March 8th 2023

Chapter 67
We Grow As A Pair

The week of the Grand would have been a big one regardless of anything else that was happening in their lives, but the events in the gym on the second day had definitely put that to the test. Going into it and knowing that, while there would be no green or red group for their daughters, no blue group for their granddaughter, and Lucas would have been as busy as he'd be with the event, the plan had been for Maya to do pickups, the better to bring everyone to the ranch and catch some of the end of day things. And then she'd been made cheer coach.

She'd texted Lucas before the start of classes, telling him she'd have to figure out a different ride for the girls and that she'd explain more when she had her first free period, but he could not have predicted the reason why. When she told him the story, he could well imagine her pacing back and forth in her classroom, hand gesticulating all over the place as she reflected on what had happened and what it would mean. Yes, she was all in for helping the cheerleaders, but she didn't see how she could add one more big thing like that to her roster of activities without finally having one thing too many on her plate.

"You'll find a way," Lucas told her. "You usually do. And if you need help..."

"I know," she replied, a smile growing in her voice. There was something in the way she'd paused there, like she'd thought of something else that had made her happy again, but whatever it was, she didn't share it with him.

Well, it had been a few days now, and the cheer saga had gone on evolving as it would. The news of the change in leadership among the squad had been taken very well around the school, maybe more than Sandra Davenport would have liked it to, so that at least had been something to lift Maya's spirits. Even as the woman was nearing the end of her first year among them, she had not yet realized just how beloved the art teacher was. It was enough to make her near on untouchable.

In that spirit, it hadn't been long that she had maneuvered herself into permission to hire herself an assistant coach. It would allow her the means to carry on and take on this new role after all. She hadn't selected her person yet, but she'd do it fast. The more time she gave the principal without a choice, the likelier it was that she'd try and force her to take someone of her choosing. That would not happen.

And so, in the meantime, Maya made her way to the gym for cheer practice in the afternoon. Already, the teams had been doing great work in getting the struggling squad to pull themselves together, and maybe Maya could have left them to continue that way, but it wouldn't be enough. Sandra would demand results. She already pointed out - if mildly reluctantly - that she had the school excited, thinking that her arrival was the signal that things would turn around. She couldn't let them down, could she?

Well, they'd have their first opportunity to show everyone what they'd been doing over the weekend, when the girls' basketball team would be on home court. It so happened that this would also be the day of the Grand's conclusion, where the riders and visitors would be treated to performances by both TXNY and the Hexes. It would be a non-stop day, but Maya didn't mind. At this point, she was looking forward to the energy boost it would give her.

While all this had been going on at school, the ranch had been in full Grand mode.

Lucas remembered how much Juliet didn't like big events like this, and while he didn't dislike it all, he knew he would be kind of glad when it was all over and behind them, so the ranch could go back to normal. There were parts he loved, no doubt to it. He loved interacting with the contestants, with visitors from near and far, and he loved seeing all the new horses, watching the competitions... Most of all he loved watching them with Maya and the girls, whether in person or at home, when they'd check out the videos he'd taken while they'd been at school. Everything else in between though...

He was no stranger to the whims of both competitors and attendees, or to the problems that could come from this vendor or that equipment... As though he wasn't already so glad to see Maya and the girls arrive each afternoon, the fact that they arrived always meant that the day was nearly done, and that was always good news.

Now, the last day had come, 'The Big One,' and both Lucas and Maya woke up that morning with a feeling like 'oh, here we go.'

"We could just... not go," Maya innocently mumbled, grabbing on to Lucas' arm around her. "Just stay here, you, and me... I can be very convincing."

"I'm familiar," he chuckled, playing into her hand briefly by leaning to kiss at her neck.

"There, see? Doesn't that sound so much better? Oh, a little to the right and... there it is," she hummed.

"Mom! Dad!" Marianne's giddy voice startled them, approaching up the hallway.

"Damn..." Maya joked, and Lucas gave her a sympathetic nod and one more brief kiss before moving to rise, before their firstborn could burst in and end up bringing all her little sisters along, too. In fact, she went to the trouble of hopping to a stop right there in the door frame, just as he pulled it open.

"Morning!" she grinned, all teeth and sunshine, the picture of her mother.

"It's today?" he guessed, and she nodded excitedly before cutting between him and the door, the better to make a run and a leap for the bed and Maya's waiting arms.

"It's today!" she declared as she melted into giggles, swallowed up in a hug. "When do we go? Soon?"

"Oh, real soon. Breakfast at Ma Maggie's?"

"Oh, yeah," Marianne wholeheartedly agreed.

"Can you help the little sisters get ready, please?" Maya asked, and she was off like an arrow, only stopping when Lucas 'dramatically' protested at his not getting a hug, too.

The day was going to be non-stop, no way around it, so they might as well get on with it, both feet at once. That meant two parents, six children, and one Uncle Wy, dressed and off to breakfast. Then it was everyone to the gym for the game. They did love double game days the best, but single game days were pretty good, too. This one was definitely the most nerve wracking one they'd had in a while, and it didn't even have anything to do with the game itself. It was the cheerleaders.

There had been a buzz building with regards to the change in coaches, in how they were apparently turning a corner and becoming good. Maya was sure that was very much due to the students, the faculty, but she knew some of it would have been the principal, and it definitely gave off 'let's get as many people in here as possible, all eyes on you.' It gave off 'whether you triumph or crash and burn, I win.' Well, whatever. Maya wasn't doing this for Sandra Davenport, and she wasn't going to think about her, not that day. All that added attention was going to be added pressure on the squad, and she didn't want them worrying more than they had to.

She told them just what they needed to hear: she told them the truth. Today wasn't about being the best that there ever was. Today was about being just who they were, which was pretty good on its own. So, they went out there, and they were themselves, on their own and, for the first time as far as the audience had seen… as a squad.

Oh, it was like night and day, from their last appearance at a school even to now, and they had better believe that the one who cheered loudest for the cheerleaders that day was their new coach. Was she expected on a stage within a few hours, singing with a voice that was actually audible? She was, and it was probably a good thing that not only did she know ASL but so did her husband and their daughters, if at varying degrees. She'd guard her voice throughout the day, much to Lucas' constant amusement, reminding her how loud she'd been back in the gym. She had a few choice signs in response to these taunts, oh, she did.

The performances from TXNY and the Hexes would come at the end of the day, and before then, they would have plenty more to see, some of it the Friar girls had worried, all along the ride from the high school to the ranch, they might miss. Most crucial to them was the showcase by the top decorated riders. They were reminded that their Aunt Nellie was going to be one of those riders, and there was not a chance that she'd miss her shot and be late, but that didn't change their minds. They could miss all of it.

They didn't miss it, not one second, not one rider. There was a reason why Marianne and her sisters had been so giddy for this day. Morning had been one spectacle, and they had two more coming, the showcase being the second. Lucas and Maya had two riders among their daughters, the eldest two, and they could see, that day more than ever, that they had several more aspiring riders on their hands. It was only a matter of them getting older first… not that it'd be their first concern.

"Daddy?" Remy asked as they sat for a bit of a snack between the showcase and the performance.

"Yeah, Kit?" Lucas asked, doing his best to keep hold of a wriggly Aubrey in his lap. She'd been pretty hungry already before she'd seen the options at hand, and then she'd gotten all squeaky and excited until they'd put the small cup in her hands. It might have been the best part of her day.

"When am I gonna get my horse?" Remy asked. All at once, Kacey and Lucy were looking up from their snacks to their father, as their triplet was doing; they wanted to know the same. And then Mackenzie, she was so taken by surprise by the question that she dropped her cup to the ground, making her start and cry until Maya coaxed her down by surrendering her own cup into the three-year-old's hands.

"Your horse…" Lucas repeated.

"Like Truffle," Kacey nodded to him before looking over to big sister Marianne.

"Is that what you want?" Lucas asked, and the twins nodded, even as Lucy whispered a near reverent 'yes.' It made him smile. "Well, you know, when Truffle came along, it wasn't like we knew she would be paired with Annie here. Maybe your horses are out there right now, and we just don't know it yet, yeah?"

In truth, they might have been a lot closer to finding their way to one another than the triplets knew. It was still brand new, a possibility born of days. And all of it had come from Scout Anderson being in Austin for the Grand. He'd started telling Lucas about a trio of very young horses back home in California, siblings born in turn… and his Hurricane was their father. They had been named in kind, too. Thunder, Lightning, and Storm. They all had something of him and, according to Scout, were destined for great things with great riders. Would those be the Friar triplets? Who could say at this point… but Lucas had this feeling in his gut, just the kind he'd always known better than to ignore.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners