August 2nd 2023
Chapter 214
We Wish To Protect
His heart might have beat right out of his chest, and the feeling connected to the infant in his arms, enough that he looked ready to break out crying. Lucas didn't know how he managed to but he calmed himself enough to let the boy know that everything was fine, whether or not that was true. At least, in doing so, he was given the presence of mind to look outside again, to scan the road, everything as far as he could see around the house, for any sign of who might have left the box on their doorstep, precious cargo and all.
"It's okay, hey, I've got you, bud… Ezra… That's you, huh? Let's just try and cover your ears up a bit… Maya?" he called up the stairs, gently moving with the baby, to further settle him down. His tone must have carried enough of a 'you need to get down here right now' message, with how fast she came.
"What… What?" she started, then stopped once she saw him and what he held. Even as she approached, she could see the box behind him, the door still open, and she didn't need him to say a word in order to be caught up to where he was.
"There was just a knock, I… Here, take him, I'll go look around," he moved to pass her the baby, and she didn't question it. "His name is Ezra, that's what it said," he explained, touching his small hand, the first one he'd seen.
"Go, I've got him," Maya nodded, and he went. Her heart was beating very fast, too, but the baby didn't seem to mind it so much now. He just slept.
"Where's Dad going?" Marianne's voice trickled in, quickly followed by steps on the stairs. Maya turned around and her daughter's eyes went wide. "Whose baby is that?" she asked, coming closer.
The triplets weren't far behind and, Maya suspected, their movement was the last thing they needed to get the little sisters to follow, too, because down they followed. Each of the girls had a similar reaction, spotting the baby in their mother's arms and being at once surprised and excited? They loved babies, and this one looked so tiny like it was just born, which their mother confirmed. He had been born the day before. Maya didn't want to tell them the circumstances of his ending up here, but Remy spotted the box, which Lucas had pulled into the house before going out and shutting the door, and she bent down to pick up the paper inside. She was still learning to read, but she had enough in her to spot the words 'his name is…' and she sounded out…
"Ezra! That's his name?" The other girls looked at her, and Marianne looked at the box, even as Wyatt and the twins came down to join them and happened upon the scene.
There was a lot of talk going on after that, the discovery recounted, and soon Lucas returned, having found no one and no sign of who had dropped off the baby. Figuring she wouldn't have had the opportunity to do so, he'd already gone ahead and called two people. He'd called Nadine to see how the baby was, and he'd called Sophie so they might know what to do next. They were both on their way.
"Mommy, he's a fairy, right?" Mackenzie asked, still huddled around Maya and Ezra, gently touching his ear.
"What do you mean, Macaw?"
"His birthday is when the fairies come, and he just appeared out of nowhere," she beamed. Aubrey was in awe at the idea, and the triplets, even knowing the truth, seemed intrigued at the thought. No one had the heart to suggest otherwise.
Nadine arrived first. Much as they didn't want to go, five of the sisters had been sent back up to bed, with Nellie and Gracie to see to it they actually went to sleep. Marianne maintained that her bedtime wasn't here yet and she could stay. She and the others watched as Nadine was presented with the baby. It would have been natural for her to be shocked and confused about his arrival on the Friars' porch, but there would be sufficient time for that later. Right now, she was here as a doctor, and she examined Ezra with all the knowledge and fine care she was known to give.
"As far as I can see, he's doing very well," she told her friends. "Everything looks good, and what time he's been here… he's had his needs met…" she reflected, allowing herself to shift away from the professional stance to consider this boy, left here as he was.
Sophie didn't come into the house right away when she pulled up. She looked around outside for a while, considering everything around her friends' home before coming up on to the porch and finally through the door. She looked at the box, the blankets, the note, the baby… They knew she'd run into plenty of situations regarding children over the years, in her line of work, and too many of them had ended in ways she would never wish to speak of. But now here was baby Ezra, in this warm, Christmas Land looking house, cozy and safe… It told her plenty, even as it reassured her.
She would handle things as best she could for them, trusting that anyone would see she had nothing of bias in suggesting that the Friars carry on looking after the baby until they knew more and could then see about their next steps. It was late enough that night that they'd be doing everyone a favor as it was. She still left them with as much information as she could, and Nadine did the same before leaving, things to look out for. They were doing their best, but they still knew so little of where he'd come from.
"Now he's staying, can I hold him?" Marianne turned to her parents once her aunts had left.
"He's not staying, but we're looking after him, you know that, right?" Lucas asked, and Marianne looked at him like she couldn't believe what he was saying, like in her mind not only did she feel that he was part of their family already, she also knew, simply by looking at the two of them, that her parents would find it just as difficult to let him leave and disappear from their lives.
"I guess. Now, can I hold him?" Marianne extended her arms. Lucas sighed, looked at Maya.
"I'll go see how they're doing upstairs," he told her while she stepped up and carefully handed the baby over.
Marianne was a pro, naturally, and she looked so happy to be holding the newborn. He didn't have a lot of hair, but what he had on him looked intent on puffing up into a sort of golden brown, which his eyes seemed intent on settling into as well. Wyatt had already dug out one of Finn's old onesies, which they'd dressed him into.
"I know you're not really a fairy, but we can pretend, okay?" Maya heard her daughter whisper, and she bit back the urge to laugh. She did not resist the urge to snap a picture of the two of them.
Wyatt had been busy, as soon as it had been confirmed that Ezra would be spending at least this night with them. He'd gone and pulled up a crib from the basement and brought it upstairs, soon with Lucas' help, to his sister and brother-in-law's room. They could have put the baby in a car seat overnight, a bassinet, anything simpler than this, but Wyatt had insisted he should have a crib, after the box he'd been left in. As well as things were going for Ezra as of yet here, Wyatt was clearly upset at the entire situation, as he had every right and reason to be. For him though, they knew, it was personal, as he was often left to wonder what could have happened to his own baby boy if things had gone differently.
In record time, the crib was set up and made ready for the baby. As soon as he was done with that, Wyatt left the house to grab whatever Ezra might need. Lucas had been ready to go, but Wyatt insisted he should stay there with him. Marianne was convinced to bring him up there to rest for the night before finally heading to bed, setting aside big sister mode until morning. Soon, their strange little night was drawing to a close, nothing like what they would have imagined in the beginning. They had definitely not foreseen having a newborn babe to tend to. Now here they were, peering down at him as he slept soundly.
"You think it's one of them, don't you?" Lucas spoke aloud what had not once been spoken before, not even with Sophie or Nadine around. More than likely, as they were well aware of the situation, they would have thought it anyway.
"It has to be, doesn't it?" Maya sighed. She looked at Ezra, and it was still kind of impossible to tell if he looked like anyone at this stage, but she didn't see how one or both of his parents wouldn't be one of her students, to have not only thought of leaving him here but to have known where she lived in order to leave him on their doorstep. "It can't be Madelyn's, we've seen him, it's not him… Could Max have already… But she said she was keeping them, and then… where's the other one? Marie isn't due until January, if this is her baby, then he's early, and he doesn't…" She sighed, reached her hand to lightly brush at Ezra's cheek. "I'll go see them tomorrow, I guess, see what I can find out, but…"
She didn't want to say it, and she didn't have to. Lucas understood what she was getting at. If it ended up that it wasn't any of those three girls, then…
"Oh, hey, hey…" Maya hushed when Ezra started to wake, and fuss. She scooped him up and held him near, even as Lucas stood by her, looking down at him, too. "We got you, okay? We got you, baby boy. See? Everything's fine," she told him, and it was hard not to feel like, to some degree, they were breaking their cardinal rule and lying to him… a little.
In this moment, yes, everything was okay, but then what about later? They didn't know where he came from, how he'd ended up with them, nor did they know if it would all get to stay that way… They were trying so hard not to go along with this idea like he would stay with them, even though the thought had so easily weaseled its way into their minds and refused to leave.
They weren't going to think about that, not right now. Here and now, they had a day old boy in need of some rest, and they both knew very well how to make that happen. Maya sang for him, and Ezra calmed down so easily, it was as though he knew her voice already. It was impossible for anyone in that room to know how long he'd heard that voice, even before his birth, as his mother had played her songs constantly, from the moment she'd made the decision to leave the baby with the Friars. She wanted him to know the voice of the one who would be his world, his mama, to bond him to her, and she might well have succeeded.
"Look at you, you're okay," Lucas smiled, brushing at Ezra's hair as he'd gone back to sleep.
"We're in so much trouble right now," Maya shook her head, and Lucas leaned to kiss the side of it. They stayed like this a while, wrapped around this baby boy they knew already they could not give up, not without causing their own hearts to break.
TO BE CONTINUED
See you tomorrow! - mooners
