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An unknown number has been ringing Penelope. She ignored the first two calls, assuming it was another scam or maybe a news outlet looking for a soundbite about the mission. But when it rang a third time, something in her chest twisted. Her fingers trembled as she accepted the call.
“Hello, Is this Mrs. Penelope Bridgerton?” A stranger on the phone asks. The voice was calm, but far too serious. Her heart began to thud wildly in her chest.
“Yes,” she said, standing up from the couch. “May I help you?”
“Mrs. Bridgerton,” the person said, “I work at NASA and we have your husband on the phone.”
She froze. Her knees gave out beneath her, and she barely caught the edge of the table to keep herself from falling. She knew that they wouldn’t call unless something happened.
“I—what’s going on? What’s wrong?” Her voice cracked, panic rising like a wave.
The person hesitated. “There’s been an incident onboard. Your husband requested to speak with you and your daughter.”
Penelope’s blood ran cold. Her eyes darted toward the hallway, where a small nightlight glowed from her daughter’s bedroom.
“How bad?” she whispered.
The line went quiet for a second too long.
“We’re patching you through now.”
There was a series of beeps, static, and then—
“Pen?”
Colin.
Her breath caught in her throat.
“Colin,” she whispered, already crying.
“Hi, love.” His voice was warm, soft, but too calm. Too deliberate. Like someone who’d made peace with something.
Penelope gripped the phone tightly. “What happened? What’s going on?”
“I don’t have much time,” he said. “There was a malfunction. We tried to fix it, but… the damage is bad. It’s not looking good.”
“No,” she said immediately, shaking her head as tears spilled down her cheeks. “No, no, don’t say that. You can fix it. You’ll still go home.”
“I want that too. More than anything.” His voice cracked a little. “But I needed to hear your voice. I needed to talk to you. And Agatha. Is she awake?”
Penelope sobbed, pressing her hand to her mouth. “She’s asleep. It’s late. Colin, you can’t—don’t do this. They have to bring you back.”
“I want you to wake her up, darling.”
“Colin…”
“Please, Pen,” he said, his voice breaking now. “I need to tell her goodbye.”
“Okay.”
“I’ll wait,” he murmured gently, his voice a steady anchor in the storm surging through her.
Penelope pushed the door open slowly. She blinked hard against the tears and walked over to the bed. She sat on the edge gently, brushing soft curls away from Agatha’s forehead.
Agatha was fast asleep, curled on her side, lips parted, thumb barely brushing her chin.
Penelope’s chest ached.
“Sweetheart,” she whispered, stroking her back. “Aggie, love, wake up for just a moment.”
The little girl stirred, scrunching her face. “Mummy?” she murmured, eyes still closed.
“It’s Daddy,” Penelope said softly. “Daddy’s on the phone. He wants to say goodnight.”
Agatha blinked, yawning. “Daddy?”
“Yes, baby.” Penelope held the phone to her tiny hand. “He’s right here.”
“Hi, princess,” Colin’s voice came through the speaker, soft and trembling. “Are you cuddling Bun-Bun?”
“Uh-huh,” Agatha said sleepily. “We were waiting for you.”
Penelope bit her lip as Agatha’s little fingers gripped the phone.
“I know,” Colin said, swallowing hard. “I wish I could come home right now. But Daddy’s ship is a little bit broken.”
“Can you fix it?”
“I’m trying, princess,” Colin said, his voice thick with emotion. But they both know he already tried.
Agatha went quiet, still too young to understand it all. “Can you come home after breakfast?” She asked. “I can’t, little love.”
her small brows furrowed in concern. She shifted in her mother’s lap, clutching the phone and Bun-Bun tightly. “But… you pwomised,” she said softly. “You said you’d come home. After the stars.”
Penelope's shoulders were shaking silently. She couldn’t let Agatha see her cry again, not right now.
Colin was quiet on the other end, and when he spoke again, his voice was barely above a whisper.
“I remember, sweetheart. And I want that more than anything. But sometimes… sometimes even brave astronauts have to stay up in the stars.”
Agatha frowned. “But I don’t want you to stay in the stars.”
“I know, my love.” His voice cracked. “I don’t want to, either. But I’m going to be the brightest one up there. So when you look up at night, I’ll be waving to you. Every single night.”
Agatha sniffled. “Can I still talk to you? If I talk really loud, can you hear me?”
Penelope’s hand flew to her mouth.
“Yes,” Colin breathed. “Always. If you talk to the stars, I’ll be listening. And I’ll send you a hug from space. The biggest one ever.”
There was a pause again. “I love you, Daddy,” Agatha whispered, pressing her cheek against the phone. “So, so much.”
“I love you too, Aggie. You made me so proud every single day. You’re the bravest girl I know. Promise me you’ll keep making Mummy smile, okay?”
“Okay, I pwomise.” she said, her voice small.
Penelope gently took the phone from her, wiping the tears from her daughter’s cheeks as she cradled her back against her chest. Agatha settled in, exhausted from the emotional pull she didn’t yet have the words to name.
“Colin…” Penelope whispered into the phone again.
“I’m still here,” he murmured. “Just listening to you two. Just… holding on to this moment.”
“You’re not alone,” she said, trying to keep her voice steady. “We’re with you. All the way.”
“I know,” he said softly. “And that’s why I’m not afraid.”
There was a pause once again. Not silence, just the soft sound of his breathing across the vast distance between them.
“Tell her I love her every day,” he added. “Even when she’s too big for Bun-Bun. And Pen…”
Penelope clutched the phone tighter.
“You were my whole world. You still are.”
A sob broke from her lips. “I love you. I love you so much. I don’t know how I’m going to do this without you.”
“Yes, you do,” Colin said gently. “Because you’re the strongest person I know. And because Agatha needs you.”
There was a sudden change in the background. A low tone, a shift in static. Colin noticed it too.
“I have to go.”
“No,” Penelope said, panic flaring again. “No, just a little longer.”
“I wish,” he breathed. “I wish I had more time.”
Penelope felt her whole body tremble. Her tears soaked into her sleeping daughter’s hair as she curled tighter around her. “Colin, I need you to know—” she choked on the words. “You are the love of my life. No one else, not in this world, not in any universe.”
“I know,” he said, soft and sure. “And I’m so lucky. I got to love you and Aggie, Pen. I got everything I ever wanted.”
Silence pressed in, so heavy that Penelope could barely breathe.
And then, one last whisper.
“Goodnight, my girls. I’ll see you in the stars.”
Penelope sat in the quiet, phone clutched to her heart, her daughter asleep in her arms. “I love you both,” Colin said, barely audible now. “To the moon… and all the way back.”
The static swallowed the line. And then—
Silence.
Outside, the stars blinked faintly in the night sky. And Colin shone among them, forever theirs.