Page 6 of The Light Year

Barbie chuckles softly. “About how you’d imagine. My parents paid for an enormous to-do, and I worked overtime to make sure his family and friends felt welcomed. But it was gorgeous, Jo. I felt like a Kennedy. I spent the day saying my new name to myself:Barbara Jean Roman. I couldn’t get over the fact that Todd and I had actually made it. So I raced around that reception, trying to make everyone happy, and then Todd and I climbed into the back of the car together to be whisked away for our wedding night, and I never looked back.”

“Wow,” Jo says, impressed. “This is all so much more dramatic than my marrying Bill. Of course, my parents had questions about me marrying a divorced man, and they weren’t sure it was a great idea, what with his first wife being in a facilityand all, but they got to know him, they asked a lot of questions, and then all those fears went away. I think they were more excited about us moving down here than I was.”

“I wish it had been that easy,” Barbie says wistfully. “But, family is family, right? You don’t get to pick them.” She goes quiet for a moment. “So being down here gives me a chance to step away from it all, but like I said, it was hard to get used to not having any help. And don’t get me wrong: my father will pay for me to hire people down here, but I thought this was a good time to make a clean break. To start my life the way I wanted to live it.”

“That’s brave.”

“Not really,” Barbie says wryly. “It’s just me trying to finally grow up. At thirty,” she adds with a laugh. “I think it’s time. And, you know, when my brother came down here for the holidays with his family, and he and Bill got into that whole?—“

“Oh, god,” Jo interrupts, shaking her head and closing her eyes. “Don’t even mention that. I’m so embarrassed.”

“What? That’s not your fault, Jo. I hope you know I saw that whole thing as having nothing to do with you and me or with our friendship.”

“I was hoping you didn’t hold it against me.”

“Are you kidding?” Barbie scoffs. “Jo, I know my brother. Ted has been Ted for my entire life. He’s entitled, and, frankly, kind of a prick.”

Jo barks a laugh of surprise. “Sorry,” she says. “I wasn’t expecting that.”

“Listen, I didn’t even bother to ask him what happened. I’m pretty sure he said something or did something to offend Bill, and I wouldn’t want to get in the middle of that. It has nothing to do with you and me.”

Jo smiles over her cup of coffee. “I appreciate that. And I agree.” Of course she isn’t completely sure what it was about TedMackey that had set Bill off on New Year’s Eve—most of that information had been reserved for Dr. Eve Sheinbaum and their therapy sessions—but she knows enough about Bill to put the puzzle pieces together.

“So, are we just staying awake until they get home?” Jo asks. The coffee’s effects are already waning, and she can feel a deep exhaustion setting in behind her eyes, manifesting as a throbbing headache.

“Oh, Jo, I can’t,” Barbie protests. “I’m so tired.”

“Then I say we both turn in here for a couple of hours, try to sleep before our kids wake up for the day, and do our best to make it till bedtime. What do you say?”

“I say, ‘goodnight,’” Barbie says.

“Goodnight, Barbara Jean Roman,” Jo says as she stands to hang up the phone on the wall. “Sweet dreams.”

barbie

. . .

From splashdown to touchdown,Barbie has barely slept. She's standing near the 10,000-foot airstrip with Huck in her arms, and her other two boys are standing nearby, their blonde hair combed neatly into place. All three children are wearing light blue seersucker shorts and collared shirts, and even Huck is watching the airplane coming in for a landing, his face a mirror of his older brothers' as they look on in awe.

"Daddy is coming home," Barbie says, bouncing Huck on one hip. She's anxious about seeing Todd and hearing his retelling of the experience firsthand, and even though the wheels of his plane haven't yet touched the ground, she's already nervous about how she'll feel the next time he leaves.

"Hey, Mom?" Henry looks up at her just as the noise of the incoming plane vibrates through the air and drowns out his words. Barbie reaches out a hand and puts it on the warm head of her son, looking into the blue eyes that so closely resemble her husband's. Henry's lips are moving, but she can no longer hear his words as the plane descends rapidly, its wheels touching the end of the airstrip. The pilot applies the brakes and a loud,whooshingsound makes the little boys cover their ears.

Not far away, Jo and her three kids stand, though hers are all older now--even little Kate is growing like a weed, standing tall and serious at ten years old next to her sister, who is thirteen, and her brother, who Barbie can hardly believe is old enough that she's seen Bill teaching him how to back the car out of the driveway and steer it carefully through the neighborhood.

The plane comes to a halt and within minutes, the door opens, and a staircase is in place so the men can step onto the ground and greet their families.

"Daddy!" Henry and Heath go running towards Todd the moment his feet hit the tarmac. Huck squirms in Barbie's arms until she lets him go, watching as his short legs carry him at top speed towards his father.

Todd scoops Huck off the ground and looks down at his other boys as they throw themselves at him, smiling up at their hero. Barbie's eyes fill with tears and she swipes at them, glancing in Jo's direction to see that her friend is doing the same thing.

Bill and Todd stand there, surrounded by their kids, as Barbie and Jo wait for their turns. The women both stand proud and strong, holding back their own emotions as they watch their husbands reunite with the children.

Jo wanders over to Barbie and puts an arm around her shoulders. Her other hand is tucked into the pocket of her full skirt. The women are in silhouette against the pink and tangerine sunset, and Barbie glances out at the line of palm trees that stand around the main building at Cape Kennedy. The sound of the plane's engines cooling down ticks and hums all around them.

"They're home," Jo says softly. A warm breeze picks up, blowing their skirts slightly. It's September third, and the feeling of what passes for autumn in Florida is in the air. "Now our lives can get back to normal."

Barbie nods as she sniffles. "I know. But it was scary, Jo. I need to get my bearings again so Todd doesn't see how much it rattled me."

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