August 11th 2023

Chapter 223
We Try As A Team

"So, how are we doing with this today, huh? Still a big mystery for you, bud? Is it?" Lucas asked as he looked down to the baby boy in his arms and leaned to kiss the side of his face. Ezra was not yet two months old, could hardly be expected to give any actual answer, but that was more than alright. His father could look at him and the way his face remained locked in this inevitably funny expression whenever he saw the horses for as long as Ezra would keep it going.

Whenever he brought his son to the stables on their trip to the ranch, that would be the look he'd have on his face, like everything he was seeing would leave him so deeply stunned that he didn't know what else to do with himself but keep looking. As it stood now, Lucas couldn't wait to see what that would all turn into by the time he was older and had the means to express himself further. Until then, they'd have this, and it would be just as good, if not better.

It was a good thing that they'd be headed back to see more horses very soon when the time came for them to leave the stables, because Ezra did not take kindly to having his observations suddenly cut short, even if it was for the very valid reason that his older sisters were going to arrive soon. He did calm down again, this only once the girls came along and fell in to greet their baby brother.

"Why's he crying, what's wrong?" Remy asked, in a tone very close to 'what did you do to him?' Lucas smiled.

"Well, we were looking at the horses, and he didn't want to leave," he explained to his daughters, and they burst with a chorus of sympathetic understanding, of attempting to comfort Ezra and give him reassurances that they would be off to see the horses again very soon. That was part of the whole reason why they were at the ranch that day in the first place!

Lucas still couldn't get enough of watching the girls and how they interacted with Ezra, something he and Maya had in common. They were all so happy to have him there with them, to have a new sibling, and a brother at that. A brother! They'd been all girls for as long as any of them could remember, and now they had a boy sibling, a baby brother! They were all of them simply fascinated and utterly enamored with him. The circumstances of his arrival in their home were not lost on them either, no matter if they understood that he'd been left there by his first parents or if they believed that he was a magical fairy left there by more fairies. It was to wonder exactly why they thought the fairies had chosen to give him over.

Just now, the more pressing matter had been to reunite him with the horses, that he might resume his very intense observations, and as he'd been repeatedly assured, by his father and sisters alike, he didn't have to wait long. As a bonus, not only was he going to get to see horses, but he was also going to get to see three of his sisters riding some of them, as the triplets were there for their lessons.

It was all still new, to Kacey, Lucy, and Remy and to their parents as well. It wasn't as though none of them had ever been lifted to sit on horseback before, but this was different enough that both Lucas and Maya could not help but feel kind of antsy. What if something went wrong? What if they got hurt? They'd had similar feelings when Marianne had first started, and then Tori, too, but even those had not been the same, and deep down they knew why. Those three could grow into fully matured adult women, as they would, and their parents would still not forget when they had been so very small… their little butts, who could be held all together in one pair of arms.

They were all doing great so far, all of them taking to the lessons more or less how their parents had figured that they would. Kacey listened to all that her instructor told her very carefully and did just as she was told. Remy always just wanted to climb on as soon as possible even if she couldn't quite manage it on her own just yet. And Lucy started out looking the most hesitant, but she was soon shown to be the most naturally gifted of the three, and she settled in the fastest for it.

"Daddy, I want to go, too," Mackenzie stared up at Lucas as the rest of them looked on while the triplets had their lesson.

"I know, Macaw," he looked back at her.

"Can I go?" she immediately perked up at this.

"You gotta wait, Mack, you're too little," Marianne told her, all sympathy, as she held Aubrey up so she could see better. The now second youngest of the Friar children was completely focused on watching her sisters and the horses, same as her little brother, and not paying attention to the rest.

"Am not," Mackenzie insisted. "I'm big, Mommy said, big like you. Ask her."

"You're as big as Marianne was when she was your age, that's true," Lucas told her. "But when she was your age, she wasn't doing lessons yet." Mackenzie was reasonable enough that he trusted she would get this… It didn't mean that she'd like it, but she'd understand what they were telling her. "Just gotta wait a while longer, okay?"

"Okay, Daddy," Mackenzie mumbled, and Lucas reached down to put his arm around her. She relaxed at this, which made him smile. She looked to her brother in his stroller and moved to crouch next to him. "You're gonna wait a while longer, too, Ezra, okay?" she told him, and both Lucas and Marianne quietly laughed. Definitely more than a little while for you, bud. Ezra didn't look all that disappointed at this. He just kept looking on at the triplets and the horses. There was no telling what he was seeing or understanding, but he looked happy the way he was now, so what more could they ask for?

When the riding was done for the day, Lucas and the children were bound for the bed and breakfast, the better to enjoy a quick snack before heading home and, very importantly, use this opportunity set before them to discuss Maya's upcoming birthday without having her right there to maybe hear any of what they were plotting to do. They sat up on the porch swing and on the steps, the girls devouring the offerings brought to them by Cristina, who didn't miss the opportunity to hold Ezra a while.

"We have to work on our card tonight, but she's going to be there," Marianne told her father, sharing the most pressing concern. They'd seen to just about everything else by this point, but that part had always managed to escape them, and now they were coming so very close to the finish line. They couldn't put it off much longer.

"You let me worry about your mom, okay? You guys go ahead and work on your card," Lucas smirked. The girls looked at him, six pairs of intrigued blue eyes turned on him. "I'll give you a signal, and when I do, all you have to do is go upstairs and do what you need to do. She won't see anything."

"What are you gonna do, Daddy?" Aubrey asked, squealing when she dropped half her cookie but relaxing when she saw that it had fallen in her lap and it was safe.

"I'll keep her busy. I can be pretty sneaky. You'll see." He definitely had their attention now, and it wasn't as though he was keeping anything from them. When it came to something like this, coming up with a plan on the spot was generally the way to go, but it was funnier to let them come up with ideas in their heads about whatever this genius plan was going to be.

There was of course the 'problem' that, now that they knew sneakiness was on the agenda, they were acting 'sneaky,' too. They were not nearly as good at it as they thought they were, some of them at least. They never realized they were giving themselves away, not when their mother was a pro at keeping a straight face around all of them. It wasn't as though she wouldn't have suspected some kind of activity, seeing as her birthday was the very next day. For that, the opportunity to deploy 'the signal' was very easily reached. Before long, the girls disappeared up the stairs and remained unseen and – mostly – unheard until Lucas went up to tell them that it was getting to be bed time for the youngest among them. Luckily, they had finished the card by that point and had just been playing as they usually would, diving back into their favorite recurring 'make believe' scenarios. He was greeted with the pack of secret warrior princesses and nearly locked away as an intruder for suggesting that they go and sleep, but even secret warrior princesses got sleepy, and they eventually retreated to their beds for the night.

"They're not asleep, are they?" Lucas signed as he and Maya were about to settle into bed. She had to take a moment to bite back a snort before she could put on a 'shocked' face and sign back.

"They tricked us!"

"Looks that way. What should we do about it?" He topped this off by miming handing her off the decision, which she rightly took to translate to something like 'it is going to be your birthday, you should get to decide.'

"That's a big choice. I'm not sure I can be impartial. You go see," she finally decided. No point ruining the girls' surprises. He tipped his head to her and went as requested while she went and looked in on Ezra. "You, too, huh?" she quietly asked him before picking him up and holding him near. "Looks like your sisters have been a great influence on you already," she smiled. She couldn't get enough of what it felt like to hold their children this small. It did not matter that she had not grown him inside herself. He felt as much hers as the six who had preceded him and were presently being busted by their father and told to get to sleep.

"All clear," Lucas reported when he returned to find Maya still holding the baby.

"I've got this one. Special case," she informed him.

"That he is," Lucas agreed.

Though neither of them expected to make it to the end of the night without having to rise again, they did eventually make it into bed, where they curled up together the way they did most nights, big spoon and little spoon together.

"I'm wondering something…" Maya whispered, a few seconds after they'd turned off the lights. Lucas hummed. "What if I can't sleep? What are you going to do about that?" she asked, her innocent tone angled just to make it clear she was fully aware of which direction this line of questioning would and wouldn't go, with Ezra right there.

"I have been known to tell some good bedtime stories," Lucas informed her, but she sniffed.

"I want a song," she told him, and he laughed into her shoulder. "It's my birthday, I get to decide."

"Yeah, I guess you do," he had to agree, and she wriggled her way into turning to face him, face bright and giddy. "So, a lullaby, huh?" he asked, pressing a kiss to the tip of her nose, which tickled.

"Yes, please."

TO BE CONTINUED


See you tomorrow! - mooners