A/N: The new chapter of "We Three Hearts" is now available!
November 11th 2022
Chapter 315
Our Holidays With the Year
Sometime in the night between the twenty-fifth and the twenty-sixth of December, snow came down over Austin. It came down to such a degree that even before looking into it, the Friars had a very strong feeling that they would not be flying to Arkansas that morning, and they were soon proven correct. All flights were out, and the roads were such a mess that going to the store bordered on impossible, so any thought of finding alternative transport was also out of the question. They weren't going anywhere, not today, and probably not for a few days at least. The more they looked into the forecasts, which up to that point had not sounded that bad but suddenly painted a bleak last days to the year, they highly doubted that they would spend December 31st anywhere but right here at home.
To be honest, it was difficult for any of them to be very upset at first. Maya and Lucas had been, yes, for a few minutes, as they had bent over their phones to look into the situation. And then the girls had started to wake up, and they had seen the sparkling, frosted white world outside their windows.
Lucy had been the first one to see it, and Lucas had just seen her standing there, staring, in awed silence. She could have stayed there like that for… oh, who knew how long. And then Remy had gotten out of her bed, too, and she'd gone to see what her sister was looking at, and…
"Snow! Snow! SNOOOOW!"
Lucas wasn't sure, but it sounded to him like something out of White Christmas; they'd watched it just a few nights back. Either way, it was enough to get the other girls on alert, and as their voices rose up, the sound must have moved to the second floor. Soon, they could hear footsteps above, and then coming down the stairs. Down here, the sight was one that inspired wonder; up there, it was reality, and questions. They were supposed to fly out today...
The logic move might have been to reach out to the rest of the family, those of them who were supposed to head to the airport today, but then what would be the point to rush into it? Whether they called now or in an hour, it wouldn't change anything about where they'd be sleeping tonight. And if they had to choose just now between making calls and figuring things out immediately or playing into this feeling in their daughters' hearts, well…
So, the first order of business that day was to get everyone dressed up, including winter boots, snowsuits, hats, scarves, mittens, and heading out into the snow. Lucas was the first one out the door, while Maya and the others were seeing to the girls, just to see exactly what they were dealing with, and that was a good thing. He didn't know that he'd ever seen this much snow in his hometown in all his years. He imagined his daughters out there, as little – or as tall – as they were, and he was sure one of them would get stuck up to her nose in snow. So, he set to work clearing a path, making some kind of safe zone. Before he knew it, Eliza and Ben were both there to help him in this, and so the girls were able to come along, a few of them looking just a bit uncomfortable in their winter gear, sweating inside the house… But once they got outside, they forgot all about it. Snow, everywhere!
Finally, after everyone had been brought inside and removed from snow-soaked clothes to dry up and warm up and eat breakfast with their cheeks still red from the cold, they'd talked with the rest of their travelling party, confirming just what they'd known would have to happen. Their trip was, like the state of Texas, on ice. They managed to get in touch with the Olsens back in Arkansas. They weren't hit nearly as bad, but they'd definitely gotten some of it, too, and they had expected just this, too. Did it mean that the entire New Year's thing was cancelled for sure? They couldn't know for sure, one way or the other, not now. The best they could do was to see how the next few days unfolded. Maybe things would improve enough that they could go? But then what if they got stuck out there when they had to get back? Maybe they'd be better off not trying at all. They could make up for it later, even if it wouldn't be New Year's like their family had it every year.
They may not have left town, barely left their house, but for those next few days, it still felt like they had been transported into some other world than their own, and the girls could hardly be blamed for showing zero regrets over their change of plans. The triplets barely remembered having been in Arkansas last year, so it was still only starting to be a part of their lives. Mackenzie and Aubrey would definitely not have any concept of it, one of them having only gone as a baby and the other having been little more than a tiny thing in her mother's belly at the time. The only one who was sort of disappointed was Marianne, but then with the way everything was, getting to play in the snow every day with her sisters, her dogs, the neighbors… She was happy right where she was.
One day at a time, they had been drawing nearer and nearer to the eve of 2037, and by the thirtieth, it was official. No one was going to be travelling, not from Texas to Arkansas or even the other way around, which had been explored as an option more than once. It was far more important that everyone be safe than they be together to count down the seconds to midnight. They never had to confirm it to anyone and, truth be told, they had all been thinking it over, coming up with a backup New Year's Eve celebration in their heads.
Somewhere by the twenty-ninth, the young Friars had found themselves playing host to several guests, whether they had been intended to travel with them or not. All seven of their daughters plus their granddaughter, naturally, Taylor, Nika, Theo, Lea, the Hunters and Clutterbuckets, the elder Friars… It was almost in Sleepster territory but more to the point that they wanted and needed to be together just now, and so they were. With the snow and overall conditions in the city, it might have also felt like a mash up between a ski lodge and a power outage. They cooked together, played games, told stories, watched movies… If they didn't know that this was really a peculiar event due to the weather, they might have told themselves that this would be something they would strive to do again in years to come. Instead, they had these few very special days together, and they got more special every day that went by.
On the morning of the thirtieth, with the eve approaching fast, they'd really had to start to figure out what they would still need in order to make the next day into what they wanted it to be. Some of it demanded for some of their guests to trek back out to their houses to collect a few things, and the rest meant hitting the stores. One of those shopping parties counted Lucas, Marianne, Ella, Tori, and Taylor Munroe. The roads were much better that day than they had been since Christmas, which was encouraging.
Tori found the amount of snow wonderful back at the house, but out here she looked just a bit overwhelmed, enough so that when Taylor asked if she wanted him to carry her, she accepted at once. In her own way, she had been as happy as her mother to have him back in Texas over the past week, and it had been so sweet to see the two of them together. Taylor had always been naturally good with Tori, since Ella had first introduced her baby daughter to her friends. She'd always been part of the package even as his feelings for Ella had grown, developed, expanded, and been reciprocated. When they'd started to date, there had been no question of where Tori would fit, and where Taylor would find himself with her. And the more serious his relationship had grown with Ella, until there were spontaneous cross-country flights and matching tattoos counting down their reunion…
The five-year-old was not confused. If anything, she might have been the most intuitive in the bunch. She'd rolled with Lea becoming her father's girlfriend, and the same for Taylor becoming her mother's boyfriend. It might not have exactly made them her parents, too – not quite – but then the way she'd be with them… they might as well have been already.
"Mommy, I gotta go," Tori whispered, tugging at Ella's coat as they reached the grocery store's entrance. Mother and daughter exchanged a look like they were both aware of the layers and the distance that stood between Tori and her getting to do what she needed to do. In a flash, Ella was off with her, and Marianne hurried to follow them, in case her big sister needed a hand. This left Lucas alone with Taylor and a question. Were they supposed to start their shopping, the better to get out of there as soon as possible, or were they expected to wait for the rest of them?
"Bench?" Taylor pointed.
"Looks that way," Lucas tipped his head in agreement, and they went, undoing scarves and collars as they went.
The silence wasn't awkward, although once they noticed that it existed, there between them, it was hard to ignore it. Lucas didn't want to put this attitude out there like he was giving his daughter's boyfriend the full Dad freeze out. Even if it hadn't been Dylan's little brother, he didn't see himself as taking that stance. He had enough of a gut feeling when it came to reading people, he felt, so if he ever did throw any attitude to anyone, they would have to earn it, and Taylor wasn't in that category, not even a little. Still, he had not imagined finding himself in this position so early in his life, and now… Yeah, it was kind of weird, but he didn't want Taylor to think it. He opened his mouth to speak, but then he could see Taylor was about to do the same, so at once he deferred to him, so he'd go ahead and say whatever it was that he had to say. Whatever it was, it looked like the silent interruption had set him back a step or two, forcing him to sit there quietly as he climbed back up in his mind. Whatever this was, it was serious talk, and Lucas sat up as he realized it. Seeing this, now, Taylor knew there was no backing down.
"I…" he started, stopped, breathed. He reached into his pocket, and when Lucas saw what he pulled from it, he couldn't help but go a bit wide-eyed for a second. Regardless of the exact shape or color of it, the size was as telling as it needed to be. "I thought about waiting to do this, I mean I'm going to be in Indiana for another year and a half, so… But then… I don't want to wait. I want to ask Ella to marry me, after I come back. I don't think she'd mind me doing this, and I just feel like I should, so I wanted to ask… for your blessing."
Fully aware of where they were and the possibility that the girls would return and spot it, he soon slipped the box back into his pocket, tried to play it cool even as he'd unveiled his secret hope to his girlfriend's father, his brother's childhood friend, and his potential future father-in-law.
"Y-you don't have to answer right away, I mean… If you need to think about it, or… or talk to Mrs. Friar…" Taylor started up again, letting Lucas realize that maybe he'd been sitting quiet for too long, leaving him to wonder if he'd misspoken in any way. But then before he got to say a word, there was Tori, released from her winter coat, hat, mittens, scarf, just scurrying back to the two of them and leaving a trail of melting snow from under her boots with the face of someone who had safely achieved relief. She was evidently pleased enough that she took no consideration of whether wet boots plus flooring would mesh well. She was slipping and sliding just a bit, but then Taylor was on his feet and hurrying on to intercept her. He caught her up and lifted her in his arms again, talking to her and asking if all had gone well. Tori nodded with a big smile and told him all about it.
Lucas did not need convincing, but then he saw his granddaughter with Taylor, and it felt like the shock of his request was being brushed aside, until he didn't know why he hadn't immediately spoken his answer. It was so simple. But then there were Ella and Marianne returning, and his opportunity was even less at hand, so he had to hold his tongue as they went and did their shopping, got back to the car, and headed back to the house on the lane. The entire time, Lucas would look for an opening, the smallest moment where he could have told Taylor his answer, but it didn't come, not until after they had made it home. At that point, Taylor was pulled into snowy shenanigans by several of the children, so there was no chance there, but…
"I need to tell you something," he whispered as he passed behind Maya in the kitchen. As soon as they were able to, they stepped away from everyone and there he told her about what had happened back at the store. Taylor. The ring. The request. Maya's reaction, he suspected, was not unlike his own. She was stunned, surprised. At least now it was just them and they didn't have a nervous young man waiting for an answer, so they were able to speak and act openly.
They were talking about a wedding that wouldn't happen for a minimum of eighteen months, when Ella would be back from Houston and Taylor from Indiana, both back in Austin to stay and step forward in the next parts of their lives, together… They were not surprised that Taylor should want to have Ella as his wife, but it was still startling to think of one of their daughters… getting married. It didn't matter that this was their big girl, the one who'd come near fully grown into their lives, that was their daughter…
If Lucas wanted a means to get Taylor aside, he couldn't have picked a better partner in crime than his wife. Maya wasted no time in making up an excuse to get Taylor into the house, just for a minute, just long enough that both she and Lucas could tell him that he had both of their whole-hearted blessing to go do as he wished, sending him back to play with such a boost of energy that it was a wonder no one picked up on the idea that something had happened. Lucas and Maya only watched him out there, with Ella, with Tori… They would be his family and he would be theirs. All he had to do… was ask.
He did that, the next night, with a handful of minutes to spare before midnight and the turn of the year, as he sat with Ella's head at his shoulder and Tori sleeping in his lap. He spoke to Ella, and though they couldn't hear what he said, her parents only needed to know what was about to come, to see their girl's bright, clear eyes staring back at her boyfriend. They knew when she realized what he was about to do, and when he actually asked the question. His hands were busy, and he didn't want to wake Tori up. So, Ella reached into his pocket herself, found the box and opened it with shaking hands. She looked back to Taylor, leaned in and kissed him, and her response came between a breath and a second kiss, and they knew that Ella Friar and Taylor Munroe would head into 2037 newly engaged, now counting down to much more than a colored in compass and a return to Austin.
TO BE CONTINUED
See you tomorrow! - mooners
