April 24th 2021

Chapter 114
Our Spooks For Pumpkins

The last days running up to the 31st had felt like a series of events catered as much toward the spooky holiday as the first birthday of one Marianne Christine Friar. The costumes were being constructed, as were the newest decorations. The hay maze was being raised on the Oswalds' land, and the pumpkins in the Friar patch had been harvested, soon to be distributed among their beneficiaries. This year, much to their big sister's appreciation, the Hunter kids had asked Maya and Lucas that their pumpkin be given over to the Russells. They wanted Desi and Khalil and their grandparents to have it, and they joined Maya in delivering it. The kids worked together, sharing their own knowledge on how the big orange thing could be used to make anything from toasted seeds to pies.

Finally, it was the night before Halloween, and everything was set. All they had left to do was go to bed, and sleep, and when they would wake again – provided they didn't get awakened in the night – the day would be upon them.

"Kind of want to keep her over here with us," Maya stated as she sat on the bed with Marianne. The little one was asleep, holding to her mother, as Maya lightly brushed at her hair. With her about to turn a year old, they had been talking about finally moving her crib into the nursery. They'd kept her in their room all this time because it was convenient, and it wasn't as though she took up any extra space they needed, but now… They'd need to do this sooner or later, wouldn't they? Well, she was still with them right now, and while she was, Maya wanted her close with them.

"Then that's what we'll do," Lucas nodded. He didn't need to be convinced. How long had they dreamed of having their own child be the one resting between them after so many sibling 'intrusions' over the years? He turned off the lights and came to sit across from her as she carefully set Marianne down in the middle of the bed and lay at her side. As Lucas joined them under the covers, both parents set a hand over their sleeping girl. "If we never go to sleep, maybe she'll stay like this?" Lucas whispered, turning his eyes up to his wife.

"You know, I was thinking the same thing. She can stay a baby forever, right?" Maya smirked.

"Definitely," Lucas spoke confidently. "Just like this…"

But they did sleep, of course, all through the night, and finally morning came, the morning of October 31st. Halloween. Marianne's birthday.

"Good morning, pumpkin, hello…" Maya whispered, lightly cradling her daughter's head as she stared back at her, blue eyes just waking. "Happy birthday… Happy, happy, happy…" Maya leaned to kiss her face, and her hands…

Staring at her, sometimes, she still couldn't fully believe that she was hers, that she could have created this little human, so sweet, and curious, and growing clever, with such a smile and an ease for life and the world around her. But then she'd look at her, she'd think of her, and there would be such a feeling in her heart, this bond tying them together, and there'd be no doubt. Marianne belonged to her and she belonged to Marianne.

She had known she wanted to be a mother for so long. For a time, it had come from a place of wanting to give some of what she didn't get growing up, wanting to create a happy and whole family. There was still some of that today, but now it was less about what she didn't have and more about what she'd come to have, with the family that grew around her, Hunters and Harts and Lanes all together. And then with Lucas in the picture, and the two of them going from friends to much, much more than friends, suddenly there was this picture of him and her and little children all around them, and it was such a wonderful picture.

This morning, they may have only had the one, but she'd say it looked a lot like that picture in her mind. Maya would look at Marianne and… oh, she was such a happy little kid. Once, it might have left her feeling relieved, but those days were behind her, the ones where she could hardly hope, where this moment here felt impossible. Her life as it was now felt pretty fantastic, and there was none of that feeling of doom, like surely it meant that things were about to go horribly wrong. There were still bumps in the road, sure, but then that was life for you. They didn't stop her in her tracks.

"I think we need to retire Spookversary," Lucas told her, and Maya looked over to find he was awake, too.

"Why?" she asked, almost pitiful. They had celebrated their Spookversary, the anniversary of the Halloween where a near kiss had led to their getting together the very next morning, for over a decade.

"To pass the torch," Lucas smiled, and this intrigued her enough to let him go on. "It's her day now, isn't it?" he tipped his head down to their girl, even as Marianne twisted herself around to follow the sound of her father's voice. Lucas gladly scooped her up and submitted himself to those probing fingers.

"You have a point," Maya smiled back, watching them. "So, what's it going to be?"

"Oh, you're going to love this one," he vowed. Maya nodded. Let's hear it. He cleared his throat, the better to put on his impression of her announcer voice. "Let it be forevermore… Hallowannie."

"Yes…" Maya replied in an impressed and amused whisper. "That's it right there," she agreed as she leaned to kiss Marianne's head once more. "Happy Hallowannie…"

Much as they would have liked to stay here with their pumpkin, they needed to get up and get ready for the day. Maya was due at school, costume and all, and Lucas was due for another day as a veterinary resident. There had been a brief concern as to whether his schedule would get at all in the way of his being here for everything later, the birthday and the games and the party, but it had all worked out in the end, much to his relief. He would have been so heartbroken to miss this moment in his daughter's life.

It still bowled him over sometimes to think about it, to tell himself I have a daughter. And he would look at her, and it wouldn't be a surprise anymore, it would be joy, and a blessing. I have a daughter. It made him realize that maybe it wasn't so much that he would get surprised all over again but really that this feeling in him exceeded words. He could shout it high and low, tell everyone that he loved Marianne so very much, go on and on for hours, but it would only ever be that part of it that could actually be vocalized. The rest… the rest existed only in him, in his experience of fatherhood and his relationship with his little girl. It was not unlike what he felt for Maya, though it came from a different place.

It could be so easy to say, 'I can't imagine my life before this person or this thing was in it anymore' and know that it was true, but when it came to this, to fatherhood and this year of watching his baby girl grow and be a part of his life… When had there ever been a time in his life where he felt so compelled to chronicle and commemorate as many things as he did in the last twelve months? All he could ever want was to retain as much of Marianne's effect on their lives. She had taken them, Maya and him, from a couple to a family, she had solidified them like nothing ever could. Today, more than ever, as he was brought to look back, he felt it all.

"Pumpkin, you are wearing that costume," Maya declared with a grin as she lifted Marianne into her arms and presented her. She now wore the costume as purchased by her Granny Mel, and far from fussing about any part of it, she just had such a smile on her. She was completely happy with her ensemble. When Lucas saw her, his heart went and did flips again.

"Would it be terrible if we just let her stay like this the whole time?" he asked as he finished lacing his shoes and stood up. "Or would it break the whole… group aesthetic?"

"You know what, I'm kind of conflicted about that, too," Maya admitted. "She does look so cute in her other costume, too, and it would be a shame if we didn't put her in it, but then look at her…" she smiled, giving the pumpkin some light belly pokes that made her laugh.

"We could do a poll," Lucas joked.

"That would only work if everyone else was a lot more decisive than us, and I don't care that we're her parents so it's normal for us to be conflicted. They are going to be just as perplexed."

"Yeah, but that's half the fun."

The pumpkin costume immediately found several more fans as soon as Marianne was brought from the room, and only two of them were human.

Maya took the birthday girl down the hall and quietly poked her head into her sister's room to find she was in the 'I'm awake but I haven't mounted the will to move just yet' stage. When Maya brought the pumpkin girl to float into her line of sight, Cara gave a gasping smile at once. As soon as she'd pulled herself seated, she was handed her niece, who gave as good as she got in cuddles.

"Happy birthday, pumpkin," Cara laughed. "You're so cute right now, wow… One year old."

"It's almost unfair how well it suits her," Maya smiled.

"Wait until Gran sees her…"

Granny Lizzie, as was to be expected, was all smiles the moment she got a look of her great granddaughter the pumpkin. She received her with great, many wishes of a happy birthday, followed by vast amounts of hugs, before breakfast in progress demanded her return to the stove. Elizabeth settled the little one on the floor, the better for her to carry on crawling around until she figured out how to walk. Once she got there, she was quickly accosted by a trio of very curious pups. Trix, Lou, and Crowley most of all were intrigued by this form the small human had appeared in today. They sniffed at her, which tickled and made Marianne laugh as she pet them in return.

"What do you think, three more votes?" Lucas quietly asked Maya. She laughed as discreetly as she could, getting a short video of the scene. Lou was now resting with her head in Marianne's lap, and the birthday girl looked very content to let her stay there.

"We'll see how she feels about getting changed tonight, I'm not making that choice right now. Let me have this," Maya smiled back to her husband.

"Okay, but for the record, I'm letting myself have this, too," he looked back to where Crowley was maybe giving Marianne a few birthday kisses, much to her amusement.

"How generous of you," Maya teased, all the while slipping the new video into the Marianne group chat. It was already bursting with wishes and promises of calls later in the day from those who wouldn't get to be here in person. The hell hounds have been unleashed into the pumpkin patch! Happy Hallowannie everyone!

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners