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She was very pleasant to him, but the day after their visit, she cornered Kate in the kitchen, with an earnest look in her eyes.

“Have you and Joe talked about getting married yet?” she asked pointedly, as Kate sighed in irritation.

“Mom, have you seen the condition he's in? Why don't we get him on his feet first?”

“You cried over him for two years, Kate. And you've known him for nearly five. Is there some reason you two aren't making plans, or is there something I don't know here? Is he married?”

“Of course he's not.

He's not going anywhere. I just don't think it's important. He's alive, that's all I wanted, Mom.”

“That's abnormal. And what about Andy?” Kate sat down with a serious look in answer to her question.

“He's coming home this week, I'll tell him then.”

“Tell him what? There doesn't seem to be anything to tell him. Maybe you'd better give it some thought before you decide you can't see him anymore. Kate, mark my words, as soon as Joe is on his feet, he's not going to be heading down the aisle with you, he's going to be running for the nearest airstrip.

All he did was talk about planes yesterday. He's a lot more excited about flying than about being with you. Maybe you'd better face that, before it's too late.”

“It's what he loves, Mom.” But her mother was right. He was already talking constantly about flying. He was dying to get in an airplane, almost as much as he wanted to go to bed with her, but she couldn't say that to her mother.

“How much does he love you, Kate? I think that's a far more relevant question.

”

“Can't he love both? Does he have to make a choice?”

“I don't know, Kate. Can he love both? I'm not sure he can. One may be exclusive of the other.”

“That's crazy. I don't expect him to give up flying. It's his life. It always has been.”

“He's nearly thirty-five years old, and he's just spent two years damn near dead. If he's going to settle down and get married, and have a family, I'd say this would be a good time.” Kate didn't disagree with her, but she didn't want to pressure him.

They hadn't talked about it yet. Kate just assumed it would happen eventually. She wasn't worried about it. She might as well have been married to him anyway, they were totally devoted to each other. He had no interest whatsoever in other women, just in airplanes.

Andy came to the house to see Kate the day he got home. He had just gotten off the train from Chicago, after spending the last weeks of his vacation in San Francisco.