Part XXI
The drive out to the house in the desert seemed like an eternity as Emily was a mix of emotions, rather like a teenage girl going to her first dance. For months she’d thought only of Julian. Now it was going to happen. It was really going to happen. She smiled shyly at the thought.
When they arrived at the house, the blossoming garden caught Emily’s eye first.
“Oh, Mary Jean,” she said, “thank you. It’s exactly as I remember it. There was no more talk of dreams by now.” Perhaps, Emily mused, it had been the other world that was the dream, making this the true reality all along.
“You’re welcome. Enjoy!” Mary Jean gave her a big hug as she stepped out of the car.
“May you be happy together,” Harry said as he shook Emily’s hand.
“I can’t thank either of you enough,” Emily said she looked toward the house.
“Just enjoy being with Julian again,” Harry said. “That’s the best way that you can thank us. It makes everything we’ve done worthwhile. Go on, then.”
Emily’s legs were shaking as she ascended the steps in front of the house. But when her hand closed around the doorknob, her nerves melted away. It was her house, her new life. She opened the door and came into the living room with eyes wide with anticipation.
All of the sweetest music and most delicious scents from the light show could not match the exhilaration of seeing Julian exactly as he had been in her memory. He was dressed in this flying uniform, sitting in a relaxed pose in his favorite chair beside a crackling fire, reading a newspaper.
The sound of her footfalls made him look up. “Emily!” He laid the newspaper aside and ran to her, lifting her in the air as he embraced her. “You’re a sight for sore eyes!”
Through tears that had filled her eyes upon the sight of him, she smiled and even managed a laugh. “I can say the same about you. I guess I don’t need to ask you where you’ve been. I’m just glad you’re home – we’re home. I don’t want to ever be apart again! But that’s over now.”
“Yes, it is,” he said. Julian brushed a loose strand of hair from her eyes. “We have only the future now. I’m so sorry that I disappeared.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” she said. “I know you wanted to come home.”
“I’ve been across the universe and I only wanted to be here,” Julian exclaimed. “It’s all I wanted.”
“How lovely of Harry and Mary Jean to give us our happy ending.” Emily sighed with contentment. “But it’s really only beginning, right?”
Julian nodded. “There are so many things I want to show you. And I will. After all, we have a lifetime to share.”
The End
Etcetera 