June 14th 2023

Chapter 165
We Must Ascend Together

It had taken a long while for Lucas to so much as attempt to get on horseback after what had happened to him, and it was completely understandable. No one tried to push him to do it in any way, not even any of his girls. If anything, when he did try it for the first time, he didn't tell them, because he knew that they would try and talk him out of it somehow, accusing him of still being too hurt. It wouldn't be fair to say that they had been the only reason though, because on top of all that, he was also sufficiently afraid on his own, afraid that they would have been right. He'd started slow, taking time to choose the right horse for the job; he knew them all well enough to find his match, and so he had, and he'd made a point of going out riding a little every day. After a week of that, he'd let the girls in on it, and the looks on their faces – and the pitch of their voices – had been perfect.

Now, especially as they drew closer to summer, he had started doing something he had been wanting to do for a very long time. He had started going on casual rides with his firstborn. He would have loved to go with the others, too, but they were either too little, too new, or seven months pregnant… Marianne loved being out there with him, and they would talk about everything and nothing at all, but most important of all, they had a great time, and whether or not they would remember every single ride and what they'd talked about, they would for sure remember that they'd been out here, him and her.

Today, as they would sometimes do, they finished off their ride and followed this up with a visit to the sets. They had finished filming for both the seasons and wouldn't start again for the next ones for a few more weeks, which left the sets closed up and the whole area like something of a ghost town with only those few people left to look after everything. The horses had their team of people looking out for them as usual, though in the off season, this also meant giving them the extra attention they normally got from the cast and crew. They could absolutely count on all the Friar girls for that.

Lucas had not forgotten what some of those animals had gone through, the night he'd been attacked. They had not been physically harmed in any way like he or Sylvie had, but the entire ordeal of their theft and return had understandably been traumatizing. They all had been seen to, with no question of returning them to film anything until everyone agreed that they were okay to go. This had caused some problems for the production, having to shoot around their absence or try to substitute them with similar looking horses if they had them, but no one had complained over these steps. By now, all three of the horses had made their triumphant return, to the delight and relief of all. Behind the scenes, Lucas knew that both he and Sylvie felt compelled to carry on giving them all some extra attention as they remembered what had happened to all of them. Today, he and Marianne went to see them and were well received. They might have stayed longer still, except that this was a very busy day at the ranch, and they had to hurry along.

There was nothing easier than to combine events when it made sense, and today proved just that. On the one hand, they were hosting an adoption drive in association with the local shelter, up at the retreat, and on the other, they were receiving the children of the after school program and their families in honor of their annual 'graduation' ceremony. They would never want to put the parents in a position of having to say no if their children spotted one of the animals seeking a home, but they also knew that when it came to giving the animals a chance at a good, loving home, it was a chance they had to be willing to take.

And soon, there they would all be. Not every child in the program was moving up to a new group as of the fall, but they came anyway, to be with their friends, to enjoy the games, the entertainment, the snacks… They also had some of the new kids, future members of green group on hand, if they were already registered. Most of those had an older sibling already in the program. As for the ones about to move up a group, well, they were easy to spot. They had their current bandannas, but they were all eager to get their new ones and it showed.

It became easier for them to wait on that 'big moment' once they found themselves out by the retreat, the better to see and interact with the animals. The excitement was palpable, several matches happening before their eyes. For one family, of course, the match had already happened, because after making it to the point where Bishop felt his small patient/guest could depart, Star the Yorkipoo was finally leaving Sullivan Stables to go and join the Friar household. No one in that house under the age of nine was aware that this was the day, and Marianne had begged her parents and been granted her wish so that she could be the one to go into the retreat, collect Star, and bring her out to her little sisters. The little pup could not have looked happier, snuggled up in the tall girl's arms, especially as Kacey, Remy, Lucy, Mackenzie, and Aubrey closed in around her, happy tears in many blue eyes as they pet their new little friend.

They would be so happy that, as each group would get their turn to go up and become part of their new group, each Friar girl would do so with Star in her arms. They didn't plan it out that way. The first to go was Mackenzie, who would go on to receive her green bandanna, welcoming her into her very first group, and when the time came for her to do so, she was holding the small dog and didn't want to let her go. So, she just kept hold of her and went, which had the gathered audience smiling and laughing. The four-year-old had the biggest smile of all as she received her bandanna from her father.

"Thanks, Daddy," she whispered to him.

"You're welcome, Mack Attack," he whispered back at her, and she beamed, giggling when Star punctuated this with a small bark, like she was keeping her voice low, too. "You make a good point," Lucas reached out to pet her, and Star received the gesture happily.

"Daddy, what about Aubrey, she can come, too, right?" Mackenzie went on, stealing a look to her little sister, sitting on their mother's knees.

"We'll talk about it later, I promise," Lucas told Mackenzie, and that would have to do for now.

In the time they waited before the next of them would go up, Star found her way into the arms of five-year-old Remy. As wild as she could be at times, she always found the gentleness in her heart whenever animals were involved, and they saw it here. When the new blues were called up, she did as her little sister had done and got up with Star, brought her along. She stood between her fellow triplets up there, and both Kacey and Lucy stayed huddled in with her, enough so that, as they got their turns, receiving their new blue bandannas, Star the pup seemed to travel from one pair of arms to the other, like she was walking across each one, landing at last with Lucy, who gave such good cuddles to the dog that she could have fallen asleep in the small blonde's arms. It was finally dawning on them that their moving up into a new group, even if their friends were coming, too, would mean a big change, that their father would likely not follow them, and it was a strange and slightly frightening realization for the almost six-year-olds.

To see the way Lucy brought the dog to her niece as she was about to go up and get her red bandanna, it looked as though she believed that Tori, too, would need the comfort of the cuddly little one for the occasion. Whether or not this was so, Tori happily took the dog in her arms, and Star looked as though she recognized the familial bond just fine here. She gave good doggy kisses to the raven haired girl as she followed her groupmates and approached her grandfather, who was in charge of the bandannas of many colors. Lucas knew plenty about where his granddaughter's head would be at right about now, so close as she was to becoming a big sister, with those conflicting feelings in her heart… The afterschool program meant a lot to her for what it gave her, along with school, and she'd mentioned as much to her grandfather on multiple occasions. It made him that much happier to know that he could provide this for her, and on this day, as she ascended to a new level, her smile was about the most wonderful thing her parents and grandparents could see.

The further into the ceremony they went, and the stacks upon stacks of colorful bandannas came down a single color, Lucas could not express what it felt like to realize that his baby girl, his firstborn, was going to be receiving her final color on this day. As Marianne climbed up with her friends and fellow red graduates – with Star in her arms, because the dog herself would not allow herself to be left behind after she'd gone three times already – he looked at her, his tall, wonderful girl, and he really felt kind of choked up. She was still a kid, she hadn't grown that much yet, no matter how she stood significantly taller than the others on either side of her up and down the line, but between this and the fact that she was going to be hitting 'double digits' – she wouldn't let them forget ever since her Grandpa Shawn had first pointed it out to her – there was no denying that the days were getting to be numbered before she stepped firmly into adolescence. If he hadn't decided it already, this certainly did it.

Even as they would go on to celebrate those of their kids who were aging out of yellow and to surprise them with the announcement of the extension of the program for the thirteen and over crowd, Lucas was thinking about what the fall would become for him. With Marianne, he had three years left before she made it out of this new group of hers, before a few more months gained her a 'teen' at the end of her age, and he wanted to be a part of those years here at the ranch. But he wanted the same with his other daughters, who'd all be growing before his eyes at the same breakneck speed. And he was in a position to do something about it, wasn't he? So, that was what he'd do. It would be tricky, but he would find a way to spend time with Marianne and the yellows, with Tori and the reds, with the triplets and the blues, and with Mackenzie… and maybe Aubrey… with the greens, too. He only wished he had made this decision earlier. Stories were great, and he got plenty of them every day, but being part of the stories would be just as great, if not better.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners