January 5th 2023

Chapter 5
We Discover New Avenues

It didn't seem possible, not even as Lucas was driving off to get them from preschool to bring them there, that Lucy, Remy, and Kacey should have reached the moment where they would enter the ranks of green group. But here they were now, four years old and all set to go. It didn't seem so long ago that their big sister was the same age they were now, just about. Marianne had been weeks shy of four in the fall, when the after school program had started, just as she was still going to be seven for a little while longer when she joined the eight and nine-year-olds of red group today.

Oh, Marianne… As excited as the triplets were for green group – and they were, truly and deeply – it almost didn't compare to how excited their sister was to know that they would be there. Lucas was certain that, given the chance, she would have surrendered her fresh new red bandanna to slip on the old green one and look after the triplets, to join them in story time with Carson, to get to visit the horses and do as she had done four years back… It was a great show of who she was, both as a person and as a big sister, that she didn't mind in the slightest – encouraged, more like – that her father would not follow her into red group but rather return to lead green group along with Uncle Dylan. It would mean that he'd be with the triplets, and she wanted that for them. She could also wish to be there because she wanted to see what it would be like now with their new third monitor, Bobby Davis.

There had been little to no thought required when the boy had asked Lucas for this posting. He was in no shape – somewhere between physically and mentally – to get back on his horse, but he needed to be there, at the ranch, in so many ways. There would have been any number of positions out there for him, but he had shown interest in this one, and Lucas believed he would do well with it. Plus, they were experiencing an increase in registrations, and it made sense to have an extra pair of hands to help, especially with their littlest bunch.

First things first, the girls had to be collected if they were going to get there and join Dylan and Bobby and the rest of the kids from green group, both new and returning. Many of them had graduated up to blue group last spring, but they still had plenty who were gearing up for their second year in the youngest group. Lucas wasn't putting too many expectations on the triplets finding themselves some lifelong friends that very day, neither was Maya, but they would be lying if they said they weren't hoping for some connection to bloom up all of a sudden. They would hope; it was the best they could do.

Today's drop-offs had them all together, naturally, because it was the start of the year. Starting the next day, this year's plan was that Maya would do drop-offs on group days and pick-ups on non-group days, while Lucas would do the opposite. It started off right here, with him heading to the preschool to gather the first three. Per Wyatt's suggestion – and Marianne's immediate and full support – they'd snuck the triplets' green bandannas among their things, the better for those to be discovered along the day. Lucas wasn't sure whether they would have found them already or not, but then he arrived and was quickly surprised. He laughed as he spied the three small blondes, all of them with the fabric neatly tied – by Miss Alma, he had no doubt – around their heads. He didn't know whether the addition had anything to do with it or if they'd just had a really good day, but they all seemed to be more animated than ever he'd seen them in preschool.

"Daddy!" Lucy gasped, and for always thinking that Remy was the fastest runner out of the three, they had to hand it to the littlest of the trio. When dad hugs were on the line, there were none faster than Lucy Elizabeth Friar.

"Hey, bun," Lucas beamed, his paternal pride good and stoked to find her in his arms this way. He kissed the side of her head before she pulled back to look at him with that glowing smile of hers; she looked so much like her mother... "Looking good," he indicated her bandanna. She nodded in agreement before twisting around to look for her sisters. Remy and Kacey had evidently decided that they had best collect their things quickly now so that they could leave. They were making their way out to him, bags brandished at the ready. "Alright then," Lucas nodded. "Let's go."

The next stop brought them to the elementary school, where Marianne and Winnie had gotten the same idea in slipping on their red bandannas. They were all set to go. Lucas was filled with renewed happiness, both for seeing them and seeing how giddy they were and for spotting several others who'd done the same. He could see loads more bandannas, in blue, red, and yellow, on children who would soon be bound for an afternoon at Sullivan Stables.

"Annie!" Kacey led the chase toward the new second graders, the others right behind her. Marianne wasted no time in closing her arms around one little sister before moving to the next and the next again. She loved a group hug as much as the next really affectionate person, but she also appreciated what giving some individual attention could do for someone, too, and she wanted that for her little sisters. They loved it enough now that they would all stop there and wait their turn.

Marianne looked about full to bursting with the desire to talk about her first day and how it had gone, but she was resisting. She wanted to get to tell her mom, too, and her littlest sisters, and her uncle... So, she just had to keep it together for now. Thankfully, once they arrived at the ranch, she would have plenty to do to keep her occupied.

Sometimes Lucas had half a mind to look into getting a bus to ferry the students over, especially when he could spot some of them by their bandannas. He would have brought all of Marianne's young friends, and his own friends' kids, and of course Tori. They were all being picked up and dropped off by their families as it was, but who knew? For now, he would settle happily on driving these five girls, who had enough energy to make a minivan feel like a crowded school bus.

"There's Bobby!" Marianne pointed out the window as they neared the arch, and she was correct. The senior boy stood there, looking lost in thought just enough to make Lucas think he knew what he was thinking about. How could he not think about the moment that had changed his life forever when he stood so near to the spot where it had happened? Lucas slowed down as he drove parallel to him and opened his window. Bobby blinked and looked back at him.

"Hello," he nodded.

"Need a lift the rest of the way?" Lucas smiled, and it pulled Bobby from his thoughts.

"I'm alright," he promised, holding up his hand to show the green bandanna on his wrist as he pointed. "Over there, right?"

"That's it," Lucas confirmed and drove past him. In the back of the minivan, the triplets had perked up at the sight of the green matching theirs. He was in their group, just like their father and their uncle, and that made him special.

They parked, and the girls were unloaded, instructed not to run off ahead even though they had done it before. Bandannas or not, there was a lot more activity, and Lucas didn't want to lose sight of anyone. Before long, Marianne and Winnie would join their friends and the rest of the red group. The way Marianne hugged her father, he had a feeling like she wasn't trying to gain comfort so much as to give it. That would be like her, wouldn't it? She'd think of how he would no longer be one of her group monitors when he had been with her through four years and two groups before suddenly being split from her, and she'd guess (correctly) that he would lament being unable to see her through. So, she would hug him as though to say, 'hang in there, Daddy.' It made him chuckle, and he watched her running off with a smile.

Lucas hoped to have good stories for Maya to be told once they all came home from the triplets' first day in green group, especially after her concerns that morning. All in all, it did feel as though they managed this. The triplets were put at ease already for not being strangers in a strange land. They were at the ranch, and they knew loads people who knew them, too. They got to hear Carson tell them a story, they went to see the horses, who knew them pretty well, too. And they got to visit Bishop and the dogs, which was a highlight all on its own, one that the likes of Marianne and her green group had not been privileged to have at the time.

And they warmed up to some of the other kids in their group. The difference from what they had been seeing and hearing about back at preschool was enough that Lucas' optimism shone clearly through and succeeded in starting to put Maya's mind and heart at ease. The girls would happily share their own versions of the experience, and they would sound so much like their big sister when she did the same, for maybe the first time ever, that they brought more comfort to their parents than they could ever know. Later, Lucas would tell Maya about what he'd witnessed, too.

Some of the kids had clearly never seen identical twins before, and they had been instantly curious about Kacey and Remy because of it, asking questions... One girl had looked at them with uncertainty like they might have been some fantasy creatures of some kind; it had taken her most of the afternoon before she'd speak to either of them, or to Lucy once she'd learned that it wasn't just twins.

Kacey and Remy were by now very aware of how people could not realize that Lucy was their triplet, even though they were sisters and the same age. It sounded silly to them, impossible, but that was just the way the world was. Alright, then, they'd think... We'll just have to correct them. Not only would they make it known that they were triplets, the three of them having shared their mother's belly and a birthday together, but that Lucy was their favorite person ever in the world, and they should be good to her. It made none happier to hear them than Lucy herself, who would smile such a smile... That one seemed to bridge the gap between her appearance and the twins'.

"Once they all found out about twins and triplets, and fraternals and identicals, they were all in awe," Lucas told Maya. "By the time they all started to leave, the other kids were saying goodbye to all three of them one by one, by name. It looked like they were looking forward to seeing them again as much as they wanted to come back to the ranch, to the horses, the dogs... And the girls looked so happy to be around them..." he reminisced with a soft smile that earned him a mock-free snicker from his wife.

"So, all in all, not a bad start, huh?" she asked, and he leaned to kiss her.

"Not bad at all, no."

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners