The Sweet and Sour Side of Romance

On Valentine’s Day, 1945, Deane and George Bibb produced a baby boy, George Bibb Edmondson, Jr.

From Letters, Images, and Newspaper Clippings and included in my book:
"A significant change in his health forced George Bibb to finally acquiesce to constant instruction and prompting from back home. G.B., Deane, and baby George left Wilmington and returned to Montgomery where hospitalization  for my father was eminent. Tests eventually revealed a dormant social disease had come to life and was attacking George Bibb’s body with ferocity. Prompted by her son’s “delicate condition” and eminent lengthy hospitalization, Mattie Bibb insisted that Deane take a leave of absence. Obediently, with mixed feelings of remorse and relief over her dismissal, she and her infant son left on the 5:45 to see her family in East St. Louis, Illinois.

Private Sonnet to My Love

Hand-written

1945

By George Bibb Edmondson

To Deane

I know you’re happy with your loving kin,

I’m glad you’ve made the awfully tiring trip

But I miss the ivory whiteness of your skin,

The chastity, fire, and sweetness of your lip,

The sky that’s in your azure eyes, the music of your voice

The fragrant, incandescence of your lovely hair,

One cannot fathom how you made your choice

When for the man you love, you learned to care.

We parted quickly at the train,

So quickly that we felt no pain.

But one detail was quite unforeseen

Now minutes get so slow,

It all just goes to show

A man can love, like I love my own

Deane!

Please darling, take whatever you like. Gosh, I love you.
GB

Upon their return, Deane and little George were soon reunited with G.B. on Moulton Street where they regrouped in the semi-privacy of their room for a brief period. But the process of recovery and elation over their reunion encouraged an alternative in their living arrangements. After a couple of months under the unwavering mantle of Nannie, they moved to their own apartment in a Victorian house only a few blocks from downtown and the ancestral home. Seventeen months later, little George had a sister when Elizabeth Deane Edmondson (Missie) was born."

So. I am born.
There was never any doubt on my part that my father adored my mother. His obsessive adoration smothered her and possibly had a role in his own downfall. My father's affection never extended beyond my mother, but the tender touches toward her were shaken off with disgust and not without reason. 
To be continued...