Chapter Seventeen
Addilyn
“SURPRISE!”
A wall of voices knocked me back a step as soon as I opened the door to Harris’s and my apartment home. I gaped in wonder as I looked at the collection of faces. Pam was there with her husband and young son as were my parents and several of my friends from MIT. Decorations blanketed nearly every available surface. An overhead archway had a rocket with a fiery tale headed toward a cascade of stars that I’m sure would glow in the dark if the lights were off. Fairy lights blinked like the far away stars of other solar systems. And, a huge four-tier cake danced with all the elements of the solar system. Underneath the soaring rocket ship on the wall were the words, “bon voyage.”
My eyes scanned the room for the person I wanted to see the most, and then there he was with our new puppy, Pluto, in his arms.
“Did you do all this?” I asked with tears stinging my eyes as I made my way to Harris for a kiss from both him and Pluto. I knew that it was a silly question. Of course, he’d done all of this.
“I had to do something for my special rocket gal!” He put Pluto on the floor and then wrapped me in his warm, strong arms.
“Ohhhhh!” I whimpered, hugging him back as tightly as I could. “I’m going to miss you!” Preparation for my trip to the International Space Station had taken eight, long, very focused months, and I had been eager to leave the entire time. But now that it was time to go, all I wanted to do was stay.
“Three months will go by so fast. You’ll be begging them to let you stay longer,” he said with laughter in his voice because we both knew it was true. “There’s so much work lined up for you to do while you’re up there that you’ll barely have time to think about us. And, best of all, Pluto should be house broken and past his shoe-eating stage by the time you get home!”
I pulled away so that I could look up in to Harris’s face. “I love you.” There was nothing more to add to that, It was simplistic purity, as singularly honest and straightforward as the diamond engagement ring that adorned my hand.
“Hey, don’t go hogging all the time with my best girl,” my Daddy’s voice broke into our moment. I turned in time to see Daddy flash Harris with a glinted look before it was quickly erased by excitement. He’d been taking his time to warm up to Harris as the man I loved and with whom I’d be spending the rest of my life, but I’d seen the effort that he’d been making to find some common ground of respect, and I had hopes that they were even on their way to friendship. “I’ve got something to tell you, sweetheart. There’s a Mars mission scheduled for fifteen years from now, but I’ve just donated them some money as their first future passenger, enough to move up their timeline a few years. I know that that’s where you’ve got your long-term sights, and if my little girl is heading to Mars, then I’m going to go with her.”
“Daddy!” I threw my arms around him for a hug, then pulled in time to see him wink at Harris.
“If Harris wants to go too, he can buy his own ticket,” he said with good-natured teasing.
I looked up at Harris and was surprised to see his brows raised. “What... you aren’t actually thinking about it? A trip to Mars would take seven months.”
“Baby, seven months without you is too long. You are going up to a space station hovering earth is a little bit like you heading over to visit the neighbors, but if you decide to go to Mars, oh yeah, I’m going to be right there with you.”
“But your company?” I said, dumbfounded by his willingness to be by my side no matter where that journey took us.
“I’ve got all the company I need right here with you,” he said, giving me a squeeze. “I’ll find someone else to run the office. I know what matters to me, and that’s you.”
Pluto chose that moment to waddle over to me, lay down and start gnawing on my shoe clad foot. I took the hint and picked him up. “Okay, it’s settled. Me, you, Mama, Daddy and Pluto are all going to be the first family in space.”
“Honey, I think that the trip might need to be fast tracked a little more for Pluto to be able to make that trip.” It was a realization that brought a frown to my face as I looked at the wonderful puppy in my arms, suddenly imaging him as an elderly dog that was more interested in sleeping than playing. “But, maybe that’s a good reason for us to donate to the Mars trip, too, and do just that, get that timeline moved up a little bit more.”
I leaned up on tiptoes and gave Harris a kiss. “You’re more than I ever dreamed I’d have. I love you, Harris.”
“I love you more, Addilyn Clement-Worthington.”