I cleared my throat and came back to the lecture hall.
“Hawking’s theory suggests that even in a black hole, light can never be destroyed. No matter how dark things get, it’s still with us. Always.”
“Wow, Dr. Ford,” one student said with a grin. “Almost sounds like you’re not talking about science anymore.”
I caught sight of Emery standing at the top of the lecture hall, leaning in the door.
“A wise woman once told me too much science and not enough imagination isn’t good for the soul,” I said, earning some laughs. I checked my watch. “Time’s up. I’ll see you all next week.”
The students shuffled out. With my heart pounding, I strode up the walk of the huge lecture hall and met Emery at the door. I kissed her hello so I wouldn’t blurt out the secret I’d been walking around with for a week.
“Wow, that was quite a greeting,” she said when we broke our kiss. “Better be careful or else I’ll want to tear your clothes off right here infront of all your students.”
I felt heat climb up to my ears and she touched my cheek.
“I love how you blush, but I can’t help it,” she said. “You’re just so sexy, the way you talk about radiation and paradoxes and…flux capacitors.”
“Come again?”
She laughed. “I’ll never understand how you can simultaneously be one of the smartest people on the planet but still haven’t seenBack to the Future.”
“I’m still getting caught up. Why are you here? Not that I’m complaining.”
“Oh, I have my reasons. You look very happy, by the way,” she said, suddenly looking nervous. “You didn’t hear…? I mean…”
“Hear what?”
“Nothing!” She took my hand, pulling me down the hallway, deeper into the Jefferson Building.
“The parking lot’s the other way,” I said. My good news wanted to burst out of me, but my wife’s face when she saw it firsthand would be a million times better.
“In a second, in a second,” Emery was saying. I noticed a group of my students behind me smiling and whispering.
“Where are we going?”
“Geez, so many questions, Alexander.”
I chuckled, thinking back to that day so long ago when I sat on that rock while this beautiful girl peppered me with more questions than I’ve ever been asked in my entire life. More students had gathered, as well as faculty and colleagues of mine. A large crowd now walked behind us.
“What in the world is going on?”
We’d come to aTin the hallway. Emery was breathless now, her cheeks flushed. “Take off your glasses.”
Before I could move, she took them off for me and put them in my hands, then craned up on her tiptoes to cover my eyes. “It’s justaround the corner.”
“What is?” I asked, taking shuffling steps forward. “My birthday is still in November, right?”
A few more steps, and she let go of my eyes. “Xander, look.”
I blinked, put my glasses back on, and looked up. Immediately, my gaze was flooded with tears and my heart felt too big for my chest.
“Emery…” I said gruffly. “Is this real?”
“It’s real, baby. His legacy. It will never be forgotten.Hewill never be forgotten.”
I nodded, holding her hand tightly. The entrance to the wing that led to the research labs now read Dr. Russell J. Ford Hall.
All around us, the crowd burst into applause and cheers that resonated down the halls. Beside me, Emery wasn’t bothering to conceal her tears. One of my colleagues, Dr. Granger, the head of the physics department, was suddenly there, shaking my hand. “Congratulations, son.”
