January 2nd 2022
Chapter 2
Our Life With a Homecoming
It would take five more days before Marianne Friar got her wish, but the long-awaited morning would eventually come. Lucy, Kacey, and Remy were finally able to leave the hospital. The girls and their parents would all be headed home. Like anything, they hadn't told her this until they knew for sure, and even then, there was a small part of Lucas and Maya that wondered if something might happen to unexpectedly delay that discharge. Sooner or later, those constant concerns would find their way back to the regular parental baseline they had honed over the past few years, but just now it was impossible not to look at their tiny babes and wonder what could go wrong. It would be better once they got to go home, once they got to take them away from this place.
"Is it cold out there?" Maya asked when she spotted Lucas coming back. He'd gone to collect the new stroller from the minivan, the better to get the girls settled in and ready to go. The thing was kind of massive, compared to what they'd had the last time – a comparison they'd find themselves making about so many things in the weeks and months to come – and he looked so ridiculously proud that she had to laugh.
"It's actually kind of warm," he reported. "Not sweaty and humid, just a good summer day."
"Right, okay," Maya breathed, looking back down to the bag at her feet. It had been loaded with a few sets of options for the babies' 'homecoming ensembles,' as Melinda Friar had put it, and all they had to do was pick one and get them dressed. She'd waited until Lucas' return to go and do this, so they could share in the experience of helping their daughters prepare for their first ride home.
"Talked to your Dad. They're headed out to the house to wait for us," Lucas told her as they went and got started carefully dressing the girls. "He didn't say it outright, but he sort of hinted that they might be putting up some decorations. Marianne's idea."
"Yeah, that makes sense," Maya chuckled, smiling down to Kacey as she just stared at nothing and everything while her arms were being helped into sleeves, small hands emerging out the end. "I think she wants to make up for how it's not a holiday when they get there like it was for her. She asked me the other day what they were going to call their birthday. She's got Hallowannie, so what about them? I pointed out that you and I don't have holidays on our birthdays, but then she rebutted, said we had 'mommy day and daddy day.'"
"She got you there," Lucas whispered, extending a hand to the fussing Lucy as he paused his dressing of Remy. They all had the same outfit, all three. They weren't going to dress them the same all the time, but when they did, it would be all three of them or else it would be everyone with their own thing. They would never dress the twins one way and Lucy another.
"I pointed out that there would be the Babineaux party, not this year, obviously, but next year and after. Not sure if that'll be enough for her, we'll see, and… you are ready, Miss," Maya grinned before picking up Kacey. She brought her up for a brief kiss before passing her to Lucas, who took her to the stroller while she started with Lucy. In no time, they finished with her and Remy and joined them to the firstborn triplet.
"That's it then, huh?" Lucas breathed, as he and Maya looked down to the infants. They continued to make everything look just a bit too big by comparison, but they didn't feel nearly as fragile as they'd done nearly two weeks prior. Once they made their last rounds, took care of those final departure details, they would be homebound.
"That's it," Maya nodded. She had that big, tremulous breath, and he took up her hand, gave it a light squeeze. "Going home…" she smiled down to the girls. At least they couldn't tell how their parents' hearts were drumming with anticipation and just a bit of apprehension, just as they couldn't know how much their presence was enough to soothe those tremulous edges.
So, the Friar triplets and their parents left the hospital, on this penultimate August morning. If they had any idea that this was a big moment in their lives, they didn't show it. The hospital was all they'd known thus far, but it wasn't home. And home… Well, it wouldn't look exactly the way it would on the day-to-day. The dogs were not back yet, as everyone had agreed that they'd all need a few days to get settled into their new normal with the babies before activating that extra layer. Sure, the dogs were all very well behaved, but there were still five of them underfoot, and it would do them no more benefit than it would do the newborns to bring them all together at this point in time. They would give it a few days, a week at the most. They'd already caught the scent of them on Lucas when he'd dropped in to visit, and he suspected they would all be very eager to meet the new girls.
The drive home, led by Lucas at his most careful-driver of paces, was a calm one, all in all, as the girls had dozed off even as they were being secured inside the vehicle and now slept all through the ride. They were never aware of their first journey through their hometown or their approach toward the house that would be their home in years to come. They certainly didn't see the… slight excess of decorations outside as they came up the lane and turned up the drive to join their visiting family's cars.
Marianne was the first one out the door, but she was soon followed by several eager young aunts and uncles, a big sister and a niece, and an assortment of grandparents and great-grandparents… There might have been so many more of them if they hadn't decided to 'keep this small.'
"Aren't those a little early?" Maya teased, reaching over to 'boink' the springy pumpkins on her daughter's headband.
