"Father," she finally couldn't help but ask, her low voice filled with irrepressible anticipation, "the surprise... where is it?"
Murphy didn't answer immediately. He just quietly gazed at the starry sky, as if he were waiting for something.
Aurora walked to her daughter's side and gently wrapped an arm around her shoulder, saying warmly, "Don't be anxious, Eleanor. If it's a surprise, you have to have a little patience."
Just then, Murphy slowly began to speak, his voice ringing out with exceptional clarity and a profound depth across the spacious Observatory:
"This surprise, perhaps... is related to the person you've always missed."
Eleanor's body stiffened slightly.
The person she'd always missed...
Her dark eyes flew wide. She whirled to face her father, then quickly glanced at her mother, her gaze filled with utter disbelief and a dawning spark of hope.
