April 12th 2023
Chapter 102
We Move New Stories
"You're going to be here right when we're done, right?" Marianne asked when the minivan stopped in front of the school.
"Right when you're done," Lucas nodded.
"You promise?" Kacey called out, getting some nods and stares from so many blue eyes that he could have been paralysed in his seat, unable to move again until he gave them the answer.
"I promise," he told them, and they were satisfied. "Can we go inside now?" he asked, indicating the school, where many other children were milling about, probably not thinking about the end of the day, or watching Nana's show and its brand new companion, which were both having their premieres.
He could hardly blame them for how excited they were; he was feeling it, too. The girls were mostly excited because they missed 'Nana Night' and were looking forward to including their aunts and baby Finn into it all, and because they knew that there was a second show now, airing right after and starring Stevie Brett and her character. He was feeling those things, too, but then also… There would have been no way, no universe in which this day would come, and he wouldn't be deep in his feelings about his mother, about how happy she would be for him, how excited she would be for both the series…
His father had known about this, too, and he was even more prone to get caught spiralling into those thoughts, but he had come through for him in a big way with a gift that now lived permanently in his pocket, wherever he went, connected to his watch. Thomas had struggled to even go into his room since the accident, so much so that if he ever really needed something that was in there, he would usually send someone to get it for him. It wasn't until very recently that he'd gotten up the nerve to go inside, and he'd waited until he had the house to himself to do so, needing the privacy but not knowing how to ask for it. The whole thing had gone about as well as he'd figured it would, but he did feel that, by the end, he was glad he had done it. This was a first step.
One of the things that had come from his trip into the room was a small golden charm in the shape of an owl. Lucas knew it well, knew it had been his mother's since she was in her teens, her riding days. It was one of those things he'd seen so many times over the years, whenever he for some reason found himself looking through the items on her desk. She kept it there, as a reminder of those days, because they had been filled with so many wonderful memories, especially memories with her mother and stepfather. When Thomas had given him the owl charm, his very first instinct had been to give it to Marianne, knowing how much it would mean to her to have this memento of her grandmother, but his father had insisted it should be his. In later years, much as the charm reminded her of her riding days, it also reminded Melinda of him, of her sweet Luke, always so drawn to it. The charm belonged to him, and if he had it, then it would be something for him to hold on to when the feelings came.
He held on to it all, the watch that Maya had given him years ago and the owl charm linked at the top, several times throughout that day. They had him thinking of both these women, his wife, and his late mother, and they balanced him, helped him through the hours, until it was finally time to go and collect his daughters. He was so on time that he was early, and he went to collect them right from their classes, the moment they were able to go, maybe a minute earlier in Marianne's case, and if she'd been able to contain her excitement all day, now it was finally allowed to breathe.
"Dad, did you know my teacher's got a daughter that's in Mom's class?" she asked him as they walked back out of the school.
"I did, yes," Lucas nodded. "Max, right?"
"Yeah! And she's in the quiz team now! I didn't know it was her, but then she did a portrait of her family in her diary last week, and one of her moms looked like my teacher, and I thought 'well Mrs. Ingrid's got a wife, and they're both called McAllister, so it has to be her.' So, I asked, and she said yes. She said Max loves Mom's class the best."
"Good for her," Lucas smiled.
"Does Mom know, too? That she's Max's mom?" Marianne asked, and he nodded. "You both knew, and you didn't tell me?"
"We… kind of thought it'd be more fun if you found out on your own… And look at that, we were right." Marianne didn't look entirely convinced, but she was happy enough about her discovery and about the evening to come that she was willing to let it go.
Getting everyone home was the next step, and then it was homework, and dinner, and bath time, all before they ended up in the living room by eight. It would be a crowded one that night, maybe every week afterward, too, so long as everyone was available. Lucas and Maya would have all seven of their girls, plus their son-in-law and their granddaughter, Wyatt, Nellie and Gracie along with boyfriends Bobby and Ethan Davis, and last but not least, Pappy Tom, Pappy Joe, and Patty.
