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CHAPTER 7 Wedding Plans (1927) Pauline left for Europe on December 30, 1926, aboard the Cleveland and 10 days later stepped onto French soil. Ernest met her at Cherbourg 106 days after putting her on the ship from Boulogne for the one-hundred-day separation. When the lovers spotted each other, both liked what they saw. Ernest had lost weight and looked trim, with a stylish mustache; Pauline had put on a little weight and looked less gaunt than when she departed. They immediately returned to Gstaad for a continuation of the holiday ski trip with Virginia and the MacLeishes, and Ernest reveled in the devoted coterie. In many ways, having Virginia and Pauline both present reminded him of the previous year in Schruns with Pauline and Hadley. This combination , however, seemed less threatening. Even their friends considered the Pfeiffers a pair, with friends such as Gerald Murphy referring to them as “the Sister Act.”1 Skiing filled the next few weeks, and pictures of Ernest taken at that time show no trace of the depression suffered before Pauline’s return. He appears happy, smiling, and full of self-confidence. Even his wardrobe looks improved. No longer the rumpled oaf Pauline perceived him to be early in her friendship with Hadley, the Ernest in these photos appears debonair in tailored slacks and a white ski sweater matching Pauline’s. While Ernest and Pauline skied, Hadley received her judgment of divorce from him. The decree gave her custody of Bumby, with Ernest having full visitation rights. Ernest, however, could not marry yet. A French divorce involved a number of steps before becoming final and even more red tape before freeing him to marry. The schedule involved signing final papers on March 10, with the final decree to be issued on April 14. After the decree, Ernest had to file papers with the mayor in his district, a process expected to take until late April. 68 Ernest returned to Paris briefly in mid-February to take care of business matters, see Bumby, and have their picture made together. By then the MacLeishes were on a tour of Eastern Europe with the Murphys, and the Pfeiffer sisters had the ski slopes to themselves, which quickly grew tiresome . They urged Ernest to bring Bumby back to Gstaad on his return from Paris, suggesting they make “an entire album of pictures of him.”2 Since they planned a return to Paris on March 10, it gave Bumby a ten-day holiday and provided a break for Hadley. While Ernest logged most of his time skiing or writing, Pauline and Virginia alternated supervising Bumby’s naps and meals. Both women expressed great affection for him, and Bumby grew close to his future stepmother. At a precocious age, Bumby asked lots of questions that his father often begged off on, suggesting that he ask Pauline instead, since she knew about everything. The frequent phrase “Pauline knows” soon became “Paulinos” for young Bumby and remained his nickname for his stepmother.3 Ernest and the Pfeiffer sisters, with Bumby in tow, arrived back in Paris in time for Ernest to sign final divorce papers. Long before the return, however , Ernest became restless. The days with Pauline and Virginia and nights with Pauline offered their charms, but going that long without male companionship bothered Ernest. An invitation to travel to Italy with Guy Hickok, his longtime friend and Paris correspondent for the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, struck him as a solution. While Pauline hated being apart again after such a long separation, she nonetheless recognized his need for “the promotion of masculine society” and suggested that she hoped the trip would last him a long time, “for I’m very sure your wife is going to be opposed to them.”4 Much had to be done, however, for Pauline to become his wife. With Ernest off on his trip, Pauline could work through all the details without enduring Ernest’s impatience with everything involved in such a complicated Catholic wedding. The night before he left, Ernest and Pauline had dinner with the Hickoks, and she took care of one important detail by signing her new will, leaving ten thousand dollars to Bumby and everything else to Ernest. Guy and Mary Hickok witnessed the document. Ernest and Guy set out the next morning on what started as a three-week tour of Italy, including a visit to Ezra Pound. In reality, they returned in ten days, still plenty of time...

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