April 14th 2022

Chapter 104
Our Introduction to Campers

His tactic for the day had been simple: just work. Just keep busy, minute to minute, hour to hour, until finally the time would come to know… one way or another. It couldn't be helped, could it? He'd never been through something like this, or at least not in a long time and… certainly not for this long. Yes, they'd gone through two pregnancies in the past, but as had been pointed out, both those times he had only been confronted with the established… positivity. He had never been part of the wait, wondering what those tests would say, not since one Halloween night nearly twelve years ago.

He didn't think it would inhabit him to this extent, the curiosity to find out, the need… Oh, but it did. Maya would take great pleasure in teasing him over his dad tendencies, taking root and flowering more and more over the near five years since their first child was born… and he would bear it with the greatest honor, because that was what it felt like. It was his honor and privilege to be father to Ella, Marianne, Kacey, Remy, and Lucy Friar, and the thought of adding another to these numbers… How could he be anything but very excited? He tried to reserve some part of those feelings in the event that it would turn out they'd been wrong, but it felt like a single, very small corner, barely visible.

All day long, he had been working tirelessly away. His habitual tasks were handled so swiftly as to feel that he'd zoomed past like the Flash. He did his work as well as he could ever be asked to do it, but he got it done faster than usual, which meant that, eventually, he was left to fill in his extra time. He spent time in both his offices, the one in the clinic and the one in the main building, getting things done in both places that he'd been meaning to tackle for a while. He went to the archive and helped Carson move things around that he needed moved. He helped Donna fix a couple of things at the dance studio. Last of all, he saw to last preparations ahead of the afternoon's return of the after school program. If anyone wondered what had gotten into him, they didn't ask.

Finally, it was time for him to head to the preschool and pick up Marianne. He would also be picking up Winnie Grayson, as her mother had a new job, and her hours would keep her later than before. Lauren Grayson would be picking up her daughter from the Friar house, this evening, and every weekday evening for the foreseeable future, and she was eternally grateful to her daughter's best friend's parents for their help. She always had this air to her of not wanting to intrude even if she genuinely needed this and it was the absolute least that they could do. Lucas knew that Maya felt a great connection to the woman, that she was drawn back to memories of her mother, back when they lived in New York. If it wasn't for her being a fellow mother or their daughters being as close as they were, she would still have sought to help her if and when she could.

"Hey there," Lucas grinned at his tall, little blonde. She'd come speeding toward him and locked her arms around his legs with so much force as to nearly knock him over. He hugged her back, bending forth to kiss the top of her head. "If I'm understanding this right, you're happy to see me?" he joked, and Marianne nodded. "Hey, kiddo," he smiled when Winnie appeared at her side with a giddy smile to match her friend's. "You two all set to go to the ranch?" In response, they both pointed to the green bandanas around their heads. "Okay, then, let's roll."

"Daddy, can the little sisters come to green group, too?" Marianne asked as they soon drove through the arch and toward the parking lot.

"They're only a year old," Lucas pointed out. "They'll have to wait a few more years."

"But Nicky was too little before, and he got in anyway," Marianne reasoned, and for that Lucas could only chuckle.

"By a few months, that's different," he told her, but she didn't seem to think the same. "I'll think about it. I'm not making any promises, alright?" She nodded. That worked.

Lucas hadn't been sure how some of the staff at Sullivan Stables would respond to the place being overrun with children three afternoons out of seven, but once they'd hit summer and the program was on break over the weeks between one year and the next, his impression had distinctly been that everyone sort of missed having the campers around. Sure, they had the summer campers, but that was different. Now, he suspected that his baby anticipation had gone unnoticed because everyone had simply been too eager for the afternoon and the arrival of the green, blue, red, and yellow groups.

And they did come, the campers, and Lucas' fellow group leaders, the teachers, including Zay and Dylan. For the first time, Lucas got to experience just a bit of what Maya went through every year with her students, at the start of the year. Even if they weren't of the group he looked after, some were gone, as they had aged out. And some were new. Naturally, his group had the most of those, children who had not been old enough until now. But they also had new campers across all four groups, children who had not been signed up last year but became part of the program now. They had gone from sixty-five children to eighty-six. Among those newbies, they counted two Very Special Additions to green group in the form of three-year-old Francesca Calahart, and Emily Orlando, who would be three in a matter of days. This might have revived the argument toward having the triplets there every afternoon, but it really didn't. Marianne was thrilled to have her cousin along for the ride, and the same went for Nicky and his little sister. He would hold on to her hand, wherever they went. He wasn't about to let her get lost, was he?

"Alright, first things first," Dylan clapped his hands together as he and Lucas stood before their group. He made as though he was missing something, feeling at his pockets with a face that got the kids giggling. Finally, like some great magician, he pulled a few new green bandanas into view, and a few more he 'mysteriously' discovered on Lucas. The kids cheered and the two monitors went ahead and distributed the bandanas to the new kids, helping to tie them on in whatever manner they preferred. Francesca wanted hers like a headband, same as Marianne. Emily wanted hers around her arm, like her brother.

Next stop, to the kids' delight and the man's as well, they were off to the archive for story time with Carson. They all crowded around him, talking over one another, and he listened to them all with great openness. The new kids, those who didn't know him already, were shy at first, but it took very little time for them to get on to the fact that this old man was someone they would enjoy being around whenever they came.

"What?" Lucas quietly laughed, as he and Dylan stood back while the kids sat on the ground and listened to the day's story. He'd been feeling his old friend's eyes on him every few seconds and now caught him smiling over at him. Dylan shrugged, nodded over to their children where they sat as his response. It made Lucas think about that evening when the two of them had been sent for brownies and they had discovered the other's impending fatherhood. Now Megan and the triplets were a year old, and Lucas was finding himself… possibly… hopefully… at the top of this journey once again and, oh, he almost told him in that instant, but he kept it together in the end. He wouldn't be saying a word until they knew, and maybe not for a little while after that, depending how they decided to go forth.

When they found their way over to the stables, Lucas was approached by little Harper Beaumont, and his daughter's friend informed him, from the top of her four-year-old courage, that this time she was ready to go 'on the horse.' They would take them up for rides some days, though up to now Harper had not once allowed herself to be picked up and put astride one of the animals, even as she'd seen each of her young friends go and have a wonderful time. The fact that she had conquered enough of her fear to now touch them – gingerly – was already something, but the ride demanded much more than she had been ready for in the past.

"Are you?" Lucas asked, smiling. Harper said yes, though her face and her entire posture suggested a fair amount of doubt remained. "Alright, then when it's time, you let us know, okay?"

She didn't actually end up going that day. Several of the others did, including Marianne, Winnie, and the last of their quartet, June Abernathy. Nicky went, along with his little sister, and so did Francesca. Mia Babineaux went, the eldest of their group. She wouldn't be six until November, so while she could have been graduated on to the next group, she had preferred to stick with her present group, and no one had either been surprised or in any hurry to argue against this. They all got their rides, and the time was moving onward, and Harper made no move to say she was ready to go, until finally it was just time to leave the area and move on to snacks before the pickup. She looked a bit disappointed with herself, but her friends made quick work of clearing her mind of that.

"Did you have a good time?" Lucas asked Francesca as he carried her in one arm, moving to meet his cousin as she came to pick her daughter up.

"Yeah! Mommy! I went on a horse!" she called out, signing at the same time. Dora lifted her from Lucas' hold and held her close. It had really been something for him to watch his cousin grow from someone who'd been just a bit terrified at the thought of becoming a mother to now being as deeply enamored with this little sprite of a girl as she was confident in herself as her parent. Though they had not said anything to anyone, both he and Maya suspected that she and Sam were considering the possibility of having another child in the near future. Meanwhile, this one might soon have a brand new cousin…

The day was done, the campers were gone, including the exchange campers, Carina and Johnny, who had been among them though he had not had an opportunity to interact with them for more than a minute a piece. Now, it was time for Lucas to get Marianne and Winnie buckled in so they could head home for dinner. He felt that jolt again, stronger than ever, because now it was really only a matter of time before he and Maya found out the answer to the day's big question. He hoped it wouldn't be too long, but then knowing the way evenings tended to go, it just as easily could be that it would be a few more hours, after Winnie went home, and after Marianne and her sisters were all in bed. Well… they'd waited that long, right? And as eager as they were to learn of this coming child, they couldn't forget about the ones they had right here and now… and they were just as eager to spend time with them, too.

TO BE CONTINUED


See you tomorrow! - mooners