October 8th 2022

Chapter 281
Our Advance Toward Beginnings

As the days had wound down, drawing them nearer and nearer to this moment, the Friars had gone along on a sort of unspoken policy of doing their best to relax, take things easy, spend time with each other and their daughters… It was reminiscent of days just ahead of having a baby, only what they were expecting to find on the other side here wasn't so much about a lot of sleepless nights but a lot of activity. Sure, with six small children underfoot at any time, that was just their day to day, really, and at this point it didn't feel like as much to them as it might to anyone stepping in for the first time. But there were days, even for them, that would be particularly hectic. Travelling days, holidays, birthdays… and the first day of school for four out of six.

"Daddy, it's today! Daddy!"

As could also be the way before a big day, they had not slept well. In this case, it had a lot more to do with the fact that Aubrey had trouble sleeping and so kept her parents awake for a while. In time everyone had gone back to sleep, and their bodies had maybe been determined that if they slept harder, it would make up for everything. They were all of two minutes ahead of their alarm clock ringing, and they were still sound asleep, but then something about a three-year-old climbing over you and talking so cheerfully had a way of waking someone all at once. Lucas was startled awake, and it was a good thing that the girl was as far over him as she was, or she might have been bumped right off the bed and on to the floor. Instead, Lucas' reflexes kicked in and he caught hold of her. Never distressed, she just laughed as he blinked and saw her. Shock resolved, he breathed out, smiled.

"Morning, cub," he told her, even as Maya turned around on to her back and looked at them. He couldn't say for sure whether she'd already been awake or she'd just been more graceful in her sudden awakening. Either way, she smiled, and this drew Kacey to crawl the rest of the way over her father, little feet taking no notice of where they might have pressed or kicked as she went, until she was able to land in her mother's embrace. Maya hugged her good, kissed the top of her head.

"Mommy, it's today!" she gave a toothy smile.

"Yes, it is," Maya agreed, laughing, more so as Lucas barely had time to turn on to his back, too, that there were two more toddlers scampering over from across the hall. He more or less scooped them up in turn as they neared the bed, until he could have them both locked in his arms, giggling and squirming around. It was one small pleasure that Maya had started to notice, much to her delight, the way he would get this look in the morning. It wasn't like he was remembering that he was their girls' father, more that he'd sort of stop and be filled with sudden gratitude, for them, for his life… It would be a fleeting thought, but it would set him on track for the new day that was beginning.

"Wait, what's today?" Lucas asked, switching so smoothly over to a supposedly clueless face. He looked to Remy and Lucy in his arms like he had absolutely no idea what they were talking about, which only made them remind him all at once. "Oh, school… No, hold on, not you three?" he asked, airing awe and disbelief, which the triplets quickly refuted. "Really?" he asked, and they all nodded. "Well, alright, if you have to…" he dramatically sighed.

While Lucas picked up Aubrey and carried her to head downstairs – thereby drawing the triplets to follow him – Maya went down the hall to check on the remaining two girls. There she found that Marianne was awake, barely, and presently sat on her bed, with little Mackenzie sat across her legs as she held her hands and spoke to her. It gave big 'Lucas in conference' vibes, even though Mackenzie could hear and see her and make herself relatively understood even if her vocabulary was still on the ground floor.

"Hey there, Pumpkin Macaron," Maya smiled. It was one thing to have a collective nickname for the triplets, but then there'd be these two, five whole years apart but also with a bond that kind of demanded an identifier of its own. Marianne loved it, and Mackenzie might not exactly grasp what it all meant, but she at least had a sense that it was a really good thing, so she smiled, too, even as she worked to climb down from the bed and dash over to her mother. Maya picked her up. "Big day today, huh, for everyone!" she told her with the appropriate accompanying tone, which made her squeal. "How'd you sleep, alright?" Maya asked when Marianne got up, too, and walked to join them. Maya put her arm around her for a quick hug and a kiss to the top of her head.

"Mostly," Marianne reported.

"Mostly," Maya repeated, trying not to laugh too much at the dramatic airs. "Figures you'd be just like us on that one. Did you sleep enough that you'll be okay today at least?" she asked, and Marianne nodded. "Okay, good."

Down they went for breakfast, which was not exactly rushed, but there was definitely still a sense like they had no time to be leisurely about things. They ate, exchanged very brief chatter, and then it was time to get everyone ready. Everyone got dressed or was dressed, and they got or had their hair done, and while Lucas got them all downstairs, bags and boxes loaded in the minivan, Maya saw to a minimal touch of makeup for the day. She was still on leave, yes, but she was headed into school for the day, for the start of the new year. Oh, she couldn't wait…

"I wish I could be there when they find out about the birthday thing," Marianne quietly told Lucas as they reached their first stop. He looked at her, wasn't sure what she meant, which surprised her. She motioned for him to lean over so she could whisper at his ear.

It was inevitable that not every child in that class would have their birthday anywhere from the start to the end of the year. Some of them would have their birthdays in the summer… like Lucy, Kacey, and Remy did. For that, depending on when in the summer they celebrated their birthday, they would either get their little cake early or late, on the last day or on the first. And since the triplets had turned three very, very recently, then that meant that today, at lunch, they would get theirs. It had not even occurred to him, but now that he knew, it was a wonder that he hadn't thought about it before. Now he looked to the triplets, freshly out of the minivan and eager to run along, and he kind of wished he was there, too. It wasn't like Marianne, or their littler ones when they'd be coming here. Their birthdays were not in the summer, so they could see it coming.

"I'm sure Miss Alma can record it for us," he told Marianne, and this was acceptable.

Oh, the woman was so glad to see them all coming along that day. She greeted Marianne as she would, amazed at how much she'd grown in the year since she'd moved on from the preschool. She also looked to Mackenzie, who had been an infant still the last time she'd seen her but was now nearly a year and a half, while Aubrey… Oh, she was a complete surprise. They'd had another baby already? The reflex here might have been to tell her about everything that had happened back in May, but it just wouldn't have felt right to put this damper on the day. Aubrey was three months old, she was thriving, and so was her mother, and that was all that mattered.

"Good morning, girls," Miss Alma turned her attention to the triplets. Around strangers, their hands tended to become like magnets, pulled toward one another until they'd be joined, locked tight, although because they had been hearing stories about this stranger, great stories, their hands weren't so tightly joined, although they definitely hovered near to one another. "Now, let me see…" she knelt before them. "Who do we have here? My name is Alma, what's yours?"

Introductions were easy. A tour was easy. Leaving was not. The triplets had never been left with strangers, no parents, no family, no one they knew but each other… Lucy cried, as they'd expected she might, and Kacey and Remy looked as though they'd had the impulse in them to cry, too, but hadn't been quite up to the edge, not until their triplet had started at it, and then they'd given in. She wasn't even staying, and Mackenzie ended up crying, too, if for nothing but confusion. It was a wonder that Aubrey remained asleep through this.

Maya was this close to deciding to stick around the preschool for the day instead of going to the high school, but she knew very well that she wouldn't be helping. She'd only be putting this thought in their heads like she would be there all the time. They'd have the same problem the next day, and the next… The best they could do was promise that Lucas would be there to pick them up at the end of the day, that all would be well, and that they would love Miss Alma. It worked, to a point, but it still left a feeling in them like they were abandoning their daughters to their misery, and that was going to be unpleasant no matter how they staged it.

But now they had another big, important thing to see to. Back in the minivan with half as many of their daughters as when they'd left the house, they made their way to the elementary school for Marianne's first grade debut. She looked so happy to be walking up there, her bag on her back, lunchbox in her hand… She got to find all her friends, and there was a bit of concern out of Winnie, wondering what would happen if they got split up and weren't in the same first grade class, which sent the feeling to echo out between her and Marianne, and June and Harper…

"Hey, come on, you'll be alright," Maya promised them. "Maybe you'll be together, maybe you won't. That won't make you all like each other any less as friends, will it?" No, of course not. "Then you'll be alright. You'll just have more to tell each other if you're apart."

Would that make everything better? Probably not, at least not right away, but what else were they supposed to do? Whatever came next, it would be something new for them to discover. It would be the framework for the next twelve years of their lives at least. From this side of it, both Maya and Lucas couldn't help but be caught up in the thought of it even after they left Marianne and her friends in the care of their school. Lucas would drop off Maya and their littlest two over at the high school for their special school day, and then it would up to the afternoon and the evening to bring them all together again, to find out how each one of them had fared. For everyone's sake, they sincerely hoped that all of them would have many merry, exciting tales to share over dinner. They hoped they had tales so exciting that they couldn't even bear to wait until they made it to the table to tell them.

TO BE CONTINUED


See you tomorrow! - mooners