May 19th 2023

Chapter 139
We Love A Dance For Two

They had not seen the girls' dresses for the ball yet. They all had dresses in their closets that would have been just perfect for the February evening, but in a joint effort between Ella, Nellie, and Gracie, there had been a trip to the mall with Tori, Marianne, the triplets, and the little sisters, so they could pick out a brand new outfit for the Equestrian Ball. Everyone had been very excited to go and, upon returning, had gone around as though they carried the most valuable and deeply mysterious items like they had one thing and one thing alone in mind, and that was to keep their parents from seeing their new things until they were ready to go on the day of the ball.

Well, the day finally came, and the mystery carried on a while more. They weren't going to help their daughters get ready, oh, no. Ella and the Hunter twins would do that, and the two of them couldn't see anything until they were ready. Who were they to argue? They got ready on their own even as they could hear all the activity happening down the hall behind closed doors.

"Haven't seen you all dressed up like that in a long time," Maya noted as she watched Lucas inspect his reflection, seeking anything that might need straightening up or adjusting.

What he'd lost in the hospital had come back to him over time, once he'd come home, and on the whole, he looked as he might have done if nothing had ever happened to him. There were still signs, visible enough to be evident if anyone bothered to look, which people tended to do, sometimes a little too much. But it didn't concern Maya to look at him nearly as much as it used to, and right here, seeing him ready for the ball… He turned to her, and he had that smile on him, for the realization as much as for his getting a look of her in her ball best. She walked over to him, letting her stride keep his gaze good and captivated until she could reach him and lay a gently heated kiss at his lips. His arms came and closed around her, holding her near, and they could have started dancing right then and there.

"Hey, Valentine," she smiled at him.

"Hey, Valentine," he replied, feeling like he could have up and decided not to go to the ball after all, not if it meant he got to stay here with her, just them in this…

"Hey, guys, they're ready," Ella's voice reached them after a quick knock at the door. Maya breathed out, bowing her forehead to rest at his shoulder while he resisted the urge to sigh, his hands grazing at her back.

"Be right there," he called back to their eldest.

They had been told to go and wait downstairs, so that was what they did. They could see that the whole 'entrance' had been planned out upstairs, among the sisters. This was how they wanted to do this, so they did. They would come down by age, youngest to eldest, one at a time. Aubrey looked just a bit anxious at being the first one down, so Gracie ended up bringing her down, holding her by the hand for the first few steps until she was able to see her parents on the couch, and suddenly she found her courage to carry on. She would be three years old before they knew it, which had not felt possible when it had been her older sisters' turn, so why would it be any different with her, right?

"Hi, baby girl…" Maya beamed as the tiny blonde reached the bottom of the stairs and approached them. When she got there, she stopped and looked at their hands, nodded. They could see that she'd grabbed something from the pockets on her dress as she came down, and now her hands were behind her back, so they went ahead and held out their own to see what she'd do. This must have been the correct thing, as she smiled and dropped in either of their hands a – slightly warmed and slightly melting – wrapped chocolate.

"Thank you so much, Lucky," Lucas smiled at her.

"Do you like my dress, Daddy?" Aubrey asked, teetering on her feet.

"I do, you look ready for a ball."

"Yeah, yeah!" she showed them all her teeth in a smile.

It all happened again, and again, as next Mackenzie came along, and then Lucy, and Remy, and Kacey – youngest to eldest still, naturally. Each girl had a chocolate to present to their mother and father, all of them hearts in colorful wrappers. They could not keep hold of all of them at once, but they'd thought of this, as Nellie had come down along with Kacey, carrying a pair of cardboard boxes – heart shaped again – which she distributed to her sister and brother-in-law with a smirk and a wink.

Next came Tori, and she was growing up to be such a picture of her mother, the more she grew up. She had a lot of Theo in her, too, and they could recognize it, but everything she got from Ella simply stood out the most, and whenever someone would point it out, both mother and daughter would receive this with a smile. Then it was Marianne's turn, and they just knew that her entire thought for her look had been that she would be attending the ball as much as she would be performing, so she had to be good for both. The other important thing, so very important, was that she'd be able to make sure her grandfather would be alright. Him and her, they weren't attending because they had themselves a Valentine, nor were they looking for one, so they would accompany one another, as grandfather and granddaughter, going to a great party.

"For you, and for you," she presented her parents with their chocolates, and her grin was everything. They thanked her even as she turned and looked up for the last of them to come down.

The Davis twins would meet them at the ranch, Wyatt was staying home with Finn because he had a paper to write. Of all of them who would be leaving the house together that night, only Taylor really got to be surprised by his Valentine. He stood there with his in-laws and his girl, who'd come to stand with him eagerly, and he soon got a look of his wife, making her way down the stairs. There couldn't have been anything else in his universe, not so long as he followed her descent. She smiled, seeing his awe, took a moment to do as her sisters and daughter had done, giving her parents each a chocolate heart, before moving up to her husband. She whispered at his ear, and he smiled.

"Can we go now?" Marianne eagerly looked to her parents. They looked at each other, thinking that, surely, they wouldn't have to wait much longer before the bell rang. They were correct, and by the look on her face, Marianne must have gotten an inkling of who it would be. She hurried over, looked out the window instead of going through the whole routine before opening the door.

"Annie, wait!" Lucy called to her big sister.

"It's okay, look…" she pulled the door open for them to see that it was Pappy Tom before hopping to hug him. "You look great!" she told him. "I like your bow."

"Your Gran gave it to me, a few years ago," Thomas touched the thing at his neck with a smile.

"I know," Marianne nodded. "It was her favorite."

"It sure was. She always wanted me to wear it, but we decided to keep it for special occasions."

"Like this?" Kacey asked, holding up her locket.

"Just like that, yes," Thomas agreed. "Now, don't you all just look wonderful," he beamed at all of them. He truly was never so happy as when surrounded by his granddaughters and great granddaughter, and the way they so quickly moved to him all the time, maybe they knew it, too.

They were soon off to the ranch, and as great as they'd made the place look at Christmas, this time, it was far beyond all expectations. They might have stepped right into a fairy tale, and the Friar girls were in heaven. They stayed together, as promised, but they had to detach from the adult contingent of their group, as they couldn't possibly keep up with them. This had meant Marianne momentarily leaving her companion for the evening, but Thomas assured her that she could and should go on ahead. They would be reunited soon enough. They had practiced and prepared for this evening.

If it had been Marianne's intention to help her grandfather look forward to the Equestrian Ball again, she had succeeded far beyond her expectations. It could be said that they wouldn't have known for sure until the actual day of the ball rolled around, but then anyone who got to see the two of them preparing for their performance up on the stage, who saw Thomas and felt his energy as he looked forward to this night… He for sure had some nerves to contend with as they drove up, but he was doing well, and while they fully expected memories to hit him, bitter as they could be sweet, they stopped worrying for him before long, and they looked to their own expectations toward this event.

It felt so very important that they were here, that Lucas was here… He had been doing his best to prepare, too, to hold the promise that he would do everything he could to dance with each of them that night, Maya, their daughters, their granddaughter… And he would do it. He'd have to pace himself in places, take breaks, and he for sure tried to factor in his partners' levels of understanding if he had to tell any of them that he didn't have another dance in him. He made it through, and his last partner of all was his one and only Valentine, even as their daughter and his father came on the stage together.

"Hi, everyone," Marianne waved at the gathered guests, and there was a mixture of goodhearted laughter and returned greetings. "This is my grandfather, Thomas Friar," she indicated the man sitting on a stool, guitar in hand. "Last year, he was here with my grandmother, Melinda Friar. Her parents were the ones who created Sullivan Stables. But… not long after last year's ball, there was an accident, and we lost her," she explained, her face sinking into sadness momentarily, as her grandfather's did. "So, I'm here tonight, we're here, to bring you some of her favorite songs. She really loved this night…"

The guests clapped, and cheered, and Marianne looked to her Pappy Tom, who blew her a kiss and indicated that he was ready to begin when she was. She nodded back to him and faced her audience, seeking her parents among them only so long as it took for her to see them both waving at her. Now she grinned, and she could begin. For her first song, her own choice, she started without accompaniment, as everyone continued to watch her. They began to dance once Thomas began to play, and as they carried on, the many couples met up, swaying together and all of them looking like they couldn't have wanted to be anywhere else or with anyone else.

"You've got some pretty good moves," Maya quietly told her husband with a smile.

"For a guy who was laid out in the hospital not too long ago?" he asked her, and she surprised herself for how this made her chuckle.

"I wouldn't have put it quite like that, but sure, let's go with that." There wasn't much more to say after that, and they didn't try. They just danced together, happy, in love, and eternally thankful that they got to feel it all on this magical night.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners