May 18th 2023

Chapter 138
We Love Calling On Ghosts

It was common by now for Thomas Friar to join his son and his family over dinner several nights a week. Many of those evenings, he would be along early enough that he would also help with the preparation of said dinner. At least once a week, when he would come for dinner, he would be accompanied by Pappy Joe and Patty as well, making for an even livelier evening. For this week, that dinner had happened the night before. On this evening, after Ella's visit, there was only one guest expected for the evening meal, and it was the one and only Pappy Tom.

"Wait, hold on, he hasn't seen my hair yet!" Marianne gasped and spun on her heel, stopping herself from following her younger sisters all the way to the door. The five of them were just carrying on, eager to find their grandfather. Lucy got to be the one to open the door this time around, but not before they went through the routine that they had been taught with regards to opening the door.

"Who is it?" Lucy asked, and Kacey leaned in to whisper what they soon guessed to have been an instruction to speak louder. "Who is it?" Lucy repeated herself louder.

"It's your Pappy Tom, sweetheart. Is that my little bunny girl I hear?" Thomas' voice could be heard, and the girls looked to one another, all in agreement. He had passed the test, so Lucy opened the door, the better for her and her sisters to excitedly greet their grandfather. He would make sure and return the favor to each one in turn, no one given any less or more. When he came up to only five, of course… "Where's your big sister?" he asked of the girls standing around him, who all seemed to be realizing that Marianne had not followed them.

"I have… no idea," Lucas casually shook his head from where he stood, trying to act as though he didn't have his firstborn standing rod straight behind him so she wouldn't be seen. She was currently breathing into his back as she remained braced, waiting for her moment. Finally, she tipped her head sideways, back into view for her sisters as well as her grandfather.

"Surprise!" she beamed before stepping out fully and moving up to the group by the door. It wasn't as though Thomas hadn't known about her plan to color her hair for the musical. He'd known about it ever since the surprise of her spontaneous haircut, but it was still a big change to behold for the first time, and after the initial shock of the unveiling, his reaction here was the same as with the cut.

"Let me have a look at you…" Thomas held out his hands as she came up to him, and he cradled the back of her head, looked her over. "You look wonderful."

"It's only for the musical," Marianne pointed out, smiling all the while.

"Then we'll just have to enjoy it for as long as it lasts," he told her, and she liked the idea of that very much.

It wasn't as though they had not been close before Melinda's passing, but since she'd been taken from them, it was as though Marianne had taken the love she'd had for her grandmother and added it to the love she had for her grandfather, while Thomas had taken his wife's love for their granddaughter and added it to his own. What they got out of it was a bond made that much stronger, a connection that helped them both move forward. Now that he had arrived, they knew not to seek Marianne very far from Thomas for very long. If she had to go anywhere without him, it would be done with haste.

As soon as the opportunity presented itself, Marianne saw to it that she could lead both her father and grandfather away from the others, take them out of the house and over to the studio so that they might discuss some very important things together. Thomas needed little more than his granddaughter's summons, and he was there, which was something that his son had in common with him. Maya had been read into the idea, the better for her to keep the other girls occupied along with her siblings, so the trio would have their time alone to discuss Marianne's plan for the ball.

Thomas Friar had only maybe been inside the Hex once or twice since it had been erected outside his childhood home, not for lack of interest so much as there'd never been any reason for him to go except back when they'd first finished it and then once, because Marianne had wanted to show him something she'd done. Now, here he was, and he was guided by his granddaughter to come and sit in one of the wheeled chairs before she took the other one, so Lucas sat on the small couch.

"So, what have you been up to, my Annie?" Thomas asked, reaching over to brush a bit of the girl's – temporarily – red hair. It made her laugh before she sat up in her chair, pushed her hair behind her ears. Lucas could easily tell that she was nervous, just a bit, but she went ahead, nonetheless.

"I wanted to talk to you about… about the Equestrian Ball," Marianne revealed, and her nervousness was plain enough to see. If Thomas Friar would have been the type to withdraw when put against a difficult subject, it might have drawn him back in. As it was, he would have been ready to answer her regardless, because there was never any doubt that she would inspire complete transparency, child or not. "Are you going to go?" she asked him, her tone curious and undemanding.

"I've been telling myself that I should go, that your grandmother would want me to go," he slowly explained. "She looked forward to that night, every time it happened since it began. Last year…" he paused, bowed his head, which immediately prompted Marianne to get up and lean to embrace him. He held on to her briefly before letting her stand before him. "Last year, she had just the best time," he recalled, his voice quivering under the weight of emotion. He paused again, noticing for the first time that his granddaughter was holding his hands, which made him smile. "When we went home at the end of the night, she said she felt like she'd had such a wonderful evening that she couldn't wait for us to go to the next ball."

It was an answer without an answer. It told Marianne and Lucas both that, while there was a big part of Thomas that would have rather stayed home than to go anywhere near the Equestrian Ball this year, he simply felt that it would be impossible for him not to go, that he needed to go, in loving memory of his Valentine. Understanding this, Marianne turned to look at her father, and the look on her face was such an echo of him, of his mother, that it made him smile. She had been led to the conclusion that her idea would be just the bridge her grandfather needed to attend the ball and not be left so… adrift. Not that they would have left him to sit in a corner all night, but this would be something more, something good and inspiring.

Marianne told her grandfather what she wanted to do. She wanted to perform, the night of the ball, what had initially been meant to be one song but soon became a minimum of four. One song she would choose, one song her father would choose, the same for her Uncle Michael, and one that Thomas would choose, all of them for Melinda.

"That sounds great, Annie," Thomas smiled, which made her smile. "Do you think, maybe, you could do with someone to accompany you?" he asked, pointing over into the booth, to the wall where Maya's primary guitar collection hung. Marianne looked, too, then turned back to her grandfather, unsure what he was suggesting, and then… She pointed at him, asking without words. You? "I haven't picked up a guitar in… a few decades," Thomas admitted. "But I bet you could help to get me ready in time, what do you think? For your gran?"

"Yeah, yeah!" Marianne gasped, sounding momentarily like her baby sister and her double speak. She had a big grin now, and she looked over to her father for a moment before turning to her grandfather once again and then moving into the booth. Maya would say that she moved through the Hex and handled all of it like it belonged to her, and Lucas could see it in the way she went and, one by one, took down a trio of guitars, which she took back and distributed, one for Thomas, one for Lucas, and one for herself. "We can both show you, right, Dad?"

"Sounds good to me," Lucas tipped his head to her, turned a smile to his father, who looked just as taken in by Marianne and her positivity. "But we won't be able to stay out here all night," he reminded her. "You know, dinner, your mom, your sisters…"

"I know," Marianne promised as she sat back down in her chair and looked to her grandfather. "Do you remember the notes? Like this, look." She demonstrated, and after watching her – because how could he not – Thomas bent to his own instrument and did what she'd done. "That's great, Pappy Tom!" Marianne told him, and Lucas' lips quivered under a laugh, thinking about how she sounded like her mother's teacher voice. "Now you, Dad," she turned to him, catching him off guard in such a way that it made Thomas give him a look like he might have been busted for not paying attention in class.

"Yes, Miss," Lucas gave his daughter a smirk before playing the notes as instructed.

Maya had expected for them to get caught up in what they had to do once they got in there, but sooner or later she had to go and collect them so they could have dinner. Everyone was very intrigued to know what they had been doing back in the studio. Telling them that it was going to be a surprise would work, sometimes, but more often than not, they had to contend with how a child their age was bound to react. There was some pleading, and some quivering bottom lips, and some big cries that had a couple of them sent off to bed early while their big sister had to be convinced to leave them be and not fall for any of it. The night of the ball, it would all be worth it.

After getting five out of six girls off to bed when the time came, Maya and Lucas returned downstairs to find the sixth sitting up on her knees on the couch, the better to look over her grandfather's shoulder as he wrote something down. He was talking to her as he wrote, and she was giving him her undivided attention, smiling, nodding… The way he went, it looked like he was telling her a story, and as they approached to join them, they knew this was exactly what he was doing. On the paper, they would find songs, ideas he'd had, which had now led to his telling his granddaughter stories of her grandmother, and they were always her favorites, now more than ever. Sitting in audience along with her, both Lucas and Maya felt the same way, listening as Thomas Friar wove words together and, with those words, brought his Melinda back among them, if only on the turn of his voice. They had always loved this thing of theirs, telling stories, but more and more, and in the last year especially, they had finally, truly, come to appreciate their power.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners