June 30th 2023

Chapter 181
We Remind of the Fall

The campers at Sullivan Stables had been very well behaved in the final week of their stay in Austin, far more than how they usually were. Both Lucas and Cristina had soon figured out that this went back to the incident with the B&B guests… and the camping trip. They had believed that what had happened that night might have made it so that they wouldn't be taken out to the camp site, as was the tradition at the end of every summer. There had never been a condition in place as far as the ranch was concerned, whether the kids realized it or not. They didn't see what had happened as their doing anything wrong. Was some of it a bit childish? Sure. But they were children, for the most part, so why would that be an issue?

So, they had gone camping, and they'd had a wonderful time, and then they'd come back. And now, today, everyone was heading home. The rooms had been cleaned out, all the bags packed, and they had been cleaned, too, all the bed things taken down to laundry, furniture dusted, floors swept… Cristina, who had looked after them for the last few weeks, felt as though she might have been sending her children away, even as their actual parents were getting them back. Lucas had already arranged for her to have a replacement at the Bed & Breakfast for a week so she and Bishop could take the kids on a trip somewhere, her own kid and his, so they could go and have some fun before Rafa and Evangeline started school. Cristina briefly hesitated, devoted as she was to her job and the same for Bishop and the retreat, but in the end accepted with thanks.

There were others who would be sad to see them all go, or at least to see one camper go, and her younger brother, too. The Friars were all on hand for the farewell, as were the Farrells, as Kimiko and Haru were heading home. The former had just completed her sixth summer among them, after having spent the year in Austin, too, so having her depart felt like that much more of a factor than a lot of the other campers. Maybe second closest there would be Kimiko's girlfriend and fellow former XC, Mila Makovetsky, as both she and her brother had returned for the space of a summer, to be campers.

The two girls had been stuck at the hip, hand in hand, from the moment the families had arrived to see the campers off, and as had been the case the previous summer, they wore their dread for parting in hearts, minds, and bodies. Several times, one or the other of the girls was observed leaning to press a kiss to the side of the other's face, or the back of her hand… They both looked ready to start and cry, just as they looked like they were trying very hard to hold those tears back until after they went their separate ways, so the other wouldn't see. If this went on any longer, someone would break, and it would all be over.

It wasn't as though they weren't eager to go home, either of them, or to see their families. But as anyone who had found the person in the world who could make them feel this way would understand, Kimiko and Mila had found a different kind of family in each other, and for their age it was being asked to remain patient, remain parted, and that was not easy, not for a second.

Another parting was happening that which, while not nearly as dramatic, existed like a giant frown on those to be parted. The whole group of nine-year-olds was there to see Haru off, Winnie, June, Harper, Mosi, and he was thankful for them and their friendship, but it was clear, for both parties, that the roughest separation had to be the one between Haru and Marianne.

The two young friends had not known each other for very long, perhaps, but it was the mark of a most special friendship when it could take so little time to feel as though someone had been in your life from the beginning, that they had belonged there all along and simply hadn't been there because of the 'circumstances' that they had not yet met. Lucas had teased Maya once about how he'd felt that way about her for so long, which had in turn made her look over at him, touched, yes, but also mildly unsettled at what it could suggest with regards to their firstborn daughter and the visiting boy. This had only served for Lucas to realize what he was indirectly suggesting, too, and he'd been floored at the suggestion. They were nine, both of them, it really wasn't time to even consider anything… but then again… No, no, it was just silly, and they were definitely not going to mention any of this in Marianne's presence, or she was likely to access her inner teenager very early and roll her eyes at them in perpetuity.

Whatever the future brought, the present had for sure been very kind to the children. They'd had another wonderful summer together, at camp, naturally, but beyond it as well. Their personal brands of creativity had met once more, her with her grand storytelling abilities and him with his budding passion for filmmaking. Along with the rest of their group of friends, they had been observed making several short 'films,' at the Friar house, the Farrell house, at the ranch, at the park, and at any number of other places in Austin. Easily, their most personal project had been the video they had created for baby Sunny, before and after her birth, so she could look at it when she was older and know how much people were eager to meet her and then spend time with her once she'd come along.

Now, the time had come for him and his sister to go, and while he didn't have the urge to cry like Kimiko did, Haru was for sure upset at going away, and Marianne felt the same. The two of them hugged so tight that any one of the two could have lost their balance at any second. When they pulled away from one another, there was the shortest flash of thought in Marianne's eyes before she pressed a kiss at Haru's cheek and ran off to join her parents. It was a toss up as far as who was most shocked, the dazed boy with his hand at his cheek or the mom and dad, looking at their daughter and her proud little smile.

They didn't have a lot of time to get lost in the realm of… whatever this all was. Not long after all the campers had cleared out, they were all switching gears into party mode, specifically Victoria Friar's party.

Before her baby sister had been born, Tori's mother and stepfather had let her know how she would have both of their last names, Munroe and Friar. They went into this with her because they didn't want there to be any of those awkward feelings with her there, as there had been through some of the months leading up to the birth. They wanted to make it an option for her to change her own name – for the second time in her life – to reflect their bond together as sisters, but they also knew that Tori's circumstances were different, that she had more than two parents, more than two names she would have loved to join to hers, not just Friar, and Munroe, but Petrelis… Sullivan-Reyes… She couldn't well have them all, not officially, though of course, in her heart, she could do anything she wanted. She could have decided to go the way of the Calaharts, merging all those names into something unique, but for now she had chosen not to choose. She had appreciated very much this sentiment, but for now she would remain a Friar, as she had been for as long as she could remember, and that would be alright. And when she showed up for her party, oh… She didn't need names to know how loved she was.

The same was very true of Sunny Munroe-Friar. The baby girl had only come screaming into the world less than four weeks prior, and she wore her name very well. There was zero disappointment for not having had a first August boy, and the August girls were all over the moon to have one more in their group. Whenever they would see her, they would crowd around her, gently brush at her tiny hand, or the raven hair on her head, matching her mother and big sister alike. No one was prouder to have another among them than Tori, who would go and warn anyone to be careful if they were too forceful or disturbed Sunny in any way. And to look at Sunny herself, she didn't need to be very old yet to look at her big sister and recognize safety. She would grow calmer when she'd be around, when she'd hold her... It made Tori so happy to realize it, same as it did her parents, who couldn't get enough of the sister dynamics developing before their eyes.

The festivities were still in full swing when the last arrival of the day happened. It hadn't been meant to be that day, but things had changed, and so the new XCs were coming along, pulling through the Sullivan Stables arch.

The first to come was their American student, Brett. The boy had traveled with his mother and his horse, Checky, and for what they had and hadn't known of him before, they soon filled in the blanks in context. The biggest thing that Lucas came to suspect was that Brett had not outright chosen to come here but had instead been told that it would be a good way for him to socialize more... in a city he didn't know... surrounded by strangers... in high school. What became even further evident was that this was all a thinly made excuse. His parents would be spending the better part of his year away traveling the world, without him. If that was the case, then he knew he could count on any number of people who would see to it that Brett had a wonderful year and that he would leave again next summer, feeling like he'd gotten the better end of the deal.

There was no issue so far as whether or not their first international XC wanted to be here. Lucas remembered the sheer essay of a letter that Gianna Longo had sent along with her application, remembered her going on and on about her love for horses, how she'd grown up riding them with her grandparents on their land, and also how she had always wanted to cross the ocean and discover what was out there. She made it sound like, in her head, she was a great explorer from centuries past, sailing on her ship... and it made Lucas confident that she would be a great fit for this year, sure, but just as much that his daughters - and his wife - were going to love her.

So far, as she came along, escorted by her grandfather, he saw just how right he had been there. She was telling the girls about her trip from Italy to Texas, and it didn't matter that her English still needed some work in spontaneous conversation, she more than got her point across. The girls stared back at her with saucers of blue, some mouths gaping, others smiling... Marianne was, as expected, the most engaged on the conversation, but all around, there was that giddiness they had experienced before, on their family trip to Europe, when they had been learning new words. They knew some Italian already, and they would have Gianna smiling when they would show her, as much as she'd thrill them when she'd show them some new words. It would be a wonderful year, for all of them, they could feel it, and now more than ever they couldn't wait for it to begin.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners