for Ruby, and finally, when they moved in, their life slowed down for a while. Zack was still working on his latest research projects. He had dreams of connecting the world through computers, and was determined to find a way to do it. He had a computer lab and an office in the house.
Eleanor was still looking high and low for furniture for them, and Alex spent some time in Tahoe with Eleanor while she worked on her gardens, to get away from the city. He felt as though they hadn’t stopped since the wedding, and he was tired. He had just turned eighty-six, and was slowing down a little. Ruby had noticed it and so had Eleanor. Their life had been moving at a fast pace ever since Ruby had married Zack, people even approached them now to be introduced to their grandson-in-law. Eleanor was slightly worried about Ruby too. She remembered all too well the problems Camille had experienced when she gave birth to Ruby, although her lifestyle had been unhealthy. Eleanor wanted everything to go smoothly for Ruby, and Alex said he was sure it would. Ruby was the picture of health and a happy woman. She was positively glowing. She looked radiant whenever they saw her, and she dropped by the store frequently, and talked to her grandmother on the phone several times a day about their special projects, the nursery, the house, and the baby.
Zack wanted to be at the delivery and they were taking Lamaze classes together, anonymously. By her due date in July, Ruby was staying home, folding tiny undershirts and putting the very last finishing touches on the nursery. Eleanor had painted a mural for the nursery herself, an old talent she had revived. She had painted a circus, with clowns and animals all the way around the room, with a girl dancing on the high wire in a sequined tutu. And she had faux painted the circus train along one wall. Zack and Ruby loved it.
They had hired a baby nurse to help them for the first few months, but after that, Ruby said she wanted to take care of the baby herself. She wanted to be the exact opposite of the kind of mother her own mother had been, and Eleanor had no doubt she would be. Alex was disappointed that she didn’t want to use her education to get a high-paying job, but with the kind of fortune Zack had made in a short time, it didn’t seem to make sense for Ruby to be working. She’d rather stay home and take care of their children, which was what Zack wanted her to do anyway.
He had an office in Palo Alto, and called her several times a day to make sure nothing was happening. And when things finally got started, she was picking curtain fabrics for the ballroom with her grandmother. Eleanor called Zack and he drove back to town immediately, and once Zack got there, Eleanor went home to tell Alex the baby was coming. Ruby promised to let them know as soon as she and Zack went to the hospital. They spent the afternoon at home, timing contractions and watching movies on TV. They were planning to go to the new birthing center at the hospital, and when they left for the hospital at six o’clock, Ruby was still smiling. Once they got there it seemed to be taking forever, but the nurses told her that first babies were always slow.
When the contractions began in earnest, Zack did everything he’d been taught to help her. They were so young and earnest, and so much in love that the nurses were touched when they were in the room with them. Ruby wanted a natural delivery, and when she finally started to push at midnight, the baby came easily and quickly. With three enormous pushes, Zack and Ruby saw their daughter born. Everything had gone easily. The doctor cut the cord and lay the baby on Ruby’s stomach, and she and Zack were laughing and crying as they looked at her. One of the nurses commented that they made it look easy. At twelve-thirty, they called her grandparents and told them that Kendall Eleanor Katz had arrived and how easy it had been.
“Thank God,” Eleanor said as she nodded and smiled at Alex and gave him a thumbs-up. They had been worried sick about her all night while they waited for news of the arrival of