Mom smiled and leaned her head against Dad's shoulder. "You have both our blessings."
It wasn't the past. It was something better. We had the present, and I was fully invested in the growth of our future.
I placed the ring over Lucian's finger and kissed him. He brought his arms around me, growling. I tasted every ounce of love, but I wanted so much more.
"What will be the name of our biggest blessing?" he asked me.
I looked down at my belly. In less than nine months’ time, he would be in my arms. Life finally seemed so easy.
I took a deep breath and said, "Alexander."
"His virtue is patience. He will meet mankind in the center of all disagreements," my mother said.
My father ran to the wooden table and grabbed a champagne bottle from the center. "Dom Perignon. 1989," he said. "I think it'll be a fine way to celebrate this day.”
He popped the cork high into the air, spraying suds of champagne across our heads. Everything was perfect. Well, everything except one thing. "Wait! We need music!"
"Music?" my dad asked. "How on earth are we going to find any music around here?"
"I've got just the thing," I said.
I ran back inside the giant ship, zigzagging through rooms until I reached the center control. I dug through my bag and pulled out the Walkman. Looking at it made me laugh—was I the person to give it to my mom who would, in turn, give it to myself in her future? I really didn't want to even go there. This was my wedding, after all.
I walked back outside, fast-forwarding to my favorite David Bowie song. I pressed play and leaned it on an empty glass. The music melted like butter.
Lucian posed and bowed. "May I have this dance?"
Curtseying, I felt my cheeks turn hot. "You may."
The rest of the night was spent between dancing, getting far too drunk, and telling stories under the waning moon of the night sky. She told us about the Sankarian and Nyelan war that her father had fought in. She told us about where we were going. "America. 1939."
My jaw dropped. "1930-what?”
"Trust me on this. You're going to do a lot of good there," she said.
Anywhere was better than here, and she assured me it would give the time and space we'd need to grow and nurture as a family. And, of course, there was something important that needed to be done. Something Alexander would take care of.
"I have traveled through our family's ark. I was there for all of the beauty. All of the tragedy," she said. She closed her eyes for a brief moment. "I will make sure that every story ends with happiness. The world will not end."
In the beginning, my faith was broken. I clung onto fear like a righteous sword, swinging blindly. When I saw Lucian, everything changed. I didn't think too much about the darkness of those woods. I grew to love the darkness.
Now that I could trust in myself, I could trust in him.
I closed my eyes and let the moon shine against my lids. "I'm so thankful for everything," I said.
Lucian held up his champagne glass and smiled. "To family."
To family.
"Critter. Psst. Wake up, baby girl," she whispered.
"Momma?" I yawned and stretched my arms, blinking away the fuzzies. She stood above me, wearing a lustrous vinyl suit. A futuristic pistol hugged her hip, and a big suitcase sat on the ground next to me. It was time. She was leaving.
"I'm sorry to wake you up like this," she whispered. "I couldn't leave without saying goodbye one more time."
I sat up and adjusted to waking up. "But this isn't goodbye, right? I mean, not really."
"No, but it will be some time until we meet again," she said.