A/N: The new chapter of "We Three Hearts" is now available!
March 11th 2022
Chapter 70
Our Memories of Music
Deciding it would save a lot of them from potential hard choices, they were very careful in picking out who would go to the shelter to look at dogs. There were plenty among them, Lucas and Maya included, who could only claim themselves to have self-control for so long. They had their weaknesses, and this was one of them. They might think they'd be fine, and then suddenly some little guy or gal would catch their eye and they'd be done for. As far as the Friars were concerned, they were starting to think that the girls were old enough now that they could consider taking in fosters again, but if that became the case, then Tanya would contact them. They could not end up with a sixth dog to keep on top of Crowley, Jax, Artie, Squeak, and Honey Bee.
So, in early afternoon, the group bound for the shelter counted Sam, Dora, Francesca, Mateo, Charles, Abigail, and James. The rest of them split off to do their parts, with the goal of reuniting back at the Friar house when they'd be done. Whether they were of the group who would go to the shelter or not, everyone was just eager to meet this new member of the Calahart household. They could just imagine what it would be like, taking Francesca in there, especially those of them who had done the same with their own children at one time or another. Maya and Lucas had the very distinct memory of Marianne popping into view, holding little Squeak in her toddler arms like she'd found her new best friend.
Speaking of Marianne, she'd been just a bit bummed out that she didn't get to go to the shelter with the others, which made for a rare sighting of the grumpy pumpkin. This led to her being left at the house while another group went off to the pet store for supplies, including her parents. Katy assured her daughter and son-in-law that they'd see to her and her little sisters and have her back to jolly pumpkin mode by the time they returned. Whatever this would require, whether it involved hugs or sugar, they didn't know, and they didn't ask. Either way, they'd just trust in their methods.
They didn't rush through the whole errand, but there was definitely a feeling among the shopping group that they wanted to be back before the shelter group returned with the new puppy. They did have to coordinate, to some degree, as some items would depend on what kind of dog they ended up with. But Mateo and Lucas kept in contact, and information went both ways, until finally the errand was done, and they made their way back to the house.
When they arrived, they found several of those who'd remained – Ella and the younger kids – playing out in front of the house. Going by which vehicles were parked there, they knew that they had made it back first, as hoped, which was one good thing. A second good thing, as made immediately evident by her excitement to see them back, was that Marianne's mood had been lifted.
"Is the puppy coming soon?" she asked her father, stuck to his side and reaching her hands up like she was seeking a bag that she could carry. Lucas found one – packed just for this purpose – and passed it down to her.
"Yeah, Mateo wrote to say they were on their way. They should be here in a few minutes," he told his daughter, and she squealed and ran for the house, bag swinging as she went.
By the time the shelter group did return, it must have looked as though everyone had gathered in wait to welcome the mystery pup. Those who'd been in the kitchen, working on dinner, were done, so they had joined the others, and since it was a very nice April day, it felt only natural to enjoy the weather, all of them either sitting on the porch or playing around with the kids. The basketball was taken into service for a bit of a family shoot off, though this was quickly abandoned when someone spotted the minivan coming up the road. The dog was arriving!
Francesca had dozed off on the ride home, though she soon came around after her mother pulled her from her seat and walked with her toward the waiting group. Meanwhile, Sam got hold of the puppy, who had made the ride home calmly snoozing in Mateo's arms. His last dog, Archer, had been lost not too long after he and Dora had moved in together, and it had definitely been a weighty loss he had nursed for some time. To see him with the new pup though… There had been no plan for this, not until that very morning, but now that it had happened, he looked so glad they'd done it. And not just that: they'd done it in memory of his father, which only made the little thing feel that much more precious to him.
The children were the fastest to come near him, and Sam went ahead and crouched in front of them, so they could get a good look at the little German shepherd. The puppy looked on the whole to be calm and not at all frightened by the number of people and hands crowding in. It was only ever really curious, in such a way that felt so fitting to its new family, two parts 'woodland creature' as it was.
"What's its name?" Haley asked what they were all wondering.
As they would learn later, the topic of the name had taken up the whole of the ride back to the Friar house, so much so that up until maybe a minute before they arrived, they still hadn't made up their minds. Oh, everyone had had suggestions, and some of them were good, others maybe less so, but what they definitely had to agree on was that they needed to make a choice, preferably before they arrived and ended up with a rush of new suggestions making the list longer than it already was. Francesca had given her own suggestions before she'd fallen asleep, and while they'd been for the most part about as random as one might expect out of a child her age, one of them had managed to stick with her parents and fellow humans, and with the dog they'd just brought into the family. In the end, they'd realized that it stuck because it was just the right choice. And if the dog agreed, too, then…
"Her name is Happy." And Happy gave a little bark of approval, which made her small friend liven up over in Dora's arms. She wanted to pet the dog, so they were both put down on the ground side by side, and Francesca crouched and put her arms around the small animal. Happy responded to the embrace with a matching level of energy, licking at the girl's face and making her laugh. They would be the best of friends, no doubt about it.
Soon, everyone was catching up on what they'd done on their ends, whether it was telling the others what they'd done for dinner, showing what they'd bought at the store for Happy, or recounting how the trip to the shelter had gone, while the kids played with the dog. Little Happy showed exactly why she'd gotten her name. She was not the least bit shy, which wasn't to say that she was out of control with energy. But she was among new people, all around her, and she was immediately at ease with them. It hadn't taken her long to warm up to the Calaharts and the rest of the shelter group, and once they'd made it to the Friar house, it was as though she understood at once: this is family, these are friends.
As Lucas held his phone, video camera recording, he thought about his late father-in-law. Marianne had been allowed to pick up the puppy and bring her on to the porch, to meet her little sisters, presently in Maya, Katy, and Luna's laps. They had all been surrounded by dogs for the entirety of their nearly eight-month-long lives, so they were none of them shy or scared. They were just their own selves, like always. Remy was most curious and eager in discovering the new dog, Kacey tried to hug her little arms around Happy and got loads of kisses for it, and Lucy just watched and held out her hands to let them be sniffed at before patting at her back.
Lucas thought about Kermit, about all those videos they'd watched the night before. He knew – from hearing it out of Katy and Abigail and the children – how prolific he was in immortalizing the family's life over the years. To hear them speak about it, neither his widow nor his ex-wife could say that they'd had any notions of this being done for any other reason than wanting to chronicle the lives of Maya, Sam, Cara, Eliza, Wyatt… Somewhere in the middle of this entire weekend though, with the videos, and the adoption of little Happy, and the stories, and everyone being here together like this, from Charles Hart on down to the triplets…
Lucas considered his father-in-law and it seemed more than anything that… he'd wanted to remember. He'd wanted to be able to see for himself how much there was for him to be proud of, to be happy about. With these videos, he would show the family he had made, defying any beliefs that he might have thrown his life away the moment he and Katy had gotten pregnant with Maya. It reminded Lucas of when Maya had first moved to Texas, when her bedroom walls had been lined with so many of her drawings, like snippets of this new life she'd pieced together.
And now here they were today, gathered in honor of this tenth year since Kermit's passing, and it seemed, more than anything, that in so many ways he was still here with them. A lot had changed, obviously. His children were grown, one of them now having lived twice as long without him as with him… Two of them were married, another engaged… And he had grandchildren, six granddaughters and one great granddaughter he would never know and who would never know him… And despite all that, save maybe for Ella and Tori, they were a part of him in the world. They may not have known him, but with Maya and Sam as their parents, and Lucas and Dora, too, his memory would carry on and be shared. The same would come if Cara, Eliza, or Wyatt had children in the future, the same also for any siblings that the Friar girls or Francesca may come to have.
Dinner saw more Kermit stories shared around the table. It might have been that they would all try and keep away from those years he would not have been so proud of, but they recognized it as part of his journey, same as he did, and they were just as important, not only for how they'd come to be but also for how they had been resolved. They might have been unsure about how the likes of Charles Hart would take those stories, for his part in them and for his past views. But he took them all in, with open honesty. He knew now how wrong he had been. He couldn't change the past, but he was here, to be a better piece of the future.
They started slow, after dinner was over. Soon, they'd be getting the triplets off to their cribs, so they figured that they would be better off waiting until then to get started on their evening. Much as they knew that they would have wanted to stay for at least part of what they would do next, Tori and Francesca – plus Happy the pup – were also taken up to bed. The only one of the smaller children allowed to stay was Marianne, and this only for a little while because she was just notably older than the other two. This had all been inspired by her idea, yes, and so she would get to stick around maybe an hour more, but then it would be off to bed with her, too.
It was really fascinating sometimes to consider the way that music touched Maya's family, that plus the performing arts if they turned to the Hunter side. On the Hart side… Granny Lizzie had spent the better part of her life as a member of her church choir. Kermit had done it in his youth, same for Luna. Neither Ginny nor Sadie had followed in their mother's footsteps, but they showed they had decent singing voices in them that night, just as a few others did. Maya, Sam, Cara, of course, had long shown what they could do. Eliza had sung with her siblings in the past, though it had been years since they'd heard her. She sounded a lot like Cara. And then Wyatt… They'd never heard him, but when they did, it felt like they should have expected exactly what they got, which was that he sounded like his brother, if far less practiced, which was to say he sounded like his father. Then they had Teddy, Emma, and Maisie… They may not have shared Kermit's blood, but they could all sing to some degree, Teddy especially. The biggest surprise was Charles, although it really shouldn't have been, if they'd been keeping up with how often the notion came up that Sam and Wyatt sounded like Kermit, and Kermit sounded like his father. It seemed that Elizabeth had once tried to talk her husband into joining her, but he'd always said no.
That night, though it took him a while to join in, Charles let them hear his voice. He was not a confident singer, though he had a voice, the one he'd passed to his son, who'd passed it to his sons. He wasn't as good as them, but he was good. He was coming out of his comfort zone, for his late son, his late wife, for his daughter at his side and his grandchildren in the room. Maybe Kermit and Elizabeth couldn't hear him, but the others did, and they recognized his gesture. Maya's favorite video from that evening – and there were several – was of Marianne, just before she had to agree to be taken up and get to bed, standing in front of her grandfather.
As Maya played her father's guitar, the two of them sang together, just as they had done on the road from Arizona to Texas many months ago. Marianne was just so happy to get to do that with him that night, and Charles looked as though it was the highlight of his entire visit. He wished her a good night and she tugged at his arm until he leaned forward enough for her to hug him and kiss his cheek before making her goodbye rounds and following her father up the stairs.
"You alright, Dad?" Luna smiled at him. As awed as she could be to see this man shedding happy tears, she said nothing; none of them brought it up. It had been a very emotionally charged weekend for the old man, and yet the one thing he could say for certain was that yes, he was alright. He hadn't been so alright in a long time.
TO BE CONTINUED
See you tomorrow! - mooners
