February 14th 2023
Chapter 45
We Wonder How They Would Feel
"I've got a feeling about this, Truffle," Lucas quietly told the horse as he examined her. He looked back at her with a smirk. "She's going to go for it today, you just wait. When Marianne gets out here in a few hours, you two will finally get to go for a ride."
He'd watched his daughter, over her last few visits, and he could sense the shift happening. She was feeling more and more prepared to try riding her horse again. Truffle was as recovered as they could ever hope for her to be after her injury, and while he'd been sure of that, Marianne had needed some more convincing. He understood, he did, but now he was really looking forward to her getting back out there. To look at the way the horse reacted to his prediction, she was really looking forward to it, too. They'd both have to wait a few more hours.
In the meantime, Lucas had plenty to keep him busy. After his rounds, he had one task in particular which he most looked forward to. It was enough that he'd locked away the supplies in his office, for fear that a certain old woman would beat him to it. He might have simply told her that he wanted to see to this himself, but he knew that it would have only been a matter of time before the temptation got too strong, and then her excuse would be that she had been so kind as to give up part of her studio for the endeavor… even if she had actually jumped at the chance.
The upper floor of the dance studio so often stayed out of use that, by now, it had started to turn into storage, or somewhere the employees would occasionally go when they weren't working. But now they had this new thing they wanted to do with the group kids and, needing a space to host it, the studio's first floor was to be dedicated as the permanent location of the arts and crafts corner.
Just the night before, Lucas and Maya had made a trip for supplies out at the art store, to go beyond the measly stock that he'd originally put together. The new art corner would have so much more, the better to hopefully inspire all the kids. It had been as amusing as he'd imagined it would be, letting his wife the art teacher extraordinaire loose in there. He'd told her what he was after and she had run with it, pitching in with suggestions of what else they might want to have. He found it the smartest thing he could do to very simply listen to her.
Now here he was, pushing a great cart loaded with their purchases from his office toward the studio. On his way, he was joined by Lee Beaumont, who was coming from the archive with a different cart, this one stacked with tables and chairs pulled from storage. They worked together to get everything up to the first floor, all the while feeling Donna's eyes on them, as much for curiosity as for the need to keep them from interrupting her lessons with a pair of nearlyweds… Actually, it was probably the warning gaze more than anything.
"Think you'll need more of these?" Lee asked once all the tables and chairs had been placed around the room.
"No, we should be fine for now, thanks," Lucas told him. Maya had already offered her services to do something on the walls, and he knew she would do a wonderful job. In his mind though, he would always imagine artwork, all around the walls, sort of like in Maya's old room, when he'd first known her. That wouldn't happen until they started bringing the kids in. There were already plans to create sections on the walls, one each to every group. The same already existed so far with the supply cabinets, which he now saw to stocking from all he'd bought with Maya. Lee remained to assist him.
"Johnny and I are working out how to split the days, with his appointments," Lee told Lucas as they walked out of the building, once they'd finished. He couldn't stop thinking of how happy he'd been with the results of the art corner's setup so far, how much he wanted to show Maya, the girls… Then he chuckled; only Lee called Carson 'Johnny,' but when he did, it would be as though the young man he'd been, working at the ranch with Simon Sullivan, would shine through. The smile was bittersweet now, thinking of the other part: the appointments.
Carson wasn't getting any younger, no, but on the whole, he was in good shape. In recent weeks, however, he'd been feeling off, enough so that he came to decide that he needed to consult. So far, the news hadn't been devastating by any means, but the age here felt like a factor they couldn't ignore, and it made his friends and colleagues worry that things could take a turn for him. All they could do now was lean on hope. He would get through this.
As he left Lee and the studio, Lucas ran into clinic assistant Sylvie, who let him know that Cristina had asked for him to head to the Bed & Breakfast, so he turned his steps that way. He was eternally pleased with the choice he'd made for the B&B's management, as much for Cristina herself as for how it brought Rafa into the fold. The unexpected bonus here was Bishop and how he'd come to fit into the picture. Lucas' old college friend had quickly befriended the single mother, and it might have taken the pair of them longer to see what several others – Lucas, Maya, Cristina's son, Bishop's ex-wife – saw, but day to day, the shadows had faded. Now the two had taken up a very open flirty courtship, which had culminated in Cristina taking up the nerve to ask Bishop to dinner, just him and her, rather than them and their son and daughter, which had happened a few times already. This first date had yet to pass, as they'd decided to give Valentine's Day a wide berth – less pressure – but to see them lately, it felt as though they yielded a lot more fun in the wait than impatience. Lucas wished nothing but the best for them, more of all this… They both deserved it, and they already fit so well, him and her, and Rafa, and Evangeline, too, in any pairing imaginable.
As Lucas approached the B&B, his grandmother's old house, his eye was drawn to the sign, swaying lightly in the breeze. It still made him smile, thinking of how it had come to exist, just as it was, across time and through the intervention of many, from a grandfather he'd never known to his firstborn child.
Sitting in the porch swing underneath it, to his surprise, was not Cristina but Maya, which pulled him from his thoughts. She should have been in class just now, barely started with her freshmen.
"Hey, I wasn't expecting you," Lucas smiled nonetheless as he approached with his curiosity. The way she sat there, he only now came to notice, she looked… wrong. He couldn't put it into words… possibly a part of his brain didn't want words for this. Whatever had brought her here just now, it sat on her heart, heavy and burning. He set his foot on the first step leading up to the house, and she lifted her eyes, found his, and without saying a thing, he knew that she'd dreaded the effect this moment would have on her. Her eyes became shiny, unsteady… "What happened?" he asked. He wanted to get rid of this feeling in his gut that he was about to feel the same way she did, and he couldn't escape it. So, he found it in him to keep approaching until he could sit next to her. "Maya…"
She was having trouble with bravery, too, he could see it. Whatever she needed to say, she must have known just the effect it would have on him. And when she'd open her mouth to speak, it would lodge her heart in her throat, stinging her eyes with tears. He took her hand and she clasped on to his, held him fast. He kept her gaze; he couldn't have looked away if he tried.
"I-I don't know what happened," she made herself begin. "All I know is Mr. Matthews came to find me. Your father is in the hospital," she went on, sounding so much like she kept having to catch her breath. "I don't know how he's doing, just that he called Mister… Cory… He called Cory, wanted him to… to be there and tell me, so I could be there and… Lucas… They were in an accident, a-a crash…"
His dread had been closing in, tightening around him the more she spoke, the nearer she got to the heart of the matter. It was like focusing a lens, and there was nothing left to see except the nightmare that stared back at him on the other side.
"Lucas… I'm so sorry…" her voice was barely there. "Your mother, she… She didn't make it, they couldn't…"
He didn't remember standing, except that some part of him wanted to be… wherever was not in this moment. He stood, but it was all he could do. He didn't walk away; if anything, his hand tightened around his wife's, as hers did around his. Both of their joined hands were shaking, and whatever compulsion had allowed him to rise must have been failing now, because he was sure he would soon fall and lose all sense. He'd heard the words, and for as much as he would have loved to believe he was only dreaming, he was feeling too much to be able to afford that fugue.
He didn't know where he was anymore. He was standing in a spot that had always been safe, happy, familiar, but he couldn't match a single thing his eyes saw right then with familiarity. He was lost, and if not for that hand anchoring him…
He stumbled in place, knees weakening until he was down on the swing again, and Maya put her arms around him, her forehead rested against the side of his head. When he felt the rattle of a first unrestrained sob escape her, it split a crack at the heart of his shock… His mother…
The ranch… He was at the ranch, and he remembered the last time she'd been here, the night of the Equestrian Ball. He saw her and his father dancing together like they could have been there, right in front of him, the smiles on their faces, the love they shared… She couldn't be gone, they… His father… His father was in the hospital… a crash…
"We have to go… We have to go to the ER."
"Yeah… Come on, I'll drive," she told him, sniffling. Melinda Friar was his mother, his blood, but she had been like a mother to Maya for more of her life than she hadn't, and he couldn't ignore that. She was as devastated as he was. He opened his mouth to speak, but she shook her head. "Don't even think about it. I got here, didn't I? I'll get us there."
He wouldn't have known how to argue with that if he'd wanted to. They had something to do now. They had to find Thomas Friar and see to him, and for that their limbs could be made to carry them. They walked down from the porch, hand in hand, and started toward the parking lot.
As they went, the world lost its silence and they knew that somehow the news had taken flight, touching one and all with the news of Melinda Friar's passing. Melinda, once Sullivan, daughter to Simon and Marianne the first… They had a clear view of Donna Devereaux in tears, being held in the arms of Lee Beaumont, who was not without tears himself, thinking of the girl he'd once envisioned as the love he'd let slip away. He was in shock.
No one stopped them on their way to the minivan. They felt for the pair, but they understood that they were needed elsewhere. There would be time for condolences and care. Now… now…
"My uncle…" Lucas spoke when they got in their seats. Silence hung between them for a moment. Someone needed to tell Michael Sullivan he'd lost his big sister.
"I know," Maya nodded even as he looked at her and a far more horrible prospect came to each of them. Their daughters… their granddaughter… Someone would have to tell them. They would have to tell them that their Granny Mel was gone, and they just couldn't even fathom it… Marianne… Oh, Marianne… How were they going to tell her?
TO BE CONTINUED
See you tomorrow! - mooners
