“Yes. Thank you, Bess. For everything.”
She smiles warmly before continuing on into the dining room, carrying the towels toward the kitchen.
I take the stairs two at a time, my heart thumping as I near our chamber. I knock once to alert Charlie of my presence, and then I open the door.
He’s sitting in his chair at the corner of the room, a book open on his lap that he must have found in the library. I pull in a breath at the sight of him lounging so comfortably in trousers and a shirt, his hair pulled back out of his face. His head lifts as I enter the room, a small smile lighting his lips. I set the items in my hands onto the bed and approach.
Charlie’s welcoming words are teasing. “He returns.”
“Did you miss me, my love?”
“Oh, perhaps a little.”
Charlie lets out a startled gasp as I swoop down, hauling him into my arms. His book lands on the floor with a thud, my love laughing as he wraps his arms around my shoulders.
“I missed you greatly,” I tell him, finding his lips with my own.
He softens, every muscle relaxing as I prove how very much I yearned for him these past many hours.
Charlie speaks around kisses. “Should I expect… a mauling… every time you’re to return home?”
“Quite,” I assure him, sinking my face to his neck and biting lightly.
He laughs once more, squirming until I stop.
“I have something for you,” I say, letting Charlie lower to the floor. “Two somethings, more accurately.”
He follows me to the bed, sitting on the edge of it. “Color me intrigued.”
I pick up the books first, sliding them his way. “I had a brief encounter with your father today,” I inform him, watchingCharlie’s reaction. There’s curiosity on his face, but not surprise. “I told him I was interested in learning more about astronomy. And he offered me these.”
Charlie turns his focus to the books, interest there. His fingers skate over the small leather journal before freezing. There’s an intake of breath, and then he quickly plucks it up, opening it and flipping through the pages. “This is…”
“Your father’s personal findings,” I confirm. “And the textbooks he gave me are far above a novice’s level.”
His voice is hushed, shaken. “These aren’t for you.”
“No. I don’t suspect they are.”
Charlie looks up at me, his breath stuttering.
“He asked after you,” I tell him softly. “And he told me to tell you… 186,000 miles.”
A pained smile breaks over Charlie’s face, as lovely as it is heartbreaking. He lets out a long sigh, holding the leather journal to his chest.
“What does it mean?” I ask him, running my fingers along Charlie’s neck, over the smooth skin there.
He turns his head my way, his blue eyes covered in the slimmest sheen of moisture. He blinks, and it disappears. “Do you know how far the human eye can see?”
I shake my head. “I do not.”
“Less than three miles on a clear day.” He sets the journal on his lap, running his fingers over it once more before picking up the textbooks one at a time, examining each. “Three miles. That’s the distance from our eye to the horizon when on flat ground. Do you know how far light travels in a single second?”
“186,000 miles?” I guess.
He nods, drawing in a breath through his nose. “186thousand. The world we live in is so much more vast than wecan see. Imagine what’s out there, Arthur. In a time and place far from now.”
Charlie’s lips curve into a smile as he opens one of the textbooks, looking inside. It’s all too easy to see the young child he once was, so full of wonder and a will to learn. An eagerness that was snuffed out, confined with no room to roam simply because of the shackles we put in place upon a person’s gender assignment. Why shouldn’t Charlie learn? Why shouldn’t anyone?
