May 18th 2022

Chapter 138
Our Needs to Nest

It had been one thing for them to put this off when they'd first learned that they were expecting again, and even now they still had a couple of months to go before the baby was due, but… Maybe it was that Maya was in the midst of lining everything up for her to go on leave, and it was making it so that the big finish line suddenly seemed to be looming just around the corner… Whatever it was, Lucas had been seeing her go around for a few days with a look in her eyes, a look that very much read to him like she was considering the corner of their room. There was only one thing it could be about, and he knew what it was. This would be where they'd station the new baby's crib, just as they had once done with Marianne after she was born.

"You know, I've always wondered what it looks like through your eyes when you get that look," Lucas finally commented that morning as he reached out his hand and rested it at her lower back. Maya was sitting up next to him, looking out across the room once again. At his words, she just smiled to herself before looking over to him. "Is it like one of those crime shows, with words, and arrows, and close-ups, all of that?"

"Not exactly," she squinted at him before lying back down. Once she did, his hand was not long to reach out and set itself at her belly. Morning, Tiny. "What would you say…" she slowly started.

"You want to get the beds today?" Lucas guessed, and she nodded.

"Among other things," she had to add after a moment. He'd figured as much.

They had been tossing around the debate about as long as they'd known about the pregnancy. They had three perfectly good cribs sitting across the hall from their room. They were occupied by the triplets, as they had been since they'd come home, but then would they be able to use one of those for the new baby, or did Kacey, Lucy, and Remy still need them? It had been harder to decide back in September, as their girls were definitely at an age where month to month brought new developments, so it felt impossible to know. But the more time had gone on… They were at such a point now, being such pros at the crib escape and transfer that it felt less and less likely that they'd need to buy a new crib, and instead they'd need to look into small beds. Was it making them emotional to even consider 'the little butts' being ready for this switch? Oh, of course. But here they were…

They had sort of tested the waters in the last few weeks, to see how they might cope with the change, and they were more certain than ever… Whenever they were ready to do their set-up for the new baby, they would in turn get the nursery changed up, reflecting their girls' evolution.

So, after breakfast that Saturday, the family made its way to the mall. Ella had expressed a desire to be there for this day, for her little sisters and unborn little sibling, so she'd been called. She and Tori were due to come down to Austin for dinner anyway, so it all worked out. They would join everyone at the store, and until then, the triplets would remain in their stroller. As much as Maya and Lucas had been allowing them to walk around and explore, the more at ease they'd gotten with walking and running, they also knew how chaotic it could be to keep all three in sight, and a crowded mall didn't feel like the place for that. Once Ella got here, they could consider taking them out, walking with one each to her and her parents. Marianne might have been given the task, but then she had a history of wandering off, too, so right now she kept hold of her mother's hand while her father pushed the stroller along.

They were quite a sight, all of them together, whether or not anyone recognized Maya as they went by, and the occasional shopper usually did. Both she and Lucas still worried about strangers approaching their little daughters, though they had definitely gotten used to it enough not to sink so much into overprotectiveness. They had made it abundantly clear to Marianne that even if a stranger came up to her and claimed to know them, even giving their names, she shouldn't go with them unless someone she knew directly said it was okay.

"Alright, what do you think, huh?" Lucas asked the girls as they stood around him. They'd been lifted from their stroller now that they'd made it into the store and into the display of small beds. They all had fascination in their eyes as they looked around. "How do you like… this one…" he asked as he scooped up Kacey and brought her to sit on one of the beds. It wasn't about the little mattress itself so much as the frame it sat in. It would have been easy for him and Maya to just pick one model and get three identical ones, and the triplets would not have batted an eye, but if they showed any kind of preference, then why not take it into consideration?

For a few minutes, they watched each of the girls as they were brought to crawl around on this bed and that one, inspecting them with great seventeen-month-old precision. It was all over once they came upon one whose frame rose to end in the shape of a roof. Suddenly, they were all crowding around it with so much eagerness, and even Marianne was in awe of it as she looked to her parents and spoke almost as her sisters' proxy: that one. They would have identical beds after all, at least where the frame was concerned. From there, oh… This was where things would get interesting. So many ways to customize each one for the trio… and the first step would be the bedding.

The young woman who assisted them that day was really on top of things. Once they told her about each girl's preferred colors and motifs, she was on the case, bringing out whatever she had for each, until they had three piles on the counter. The triplets were very familiar with their things by now, and it wasn't just about their family making arbitrary assumptions anymore. These felt like them, and they were very happy with the final selection. Ella and Tori had made it to the store by then, and the two of them and Marianne went off searching on their own for anything else that Maya and Lucas were after in this particular store. Once they were done there, Maya needed to make a detour to the art store – as she would, so while Lucas went to bring everything to the minivan with the assistance/direction of Marianne and Tori, Ella followed her mother and the triple stroller.

"So…" Maya casually spoke the one word which felt, both to her and to Ella, as though it was loaded with several unspoken ones, too. So, how's it going with you and Lea and the Theo situation? Ella gave her a look, and Maya responded in kind. She couldn't help it, could she? Ella sighed.

"On the surface, it's fine… It's like nothing ever happened between the three of us." She paused, leaving space for the understanding then that, underneath that surface, there was still a heap of turmoil. "I can see it though, I know that just because we're not talking about it, it doesn't mean they're not thinking about it and… about each other. And I don't want to be the one to stand in their way. They're my friends, both of them, and I want them to be happy. Will it work out for them if they get together or will it not, and if it doesn't, will it be so that they can still be around each other, or… That shouldn't be up to me. But they're both being so respectful about it, about me… So, I have to be the one to give them… permission?"

"Call it a blessing," Maya suggested with an encouraging smile. She could see very well how no one would want to be in this position, but then there was nothing to be done for it, was there? "You'll figure it out," Maya told her daughter. "Just… be honest with yourself, and with them. It's not like they don't know how it is."

"Yeah…" Ella quietly replied. She looked down to the triplets, who were all looking up at her with great 'hi, big sister, we've missed you!' faces, and her smile soon returned.

With all errands handled, it was back to the house for the next step. Taking the cribs out of the nursery turned out to be a bigger undertaking than anticipated, and not just for the process of cleaning up and taking them apart for transport. The small girls who'd slept there up until just that morning were all hanging around, and they were at first confused by what their parents and sister were doing to their cribs. Then they grew both alarmed and just a bit annoyed. They didn't want them to do this! Lucy and Kacey cried – loudly – while Remy tried to get in there and stop her father with shrill little cries of 'No!'

It took Marianne stepping in, pointing out the boxes stacked in the hallway, with pictures of the assembled beds on the side, and spilling out the bag full of bedding – so they could be reminded of what this was for – before everyone calmed down. Now that they knew, they stood there, each of them holding one of the small colorful packs in their arms like a teddy bear, and looked on as the transformation continued. One crib was taken across the hall, while the other two were transported down to the basement. They still weren't sure what they would do with them. On the one hand, it didn't feel like it made sense to keep all three, but then… what if they needed those again someday? For now, they would keep them.

While the assembly of the new frames began – with the assistance of Shawn Hunter and Tanner Clutterbucket – the new sheets were given a wash, again under the supervision of the three small blondes. They all loved watching 'the action' whenever the machine would be churning away, to everyone's amusement, but this was a particular case. They supervised their new sheets' journey from one machine into the next, until finally they were dry, and warm, and had the familiar scent of their old beds. There was a very particular joy that came of their being handed that warm bundle, and now more than ever they were ready for 'the big finish'.

Back up the stairs they all went, there to find the beds were ready and waiting to be made. They were kept in the sequence they were familiar with, down to the painted discs previously dangling from their cribs. The new bedding had smiling yellow suns here, and violet butterflies there, and prancing orange cats to round it out… When they were all three of them done, it didn't take long that their new owners scrambled to climb on, just as they'd done at the store. They climbed on their own, then they looked around and went to visit their sisters' beds, too… one, and the other, and back to their own… It went on and on…

"Looks like they're not so sad about their cribs anymore," Maya smiled, looking on.

"Is it okay if I am? A little bit?" Lucas confessed. Maya gave a pathetic little whimper as she turned to look at him.

"You and me both…"

TO BE CONTINUED


See you tomorrow! - mooners