May 31st 2022
Chapter 151
Our Participation in Preparations
It was in his head now. He couldn't get away from it, try as he might. For as much as he used to make a conscious… unconscious effort not to walk too near, now his feet seemed to have a mind of their own. They would take him there, to the fence, as though commanded by some part of him who remembered and would not forget his conversation with Juliet, and his grandmother's long unattended wish. It just never ceased, and the more it happened, the more he felt he knew… His mind, yes, but also his heart… Neither of them would be at ease until he made a start on this project. That couldn't happen until he had a genuine idea, one that would be feasible, and for that his feet brought him to the fence, hoping perhaps to set his creativity into motion, too. Well, so far it had been five days, and he still had nothing except that old dread feeling he'd feel whenever he'd come near, or when he'd think about what had happened here, all those years ago.
"Dad?"
He blinked, turned his head to find Ella coming up to join him. If he ever needed something to break that spell, it would be her, it would be any of his girls, though in a situation like this, he might have given the edge to his eldest. He could talk and be honest with her in ways he just couldn't with her little sisters. She'd come over for the weekend – as she'd been doing since Maya's fainting spell – and she was at the ranch today to help him with preparations for the upcoming competition. Lucas always encouraged for her to spend any and all time she could and wanted to spend at the ranch, thinking of the days, some years from now, where they could call themselves colleagues as well as family.
"Hey," he greeted her as she came and stood next to him.
The way she looked ahead, at the enclosed space, with the air of a shiver in her demeanor, he didn't know whether to smile or feel sorry for how she'd become aware of the history and in turn affected by it. Like anyone, after spending enough time here, she'd become curious about the fence and the space, why they were left that way, unused. He hadn't even been the one to get to tell her about it, but then after she'd heard, she'd gone and found him, and so they'd talked about it, about his grandfather, the stormy night that had led to a fire in the stable, how Simon Sullivan had been part of the effort to get the horses out safely before getting stuck inside the structure and… The story was stuck in her head now whenever she saw the fence, same as him, same as a lot of others.
"Are you okay?" Ella asked.
"Yeah… Yeah, come on," he motioned for the two of them to walk away from there, to get back to what they should actually be focusing on. Still, he couldn't help but at least explain what had drawn him there, what had kept drawing him there, this notion that his grandmother had wanted to make use of the fenced up piece of land, somehow, but never got to do it. All these years, it had been left to stand there, a monument to sadness, waiting on the family to do something.
"We should do something," Ella agreed with a nod before looking to him. "You're going to do it, aren't you?"
"I've been thinking about it," Lucas confirmed. "Haven't figured out what I'll do, what I should do, but I will… I hope so, I… I need to," he thought aloud before looking to his daughter again and smiling. "We'll think of something, you and me?" he offered, and she smiled.
"Yeah?" she asked.
"Yeah," he laughed. It felt right, like she was the piece of the puzzle he'd needed all along. This would be their collaboration, Friar and Friar, father and daughter. This would all be part of her legacy, so it was only fair that she get a say in some of it today.
"Right, well… Not now, there's…" she gestured around, and Lucas understood. The competition.
"No, of course," he agreed. "But…" he also gestured, and Ella understood this in turn. They would see to the competition for now, but it wouldn't stop them from keeping the project at the back of their minds.
"Good," she passed the thought into voice, and that was that. They walked on for a while in silence, and without having to ask it, Lucas was sure they were both thinking of the same thing, the same person… Marianne the first… He had stated before, with great personal certainty, that she would have loved Ella if she'd had the chance to meet her, and he continued to stand by that assessment, now more than ever. He knew she would have been so proud, too, to think how the ranch had helped her find her calling, her place in the world.
But now… the competition. It was not so widespread as the Grand had been, but it wasn't so small as to feel local either. This event would for instance bring the likes of Scout Anderson out from California. And, by virtue of his being here this year rather than back home in Seattle – which would have been further than the reach of this competition – Johnny Talbot and his Sable would also be part of the roster of participants.
He was really excited to do this, certainly was… now that he'd decided to do it. He hadn't planned on it from the start. He and Sable had never done anything like this before, but then he'd been talking to Anton and the Days about it, and finally he'd decided to sign up, on the very last day he could have done it. Since then, they'd been seeing the junior and his horse working away together, practicing. He had plenty of help. He had Anton, of course, which in turn meant that he also got Nellie Hunter, and through her he got Bobby Davis, too. And, though she did not count herself a rider at this point in time, he had Carina, too.
The Mendoza girl continued to be a great asset, to show why she had been selected for the XC program, but even now, in March, with just three months left to her stay in Austin, they had not seen her get on horseback a single time. By now, they were resigning themselves to the idea that she might never do it, and that it might not be a bad thing. She'd been doing very well so far as tending to Turtle up at Sanderson Farm, and so far as her remaining unattached to the animals, that had definitely been changing since she'd taken up the post with the retired horse. Maybe they were starting to realize that helping her recover from the incident that had ended her riding days might never be about getting her back out there. This right here, this could be all she really needed, or maybe someday she'd change her tune again, and that would be good, too.
For now, she was helping Johnny, as she did on that day as Lucas and Ella made the rounds, seeing to the preparations that were underway. They were both standing next to Sable, and Carina was explaining something to Johnny, motioning with her hands while he listened and nodded. The horse had definitely taken a shine to the sophomore girl, the way they interacted, and Lucas knew that, next to Turtle, Sable was another Carina had allowed herself to care for. Horses aside, she'd definitely come to care for Johnny, as he did for her. Whether they said it in so many words or not, one only had to look at how they seemed almost magnetically pulled to one another when they'd be somewhere together. Still, there was something of hesitation in them, too, and that wasn't hard to understand either.
He lived in Seattle, and she lived in Miami. They may have had this year together in Austin, but that was drawing ever nearer to an end, and what would happen once they both went home, nearly as far across the country from one another as they could get? What were they supposed to do about that?
"You know, I've been thinking about signing up for lessons," Ella spoke up, drawing Lucas away from contemplations of long distance teenage romance woes. It took him a second to catch up to what his daughter had said, but once he did it made him smile. "It would definitely give me one more reason to be in Austin over weekends, with Mom, and the baby…"
"You know she'll love that," Lucas nodded, but paused. "I'm sure you could learn in Houston, too," he pointed out, and once again the reason of it all was passed unspoken between them. He understood why she wanted to be here whenever she could, he did, and he appreciated it… more than words could say. But he also realized that her being out here every weekend would put things at risk for her back in Houston, like her job, like the time she had for her studies, her schoolwork… He didn't want that for her, and neither would Maya, but they weren't about to tell her to keep away, were they?
"I know, but why would I go anywhere else when there's this place?" Ella shrugged, pointing around them. Well, she had him on that one.
"I'm sure we could work something out so you could do a bit of both," he reasoned after a moment. "You know I have some pull; I could get you in with the best out there," he grinned, which made her laugh. "Please, let me do this for you," he asked, and now he had her.
"I guess we can try and work something out," she relented, and he nodded. It would be his pleasure and his honor. "We'll have to do something for Tori, too," she added. "She also wants to learn."
Lucas' response was a hand to his heart, which had his daughter laughing again. Oh, if he couldn't wait to help her get her lessons, to now get to help his granddaughter do the same? When the time came that she was old enough, he would make it his priority to get her where she needed to be. Maybe by then she'll be living in Austin again, in which case, Sullivan Stables will be her home to learn.
"You know, I'm really glad that I get to help with all this," Ella told him as they reached the main building.
"So am I," Lucas assured her wholeheartedly.
"I mean, I love living in Houston, with Sophie and Chiara and the kids, I love school, my classes, my professors… But I also just… miss being here," she shared, and he nodded. He knew that feeling well, and he knew Maya shared it, too, naturally. They still couldn't believe sometimes that it had already been almost a year since she'd gone. Whether they said it aloud or not, they were all going to think 'one down, three to go' when that first year would come to an end. It wasn't to say that the girls would for sure return to Austin when those four years were through, but one look at Ella's current state of mind and… right now, she very much wanted that.
"And you know we miss you being here, too," Lucas assured his daughter with a smile. "Just don't let that get in the way, yeah? You're doing great out there." Ella smiled back, nodded. As much as those two hours in between them could sometimes feel like they were many times longer than that, they all wanted the same thing for the future, and they would make it happen.
TO BE CONTINUED
See you tomorrow! - mooners
