The Free Spirit

American Summer, 1959 (Part Two)

"Well I keep doing what she wants, she's the captain of my soul..."

After a ten and a half hour long flight from London to New York City, an hour long layover (during which I called Ike and Margaret letting them know I'd landed in America) and a three hour flight to Nashville, I finally set foot on American soil exhausted from the combined fourteen and a half hours of travelling and was greeted cheerfully by Ike and Margaret. "Welcome back to America, Catherine!" Ike exclaimed, taking my bag from me and pulling me into a one-armed hug. "Is this little bundle my grandson?"

"Indeed it is!" I said with an exhausted smile.

"Oh, let's see him!" Margaret said, relieving me of my son and cradling him in her arms. "Oh, he's gorgeous! He looks so much like Don! How was the flight, dear?"

"Exhausting," I said to them as they walked with me to their car.

"Ya sure do look it, sweetheart," Ike said to me with the loving tone of a father.

"When we get back home, you ought to get some sleep. We'll watch little Elton," Margaret told me. I could see very clearly how thrilled they were to finally be grandparents and I didn't mind handing off the responsibility of caring for Elton while I took a kip. Don wasn't due back for another week and a half but he knew I was home. We had limited contact because Australia was so far away and difficult to reach and it wasn't possible to make calls to Australia from America yet, so I had to wait for him to come home without hearing from him. When he finally did return home, I had been recovering from a mild cold and had slept through the telephone ringing with a phone call from California, and was feeding Elton from my breast when I heard the front door open.

"Cath?" I heard Don call from the front door, and I tried not to excite myself in fear of upsetting Elton. "Honey-"

"In Elton's room, my love!" I called to him, unfortunately disturbing my son. He let go of my breast and started to fuss, and I fixed my blouse and attempted to settle him at the same time as my husband appeared in the doorframe.

"There's my beautiful wife and handsome little boy!" he said excitedly, crossing the room in two strides and taking us both into his arms. "What's the little guy fussin' about? C'mere, little one..." He took Elton from my arms and held the infant against his chest, and Elton calmed down almost immediately.

"You'll have to teach me your tricks!" I exclaimed when I saw how quickly Elton calmed down in his father's arms, and I gave Don a light kiss on the lips. "Welcome home, my love. I've missed you!"

"I've missed ya too, honey," he told me lovingly. "How'd my parents react when they saw him?"

"Oh, they fell in love with him! I think he's their new favourite member of the family," I replied, wrapping my arms around my husband's waist as he held our son with both hands.

"I can imagine why! How's he been?"

"We have an appointment with a doctor to check up with him next Tuesday, otherwise, he's been wonderful."

"I knew he would be. Elton's a strong little boy. I'd like to go to the appointment with ya."

"Of course you can, but you don't have to. Elton and I have doctors' appointments down to a routine."

"I wanna," he said, giving me a kiss on my cheek. "I've already missed out on so much of our boy's life, I wanna be here for more. Which is why I'm glad you're back home with him. Our little boy is already six months old!"

"Time's gone by so quickly, although the poor lad's spent most of his life in hospital."

"But the older he gets, the healthier he'll be. That's what the doctor told me back at the London."