February 12th 2022

Chapter 43
Our Inspiration For Remembrance

They could not get around 'the age thing' sometimes. Yes, she was their daughter, had been from the moment they had decided to adopt her, from the moment when she had accepted. And apart from those specific situations where they had no choice but to acknowledge the distinction between biological and adopted, they held her on par with her four little sisters, just as they held her child as their grandchild. But then there were those times where they had to just stop and see what was in front of them. Lucas was thirty-two years old, as Maya would be in a matter of days… and their eldest daughter was nineteen years old. When she'd been born… well, they hadn't met, but they were just under a year away from the day when Katy Hart brought her daughter into the administrative office of her new middle school, where Lucas Friar waited to be her guide. When they put it into that perspective, well…

With all this in mind, the times where the age thing would be the most… thing-like would always come back to the three of them. It came up in other situations, too, mostly with people who would be confused when they'd realize that they were parents and child to one another, because they would have assumed that their children were all small, or that her parents should have been older. Usually, they'd only have to look at the three of them side by side to piece together that they did not share blood, and they wouldn't even have to say how they'd adopted her. Then they'd have the other kind of people, who'd ignore what their eyes told them and focus on the numbers, imagining a couple of irresponsible kids who'd gone and had a kid themselves. They never bothered to tell them a single thing… because they saw no point in it. They would think what they wanted to think, and Maya and Lucas would both rather have those opinions targeted at them rather than at their daughter, who had become a mother at sixteen.

Anyway, they were the exception to the rule. Most people minded their own business because they understood. It was never truer than at Sullivan Stables, or at the high school. In a lot of ways, it was like they'd all understood that they were going to be family forever the moment that the sophomore Summer Levesque and her infant daughter had been taken into the Friars' home. When Juliet had heard about them, she'd asked about them, and she'd invited Lucas to bring them over so she could meet them, and Summer could be shown around the ranch. To him, it had just been a lovely gesture, but now he could see there was more to it. They were going to be family, and because they'd be family, she would have a place, right there at Sullivan Stables.

It had still been early enough in the school year, when Maya had brought her student home to stay, that they hadn't had a single parent-teacher night with the new student. She supposed her older sister would have come to those, though a part of her had always wondered if she actually would have shown up. She'd shown so little willingness to be involved in anything beyond her career, even if she had put a roof over her little sister's head.

They'd never really gotten to find out, had they? She'd come to live with her teacher and her husband, and when the fall parent night had rolled around, they'd rolled right along with it. Maya had gone through her own groups, but she'd also made the rounds with her colleagues, hearing from them about how Summer was doing in her classes. The entire situation had still been fairly new at the time, and it had been just a bit comical for her to find herself on the reverse side, meeting her colleagues as teachers, just as they needed to situate themselves with looking at her, if not as a parent, then as a guardian, responsible for this student's care. They'd done it once like that, then again in the spring. That time, Lucas had asked if he might step in, to meet Summer's teachers that night. For one thing, it would enable Maya to focus on all those meetings she had to have with her students' families, and for another… he just wanted to get involved. Had they had way too much fun when he'd come along to meet the art teacher? Oh, naturally. They'd done so again the following spring, the first time they'd had one of those parent nights as Ella's parents. He'd brought her snacks that time, and he'd hung around to drive her home when it was all over. Maya had stepped in to meet the teachers at each of her three fall sessions, while Lucas had one last spring session to go, one more before Ella graduated… Oh, they weren't ready for that one…

She'd be going to college, that was the plan. She'd sent out applications, here in Austin, out in Houston… She didn't want to go any further. She could have, and they would have supported her, but she didn't want to, and… well, they couldn't help but be relieved. If she got in an Austin school, well, she already had her home, and she'd be near them. And if she got in out in Houston, both Sophie and Chiara and Asher and Ray had already offered to host her and Tori, for the entire four years or until she situated herself.

All of this, all of it was going through their mind that morning when they woke up. Today marked one year since they'd stood together and legally become mother, father, and daughter. Suddenly, it felt like… like how Lucas and Maya had two anniversaries, one for when they'd started to date, and one for when they'd gotten married. Now, Ella had two birthdays. There was the day she'd come into the world, and there was the day she'd come into theirs, good and official. And they were so happy that she had, so they wanted to celebrate that, as they might celebrate any… birthday… She was their girl, and they wanted to keep her close and celebrate her. And here was where the age thing came in.

Would it be weird for them to sneak up on a nineteen-year-old girl the way they'd do with her little sister? A wake-up call and big, happy hugs?

No… It would only be weird if they made it weird, and they weren't about that. This was their daughter, they loved her, and today was her day. It helped that, even though the guest room had been vacated just the day before, she was still spending the night in the room at the end of the hall, with her daughter and her little sister. When Maya and Lucas burst in and proclaimed a 'Happy Ella Day!', it wasn't just the two of them who went and hugged her, it was the little girls, too. The day was off to a great start, going by the look of boundless joy on her face as she hugged them all back.

After they'd all gone down and had breakfast – all her favorite things – it was time to hit the road. Maya and Ella started on their way to Houston, just as Lucas and Ella had done the month before. It was tattoo day, a long time coming as far as Maya was concerned. They spent the better part of the two-hour drive singing like a couple of weirdos hopped up on sugar, sometimes laughing too hard to really get the words out properly.

"Hey, so, I've got a crazy idea. Please, feel free to say no," Maya nodded as they walked from the car, arm in arm.

"Okay…" Ella laughed.

"I sort of thought it could be a fun thing if you had a hand in getting that little swan on my arm," she explained. Ella blinked, mimed handling the tattoo machine. "Yeah, that," Maya chuckled.

"Can I do that? I mean it's sort of… permanent if I mess it up…"

"I did part of one on Lucas…" Maya reasoned.

"Yeah, but you're… you, you're an artist," Ella reasoned back.

"Hey, look, if you mess up… which you might or might not… then I will love that mess up," Maya vowed with a proud lift of her chin, and she got a good smile in return. "So, what do you think? In or out?"

They kept the swan for the end this time around. First up, joining Maya's 'Lucas and Marianne' circle, was the image she had spent weeks perfecting, just for this moment. It was easy, when she'd known since October what she wanted to represent her husband and their baby girls. With Marianne, it was the way she'd go and prod at his face with her little fingers. With Kacey, Lucy, and Remy, she would see them, even after the moment. She would see Lucas holding the three of them, dancing with them, and that was what they'd do on her arm, all the days of her life.

Next, it was the three kingfishers, identical to those on Lucas' arm since December, joining Marianne's swan underneath the owl and nightingale. She watched them go from the faint lines of the transfer to the reality of their permanent colors, and she smiled all the while. Part of this had to do with what they represented, but the rest was for Marianne. After Lucas had gotten his kingfishers and she'd seen them on him, knowing they were for her little sisters, she'd wanted to have some on her arm, too. He'd taken this in stride and looked up if there was a way to create a temporary tattoo for her. There was, so Maya had created the small birds. They had put them on her forearm, explaining to her that they would disappear eventually, and that was normal. The ones that stayed, they only stayed when you were older. But if she wanted to, they would make her more temporary birds, so that was a satisfactory compromise.

"Okay, are you ready?" Cheyenne asked Ella. She'd been more than on board with letting her participate in creating the new swan tattoo, her swan. She'd talked through her work on the other two pieces, so Ella could watch. Now, the moment had finally arrived…

"Yeah, I think so," Ella nodded. She was still a bit uncertain, but not so much that she didn't think she could do it.

"I promise I won't do that thing where I pretend like you hurt me," Maya told her. As hoped, it got her to relax. She sat down and Cheyenne stood by her, running her back through what she'd been telling her.

She only did part of it, but it was enough that Maya would be able to point to her arm and show the part done by her daughter. All things considered she'd done very well for herself. The lines may not have been as clean as Cheyenne's, but they were not messy either. The artist regained her stool and finished the small bird, allowing her to join her sisters.

"What do you think, hot chocolate before we hit the road again?" Maya asked when they walked back out and started on their way to the car.

"Yeah, sounds good," Ella nodded. This was a really good day, for both of them, and if they could have it last a little longer, then they would.

"You looked good sitting on that stool today," Maya commented. Ella's eyes asked 'yeah?' "Yeah," she nodded. "Big, proud… mom-feels, right here," she gestured over her heart. "Maybe a potential career path," she added with a smirk.

"I know you're serious, but I also think you're fishing," Ella 'accused.' Maya gave her the best 'who, me?' look. "When I get my letters, I'll tell you what my plan is. That was the deal."

"I know, I know…" Maya sighed as she swung her arm around Ella's back and clamped her hand at her shoulder. "Can't help it, it's this feeling, I need to know so bad…" she dramatically stated. Ella laughed, and Maya pulled her closer so she might kiss the side of her head.

"No pressure," Ella smiled, and Maya agreed.

"No pressure."

TO BE CONTINUED


See you tomorrow! - mooners