy and rainy. Barbara insisted they not risk taking Timmy out, so they had dinner that night in the coach house. Barbara went out for a chicken and roasted it in Gail's oven, adding spaghetti and sauce to the menu, together with a salad and bottle of Chianti.
To Barbara, it was like old times, back in Gail's room and before she had met Paul. But she did not reflect on that long.
She had been learning over the past nine months to live more in the present than the past. Often that was hard, but she thought she was getting the hang of it.
Gail had been cheerful, then looked concerned. "Paul's still flying for Red Oberman. Earning enough so we can start raising a family, but not enough to start his own flying business. Mainly air delivery and flying the US mails. He wants to do that so badly. I'm going to find a job after the baby is six months or a year old. Secretarial or something. But even with the two of us working, it will take years to raise the money he needs. He's too proud to ask his parents or mine for help. He wants to do it on his own."