Patty had just gotten Anna settled for the night and was getting ready to take her shower when she heard Anton enter the house. She rushed to the living room to welcome him.

"Is it polio?" she asked. He nodded. "Is she - will she make it?"

Anton sighed. "I do not know. She was near death when I got to her. I admitted her to the hospital right away. If she survives, she will remain in the iron lung for at least a couple of weeks."

Exhausted, he slumped onto the sofa and buried his face in his hands. Patty began to massage his shoulders. She couldn't believe how tense his muscles were.

"If you hadn't gotten to her when you did, she would have died." Her voice was almost a whisper.

"It is a lucky thing I did," Anton agreed. "I had to admit several more children today as well. A couple of them I think will be fine. The other one - I am not so sure."

His voice broke, and Patty's heart was flooded with compassion. In spite of the mixed feelings she had for her mother, she was grateful to Anton for saving Pearl's life. She realized what a heavy strain her husband was under and was anxious for Dr. Banion's return so his load would be lightened.

She embraced Anton from behind and kissed the top of his head. He took her hands into his own and squeezed them.

"My grandfather, Anthony Bennington, died of Spanish influenza right before my parents were married," he said. "My mother told me it spread like wildfire through her neighborhood, and she, her mother, and her father all caught it. My grandmother and my mother recovered, but my grandfather did not. My father asked my mother if she wanted to postpone the wedding by six months or so, to give her time to grieve, but my mother said she wanted it to take place as soon as possible."

"So did they marry and move to Germany right away?" asked Patty.

Anton shook his head. "They married two weeks after the funeral but remained in Manchester for awhile after that to help my grandmother take care of arrangements. My mother said she could not just leave her there all alone, so soon after her husband's death. She told me she did not know what she would have done if my father had not been there with her."

Patty smiled. "You're a lot like him."

"Thank you. I have always tried to be."

"Do you really think Mama might die?"

"It is too soon to tell. I am doing all I can for her, but we will have to wait and see."

Patty's eyes filled with tears. "She's always been so mean to you."

Anton went to her and embraced her, and she rested her head on his shoulder. "That has never bothered me nearly as much as the way she has treated you, Liebling."

"Even after all that, I still don't want her to die."

"Neither do I. There is a chance she will pull through, and like the Spanish influenza, this too will eventually pass."

Pearl remained in the hospital for several weeks, and then she, along with the iron lung, were sent back home to Ike and Sharon. At first she was completely paralyzed from the neck down, and her husband and daughter had to feed, bathe, and dress her. While Sharon was in school, Patty brought Anna and helped Ike care for her mother.

Gradually, Pearl was able to spend first fifteen, then thirty, minutes outside the iron lung, sitting in a chair.

"I don't know why you're doing all this," she said to Patty one day.

"All of what?" asked Patty.

"Taking care of me like this. You have a husband and a baby now. You don't need me anymore, so why don't you just let me die?"

"Is that what you want?" asked Patty.

Pearl grew thoughtful. "Well, there isn't much left for me to live for anymore, is there?"

"You still have Ike and Sharon and me," Patty pointed out.

Pearl didn't say anything for a long time as Patty continued to wash her hair.

"I've been a monster," she said at last. "I've treated you and your husband like dirt. Can you ever forgive me?"

"Of course." Patty began to rinse.

"Thank you," said Pearl. "Will you please ask Anton to stop by whenever he has a chance?"

"Are you feeling worse?" asked Patty.

"Oh, no. I just want to talk with him."

When Sharon got home, Patty collected Anna and went back to her own home to prepare dinner and await her husband's arrival. He came home late, as usual, and Patty had to warm dinner up for him.

"My mother wants to see you," she told him as he was eating.

"Has the paralysis worsened?"

"No. I think she wants to try to make things right with you. Today she asked me if I could ever forgive her for the way she's treated you and me."

Shocked, Anton put his silverware down and gazed at his wife.

"How did you respond?"

"I said of course. There's no point in holding a grudge, is there?"

Anton shook his head. "You are a remarkable woman, P.R."