I pull back slightly. “Are you sure? What if it doesn’t work?”
“If your face is the last thing I see, Alice Murphy, then I’m the luckiest man in any century.” The corners of his mouth twitch upwards, the dazzling optimism in his smile giving me the confidence that maybe, just maybe, luck will be on our side.
He pulls me back into his embrace. I wrap both arms around his back and hold him close. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Ben looking on, smiling, with tears in his eyes.
Ben looks down at his pocket watch and steps toward us, speaking to both Charlie and I. “Al, we’re out of time. It’s not long before the ship splits. We’ve gotta go now!”
“Ben, are you sure?” He knows I’m not asking about how much time we have or how long until the ship fully floods or splits. We exchange a knowing look, and he can tell I’m asking if he’s okay with this turn of events. I don’t even have to say anything, he just knows.
“Ali, I know better than to stop you when your mind's made up about something. Let's go home, shall we?” He looks over at Charlie and smiles. “All of us.”
I nod at him and look back at Charlie. “Are you ready?”
He nods and his eyes, those beautiful eyes, look down at me full of love. I yank the necklace from my neck and wrap my arms back around him with my finger over the button. I stand in his embrace, wondering if this is the last time or the start of a miracle. I close my eyes, breathe him in one more time, and press the button.
Everything fades away and just like days ago, a bright white light consumes the space surrounding me.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
You’re My Home by Billy Joel
Everything goes silent. My eyes are closed, but I can sense that I’m back in the lab. The smell of Titanic and rising salt water is no longer surrounding me. Gone are the screams of passengers and the sounds of waves crashing against the ship. I stand on solid ground, no water swallowing me. I feel as if I’m in a dream until I realize my arms are still wrapped around something, and I can feel it breathing.
I tentatively open my eyes and there he is, still locked in my embrace.
“Charlie!” I can’t believe he’s here, and he’s real. I study his face, expecting the floor to fall out from beneath me at any moment, as if this is a cruel joke. He’s standing in his uniform just as he was moments ago. It’s as if we were always here, always together.
He smiles and squeezes me harder, as if he too believes this is all a dream. He doesn’t even stop to look around the room or take in his new surroundings. His only focus is on me.Us.
I feel an arm grab me by the shoulder. “Ben!” I turn and throw myself into his arms. I can see Sarah and Eric behind him and I extend an arm out to them to join. “Get over here!”
The four of us are locked in a tearful embrace, forever bonded by what we’ve done and what we’ve seen. No one will ever understand but the four of us. This was real. This happened. There’s a mixture of joy, sadness, and gratitude bursting between us.
I turn back to Charlie and return to his arms. He wraps them around me and picks me up. He beams at me as he lifts me. I cup his face with my hands and kiss him. I can’t believe it worked. He puts me back down on the ground and I stand facing him, with my hands laid on his chest, just staring into his eyes. All at once, it feels as if we are the only two people in the room, lost in the same seemingly impossible dream.
Finally, Dr. Conrad’s voice breaks from the background we’ve all been ignoring. “So… it went well?”
Dr. Conrad and Dr. McCoy are standing a few feet away, near the machine that sent us back in time, both smirking. I remember that for them, it’s as if we’ve only just left and come back seconds later. It’s completely wild that we’ve all experienced so much in the time they took to gulp or blink.
I take hold of Charlie’s hand and walk over to Dr. Conrad. I know I should apologize. I almost destroyed his work for the sake of my heart. I was selfish and acted in my own interests. It worked, which I am grateful for, but I still made a choice that could have been catastrophic.
“James.” I look at him apologetically. “I didn’t plan it.” I shrug and exhale deeply. “But I’m—”
“You’re not sorry,” he says with a smirk that’s laced with pride, as if he’s just happy to see me happy. He looks at Ben and me with a smile. “I’m just glad you’re safe, both of you.”
He’s partially right. I’m not sorry. I’m not sorry for loving Charlie, or for the decision I made to bring him here. I am sorry though for risking everyone’s safety and the integrity of their work for my own self interests.
Dr. McCoy looks up from the screen he’s been monitoring. “I don’t see any major disruptions to the timeline.” His voice sounds both full of confidence and disbelief. We all breathe a collective sigh of relief. “Just a small ripple right here,” he says as he points to a tiny little stem branching off. No doubt that’s my little adventure. Perhaps not even because of Charlie, as he had no living relatives and therefore was the last of his family. I can imagine that once back in Boston, Violet perhaps tried to locate the kindred friend she made aboard the Titanic, a friendly face to cling to in her grief, only to be met with confusion when there would be no record of her ever existing. I truly hope I was not the source of more pain or devastation for her.
“At some point, when you’re all ready, we’d like to sit and go over this,” Dr. Conrad interrupts.
“Over what?” Ben asks.
“Everything. The experience. What you learned. All of it.”
We collected plenty of evidence and took high quality photos that will be helpful for historians, but I know Dr. Conrad is seeking a more in-depth conversation on what we learned. The four of us look at each other, waiting for someone to speak before I decide to take the lead.
“Honestly, the things I’ve learned have nothing to do with history, why the tragedy happened, or what could have been prevented. We uncovered minor details, but I think I speak for all of us when I say we got caught up in the human experience of it all more than anything. I know what our mission was, and I feel like we failed you in that regard. But, speaking for myself, what I gained was far greater. I learned how to let go of my pain and my fears and just live. To open myself to not only the possibility of love and happiness, but for the first time, feel like I truly deserve it. I can’t thank you enough for giving me the ability to find that. I don’t know what else to say.”
