A/N: [December 22nd 2024]

December 22nd 2023

Chapter 356
We Travel in Shared Legacy

Dear Mrs. Friar,

I heard about the shake-up that happened at the school and decided it had been a while since my last letter, so I should change that. I hope you're doing well. Everything I've been hearing about this principal that just went away, I can't believe she lasted as long as she did. At least now she's gone. Mrs. Ríos will be much better, I know. After Lambert passed, when I came back to school, she was always really good about keeping an eye on me and making sure I was okay. I think she lost a sibling, too. She never said so and I never asked her, but it was the feeling that I got when we would talk sometimes.

If what I believe is true, then I can see why she would have ended up doing what she did. Maybe she wanted to help and be there for kids and teens like that. It's kind of how I ended up in med school, so who knows for her?

I think about him so much more lately. It's been almost ten years now…will be, at the next anniversary, so maybe that's why. Or maybe it's the fact that I know more and more that he could have been saved if only we would have looked at him, run tests… I know I get stuck on all that, but how can I not? Lambert is the whole reason I'm here, studying the way I am, and I figured out plenty of things before and after I started. The more I learn though, the harder it gets to live with all the… what ifs…Maybe I could have had my big brother. I probably wouldn't be here if I did, but I could live with that if this was the trade-off.

I love what I get to do here, what I'm learning, what I will be doing in my work in the years to come. I wouldn't have known how much I could love it until I decided to do it, for Lambert, but I'm here, and I see it so clearly. I guess that's what it is to be meant for something, right? One way or another, I ended up here. It's really so strange a thought to have, and I can't always wrap my head around it. If that's not enough, then there's also the part where if I hadn't decided to come here, for this, I wouldn't have made the friends I made here, and I wouldn't have met Lisa. That would have been the real tragedy, my personal tragedy, I know it would. She's the most passionately driven person I've ever met. She makes me want to be better every time I sit and study, and I think I have become better, thanks to her. I can't wait to introduce her to you, to so many people.

Until then, hope you're well,

Anton Day

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Dear Anton,

You reminded me of something one of my girls suggested the other day, and it made me laugh. Lucy can be so very meticulous about everything, and with how many letters I've been getting as of late, she saw me putting them away once I'd sent off my replies, and she got it in her head to keep a record of when every letter was received, so we could see how many letters everyone had sent, and when the last time was that they wrote… I think she's picking up on some family traits there. We do love a good project like that.

I spoke to Mrs. Ríos after reading your letter, mentioned that you'd written me, and she smiled to hear your name, the fond kind of smile that one gets from a good memory, you know? I mentioned what you'd said, your belief, and she wished for me to pass on some information, mainly that you were correct. She had a younger sister, Natalia, who passed as a sophomore, while she herself had been a senior. She wanted me to tell you that you could call or write her any time you'd like, so I'm including her contact information.

I think about Lambert a lot, too, to this day. Every once in a while, I'll be in class, and I'll look around as though I'm back, however many years ago, expecting to see this student or that one, kids who graduated one year ago, or ten, everywhere in between and beyond. I saw them so many times sitting in those same spots for years, as I saw you, and your brothers. Lambert though… it's as though he comes to mind so much more than the others. It will tend to feel somewhere between happy to be reminded of him and sad for what it came down to in the end.

Now there you are, and I do see you as I do the others that way. More than anything, when I do, I just think of how proud I am of you and what you're out there to do. It makes me happier to know how well it's shaping up for you out there. The reality of what could have been with Lambert is never going to feel any less painful, I'm afraid, but you have so many people around you to lean on for this, to help bear the weight. I count myself fortunate to be one of those people.

Until we see each other again, wishing you the absolute best,

Mrs. Maya Friar

PS: Saw Dakota as I was finishing up this letter. I told him I was writing to you, and he wanted me to add a note from him. I didn't read it, I'll leave it for you to find along with Lita Ríos' contact information. Whatever it says, he had the kind of smile about him like it was going to be funny mostly for the two of you.

X

It still felt like yesterday that Lea and Theo had been married, not two thirds of a year, but then the same could be said of their engagement, or their entire relationship. But now here they were, and time was not interested in slowing down. From the moment they had gone on and then returned from their honeymoon, everything felt as though it had remained in perpetual motion. The most important part, of course, was that they were happy, living the life that they had hoped to live when they had decided to become husband and wife. A lot of it was the same as it had been before, most of all the thing that connected them most directly to Ella, and Taylor… Tori was as happy to share her time between her mother and stepfather and then her father and stepmother, as happy as any child they'd ever seen in a situation of being split between two homes. It would be easier for her, they supposed, as it had been her situation for as long as she could remember, and yet now she would go from one place to the other like it was her greatest pleasure.

It had become a thing of their circumstances, as soon as Theo had sought to become husband to the likes of Lea Sullivan-Reyes, that there might come a time where they'd had to make new plans for the shared custody of Tori. Now here they were. Lea's connection with Broadway was bound to whether or not she had a part, and for how long, and she had no longer had a role to speak of for a few months. There was no telling whether she'd have one again soon, or if a year might go by, two years, more… Wishful thinking could only propel them so far, but then… Then a new opportunity presented itself, and it was not something that could be taken lightly. For all that they'd believed of what could be and should be, it still was deeply unexpected and so deeply emotional, for Lea, for Theo, for all of them who loved them. It meant settling over in New York for several months at the least, possibly long enough as to feel permanent. They couldn't have Tori splitting her schooling between two states, but they would do their best to send her to her father and back to her mother as much as they could.

They had the whole family behind them, as though they needed to wonder. Lucas was right at the forefront when it came to the Friars, which was saying a lot, considering that he counted among that group the likes of Maya, and Marianne… But then this was his favorite cousin, and he'd seen her come up, through all these years, all the way back to when she'd only been a baby. Proud as he was, to no one's surprise, he was leaps and bounds behind the likes of Michael Sullivan and Keith Reyes, proudest of patriarchs of the family they had founded in coming together all those years ago. They had already committed to helping in what way they could to seeing the granddaughter they had gained in marriage from Texas to New York and back whenever required, accompanying her so she wouldn't have to go alone. And then to see how their eldest was going to be out there, living her dreams as fully as she'd ever hoped to live them… Any small reminder was able to bring their emotions boiling to the surface and spilling in so much unbridled joy.

They showed as much as they joined the Friars and the Hunters in welcoming back the seniors as they returned from their post-graduation trip. It had been so important to the Hunters – and by extension the Friars, too – to be there, waiting, excited along with the other family members when Freddie would come through the gate along with the others. They wanted him to see and to know that there were people who had missed him and would welcome him back with open arms and happy smiles. He had them right there, as Shawn and Katy came forward to embrace him and welcome him back. The others could see the boy's face as he took this all in, and if they'd hoped for him to know what he meant to them, they had achieved their goal far beyond any expectations. And then if that wasn't enough, he had a pack of little Hunters at the ready to pile in around him and ask about his flight back, about his trip as a whole… They were made – by their parents – to hold it in and wait until they got home, and they would – reluctantly – but at least Freddie was home.

Agnes was there, too, along for the ride, and it was remarkable to see her and Freddie together here. It wasn't as though the shift was so monumental as to make them unrecognizable, but it was enough that it made it noticeable to Maya and Lucas especially, as they were the only ones to carry the extra information that put things in perspective. The true beginning of their relationship remained a guarded secret, as did its… issue… but it had come into the light in one very important place for them, and it looked as though that one small fact had been enough to allow them both the means to breathe deeper, clearer, and to continue to do so as they moved forward.

It brought them into the midst of the baby boy they had brought into the world, and even though he remained unaware of what connected him to them, Ezra would go up to them, play with them, and he'd be happy, and he'd make them happy. There was a lot that would still have to be worked out between all of them as they went forward, but they all looked to be on the same page and, with Ezra at the heart of it all, that was all that they needed to hold on to.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners