July 4th 2022
Chapter 185
Our Evolution of Three
"Now, what is going on in here and why wasn't I invited?" Maya asked in a whisper as she walked into the nursery – her steps like a whisper themselves – and took in the scene before her. Lucas sat on the floor, next to Kacey's bed, back against the wall, with the bed's owner in his lap, asleep against his chest. If that wasn't enough, then there was Lucy, sitting sort of parallel to her but with her head rested at her sister's side. To top it all off, there was Remy, lying over her father's legs, arms hugging around his ankles, where her head rested. Entirely unbothered, Lucas looked up to his wife.
"This one here couldn't sleep," he tipped his head to Kacey.
"So, you came and sat with her and then the others clued in that it was Dad Hugs O'Clock, the After Hours?" Maya smirked. Lucas gave a nod to confirm that was more or less it. "You can't feel your feet anymore, can you?"
"I definitely feel something. Pretty sure it's drool…" he told her, and she chuckled as she came and carefully lifted Remy away from his legs. She started to sound distressed in her sleep, but Maya hushed her back down, walking around with her for a few moments before coming over to sit on the floor.
"I mean, this is an appropriate start to the day, if you ask me," she innocently shrugged. "Recalling your last birthday."
"Yeah, because us piling on top of our toddlers would not go over so well, would it? Better do it this way around again," Lucas teased, recalling how it had been these three plus Marianne and Mackenzie on that morning, three months back.
Right now, though, it was just this, just him and her and their girls on the morning of their second birthday. Neither Maya nor Lucas believed that they would ever get over this feeling of amazement and nostalgia at every turn of the year that the triplets would take. It had been overwhelming when they'd turned a year old last year, and now… Every day they became more and more like children, which should have gone without saying, but then recalling how small they'd been at birth… Oh, they had not been extraordinarily small, no, but compared to the other daughters they'd seen born into the world… And now they were this bunch of walking, running, climbing little weirdos, and they loved them even more every time they saw them.
They were right where they would be hoped to be, developmentally, though by comparison to their big sister, it was doubtful as of yet that any of them would be on the taller side, like Marianne was on her way to becoming. According to Thomas and Melinda, she was even taller than Lucas had been at nearly six. With the triplets, it was much as it had always been, where Lucy was just noticeably shorter than Kacey and Remy, while they continued to be one for one on everything. The more they all grew up, they could see the three of them start to become more and more aware of how they were connected. The twins could tell that they were identical to one another, and this would lead to curiosity – and some hilarity – whenever they got to stand in front of a mirror together. It would be particularly amusing on those rare occasions when they'd be dressed exactly the same, hair done the same as well. There would be a lot of pointing, as though they were thinking 'that's me… no, wait, that's you… no, hold on, that's definitely me, yeah?' They generally did prefer having their own look for the day, though it didn't hide how they had the very same face.
Then there was Lucy, and she was noticing things about herself, too, just as the twins did about her. She was grasping more and more it seemed that while she was deeply bound to Kacey and Remy, that they all belonged together, she was not exactly alike to them as they were to one another. They saw it in those moments where the twins would have their own mirror realizations, how she would look at them, and see and recognize herself. It was as though, in her mind, she'd been so sure that she looked just like they did, and then she saw herself and discovered that wasn't true. They may have dressed her the same, and done her hair the same, but she was shorter, and her face wasn't the same as theirs, and it confused and upset her beyond what her young mind could comprehend.
When this had happened, Maya had stepped in quick, collecting her once littlest babe and holding her before herself, so they could both see into the mirror.
"Look here, bun bun, look…" Maya incited for her to do so, lifted her even higher so they were there, two faces side by side. "Look at your eyes, look at my eyes. Look at your little chin, and mine. Can you smile?" she asked, tickling at her cheek until her face had no choice but to break into a smile, and when she did, Maya smiled along with her. "Your smile, and mine," she told her. Lucy was starting to see it. She looked at her mother, reached to touch her face. "You might not look just like them, but you and I are so alike. And no matter what, you're just the way you're supposed to be," she promised her, as she would keep on promising her, if and when these fears returned.
Now here they were, two whole years old, and identical or not, they were becoming their own people, which continued to be one of their parents' favorite things to see.
Marianne came along soon enough, though by the look on her face, they had to guess that she'd had the idea in her head to be the first one there, to wish her little sisters a happy birthday. Instead, she came upon her parents, sitting there on the floor with the three girls already. They still slept, sure, but…
"Come here," Maya motioned for her to sit with them and, when she did, she set Remy down for her to hold on to. "You good?" she asked, and Marianne nodded. "Great, I'll be right back." They couldn't have this whole birthday sitting around without Mackenzie there, too. And since they were now upstairs and not way off in Houston, she had to get Ella and Tori, too. The latter was still asleep when her grandmother came along, but she was already coming around, while her mother was awake, so in no time they came down, as did Eliza and Emma.
When the triplets would start and wake up, they would find themselves surrounded by the whole of their present household, parents, aunts, sisters, niece… All of them there to wish them a happy birthday. It could have come off like such a strange morning, but then again… in their house? This was just good, fun, normal, and it made them very happy.
It was a sort of unfortunate side effect that, even as the Hunters were off in New York, supporting Haley as she'd started her time on her first movie set, they would end up missing the triplets' birthday, but they had all insisted that they would have another party for them, the two families together, when they returned. And in the meantime, they could still call one another and see one another, which they did, shortly after breakfast. There was a cacophony of voices, even as everyone on both sides of the call would try and get themselves seen on screen for the ones on the other side. Haley would talk about what she'd done the day before, and what she was going to do today, and the other kids would talk about what they'd seen and where they'd gone. Marianne started telling her grandparents about how they'd all sat in the nursery, and Lucas filled in the start of the story, even as Maya sent off a couple of pictures that she'd taken upon first discovering the four of them where they sat.
"You go see your mom and she'll give you big hugs and kisses from me, okay?" Katy told her granddaughters and the three of them immediately took this request and got up, crowding at their mother, who laughed and 'thanked' her mother before very gladly fulfilling this 'delivery.'
It was Saturday, which went a long way in bringing everyone who might want to be around for this day – who was able to make the trip – down to the Friar house. Lucas' parents and grandparents were the very first to show up, as expected, which meant a lot more hugs, and the covert sneaking in of many a present. Thomas Friar recruited his two elder granddaughters and his great-granddaughter to assist him in this task, and it was a good thing that the triplets were busy with Granny Mel and her undeniable presence, or else they might have seen the small procession going around the side of the house and to the kitchen door.
As morning turned into afternoon, the house continued to fill up, more adults, and even more children, thanks to the Orlandos, and Babineaux, the Minkus, and the collective of Zvolensky, Mantovani, Garcia, and Choi, to name but a few. Hart-Lane, Hart, Chen, Calahart, Arroyo, Sullivan-Reyes, Hillard, Olsen… Once they added those of the basketball team who came along, it was hard to keep track of just how many of them there were around. The only one who seemed truly aware, even if this had more to do with the crowd and the noise than the actual number, was Lucy. In a situation like this, when there were too many people, she just got overwhelmed, and she would take refuge in a parent's arms, usually her father's.
"You good?" he asked, rubbing her back, and she nodded. She wanted to be here, she did, just up there, with him. "Alright, not a problem at all," he assured her with a kiss to her cheek. She would stay with him like this all the way to dinner, either up in one arm or sat in his lap when he'd end up seated somewhere.
As much as they loved the great, big, crowded day with people they loved and who wanted to celebrate the triplets, there was not one complaint among them when it came down to just the home family again. Emma was working that night and Eliza was meeting some friends, so they got to have a quiet night, Maya, Lucas, Tori, and the six Friar sisters.
"One of these days, I'll tell you three all about the day you were born," Lucas quietly promised the triplets, later still, when it was time for them to go to bed. After the big, noisy day they'd had, they elected to crowd in together in Lucy's bed, with her in the middle, so that was where they lay now, little eyes blinking against sleep as they looked to their father. "It was a really special one, and the best part is that, once it was over, we got you three," he told them. Kacey reached up a sleepy hand to touch his cheek, scratchy with facial hair as it was. Lucas gladly leaned into the hold. "Happy birthday, cub…" he told her, which got him a smile as she pulled her hand back down. "And happy birthday, kit," he told Remy, who nodded and let her foot drag out the side, from under the blanket, as it would. "And happy birthday, bun," he told Lucy, who always looked at him with such awareness, like she knew with complete and reassuring certainty that she was safe with him that it would grab at his heart every time. "And good night, all of you."
TO BE CONTINUED
See you tomorrow! - mooners
