October 24th 2022

Chapter 297
Our Spookies in Costume

Lucas knew, even without her saying so, where Maya's head was at as they went to bed on the night of October 30th and likely where it would still be on the morning of the 31st. Last year at this time they had barely known that they were expecting Aubrey. No one else had known but the two of them, which meant that they had to be careful not to reveal it… easier said than done when morning sickness was very much a thing, unlike the year before that, with Mackenzie. It had meant a quick run down below for her to be sick while he got things set up for their little surprise to their birthday girl, the better to make it back in time to see and pretend like everything was peachy and she had not just been sick. She'd made it, but still…

This year, they had none of that. No baby in her belly, no morning sprint, just one Hucklebucket, one little Sheriff turning seven years old. For that, Maya and Lucas both had been there, the better to set up seven little painted pumpkins outside the closed door. Last year had been the first time they'd done it, and so this year, the second, opened the door to this becoming a tradition. This raised an important question.

"Are we going to add another one every year?" Lucas whispered as Maya sat on her knees, fussing over the arrangement. "What happens when she's… fifteen? That's a lot of pumpkins," he pointed out.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. There may be tears on the other side," Maya whispered at him over her shoulder, which made him smirk before turning at the sound of the baby crying back in their room. With a brief 'oh,' he hurried back to get her and return, in case Marianne got up before he could be there to see.

Going by the sounds they heard, they guessed that Mackenzie had actually gotten up first, and she'd been about to open the door herself when her big sister came and told her to wait, coming to join her and then telling her she could open it. They could imagine their funny girl, reaching both hands on to the knob to turn it and then pull, getting only a glimpse of the way she would jump back as it swung open. Then she looked outside and saw her parents and squealed, dashing back to her bed giggling before climbing on to it and hiding under her blanket, like she hadn't been supposed to be up and she didn't want to be caught.

It was so odd to think how, just a year ago, they had moved her and her crib into this room, per Marianne's wish and request, and now, just a couple of days ago, they had done a new change, introducing a small bed for the eighteen-month-old to sleep in. Her crib was still there, having been moved to a new spot in wait until next month, when Aubrey would join her sisters in the green room. They had discussed it with Marianne, of course, on the off chance that she wouldn't have wanted this, but she had been thrilled at the thought. She already wanted to bring her over, but she was told that they would wait until she was six months old, like Mackenzie had been, which meant one more month to go. In the meantime…

"Come back, Mack!" Marianne called to her little sister, giggling at the rhyme, even as she spotted the pumpkins, and her mother and father. She flashed them both such a smile before turning her head to motion at Mackenzie, who scrambled right back out of bed and over to her big sister. They stepped out of the room and took in the array of painted little pumpkins, there to celebrate Marianne turning seven. As soon as she saw them, they knew she'd be thinking about last year, when she'd awakened to six of them there outside her door and been so in awe. It continued this year, and she looked almost overwhelmed with excitement, having to decide between looking at all the details painted by her mother or going over to her and her father. After a few seconds, she turned and went for option number two, reaching her mother first, who didn't hesitate to lift her into her arms.

"My goodness, you're so tall," Maya reflected, straining just a bit at lifting her firstborn, and much as she did not want to go there, it was impossible not to think it. Sooner or later, her children were going to grow beyond her ability to pick them up in her arms, and Marianne was just about at the cusp there… It was beginning… She was not going to start and cry… Maybe later when she was on her own. "Happy birthday, pumpkin," she kissed her daughter's little face, seven times over, much to her delight.

"You're going to do the pumpkins again next year, right?" Marianne asked, beaming.

"I am, of course. Eight of them," she added, eyes over wide with awe. Marianne quickly nodded.

"That's the same number as the letters in my name," she pointed out proudly.

"I did realize that, yes. Might have to do something about that…"

The birthday girl was barely back on her feet that she turned to her father, who had just gone and crouched before her, holding five-month-old Aubrey in one arm. She was still in that barely awake state of hers, which meant she was very calm but also very clingy, so she stayed right where she was as Lucas held Marianne in a one-armed hug, only reaching out her own little hand to touch her big sister's face when it was near.

"Happy birthday, Annie girl," Lucas cradled his firstborn's head in his hand as she looked up at him. To this day he couldn't look at her and not feel this swell of emotions every now and then, thinking of what this girl had brought into his life. She had made him a father, and that was one of the things he cherished the most. And for seven years now, he'd gotten to be that for her, to watch her grow and become this young person he was so incredibly proud of, every single day.

They couldn't stay in that hallway forever like this, much as they might have wanted to. For one, they had three more girls who would not take long to come from their room, discovering along with their sisters the seven pumpkins that Maya had covertly and painstakingly painted for Marianne's birthday. And then they had to get a move on and get breakfast ready, as soon as possible consumed, too, so they could get everyone set for the day. It wasn't just normal clothes and hair, no. It was Halloween, Hallowannie, and that meant costumes.

It had been their top holiday even before they had been so lucky as to have their first child born on that day, and now between Marianne and the three-year-old triplets, they didn't know that they'd ever had this much collective excitement out of their daughters over what was to come. It only made them more excited, too. Breakfast may have been good and prompt this morning solely because four of their girls were speeding through their plates, to get their costumes on.

"More déjà vu," Maya looked to Lucas, who smirked, having thought the same. "Ladies, ladies, hey, chewing? Remember chewing? Take it easy or you might regret it later."

They slowed down… a little… Either way, they finally got through with their meal, and it was a wonder that they didn't go and run upstairs as soon as their last bite was in their mouth. They stayed there, either dancing around in their chair, or staring at one parent or the other, or coming up sort of crouched in their chair. It left the youngest two staring at their sisters like they were either possessed or they were playing a game that Mackenzie or Aubrey didn't know the rules to.

"Okay, alright, let's go," Lucas finally said, and it was such a rush to get going that Remy almost fell right off her chair before her father caught her.

"I can stay up later tonight, right?" Marianne asked as she sat on the bathroom counter while Maya did her costume makeup.

"Hold still please, can't talk for this part, okay?" she told her and waited to allow for the inevitable nod before getting back to work. "But yes, I guess you can," she smirked. It was Friday, so it wasn't as though they all had school or work early in the morning. From what she knew, Lucas had even seen to handing off his rounds to Bishop so he wouldn't have to go at all the next day. "Just, you know, go easy on the candy?"

"I promise," Marianne told her when she was allowed to move her face and speak again. "I'm just going to dance a lot," she wisely proclaimed, making her mother laugh.

"Yeah, you do that," she told her, kissing the side of her head, not wanting to ruin her work on her face. "Okay, come down here, have a look," Maya helped her down and Marianne turned to look in the mirror.

"Wow!" she immediately gasped, turning her face every which way that she could. "It's perfect!"

"Think so?" Maya asked, smiling.

"Yeah," Marianne nodded. "I wanted to be scary this year, but that's okay," she shrugged. "The kids at school are not ready for that."

"They're bringing your game down, huh?" Maya chuckled, and Marianne openly nodded at this. "Well… If you really want to 'scarify' yourself, maybe we can do that for tonight." Oh, now this was a plan she could get behind. She was giddy just thinking about it.

Marianne had ever so patiently allowed all her sisters to have their turn first, which meant that she'd been the last of them to go. Now that she was ready, Maya could do the same for herself, donning her evening look from the previous year and getting pleasant little flashbacks of being newly pregnant with Aubrey, keeping the secret. Lucas got dressed up, too, and he and Maya discussed whether or not his costume would spook any of the horses. Maya reasoned that, all of them having been at the ranch as long as they had, they could not have gotten through Halloween there without seeing more than one curiously dressed person in their lifetime.

Before they knew it, they were splitting up for the day. Lucas took off with the triplets to drop them off at preschool, while Maya brought Mackenzie and Aubrey to their grandmother's before driving Marianne to school and carrying on toward her own school. After doing her second drop, Maya texted Lucas, as she did every day when they did this, so they could both confirm to one another that the girls had landed where they needed to be. Today, they both had this same thought, recalling a small incident a couple of days ago when one of the other mothers at the preschool had tried to scold the triplets because they kept saying Hallowannie no matter how many times she corrected them to say it was actually Halloween. In their minds, the holiday belonged to their older sister, and there was nothing wrong with that. Lucas had seen her that morning, and Maya was happy to hear he had reinforced his daughters' convictions right then and there. Today was Hallowannie for the Friars, and they would not hear otherwise from anyone.

TO BE CONTINUED


See you tomorrow! - mooners