August 16th 2022
Chapter 228
Our Celebration of You
They may not have been able to pull the same trick on their mother as they'd done with their father when he'd had his last birthday, but the plan for the little Friar girls still revolved wholly on being with their mother on that morning. Marianne had been the ringleader, as she would be, but her sisters were all eager to follow, and as a bonus, they had their father as an ally in their back pocket. He'd been needed first of all to help her with one thing: she needed to be able to get Mackenzie from her crib.
With the sun still coming up, Lucas opened his eyes… opened his ears… All quiet so far, though probably for not much longer. Just the two of them for now… the three of them. His hand was at her belly, as it would be when they went to sleep at night and when they woke in the morning, and just now, because it was morning, it was time for what they'd called 'conference' since back in the days when it had been Marianne in there. Each one of their girls, morning after morning, and when they'd be born, when he'd hold them in his arms and talk to them, there would be this whole sense of calm in them like somewhere deep down they remembered the sound of his voice.
"Good morning, Lucky," he whispered as he very lightly drummed his fingers in greeting. "It's your mama's birthday today… We're all going to wish her a happy one pretty soon. Now, I know that you can't join in yet, so I'm just going to tell her for the both of us, good? Good."
Oh, he could hear them now. Down the hall, he could hear Marianne, talking to her baby sister, and he could just hear Mackenzie, too. Her little laugh was all her own. He could definitely pick out each of his daughters' voices, laughs, yes, but he was sure this one was the funniest of them all. He had no doubt that Marianne would be able to get her down safely, but still he kept his ears tuned to their approach, ready to speed off if it sounded like they were in trouble. But they were fine, and soon he could hear Marianne coming along with her baby sister. He could just imagine the proud smile on the six-year-old's face as she walked up the hall with Mackenzie. When he looked over his shoulder, he saw them come up and head into the nursery. He wished he could have taken a picture, just the way big sister Annie had that great hold going, and how little sister Mack looked perfectly happy being held by her. It reminded him of that deep bond he'd always seen, between Marianne and his mother. They just belonged together.
"Mack Attack?" Maya mumbled, and Lucas turned his head back to look at her, kissed the flowers on her shoulder and hugged her nearer, the better to let his kiss travel on to the side of her face and hear her laugh.
"Happy birthday," he told her as she turned her head to look at him and he kissed her.
"Thank you," she crooned, and she had this smile to her that felt like they'd traveled right back in time, and here was the girl he'd fallen in love with.
"How am I supposed to keep a straight face now, huh?" he asked her.
"Oh, you're not," she assured him. "Not even a little." He was about to kiss her again, until they found themselves visited by the birthday patrol.
The plan had clearly been for them to string a message together, with Kacey saying the word 'good,' and Lucy saying the word 'morning,' and Remy saying the word 'Mommy,' with Marianne finishing with 'happy birthday' from herself and Mackenzie together. Lucas could attest that they had been working at this for over a week, and it would explain this impression Maya had had that Kacey was having a very satisfactory week, with how she kept saying 'good' to everything, or why Lucy would get so excited when anyone would wish her a good morning. However, in that exact moment, when it was 'the big show,' Remy got a bit ahead of herself, so it all turned into 'Good Mommy morning, happy birthday!' with all of them stood by Maya's side of the bed. Only Marianne looked aware of the mix-up, and she seemed to think as her parents did that this actually worked very well, too.
"Well, good morning to you, too!" Maya laughed, reaching out to touch this little face and that one as the triplets came grappling at the edge of the mattress. "Thank you," she told them and their big and little sisters. Even as Kacey, Remy, and Lucy were all working to pull themselves up on to the bed, Mackenzie was holding one arm out to her mother, the other still holding to Marianne. "You want to come up, too, huh?" Maya asked, taking hold of that small hand. Marianne allowed her to take hold of the baby, the better for her to wait for the triplets to have climbed successfully and then join them. The four small girls squeezed their way into the middle of the bed, forcing a gap to widen for them between their parents, while Maya still had the baby.
"What do you think? We can all just stay here, no school, nothing, and we nap all morning," Lucas teased.
"Don't even tempt me," Maya smirked.
Between him lying there and being the most delicious of Huckleberries, and their gaggle of small blondes staring up at her with so many blue eyes, down to the soon to be big sister lying over her like she'd already heard the nap idea and decided to embrace it… It would have been so easy to say, 'oh, well, it's my birthday' and do as Lucas had suggested. A genuine part of her wanted it right then, but also… oh, she supposed she had to go, right? People depending on her, on Lucas, and things for Marianne to learn at school… Wherever that tiny sliver that remained of the kid she used to be presently resided in her, it was in complete disbelief at how 'responsible' they had become, not realizing that just because they did the right thing, it didn't mean the supposedly wrong thing wasn't still appealing to them. So, so appealing…
So, in due time – after a bit more family snuggling – they would have to start thinking about getting up and out of bed.
"Wait! What about…" Marianne started to ask, only to put her hand on her mouth like she'd just realized that she was about to say something, potentially a secret. She looked to her father for a rescue. She'd always get one from him there.
"You want to tell her?" Lucas smiled at her, and Marianne gasped through her hand before lowering it and nodding eagerly.
"Tell me what?" Maya had to ask, laughing at her daughter's silliness. Now Marianne turned back to look at her.
"We got a surprise for you," she told her mother, beaming and showing the gaps in her teeth, two now but with a third looking like it had designs on becoming wobbly very soon.
"Oh, you do, huh?" Maya asked with great intrigue, and the four girls nodded. "Alright, I'll bite. What is it?" she asked.
"Can't tell you yet," Marianne shook her head.
"Why not?" Maya asked with a perfect mopey tone that sent the girls laughing.
"Friday," Marianne followed. That was to be her great clue, until the day came. No amount of trying to get it out of them would work. None of the girls knew much more than 'surprise on Friday,' which meant that they would have to wait until then, just a few days, and Maya suspected that this had been Lucas' work, his knowing that all they really had to have was that there would be a surprise on Friday. Any further and they would have repeated it sooner or later. And yet already just knowing 'secret coming' had been enough to ramp up the excitement among the girls.
Over those next few days, Maya would get some pleasure of her own, just pretending as though she was baiting them to reveal their secret. They would get a kick out of it, and that was what mattered. Kacey would just stare back at her and shake her head. Lucy would squeak and stick her hands over her eyes. Remy would gasp and promptly run away to hide. None of them seemed overly concerned with the fact that they had no idea what this thing would turn out to be.
Meanwhile, Lucas knew, of course. He was particularly impressed with those of their weekend guests who would have been crossing paths with her for the better part of the week, and with how none of them had cracked and helped her figure it out.
It wasn't until Friday afternoon that the whole thing came to be revealed. Lucas was kind of sorry that he couldn't tell her when Marianne was there with them, too, but it was just the more ideal time. Since she'd be back home before he was, thanks to blue group, it was as close to the actual start of things without it being time, if he cut in on his mother's visit to the high school. She was already there, outside, with Melinda and the triplets and Mackenzie, and when they all saw him coming, they were both surprised and excited. The triplets came running at him, which was one of their favorite things to do nowadays.
"Does this mean what I think it means?" Maya asked him when he managed to come and sit with her and Melinda and the girls.
"I don't know, what do you think it means?" Lucas played with a smile, which felt the tiniest bit like playing with fire. So, he went ahead and told her, first of all, that there'd be a party for her birthday on Sunday evening. That was good to hear already. "Before that, tonight, we're having a few people over," he started.
"Yeah?" Maya asked, curious at his tone.
"Yeah, and I said they could spend the night, hope that's alright."
"Isn't it always?" she smiled, and on that she was very correct. They had always opened to their doors to those of their friends and family members who needed them, for however long. "How many is a few people," she asked out of curiosity, and Lucas was glad she'd asked, so he could tell her.
"Well, counting all of us in there, too… Forty-six," he grinned, even more so at the look of total confusion that came over her.
"Forty… Forty-six?" she repeated. He nodded. "For…" she started, then paused, looked at him again. Then, she understood. "Sleepster?" she guessed, and he smiled. This was wonderful news, so unexpected. Oh, but… "Hold on, they're coming this afternoon?" Yes, yes, they were. "Well, who's going to be there, I…"
"I am not at liberty to say," Lucas held up a hand like 'I'm going to stop you right there.' When she met this with a slightly pitiful pleading look, he had to admit, she nearly had him. But he was strong, and he held on. "Trust me, it'll be more fun if you don't know what's coming."
"Don't I get some hints? Maybe I get to… ask three questions, and you have to tell the truth."
"Or, just, you know, try and wait until tonight?" he asked, trying not to look like he was chuckling over seeing her all unnerved and eager to 'discover' the truth. The truth was that it was going to be so much better when she got to see it with her own eyes, he was sure of it. So, he made her wait, just a few hours more.
TO BE CONTINUED
See you tomorrow! - mooners
