March 15th 2023

Chapter 74
We Elevate Into Clouds

In the hours that had followed the birth of little Finneas, the only time the boy had left his father's arms had been at the summons of medical staff. None of the family had yet gotten to hold him and none of them had actually asked if they could. It felt as though they were as aware as Wyatt was that things were a bit up in the air at the moment. Yes, the baby had been born, he was here, he was looking very healthy as far as they'd seen, but there were so many questions still left that it felt more reasonable to leave father and son together. He had been taken back to Alicia's room, that she might feed him, but she couldn't do it, and, in the end, they had been left to find another way to ensure that the newborn got what he needed.

He had been returned to his father along with a bottle, and Wyatt had set himself to feeding his son. The baby didn't sound so keen on this, and it took a while for him to take what he was being offered. It would have been so easy for several of them around him to jump in with advice, opinions, anything, but they knew how important it was to Wyatt that he be able to look after him, so they kept back, let him carry on by himself. If he finally looked at them and sought their help, they would give it, naturally, but it wasn't necessary. In the end, Finn took the bottle, and he was satisfied.

Plenty of them would have volunteered to stay at the hospital overnight with them, but all those of them with children back home or in their belly eventually bowed out. Maisie was sent out along with her big sister Maya to spend the night across from home, leaving only Abigail and James to back up their son and new grandson.

Thomas and his younger granddaughters were all very glad to hear the news from the hospital when Maya, Lucas, and the two girls returned. They got to see pictures of the baby, which was exciting for all of them. There was no telling yet whether they'd get to go and visit him the next day, but whenever they finally got to go, they would have drawings and cards ready to give their new cousin and their uncle, too.

Sunday mornings were not spared much so far as sleeping in, not at this time, so when the phone rang just before six, the Friars weren't exactly up and about, but they were awake enough not to have been startled out of sleep. Maya looked to her phone and saw that it was James Lane.

"Hey, Dad, is everything okay?" she quietly asked, aware of how many little ears could take the sound of her voice as the all-clear to come crawling into bed with her and Lucas. On the other side, it sounded like James was in a not so dissimilar situation.

"Did I wake you?" he asked.

"No, not at all," Maya promised as she sat up and looked to Lucas. He was staring back at her, as curious as she was. "What's going on? Is the baby okay?"

"Little man's fine, nothing like that," James soon assured her, and she was relieved, but only briefly, as she sensed the drop coming before it landed. "Alicia's gone."

"What do you mean, gone?" Maya frowned, all the while balancing the phone between ear and shoulder so she could repeat the two words to Lucas in sign. His brows raised in surprise.

"She must have slipped out when no one was looking. Her things are gone, her hospital gown was on the bed, the hospital bracelets, too. We've tried her phone, called her apartment, her roommates say they haven't seen or heard from her. No idea where she's gone off to, hospital security tried to track her down, but they got nothing helpful…"

Maya was relaying all of this to Lucas, hands moving along, but she felt like her mind was miles away, with her stepfather, with her little brother… her nephew… If she was honest with herself, was she surprised? No, not even a little bit, but that wasn't the point. They had known all along that this pregnancy had not been what she wanted, but she had seen it through because there was no other alternative as far as she was concerned, and finally she and the baby had been parted… and she had made her choice.

"Wyatt must be freaking out," she sighed.

"He's exhausted, barely slept at all last night," James revealed. "He dozed off for a while in Alicia's room, and then a nurse came with the baby, he woke up, and that's when they both realized she'd disappeared. He hasn't put Finneas down for a second since. It's like he's in shock."

"We'll be there as soon as we can," Maya promised, and they hung up.

They had to think fast on this one. They didn't feel like they could bring the girls with them, and there was no one there to leave them with. Lucas first offered to stay back with them, to let Maya go on ahead on her own to see to her brother, but she refused. He deserved to be there as much as she did, and Wyatt would want him there, too. So, they called up the lane to Sanderson Farm and soon had Missy and husband Cole to see to the seven girls. None of them were told about what was going on, which was an easier sell for some than others. Marianne and Maisie knew that something was up, and they could guess at least that it would have to do with Wyatt and the baby. There was no time to get into it with them, so the best they could do was to convince them that they were needed at the house, with the little girls, which was true enough. They didn't like this, but they had no choice except to go with it.

Finally, Maya and Lucas were off to the hospital. They arrived at about the same time as the rest of their siblings, in that they would end up converging in the parking lot, talking about what they'd been told long enough that another would arrive, and another, and another, until finally they were all there and they went in to find Abigail, James, Wyatt, and the baby.

James was talking to a security guard, Abigail to the doctor who'd done the delivery. And Wyatt was sitting in a corner, his son asleep in his arms. To look at the two of them there, there might not have been anyone else in the world. Wyatt carried his exhaustion in him, but he kept as steady as he could, focused on the baby all the while. The siblings and spouses exchanged looks, debating who to send forth before finally deferring to big sister Maya. She'd had a feeling it would come to her, so she took a breath and moved to sit next to her brother.

"Hey…" she quietly spoke. He didn't look up, though she could see that he'd noticed her arrival.

"Morning… I guess it's morning," he replied after a few seconds. His voice sounded faint, sounded like what he might have felt. Tired, confused, determined… Finneas was cradled in one arm, Wyatt's other hand gently brushing at the fine hair that covered his head. He had a lot of it already, darker, like his mother's, than his blond father. As he slept, the baby was completely unaware and unbothered by the situation. He was peaceful in his father's arms, safe…

"Did you…" Maya started to speak, then paused. She hated to have to go there, but right now it felt like the best she could do was to try and get him talking. "Did you have any idea…"

"That she'd leave him?" he asked, tone unchanged. He was quiet again, and she thought he wouldn't go on, but after nearly half a minute… "I didn't know, she didn't tell me anything like that, but I knew, or… I thought she might. I did my best for her not to, I swear, I did." Sadness had crept into his voice now, and Maya knew where it came from. He had not wanted his son to lose his mother. He'd felt deep down that he'd never actually had his mother, but he'd hoped anyhow.

"I know you did," Maya promised him.

"She never told her parents, you know?" he added, and Maya blinked. She was vaguely aware that the others, even the doctor and the guard, were listening in, but she stayed on Wyatt.

"Never?" she asked. He shook his head.

"I wasn't sure at first, but I figured it out… few days ago, I guess. They have no idea she was ever pregnant."

He didn't say it, and she didn't ask, but she guessed that he believed Alicia would be reappearing back in her hometown before long, with some story of how she'd dropped out of school, or maybe decided to transfer back nearer to her family, and the last nine months would have never happened, not as far as they knew. If that was what he believed, then his entire demeanor also suggested he wouldn't try and find her again. He would let her go and focus on Finneas instead.

A lot had happened in a very short time, and as she rejoined the others, leaving the father and son be, Maya had little to offer except what they'd all heard. The shock made sense, and maybe as time wore on, his thoughts would change. Not his thoughts on where his priorities belonged, no. Those were as clear as they got, and everyone was going to do everything they could to back him up. For now, all they knew was what they had at hand. Primarily, there was the fact that they had no reason whatsoever to keep Finneas at the hospital. He was cleared to go home with his father, his support system secured as it was. He would lack for nothing, especially for care and for love.

Abigail and James both wanted to bring their son and grandson back to their house, and if that was what Wyatt wanted, no one would stop him. He agreed to go, but he made it clear that it would be temporary. He only needed to look at his big sister and his brother-in-law to know that he was still at home with them, that he and his son would be home with them whenever they were ready.

There was no hiding their return as they drove up the lane, one vehicle turning up the Hart-Lanes' drive, the other continuing and turning up the Friars'. Marianne, Maisie, and a few of the younger girls were all looking out the window, and they saw enough to piece together that Wyatt was back, the baby was with him, and they were going across the road instead of coming back here, where Wyatt lived. They all crowded around the door when Maya and Lucas came up on to the porch, all of them talking over one another with roughly the same thing on their mind: when would their uncle be home, and when could they see the baby?

"They're going to be staying across the road for a little while," Lucas told the girls, which prompted Maisie to cut past them and run on home. They barely managed to keep the others from doing the same. "We can't go over there just yet, but as soon as we can, we'll take you, alright?"

There were a lot of protests and some crying out of a few of them, but there was nothing they could do about it, so they sulked for a while before cooling down. Marianne went and asked her mother what was really going on, and Maya went ahead and told her the truth about what had happened with Alicia. She was upset, for Wyatt, for Finneas, but she didn't look any more surprised than most of them.

"They're going to be okay, aren't they?" she asked.

"I think so, yeah," Maya told her, hugging her firstborn.

"What about Alicia? How are we going to know?" Marianne wondered, and Maya hummed, kissed the top of her head.

"I don't know, pumpkin. Maybe she'll reach out someday… when she's ready." If she's ready.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners