November 11th 2022

Chapter 183
Not Alone

Sleep had not come easily to him after he'd gone down to the couch. His mind had very much been with the girl upstairs, being hushed to sleep by his wife. In the stillness of night, even from one floor down, he could just make out Maya's voice as she sang to Ava in their room. In due time she would drift off, they both would, but it wouldn't change the whole reason why Ava had needed comforting in the first place.

Everything he had seen and known of her life up to this day, there had absolutely been great parts of it that were just fine, more than fine, he could trust in that. But a lot of those, he could see now more than ever, had been of her own making, compensating for the equally present parts that lacked. And knowing all that he knew, he couldn't help but take note of what this day had suddenly done to that perilous balance.

The brothers were gone, and he didn't see them suddenly returning. The mother was gone, and much as he could want to say 'good riddance,' what did that leave? Just Ava and a father who was barely holding it together. He loved her, Lucas knew he did, he'd seen it more than once, but now Bill Nash was his daughter's sole provider and caretaker. How was that going to look? Ava was a very self-reliant girl, she could take care of herself... to a point. When it came down to it, she was still only a child. If her father was only sinking further and further, barely taking care of himself, what would happen to her, to both of them?

Ava's mother may have written her husband off for good now, but he could yet pull himself together, couldn't he? If he was going to do it for anyone, wouldn't he try for his daughter? He would need help, they both would, and they would get it... They'd have him and Maya, all the way, yes.

When morning came, Maya opened her eyes and felt memories of the day before dropping back into her as she found the child still asleep in her arms. Matilda the bear was still there nearby, but in her sleep Ava held to Maya's hand where it had come to rest around her, and barring any bathroom emergency, Maya wasn't about to break that hold so long as it made it so that the girl could rest at ease.

Ava did finally wake up about ten minutes later, and her confusion in waking startled her, but it wasn't so bad as it had been in the middle of the night. In daylight, she could take in her surroundings, find Maya, and calm down again.

"Hey, good morning," Maya told her as she turned to face her. "Did you sleep alright?" Maya asked and Ava nodded. "Good. Hungry?" Bigger nod. "Yeah, me, too," Maya chuckled. "What do you feel like eating? Whatever you want, we can do it. Or we could go out somewhere if you'd like."

"Here's okay," Ava told her, and Maya got the sense that in this, like the movie last night, her imagination was stalled by how little she got to expand it at home.

"You like waffles?" Maya asked. She did. "We could make some. Get the batter going, and..." The way Ava's eyes widened at the word 'batter,' Maya guessed that she might be eager to see the waffles made from scratch.

Maya would have four whole young helpers in the kitchen that morning once the boys were up, too, and they reunited with their guest. Waffles? Oh they could do that! Between the five of them and Lucas, they soon had the table set, plates filled for themselves and the senior Friars who came to join them. For as long as they all sat there, eating and talking, there was nothing of world or worry in them, and even after they were done and the kids went off to play while the adults hung back for the clean up, that spirit continued.

"So, you never mentioned how your appointment went yesterday," Patty told Maya, and Pappy Joe looked back at them like he'd forgotten all about it until now and a previous curiosity was reawakening. Maya and Lucas both had a grin to hide before they could say a word.

"Everything's great, both babies are growing, right as they should... and that is all I'll say for now..." she coyly informed them.

Pappy Joe looked like he was about to argue about the validity of confiding whatever it was she was holding back when the doorbell rang.

They paused, all of them unsure as to who could be visiting them that morning. Lucas went ahead to see who it was, Maya right behind him while the other couple went back to the pick-up. When he opened the door, Lucas was surprised to find Bill Nash. The plan had been for them to get through breakfast before calling Ava's father to see how he was doing before considering when they could bring her back home. But now he was here. He'd showered, shaved, looked overall normal, though they only had to look into his eyes to recognize everything else was still very much back there.

"Mr. Nash... Hello, uh... Come in," Lucas stepped back, and the man stepped in. "This is my wife, Maya," he made the introduction, and the two of them shook hands. They were treated right then to the sound of the children upstairs, running, talking loudly in what sounded like they were playing pretend something. Whatever it was, it had them animated and laughing. "I'll go let Ava know you're here."

"Thank you," Bill told him and Lucas tipped his head to him before going up the stairs.

Maya watched him go before turning to the new arrival again. There was just a bit of awkward silence between them, neither of them clueless to the big picture and how they each fit in it. Maya wanted to say something, but she didn't know where to start, didn't want to end up saying something she'd regret. The man seemed to understand this, and he gave her an out.

"How many does this one make?" he asked, indicating her belly. Her hand instinctively went to it as she nodded. Yes, this I can do.

"Uh, four and five," she revealed with a smile, and he blinked, recalling vaguely.

"Right, yeah, Ava mentioned you were having twi..."

"Dad!" Ava's voice cut through and they turned to look as she came bounding down the steps.

"Easy," Maya called to her, at the same instant when Bill called...

"Careful." He and Maya exchanged a knowing look, even as Ava safely made it down the stairs and soon jumped to hug her father.

Oh, she had missed him, and now she wanted to tell him all about the night before, and this morning with the waffles... Maya and Lucas noted that she said nothing of her sleeping woes, but they didn't bring it up. The girl wanted to show him that all was well, and she'd had a great time, but she was also eager to return to him.

"I'll go get dressed and get my things," she told him before turning back to the boys, who'd also come down the stairs with Lucas. "Come on," Ava told them, and they were on board. She took Jamie's hand to help him along, something he very rarely allowed anyone to do because 'I can do it,' while Elliott and Noah brought up the rear.

"We thought for sure that we were done, after our boys," Bill reflected as he watched the quartet disappear together. "But then she came along, took us by surprise... Always hoped for a girl," he quietly reflected. "The boys were not... They were older, and they never wanted a baby sister. I suggested we try again after her, then she might have a sibling closer to her, but it wasn't going to happen, and..."

He left the thought there. Again, they could hear the kids upstairs, and Maya and Lucas understood what had brought on this story from Mr. Nash. Ava and the Friar boys, the way they got along so well already... As far as Maya was concerned, the happy sounds from upstairs sent her thoughts on their own path, mainly what it would be like for Ava once she got home.

"Mr. Nash…" she started. He looked at her.

"Bill," he nodded.

"Bill, can I be frank with you?" she asked, and he nodded. He had a good idea of what she meant to say to him already. "Ava needs you right now. All of you. You're all that she has left, and she's trying to be strong, but she's scared." He bowed his head. He knew, of course he knew. "But she loves you, and you love her. She needs you to be better. I don't know what it's like for you, and I'm not saying that it's easy or that it's ever going to be, but you need to try. We will be there, for you, for her, so if it gets too hard, if you need a day, or two, or more, you can send her to us, and we'll look after her."

By the look on his face now, maybe he hadn't imagined exactly what she ended up offering him. His eyes were in awe. You would do that? Maya turned to look at Lucas, and his face said that he was right where she was, in total agreement.

"Okay," Bill finally said. "Yes… Thank you," he added, meaning it with every part of him that had been left just spun around aimless by his wife's departure.

Ava came down shortly after, with the Friar boys with her as before. Elliott carried the bag, Noah had the bear, and Jamie went solo this time, as Ava carried the box with Klaus and Violet. Her father went up to get the plants so she wouldn't have to carry them all the way down, which left her free to hurry over and hug Lucas and Maya together, one arm around each. They closed this hold around her, too. She'd only been among them for one night and they felt sad to see her go already. Their sons were feeling it, too, going by the way they looked at her. They were the same whenever family came over and went away. They stuck around until the Nash father and daughter had loaded up everything in the car. Ava came and hugged them all in turn, ran over to do the same with the senior Friars when they showed up to see her off. Then she got in the car with her father, and they drove off.

"Do you think it's going to work?" Maya asked Lucas.

Pappy Joe and Patty had offered to take the boys up the road, to visit the Sandersons, and their parents happily agreed. They watched the five of them walk on until they were nearly all the way to their neighbors' farm before going up to sit on the porch. Now as they remained here, in the quiet, the question had come; it couldn't not.

"I don't know," Lucas told her.

It was honest, much as it pained him to admit it. Yes, he wanted everything to go off without a hitch, wanted Ava and her father to have the kind of life they didn't have before. But there was no telling whether it would actually work, and the success hinged on whether or not Bill Nash would be able to quit his drinking and remain sober. Yes, he wanted to do it, and he knew it was important, for Ava, but he was as aware as the Friars were that this might not be enough, that it wasn't as though he would stop being an alcoholic if he did stop. It would always be something he lived with. But in the meantime, Ava was ten years old, and she depended on him, not the other way around.

"I hope so," Lucas added, and Maya slowly nodded before leaning her head to his shoulder. He put his arm around her, placed a kiss at the side of her head, and they just sat there for a few minutes, saying nothing, trying to enjoy this summer day without thinking too much about how nice it had been, with Ava in the house.

"Do you have any idea what their middle names were? Your grandfathers?" Maya eventually asked. Lucas turned his eyes down to look at her and she turned hers to look at him.

"Not that I can recall," he admitted. "I'm not even sure my mom would know. Why?"

"What about their fathers? Your great grandfathers on your mom's side?" she asked instead of answering. Oh, he had to think about that one. He'd heard it before, growing up, but it had been a while. Eventually, it came to him.

"Mom's grandfather, her father's father, his name was… Edward Sullivan," he said it, then paused, nodded. Yes, that was it. "Mom told me how it was on the long list when they were naming me. Apparently, she met him only a few times before he passed, but he was a really good guy. And then Grandpa Jax, his father was…" He had to think again, but then it came to him, and he smiled. "Milo Murphy," he told her. "He was in the rodeo."

"Nice," Maya laughed. It only took a few seconds more before Lucas figured out why she'd been asking these questions. He looked at her, and her eyes were asking 'what do you think?' They were alone, they could speak freely.

"Simon Edward Friar… and Jackson Milo Friar…" He let the names hang in the air as spoken, so they might take them in, figure out where they stood. "Yeah…" Lucas finally nodded before looking at her. "Yeah?" he asked.

"I think Simon is Peanut… Jackson is Nugget… Don't ask me why, it just… it feels right." He laughed. "Hey, we're figuring things out, this is good," she pointed out, and he nodded again, tipped her head back lightly so he might kiss her lips. Now they just had to wait a few more months before they'd get to meet these new boys of theirs.

TO BE CONTINUED


See you tomorrow! - mooners