January 12th 2024

Chapter 12
The Potential For Legacy

There were too many smiles over all of their faces when they came down to breakfast for Lucas not to guess that Maya's brothers and sisters had learned of their new niece or nephew on the way. He took Maya's lead and guessed the intention was not to move right along and tell the kids, so he didn't ask about any of it until later, when they'd gone back upstairs to get ready for the day. When he did ask, his wife told him to wait and disappeared. She returned a minute later, hand in hand with her sister.

She was looking better than she'd done when she'd first come down, and her previous and current states took on new meanings when Nellie revealed that yes, Maya had told her and the others about the baby, but only after she herself had been revealed to be pregnant, too. The news had been surprising, shocking, but emotional most of all. All of Maya's siblings had gotten to feel like his own brothers and sisters over the years, but just like her, the Hunter twins had been the very first siblings she'd had and he'd known. He'd held Nellie as a newborn babe, had felt a bond to her that would be solidified over time, and now she would be a mother… No wonder Maya had to go on and reveal their own secret as she'd done.

He did his best to set all this aside as he drove off to the ranch that morning. He had so much to do, and he knew that his thoughts would spiral away if he gave them any chance, thinking of his unborn child and their unborn cousin growing up side by side. He got a call from his new book's publisher as he drove, and that was just what he needed to set his mind elsewhere. Everything was moving along with the release, just as anyone would hope for it to move along. Even after all this time, there was some part of him that could not comprehend that he might be a published author, even as his first book had been out in the world for years now, as it had spawned one and then two very successful television series…

He would say that he had never set himself out to be a writer, and Maya would look at him like he was being so silly, which he probably was. He had come upon something he felt compelled to put out in the world, both times, and he had found the words to do so, and the rest, well… that was just the silliest part of all. He wouldn't go so far as to say that holding a completed version of his books felt the same as being handed one of his newborn children, but it was an… adjacent feeling, wasn't it? Here was a piece of him made tangible, separate from him but also part of him… He'd long known that being a father would be part of who he was, but the author thing, that had not been in the cards until it was.

Ezra was not with him that day. The narrative as far as his son knew was that his Pappy Tom wanted to take him into town, and his father had sent them off together, even as it would mean that they wouldn't get to spend their day together at the ranch. It was better than to tell his son that he would be so busy and it wouldn't be a good idea to bring him along, possibly upsetting him.

It allowed him to get more work done as they approached the competition, but Lucas almost wished he'd had Ezra there with him instead, exploring the office with renewed curiosity as he did from day to day. Without him, the room felt too quiet now, but he willed himself once again to focus on his work. He would never once regret having his attention captivated by his family. Nothing would ever be so important to him that they wouldn't take priority in his heart and mind. And when all would be said and done, he would still get everything done as he was supposed to, so he could afford his thoughts being overtaken by a memory of his son getting so fascinated with his ceiling fan that he'd spun himself right into a dizzy spell and had to be held until he'd settled again.

This competition was on a smaller scale than something like the Grand, for sure, but that didn't make the preparations across the ranch any less of a time-consuming effort. When they'd enter in these periods, he'd remember how much Juliet had said that it got to be too much after a while. It was overwhelming, for sure, but then he had this secret weapon: he was the son of Melinda Friar. She had been gone a few years now, as difficult as this was to accept, but she had been there for the better part of his life, and she had instilled plenty of things in him, not all of them intentionally. He would face a very intense task, with enough components to feel impossible, and suddenly it would be Christmas again, or spring cleaning, and his mother's voice would be in his ear, revealing clarity from chaos, and everything would be alright again.

"Look," Olivia called for him to join her as he returned to the main building after his tour through the kitchens, the stables, and the clinic. His office assistant inadvertently made him think of Nellie and her news again. Olivia Zhu was one of his best friends' sister, and he remembered holding her as a baby, too, whenever they'd all hang out at Nadine's house, and now she'd been working with him, day to day, for a while, but he hadn't forgotten.

"The programs, finally?" he asked when she handed him one from the open box. They had been expecting them days ago, and there'd been a delay, stressing them the closer they got to the start of the competition. But now they were here, and he could flip through until he found his sneaky granddaughter's listing along with the competitors of her group. He couldn't wait to show it to her…

Afternoon came very quickly, he realized, when he came back from a summons to the clinic and spied the four exchange campers and their hosts had arrived and were waiting for him. Calvin was showing Mosi something, looking as though he'd been waiting all day, through the hours at school, until they would get here, so he could do this, and the wait had been worth it, going from the animated conversation that the sixth-graders were having.

Nearby, Sophia and Kennedy were having an animated conversation of their own, though it was kept in quiet tones, the girls sitting in a huddle on the top step of the bed and breakfast. He had a good idea of what this conversation would involve, as much for being able to pick up on some of the words that they were exchanging as for the fact that he had been put in this exact situation several times in the time since those two had met. Part of him might have wanted to try and divert them from this idea that Sophia's mother and Kennedy's father might come to fall in love and get married and make the two of them sisters, but he didn't get involved. For one thing, he knew better than to think that this would convince them, and for the other… For what contact he'd had with the two parents on their own, and the time they had met, at Sophia's arrival, he could see, as Maya had, that beyond how much the girls would love to be sisters, their parents looked like they got along, like they could benefit from having one another in their lives… So maybe they were on to something?

Maya had been keeping him up to date about how their high school XCs were doing so far, as the first month of school was moving along. Each of them came with a different story, a different set of needs, and for what he was able to see and contribute when they were at Sullivan Stables, he needed to factor in the time they spent back in school, too. On both sides, it could be agreed upon that Deanne was starting to open up. At school, a lot of this was thanks to her host, Angie Anna, who benefited just as much for having this constant presence, a budding friend she could be so open and honest with.

When she would be at the ranch, for what Lucas had seen, it felt like she would finally allow herself the space to think, to let the dark clouds in her head do as they had to, reminding her of the loss she had suffered when her mother had passed. Looking at her, it felt like it was only a matter of time before she finally cracked open and it all spilled out. When it came, he would do his best to be there for her, as much for having lost his own mother as for feeling paternally protective of this fragile moment when she couldn't experience it with her own father by her side.

Where they had Deanne and her need to just let go on one side, on the other, there was Himari, who very much just wanted to take hold of everything she could get her hands on. She knew what she wanted for her future, and she'd shared how much push back she'd experienced whenever she let people in on her dream. It wasn't everyone, no, but there had been enough people telling her that her blindness would hold her back. So when she'd been presented with this opportunity to go spend a year in Austin, at school, too, sure, but at Sullivan Stables… She had never wanted anything so much as this, and from the moment she'd arrived, all she'd wanted was to make sure to use this time to the fullest. She would learn everything she could learn and take it back with her when the year was out. It would be her beginning, and she would not squander it.

Sooner or later, Lucas would find his thoughts slipping back to the baby… babies, now, he had to think, with Nellie's news. Oh, that would be something, wouldn't it? Two pregnant women in the house, two sisters pregnant together… He could just imagine the kids' reactions when they'd find out. Already, Gracie, MJ, and Wyatt were all flipping out at this double surprise from their sisters, barely managing not to let it out to anyone else. They weren't completely sure about what Finneas had understood, having been in that room with all of them, as he hadn't said anything at breakfast, and they didn't want to solidify anything that might have been left vague in his young mind.

Secrets aside, he was really looking forward to everything the next several months would have in store for them. Since he'd found out about the new baby, his and Maya's, there'd be no way for him to just put his happiness on display except for when it was just the two of them, or with Marianne. And in that space of secrecy, it was a lot easier for his mind to slip the way of worries, of memories of Aubrey's birth and what had happened afterward. He didn't want to think about this baby this way, and maybe this surprise with Nellie was the beginning of their new chapter, no more worries, just excitement and anticipation. And when it was fully out there, no more hiding… Maya always teased him about his 'expecting papa' side, but those really were some of the favorite times of his life, and if this was to be the last time he experienced it… The worries would not hold him long.

TO BE CONTINUED


See you tomorrow! - mooners