October 18th 2020

Chapter 292
Their Work With Lectures

"You know what you remind me of right now?" Maya asked that morning, when she woke up to find Lucas was already finishing up getting dressed, the sun barely starting to bring light through the windows of their room. He turned around, happy to find her no longer asleep, the better for him to come around and kiss her good morning. She responded to this by pulling him down to meet her, so she might get a bit of morning cuddles before getting up.

"What do I remind you of?" Lucas asked, playing along.

"MJ, the morning of 'tree day' last year," she smirked, which made him laugh. They had spent the night at the Hunter house the night before, all the better for them to join in when Katy and Shawn took the kids to go and select their Christmas tree before taking it home to decorate. That morning, they had gotten up to find MJ had not only dressed himself but then proceeded to retrieve enough bowls and spoons to fill nine cereal bowls, as it was the only thing he could do all on his own, and he really just wanted to speed up the process and go get that tree.

"Alright, I think I earned that one," Lucas admitted.

"You're just happy," Maya smiled, touching at his cheek. It was nice and smooth now, but as soon as Halloween was through, it'd be back to beard growing, the better to enable his transformation into the jolly man in red and white. "I love it when you're happy." This made him grin, which in turn made her laugh. "Your head just went somewhere cheesy, didn't it?"

"Big, massive blocks of it," he confirmed, whispering at her ear what she'd suspected, that he was always happy whenever she was near him.

"Alright, off you go then," she 'shoved' him, and he went.

He had plenty to look forward to today, much as she'd done the week before, when she had started her new year with her students. This morning, he knew, his Monday morning class would welcome his uncle and former professor, Hank Hillard, as a guest lecturer. And then, this afternoon, Lucas would be aiding in the relocation of Trooper the horse from Sullivan Stables over to the Sanderson farm.

His drive to the university that morning was one of the most satisfying ones he'd had in three years and some dust of going along that road day after day. There may have been some very silly and very animated singing along to the radio, a part of him imagining the look on his wife's face if she'd been there in the car with him to witness it all.

Arriving in the school lot, it was back to business.

"Hey, are you okay? You look kind of flushed," Simon pointed out, when Lucas joined him and Bishop outside their classroom.

"Oh, yeah, had the window open. Is Professor Hillard here yet?"

"You can just call him your uncle right now," Bishop pointed out.

"It's a reflex," Lucas shrugged.

"Well, here he comes," Simon nodded past him, and Lucas turned just as his uncle spotted him. They waved to one another, and Hank approached the trio.

"Good morning," he nodded to Bishop and Simon before turning to his nephew. "Hey, you have the afternoon free, right?"

"No, well, I'm headed back to Austin, to the ranch," Lucas explained, and his uncle gave a quick nod, showing he was recalling him mentioning this when they'd last spoken.

"Yes, yes, the horse, I'm sorry, when I'm about to do one of these, a lot of unrelated things tend to slip my mind," he chuckled, indicating the class door. "Mind if I tag along?"

"No, not at all, that'd be great," Lucas promised, and so it was settled.

Hank Hillard was something of a regular as far as guest lectures went. He had long standing connections with the department here, and so he was a favorite for them to call upon. Lucas loved hearing these lectures. It reminded him of the years he spent in Houston, where Hank had been one of his professors throughout his four years there, truly his favorite and by no means because of their familial bond. The man was simply made for speaking in front of a classroom. The fact that he would pop up here every now and then had become a sort of treat, enough that Lucas realized he'd be sad not to hear any more of these in a little while.

When the class was done, Lucas said goodbye to his classmates and waited for his uncle to be done answering a girl's questions so they could head out together. They'd be getting in their own cars to drive from the university to the ranch, though as they made to split off they agreed to stop at the diner on the way, the better to grab lunch together.

"So, why did you ask if I was free?" Lucas asked as they sat across from one another in a booth.

"Well, I had the afternoon free, and I figured if you did, too, then we might spend it together." Naturally, they didn't see each other nearly as much as they did back when he and Maya and the others lived in Houston like he and his family did. Lucas regretted it very much, and he knew his uncle and aunt and cousins did, too, when they hadn't been in each other's lives for so long.

"Sounds good," he nodded, and Hank showed his agreement with a tip of the head and the raising of his glass. "So, how is everyone?"

