August 23rd 2022
Chapter 235
Our Hearts in Hope
They would joke around Sullivan Stables that the Friars' Dog Retreat had become a productivity killer. It was reportedly near impossible for anyone to pass by the new building and not go along to visit their current guests, and the same went when they'd be taken out and about across the ranch. It was one of those problems that fell under the heading of good problems to have, especially to Lucas. When he would think of how it used to be that everyone would get the impulse to keep their distances from this spot on the property, himself included, whereas now it had become the opposite… He didn't know for sure where he fell as far as spirits, lost loved ones looking down on them or feeling any emotions in watching them, but the constant thought in his mind was now that his grandparents would absolutely be glad for what had been done at the ranch, in the long barren space.
It was a… slight issue at the moment, if only that he'd lost one of his helpers to the dogs. He was thrilled to be joined in ball preparations today by a couple of his wife's former students, namely Khalil Russell and Phoebe Munroe. He hadn't even asked them, but he'd found over time that, one way or another, word of these things would disperse across the growing network of 'Maya's kids,' and if their attachment to their present or former teacher wasn't clear enough, they'd do something like this, hearing that assistance could be used for one reason or another and just stepping in. They could only then be received with humble gratitude… even if one of them got distracted and went to play with the dogs for five… ten… fifteen minutes, while the rest of them kept working. Neither Lucas nor Khalil here took any issue with this. It was Phoebe, after all.
"She just needs this right now," Khalil reflected, and without saying more, Lucas could easily understand. Khalil would be leaving again soon, and he would be gone for some time. As much as this would compel Phoebe to want to be near to her husband as much as possible, it also had her at the mercy of feelings she was doing her best to cope with, all without putting it too much on him. She was proud of him, she supported him, but she was scared, too, so if holding a couple of dogs for a while longer made her feel better, who were they to tell her otherwise because they were decorating for the Equestrian Ball?
Lucas supposed, in thinking about all this, that it was actually no wonder that they'd shown up here today, offering to help, especially Khalil. Once he was gone, he knew that his wife and his little sister would have each other to rely on, yes, but they'd have others, like his grandparents, and the Munroes, and the Hunters, and the Friars, too. He was always vocally thankful to all of them for that, and that gratitude extended into action, whenever it could.
By the time Phoebe rejoined them, with a smile still lingering across her face and a spring in her step, they'd just about finished what Lucas had been setting out to do for the day, and she realized this.
"I'm so sorry, I was going to do more, it's just… well…" she gestured back the way she'd come, to the retreat. "I didn't know you guys had a whole litter back there."
"Yeah, neither did we at first," Lucas nodded.
It had been their very first anonymous drop, not unlike they'd had back at the hospital where he'd had his residency, or the shelter… Mariko had been the one to find the box, just inside the arch one morning, and when she'd seen the dog inside, she'd called to the retreat, to reach whoever would be there at the time, who'd then called to both Lucas and Bishop, unsure as they were of how long it would be before Dr. Nicholas arrived from Houston. For that, Lucas had been the first of them to properly examine the dog and confirm what the others had already suspected, that the dog was expecting puppies. They hadn't been born for nearly two weeks after their mother had arrived with them, and they had already decided to keep looking after her instead of shuffling her off elsewhere, so the same had gone for her puppies, of which there had been six, all living.
"Pretty soon we're going to have to start looking into finding them all homes," Lucas went on to tell Phoebe and Khalil.
"We can take them," Phoebe straightened up at once, looking a moment later as though she hadn't realized that she'd said this out loud rather than in her head. "I-I mean…" she turned to look to Khalil with a look that couldn't help but be hopeful, pleading.
"All six puppies?" he asked, surprised but also not.
"And the mom," Phoebe nodded. "Can't leave her behind…" There was much more in her smile, it felt, than she was letting on, and the same appeared to be true for Khalil, too.
"Seven dogs…" he chuckled lightly. She nodded again, with her hands practically clasped together under her chin like a child pleading. "Are you sure? With…" his voice lowered, leaving the rest of the sentence to pass in weighted silence between them.
"Very sure, so sure," Phoebe insisted. "It's going to be a lot, yes, but I can deal with it, really. And Desi will love them, you know she will."
It was plain in Khalil's face that he was thinking less about the mad mess that one grown dog and six puppies could bring and more about the other thing that they could bring, which would be comfort. He would be going away soon, and it would be a stressful time for his wife and sister, so maybe a bunch of little dogs was actually the solution they needed. He expressed this in reaching out a hand to her, which she took, and bringing her close until they might have been dancing, testing out the great dance floor they'd been laying down while she was away.
Remembering how their story had started off with the two of them at the Zvolensky house based Sleepster, following a spark of attraction that had set them both to flame, finding hidden corners for a merry bit of kissing, it was amazing to see how far they'd come. It had never felt like a fling, not once, and to see them now, contemplating bringing seven dogs into their home even as he was preparing to fly off… They were looking at him now, to know if it would be possible, if they would be allowed to adopt them all. In this case, it would be Bishop's decision, but Lucas was confident enough in his ability to respond that he told them yes. They could take the dogs home, or they would be able to, once it was decided that they were able to go.
That would give them sufficient time to prepare at home. They had recently bought the house of some family friends of the Russells' who had moved out of the state. They might never have been able to pull it off, not with where they were at in their lives, but they had worked out a deal that was beneficial to all, so there they were. It didn't seem so long ago that they had helped Desi move into her brother's apartment, and now that room had been vacated all over again. It wasn't a huge loss, not when her new room was bigger than the last one. And right now, when it came to the dogs, well… It couldn't have been a very good idea to bring all seven of them into the old apartment, but the house, with its yard… The biggest loss that had come with the move had been an emotional one. This had been Phoebe and Stella's college apartment, and then Ella and Tori had lived there, too, and then Khalil, and Desi… It felt like a chapter ending, but then there was also this new chapter, beginning…
It finally dawned on Lucas what it was about those two and this conversation that had caught his curiosity, not that something was off, but that something was… on… Phoebe happened to be looking at him when the pieces fell into place, presented him with a possibility, a question… and she smiled. More than smiled, she was beaming, exhilarated… She tapped Khalil's arm and nodded for him to look, and he understood, too, and smiled…
"You two… you're…" he gestured between them, and they looked to each other before turning back to him with a nod.
"You can barely tell right now," Phoebe stated, looking down at herself, pulling back her jacket and tugging at the hem of her shirt so it might adopt the curve of her shape. And there was definitely the slight hint of a roundness developing.
"We haven't told anyone yet… except Desi," Khalil went on, his tone adding 'obviously' to this last bit. He could not have kept it from her any more than Maya had been able to keep it from Eliza or Emma, who would have understood on their own otherwise. She was to be an aunt for the first time, and as her brother told it, she had been beyond over the moon about the news. She'd started to do some reading, so she would be best prepared to look after Phoebe, especially once Khalil was gone. "We figured we'd wait until Valentine's Day, you know…"
"Yeah," Lucas chuckled. It would make such a lovely surprise. Now that he got over the initial shock, he moved forward so he might congratulate them both. He imagined what it would be like when Dylan found out he was about to be an uncle again, this time by his little sister. And oh… Maya… Here were two of her former students, two who had been so close to her, to the family, for so long, and here they were, about to have a baby… "She is going to cry so much," he told them, with the rest, and they laughed with him. They couldn't wait to tell her either, but they would… at the ball.
The news couldn't help but adjust the narrative in his mind, thinking of Phoebe's time up at the retreat, and then the choice to take in the dogs… He thought of Maya, right now, pregnant with their Lucky, or when she'd been pregnant with their first baby, with Marianne. He imagined what it would be like, for both of them, to be going through all this and being apart. He would be stressed, restless, being away from her. And her, going through all these developments and experiences without him there at her side… Phoebe, Khalil, they had known this would be part of it, when he had made his choice to enlist, and when she'd chosen to marry him. They'd known it, but none of that would have prepared them for this, the timing both perfect and cursed. Would he get to be there when their baby was born? Even if in the long run it wouldn't be such a big deal, it would feel like one, to Khalil most of all.
Their baby was due at the end of August. They couldn't say for certain what would happen by then, so they wouldn't try. And in the meantime, as he'd be away, and she'd be home, with Desi, she would have this dog, which had been named Milly by Bishop's daughter, and these puppies – as yet unnamed – and they would help to keep her steady. They wouldn't be all that she'd have, of course. Now more than ever, with this news, she would have the families rallying around her, including the Friars.
TO BE CONTINUED
See you tomorrow! - mooners
