1940s: A wedding, a honeymoon and a new house

Finally, the day has come! Today is the day Thomas and Betty are getting married. Everything has been planned out in detail. The dress, the location, the honey-moon (Thomas is especially looking forward to that part).

The marriage takes place in the old missionary church in Oasis Springs, as it's the town they'll move to after the wedding. Everything is minutely prepared, and yet Thomas can't help but to be nervous. What if people don't sit down but sit in the aisle instead? Or talk when they should be watching the ceremony? Or the service get interrupted by paparazzis trying to get a look at his famous aunt? But to his great relief non of that happens, and the wedding actually goes according to plan. 

People take their seats (luckily the church has replaced the pews with chairs, which people understand they ought to sit on), and he and Betty, beautiful in her silk wedding dress, can walk down the aisle together. 




Their families cheer as they say their vows and exchange rings: 





And they even succeed with their first spousal kiss without a hitch! Thomas doesn't ever want to let go: 




The reception is held in the missionary gardens behind the church, where crown roast and locally produced nectar is waiting. 





After dinner, Thomas and Betty share their first dance and Thomas who has never been much for dancing realise he actually quite like it.




As the sun starts setting over the desert, it's time to cut the cake. 




And then leave for the rest of their life together. Thomas has bought tickets to Sulani with one of the new commercial airlines that was just starting to operate. It's a wildly expensive trip but Thomas doesn't care, he wants only the best for Betty. However, as it will take more than 10 hours to get there, with stops along the way*, they need a good nights sleep first. Which means that they spend their first night as husband and wife in a motel: 



It's perhaps not what Thomas would have wished for, but to be alone, truly alone, with Betty and to be able to sleep next to her, he doesn't really mind either. Once in their room, Betty leaves him to slip into a new nightgown she's bought for the occasion:





Thomas cannot keep his hands off, nor does he need to. 



The next morning, they eat a quick breakfast in the motel cafeteria before heading to the airport. By the time they land in Sulani they are exhausted, but the hotel seems nice and the scenery is certainly beautiful. 




They check in immediately, and then spend the rest of the day just relaxing and resting from their journey. 




The next morning they start making more out of their vacation. They relax by the pool, take a swim in the ocean, take long walks in the beautiful surroundings. Childishly giddy, they even go swinging on the children's swings.






At night the entire area change as small string lights light up the bridges and pathways. Thomas goes nuts with the camera, primarily with Betty in focus, although she snatches it away at times. 






The next morning they decide on an outing, and go to the beautiful island of Mua Pel'am. They build sandsculptures, woohoo in the waterfall and try snorkling in the pristine waters around the island. Betty even finds a cave to explore. 







It's in every way a perfect honeymoon, that is over too soon. But Thomas needs to return to work, and they have a new house to move into. They return happy, even if the trip back is making Betty nauseous. Thomas tells her to get some rest as soon as they get home. The house, of course, is mostly empty, but they have arranged for some bedroom furniture to be delivered and Josephine, Grace and Hazel has set up the bedroom for them as they arrive. The rest of the house will be up to Betty to arrange as she wants.  



But there is no time for that right away, as they arrived home on Thanksgiving day, and Hazel is hosting her first dinner party. It's a lot more work than she thought, as she has a big house to vacuum. At least now she can feel proud at her home, as it's a lot more contemporary and less dated and gloomy than when she first moved in. 




But then the guests arrive and it's everything she dreamed of. People enjoy her food, talk lively around the dinner table and later in the living room she has worked so hard to update and make modern. She congratulate her brother on his new wedding, and get to know his new wife a bit more. She is annoyingly beautiful in her extremely modern lace dress. "Thank you! Thomas got it for me in Sulani," she says happily at a compliment.






For Thomas and Betty, the dinner feels long as they are already tired and jetlagged. Betty especially is feeling the weight of the trip, and as they arrive home she is both nauseous and tired. She puts it down to the trip, but being a doctor Thomas insist on checking up on her, and what he discovers have them both grateful beyond belief. Betty is pregnant!



As Thomas reluctantly head to work the next morning, Betty's work begins. She orders furniture and gets new wallpaper and even pain the kitchen cabinets until the house is transformed into a home. First she tackles the main areas, the living room, dining room and kitchen, only to then focus on the nursery they now need. She leaves one room untouched, hoping they'll have plenty of reasons to fix it up later.






Happy with her work, she settles in and tries to teach herself to knit. It's not easy, but she does manage to make a hat for the baby. She hopes she can knit baby clothes before the baby arrives, but knows that if she can't, Thomas will make sure their child have everything they need anyway.


* The first non-stop commercial flight to Hawaii didn't open until 1959, so in 1949, the trip often took two or sometimes tree layovers before you arrived, a trip of between 8-12 hours. 

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