by Len Webster
He nodded. “Yeah, I’m sorry. I saw Schmidt’s email, and I didn’t want to bring home work with us. I didn’t want to disappoint you.”
“Hey,” she said in a soft voice. “It’s okay. Work is important. You’re not disappointing me, Evan. I was worried something serious was troubling you.”
“I’m sorry. I promise, it’s nothing serious.”
Relief consumed her chest, lightening the pressure. “Let’s go to Fenway so we can go home.”
Fenway Park was awfully quiet as she and Evan walked toward security.
“Hey, you two,” Reggie, the security guard, said. “How’s your night going?”
“Good,” Alex said as she tightened her grip on the car seat where Miller was sleeping. “How about you?”
Reggie shrugged. “Same old. Is this little Miller?”
“It is. But she’s asleep right now.”
The security guard bent his knees to look. Alex and Evan had never brought their daughter out this late, so many of the night staff at Fenway had yet to meet their daughter. “She’s a cutie. You better keep an eye on her, Mr. Gilmore.”
Evan groaned next to her. “Oh, please, Reggie. Let’s keep her a baby for a while longer. I’m going to head over to my office to pick up the files. Do you want to wait in our seats and show Miller the view?”
“I can show her our seats. We haven’t taken her there. I’ll meet you there when you’re ready.” She smiled and walked past Reggie and her boyfriend and made her way toward the tunnel. “Let’s go see our seats, Miller. Daddy won’t be too long and then we can go home.”
Alex made it through the tunnel and smiled at the sight of the lit ballpark. When she made her way to the railing, she saw the thin layer of snow covering the grass. Glancing down, she knew the blanket would protect her daughter from the winter temperatures. To protect Miller further, Alex set the car seat down. She took off her coat and wrapped it around Miller, happy that she’d be warm. Then she picked her back up and made her way toward the first row.
Once she reached her home seat, she sat down and set the car seat on her knees. Miller stirred, letting out soft cries. Alex pulled Evan’s seat down and set the car seat on it. Then she pulled the handle back and reached inside, picking up her daughter. Ensuring the coat and blanket remained wrapped around Miller, Alex sat back in her seat. She held her daughter close to her chest and slowly swayed her until her cries softened.
Alex smiled. “Your father and I spent a lot of time here growing up. This is also the very spot your father found out about you.”
Then something bright in the corner of her eye caught her attention. Alex stood and turned, taking in the white jumbo screen.
“I think they’re testing the jumbo screen, Miller.”
When the white screen turned black, she expected the Red Sox logo to take over the screen. Instead, to her surprise, she saw a picture of her and Evan in the away stands wearing Colorado Rockies caps.
Alex laughed at the sight of them. It had been years since they were on the jumbo screen, and her heart warmed in her chest. She was about to sit back down when the screen changed to a different image. It was of her and Evan when they were in middle school. And then another image replaced it with one of her and Evan during their senior year of college.
For the next few minutes, she watched the screen flash different images of her and Evan throughout their lives together.
Images of them together at Duke.
Of them together at Stanford.
Of them together in Boston.
Of them during the summers and all the holidays.
With her parents.
With his brother.
With Savannah.
Even with Milos.
Of their graduations.
Of them in Zürich.
And the last image of them was of the day she had given birth to Miller; Alex holding their daughter as Evan lovingly looked on.
Tears streamed down her cheeks. Alex and Evan had come so far through the years. The last image hadn’t disappeared from the jumbo screen. It was proof that throughout all their love and pain, their daughter was the very best of them.
“Alexandra,” she heard Evan say behind her.
She spun around and found him on one knee with a ring between his thumb and finger. A smile on his face when he realized she was holding their daughter.
“Evan,” she said in a shaky voice.
“Alexandra.” He took a deep breath and released it moments later. “I love you. With my whole heart and my entire life. With every inch of my soul. We have to stop this unrequited we’ve experienced for years. AJ, I love you. I am in love with you. You are the greatest love of my life. I am a better man because of you. You’re the mother of my child. You have been my best friend for as long as I can remember and even longer than that. You have been my best friend, my girlfriend, always the love of my life, and now you’re my daughter’s mother. You gave me Miller. You gave me what I had always been missing. You gave me a family who loves me. A family I love.
“You’re my soul mate. I’ve known it for years. When we were apart and you loved someone else, I wanted you to stay with him because I wanted you to be happy. Because that’s what soul mates do. They make sure the person they care about, love the most, is happy. So I waited. I’d have waited forever for you to tell me you love me. And now we can have forever. I’ve wanted to ask you for years. I’ve had this ring for over a year. I asked your father over a year ago for his blessing, and he told me to wait three years for you. And I was waiting. Because your dreams will always be important to me. Then, you came back to my life, and we spent the most perfect night together. I felt your love, and I asked you to stay. That night we conceived our daughter, and two months later, in this very spot, you told me you were pregnant.”
Oh God, Evan.
She blinked her tears away.
Evan licked his lips. “You are the only thing I got right in my life. Being with you. Loving you. You were the right thing in my life. You are my home. Be with me. Forever. Marry me. Let me be your proud husband when you complete your thesis and complete your Ph.D. Let me be your proud husband as you make your dreams a reality. Let me be the man you wake up to every morning and go to bed with every night. The husband you raise your daughter with. Let me be the husband who gets to call you his wife. I want you to be my wife. Just you. Only ever you for the rest of my life and my last breath. Because I love you. I love you so much.” He inhaled a shaky breath and lifted the ring higher. “Make us a family. Have me and keep me with all the love I see in your eyes.”
She lowered her left hand for him to grasp.
Evan let out a soft laugh. “Alexandra Louise Parker, will you make me complete? Will you let me make you and our daughter happy for the rest of our lives? Will you marry me?”
“Yes,” she breathed out.
“Yes?”
She nodded once again. “Yes, Evan Gilmore. I’ll marry you.”
Smiling, he slid the ring onto her finger. Then he got up off his knee, cupped her cheek, and kissed her deeply, careful not to squash their daughter between them.
Alex sighed into his mouth and he pulled away, ending their kiss. Then he glanced down at their daughter. “Mummy and Daddy are getting married, Miller.”
“You waited over a year to ask me to marry you?”
He nodded. “I wanted it to be perfect. I wanted Miller to be with us. And this was the very spot you made me a father when you told me you were pregnant. And when we were in the away end, you were your freest. You kissed me in Fenway Park. We have had our best moments in a crowded venue. Even better ones in an empty ballpark. Just you and me. And now with Miller.”
“We’re getting married,” she breathed as she raised her left hand and saw the green diamond. It was beautiful. Understated. It was perfect.
“Sixteen diamonds …
” Evan said as he collected their daughter into his arms so that Alex could take in her engagement ring. “To represent eight protons and eight neutrons. To represent how much I love you.” Then his cold hand cupped her cheek. “I love you so much, Alexandra Parker.”
“I love you, too, Evan Gilmore,” she whispered back. Then she kissed him softly before she pulled away.
“Let’s go home, AJ.”
She nodded.
Home.
With my daughter and my fiancé.
My true home.
105Db
dubnium
EVAN
Two months later
“I’m nervous,” his fiancée said.
Evan reached over and covered her hand with his. “Baby, you’re going to get in.”
Alexandra Parker attempted a smile he saw right through.
She was nervous.
He knew she was afraid of another setback.
Of another rejection.
“Miller, Mummy’s going to get into her Ph.D., isn’t she?”
Their daughter was sitting on his lap as she held her Einstein toy she was still in love with. She opened her mouth and closed it. Then she smiled when AJ brushed her hair back. Her phone beeped, signaling that confirmation letters would be posted on the portal.
“So which one first? MIT, Harvard, University of Massachusetts, Northeastern University, or Boston University?”
“MIT,” Evan said, knowing that was her dream school.
She nodded, then she clicked on her screen. Her breath hitched. “I got into MIT.”
“Mummy got into MIT!” Evan said with glee as he kissed Miller’s cheek, and she giggled. MIT had been AJ’s dream school for years. Knowing that she had been accepted for a second time was proof that she deserved a place at the very best.
His fiancée smiled. “Okay, next is Harvard.”
Unlike MIT, her Harvard admission made her incredibly nervous as she bit her lip. And he knew that Mr. Miller, the very man she had named their daughter after, was a professor at Harvard.
AJ inhaled a deep breath and then clicked on the screen. “Oh, my God!” she squealed. “I got into Harvard!” She faced Evan, her eyes gleamed with unshed tears. When she was a high school senior, her reaction to being admitted by Harvard didn’t come close to this time. This time, AJ was relieved and elated. “I got into Harvard.”
He leaned forward and kissed her. “I am so proud of you.” He pulled back. “Check the other statuses.”
She nodded. A few minutes later, she shook her head in disbelief. “I got into all of them.”
“I knew you would,” Evan said, incredibly proud of his fiancée. “You hear that, Miller? Mummy’s going back to college!”
Evan lifted his daughter, and she giggled, kicking her legs until AJ took her in her arms from him. “I’m going to college, Miller. I’m going to make you so proud of me.”
“She’s already proud of you,” he assured as he got up from the chair and stood by her side. Then he wrapped his arms around her. “I’m really proud of you.”
AJ rested her head against his. “Thank you for being there. For supporting my dreams.”
“Always, AJ. Always,” he whispered.
She would be starting her Ph.D. over a year later than she had expected, but she had done it. Night after night of essay writing and filling out applications had paid off.
AJ was finally going to live her dream.
And Evan and their daughter would be there, supporting her every step of the way.
EPILOGUE I
ALEX
Seven months later
“Evan!” Alex shouted as she threaded her arms through her blazer. Once it was on, she picked up her earrings from her dresser and fastened them on. She then spun around, taking in their bedroom to make sure she had everything.
It was her first day of her Ph.D.
She was so nervous but so excited. Last week, they had celebrated their daughter’s first birthday. Alex couldn’t believe that her daughter was already a year old. In the past year, as she watched her daughter grow, she lived an honored life knowing that she was Miller’s mother.
“There’s Mummy,” Evan Gilmore said as he entered their bedroom with their daughter in his arms. “Miller, doesn’t Mummy look beautiful?”
Miller smiled and then let out a giggle. She wasn’t much of a talker, but she understood some words and could say “mama” and “dada.”
“Oh, come here, my love,” Alex said as she walked up to Evan. She took in Miller’s sparkling green eyes. They were like hers. And she was happy that her daughter had her eyes. But Miller had Evan’s smile and nose.
Their daughter was so beautiful.
And the past year of their lives had been wonderful watching her grow.
“You’re going to spend all day with Daddy until Mummy finishes at school, okay?”
Their daughter nodded. She always did when she was asked a question that ended with okay. On their first trip to New York together, they had taken their daughter—eight months at the time—to the Smithsonian. Miller’s favorite exhibit had been the solar system exhibition because of all the colors and displays. After their visit, Alex couldn’t wait to take her daughter back when she was a little older. Just as her father had done with her.
“And here,” Evan said, picking up her briefcase and stepping toward her. “Let’s get you to school. You don’t want to miss your first day.”
Alex laughed. “No, I don’t.” She kissed Miller’s cheek. “Let’s finish getting ready, Miller.”
An hour later, Alex got out of Evan’s car and stepped on the sidewalk outside of the entrance. She spun around to find him walking around the car to their back seat. He opened the door and unbuckled Miller from her car seat.
“Dada,” Miller mumbled as she held her little Einstein tightly in her hands. Evan held her to the side of his body as he closed the door.
“Have you got everything?” Evan asked.
Alex glanced down and took in the leather briefcase her parents had gotten her. It had her initials monogrammed in gold stitching.
A.G.
Alexandra Gilmore.
They had married three months ago in her parents’ backyard with all their family and friends watching.
Her father had walked her down the aisle while her mother walked Alex and Evan’s daughter—the flower girl. Alex’s little brother, Sebastian, had been the ring bearer.
It was perfect.
The most perfect wedding she could have ever imagined.
They had spent their honeymoon with their daughter in Honolulu, Hawaii. Her parents had offered to take care of Miller, but Alex and Evan had wanted her with them. They had rented a house by the water and had the most magnificent two weeks in paradise. They loved their honeymoon so much, they had plans to return during her breaks.
“I have everything,” Alex said as she stepped toward him and set her palm on his cheek. “Call me if you need anything, okay?”
Her husband nodded and dipped his chin to kiss her. When he pulled back, he said, “We’ll be here to pick you up. Have an amazing first day.”
“I will,” she promised and then she bent her knees and brushed their daughter’s hair away from her beautiful face. “You have a great day with Daddy, okay, Miller?”
Her daughter pressed her cheek into Evan’s chest and nodded with a smile.
“Okay, Miller. Say bye-bye to Mummy. Wish her luck on her first day at Harvard.”
“Bye-bye,” Miller said, waving her toy at Alex.
Her heart melted.
God, she had no idea how she could truly be away from her daughter for a whole day.
“We’ll be fine,” Evan assured, answering her internal question. “And you will be, too. Say hello to Professor Miller for us.”
Alex smiled. “I will.”
Then she stood straight. “Oh!” she said, remembering what they were forgetting. She dug her hand into her pocket and pulled out her phone. Then she stood next to Evan and held her phone in front of them and snapped a picture of her family.
Of her husband and daughter.
Then Evan grabbed her briefcase and handed their daughter to her. “Okay, we need a picture of you and Miller on your first day.”
“Smile for the photo, my love.” Alex pointed at the phone he had taken out of his pants pocket.
Their daughter stared at Evan as Alex smiled for the photo. Then he lowered the phone and took Miller from her. Alex kissed her husband’s cheek. “I love you, Evan.” And she glanced back down at her daughter. “Mummy loves you so much, Miller. Be a good girl.”
“You are going to be amazing. Harvard is so lucky to have you,” her husband said.
“I love you so much. I’ll call you later.”
Alex sat in awe as she watched her former high school teacher, and now her Ph.D. advisor and Harvard physics professor, teach the first freshman classical mechanics class.
He made it so interesting.
Professor Henry Miller was a natural when it came to teaching, and his passion for science showed in his lectures.
“Now I’d like to introduce to you all your TA for the semester, Alexandra Gilmore.”
Alex got up from her seat and walked toward the podium. She smiled at her professor and then turned around, facing the large lecture theatre filled with students and their wide eyes on her.
“Just introduce yourself and tell them some things about you,” Professor Miller encouraged.
Alex’s heart raced in her chest as she inhaled a deep breath to calm her nerves. She released it seconds later. “Hello, everyone. My name is Alexandra Gilmore, and I am in my first year of my Ph.D. here at Harvard. I graduated from Duke University with my bachelor and spent over a year and a half as a research assistant to Dr. Rodahawe at the Rodahawe Institute in Zürich, Switzerland before I became a mum. I decided that out of all the colleges I got accepted into, Harvard was where I wanted to do my postgrad. I was born and raised in Massachusetts. If you’re a local, you might know of me through my husband and his brother, who is the captain of the Boston Red Sox.”