"Special day," Marianne reasoned.
"Alright, that's fair," Maya hummed, offering her hand. Marianne took it at once. These days, it was as good as a big pouncing hug between them. She looked around, at the house, the land stretching out this way and that, the Oswalds' home over there, the Sanderson Farm in the distance… It was so good to be home…
Under the care of Shawn Hunter, Thomas Friar, and James Lane, the triplets were brought into the house, with the lugging of the triple stroller and various bags being divided between many helping hands. The guests wouldn't stay too long. As happy as they all were to be here with the new parents and as happy as the new parents were to have them there, too, exhaustion continued to weigh on both of them, on Maya especially, and it would be a lot easier to manage with less people around. Once they had the girls settled into the nursery, they would sit and talk a while, but finally the visitors would depart, leaving only those who called this place home, whether they lived there or not, being Maya, Lucas, their five daughters, their granddaughter, and their new Hart-Lane lodgers, college freshmen Eliza and Emma.
"You call us if you need anything, day or night," Melinda insisted as she gingerly embraced her daughter-in-law on her way out.
"I know, Mom, we will," Maya smiled. Given the slightest chance, Granny Mel would move right in to help with the care of her new granddaughters. She wasn't the only one.
"Are you sure you don't want me to stick around a while?" Katy asked her son-in-law. "You know, she'll probably want to go and sleep a while, you can go and check in on the ranch, I'll be here…"
"The ranch is fine," Lucas promised her, with that same ease Maya had for his own parents. They had all cared for Marianne, Ella, and Tori over the last two weeks, and even if it had been done with no need or expectation of gratitude, they had it… so much of it. Today, they just needed to have this moment, this chance to stop, and breathe, and realize that they were finally home again, and their children were all here, too. He carried this notion in his eyes, and Katy caught on, finally giving him a nod and a smile.
So, they left. Maya would tell Lucas how Abigail had given her a silent smile on the end, paired to a gesture she took to mean something along the lines of 'I will make no fuss, but you know where to find me if you need me.' She and the rest of the Hart-Lanes would only be in town for a few more days, as the kids would be starting school soon, so they would make sure to make the most of that time. Just not today.
"Stairs…" Maya sighed as she moved along.
"Does it hurt a lot?" Emma asked, holding Marianne like a backpack.
"Not as much as in the beginning, but it's not… pleasant," Maya explained, deciding to go for the least colorful words she could think of to describe her ongoing recovery.
Up they went, a small procession leading to the first floor. It might have been easier to get settled down below, on the couch, but they had the girls in the nursery, and as it felt like where they needed to be, Maya just needed to be right across the hall, where she could get to them, keep an eye on them… It would be telling of how their first night home would go.
"I wasn't sure if we should put them all in their own cribs yet," Lucas pointed out as they stopped in to find all three sleeping peacefully side by side in Remy's crib.
They'd spent the better part of the last twelve days this way, hadn't they? They were good this way, it was plain to see, but sooner or later they would have to be split up again, a short distance away in their own cribs, with the wooden discs that identified them. Yellow tones for Kacey, orange ones for Remy, and for Lucy some purple ones. The centers were still blank, and maybe it was still too early for them to be filled, but if she had to suggest any designs… For Kacey, she imagined bears, for Remy, she saw cats, and for Lucy… rabbits…
"No, this is good," Maya smiled, looking to the sleeping trio. She didn't think it would mean this much to see them here, in this room, but… it did. She could have cried, happily… Maybe she was just exhausted. The way Lucas looked at her, like he was this close to suggesting she lie down for a while, it might have been that. "You could do it… you know? Go check up on the ranch," she explained, off his confused look.
"No, it's alright, it can wait," he promised.
"I know it can, but it doesn't have to. It might be good for you," she pointed out. "Take an hour to just… breathe. We made it, we're good. Don't tell me you're not curious about how it's going out there." He'd been completely checked out of Sullivan Stables since the girls had been born, and that was just how he'd wanted it and how Juliet had encouraged it, and Maya loved him for that, but if today was about 'the first day of forever,' with their baby girls at home, then getting back on track with the ranch would be part of it. If he needed any confirmation that he could and should say yes, he only had to look into his wife's eyes. Finally, he let out a breath.
"One hour," he insisted.
"Sixty minutes, not a second more," Maya smirked. "How about you, pumpkin? Wanna go with Dad to see the horses?" she turned to Marianne, who'd been standing next to her, looking through the bars at her sleeping sisters. At the promise of horses, her head shot up at once. Of course, she wanted to see the horses…
TO BE CONTINUED
See you tomorrow! - mooners
