A/N: The new chapter of "We Three Hearts" is now available!

August 5th 2023

Chapter 217
We Wish All A Merry Christmas

They hadn't brought him out here, not yet. There'd never been any kind of intent in not doing so, except maybe that he was still so little, and they hadn't even brought the girls out so early either, although looking back on it now, maybe they had just known what they wished for. And if they brought Ezra to Sullivan Stables, it would have felt as it had done with Marianne, with the triplets, with the little sisters… It would have felt like introducing the newest member of their family to the ranch, and the ranch to him.

But now they had finally said the quiet wish out loud, him and Maya. They were going to keep him, they were going to raise him and be his parents. And when she'd woken up that morning and seen him standing there, holding Ezra and speaking quietly to him, she'd called it 'delayed conferences.' And she'd suggested it might have been time for him to take their fairy boy through the arch and show him around the old place.

So, after the rest of them had gone off on the big grocery trip ahead of Christmas Eve – honestly, it had been a very hard choice for the girls to decide whether to go with him or her before deciding that their mother would need all their help – Lucas had gotten himself and Ezra ready, and they'd driven off together.

He slept through the entire ride, and Lucas wasn't so caught in the moment to go and wake him when they drove on to the property, but he still felt a jolt for the both of them when they did. He was careful not to wake him either as he got the car seat out and walked out of the parking lot and toward the B&B. There were several spots he couldn't wait to bring him, the stables, the retreat, the archive, the dance studio… But this one was special, even if it didn't look entirely the way it had done in his earliest memories. This was his grandmother's house, Marianne the first's house, once upon a time Melinda Sullivan's girlhood home… and even though Sullivan Stables as a whole was important to the family, this house was its heart, and Ezra needed to be a part of it, too.

Once he was there, of course, the thing he'd looked forward to the most was not just to have Ezra be there but for the people to see him, too. Several of them had met him already, had come to the house in the last few weeks, once he'd gone on leave and they'd found out why. They kept him up to speed and took what input he was able to give. It was very important to him to devote this time to Ezra, as much as he possibly could.

Christmas Eve came along so very fast. They were receiving on this day and the next, their friends today and their families on Christmas Day, as it had felt both more reasonable and more important for them to spend these holidays here this time around, with Ezra. So, they were up bright and early on the morning of the twenty-fourth, getting everything ready before their guests started to arrive, the turtles and junior turtles in their numbers. There was still some cooking to be done, and everyone needed to be dressed, hair and all… No cleaning was left to be done, not with Lucas going at it as he'd done and even more so once the girls had started their holiday breaks, too.

Lucas and Maya both had been unsure as to how the girls would react once they had to tell them that their plans for a trip on that break had to be pulled back. They had thought maybe not to have it get to that point, but the closer they'd come to it, there just was nothing to be done for it. Ezra had become part of the picture, and they couldn't reasonably pack him up along with them and head out on a ski trip, and they definitely could not leave him behind and go without him, not a chance.

When they did tell the girls, there was some disappointment, naturally, but not nearly as much as they might have imagined. If anything, the girls looked at them like it was only natural. Maya had a feeling that, once she'd realized it for herself, Marianne had broken the news gently to all of them. They would make up for it in time, that they could promise, and the girls were excited to hear it. Now they were all in their holiday best and they couldn't wait for everyone to arrive.

"Wait, before they get here," Lucas looked to the girls, and they stared back at him, curious blues on high. He looked to Maya, who held Ezra. They'd said Christmas, but just now it sort of felt like it would be so much better for it to be out in the open, so that it might be shared with their guests both big and small. She thought the same thing, and she nodded at him, so he moved to the tree, to fish out something he'd hidden in the back.

"Daddy, what's that?" Aubrey asked, with a gasp like she thought he had pulled a fast one on Santa. He chuckled and waved his hand to let her know everything was fine before bringing the wrapped thing over to them. "Who's going to unwrap it?" All six girls raised their hands. They looked at each other, stuck.

After a minute or so of them talking it out, it came down to Mackenzie and, after confirming with the rest of them that this was what they wanted, he put the package in the four-year-old's hands. She couldn't even pretend as though she wasn't super excited, so it was a good thing that they'd packed the thing to be safe from eager hands. The paper was expelled, leaving a box that Mackenzie pulled open. All the girls leaned in together, and so that was how they saw what was inside: a blue mask. A blue mask just like theirs, to go over one's eyes, the necessary attire for any junior turtle. And blue… that was their color, the Friar color. They all had one and now this…

They figured it out one by one, aided at once by Marianne's outcry, half giddiness and half relief. Ezra! Ezra was staying! A baby brother and now a turtle like them!

The result was exactly what their parents had envisioned. The moment any of their guests arrived, they were presented with the news that Ezra was staying for good before being shown the new mask. They could have told their friends already, but then seeing all of their reactions at being told the news just made it that much better. It was exactly the right moment for them to find out. All around, the feeling was anywhere from 'oh thank goodness' to 'yeah, of course you are.' It was not unlike whenever they'd gotten to tell their friends that they were having a baby, only this time they baby was already here with them.

All the junior turtles were very happy to find out about the decision. It was always a great day for them whenever they got to add another person to their group. They all had different relationships with each other, some closer, some less so, especially where the age divide came in, but the great equalizer was this group they had created together. It would be something they carried with them in life, knowing that they had all these sort of cousins out there, ready to help them if they were needed.

The Friars hadn't really been part of the weekly dinners or lunches all month, something their friends understood. So now, with all of them there for Christmas Eve, it felt a lot like when Lucas had brought Ezra to the ranch for the first time. He and Maya got to introduce him to this other part of their lives, too. He wouldn't remember it, but there would be more than enough pictures and videos for him to look back on, these first holidays with his family.

The Eve had been everything they could have wanted and more, and soon the Day would be all of that and more, especially if they had any say in it. Still, when they woke up on the morning of the twenty-fifth, when Maya went and looked in on Ezra in his crib, she couldn't help but feel a twinge of sadness in her. Lucas saw it, and when asked if she was alright, she breathed out, looking on as Ezra's little hand was held against hers. She stroked the back of it ever so gently.

"I just started thinking about… his parents, his first… Whoever they are, wherever they are… I don't even know if they celebrate Christmas," she shook her head. "But if they do, if they're out there today, going to see family or having them over… I don't know how they're feeling right now, but it can't be…" She wasn't sure how to express exactly what she was feeling, but she didn't have to. Lucas understood it. He looked at the boy… their boy… and he knew that, like his wife, he wouldn't be able to stop thinking about them all of today while they saw Ezra through this first holiday.

In no time, they were all going to be there. Hunters, Friars, Hart-Lanes, and any number of other branches from those trees. Being just across the road as they were, at least some of the Hart-Lanes were able to arrive before everyone else. If it wasn't already amazing to consider that Ezra had been among them for almost four weeks already, to have Finneas just about sprint at his grandparents when they came through the door was just one more trick of time to bowl them over. James just scooped him right up and planted him on his side, his buddy for as long as the small boy would go and stay in one spot. It really all depended on whatever caught his eye next.

"Can I hold him? Can I?" Maisie appeared at her sister's side, already giving the baby her best smile. He was getting to know his aunt very well by now, as like when Finneas had been born, she'd been running over to visit whenever she could in the last few weeks. She was very good at holding babies, too, so Maya didn't hesitate to hand him over once she saw that he wouldn't go and start fussing.

It wasn't as though they were never in one place, all the Hart-Lane kids and their families, but it was often the case that one or more of them would miss out on family dinners for one reason or another, always valid. Today though, they were all here, joining the Friars. Maisie was here of course, and Wyatt and Finneas. Eliza and Ben were there with their daughter Hannah, Emma with boyfriend Dakota Day. Teddy was there with Priya and Lily, Cara and Mateo with Felix, Manny, and Sara, and Sam and Dora with Francesca, Tim, and baby number three baking along… Abigail and James were as happy as could be, eight children, sixteen grandchildren, two great grandchildren…

When Thomas arrived along with Pappy Joe and Patty, there was still that feeling in the air like he carried the spirit of his late wife with him. Marianne told him how, in the morning, when they would take Ezra down the stairs, they would show him the picture of their Granny Mel, the one they still greeted every morning and every night, and they would tell him one thing about her, a tiny memory, whatever they could think of. She told him how she'd seen her father lightly hold the baby's hand to the glass a few times, and Lucas had given a humble tip of the head, admitting this was so. Thomas was happy to hear it, not quite overwhelmed, but still made glad for the knowledge that this new and very unexpected grandson would get to grow up, knowing about the grandmother who would have loved and doted on him so.

The feeling was shared by Michael Sullivan as he and Keith and their children came along. The two of them had been as awed as the rest of them when they'd found out about the baby left on their nephew's porch, and they had been so kind and helpful in any assistance they could provide. They had offered to help track down Ezra's parents, and Maya and Lucas had been thankful for this, but they really couldn't see how they would achieve that, from their position in the narrative. It all came down to the school, they were still very sure of this, and they didn't want Ezra's birth parents to feel overwhelmed by people coming at them left and right.

The Hunters and Clutterbuckets had been receiving a constant stream of information out of the Friar house since the night of Ezra's 'delivery' thanks to Nellie and Gracie. Shawn had started to refer to his daughters as hosting 'the Pan Cast' every day, often more than once a day. Any new thing, big, small, pertinent, or random, they would share it, sometimes in duplicate if they didn't consult each other first. This would also translate in 'different angles' whenever they went and sent pictures, which was now turning into a fascinating sort of album.

All of them, from Shawn and Katy to the latter's parents, and all four of the little Hunters, had been caught up in the tale of the abandoned boy, though already there… They didn't see him as abandoned, more surrendered, passed into hands his mother and father had trusted would be able to care for him in ways they could not. Did the delivery method have its risks, naturally, and they could talk that part over for as long as they lived, but it wouldn't change the results. Ezra was good, safe and sound, and as they could attest for their own hearts as much as others', he was loved. They could hardly ask for more.

As though they didn't have enough snooping on their hands with the 'cheerstery,' both MJ and Haley had now joined forces, determined to aid in the search for his birth parents, claiming that they would have a different perspective from their big sister's, because they were students themselves. Lydia would help them, too, but from what they had shared so far, this had brought for no more results than what Maya had been able to achieve. With the news that she and Lucas were going to be keeping him, now, part of them felt they might as well let the secret rest… maybe.

"I always wanted a brother," Ella told her mother as she held Ezra. Maya had Sunny, and it was hilarious to think that the tiny boy was now her uncle.

"Better late than never then, huh," Maya smiled.

She still remembered when they had called Ella and asked her to come over. When she'd arrived and seen Ezra, she hadn't understood what was going on at first, but then they'd shared the whole tale with her and she'd been floored. She had been a high school mother herself and she could very well imagine what mindset Ezra's mother would have been in. Now here she was, with a new baby brother in her arms, the two of them taken in by the Friars when they'd needed them, if in completely different circumstances. Their relationship might not have been the same as the one he'd have with his sisters living at home, but it would be special still, both of them Friars by heart if not by blood.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners