Epilogue
Luke
The gas around the stars shimmers as I shift the telescope's view to the full moon. The brightness nearly blinds me, and I pull away, blinking rapidly.
Gideon gave an in-depth class on all the different areas of the moon. Tonight I’m attempting to spot the Sea of Tranquility.
“How’s it going over there?” Genevieve calls from the back porch, Bogey glued to her side, as he’s been quite a lot recently.
“I’m understanding why Gideon said to point the telescope in the moon’s direction first before looking,” I say, wiping my eyes, trying to get her in focus without a halo.
“That one’s a good lesson,” she chuckles.
Watching her walk toward me, Bogey with her, the corner of my lip tugs up. “What brings you out here, Mrs. Nichols?”
Even a year later, my stomach hasn’t stopped flipping every time I call her ‘Mrs.,’. There are days I still can’t believe that a risky gamble reaped such incredible results.
“Do I need a reason to want to spend time with you outside?” She sweeps her arm up and over the clear, inky night sky. “Under the stars?”
“You never need a reason to spend time with me anywhere.”
Her soft hazel eyes sparkle. Reaching her arms around my waist, she presses against me, resting her chin on my chest. “So what new and exciting thing are we doing tonight?”
“Our lesson was on the moon and crevices.” A tiny giggle escapes, and I shake my head. “You’re the worst.”
Bogey lets out a short ‘Awoo’ in agreement. But I’m sure it’s because Genevieve skimps on treats and he is not a fan.
“Sorry.” She clears her throat, schooling her features. “You were talking about the moon and its crevices?”
“Well, Gideon was.” I lean in, kissing the top of her head, wrapping her close to me. “I was saying that I wanted to look for them.”
She squeaks, and her eyes widen.
“Not like that. Wow. Your mind really went there?”
She quirks a playful brow. “What can I say, your moon is my favorite.” She gently taps my ‘moon’.
Clearing my throat, I continue, “As I was saying, GIDEON gave us a great lesson, and I thought I’d look for the Sea of Tranquility.
“Ohhhh, I love that! Let’s look and see if we can find one of the Lunar Roving Vehicles that were left behind.”
Narrowing my eyes, I ask, “The what?”
Her chin lifts from my chest, her eyes wide. “You don’t know what the LRV is?”
“Did you forget I’m new to this stargazing thing? Can you explain it to me like I’m a five-year-old?”
“Ooooh, practice!” She slides her hands up my arms and around my neck.
“The sun’s gonna be rising soon if you don’t hurry up,” I mumble against her neck, planting tiny kisses along her collarbone.
“We have hours before that happens.” She sighs contentedly, a small shiver running through her delicate frame.
“Gen.” I chuckle.
“Fine. You are familiar with the moon landing, right?”
“The what?” Pressing my lips together, I try to get them to stop twitching. Her incredulous face is adorable, and I lose the battle. Throwing my head back, I roar.
“Phew! I was really worried about you for a second.”
Pushing a strand of hair behind her ear, I press my lips softly against hers. “So dear wife, tell me about this…what is it again?”
Gen gently runs her fingers through the hair at the base of my neck. “Lunar Rover Vehicle, LRV or Moon Buggy, as it’s affectionately called.”
“Mmhm.” Swaying gently, I listen as Gen tells me all about the Apollo Moon Landings, the LRVs, and how they couldn’t take them back with them when they left because they didn’t have enough room aboard the Command Module.
I smile at how her face lights up with excitement as she tells me about the history. “So they just left them there?”
“Yup.”
“In the Sea of Tranquility? Are you teasing me right now?”
“Nope.”
Narrowing my eyes, I look for any inkling of playfulness, but find nothing.
Leaning in, she kisses the side of my mouth before slipping out of my arms. “Should we look for one of them?”
Following as she makes her way toward the telescope, something clicks. “Wait!” Raising my hand, I ask. “What about Reuse, Renew, and Recycle?”
She playfully slaps me on the shoulder. “This was in the ’60s way before any of that was a thing.”
“Seems a little wasteful and expensive, if you ask me.”
