January 26th 2024

Chapter 26
The Surprise in the Audio

They could not have forgotten what this day was - or what the next one would be - if they tried. They'd woken up that morning to the sound of their daughters sneaking into their room to scoop up their little brother, because of course he had to be involved, and been informed that, on this Hallowannie Eve, they had to go and make the spooky creatures welcome.

"Like leaving cookies and milk for Santa?" Lucas had asked, rubbing sleep from his eyes. All the girls had nodded at once, though Aubrey had to remind them…

"And carrots, Daddy." They could not forget the reindeer, of course not.

Seeing as they all had to get to school that day and did not have so much time to hide treats for the sneaky little monsters, they had been convinced to wait until that night, after they'd returned. It was a tough bargain, but then pointing out the fact that, according to Annie as she 'remembered', it was best to lay their treats in hiding when it would be almost night time… They had waited, they had gone to school, and now they were back, and there was no time to waste. They ran around together, before and after dinner. Marianne promised her parents that they wouldn't put anything where they would forget, anything that might go bad and leave a smell.

This new tradition of theirs, on the thirtieth of October, had all been Marianne's idea. It was hardly her fault that she had been born on Halloween, that the day went and became about her in a lot of ways, right down to merging with her name to become Hallowannie. With all her siblings around her, all she wanted now was to make sure they all got to have as much fun together as possible without them feeling that it was all about her. For what they saw of it that night at least, they were off to a great start.

It would always make them proud to see her so inclusive with her siblings, but they also wanted to make sure that she allowed herself the space to think about herself a little bit. It was her birthday after all, just one day away. Seeing her as she went around that evening, they didn't have to worry. Oh, she couldn't wait for the next day, couldn't wait to be twelve. A few times that day, in the morning and now in the evening, they had seen her with this expression in her eyes like she just wanted to go and put on her costume already, wanted to just thrive in the fact that it was her birthday. She'd probably have no problem going to bed, because it would mean that it would be the thirty-first when she woke up, just as she'd probably struggle to fall asleep, with all the excitement in her heart and mind. No matter how she was all of a year off from her teenage years, they could end up seeing her crawl in between them that night, calling on them to help her drift off.

If she came too early, Marianne might come seeking them only to find an empty bed. As the kids were slowly but surely tucked in and sent off to sleep, they were put in the hands of their aunts and uncles for a little while as their parents would head down, out the back door, and up to the Hex. Even as they knew that the 'official' audio for Lucas' book would soon be in the process of recording, they had taken it upon themselves, him and Maya, to get their special edition recorded, too, for the kids, and the baby… They had imagined themselves doing this after the birth, and the whole thing had been sort of laughable, just the two of them all sleep deprived and loopy. It could have been funny, but they preferred to do it this way instead. Maya kind of liked the idea of their voices sounding through the studio speakers, their little one taking it all in from within her belly… So, they had been visiting like this, most nights, if they could, to record another little bit of the book.

"Are you going for my chair there, Huckleberry?" she asked as they walked in.

"Only to pull it for you," he promised, and she snorted.

"Why do you think I called you Huckleberry?" she pointed out, pausing to kiss him lightly before sitting down.

"I realized that as I was saying it," he admitted, dropping into the chair next to her.

She was already working the controls like she barely had to think about what she was doing, and he loved to watch her in these moments. She would always know that he was watching her, and it would amuse her, and that would only get them going with banter enough to potentially derail their actual plans for the evening, so she'd do her best not to get caught up in it and instead focus on what they were meant to be doing. Some nights, it would be harder to do so, and on this night, when they'd just been playing Hallowannie Eve with their children, they were absolutely at risk of losing track.

"Alright, who's going in first, where did we stop last time?" she finally asked, sitting up to look more focused, which made him smile. "Lucas Thomas…"

"My turn," he promised, before she could full-name him the whole way. "Chapter three?"

"Chapter three," she nodded. "Go, go," she waved him toward the booth, and he bounced up to his feet like a giddy kid when it was his turn. "That's the energy we want to see," Maya laughed. They had moved a few things around in the booth, to make these recording sessions, and Maya would look at him in there, her dear husband, sitting on his stool, headphones on, setting down his pages, annotated and good to go… "Looking good in there, Friar," she let him know, watching him momentarily lose concentration and laugh. "I'm just saying, do you really need a shirt on for this?"

"If you're going to do your part, I think I do," he replied, and she gave a dramatic sigh, but they got back to work.

All joking aside, once they did get started, Maya showed she could be very professional regardless of circumstances. Sitting here, listening to him as he read the text he had written, she just loved his tone, practiced through countless days as a tour guide and countless nights of telling stories to their children. It was almost a shame that no one would hear this version except them, but at the same time she was happy to think how it would be theirs alone. Their children were spread out in ages, and while it would not have the same effect on all of them to hear this recording when it was done, it wouldn't change the fact that they knew it would be important to each and every one of them, from their big girl down to their unborn little bean.

"You're really good at this, you know?" Maya hummed when he stepped back out to join her. Her smile was endless and now was brimmed with tears she hadn't managed to wipe away. He sat back across from her and wheeled forward, knees to knees, so he could reach out and gently absorb them away. She didn't resist, had fully expected this response from him, and it made her happy to let him proceed.

"Would it be very Huckleberry of me to say I learned it from you?" he asked.

"Maybe," she chuckled. "But I'll take it."

"Good, you should. You taught me everything I know about all of this," he gestured around the studio, to the booth and the controls, too. They would not have been able to do this, just the two of them as they were, if they hadn't spent time in here with her taking him through everything, these tools that Ree Forster had gifted her with over a decade ago.

Whenever she'd remember how long it had been, she would look around in awe. Yes, they had built the structure of the Hex on their own, and they would have used whatever tools they could get together to make things work, which would have been fine. They would have upgraded little by little over time. But instead they had come home and there had been everything they could have dreamed of and more. They remembered how it had been at first, everything shining and perfect and new. After as many years as it had been, the studio was a lot more lived in, still very clean, because they kept it that way, but also showing its years of use, of creation, with friends, and family… So to record this here, now, it felt like they were right where they needed to be.

He was so used to seeing her in that booth by now, but it still made him smile, made him feel the love he had for her as something near tangible. Anything she did, whether it was drawing, painting, knitting, playing music, singing, to him looked like she was made for it. Her skills were undeniable. And then she'd get in there, and she'd sit on that stool to read her parts, with her hand gravitating to her growing belly as she spoke, and it would take him right back to all those nights along the tour with Ree, years ago. All those nights, he'd watched her stand up there to sing when her moment would come, with their baby girl growing and growing, their birthday girl of the next morning, and he remembered how much it would touch him to watch her, to see in her face, in her movements, how much it meant to her to cross those experiences in her life, the tour, the baby, their first…

She was feeling it now with this new baby, their last as far as they knew, and the recording they were putting together, for this baby and all those preceding. They would joke around a lot in here, but she'd be feeling all this at the same time, like anytime she'd listen to this again she would be able to remember that this was what she'd been feeling at the time.

"You okay?" he asked after she'd paused for a while, looking at the pages on the stand before her.

"Yeah," she smiled before looking up at him. "I just love this part," she motioned to the pages. "You're a really good writer, you know that?"

"You wouldn't let me forget if I didn't," he pointed out, and she responded with a slow nod to show how true this was.

"Come here, I want to show you something," she motioned after a few more seconds had gone by. He stood and went into the booth, where she turned on the stool, away from the stand, so he might stand in front of her. When he did, she took his hand. "I know you probably can't feel it yet, but even if you can't…" she set his hand against her belly.

"You can," he guessed, and she nodded. His smile was everything. He couldn't feel the fluttery movements, but she'd been correct in thinking that it would be more than enough for him to know that their little bean was making their presence known. They were still recording, they both knew, and that was fine. More than fine, it was perfect. They had plenty of these 'kid outtakes' over the years, where they'd been interrupted by one or another of their children, or they'd been talking about them… They had them all in a special folder, and they knew just what to do with them here. What better to put along with a special edition than special features, right?

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners