Page 64 of Little Pieces of Light

The students shuffled out. With my heart pounding, I strode up the walk of the huge lecture hall and met Emery at the door. I kissed her hello so I wouldn’t blurt out the secret I’d been walking around with for a week.

“Wow, that was quite a greeting,” she said when we broke our kiss. “Better be careful or else I’ll want to tear your clothes off right here in front of all your students.”

I felt heat climb up to my ears and she touched my cheek.

“I love how you blush, but I can’t help it,” she said. “You’re just so sexy, the way you talk about radiation and paradoxes and…flux capacitors.”

“Come again?”

She laughed. “I’ll never understand how you can simultaneously be one of the smartest people on the planet but still haven’t seen Back to the Future .”

“I’m still getting caught up. Why are you here? Not that I’m complaining.”

“Oh, I have my reasons. You look very happy, by the way,” she said, suddenly looking nervous. “You didn’t hear…? I mean…”

“Hear what?”

“Nothing!” She took my hand, pulling me down the hallway, deeper into the Jefferson Building.

“The parking lot’s the other way,” I said. My good news wanted to burst out of me, but my wife’s face when she saw it firsthand would be a million times better.

“In a second, in a second,” Emery was saying. I noticed a group of my students behind me smiling and whispering.

“Where are we going?”

“Geez, so many questions, Alexander.”

I chuckled, thinking back to that day so long ago when I sat on that rock while this beautiful girl peppered me with more questions than I’ve ever been asked in my entire life. More students had gathered, as well as faculty and colleagues of mine. A large crowd now walked behind us.

“What in the world is going on?”

We’d come to a T in the hallway. Emery was breathless now, her cheeks flushed. “Take off your glasses.”

Before I could move, she took them off for me and put them in my hands, then craned up on her tiptoes to cover my eyes. “It’s just around the corner.”

“What is?” I asked, taking shuffling steps forward. “My birthday is still in November, right?”

A few more steps, and she let go of my eyes. “Xander, look.”

I blinked, put my glasses back on, and looked up. Immediately, my gaze was flooded with tears and my heart felt too big for my chest.

“Emery…” I said gruffly. “Is this real?”

“It’s real, baby. His legacy. It will never be forgotten. He will never be forgotten.”

I nodded, holding her hand tightly. The entrance to the wing that led to the research labs now read Dr. Russell J. Ford Hall.

All around us, the crowd burst into applause and cheers that resonated down the halls. Beside me, Emery wasn’t bothering to conceal her tears. One of my colleagues, Dr. Granger, the head of the physics department, was suddenly there, shaking my hand. “Congratulations, son.”

I stared back. “How…?”

“Your father’s work in photoelectron spectroscopy was groundbreaking and caused a chain reaction of further discoveries that we’re still making to this day.”

“I thought…I thought he’d been forgotten,” I said, my voice wavering.

“Impossible,” Dr. Granger said. “And if I may say, I think he’d be very proud of you.”

I clenched my jaw, trying to hold it together. “I hope so.” I glanced down at Emery. “How long has this been planned?”

“Months,” she said, wiping her eyes. “And can we just appreciate for a second how hard it was for me to keep this a secret?”

I wrapped her in my arms and kissed the top of her head. “Thank you.”

“This wasn’t me. I had nothing to do with it—”

“Everything good in my life can be traced back to meeting you.”

Her smile was radiant. “I feel the same. Because we’re entangled. That’s some science I understand.”

“It’s not science, it’s magic,” I said. “Come on. I want to show you something.”

We drove through Cambridge in our newish car to a little two-bedroom Victorian house not too far from Harvard.

It had a drafting room, filled with sunlight, that was perfect for Emery to run her design business from.

We’d put an offer on it three weeks ago, but our realtor had said interest was high, and chances were slim.

I parked in front, and Emery’s eyes widened. “Xander…” she said slowly. “Why are we here?”

“Because this morning, before my lecture, I picked these up.” I fished the keys out of my jacket pocket and handed them to her. “It’s all yours, baby.”

“What? I…I thought we didn’t have a shot. I thought there was a lot of interest.”

“I think they liked you the most.”

The owners had loved the house but had outgrown it. They’d wanted it to go to someone they felt would take care of it. So I’d written them a letter about Emery—who she was, and how she’d do more than take care of their house. Writing about my amazing wife was all it took.

Because it’s impossible not to fall in love with her.

She glanced up at me. “Are you saying…?”

“Welcome home, Em.”

“Oh my God!” She threw her arms around my neck, then scrambled out of the car and ran up the steps to the house. “My hands are shaking. I can’t…”

I took the keys from her and unlocked the door. We stepped inside the cozy little house, empty now and in need of some light and life.

“Xander, I can’t believe this…”

“Believe it, baby. I can’t wait to see what you do with the place.”

Emery’s head whipped up to me. “What do you mean?”

“I mean what I said: It’s all yours. To design and make it as beautiful as you want.”

“You want me to design the whole thing?”

“Well, I can help with the handiwork, but yes,” I said, chuckling. “Have at it. I trust you, and I know you’re going to make it perfect.”

“The things I’m going to do to this place…”

We moved through the living room, to the kitchen, to the guest bedroom, Emery’s eyes already full of ideas.

I opened the door to the second bedroom and wrinkled my nose at the dust. “We should show our friends before and after photos of the guest room so they appreciate your hard work.”

“Ummm, about that.” Emery bit her lower lip, her eyes twinkling. “Our friends are going to have to sleep on the couch.”

“Why is that?”

“Because this is the baby’s room.”

Now it was my turn to stare. “Emery…?”

“I took a test this morning...”

I was truly afraid I might pass out from all the joy this day was bringing. We’d been trying for a year to get pregnant and had started to worry. We’d been about to investigate fertility options despite our concerns that it’d be too expensive, but now…

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure. You’re going to be a daddy.”

“Oh my God.” I cupped her face in my hands. “And you’re going to be a mom. The best mom.”

She nodded. “We will be everything to this baby that we never had.”

Emery was right. She would make a remarkable mother, and I’d do nothing but my best to be the most caring father for this baby that I was in love with already.

“I love you,” I whispered. “So much.”

“I love you, Xander.” She gave a tearful laugh. “We came a long way, but we made it, didn’t we?”

I nodded. “Yes, baby. We sure did.”

The End