"Oh," Hank laughed, sounding like he had a lot to share. "Well, the girls are graduating high school this year, as you'll know," he started, to which Lucas nodded once more. The second and third of his five children, Sarah and Evie were now eighteen and seventeen respectively, and by all accounts Sarah should have already graduated, already moved on, but then she'd repeated a grade, landing her in the same year as her younger sister, which was really what she preferred. "They've gotten it in their heads to go to study abroad. Tanya and I are still trying to get on board with the idea, but then we know there's really nothing we can do if they've made up their minds on anything, and they'll be in the position to make this choice for themselves, so… Who knows, maybe they'll change their minds."

"Do you think they will?" Lucas wondered.

"Not one bit," Hank replied at once, and they both laughed. "And then Joseph… Did he tell you?" Lucas shook his head, coming up with nothing his cousin might have said that would feel in any way newsworthy. "He went and proposed."

"Proposed?" Lucas repeated, blinking. "As in…"

"Yes, exactly," Hank slowly nodded.

"What did Leigh say? They didn't say no, did they?" Lucas asked, imagining how crushed his cousin would be.

"They said yes," Hank reassured him, smiling. "Looks like next summer will be the big day," he went on, with a look not unlike the ones Lucas had seen on his parents', or Maya's, or any of their friends', when they as firstborns went and got married.

"Another wedding…" Lucas thought to himself, imagining the look on Maya's face. Privately, he hoped the date would not land anywhere when they'd be away on the tour with Ree. "Wow…" his thoughts shifted at once to his cousin, all of twenty-one, twenty-two next summer, getting married. In his head, he still saw the kid who'd shown up at the house on Halloween years ago.

"Yeah," Hank agreed with the sentiment. "This left me and Tanya to think about what it would be like, with three of the kids out of the house, and two growing faster every day."

What these thoughts were, they were interrupted by the arrival of Nando with their plates, and neither Lucas nor Hank thought to bring them up again. Once they were done eating, they took off in Lucas' car, deciding they'd come back for Hank's truck later on.

Arriving at the ranch, they soon found Doctor Alvarez, Juliet, and Elias up at the stable, working to get Trooper out of his stall and into the trailer which would bring him up to Sanderson Farm. It wasn't going well. The horse refused to follow, like it sensed the coming change and was not interested. As responsive as he had always been to the trio here, just now they might as well have been strangers, because he was not on board.

"Oh, good, Lucas, come here. Maybe he'll listen to you," Juliet waved him over. Lucas moved in at once, as the others stood back, introduced themselves to Hank as he did the same with them.

"Hey, Troop, hey, what's the matter?" he reached up to the horse, brushing at his head. Though he did not immediately calm down, there was a definitive shift in attitude, in responsiveness. Lucas rolled with it, hoping to incite the animal to follow him. "I know you're going to miss this place, bud. But you'll love it at the Sandersons', I promise. And I'll be there to see you so much more often. I'll be nearby."

Sometimes, he could swear the horse looked at him, saw through him, recognized the Sullivan in him. The horses here, the ones who were old enough to have been there at the time, they may have been the only living beings, other than his mother and his uncle and him, who had known and loved and now missed Marianne Sullivan the most, and for that he could only feel that much closer to them. Maybe, just maybe, they felt it, too.

Trooper finally allowed himself to be led out of the stall, and the stable, and into the trailer. Lucas stayed with him every step of the way, tossing his car keys to his uncle for him to follow. Elias drove the trailer, and they were off. The ride was thankfully uneventful as far as Trooper's temperament. When they drove through the farm gates, Missy's father and grandfather were standing by, waiting for them. According to a text he'd gotten from Maya, Missy had lobbied very hard to miss school that afternoon so she could be there when Trooper arrived. She had been most excited at the prospect of the horse moving on to their land, and had promised to be something like Lucas' assistant in tending to him. Lucas had no doubt she would be very helpful and skilled in doing just that.

Trooper was led out of the trailer, showing some brief uncertainty but trusting in Lucas' presence. Lucas took him around for a slow walkabout, the better to familiarize him with his new home. Finally, he brought him out to the stable, which had been adjusted in the past week, before they brought the horse over. Lucas felt just a bit like a parent bringing a child into a new home after a move, trying to sound encouraging so that they'd like it and wouldn't lament the place they'd been forced to leave so much.

"It'll be good here, it will," Lucas promised, brushing him with his hand. Trooper looked like he still wasn't sure, just a bit like he knew he'd been brought out here because he was on his way out.

Maya had given Missy Sanderson a ride home that day, figuring the girl had resisted the urge to skip class so she might as well speed up her return to see the horse. When they arrived, Lucas was still in the stable with Trooper. Missy came up with such a smile, careful as she presented herself, reaching up to pet the new resident of Sanderson Farm. Lucas turned a smile to his wife. It looked like Trooper had made a new friend.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners