A/N: The new chapter of "We Three Hearts" is now available!
July 22nd 2021
Chapter 203
Our Friends in Dallas
The closer they had been getting to the weekend, the group had decided that it would be better to leave the children at home when they'd drive up to see the Minkus house in Dallas. Car rides were, on the whole, something of a lottery. Sometimes they went well, and sometimes they were a nightmare. And to go all the way to Dallas and back would mean two three-hour journeys, going and returning. They weren't about to take the chance. Anyway, there wouldn't be much for the children to do out there. It was better off for them to hang back and have fun in Austin… in theory.
"You're going to have a great time with the other kids today, aren't you?" Lucas tried to cheer up Marianne. She'd been working with a full pout all morning, ever since she'd figured out that her mom and dad were going to see Uncle Farkle and Aunt Isadora's new house, and she wouldn't get to go. When she'd get in one of those moods – which actually wasn't that often – Lucas would tend to be the one to handle it. Maya could have done it, too, sure, but it would have taken more time. With this mood, she just needed a giant dose of Dad Time. Maya would reason that this was because her and Marianne were too alike when she was this way, and in that case, Marianne needed that deft Huckleberry power, just as she did.
"Wanna go, wanna see house," Marianne grumbled, burrowing her head in her father's chest, her arms around his neck.
"I promise, you'll get to go lots of times later. Anyway, right now, it's empty, so there's nothing to do. When they've moved in, we're going to go, and bring them some nice presents, for housewarming, and you can help us give them those. That'll be so much fun, you'll see," he lightly jostled her. Finally, she looked back up at him. He couldn't see that face of hers and not burst into a smile. He held his hand between them, where she could take it. "Real promise, shake on it," he told her, and she grabbed his hand with both of her little ones. "Oh, you're getting so strong!" he exaggerated, just a bit. It got her laughing, and that was all he wanted. He cuddled her up, kissed her cheek repeatedly as she hugged him back.
Lucas barely had time to turn around as he picked up on Summer's presence just before the doorbell rang. She'd just come down the stairs, with baby Tori in her arms and her school bag on her back. While the rest of them would be heading to Dallas, the Levesque girls would be spending the day out here with Granny Lizzie. Summer had done all her homework, though she still had her non-diary art assignment to do, so she would devote the morning to that, before diving into a bit of reading for English and History in the afternoon. She'd done as Maya had told her to do, she was on leave from her jobs, and even if she wouldn't say it out loud, they could tell she was looking forward to a relatively quiet weekend… at home.
"Alright, down you go," Lucas put Marianne on her feet, and she ran off toward Summer, the better to get a look at 'baby sissy, while he went to answer the door. "Hey, what are you doing here?" Lucas asked, surprised to find Dylan on the porch.
"What do you mean? I called to say I'd pick up Marianne on the way and drop her off with Nicky and Emily," he gestured to indicate 'before.'
"You did?"
"I talked to Maya's grandma, didn't she say?"
"Guess she forgot," Lucas stepped aside to invite him in.
As soon as he did, he realized what was about to happen a second before it came to pass. Dylan looked past him and suddenly found himself standing across the room from one of his students, in his friends' home, holding a baby. It wouldn't take a genius, especially with the startled look on the girl's face, to figure out that this was her baby.
By now, there were a few more people who were aware of the arrangement made by Summer and the Friars. There'd been no way around it, especially factoring the schedule that Maya and Lucas had with regards to their daughter's care throughout the week. Summer had understood and accepted this. She'd first met Thomas and Melinda Friar on the morning they came over to pick up Marianne. Lucas had intercepted his parents at the door, where he'd explained as succinctly as he could before letting them into the house. He'd had nothing to worry about at all, as far as his parents' reactions went. They believed as he did in helping others where they could, and as soon as they met Summer and little Tori, they were as good as part of the family. Melinda offered at once to take both the little girls on those days where she would be seeing to her granddaughter.
"She reminds me of my grandmother," Summer had told Lucas that same evening. "She died a couple years ago, if she hadn't…" If she hadn't, she would have taken in Summer, no hesitation, and the girl would not have been made to feel a burden as when she'd lived with her sister.
A couple days later, it had been time for the Levesque girls to meet Maya's parents, and this one had no choice but to hit differently. Summer had been told plenty by now for her to know that she might feel a connection to Shawn and Katy Hunter. The former knew a thing or two about complicated family situations and the generous hand of a teacher opening their door, while the latter knew a thing or two about very unexpected pregnancies when they were not ready, and the lengths they would go to, to protect their baby girls and provide for them, at their own peril. Summer warmed to them with ease, too, like kindred spirits, while Katy and Shawn were at once open to the Levesque girls and filled with great pride toward their own daughter.
Mother and child had also been introduced to Pappy Joe and Patty, who had been every bit the stellar grandparents they'd always been, and after that, in theory, there would be no new introductions, not for a little while, but then here they were, and this introduction meant another person in the high school who would be aware of Summer's secret. Even if deep down, just from knowing him in the last month, she would have to know that she could trust Dylan, it was difficult for her not to become instantly concerned. Lucas had a feeling that his friend picked up on this at once, and he acted in consequence.
"Who do we have here?" he asked, approaching casually with a bright smile toward the baby. He wouldn't ask her why she was here like she owed any explanation.
"Victoria… Tori," Summer carefully turned around to let him see her, all the while minding Marianne as she held on to her pants' leg and craned her neck back like she might be able to see her, too.