Of the seven Friar girls, only two of them had memories that extended far enough to recall when the first series had started, even if in Marianne's case it was a faint and faded memory, based on impressions. For both Mackenzie and Aubrey, it was all only beginning, most of their memories going back so far as the previous season. And there in the middle, there were the triplets, who could not remember a time before Nana Night but who'd also been having these nights with their parents and their sisters long enough that they had a whole routine for it. They knew where they wanted to be sitting when it started, and when the theme would play, they would hum along to it, and then when there would be commercials, they would move around… If their parents said to shut their eyes or cover their ears – which wasn't very often – they would do as told, almost diving for cover. By the time it would be over, they'd be sitting up on the couch with their parents, or on the ground and leaning against their legs if not holding on to them outright.
Now, all of a sudden, Nana Night was twice as long as it used to be, and they didn't know how everyone would do. It was a fifty-fifty chance on regular nights like these whether Mackenzie and Aubrey would still be awake by nine, and on this night, as important as it was for all of them, they were barely hanging on at the end of the first hour. Their parents wouldn't have them fight to keep their eyes open, so they held one each in their laps and ever so gently coaxed them to sleep.
When the new series began, just as had been decided months ago, the episode was dedicated to the memory of Melinda Friar. The text on the screen was accompanied with a picture of a young Melinda, standing under the Sullivan Stables arch. The moment was all of seconds long, but it held the young Friars' living room as though it could stretch time ten, twenty times over. When it was over, they might as well have been holding their breaths the whole time, and then released it again.
It was a new experience for all of them, new but not entirely unfamiliar either. They could see very well the connective tissue that existed between this series and the first, but it was also its own thing, its own story, and to see Stevie Brett take up the leading role – credited now as Stephanie, though she would always be Stevie to them – was really, truly something. It had her former art teacher in tears she had to assure each of the triplets in turn were very happy tears. She looked at that young woman up there, remembered the teen girl who'd so wanted to be on the stage that she'd shown them every year how she needed to be included among their musical cast even though she could not sing to save her life. She saw her on her screen that night and there was not a hint of doubt whether or not she'd earned her top billing. She was captivating, and Maya had a smile as she imagined her fellow teacher, Stephen Brett, and former student and big sister, Daphne Brett, seeing her, too. She imagined Stevie herself, seeing it herself and having her father, her sister, and boyfriend Henry Hillard, all around her to live this moment along with her.
"They're asleep," Marianne reported after getting off the couch to go look at Kacey, Lucy, and Remy, who'd ended up tummy down, piled together on a cushion on the floor.
"Yeah, figured as much," Maya hummed as she got up with Mackenzie. "You need to be asleep soon, too, come on, say good night?"
All the sleeping girls save Tori would be carried up to their rooms and their beds, leaving a room that was no less awake, as they found themselves on the other side of this long-awaited evening. There was a lot of conversation going, both about the ongoing tale they'd returned to in the first hour and the brand new one they had joined in the second. Everyone was excited and genuinely enthusiastic… Thomas Friar sat quietly, listened to them all with a smile.
He'd been asked to spend the night at the house by his granddaughters, so they might have breakfast with him, so as the rest of their guests went on their way, he remained.
"What'd you think, Mr. Friar?" Gracie asked, sitting on the couch with him, with Nellie, and Lucas and Maya. Wyatt had only just gone up look in on Finneas and head to bed before an early morning class.
"Oh, it was wonderful," Thomas nodded. He was briefly quiet, and they were quiet with him, knowing he had to be thinking of the tribute at the beginning, especially as he turned to Lucas. "Your mom always said there was so much more story to tell up at the ranch."
"She did," Lucas nodded. She'd told him personally a couple of times, once, he remembered, all of days before he'd learned that the spinoff would happen. When he'd told her it was coming, she'd been as elated as she'd felt affirmed in her beliefs. He looked to his father now and he gave him a thankful smile for having brought that memory back to him. He was certain he would think of it… maybe every night that came like this, bringing them together for Nana Night.
They would stay up, Lucas, and Maya, and Thomas, and they would watch the series premiere all over again, watch this new story just starting, this new avenue that stretched from Sullivan Stables. It would stay with Lucas through that night, and in the long run, he would be able to look back and know that he'd made a promise to himself and the owl in his pocket, to keep telling new stories, as often as he could. That was the night the promise was made. As for keeping it, well, it was only a matter of time; promises in this house meant 'yes.'
TO BE CONTINUED
See you tomorrow! - mooners
