A/N: The new chapter of "We Three Hearts" is now available!
February 11th 2022
Chapter 42
Our Sparks For Midnight
Most of the out-of-state guests returned home one or two days after Christmas. The exceptions were Cousin Betsy and her family, the Olsens, and Georgie and Toph. The Olsens were being hosted at the Hunter Hart house, while Betsy, Sasha, Dax, and Miles Young ended up with Thomas and Melinda Friar. Last of all, Georgie and Toph stayed at the young Friars' home. Ella gladly surrendered the guest room to them and set herself up to bunk with her daughter in her little sister's room. No one was happier about that arrangement than Marianne. The various guests were sticking around all the way through the turn of the year, which they would celebrate together.
It had been really good to have them around over these last several days. Charlie and David and their kids definitely came around a lot more often than any of the others, which in no way diminished the happiness they produced by being in Austin. Then there were the Youngs, who just couldn't bridge the Boston-Austin gap as often as they would like, a problem that their Texas-based family shared. But Betsy and her cousin Katy had been so closely bonded once, both as kids and then after they'd each left home and found their way to New York, and after all the years they'd spent apart from one another, they just clung to any and all opportunity that came along for them to make up for lost time. The same went for Betsy and Maya, as the latter had grown up with this near-mythical image of the woman and, once she had met her for real, had found that her assumptions had been very earned.
Betsy was wonderful to have around at any time, and the same went for her wife and sons. Dax and Miles may still have had a few toes in the teenage boy attitude that made them quiet and detached around certain people, but slowly but surely, they opened up and just enjoyed themselves where they were. Lucas would joke that the thanks went in equal parts to Maya's 'well honed skills in dealing with teenagers' and to his mother's supreme hostess tendencies. They were under her roof, and thus their enjoyment of the visit was absolutely her top-most priority. Their mothers certainly didn't require that much effort. They were happy to be there, with the Friars. They might have especially enjoyed the opportunity to learn more about Lucas, maybe discover some embarrassing childhood stories… and baby pictures, couldn't forget those…
At the house on the lane, no one could have asked for a better stretch of days between Christmas day and New Year's eve. Georgie and Toph were just a presence in a category all their own. Everyone at the house already loved them, none more than Marianne. Even the triplets, when they'd first met them in person, at Christmas, had given off the genuine impression that they recognized these people the moment they heard their voices. In the days since, they had only grown that much more familiar with them, enough that they got to feel like one more pair of grandparents in their already impressive roster.
Among all the new presents the kids had received from the incoming relatives, many of them had been given over as misdelivered from Santa Claus, which had led to about the funniest memory they'd take away from that year's gathering. Lucas had finally made his covert exit and appeared a few minutes later, in his whole Santa kit, hair and beard turned white and everything, and as happy as all the kids were to see him appear, he'd had one 'unsatisfied customer' to deal with. Marianne Friar went up to the jolly man and tugged on his coat until he looked at her. When he did, she informed him that he'd made mistakes and put presents in the wrong place. He had to be careful with those! The fact that the room collectively managed not to burst out laughing so much that Marianne or any of the still-believing kids started to realize 'Santa' was actually Lucas… It was a miracle, and they really came so, so close to messing it up. But Santa took the criticisms and promised to do better in the future, and after he'd done all that he'd come to do, he'd made his exit.
One present that never pretended to have been from the North Pole instead came all the way from Australia to be put in the hands of the little sheriff. After having taken Marianne on so many 'trips' through her city, Georgie had brought some of the city along with her. The box she gave to her brother's great granddaughter was full of so many treasures for Marianne to discover, and she did so, the day after Christmas, after breakfast, as the box was brought out and Georgie told her about each item. Marianne showed herself as having a solid memory of their calls and the things she'd been shown. She didn't remember every little thing, but more often than not, one small prompt would light up her face with recall. The box now sat up in her room, where she could continue to explore her new treasures. There were a few which Georgie promised would become important later, after she'd returned home, when they'd resume their calls. Until then, Marianne was invited to add to the box, if she had anything else she wanted to add to it. As an aside, she also suggested to the girl's parents that they check on the box every once in a while, in case anything disappeared from around the house, which made them laugh.
Uncle Toph had brought no box, but he did have his guitar. Anyone could look at it and recognize that, while it was old and worn, it had been cared for all through the years it had spent in the man's hands. He might have left it back home, but then he always had the instrument with him, the strap slung over his shoulder, whenever they'd have their calls with the Friars in Austin. He would pull the guitar around and strum at it from time to time, as he and Georgie would sit and talk to them, his voice light but so very inviting. Marianne would try and sing with him a lot of the time, just the way she would when there'd be singing on television, further encouraging this notion of the Georgie & Toph Show.
Most of the old man's 'performances' while he was in Austin were given over to the three baby girls. He was always of such a gentle nature, and coupled with the little blondes, oh… It was enough that after seeing him come and lend a hand and a voice when they all woke up in the middle of the night, neither Maya nor Lucas was ready to see him leave. It was the first time he and Georgie came to the house, and beyond the presence he had in the girls' lives, Maya had the great pleasure of taking him to discover the Hex. He'd always been so curious about the studio ever since she'd told him about it, and now there he was… He'd been as fascinated as he'd looked just tossed into a brand new world. For the fun of it, for posterity and for the little Friar girls, Toph spent a couple of hours sitting in that booth, singing, and playing, while Maya recorded him. He only stepped into the exercise on the promise that she would join him for a couple of songs, and she gave and kept her word.
They could have spent the last days of December just caught up with all the guests, in their house and beyond. And as much time as they gave to making the most of their holidays with the out-of-Texas family, the one they had right here still had plenty going on. Naturally, the ones that had Lucas and Maya's attention the most were their girls, the little ones and the not so little.
They'd had Christmas, and it had all been great, though there had definitely been some unexpected twists. Ella had never planned to introduce Theo to her friends on this day, initiating a collision that could have ended up like a real flaming pile-up. Everyone had been on their best behavior on the day, though there was still no telling what everyone's next step would be after this encounter. The Munroes had gone off on a short family vacation the day after Christmas, Ella hadn't been able to talk to Taylor again, to gauge where his head was at. As for Theo, she had seen him a couple of times in the days after Christmas. Deciding to trust her gut, she'd taken the opportunity of these free days out of school to grant Theo's wish. She left Tori with him for a morning here, afternoon there… She wasn't up to leaving her with him overnight yet, though this had a lot more to do with how she knew Tori could be when she woke up in the night, and the idea of her being somewhere she didn't know… Maybe, more than anything, she wasn't ready to be parted from her like that, but the important part was that she and Theo were taking steps, growing more comfortable in sharing this parenthood she'd shouldered on her own for two years.
"This is good, right?" Maya asked her, the morning of December 31st, as they worked together to mix up waffle batter for everyone.
"Yeah… It is, it really is," Ella agreed with a confident nod. "And at some point, I'm going to get that whole… heart tremor feeling in check," she went on, gesturing toward her chest before getting back to work. Maya didn't argue with this or toss her some kind of 'that's motherhood for you' joke. She knew very well what Ella had gone through since she'd gotten pregnant with Tori. The issues she'd been dealing with, even if she'd been working through them, weren't going to disappear overnight. They'd wear away, little by little, and until then, every chance she took, every effort she made…
"Proud of you," she smiled at her, and she got a smile back. "By the way, booked my appointment with Cheyenne for Tuesday…"
Now the smile grew. It would be the day that marked one whole year of the adoption being official, a year of her being Ella Friar. When Lucas had gotten his swan tattoo for her, Maya hadn't been able to get hers with him, but now she would, along with a trio of kingfishers, and an image of her Huckleberry husband, 'dancing' with their baby girls… Not a day too soon, as far as she was concerned.
The turn of the year was making them all look forward to new beginnings, to growth… They all had their own things to consider, but where Maya was concerned, there was one thing in particular stuck on her mind. It really couldn't be swept aside, not forever. She'd been thinking about it, mostly passively, but more and more actively, and now it had gotten to the point where she either had to bring it up with Lucas or wait for the moment when he'd realize something was on her mind and he'd want to ask about it. Going by the looks he sent her way, as morning advanced, she was running out of time to decide. Finally, as they got hit by a bit of triple-diaper surprise and moved in for the clean-up, she decided to go for it.
"I've been thinking about school… when I should go back…" she started once they weren't so preoccupied with the immediate onslaught of crying babies and open diapers.
"Okay…" Lucas nodded, suggesting in one word that he had figured as much and that he was listening.
"They're going to want to know whether I'll be back before this year's over or not, and I'm sure they would understand if I chose to take the rest of the year, but I just… The feeling I keep getting is that I want to go back before that, I need to…"
"When would that be?" he wondered.
"Well, not next week or anything," she assured him, and he shook his head with a smile. He hadn't thought as much. "Maybe somewhere in February… back half of the month… They'll be six months old by then," she stated, sounding like an incredulous 'already' had been left unspoken. At the same time… "Maybe it's too early though, isn't it? I mean, I know everyone's always eager to help, but the three of them, and Tori, without me or you there, it seems like a lot. And if I stay, well, then I go back in the fall, they'll be… a year old…" she shook her head. That was a whole eight months away, why was she working herself up over it so soon?
"February," Lucas told her, picking up a cleaned-up and redressed Remy. She was getting more and more solid every day, her, and her sisters, they all were. And two months from now… Oh, but she would miss things, wouldn't she? By the time she'd gone back to work after Marianne, her baby girl had been ten months old… "Look, let's just get through today for now, yeah?" Lucas suggested, like he'd caught a brainwave of her internal panic.
"Sounds good," Maya breathed, smiling when she looked down to Lucy on the changing table in front of her, giving her that smile that was so like her own… "Hey, look at you, barely four months old, and you'll have been alive in two different years soon," she beamed as she picked her up and kissed her cheek. "Good to go?" she asked when Lucas had Kacey, too, holding her and Remy in a near cocoon hug as he'd do with Marianne.
They would all be together for the countdown, a few hours later. They would put all the kids to bed at their normal time. Marianne wanted to be up for the counting, and they promised to wake her. They had the triplets, asleep in their mother, father, and eldest sister's arms in case any noises of fireworks reached them and woke them with a start.
They slept right through it, and so did Marianne and Tori, but the others counted from ten in a chorus of whispers. They didn't need a crowded, noisy room. They had a crowded, quiet couch, loaded with all their girls. Everyone was doing so well, odd bumps in the road or not, and they had each other. If they could go through this year just as they started it, then it would be a really good year.
TO BE CONTINUED
See you tomorrow! - mooners
