June 19th 2023
Chapter 170
We Swim As A Family
"Daddy... Daddy, can we go to the pool? Only for a little, until breakfast? Please?"
Lucas had not opened his eyes yet, but his smile could well betray the fact that he was awake if this kept up. Without ever seeing her, he could just picture Lucy's face - because it was definitely Lucy - as she sat on the edge of the bed, pressing her hand lightly on his shoulder as she tried to get a look at his face. She was still fairly short, shorter yet than the twins, when all of the triplets looked to have dipped on their mother's side, height wise, none of them looking just over a month away from turning six... But like Kacey and Remy she was moving away from the point where she could be more easily fooled, as the little sisters could most of the time, so now...
"I know you're not sleeping," she spoke at his ear, and he slowly turned his head to look at her and her mother's eyes.
"No, but she is," he quietly indicated Maya in his arms. Lucy nodded in understanding, possibly fell even quieter in the process. "We can talk about when we'll go to the pool once everyone is awake, okay? I promise."
That was a tough argument to argue with, and Lucy finally agreed before climbing down from the bed and returning to the room she shared with her sisters. Once she was gone, Lucas turned back to find Maya looking at him, smirking.
"You're losing your touch, Doc, she saw right through you," she whispered.
"Please, I know when I'm in the presence of a champion, and that hasn't changed in all the years I've shared a bed with one," he replied, which threatened to make her laugh loud enough to alert their daughters that she was in fact awake, so she quickly turned herself over in earnest, the better to bury that laugh in her husband's chest. He gladly closed his arms around her to 'assist.'
They might have consented to Lucy's request and gone to the pool before breakfast, only they knew enough about their daughters to know exactly how this would have gone. Everyone would be excited to go, and they would have a great time while they were out there, splashing about. Lucy, naturally, would be the best swimmer among them. The whole thing would be fun... right up until their hunger caught up with them, and it would do so a lot faster than they realized, but then they'd have to go through the whole song and dance of going up to get dried and changed before they could head out to eat, and by the time they would have food in front of them, they'd have several cranky young girls to deal with. Better that they ate first, with the promise to go to the pool after they'd made it back to the hotel, and changed, enough time for them all to digest their meal.
They didn't live in New York, and most of them in this party could count on one or both of their hands at the most the number of times they had been here, but to look at them, one might think they were there all the time. Maya would joke - so proudly - that it was thanks to her, that they had it in their blood. Lucas would tend to retort with some version of acknowledging that New York Maya had indeed been spotted acting through one or another of their daughters in a specific incident or another. He suspected that was half the reason she'd bring it up, as means to see what he'd come up with and get a laugh.
They'd have a few days like this ahead of them, where they would all do as they pleased, enjoying the city where one of them had spent the first thirteen years of her life. The pool was visited once a day, twice if the opportunity presented itself. They would alternate where they went to eat, but they also made more than one stop at Nana Katy's old diner. Maya and Lucas had many a spot they wanted to share with their daughters, especially as the younger ones would have that much more to experience for the first time to committed memory. The diner though was definitely a very special one, and they made sure to tell them the story of what had happened here so many years ago... while also leaving out the presence of any sort of 'fairy marks.' Marianne for sure knew about them and remembered, but she was satisfied to keep that secret from her younger sisters... until they were older. There would be more visits to New York and to the diner, more chances to duck under the table to find the carvings.
One of their biggest motivations in coming to New York had been about musicals. Back in Austin, the school's production of the MSC musical had been everything and more that Maya and her siblings could have imagined, and it had been as strong of a strike back against Sandra Davenport as they could have asked for, with her recent pushes for the new year, showing her that no matter what she did, she would never defeat them, that they would fight for what they had, every day. And now, she had very happily gotten to bring that information to the Broadway cast and crew, all of them great supporters of the arts in schools. She had showed them videos from their opening night and the closing, and to see their kinship with kids they had never met... It was further motivation for Maya to keep fighting, and it would be for them, too, thanks to the messages she'd be bringing back to the kids from their 'siblings in the fight.'
That was one show they'd come to see, and on this night, they were going to see another, this one with a different kind of family connection. All along as they were getting ready, and traveling to the theater, and waiting for the show to begin, there was a constant chant among the girls as they knew that they were going to see Lea's show. Very many a New Yorker was made aware of this fact that day.
As eager and vocal as they were throughout the day and up to the final minutes of waiting, when the show was about to start, their behavior turned on a dime. Their theater etiquette was as on point as their museum etiquette, always. They had their issues, on occasion, if the sounds and lights got to be too much, but they would always have someone there to help them work through it and get to the other side.
They had none of those problems here, and the credit went in equal parts to knowing that their Lea would be part of the show and to the fact that they had a musical loving - and acting - big sister. Marianne had done her research on the show, as much with the soundtrack as with the production itself. They'd heard through Lea that Marianne had called her, asking about any of those things that might have been triggering to her younger sisters. Now, as they sat in the audience, she would know when there'd be a moment coming where any of the others would need to plug her ears or shut her eyes as she'd told them she would do. It completely removed concerns of tears and loud cries and instead became like a game that made the girls happy.
They could almost have done without the warnings. They were all so enthralled whenever Lea came on stage that the whole world felt perfect. By the time it was all over, they were all giddy and eager to see her and talk to her. They'd been told to head out to the nearby diner, where she would join them as soon as possible.
There was plenty of energy and discussion at the joined tables while they all waited. They ordered a round of milkshakes for everyone, which was clearly the way to go, going by how the girls reacted, saucer eyes on all of them... Aubrey and Mackenzie both ended up halfway between sitting on their knees and standing on their feet on their chairs, in trying to reach their straws, and eventually landed in their parents' laps instead. Maya snuck a picture of Aubrey, sitting in Lucas' lap and drinking from her straw while he held the tall glass at a more reasonable height. She'd never finish the whole thing, but they did not worry about finding any takers for her leftovers.
She was asleep in her father's arms as he casually drank up from her glass when Lea finally arrived, and everyone did their best not to wake her in their excitement to see their superstar again after her performance. Marianne especially couldn't help wanting to ask even more questions, to learn about being in a 'big' musical, by comparison to the smaller ones she'd done in Austin. Lea assured her that there was no such thing as big or small, and that every role and every production was just as important. The glowing smile on the nine-year-old's face was everything, and it stayed there all through the dinner. Aubrey woke up again, finding new reserves of hunger when she was presented with a small burger and fries.
Maya, Lucas, Theo, and Lea were all so sure that most if not all of the girls would have dozed right off by the time they got back to the hotel, if not shortly after. Instead, the six sisters and their niece were fully awake and wanting to do things. Some of them wanted to watch a movie, one at least wanted to go to the pool again, and others wanted to go out again to see the city. The last one felt like a trap where they'd have to carry them all back before long, and the second, as they knew, was always on their bun bun's mind. Really, the movie felt like the best way to go, and just so not to make it seem like they were trying to get them all sitting quietly, they found one to be sure to get them all bouncy, laughing, maybe singing and dancing. Some might have seen it all as just on this side of chaotic, but it was just their kind of chaos, always. The girls were having a wonderful day, and that was all that mattered.
"Can't we stay a little longer?" Marianne asked, looking up to her father as he walked her - literally, as she stood on his feet and held on to his waist - to her room. "Another day... or two... or seven..."
"What about camp?" Lucas looked down at her. "What about Haru?" The way her expression flipped so instantly from 'pretty please, Daddy' to 'no, wait, hold on' deserved its own comedy award. She had been waiting so eagerly for her long distance friend to return for another summer in Austin, and now she'd completely forgotten for a moment. What was a girl to do, with a desire to spend more time in New York, near Broadway, and the wish to see the friend she only got to see so rarely?
"Couldn't... Couldn't Haru's family bring him up here?" she slowly asked as the idea came to her. "Then he could stay with us, and... and we would get him out to Austin when we go home!" Oh, she was so proud of herself for that one, and he hated to deny her, except...
"I wish we could, Pumpkin, but we really can't stay longer. We took as many days as we could to begin with. We're not gone yet. You have so much more time here, okay?" It was true, and she knew it.
"Fine," she sighed dramatically, and he leaned to kiss the top of her head.
"Good, because you've reached your destination," he nodded to the door behind them. "PJs on, let's go."
TO BE CONTINUED
See you tomorrow! - mooners
