A/N: [October 28th 2024]
October 28th 2023
Chapter 301
We Imagine Their Forever
The day came at last when Lea Sullivan-Reyes and Theo Petrelis were to be married. The Friars were among the first guests to arrive at the Silvan Hughes theater for the ceremony. When discussions of venues had been at the height of their planning, Sullivan Stables very obviously came up, and that would be where they'd have the reception, yes, but when it came to the actual wedding, where they would exchange their vows, another thought came to mind.
Theo had been the one to suggest the theater, because he felt that they needed to honor the fact that theater, the musical kind especially, played a very big part in his life and that of his future wife. It would be symbolic. As soon as he'd suggested it, there had been no contest. Lea's eyes had gone bright, and she'd smiled, and Maya had gotten on the phone with Siobhan Hughes at once. Now, with their guests seated in the audience, Lea and Theo stood on the stage, with their bridesmaids and groomsmen on either side, and Lucas between them, in his role as their officiant.
When all was said and done and the couple was officially wed, the next step became about getting everyone to relocate over to the ranch in time for the ceremony. The Friars were due to meet Lea and Theo for their photos and, as he drove, Lucas felt glad for how the wedding as a whole had gone. He'd been understandably nervous about doing a good job as officiant, wanted to do the best job he could for his cousin's sake, and he was confident that he'd achieved that much.
As much as his mind was occupied with this new project of writing his grandfather's story, he had seen to his speech for the wedding first. He had shown it to Maya, calling her complete and honest opinion, and they had polished the whole thing together, after which she had made him practice. This wasn't just about memorizing, he had to be able to stand up there and do more than just say the words. Soon, he was having to run through the whole thing in front of Maya, the girls, and his siblings in law, as many times as it took to get it right. Today, when he'd given his actual 'performance,' he'd almost tripped over his words because he'd happened to look out and spot Mackenzie, mouthing all the words along with him.
He'd made it to the end though, and there was no better mark of whether or not he'd done it right than to see the looks on Lea and Theo's faces. When he'd finished and been about to move on to the vows, Lea had reached her foot to lightly tap his leg, the best she could do without letting go of Theo's hands, and it made them all laugh. Theo gave his own quiet thanks with a tip of the head, and Lucas returned the gesture.
With the way the day was broken down, they had been sure to plan a break for the kids to get something to eat, so they would make it to dinner without too much complaint. They made their way to the bed and breakfast, where Cristina waited for them. Bishop had gone to check on the dogs at the retreat once they'd arrived from the ceremony and would soon join them along with Rafa and Evangeline, who'd gone with him.
"What did you guys think of the wedding?" Cristina asked the girls once they sat around the kitchen table with their plates and cups.
"Daddy made people cry," Aubrey remarked and was confused as to why the others laughed when she was genuinely concerned.
"They were good tears," Maya explained. "It meant that what he said made them feel so much, and that's a good thing sometimes." Aubrey didn't look sure. She trusted her mother, sure, but at this point she very much associated crying with sadness or distress.
"You changed some of the words, Daddy," Mackenzie added.
"Sometimes it feels right to do that, when you're in the moment," Marianne offered. "Not that I do that, when I have lines to say."
"It was beautiful, Pappy Luke," Tori promised with a good nod. She sat across from him, her little sister in her lap and presently picking and choosing between her own snack and her big sister's. Tori didn't seem to mind.
"Thank you, I'm glad you thought so," Lucas smiled at her.
"Their vows were pretty great, too," Tori went on, turning to her mother and stepfather to confirm that they thought the same, and they did.
Taylor had been so deeply happy for Lea, who had been one of his best friends since back in high school. It had been the four of them for a too brief time, Ella, Lea, Lambert, and him. And then they'd lost Lambert and everything had felt too horrible to process. He knew that he wouldn't have made it through all that without the girls, Ella of course but Lea, too. As for Theo, it could have been a lot stranger to have him around, to have him dating his best friend when he was also Ella's ex and Tori's father, but then they'd become friends, too, much faster than either of them probably imagined they could.
As for Ella, well… The bride and groom were two people who'd played such an important part in her life, the kind of part where you could truly say you wouldn't have been the same person without them. For all that she had been forced to deal with in the aftermath of their being together, Theo had given her Tori, and there were no words to say for how much of a blessing her daughter continued to be. And Lea, oh… She'd been the very first person she saw as a sister, and the very best friend she could ever have… She had been just a bit ridiculously weepy all day, good tears there as well, and she could probably have had those with or without the baby growing in her belly.
The time finally came for the newlyweds to make their triumphant entrance among their guests at the ranch, and as they walked into view, everyone cheered loudly, but none cheered louder than one Leyton Sullivan-Reyes, and it had his sister the bride laughing so much, especially when he broke ranks and ran over to her. It could hardly be believed that the boy was already nine years old, but then here they were. He was not so tall for his age, generally clocked in as the shortest in all of his classes, and it didn't help that he had a gentler temperament that got him teased and called a baby by a lot of the kids at school, but if he couldn't count on much out there, he could count on the fact that his fathers thought he was just about the best kid in the world, and that his three big sisters always made sure that he knew how happy they were to have him for a little brother. Lea hugged him good and tight when he ran to her, and then she took his hand so that he would follow her and Theo in their arrival.
"Look, Nika gave me another bread!" Remy came dashing back to their table, mid-dinner, looking like she'd just gotten off with the heist of the century as she held up the gifted roll. "She said it'd make you laugh," Remy went on, after her mother and father had started with a chuckle, which her mother expanded into full giggles and got her father going along with her.
"Did you say thank you?" Maya asked, once she was able to speak. Remy nodded. "Good, good." She had been so happy to see her former student earlier that she'd had a round of good tears when she'd hugged her. It had been over three years now since she'd graduated, and she was in her final year of school back in England. The verdict was still out on whether or not she would come back to Texas afterward, to be nearer to her brother, but going by the presence of the very nice young English man sat by her side, the scales might have been too evenly balanced to make the call just yet.
One of the greater memories they'd have of the evening, of the day as a whole, would come at the moment of first dances. Lea was in a particular position when it came to a father-daughter dance, after Theo had first taken her for a turn on the floor, in that she had two dads vying for a spot, but they'd made a plan about that long before the wedding day came around. They'd choreographed the whole thing, making it not just about Michael and Keith and their eldest girl, but also about Lara and Lydia, and about Leyton. They all got their turn at joining her on the dance floor while the Hexes played for them, and none of them stopped smiling for a single second from start to finish. The Sullivan-Reyes family had always been as tightly knit as they came, and they wouldn't have been anywhere else in this moment than right here to celebrate Lea on her big day.
"You alright there, Uncle Mike?" Lucas grinned when her mother's younger brother had left the dance floor.
"I'd tell you to wait and see until one of your girls walked down the aisle, but you beat me to that one, huh?" Michael laughed lightly, drying the happy tears from his face.
"I did do that, now that you mention it. Became a grandfather before you, too, but now here you are," Lucas nodded over to where Tori stood, lightly swaying to the music. Michael took a deep breath at this, gave a nod full of gladness.
"And for the same girl, too, how did that happen?" That part had occurred to Lucas, too, and he had no more of an answer than his uncle did.
The bride's family dance had barely ended that a surprise was unveiled for the groom. Theo had made no attempt to reach out to his parents, had no interest in making any attempt to reconnect with them after what they had nearly cost him, and so he had no regret about not having them there today. Still, there were people here who loved him dearly, who were in every way the only family he could ever need or want, and after Lea had gotten to dance with her people, his people wanted to dance with him.
Tori had kicked this off, walking across the dance floor toward her father and holding out her hand to him with a smile that had never looked so much like his as now, and they saw it as he smiled back and clasped her hand, He'd barely done this that Nika joined them, claiming her big brother's second hand. They took him out for their own dance, not prepared at all thanks to the surprise, as TXNY stepped in with a song. If this wasn't enough, they were also joined by both Ella and Taylor. To look at them as they danced with him, their long history – some longer and more complicated than the rest – their relationships really felt as though they were the kind that could not be so simply defined by a single word. Either way, as they celebrated his wedding that day, they made it clear, to him and to all but to him most of all, that he was loved, that he was appreciated. He could not have been given a better gift.
"Can we go now, Mom? Is it our turn?" Kacey asked, as more people started moving on to the dance floor.
"It looks that way, yeah," Maya nodded, and the girls sprang up with excitement, a moment later turning to their father expectantly. Maya had to snicker. Their girls would fill up his dance card with the power of big, blue eyes. Luckily, she had those eyes, too.
"One dance with your mom, then I'm all yours, I promise."
"Look at that, I got the top prize," Maya laughed as she and Lucas moved out for their dance. He smiled, pulling her into his arms.
"Was there any doubt?"
"I mean, you could have gone with all of them first and I wouldn't have minded, but I'm still glad I didn't have to wait after all."
"Wouldn't dream of keeping you waiting. And there will be more than the one dance for us."
"Yeah, so long as the five of them don't get too hopped up on sugar, they'll probably fall asleep before long… most of them."
"And if all else fails, they've got grandparents, and aunts and uncles, and cousins, all ready to dance with them," he nodded over to where his father had already collected his littlest granddaughter for a twirl, much to her giggling delight.
Between this and his eventual fulfilling of his promise to dance with all his daughters, from Ella on down, and his granddaughters as well, even little Sunny who only had to give off the smallest cry for her Pappy Luke to take her up, too, it took a while for Lucas to get a moment alone with his father and his uncle Mike. He didn't have to use this day in order to share what he was up to with them, but then this was a day for family, their great, big, extended family especially, so maybe it was the perfect day for it. In all the time over the last few weeks where he'd been focused on Simon's trunk, he hadn't really gotten into it with them at all. They mostly knew that the thing sat in his office at the ranch and that was all.
He told them how he'd ended up looking through it while preparing for his speech, how he'd sought out the gifts he had since presented to both Lea and Ella, making up for not having done so earlier. And he told them how it had all stayed in his mind to the point where he had gone and started to write, to piece together this story. He didn't know what would come of it in the end, but he wanted them to know about it because they were as close to it all as anyone was going to be. His mother could not be there to see it through with him, but they were there, her brother, her husband… They would stand for her with him, he hoped, because the way he saw it, this story went much further than Simon Sullivan. When they told him that they were ready to do whatever he needed them to do, Lucas knew that he would take this project to the end.
TO BE CONTINUED
See you tomorrow! - mooners
