Chapter 20 The Illinois War Bride

Chapter 20

The Illinois War Bride

Joan Fontaine, an Australian girl, also a war bride, arrived with two of her youngest children by train from Illinois, as expected. This meeting had been prearranged in Iowa by phone so we had never met before. They were to join us in LA so we could all sail together. She and the two children were crying when we met them, and Joan was almost catatonic. It took some time before she could focus on who we were.

“Ruth, I don’t think we are going to make it! I can’t bear to be separated from my husband and my other two children. I’ve been miserable ever since we left Illinois on the train.”

Being confronted with this situation stunned me momentarily. It had seemed simple enough: go to the station, greet Joan and children, retrieve their luggage, settle them into their room, and get to know the family before we embarked on the ship.

I suggested she phone her husband, Ben, and tell him how she felt. Bill and I went for a walk along the beach to discuss the situation. “Honey! There is no way Joan and her children are going to make it on the ship! They most likely will be seasick all the way, and you will spend the whole voyage taking care of them.” This was how Bill saw the picture. “Think back to those mothers on the war brides ship, the David Shanks. They abandoned their children because they were so seasick. All they wanted to do was die, and you and some of the other girls had to rescue the children. Do you want to repeat that on this trip?”

“I hate to see her get this far and not make it to Sydney to see her family. You’re right, Bill, she is so distraught now she is upsetting her children. She needs to go home.” When we got back to Joan’s room, she was on the phone talking to her husband again. She handed me the phone. Ben sounded angry:

“Don’t try talking Joan into to making the trip, Ruth. She wants to come home, so help her get back on the train. I want her to come back home. Now!” Ben bristled and was extremely abrupt.

After the children had settled down for the night I whispered to Bill. “I miss you and the children very much each time I go away, but you know, it’s the reunions and the honeymoons I adore each time I come home to you again,” I confessed. Bill snickered as he pulled me to him and I nestled my head into his shoulder.

“You know how people say, ‘when they got married they became one’ - I don’t believe that, do you?” I queried. “I think if that were true, we would finish up with two half-people!”

I continued to think about what I had said. “You know, Bill, I can appreciate the love Joan and Ben feel for each other, and it doesn’t diminish the love we have for each other. Each relationship is different. But I think it would be devastating to love someone to such an extent that one partner could become dysfunctional being separated from the other. Do you think that has happened to Joan and Ben?” Bill was already asleep - he didn’t hear a word I said.

Early the next morning, I begged Steve not to let the children get their clothes wet at the beach while we took Joan and her children to the train. It was good to see them so happy about going home. I was sure it was an oversight that Joan had forgotten to pay us for her hotel room, meals, long distance phone calls and the taxis. We had to watch every penny we spent, but when Bill and I talked about this, he didn’t think we should mention it. I disagreed. (At times Bill still acted like ‘a well-heeled Yank’. That’s what we used to call the American servicemen in Australia during the war.)

As I was helping Joan downstairs with her luggage, I mentioned how lucky we were to find such an inexpensive hotel. She suddenly dropped her suitcase, put her hand to her mouth and gasped:

“Ruth! How could I be so thoughtless! I haven’t paid you for booking us into the hotel. Oh dear me! Please forgive me! I have been so upset that I couldn’t think of anything else except getting home again.” We went to the office to confirm the amount I had paid for the telephone calls. Joan took care of all the expenses she had incurred - we were both relieved.