Page 4 of The Light Year (Stardust Beach #6)

barbie

. . .

"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, whooshing sound 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."

The children step back from their fathers then, and Jo and Barbie walk over to the steps of the airplane, where bags are being unloaded and set on the tarmac nearby.

"Hi," Todd says, opening his arms for his wife. Barbie nearly falls into them as Jo stands on tiptoe to wrap her arms around Bill's neck.

"Hey," Barbie sobs, burying her face in Todd's chest. She puts her hands to his shirt, grabbing onto his lapels as she tries to hide her tears.

"Oh, come on now," Todd says in a husky voice. He's never liked to see her cry, and the heightened emotion of this journey has them both in tears. "We're good--everything is fine."

Barbie shakes her head, her face still pressed against Todd's powerful chest. "But you weren't saying anything," she murmurs, her sobs coming out as brief hiccups now. "You were up there, and I could hear Bill, but I didn't hear you, and..."

"And you thought the worst." Todd puts his hands on her arms and gently pulls her back so he can look at her tear-stained face.

The kids are now whooping and running around under the airplane, dodging the pilots as they stand around talking in the waning light.

"It's understandable that you were worried, Barb, but this is my job.

Every time I go up there, you have to know there's the chance something could go wrong. "

These words are not what Barbie needs or wants to hear, and she heaves with another oncoming sob.

"Oh, girl, come here." Todd pulls her close again, tucking her blonde head under his chin and wrapping his arms around her.

He holds his wife tightly as their three boys shout with joy, chasing one another around on the tarmac.

A few feet away, Bill and Jo are talking seriously, and their three kids are inspecting the airplane, climbing up the steps that the flight attendant has invited them to take so they can go inside and see the cockpit.

Barbie forces herself to inhale deeply and then release. She does this three times and calms her entire body. Her head clears, and her shoulders relax.

"Dad!" Heath says, running up to them and skidding to a stop next to Todd. "Can we have cheeseburgers for dinner? Can we go to the drive-in?"

Todd is rubbing Barbie's back in slow, lazy circles, and she steps back from him now, wiping her cheeks with the backs of her hands as she laughs at their son’s excitement. "You boys want the drive-in?" she asks Heath. He nods eagerly. "Okay, get your brothers and we'll go."

When Barbie looks back at Todd, he's observing her. "You okay?"

Barbie is not okay, but she knows that, for his sake, she has to be. She gives a firm nod. "Never better."

There will be time later—when the kids are asleep and Barbie has gotten used to Todd being with her again in the flesh-—for her to ask questions and to understand what happened up there in space. But for now, she has all her boys with her, and she's prepared to enjoy it.

Todd smiles at her. He's clearly pleased that she's ready to get this show on the road. "It's burger time, boys!" he shouts at his sons, who take off running toward the car, little Huck lagging behind as he tries to keep up with his brothers.

Todd loops an arm around Barbie's waist and they follow their boys into the sunset.

It had been terrifying. And almost impossible for Barbie to imagine. Over the early days of Todd’s return, he’d been giving her bits and pieces of what happened on Gemini, and Barbie could only listen to so much before covering her eyes and her ears and shaking her head as she fought off tears.

She loves Todd so much, and she can’t stand thinking of him unconscious or in pain.

“Barb,” he says one morning, standing next to her at the kitchen sink as she slowly rinses dishes in her robe. “I’m still having some troubles with feeling dizzy.”

Barbie shuts off the water, sets the dish on the rack, and turns to look at Todd as she dries her hands on a dishtowel. “Dizzy?”

Todd puts his hands to his head. “I wake up at night and my head is spinning. I get up and every morning I feel like I’m going to black out.”

“Have you told anyone?”

“No way. I don’t want to be pulled from the program.”

The boys are in the front room, playing relatively quietly as Barbie cleans up after breakfast. She puts a fist on one hip as she frowns up at her husband’s face. “You know you can’t just not say anything. You need to address this.”

Todd’s head hangs and his shoulders roll forward as he leans against the counter. “I know. I just hate going to the doctor.”

Barbie knows this. She has known Todd for so long that she can predict his every response, and the minute he said he felt dizzy, she knew it would be like trying to coax one of the boys into going to the doctor.

"I'm setting it up," Barbie says, turning her face up to his to kiss him. "Go get ready for work. I'll try to schedule it for as soon as possible."

Once Todd is out the door with his coffee in a thermos and his lunch in a metal pail, Barbie gets Heath and Henry out the door--to second grade and kindergarten, respectively--and settles Huck down with a box full of blocks and trucks.

She pulls out a Stardust Beach phone book and selects a doctor, then calls and makes the appointment for Todd.

Her greatest fear was that he wouldn't come home, which had been downgraded to the idea that he might come home hurt, and now she's just worried about the long-term effects of his trip to space.

A knock on the door pulls her away from the kitchen, and Barbie opens it to find Carrie Reed on her doorstep.

"Hiya," Carrie says, grinning at her. "Have you had long enough to re-feather your love nest now that your man is back?" she teases, waiting to be invited in.

Barbie and Carrie have a long-standing Wednesday morning coffee date at the Romans' house, and they always pour a cup and sit at the kitchen table or on the patio to gab while Huck plays amiably with whatever of his brothers' toys Barbie has dragged out to occupy him.

"Of course," Barbie says with a laugh. She holds the door open wider and Carrie follows her in, tossing her long, straight brown hair over one shoulder as she spots Huck playing in a patch of sunlight on the living room rug.

"Hi, little guy," Carrie says, ruffling Huck's soft baby hair as she passes by. "I bet you're glad to have Daddy home again, huh?"

Huck breaks from his game and looks up at her at the mention of his father, then goes back to stacking colored blocks and talking to himself about big trucks and brown horses.

"Patio?" Barbie asks, leading the way into her kitchen, with its red-painted cabinets and white counter tops.

Her wedding china is emblazoned with a pattern of strawberries and daisies, and she loves how fresh and unstuffy it feels after a childhood of Wedgwood china and understated elegance.

Barbie pours two mugs of coffee and follows Carrie outside, where they can see straight through the patio door and into the living room and keep an eye on Huck while they talk.