May 9th 2021

Chapter 129
Our Wonders For Preparations

This was not the first time they all worked to prepare for a wedding on short notice, nor was it the fastest turnaround they'd had to perform. Those had been friends of theirs, great friends, never to be mistaken, but this time… This time, it was family. It was Maya's brother, and it was Lucas' cousin, both of those closely cherished by the pair of them on a whole other level. They'd be forgiven for being that much more determined to give them a great day. Maybe for that reason – as it was clear to the bride and groom themselves – they had been put in charge of the planning.

"Okay, tasks," Maya addressed Lucas one evening. She was pacing the length of their room with a notepad and pen. He was doing the same with Marianne, fresh from her bath and steadily dozing off, going the opposite way so that they would cross one another whenever they reached the middle.

"Hit me," Lucas replied, keeping to hushed tones as Marianne's little fingers lazily prodded at his neck. It made him smile as he watched her without disrupting.

"Dresses and suits, for all involved, but bride and groom first and foremost, obviously," Maya read off her list.

"Obviously," Lucas echoed, making her smile. "Taking Sam for his in a couple days."

"And I'm going with Dora tomorrow for hers. Next, the venue."

"Already spoke to Juliet, she needs to call me back to confirm, but like she said, we can consider we have the ranch booked."

"Great," Maya scribbled at her list. They met halfway as she did so, and she took a moment to kiss his shoulder and observe that Marianne was asleep. "Catering and cake, that'll be next week, yeah?"

"Yeah," Lucas walked on.

"Decorations, flowers, and theme, we'll have to discuss that with them," Maya continued. "Music…"

"Handled," Lucas guessed, making her laugh.

"So handled," she confirmed. "Officiant?"

"Officiated," he replied.

They had asked him to do it, and he'd of course said yes, but he still felt it in him, the memory, how surprised and so, so touched he'd been that they wanted him to be the one to marry them. By their logic, he was the reason they had met in the first place. He might have said that they would have met sooner or later, being that one of them was his cousin and the other was his wife's brother, and on that logic, Maya was as responsible for their connection as he was. But he knew that in their minds he'd been the one. He had recruited Sam to help him with the house project, ahead of his proposal to Maya, and he had also recruited his aunt and his cousins, Dora included, on that project, and that was how the two of them had first grown as friends. So, they wanted it to be him, and he would naturally accept. He'd gone through the process, and now he had the power to wed them on Christmas day.

"Paperwork, paperwork… Things that can't be finalized until we have the venue officially locked down and an official headcount, like seating charts, etc…"

"To be determined," Lucas classified for her, and Maya nodded as she wrote. "Presents?" he asked, after having set Marianne down in her crib.

"Registry is live, I helped them with that. Good thing not too many of them know about the baby yet, and those who do have been reminded that this is to be about wedding gifts, no baby things yet," Maya set her notepad and pen down and looked to him. "For us, I know the parents are putting in for the honeymoon together, so I'm not sure what we should go for, but we've still got time. Not a lot of it, but it's there," she breathed and let herself fall back on the mattress with a sigh. Lucas chuckled and moved to sit next to her. "Every once in a while, I'll get off this whole planning rollercoaster and remember who it is that's getting married and…" she tapped her hand over her heart.

"I know," Lucas nodded sympathetically. He could just see it in her eyes, that 'my baby brother is getting married' look. "Good thing I've got your brother and you've got my cousin the next few days, huh?" he guessed, sliding his hand to find hers, locking their fingers together.

"Do you think I won't cry when I see Dora in a wedding dress?" Maya suggested, which made him smile. "And you're going to get all choked up over Sam, I know it, you know it. I only wish I'd be there to see it, and tease you about it…"

"Isn't that what you're doing now?" Lucas gave her a pointed look, bringing her hand to his lips.

"Get it where you can, you know?" she shrugged innocently.

"Yeah, you tell yourself that," he grinned as he moved to lay with her, capturing her laugh into a kiss.

The next morning, the Friar house was in full activity bright and early. Lucas was at the ranch today, so he would take Marianne with him. Meanwhile, Maya, Cara, and Granny Lizzie were bound for the dress shop, there to join Dot Cassidy and the girl of the hour. Dora might have invited others, friends of hers beyond the two families, but as none but them knew about the baby – which might come up in the midst of the fitting – it was better for her to stick to this group. That was more than fine by her; she could not have asked for any better.

They arrived first, which allowed them a look around at the selection of dresses before the others came. Maya could see her grandmother tailing Cara, who had eyes that seemed bent on spotting all the most expensive dresses, the better to steer her away toward more 'on Dora's budget' choices. It was almost too funny to see Cara leave one dress or another as though she was being taken from a forbidden lover.

The two of them were up against another of those 'very difficult choices' as Maya spotted Dora's arrival and moved to meet her. She looked like she'd had a rough go of it this morning, which was not encouraging when she had this appointment for her dress. Her eyes were flashing signs like she was reconsidering everything, like getting married now, in the middle of a pregnancy.

"Hey, come here," Maya spoke quietly as she shuffled her back on to the sidewalk outside the shop. Dora looked confused at this, but not so much that she resisted. Instead, she followed, until they found a nearby bench and sat down. It was a bit chilly today, but not so much as to make this uncomfortable. "Do you need a few minutes?"

"Is my mom in there?" Dora asked.

"Not yet, but I spoke to her earlier, she should be here soon," Maya replied. "Do you want to wait until she's here?" Dora didn't say anything, only looked at her hands, at the street around them. "It's okay if you do, you know?"

"I know," she sighed. "Everything's just kind of mixed up right now. I've been living away from home for a while now, I got by on my own, and then with Sam when he moved in. I'm not a kid, but ever since… with the baby…"

"Makes you feel like you're not sure you're not anymore?" Maya guessed. Dora gave a shy nod. "I get it," Maya promised, though the young bride looked doubtful. "When we were about your age, you and Sam, Lucas and I had… well, we thought we were pregnant, at Halloween," she revealed, sparing a chuckle to think again of that double connection between babies and that day. It got Dora's attention at least. "We weren't, in the end, but for a few hours, and even after we knew we weren't… So, I do get that feeling."

"Yeah…" Dora bowed her head, and Maya directed her to rest it at her shoulder.

"You're in wedding madness on overload right now, it gets a lot of emotions spinning around in your head even when you've got months to plan it, so it's normal that it's got you a bit dizzy right now, doing it in just one month. Toss in the pregnancy, which is its own kind of cyclone, and well… The point is, it's crazy right now, but that's why you've got the rest of us to help you through it. And when we get to that day, and you get up there with Sam…" Her brother's name floated to Dora like an invisible hand and seeing how it lifted her made Maya smile. "You'll forget everything else except what really matters."

By the time Dot Cassidy arrived, apologizing profusely for the delay – as she'd stopped for her daughter's favorite donuts on the way and met an unfortunate lineup – she was brought to join the others on a couch, that they might get started. Dora had already gone back and slipped on the first of her options and was waiting for her mother's arrival to show it to everyone at once. With a signal to the woman who'd helped her get ready, the young bride was ushered out.

They had taken care to mind the inevitable changes that would take hold of her figure in the weeks to come. She'd be all of three months along by the time the wedding came around, and as of yet there wasn't a whole lot for anyone to notice, though her body was absolutely in a state of change. By next month, there was no telling how things would have progressed. For now though… It was as Maya had told Lucas the night before: she saw her brother's fiancée and it sent her heart fluttering, tears stinging at her eyes. She had grown over the years Maya had known her, but she was just as she'd been for as long as she'd known her, as she had been all her life, as Lucas would attest. She looked lit from within with a spirit of nature.

Whether or not she found her dress that day, Lucas would not be told that night, nor would he know by the next day when he would join Sam in picking out his suit for the wedding. Maya wanted to prevent the risk of 'spoilers' reaching her brother and… Well, she did like to tease her husband, didn't she?

By the time Lucas ended up meeting Sam, he was left thinking that maybe it hadn't been such a bad idea to keep him out of the loop for the time being. Sam had a look about him like the knowledge that dress shopping had occurred the previous day was very present in his mind. He couldn't help but wonder if Dora had found what she was looking for and what it looked like, and Lucas was glad he had no way of accidentally letting anything slip.

He could very easily have done it, too, without meaning to. Maya had told him how it would make him emotional to be out here with Sam, and oh how right she'd been. Lucas had no blood brothers, no stepbrothers. He had Ray, who had become as one to him when he'd come to live with them in his last year of high school, and he had always seen Farkle as being the closest thing to a brother for about as long as he'd known him. Then Sam… Sam had become a brother to him through Maya, in a way so unlike the others. And with how he'd lived with them through his four years of college, he'd become so much more, to Maya of course, but to Lucas, too. They shared no blood, but they might as well have. And now here he was… his little brother… getting married, soon becoming a father…

"You alright?" Sam asked his reflection, as he adjusted the jacket he'd just pulled on. Lucas blinked, coming back to himself.

"Yeah, I'm good," he promised. He smiled as he took in the suit, how it looked on the groom to be. "And so are you," Lucas gestured at him as he turned around.

"I think this should work?" Sam looked at himself, fussed a bit at his collar. Lucas could practically see the buzzing energy in him, radiating out, at the thought of the wedding. He was nervous, and he was very like his sister with how he coped through drawing, but at the same time… He couldn't wait to marry Dora, and that was what mattered.

"Your sister would say 'if you don't buy this suit, I'll never let you hear the end of it,'" Lucas told him. He knew Maya enough that she might as well have been right next to him on this. Sam looked relieved. He wanted so badly to make this day perfect. This was one thing they could check off the list.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners