Chapter 112
New Roads Taken

Most days when either one of them left the house, it would usually be just him on his own, or both him and Maya at the same time. He was so rarely left back as Maya departed, so he didn't personally see the way the boys reacted too often. This had been a recent routine, the two of them rushing together to the door after it closed, standing there for a few seconds, and then rushing again, now to the window they were both able to look through. There they'd stand, pressing faces and hands in the glass so they could watch as their mother drove away, other times their father, other times both parents. And when they couldn't see them anymore, they'd get agitated. Noah would start to cry, and he'd get Elliott started because he didn't know what to do any better.

Pappy Joe would tell them about it, and how the pets had been a big help in getting them to come back around and calm down. Then he'd do his part, too, of course, by taking them with him to sit on the couch and telling them any story - real or otherwise - until they'd stop crying. When Maya would still be home after they saw their father leave, she'd go and sit on the floor near them, and it wouldn't be long that they curl up with her. She'd hold them quietly, or she'd sing to them... They did love the singing very much. They got to hear it enough now that they'd catch Elliott trying it on his little brother, passing what parts of their favorite lullabies he could recall.

Now Lucas was there with them, seeing them watch their mother go. He couldn't help but recall the early days, after Elliott was born, when Maya had been genuinely afraid at the thought of leaving him to go anywhere, like he'd get it in his head that she'd never return. He knew where that feeling came from, of course, and he'd watched his wife work through it, on her own and then with her therapist, and though she was on the whole past that sentiment today, he knew she'd still be feeling plenty, knowing this would be what their sons went through whenever she left. It would be a phase and they would grow out of it, but it was easier to accept that when they weren't hearing those pitching wails.

When he was with them like this, the few times he was, Lucas would watch them for a bit, standing by them. He didn't want to prevent them from feeling what they were feeling, but he wanted them to know he was there with them. It was generally enough. In a minute, they'd see him there, and they'd both grab hold of a leg and hold tight.

Today, this gave Lucas the idea of walking with them even as they clung to him. The weight of a two and a half-year-olf boy and one a year his junior was not massive, though it did feel more significant when that weight was having to be lifted with one leg alone. Not that he couldn't manage it, no. He took sort of exaggerated steps, adding sounds of effort, even as he kept his hands held where he could reach down if either one couldn't hold on. They held on pretty well though, and soon they were both laughing. Lucas walked them back and forth a few times before finally pulling them both free.

"You are setting yourself up for them doing that all the time now, you realize that?" Maya would tell him later on, once she would stop laughing from his recounting of the moment. As far as he was concerned, he would submit himself to this as often as they wanted.

Today, the reason why he was here at all to see the parental departure tantrum was that Maya was working, and Pappy Joe was off to visit Patty Robinson, and Lucas had the day off. He was looking forward to it all week, getting to spend some time just him and the boys. He may have had the whole thing planned out. They'd just had breakfast, so they'd take things easy for a bit, but then they'd go off for a walk, and play outside for a while. Elliott and Noah had recently discovered the basketball, and though it was still kind of big for them to handle in any way like it was intended, they would roll it around, and try and toss it like they saw their parents do. The success was minimal, but the enjoyment was supreme. You would think they'd won a championship by how they'd cheer.

After all that, they'd have lunch, and then it would be nap time. Lucas and Maya both would sometimes just go ahead and lie down with them, get some rest, too. When they'd wake up, they'd see what the boys felt like doing. They did their best not to simply drop them in front of the television, though they could see the merits in allowing them to discover things that way.

Lucas was just getting them in their jackets, preparing to go on their walk, when he got a text from Garrett. He read it and sighed at once, like he already knew his plans were about to get altered in a significant way.

"Hey, Sprout, you want to see if you can get your brother buttoned up?" Lucas asked his older son, indicating the younger. Elliott jumped at the chance at once, while Noah seemed to find the whole exercise very amusing. That'd be keeping them entertained a while at least while Lucas went ahead and called his friend and classmate.

They had been working on a class project, the two of them and Carmen. All the things they could do separately had been handled, and now they had to get together, to start pulling everything into the end product to hand in to their professor. That was all meant to have happened the day before, so that they could do finishing touches over the next couple of days, but there had been a very unfortunate bit of scheduling conflict. They were supposed to get in touch and see when they might get to hold a do-over, and deep down Lucas had a reasonable feeling that it would end up being today, but... Well, he had been looking forward to some time with his sons. If there had been any other way...

So, Garrett and Carmen would be making their way over to join him. It felt more reasonable this way than to drop in at either one of their homes with a pair of toddlers. If they were here, they'd be more at ease, all of them.

It would have been more trouble to go and take the jackets and shoes off them when they were now expecting to go outside, so as they waited for their guests, Lucas took Elliott and Noah outside to play with the ball. He couldn't exactly throw it to either one of them yet, so he sent it in their direction in a roll across the lawn. As soon as they saw it, the boys scrambled eagerly to get their hands on it.

He couldn't help it now, as he watched the two of them play. He thought about the baby. It didn't exist yet, sure, wasn't even conceived as far as they were aware, but they were working toward that goal, so it was sort of in limbo now. Their little tadpole, not quite theirs but already factored in the big picture of their family. Would they be granted a third boy or would they be surprised with a first girl?

Oh, he'd be happy either way, no question to it. Here they were, and this child didn't exist yet in the slightest way, and he couldn't wait to know it, to love it, so everything else was just a matter of specifics. If they had another boy, he would just see the three of them, a pack of brothers, even as it would add fuel to their eternal family joke. Seven tall sons... Joke or no, they'd be happy with that if it happened, no doubt. Of course, at the very same time... He thought of them with a daughter, a baby girl, so like her mother... They were so familiar now with raising boys, so it would be a new experience, but that was the kind of new experience they'd want, any time.

"Hey, hey, hold it there, mister," Lucas moved to intercept Noah as he went to chase the runaway ball. He scooped him up under his arm as he went, making him giggle and wiggle around. Lucas went until he could reach the ball and nudge it back toward Elliott, who went for it at once, quickly joined by his brother as he was set back on his feet.

Garrett had picked up Carmen on his way in, so they arrived together. Lucas wished he could have been there to witness that drive, with Garrett still carrying that quiet torch for their new friend. He did speak to her, all the time, didn't clam up at all, that wasn't his way. But it mostly felt to Lucas like the whole time he was skirting around the subject he should have been addressing, and everything else he went on about only served to obscure the heart of it all.

"Lunch is on me today," Carmen told Lucas as she walked over from the car, tugging the strap of her bag over her shoulder. "So sorry about this."

"No, don't worry about it," Lucas assured her even as he smiled watching Garrett. It was the first time either of his friends saw the boys in person, though by now of course they knew about them, had seen pictures, asked after them...

Now, as he encountered them for the first time, Garrett crouched down to get at eye level with them. Neither Elliott nor Noah could be said to be shy around strangers. Some in their family might say they could do with being more discerning with people they didn't know. Even so, it didn't mean that everyone got one hundred percent out of them on the first encounter. Garrett got a solid eighty on that first meeting, maybe higher. Lucas could just see it, as he watched the boys interact with him. They liked him very much with little to no reason for it except that something clearly gelled well between them and their father's new friend. It had never occurred to Lucas that Garrett would be so at ease with kids, but now here was the proof of it.

They ended up sitting on the porch to work for a while. The weather was good, and the boys were able to keep playing, with each of the trio taking a turn at standing near them so they might keep an eye out and prevent them getting too far off on their own where they might get hurt. Carmen soon had to pull her braids and tie them together to keep them out of the curious boys' hands when she'd crouch or bend over far enough that they were within reach, with Noah especially. Carmen didn't bat an eye at this or lose her cool. It was just normal for small children like them, and if it wasn't that the hair was attached to her head...

Finally, it was lunch time, and they paused working until after they would have eaten, opening them up to just enjoy their break until their food arrived. Elliott ended up sat in Carmen's lap, while Noah had apparently played himself right out and now slept soundly in his father's arms. He'd be cranky all through lunch for it, Lucas knew, but there was no way around that now.

"So what's the plan after you graduate?" Lucas asked Carmen. "You came down here but you're nearly done with your degree like the rest of us, so..." It was the kind of thing he hadn't considered until recently, and he'd never gotten around to asking her about it until today.

"Actually, I was supposed to be here the whole time," Carmen revealed, all the while caught in a smile for how Elliott would look at her with a smile of his own. "Had a scholarship and everything."

"What happened?" Garrett asked. Even he'd had no idea.

"Senior year happened. Some things didn't turn out so well, so I lost my scholarship, lost my spot. Ended up going to school back home, which was fine, really. But this is where I was meant to be, and I was going to get there one way or another. Finally got there, with one year to go. After that... Well, I don't really know yet, but I'm not just going to head back to Ohio. Maybe I'll kick around here for another few years, maybe I'll stay here for good, who knows? Life's too short to go through it with everything figured out ahead of time."

"I hear that," Lucas nodded as minimally as he could, so not to wake his sleeping son, his second surprise, his second cause for deviation from 'the plan.'

Up until just over three years ago, he had been on his way to becoming a veterinarian. He had been dating Maya and thinking how, in a couple years' time, maybe around the time they'd finish school in Houston and they'd be thinking of what to do next, even as he still more studies ahead of him... Maybe that would have been the time for him to propose to her. Eventually, they would have married, and then, in time, they would have turned to the idea of having their first child. Elliott could be a solid seven or eight years old by then, Noah a year behind him, and then this third baby might not even be their youngest anymore... So much could happen, whether you planned it or not. And the changes could take you down wonderful and irreplaceable joy you had never imagined... like an eighteen-month-old boy's little hand gripping at the side of your neck as he slept, while his big brother sat nearby, informing your friends that he had to go to the bathroom before looking at you with big 'dad, help' eyes.

"Okay, be right back, let's go," Lucas got up with Noah. He opened the door and Elliott ran off inside. "You going to make it?" Lucas asked as he followed him on his journey up the stairs.

"Don't know!" Elliott informed him.

"It's all good, hang on," Lucas gained on him and added him to his load for the rest of the way up. Once they reached the landing, Elliott was allowed to make his way down the hall on his own.

"Daddy!" he cried in mild alarm, in just the pitch to let him know things were imminent.

"You're almost there, that's it," Lucas promised.

They narrowly made it, and everyone breathed. Noah finally woke up, to no surprise, though he remained quietly holding to his father. That was another one right there, wasn't it? Never would he have seen himself at this point in his life, made so ridiculously proud of one potty trained little boy. That entire journey entered nowhere in conversations he'd be having with the pair out on his porch.

"You guys aren't too disappointed about our guys' day, are you?" he asked as he saw to Elliott's washing of his hands. Noah's response was found in a contented yawn as he locked his arms around his father's neck.

"I want to play again, Daddy," Elliott informed Lucas with a smile.

"Yeah?" Lucas laughed, laying his hand atop his son's head. "Lunch first, then nap, and then we'll see what you feel like doing, yeah? No rush."

TO BE CONTINUED

See you next week! - mooners