"How about that loop-de-loop now?" Buck called out, sounding excited.
He is with it, thank heaven!, Barbara thought.
Barbara took the Jenny up higher above the clouds in bright afternoon sunlight and gave Buck the ride of his life.
Afterward, back on his front porch, Buck told his wife: "That was real fun. I've always been kind of a stick-in-the mud. Never very adventurous. But I always wanted to do something crazy. I just did it!"
"We'll do it again, anytime you say," Barbara promised him.
Buck looked at her skeptically. "Crazy once. I don't think crazy twice. But thanks. It was quite a ride." Then to Edna, "Ma, you got any of your cold lemonade for us all?"
"Thanks a million," Edna told Barbara. "He'll never forget it," she whispered, then realized what she'd said.
Maybe he will, Barbara thought. But Edna won't, and neither will I.
On off-work hours, with the help of Edna and Leila, painting and nailing down loose boards or replacing old wood with new, the run-down airport began to be transformed into a sparkling new one.
Stealing time away from hammering, sawing, and painting, Barbara took more barnstorming lessons from both George and Leila. Soon she was flying both planes in aerobatics she had never even seen before. Within weeks, they assured her she was one of the best.
Working almost around the clock again, and not seeing the leaves turn gold or red on the palm trees in the California desert as they did on maples and elms when autumn came back home in Chicago, Barbara hardly knew the summer had passed.
What made Barbara realize fall had come was a phone call at the airport office from a happily excited Gail.
"It's a boy! Nine pounds, six ounces, and all the fingers and toes are there. Barbara, he's beautiful!"
Of course, why wouldn't he be? From her hospital recovery bed, Gail breathlessly told all about the birth. Barbara could hardly get in a few words: "Fantastic! Wonderful! I'm so happy for you and Paul!"
"Here he is, he's dying to say hi!"
Gail handed the phone to Paul and he and Barbara briefly exchanged news. It was heaven to her, to hear his half-laughing voice again, so happy he was a new father. She was happy too, and thought she was getting better at turning her mind away from being the baby's mother and instead being his godmother.
"We've planned the Christening for this coming Sunday," Gail said, taking the phone back. "Can you make it? You just have to!"