“Since you weren’t born yet, they couldn’t.” Her lips twitch. “Do you want to give it a go or should we skip it and go straight to the crevices?”
“What am I going to do with you?” I shake my head, a full grin breaking free across my face.
“I can think of a few things.” She winks. “But how about we take a look at the Sea of Tranquility and see if we can spot a Moon Buggy.”
“Let’s do it.”
Stepping up to the telescope, her one hand tucked in my elbow, and the other intertwined with mine, I think about how much has changed in the last year and a half.
There’s a telescope in my yard, I have a dog whom I adore, and I’m married to a woman who leaves my cheeks hurting daily.
“Do you want to see if you can find it first?” I ask Gen. “Then you can point it out to me.”
She looks at me in that way of hers that has my pulse racing, and I start to reconsider her looking at the moon in the sky.
“Sure.” I watch as she pushes her hair out of the way and places one eye on the lens. “We’ll have to make sure to identify some markers when we locate one of them so we can easily find it again. Especially to show the baby.”
“That’s a good idea.” I look up at the moon with a naked eye, admiring the way the light from the sun makes it shine. “We definitely want to do that —Wait, what?”
My head whips toward Gen to see her watching me, the corners of her mouth tugged up. My gaze roams her face. “Did you just say baby?”
She nods, and her hand moves to her belly.
Bogey lets out an excited ‘Awaooooawoooo’.
“Of course you knew before I did,” I grumble, sweeping Gen in my arms and spinning her.
Her giggles ring throughout the backyard, and my heart expands.
We’re having a baby!
When I place Gen on the ground, there’s a soft, but insistent, nudging between the two of us.
Glancing down, I find Bogey attempting to wedge himself in. Laughing, we step apart only to have him stand directly in front of Gen.
“What the heck?” I say, as my wife runs her hand over Bogey’s head.
“You know, I just realized that he’s been hanging around me a bunch recently.” Her gaze softens as she looks at him. “Have you noticed him resting his head on or near my stomach?”
“I did.” I nod. “I just thought he figured out how comfortable it was.”
Pulling her and Bogey close, I whisper, “You’re sure?”
She smiles at me and dips her chin. “Three tests later, and Bogey’s confirmation, I’m positive.”
“Positively pregnant or certain?” My gaze and hand slide down to her belly.
“Both?” She giggles, placing her hand over mine. “Though final confirmation will come from the doctor next week.”
Bogey’s soft ‘Awoo’ as he puts his snout over our hands has the two of us chuckling.
“Which day? I want to be there.”
Hashing out the details for next week’s appointment, I take Gen’s hand, and we start walking toward the house.
“Do you think I’ll need a new therapy dog?” I whisper, not wanting to insult my husky.
“You know he has ridiculously good hearing and can hear you, right?” She smiles, her gaze on Bogey, whose eyes are flicking between us. “I’m pretty sure he can handle it. How do you feel about sharing him?”
“With my family?”
‘Awoooooo’
“You’re right, of course!” I snicker as Bogey nudges my hand, then leans against me. “You’re my furmily too.”
“Then it’s settled,” Gen says.
“The three of us—” Bogey corrects Gen with an ‘Awoo’. “Sorry, four of us will make it work.” He blows out a satisfied huff, which has us shaking our heads and laughing.
He bounds up the steps and stops at the top one, watching us intently, tongue lolling to the side.
“I wonder what he knows that he’s not telling us?” I ask Gen as we step on the first step.
“I stopped asking that question a long time ago, because I will never be smart enough to figure it out.”
Bogey whirls from us and heads to the doggie door, but before pushing his head through, he turns, looks back, and winks.
“Did you see that?” I gasp.
“The blink? Yeah, like humans, dogs blink.” She wraps her arm around my waist, a lopsided grin on her face.
“That was a wink! He just winked at us.”
My lovely wife rolls her eyes and murmurs, “Oh, honey. Bless your heart.”
While Bogey winks at me, again, before heading through the doggie door, an excited ‘Awoooooooo’ echoes throughout the house.
The End.