A Magic Beyond - Karri Justina Shea

Stars Passing By will tell the story of Tripp and Rosie, two of the original characters from my Starship fanfic Learning to Dance. You can find parts 1-14 here.

My apologies that this one took so long to get to you. Thank you, always, for reading! I think you will like this one - please let me know what you think below!

***

“Rosemarie, will you please stand still!”

Rosie closed her eyes and was instantly ten years old, chastened, coming in late for dinner, being cleaned up with a rough washcloth and stern tongue. She stood very still as fingers pulled at her, lacing her up with all the gentleness of an army drill sergeant. She opened them again.

Not ten. Twenty-nine, and dressed in white.

“There now,” her mother said, standing back with her hands on her hips. “Don’t you look nice?”

Rosie turned, side to side, trying to see the dress from all angles. “It’s beautiful,” she admitted.

“And still fits,” her mother said. “Didn’t know if it would, after three years-“ She broke off, her eyes filling with tears.

“Oh, mom,” said Rosie, feeling somewhat helpless in the monstrous dress. “Don’t cry. I’m home now.” And had been for nearly three months. It was odd, having so much space to move around in. Freedom to travel about, do the shopping, reunite with friends and family she’d thought perhaps she’d never see again.

Rosie had never felt so confined.

Her mother dabbed at her thickly-painted eyes. “Yes, yes,” she said briskly. “Now, we’ve got a three o-clock appointment with the florist, and then we’re meeting with Alejandro to make sure everything is in place for the engagement party tonight… and don’t sigh at me, Rosemarie, a wedding takes a lot of planning!”

Rosie tried to take a slow breath, but the boning of the elaborate dress her mother had chosen so long ago pushed into her ribs with such force that she couldn’t manage it. She turned back to the mirror. She had been tired for most of her time on the starship Eagle, being the only doctor on board, but never before had she looked so… worn. She felt old, and sad. She pasted on plenty of smiles, for her parents, for her fiance, for her friends. None were genuine.

Hector was sweet, and utterly devoted, and against all odds, had waited for her.

She thought with guilt of that last night aboard the Eagle. Of Connor’s eyes, his hands, the heat of him, his mouth on hers-

“I am a terrible human being,” she said.

“What’s that?” her mother said absently, unlacing the dress. Rosie looked at herself in the mirror. A bride looked back at her.

But it wasn’t her.

***

Up knew a man who needed a drink when he saw one. “Glad you’re back, buddy,” he said, clapping a hand on Tripp’s shoulder, steering him toward the bar. “How was Canada?”

“Beautiful,” Tripp said, managing a half-hearted smile. “Cold. Nice to see the family.”

Up ordered them a pair of whiskeys and they found a table. “You sure you’re ready to head back to space?”

Tripp eyed him dully over the top of his glass. “Hell yes. Can’t get there soon enough.”

Up took a sip. “Well, the Cazadora will be happy to have you.” He meant that. His first official command, the first ship to call his own. He would be glad to have his old friend along. Up hesitated, then forged on ahead. “I asked Rosie Baker if she would consider a position in medical, but she’s accepted a place at the G.L.E.E. hospital. Said she should try to stay in one place for awhile.”

Tripp made a noncommittal noise.

“Have you spoken to her at all, Tripp?”

Tripp looked at him for a long time before replying. “She’s made her choice.”

“Has she?” Up countered. “You up and disappeared the second we hit the ground. How could you know?”

Tripp’s face darkened.

***

Another dress now, this one a gorgeous steel gray, perfectly selected to set off the teal-and-white décor of the reception area. This up-and-coming Alejandro fellow knew his stuff. She waited at the top of the stairs, peering round the corner to the sea of clinking glasses and “Oh, how do you do?” and false friendships below.

“Ready?”

She glanced at Hector. He was smiling, and his face was familiar to her. But she suddenly found she didn’t recognize it at all.

They emerged to general applause, the returned spacefarer, the gallant fiance who’d waited for her. Rosie saw family, friends, neighbours, people she’d known her entire life. She surveyed them as if through glass, a filter, distorting the image into one she didn’t know.

Each one seemed a stranger to her now.

Hector squeezed her hand. She slowly turned to look at him.

All at once everything was clear.

***

The liquor flowed freely that night. One of the last chances for many of Up’s new Rangers to let loose before the work of loading and prepping the Cazadora for her maiden voyage began. Tripp seemed to loosen up a bit as the night wore on, and Up was beginning to feel a little philosophical himself as they reminisced over the more life-and-death moments of their history together.

“What would you do,” he asked now. “If you knew this was your last night alive?”

Tripp now had enough whiskey in him that he didn’t hesitate. “I’d run straight to Rosie,” he said, smacking the bar, making their glasses jump. “And tell her exactly how I feel about her. And then I’d get down on one knee and we’d make sweet, sweet love all night long-”

He broke off, and stared at Up. Up raised his eyebrows.

“I’ve gotta try,” Tripp said, with a mix of desperation and wonder. He stood up, and swayed.

“Easy, space cowboy,” Up said, reaching up to haul him back down. “Not in your current state you don’t.”

Tripp thought about this for a moment. “But I will,” he said firmly.

“Yes,” said Up. “I think you’d better.”

***

Rosie stood outside the wedding shop, looking up at the serene face of a mannequin dressed in white. The gown was simple, gauzy, streamlined rather than fussy. She liked it.

“You’d look beautiful in that one.”

At the sound of his voice, Rosie was sure that the Earth had stopped spinning.

She turned.

He was there, just the same as he’d always been, every line around his eyes, the way his hair fell just so. He stood, several feet away, his hands behind his back. His eyes, his incredible eyes found hers.

“Connor,” she said.

He approached, slowly, each step making it harder for her not to close the space between them.

“Rosie, I- there’s just, there’s something I’ve got to say.”

She forced herself to wait.

“I know you’re marrying him. I know he waited for you, and you’re keeping your promise, and I know he can probably give you things I-” he stopped, shook his head. Rosie opened her mouth, but he held up his hand.

“I haven’t got much. I’m a poor soldier, no place to call home but the stars. But Rosie-”

His face was so close, his eyes all she saw.

“Rosie, I love you.”

He took her hands.

“I love you and I think you know that. And I can’t give you up without a fight.”

Rosie stared up at him, this wonderful, beautiful man who’d just placed his heart in her hands.

“Connor,” she said. “I’m not here to buy a wedding dress.”

He seemed confused.

“I’m here to return one.”

When his face didn’t change, Rosie laughed, joy bubbling up within her. “I broke off my engagement to Hector yesterday. He’s never been the right man for me – it just took a very long time for me to see it.”

Hope dawned in his eyes. Rosie took a breath.

“And besides – how could I marry him when I’m in love with you?”

Hope became delight, and then she was in his arms, flying, whirling, laughing. He held her aloft, their noses nearly touching.

“Marry me-”

“Yes,” she said, before he’d barely gotten the words out.

She bent to kiss him, softly, then hungrily, and he pulled her ever closer.

Somewhere, she was sure of it, the stars were standing still.