Chapter 41 #2
My gaze drops to my hands. There, on my left thumb, is my father’s ring. I spin it, as if to make sure it’s real.
Does this mean we’ve succeeded? That our current reality isn’t lost to time?
My initial elation is knocked sideways by a sudden wave of grief.
A sting bites inside my nose. This is what we wanted, wasn’t it?
I hadn’t expected the loss to ache like an internal bruise, because this means William got to live out the rest of his life, to choose and lead and wonder, until he was no longer part of this physical world.
What a surreal, extraordinary adventure it was to know him. Carrying those memories is enough.
But my panic isn’t fully extinguished. I bolt toward the school, trying to tamper down my rising fear.
What if Sumner wasn’t far enough away from the vortex’s boundary?
He’s always annoyingly correct about calculations, but what if something massive happened, wiping away his existence here?
I meant it when I said I’d never forget him, but I don’t want to experience a reality without him.
In the distance, someone shouts my name. Relief sinks into my bones as a shadow rushes forward, the crunch of heavy footsteps sounding through the night. My pace quickens, chest heaving.
And then he’s there. Sumner.
My legs propel me forward as his name rips from my throat. He’s okay. He’s here, and he’s okay, and maybe, somehow, we managed the impossible.
He reaches the top of the incline, boots tearing through the snow to reach me.
I come untethered from the earth as I leap into his arms, my legs wrapping around his hips, snow and wind ripping through our hair as his hands anchor me to him.
I lace my arms around his neck and pull myself into his orbit.
His expression breaks with relief, his chest rising and falling in tandem with mine.
Visible exhales disappear in the cold. Proof we’re alive, we’re here.
“Delaney.”
His gaze sends a fevered heat down my skin.
He is soft and urgent and warmth and light all at once.
My hands tangle through his hair as I draw us closer, closer, and he kisses me with starved intention.
Hands grasp the back of my thighs, as if I’m his own cosmic anchoring point.
And when his touch moves to linger on the small of my back, it sends skittering stardust careening through my veins.
I am pure electricity, loud and awake and bright.
When we break away, a line worries between his brows. “I was so scared you were gone.”
I bring my hand between us, revealing my dad’s ring. “It worked.”
His forehead connects with mine. “It worked.”
And then he spins me around, a centripetal force, laughter spilling from my chest as I tighten my hold. When he brings us to a stop, I kiss him, deep and slow, loosening my legs until I slide down his body. My feet sink into the snow as he pulls me closer.
We release each other, the cold seeping into the space between us. I start to step away, but he grasps onto my hand, fingers entangled with mine.
“There is so much about life that doesn’t make sense,” he says. “Logic and reason have been this reliable comfort when everything else around me felt out of control, but so little is in our control. Even this—I thought I could solve it. I wanted to solve it for you.”
“I know,” I say thickly.
“You’re it for me, Carmichael.” A hint of a smile appears, slanted and perfect.
“We might only be a large collection of atoms and unexplainable phenomena in a world where, most of the time, we don’t get the answers we want.
But I’ve never been so certain about someone the way I am about you. You’re my logic and my reason.”
Emotion chokes my next words. “Say it in skywriting.”
He stumbles over a laugh. “I’d rearrange the constellations to say it if I could.
” His fingers brush strands of hair behind my ear.
“Sometimes it’s infuriatingly difficult to exist on this planet in this strange, wide universe.
But we do it, we go on despite the pain and discomfort and all the unknowns.
And I wouldn’t want to be here, doing this, with anyone else but you.
I wouldn’t trade this for a thousand lifetimes unless each of them had you in it. ”
It feels as though gravity has been pulled from beneath me.
I may be his logic and reason, but he is my time and my place.
The one I want to share my hours with, whose presence feels like home in my heart.
Who makes me feel as though I’m not only a bright star, but his entire galaxy.
And I am in love with him. I want his sacred promises and slanted smiles, his tender declarations and soft intellect.
Our story doesn’t end here. Not when we have so much more to write.
A sudden voice shouts from behind us. “Did you freaking see that?” Lionel jogs our way, eyes wide. “That was unreal.”
I laugh as Sumner slides an arm around my shoulders. “Oh, that? It was nothing.”
Lionel grins. Sumner gives him an encouraging slap on the back, but I envelop him in a hug. “We couldn’t have done it without you.”
The three of us stare across the clearing. There’s a palpable emptiness without William’s presence. I’m not the only one who feels it.
“He was meant to be here,” Sumner says, voice low. “It wasn’t for nothing.”
I lean into his chest. “No,” I agree. “It wasn’t.”
Snow drifts down around us, quiet. And time pushes on.
“Well,” Lionel says, adjusting his coat as he looks between us. “What now?”