"Oh, she's got your eyes and everything," Dylan grinned, lifting up the baby's foot with just one gentle finger. "Hi, sweet girl, hi…"
Maya came upon this scene as she arrived from upstairs to see who was at the door. She froze, seeing Dylan there, but then it was plain to see that everything was beyond fine, so she looked to Lucas, who quickly explained in sign.
"So they're staying here," Dylan stated to his fellow teacher, as Maya accompanied him to get Marianne in his car a couple minutes later.
"Until Summer's had time to have… as much of a maternity leave as she can manage, and then gets to work enough to get her own place, or… There's no time frame here, you know?"
"I get it," Dylan nodded.
"You can't tell anyone, please? At school, I mean. Admin knows Summer's staying with me, but that's it, and right now she prefers to keep it that way."
"Not a problem. What about the others? Riley?"
"You can tell her tonight, when you're home. The others, well, we'll see, I guess."
After Dylan and Marianne were gone, Maya took a moment to go and check on Summer, to make sure that she would be alright after the unexpected encounter, and then she and Lucas got in the car, starting on their way to Dallas. Even without saying it, both Maya and Lucas knew that they needed to focus on where they were headed to instead of what they were leaving behind in Austin. They weren't going to worry and wonder over Summer for the next three hours. She would be fine, she was fine. And they were on their way to see their friends' new house, the house that would place them just a few hours' drive away from Austin. They ended up spending those three hours recalling old memories, from New York days and Texas ones, too, and thinking about the future, what it would be like with not only Farkle and Isadora but their kids, growing up near them, close enough that they could actively participate in their lives. It was everything they had never dared to imagine up to now.
Maya was like a kid as they neared the house. It made Lucas laugh to himself. Some things never changed, and they were on their way to their friends' home, so she was taking in everything she saw like she was compiling a new file in her brain called 'Minkus home, Dallas.'
It wasn't exactly Diana Zvolensky big, but it wasn't small either. The group was arriving, one car after another pulling into the driveway before the drivers and passengers emerged to get a better look at the front of the house. The only children with them that day were Ada and Bertie, for the obvious reason that this was to be their home as well and they deserved to see it like the others would. Farkle and Isadora had only told them about the move a couple of days ago, but overall, they had taken the news very well. Bertie was still too small to really grasp the scope of what it might mean to move from New York to Dallas. All he really seemed to care about was that his mother, father, sister, and dog would be there. Then there was Ada, and she was on the whole very okay with this move. Mostly, she had questions… so, so many questions, for her parents, for her aunts and uncles… and she wouldn't leave them be until they answered her in some way. She'd just stare at them with an intensity that betrayed her years, and her short stature would leave no one fooled. Here was a powerhouse.
Isadora carried Bertie in her arms as they all went through the door. As someone who had once moved into a house when neither herself nor her mother had actually seen it in person before purchase, Maya could imagine what Farkle and Isadora would be feeling. Sure, she'd been in something of a mood when she had arrived at her first Texas home, but even her mother, who'd been looking forward to this, had been nervous. What if she'd made a mistake?
There had been no mistake. This house was exactly as they had wanted it, exactly as they had pictured it. Ada wanted at once to go and explore, and Lucas volunteered himself to trail after her, making sure she wouldn't end up somewhere she shouldn't go. If they were going to go, naturally, Bertie wanted to go, too, so he was put back on his feet and his big sister came to take his hand before leading him along.
"Hey, come here a minute," Riley collected Maya and then Farkle some time later and pulled them away from the rest of the touring group. She led them into what would eventually be the living room.
"Where did those come from?" Maya pointed to what looked like milk crates or something like those, in front of one of the windows.
"I didn't bring them," Farkle promised with a shake of the head.
"No, I did," Riley just smiled as she led her oldest friends to sit with her on the boxes.
"Ah, I see what this is," Maya slowly nodded. Their very own makeshift bay window.
"Well, it felt like we needed to take a moment here and just celebrate, you know? Sixteen years ago, we were just three kids out in New York, and it took a while, but now we're all going to be out here, together."
"Like we should," Maya grinned, as she and Riley both leaned in to embrace Farkle in the middle. "What's three hours anyway?"
"You're going to get sick of us," Riley chimed in.
"Not likely," Farkle promised them both.
Once they'd made it up the stairs, all Ada had wanted to know was where her room and Bertie's would be. Lucas couldn't help them much. There were more than three bedrooms, and this was not his house. They could look at the rooms though, couldn't they?
"Can my room be next to his room?" Ada asked, indicating her little brother. "Or! Can it be across the hall? That way, if the doors are open, we can see each other."
"Well…" Lucas looked around. There were two rooms facing one another, he just wasn't sure whether… "Hey, hey, wait up," he had to hurry to catch up to them as they ran off.
They spent the better part of the next twenty minutes walking from one room to another, and another, and back again… When the others started to come up the stairs, too, the kids spotted their mother and dashed up to her, wanting to know where their bedrooms were. When Isadora pointed them out, they squeaked and ran to the two rooms with the doors facing one another.
"I had a feeling that'd be the ones they wanted," Isadora told Lucas. They both looked back, along with the rest of their friends, at the brother and sister appearing every few seconds as they ran from room A to room B and then to room A again, and B… and A… "They're not going to want to leave now." The family house back in New York only had to be packed up and then they'd be ready to head back out here.
"Why don't you leave the two of them with us?" Nadine told her former bandmate, stealing a look to Zay, who looked to be on the same page. "Until you're done packing and unpacking. Then you can bring them home."
TO BE CONTINUED
See you tomorrow! - mooners
