June 20th 2023
Chapter 171
We Swim With Friends
The traveling part of any trip now felt like a challenge for Maya and Lucas both, and that challenge would be to try and make the whole thing as stress free and enjoyable of a time for their daughters. If they got to have that for themselves, too, that was bonus points. On the whole, they did very well on that level. And on the other side of that, they got the arrival. They were finally home again, and they had to laugh, seeing how giddy they all were to be in their own house again, like it was a member of the family they'd had to leave behind. And it wasn't the only one.
The Hart-Lanes had pre-emptively returned the pets to the house before the Friars returned, as a treat to their granddaughters, and it was a merry reunion between girls and dogs, and girls and bird, too. Mackenzie had very nearly literally flown up the stairs and to her room to retrieve her Micro, who was as happy to see her and showed it by remaining perched on her hand as she brought him down to join the others.
A happier reunion still happened when the bell rang to announce the arrival of Taylor, and Ella, and every indication that she had, as promised, not had the baby yet. She was nearly there and clearly eager to no longer be pregnant, but both she and Taylor were far more eager to see the Friars, parents and children alike, and along with them... their Tori. They had all spent a lot of time apart from one another, when they'd all lived in different three different cities, over two different states, and now they had a home together. Time apart pressed on them now in a way very unlike what they'd previously known. It hurt more.
But they were together again now, the three of them, and Ella and her sisters, her parents... They had spoken throughout the trip, shared some stories of what they'd all done, but now they were together again, now it was time to fill out those stories, with details and excitement... It was just what they needed to close the book on their summer vacation for this year. Now they could get on to this season they looked forward to every year. Summer, sun, camps, and friends...
"What do you think?" Maya whispered, the next morning, as she and Lucas lay in the quiet of the house. Lucas listened for a moment, tracing the lines of her hand as he considered.
"Either they're still asleep..."
"Doubtful," Maya replied, which made him smile.
"Or they're getting dressed and being really quiet about it for some reason..."
"Considerate, possible for some, unlikely for the rest."
"Then they're awake, snuck downstairs to watch TV until we get up."
"That's got my vote."
"And if that's not it?"
"Then we'll settle our scores later. I have so many interesting ideas in mind..." she gave him a look, and he bit back the urge to laugh, even more so to respond in kind.
"I mean, who needs to be right?" he finally shrugged, and she snorted, kissing him before moving to rise.
Neither of them had actually been right in the end. The triplets were not in their room, but they WERE in the green room with their sisters, where it looked as though they had erected a makeshift tent out of blankets and pillows, the better for all of them to 'camp' on the floor. Kacey, Remy, Lucy, and Aubrey were sleeping in a heap, the twins huddled together and Lucy holding her buddy sister protectively. As for the other two, Marianne and Mackenzie were sitting, facing one another. The silence, they now realized, was because Marianne was showing her little sister some new signs, by means of a storybook open in her lap. She always saw it as so important to help further her little sisters' knowledge in the language, and they always were as happy to learn these as they were to sit with her for piano lessons.
They had been discovered now, of course, and in no time everyone was up, a great anticipation bubbling in them. It was the first day of camp! They wanted to go so badly, whichever camp was theirs to attend, and the longer they had to wait, the harder it seemed to become for them to sit still. Breakfast was one thing, because they were hungry... and there were pancakes involved... but after that, they had to get dressed, and they had to get their hair fixed up, and by the time they got there, they became fidgety, much to their mother's frustration.
"You really don't have that much hair, you would think it wouldn't be that hard to make one small braid on either side of your head..." she frowned, working while Marianne teetered from heel to toe and back. "I'm almost done, okay, help me out here..."
"Okay, but hurry, please? I really want to..."
"...really want to go to camp, yeah, I'm getting that," Maya breathed now that her 'client' had stopped moving around.
It was a good thing that she'd come to a standstill, as it allowed Maya to finish just in time. The second braid of multi-colored hair had barely left her hand when the doorbell rang. Marianne turned her head at once, confused and curious about who it might be, and then she was off at a run, leaving her mother to follow. She didn't have to hurry; she knew exactly who it would be. The Farrells' young cousins were once more united for a summer in Austin, one at the ranch camp and the other with his aunt and uncle.
"Haru!" she heard the surprised cry and smirked.
He would of course be attending camp with Marianne and her less geographically distant friends. He had been set to arrive late for the start of camp by a couple of days, but the plans had changed at the last minute. This had been kept secret, the better to surprise his Texan friend, and it had been worth it, by the look of it.
When Maya made it to the bottom of the stairs, the two nine-year-olds were talking about their respective trips, hers to New York and his to Austin, and she was showing her hair (in person finally) and suggesting that he could put a bit of color in his hair, too, while he was in Austin, maybe him and Kimiko both... It was all a giddy and loud mess and they couldn't have asked for anything better.
Brian and Haruna Farrell accompanied their niece and nephew, as did their son, Max. Kelsey would have been there with them, always wanting to spend as much time as possible with her cousins while they were in the same place, but she and Ava had gone off on a brief summer trip of their own and wouldn't be back for a few more days. Her parents foresaw many big plans between their daughter and the siblings once she landed back in the country.
With one Max in the house, however briefly, as they would see be heading out to drop the kids off at camp, it was impossible for Maya not to inquire about the other. She had heard bits and pieces about her trio of expecting students since the end of the school year, had seen them all on one or more occasions, and in each case there was a fair commonality. They were glad to be out of school so they wouldn't have to deal with that on top of everything, but at the same time it got to feel like their entire worlds now revolved around the little lives growing toward beginning in their bellies. That was as it should be, more or less, but also it was sort of terrifying, life altering...
As far as Max McAllister was concerned, she was trying to use this time to adjust to this swerve off course that her future had taken and slowly finding a way to warm up to it, settle in. According to Max Farrell, though this came more from what his actual words suggested than his saying so, his best friend had decided to have her baby and keep it, raising him or her. Whether this child's father would be involved remained to be seen.
After the big drive to head to camp had been stalled by the arrival of Haru and Kimiko, there was finally nothing left to hold them back. The Friar girls were off to camp. They headed out, the Farrells following behind. There was one brief stop to leave Mackenzie and Aubrey at the former Zvolensky house, now home to Sophie, Chiara, Asher, Ray, and their children, which had been designated - at their behest - as the base for their mini camp for so long as they needed it. They really had all they needed there to give their little pre-camp aged kids a fun space for the summer, so why not use it?
After leaving the two little sisters, they moved on to the main event for most of the kids left in the two vehicles. When they arrived, the triplets were seen to their group first, joining their friends and several other kids they knew from school, and the after-school program... It was one of those times where Maya and Lucas really felt deeply just how much their 'little butts' had grown. Lucas may have claimed to be able to hold the three of them at once to this day, but that was for sure before his attack, and maybe it was for the best that he wouldn't try anymore.
Marianne and Haru ran off together to find Winnie and the others, and seeing them together, it was really a shame that they didn't get to spend more time together. Then again, Maya and Lucas supposed that part of what made their friendship special was that they knew how special it was, because they had to live it at a distance most of the time.
Finally, there was only one kid between the Friar and Farrell vehicles, and she wasn't exactly a kid anymore. Kimiko was so much more familiar to them now, after she'd spent a year in Austin as an XC on top of being a regular camper the last few years. She wasn't the only one in this position, as a lot of their campers settling into the B&B were repeaters who would join them year to year until they finished high school. It made Lucas feel a lot closer to how Maya would feel, saying goodbye to her students at the end of each year.
When it came to Kimiko, he was pretty sure that he wouldn't hear the last of her just because she'd eventually age out. She and her brother had both become bonded to his family, especially through their aunt and uncle and cousins. Nowadays, thanks to them, he was also getting to keep in touch with the Makovetsky siblings, their former XCs, as Kimiko and the sister of the pair, Mila, had taken up a long-distance relationship of a different kind than her brother and Marianne's.
Now, this summer, rather than being exchange campers, Misha and Mila had returned to them, as summer campers. Kimiko was giving a very accurate imitation of Marianne earlier that morning, in a lot of ways, as she arrived at the stables. She was looking for someone and she couldn't stand still until...
"Surprise..." Lucas heard and, turning around, just got to see Mila Makovetky stood behind Kimiko Matsuoka, with her hands over the other girl's eyes and a fluttering smile on her face. Kimiko spun around in the hold, so Mila only had to let her arms drop around her shoulders, and then they were hugging tightly, crying quietly as they let the moment feel more and more real. Lucas discreetly walked away to go and greet Misha, leaving the girls to a long-awaited reunion.
TO BE CONTINUED
See you tomorrow! - mooners
