June 17th 2020

Chapter 169
Their Night With the Morning

Lucas woke to the morning of July 1st with kisses pressed to his fingers. Opening his eyes, he smiled, leaning to return the gesture with a kiss to his fiancée's shoulder… His fiancée today, and tomorrow… tomorrow… Maya turned on to her back now, looking at him with eyes full of giddy anticipation. Lucas responded by pulling her close all at once and launching an attack where he knew her to be ticklish. Her laughter filled the quiet room with sound and his heart with love.

"You are playing with fire, I know your spots, too!" he managed to hear amidst the rolling giggles.

"I'll take my chances," he laughed back, just before she went and found the easiest way to get him to stop, which was to capture him into a kiss. Peace was regained, and in time they simply remained this way, holding to one another, forehead to forehead. The Hart-Lanes had arrived in Austin a couple days back, and Sam was out there spending time with them at the hotel, which left the house to the 'nearlyweds.'

"We need to make sure all the windows and doors are locked," Maya whispered.

"What for?" Lucas whispered back, rather than to ask why they were whispering.

"Well, I don't know if you're aware of this, might have completely slipped your mind, but we're kind of getting married tomorrow?"

"Oh, that would explain a few things, now that you mention it," he played along, getting a snort from her.

"And even though I don't necessarily hold to the superstition, I just know at some point today someone will come along and split us up until tomorrow. I would like to formally lodge a complaint, and I'm making my stand, right here and now. I don't want to go, and I don't want you to go either.

"You could just tell them that? Aren't they supposed to do whatever you want right now?" Her eyes widened with realization, mischief slipping on like a glove.

"Ah, yes, my superpowers have kicked in, I am The Bride," she intoned. "What will I do? What if I turn into a supervillain?"

"I don't know, but I'm picturing it in my head and I'm not hating it."

"I had a feeling you wouldn't," she smirked.

"Please, can I get a sketch of that?" he asked.

"Get me breakfast, and I will make that happen for you. You can take Evil Maya with you if we do end up spending the night apart."

"Liking this plan," he briefly kissed her before rolling out of bed. When he started grabbing clothes to get dressed, she asked where he was going. "We are getting married tomorrow, I am going to Ma Maggie's and bringing you back The Works."

"I knew I loved you for a reason," she hummed, sitting up.

Lucas soon drove off, putting in the order over the phone so that it would be ready by the time he arrived, the better to start back toward home as soon as possible. He returned and searched his way up to the attic to finally find his fiancée, sitting at her drawing desk, putting what appeared to be the finishing touches on her commission. Lucas perched his chin on her shoulder to have a look.

"She seems nice," he decided. Maya turned a look at him.

"She is evil," she reminded him, pointing to the image.

"Yeah, but she's you, I can't help seeing her good side."

"I'm sure that's what you're seeing," Maya laughed, pulling the page free and holding it out to him for a moment before yanking it away when he reached. "Food?"

"Downstairs," he promised. "Don't I smell like pancakes and bacon and all that?"

"Are you asking me to sniff you?" she teased.

"Bags of food," he gestured over his shoulder. "Three dogs."

"Here you are, sir, one evil version of yours truly. Let's go," she handed him the drawing and sped off toward the steps.

They broke into their meal, happily recounting events of recent days, as more and more of their extended families converged on Austin for the wedding. There were still a few more expected to arrive today, though they would not get to see them until the following day. By the blessed intervention of their wedding planner, the two of them were to be left alone today, to enjoy a quiet day before the chaos that would be the one afterward. Whatever remaining tasks were left to be checked off today would be handled by someone else. They had this day to themselves.

They had just finished eating when the doorbell rang.

"It's the kidnappers, hide!" Maya whispered dramatically.

"If they're going to make one of us go anywhere, it won't be until tonight," Lucas chuckled, rising to go see who it was.

"Yeah, well, I'm not taking any chances," Maya followed after him, even as the dogs had run along with curiosity.

Of all the people they might have expected on the other side of the door, they had not counted Mitch Sanderson from up the lane. But here he was, looking like an older, taller, male version of his daughter, Missy.

"Hey, sorry to bother you, I'm sure you two must be busy today, with tomorrow…"

"What's going on?" Lucas asked.

"Missy sent me to come and get you. She would have come herself, but she didn't want to leave Coraline right now. The puppies are coming."

Lucas turned to Maya. He had told their young neighbor that he would be there, as much because she wanted him to be and because he wanted to be there, to be part of it. But this was meant to be his and Maya's day, to just be here and…

"I'll go get changed, we'll be there in a few minutes," she told Mitch, who nodded and started back toward his house.

"Are you sure?" Lucas asked her as he followed up the stairs.

"I know we're supposed to take this day to be all relaxed and stuff, but if we're being real, there is no way I will be able to just sit here all day and not think about the wedding. Bringing puppies into the world? That sounds like the perfect thing to do today."

"Well, when you put it like that."

Minutes later, as promised, they walked up to the Sanderson farm. Lucas had witnessed and assisted in a number of births like this in his time working at his aunt's clinic back in Houston. A couple of times, she had gone to the owners' houses directly, and she'd brought him along. They might have been some of his favorite days of working with her. Walking into the house, it only took one look at Coraline to know that the dog was indeed in labor.

"It's been going on for a while, I think the first one is coming soon," Missy reported when she saw they had arrived. The fifteen-year-old was sitting on the ground, tending to the restless looking Coraline. The dog kept looking to Missy, which explained why she had sent her father while she'd stayed behind. "My mom's at work, and my grandparents aren't here. Dad just came back as I was going to call you," she explained, the worry showing on her face how she might have been on her own to help her dog.

"This is probably going to take a while," Lucas reminded her, as he sat on the floor with her. Maya had gone to find Mitch, the better to be directed to some towels they might use.

"I know," Missy nodded. "I was there when Coraline was born," she told him. "Her mom belonged to a friend of my mom's." After a beat, she revealed that Coraline was the only pup of her litter to survive, which worried her now for what might happen to these pups.

"We're not going to worry about that right now, okay?" Lucas shook his head, speaking in reassuring tones. "You, and me, and Maya, and your dad, we're going to help Coraline get through this."

"I was so worried it would happen tomorrow, when no one was with her," Missy told him, brushing at the dog's head when she lay down next to her.

"Well now you won't have to," Lucas smiled.

"Who's going to look after them tomorrow though?"

"I can call over to the stables, you just bring them out there with you. There will be someone there who can keep an eye on Coraline and the puppies. They're good people, they know what they're doing." And he was going to be working with them, in a couple years' time. He'd been going out there, both for the wedding prep and to familiarize himself with how things worked. He had been to the stables many times over the years of course, before and after his grandmother's passing, though only occasionally. Now, as he had been going more often, it had only continued to solidify his belief that this was where he was meant to go.

"That's okay, I can ask Kai if he'll watch them," Missy told him, and he tried not to smirk at the way her face lit up just a bit when she mentioned the boy's name.

"That's not a bad idea. Maybe you should call him, see if he'll come over and help, too."

"No, I… I'll just… He wouldn't want to see this, there's going to be gross stuff and…"

"This is still the guy who's crazy about zombies, yeah? Decomposing corpses, he's all good, newborn pups not so much?" Lucas teased. Missy still hesitated, but finally she told him where her phone was and he went to get it for her. She sent out a text, one hand on the phone, the other on Coraline's back. A few seconds later, as Maya returned with a stack of towels, Missy blinked.

"He's on his way," she looked back to Lucas.

"Who is?" Maya asked.

"Kai," Missy revealed. Lucas could just see the thought form in Maya's head, like she'd been about to make a joke and then she'd changed her mind, which led him to guess it went somewhere along the line of 'that's a weird activity for a date.' Missy and Kai were still very much on the friend level of their relationship. This was not to say that there weren't feelings running rampant, on his side as much as hers, from what both Maya and Lucas had been able to witness, but as was almost to be expected, they were as hopeless as any fifteen-year-olds. So, for now, maintaining that friendship was more important than making any clumsy attempts.

"Did you ask him about tomorrow, too?" Lucas asked.

"I did. He said he'd be happy to watch Coraline and the puppies. He'll take them back to his house tonight. Hopefully it's not very late by the time they can all go. Just for one day," she leaned to kiss the dog's head, like she didn't want her to worry that she'd be sent away.

"Do you know what's going to happen with the puppies, once they're older?" Maya inquired as she took a seat next to Lucas. Mitch Sanderson was still gathering a few other things they might need.

"Not yet. Depends how many there are, I guess," Missy told her, her worries flashing across her face.

"There'll be plenty of time for that later," Lucas nodded, moving forward to get a look at Coraline. She was always such a welcome sight, all those mornings he'd be out here helping the Sandersons. Now she was looking up to Lucas like 'yes, you're here for my babies, good.' He smiled, brushing at her back. This was not the day he and Maya had envisioned, but it was going to be a very good one nonetheless.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners