January 17th 2024

Chapter 17
The Season For Community

Lucas was never so happy to welcome someone new to the Sullivan Stables team as when that person was part of his great extended family. Sure, any addition was good, or he tried to see to it that it would be, but it was just not the same when the person in question was someone who had already earned a place in his heart, one way or another. The latest of these additions was Ethan Davis. His twin brother, Bobby, had been the rider out of the two, Ethan not so much, but then Bobby had his accident a few years ago. While he'd been out of commission, Ethan had taken it upon himself to visit his horse, to reassure him.

It had amused them to see how the horse had seemed to believe that they were one and the same for a while, but then grew doubtful, then certain that this was someone else. By then, though, they had gotten to a place where Ethan was trusted, and the connection was enough for them to have their own bond. From this, Ethan had become more of a presence at the ranch, which slowly but surely had led to him learning, to spending time with the trainers especially, until he had both knowledge and interest enough to declare he wanted to become a trainer himself. And now he was.

Lucas was very happy to have him as part of the team, not just because he was Gracie's boyfriend and as good as his brother-in-law, but because he'd already showed himself to be a good help around the ranch, as much with the trainers and their riders and horses as with the kids from the afterschool program when the new year had finally begun. He would assist here and there, depending on which group needed him at which point in the afternoon, and it would be genuinely fascinating sometimes to consider the differences between him and his twin. He'd known them both for over a decade, and by their connection to the Hunter twins he had gotten to see a lot of them, so he had a solid definition of who Ethan was and who Bobby was, but it would happen sometimes that something would make him see their differences under a new light when they would be at the ranch.

So far as Ethan was concerned, with the afterschool program in particular, he would be found pitching in on storytime at the archive, or art corner above the dance studio, or over in the great hall for snack time, or the departures when parents would come and collect the ones who didn't leave on their own… Other help on these afternoons also came from the XCs, each of them matched to one of the original groups. It had been a strange idea for some of them at first, and it still felt a bit awkward at times, but they agreed to it, none of them forced, and for what protest any of them gave, it did feel very much as though they were enjoying themselves.

Calvin had felt very at odds with the idea in the beginning, and he continued to express this feeling if anyone asked him about it. Being surrounded with four and five-year-old children could be a lot to handle, but then they didn't take long to show him their greatest quality. They were the least judgmental people he could have around him, and as he was able to start and let his inner self shine through, they responded in such a curious and fascinated sort of way that he could become okay with showing more. Lucas would see these interactions and they would make him so happy, for the kids, too, but Calvin most of all. They had insisted on presenting him with his own green bandanna, because even though he was of an age that would settle him among the yellow group kids, he was part of them now, and that was the end of it. Seeing him walk around the ranch with that bit of green now, it really felt as though he had never been prouder of owning anything in his life.

Aubrey got along with him very well, which was a good bonus, as she had been so sad to see big sister Mack graduate up to blue. She had several classmates and school friends there with her, so she wasn't on her own, but it wasn't the same without her sister, and maybe the fact that he was also a quieter kid and also missed his family - who were much further away than Aubrey's sisters were - had them develop into a bit of a duo. It was enough that Lucas and Maya already foresaw another heartbreak at year's end, just as they had seen when Shonagh had gone back to Ireland. At least in this case the odds for a visit were much more favorable.

One group up, in blue, they were having a similar connection between Mackenzie and their Greek XC, Sophia. She had been more than happy with this match, as it made her think of her little brother back home. She missed him, but she'd known she would and the two of them had prepared for this separation. They would write to each other once a week, and by now those letters had started to arrive at their destinations, which was exciting for them. Sophia's brother may not have been the most eloquent at his age, but he wrote the way he talked, and that was all Sophia could ask for.

It had been an easy match for her and Mackenzie once she'd started following blue group around. Not unlike with Aubrey and Calvin, it did help some that Mackenzie was a Friar, with a connection to Lucas, which she recognized, but beyond that, the two of them had an easy personality match, the energetic, the bubbly and slightly chaotic… Mackenzie was all in on this plan regarding Sophia's mother and Kennedy's father, and she wanted this so much for the two of them, like if they succeeded then this would be a win for her, too. To see them play together sometimes, it seemed as though Mackenzie was coming up with some ideas for Sophia and Kennedy to use, which were very intriguing to the XC regardless of the fact that they came from the mind of a six-year-old.

The triplets saw this as coming from the fact that Mackenzie had been raised in the middle of a romantic comedy, which would give her plenty of inspiration for love. This had made their parents laugh, though she really did sort of have a point they could not deny. They might have been pitching ideas of their own, too, but they were up in red group as of this year. Their XC match had been as hesitant if not more so than Calvin, though in her case the reasoning was just as plainly evident once they took a moment to consider it. She was still feeling the weight of her loss, and where she might once have been all up with guiding the eight and nine-year-olds of red group, or of any group of kids they might have matched her with, now she was so aware of her personal issues that she felt she would only be a bummer to all of them.

She didn't go advertising the fact that she had lost her mother to all of them, so most of them just figured she was shy or not into this, but of course the triplets knew. Kacey, Remy, and Lucy did not know what it was like to lose your mother, though they had vague memories of the time following Aubrey's birth when this had nearly been their reality. Either way, it didn't matter. The thought was frightening enough, and they were such a caring bunch together that they would each do their best, in their own ways, of making Deanne feel welcome among them. Next to her host Angie Anna, this might have made the Friar triplets her favorite people in Austin, and she had started to show how protective she felt of them.

Up in the yellow group, the match to one or more girls with the Friar name continued, though this one had the distinction that they were also neighbors. And while Himari was very glad to spend this time at the ranch with the ten to twelve-year-olds, her host, Amy Dixon just was not able to be there a lot of the time, and she wouldn't be, with the coming of basketball season. So, it had now become routine that, once Lucas gathered up his daughters to take them home, he would also take Himari, to return her to the Dixon home.

Marianne would have been happy to know Himari just for being herself, but an added motivation was the fact that she was from Japan. Marianne had been growing more and more curious, and knowledgeable by extension, because of her friendship with Haru Matsuoka. She would ask questions, and Himari would be wholly willing to respond. This also led to her giving them the occasional Japanese lesson, especially on those rides back home. Marianne and her sisters had always gobbled up any opportunity for new vocabulary and new languages, which had them all deeply tuned in to Himari's lessons on the road. Lucas and Maya were both of a mind that their girls would have picked up enough of the language to be halfway fluent by the time she went home, and none so much as Marianne herself.

They didn't have XCs paired up to the older groups, to the thirteen and fourteen-year-odds of teal, the fifteen and sixteen-year-olds of violet, or the seventeen and eighteen-year-olds of orange group, nor were any of his children in those groups, but of course he looked in on them, too. He was always so proud to see them going around, to note the good that the program brought to their lives. They were all genuinely happy to be here, and it made him wish he would have had these groups from the start, even if the older kids might not have had the same response if they hadn't grown up with the program the way most of them had done. He was happy to see kids he did know among them, like Maisie Hart-Lane, like Mia Babineaux, and Giulia Choi… The Minkus kids had shown some curiosity but hadn't joined them as of yet. There was no rush, and if they ever changed their minds, they would be welcomed with open arms.

The ride home at the end of that day started out with another mini Japanese lesson, as he expected, but after a call from his publisher had interrupted them, the talk turned to this new book of his. It was impossible for them not to be deeply intrigued over it, and he was happy to tell them what he could. He knew that there was also loads of desire in them to read this book, or to have it read to them if they could not read well enough just yet. He had promised them all that they could do that in time, and that was all they needed to know.

"Was it about the audiobook?" Marianne asked, and he laughed. He could ask her how she even knew about that, but then how could it surprise him that she'd found out?

"Might have been," he told her, remaining neutral just to mess with her.

"Who's going to read it? Is it you?" Marianne asked, and Lucas snuck a look in the mirror, to her, to her sisters… They all wanted to know, and as far as they were concerned there couldn't possibly have been anyone else to speak his words.

"We haven't decided yet. But if it's not me, maybe I'll see if I can make a special version, just for all of you?" he suggested. They liked this very much. It helped that they had their own studio at hand, didn't it?

"Mommy can do the girl voices!" Mackenzie suggested right back. Now there was no way they didn't get their special edition.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners