Page 85 of Echoes

“It’s in the garage. Still in the case, but there’s a padlock so that no one else can accidentally use it.”

“It’s in our garage?”

“In the cabinet you never go into.”

“When we get home, I want to see it.”

“I tried pressing the button again. Nothing happened. I don’t think it works anymore.”

“You pressed it again? Why?”

“Because you were dating her, and I got scared. I worried I’d lost the future I wanted, and I wanted to know if waiting was the right thingto do or if I should just give up because you’d moved on and I’d lost you. Nothing happened; no vision. I assumed whatever power it had was gone after the one use, and I didn’t know how to charge it.”

“You thought you’d–”

“Lost you, yes.”

“What would you have done if it showed you a new future with someone else or no one at all?” Rachel asked.

“I don’t know. I asked myself that question a lot back then, but I don’t know. Before you started dating her, I was going to wait for two years because you said you had goals, and I wanted you to have them. Then, you were dating, and I thought I should’ve said something about how I felt sooner. I guess if I had seen a future without you, I probably would’ve left work.”

“What? Why?”

“Because I couldn’t see you all day, every day, and know that I lost the only true thing that ever matters in life, Rach. That kind of love – it’s once in a lifetime, if you’re lucky. And I felt it in that vision. I felt it even though the older Violet was already gone. I could feel how much you loved me and how much I loved you. Nothing else would have compared to that, so I would’ve gone and let you have the life you wanted with someone else because there was no way I could watch you fall in love and be with her and not fall apart myself.” Violet wiped her cheeks as the tears fell. “I know it was wrong, not telling you sooner, but I’ve wrestled with it for years because there was always a chance you’d be angry with me and leave, and I couldn’t handle that.”

Rachel pulled her into a hug and said, “I’m going home with you tomorrow. The only place I will ever go is with you.” Rachel held her tightly. “I’ll never leave you, Violet. You’re the only thing that matters to me, too. I love you. If that’s our future, I want it. I want you and me forever. Idon’twant to watch you die, but none of us gets the choice of howthathappens. I think I need to see this thing to try to understand more, but I believe that you experienced something important and that it led you to me.”

“Youdo?”

“Yes. And I still plan on marrying you in Greece.”

“And the kids?”

“I guess we should plan for two cribs,” Rachel replied and kissed Violet’s cheek. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

One Year Later

“Okay, so… We’re not going to be disappointed if it’s negative, and we’re not going to read anything into it if it’s positive but we find out later that we’re only having one or if it’s a boy or boy twins or–”

“We’re not going to be disappointed at all,” Violet interrupted her wife. “My love, if it’s negative, we’ll try again. And if it’s positive, we will be over the moon. Simple, right?”

“Yes, simple,” Rachel said. “I’m just nervous. I mean, we only had two girls.”

“Hey, we said we wouldn’t do this. We said we’d take the steps we wanted to take.”

“I know.”

“Babe, the most important thing is that we’re together in that future, not that we do everything we have to do to get there. We’re here already. We’re married. And we’re going to have kids.”

“I know.” Rachel sighed a little. “But when you told me that we had twin girls, I just felt it in my soul, Violet. It was like, yes, that’s what I want. What happens if we don’t end up having them? Do they disappear? Did they even exist?”

Violet rubbed Rachel’s back and said, “I only sawthemin the vision, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t have more kids. They talked abouttheirkids being at the house, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have another kid or kids out there somewhere whom they didn’t mention in the few seconds I overheard them talking. Two girls sounds perfect to me, but if we have one first before twins or one after, I don’t care. I want healthy children with my beautiful wife. That’s all.”

Rachel nodded as the timer on her phone went off. She pressed the button to stop it and licked her lips nervously. Then, she removed the tissue that they’d placed over the test so it would be a reveal when the time was up.

“Pregnant,” Violet said as she picked up the stick. Wide eyes met hers then, and Violet smiled. “Babe, you’re pregnant.”