August 11th 2022

Chapter 223
Our Magic in the Day

It might have been that all this time, subconsciously, they had waited until the girls were either asleep or out of the house for a few hours before they did this part. They never said 'hey, let's make sure they're not around when we remove the decorations,' that was just how it worked. But now that Marianne was in on their secret workings, they'd had to consider whether to include her or not. They just had an overall policy as far as doing things that would affect their daughters. When they were very little, it was one thing, but Marianne was in a class apart from the baby or the triplets, and they knew that if they took everything away without at least asking if she wanted to help, she would be bummed out, and they had it in them to spare her that, so…

"Today?" she asked when they brought it up with her. Her voice had sounded as though it asked 'already?'

"We're leaving for Arkansas in the morning, remember?" Lucas told her. "It needs to be done before we go since we won't be back until after New Year's."

"Oh…" Marianne blinked, sighed. "Okay…" She didn't want everything to be gone; she loved the house as it was.

"Remember what we talked about when we decorated your room?" Lucas asked her in a secretive whisper. Marianne thought for a moment, smiled… Oh, yes, she remembered. They'd talked about doing different decorations through the year. Holidays and seasons… "You can figure out what you want to do for when we get back while we're away."

She was sold after that. And yes, she did want to help to take everything down and put it away, so the afternoon after Christmas, while the triplets were being looked after by the Oswalds across the road, Maya, Lucas, Marianne, Eliza, and Emma pulled the 'reverse fairy.' It was always faster to put everything away than it was to take it out, so they could have done it without the Hart-Lane sisters, but they were there, and they wanted to help, so they did. As they worked, their minds easily went back to the day before and their guests…

It felt like just yesterday it had been Thanksgiving and they had received their copies of Sam's first graphic novel just before it was going to be published. Now here they were, a month later, and it had come out, and as much as they could give some credit to the fact that the holidays had coincided with that release, it didn't change the fact that Sam's book was flying off the shelves. It had shot up the charts, which only went further in creating buzz around him in some circles. Maya had half-teased him – because in truth she was entirely serious – and insisted that she would get herself a few spare copies to keep in her class, on display. He came every year to her classes, so most of those kids knew him already and were happy to see him return every time. She would be surprised if some of them hadn't already gotten their copies of his work.

"You could have a signing," she'd told him with a grin. "Photo op…" Oh, that bashful smile on him was everything…

"They already want him to do one of those," Dora had revealed with that great proud smile of hers. She was always right there to hype up her husband. "Different cities across the country, and in Canada… And they're in talks for Europe next."

"I-I'm not sure if I'm ready for something like that," Sam had admitted, practically shrinking in on himself like he'd become fifteen years old all over again.

"You don't have to do it if you don't want to," Teddy had told his brother, to which Dora had nodded in total agreement. "They're not making you do it, are they?"

"No, no, it's up to me, but they definitely recommend it… strongly," Sam had replied.

Whatever 'his people' had to say, he also had his people right here, his family, and they were the most aligned with him, so they would back him up, whatever he decided. They knew, or at least they could sense, that he had plenty on his mind as it was, beyond just the graphic novel… and the musical… He had home, his family, him and Dora and their Francesca… Neither of them had said a word, but there was a sense like maybe they were starting to think about having another child. When they'd gotten pregnant with Francesca, it had been entirely unplanned, a big, slightly scary surprise that had turned into the best thing they could have ever wanted. Now they were older, Francesca was getting closer to entering kindergarten… And with Sam's 'comic baby' finally in the world, it might have been the ideal time to think about another, actual baby.

While Sam was still on graphic novel mode, Cara had been diving headlong into being their woman on the scene when it came to the musical. She'd only been gone for a few weeks, but it had felt as though she'd been gone for years with the way they'd all greeted her return for the holidays. The way they'd worked it out was that they'd swapped homes with Mateo's cousin and her family while they were in New York. They'd met Nina and Luis and their sons a couple of times in the time since Mateo and Cara had been together, got along well each time. They'd been wanting to spend more time with the family out in Texas for a long time, so really the arrangement worked out for both sides. The Arroyos could very easily settle into their temporary home, and it was one less thing to worry about, allowing them to get right to work.

Mateo had only visited New York a handful of times over his life, so a lot of it was new to him, but he had a knack for finding his way without concern, making it so that already after barely three weeks, one might confuse him for a lifelong resident. For Cara, even though it had been many years since she'd moved away, first to Tucson and then to Austin, it was a homecoming, with old memories reawakening at every turn. Some things had changed, because they were bound to, but she could roll with anything that came her way, too: She had something to accomplish. And then Felix, well… the ten-month-old had a lot of his father in him, completely unbothered by the change of city. He was crawling now, standing on his own two feet in such a way that they would call him 'the great little observer.' He'd just have this posture to him, deep eyes taking everything around him… Maya and Lucas had been receiving pictures and videos of him that way throughout December, and it had been a constant highlight.

Of course, the whole reason for this ongoing relocation was the musical. Not much had been done as of yet, but that was the plan all along. None of them saw a whole lot happening in those weeks running up to Christmas and New Year's, but at least Cara and Mateo got a chance to settle in with their home, and work… They'd been getting together with Joey Garcia and his wife, herself a dancer and choreographer. Cara had been in awe of her, watching the way she moved even as she stood a whole six months pregnant with hers and Joey's first child. Together, the Arroyos and Garcias had been getting in touch with people, following up on the groundwork that both Katy and Joey had done in the past, the better so that, once January and the new year kicked off, they'd be able to make a lot more things happen for the musical.

Hearing all these stories out of Sam and Cara, it could seem as though Teddy's 'developments' were on a much lower step, but it certainly never felt that way to his siblings. If anything, they'd all been quietly hyped up amongst themselves as the holidays neared, feeling as though surely Something with a capital S was going to happen for him… for him and Priya. He hadn't said anything, but they knew him enough by now, whether they'd grown up with him all their lives or not, to read through his words, and his looks… Was he going to propose? Wasn't he? The two of them had been doing very well since they'd been dating, and it was to the point by now where it felt like surely something had to happen, to take them to the next level. They knew, of course, that a lot of the choices came down to Priya, and how she felt, because it wasn't always just about her. There were many things in her life that needed to pass 'the Lily check,' and anything to do with her relationship, with her bringing someone like Teddy into her daughter's life, would absolutely fall under that check.

Well, Christmas had come and gone now, and there hadn't been any sort of marriage proposal. It could have been a simple matter of figuring that it could still happen, maybe on New Year's Eve or something, but as it turned out, their 'prediction' had only been half correct. There had been something brewing, but it wasn't a proposal. As the two of them revealed over Christmas dinner, Teddy was going to be moving into Priya's apartment, to live with her and Lily. It could almost feel like a non step, with how he was already spending so much time out there that his own apartment felt more like 'that place where I keep my stuff,' but it wasn't. Teddy's apartment had been a necessity up to now because it had still felt important to maintain that balance, for Priya and Lily.

But that was before, and somewhere as they'd been preparing for the holidays – with the fairies visiting Priya's and Teddy's apartments and blowing Lily's giddy young mind – they had come to realize… they might have been ready, both of them, to take this step. Teddy's apartment no longer felt like balance, it felt like a crutch… and they didn't need it anymore. They'd run it past Lily, but Teddy was already so present in her life by now that she hadn't so much as blinked. Of course, she wanted him to move in with them, he could move in immediately. He hadn't done it, not yet, but the plan was for him to get everything packed up and carried over to Priya's in the week between Christmas and New Year's. There was already an invitation on the table for the Friars to come over for dinner when they returned from Arkansas.

"You ready?" Lucas asked Marianne. She'd been standing in front of the now bare tree for several minutes while the boxes were taken down to the basement. All that was left to do now was take the tree away. She seemed almost to be saying goodbye to it, paying her respects.

"Can we grow a tree like that?" she asked him. "Like the pumpkins."

"Uh… well… Not sure it would actually work out here," Lucas admitted. "I can look into it, but I don't know what it'll say," he replied in honesty, and she understood. "You want to grow your own tree?" he asked, and she nodded with a smile. "Well, it would take many years before it was grown, I know that much. Your new brother or sister would be up and running and older than you are right now… and then some." Her eyes went wide. "Yeah…" he smiled apologetically at the slightly dashed hope in her eyes. "How about, next year, we go and see a place where they grow?" he suggested, a compromise. Now her smile returned. Yes, that was a good plan.

TO BE CONTINUED


See you tomorrow! - mooners