Elinor hadn’t lived in Milton since she left for nursing school in 1940, so her return after the war in early September 1946 would have been difficult under any circumstances. Almost six months pregnant and armed with nothing but a promise of Frederick’s return, she was terrified at the thought of facing her mother and all that Milton represented. She later shared with her niece Hope Taylor that she knew her mother would think she had lost her mind. Frederick could have been lying about his feelings for her. Or maybe he would find the obstacles too great and decide to stay in Europe, never to reappear in the United States again and raise his child. But Elinor was convinced that he would keep his word.

Gladys’s hypertension was serious. She mostly stayed in bed, but her weakened state didn’t diminish her anger toward Elinor. As predicted, Gladys was furious about and embarrassed by her daughter’s pregnancy. She was so disappointed she could barely look at Elinor, refusing to speak to her unless it was absolutely necessary.

Gladys was a very proud and religious woman. It was a major blight in her eyes to have Elinor return home pregnant and unmarried, and she worried about Elinor’s reputation. The whole story seemed unfathomable to her even when Elinor told her that the pregnancy was planned. Tension permeated the house. With her strong personality, Gladys needed time to process the impending birth of her first grandchild.

Eventually Gladys turned a corner. The reality was that she put family before everything, and she decided that Elinor needed her support more than her scorn. Also, as a widow, she was lonely. She forgave Elinor for shaming the family and understood that her daughter was in a vulnerable situation and, frankly, desperate.20

When Stephen Albert was born in Boston on December 18, 1946, Gladys embraced him without any hesitation, falling in love with the cream-colored baby. She held her grandson as much as she could, and even while ailing, she lifted him up in her arms with an expression of sheer adoration—a moment that Elinor captured in a photograph glued in one of her cherished scrapbooks.

But what Gladys felt for her new grandson didn’t translate into any warmth for Frederick. She was convinced that he was nothing more than a hustler who had fooled her daughter into getting pregnant so he could get a sponsored visa, rather than remain in war-torn Germany, which everyone knew was in shambles. Gladys believed that the promises Frederick had made to Elinor about lasting love and marriage were just a slick way to gain entry into the United States.21 But Elinor’s trust in the father of her child never wavered.