March 21st 2024

Chapter 81
The Love in Festivities

"Lucas! Lucas, I don't want to dance!" Calvin called out, dashing over to him. When he looked up, Lucas saw the boy coming, a spooked look in his eyes he recognized at once as the panicked look that accompanied first confrontations with… affection of a different kind. Whether that was actually what was happening - he doubted it - or not, it made him chuckle. The would-be partner he was currently evading was Calvin's fellow XC, Sophia.

"Okay, so don't dance," Lucas told him reassuringly.

"But she's going to make me," Calvin pointed back to Sophia, looking much too terrified.

"I'll talk to her, alright? You want to help Bishop with the lights over there?" he pointed, and the boy went at once, keeping an eye on the girl all the while. "What did you tell him?" he had to ask when Sophia caught up to him.

"I only ask if he could test the dance floor with me," Sophia shrugged, evidently perplexed as to why Calvin had run from her.

"Yeah, that's what I thought. Just see if anyone else will go? Ask Rafa," he nodded over to the boy. Sophia looked over at him and back again, suddenly just a bit flushed. So maybe she wasn't after Calvin like that, but she was definitely not… unaware of feelings like that. She was older than Calvin, not by that much, but enough to make a difference.

The XCs were helping him that afternoon, preparing the ranch ahead of the coming Equestrian Ball. He wouldn't have made them do it, but they offered, so who was he to say no? If nothing else, it helped to focus him, to not think about his conversation with his father, about his grandfather's declining state. He watched Sophia go up to Rafa, shy as ever, and it made him smirk.

"What happened?" Deanne asked, nodding over to Calvin when Lucas approached her. She was tracing the guests' names on their place cards for the ball's dinner, showing her great skill at making loopy letters, perfect for the occasion. Lucas briefly explained the 'incident,' which made Deanne chuckle. "Yeah, he's nervous, that kid. He's actually looking forward to the ball though, he told me all about it. Maybe he just wants to dance by himself."

"Maybe," Lucas nodded. He had to smile, seeing her as she was now. Since the holidays had come and gone, she had really started to relax, tension releasing from where it had been eating away at her since she'd come to Texas. Lucas would have assumed that her father's absence would have made her even more upset, but instead it might have helped her. He got the impression that she had been forced to reflect on everything and she'd come away with the conclusion that she could be okay, moving on, whether or not her father would be on the same level as her. She was finding her new normal, and he was happy for her.

He tracked down Himari without meaning to, when he went over to the dance studio and found Britt and Olivia working with their Japanese XC. They were leading her through a dance, working together to give her what she'd need in order to learn it when she didn't have the sight to simply watch them. She was enjoying it, and going by how the event coordinator and office assistant were reacting, she was a quick learner. When they stopped, he clapped, and Himari was momentarily startled, but then she seemed to guess it was him, and she smiled proudly.

"What do you think?" she asked.

"I think you should be all set for the ball. Who's your dance partner going to be?"

"Willy," Himari revealed, and Lucas nodded to himself. He was two years younger than Himari, but his brother Jake was dating her host… He was part of the new dance club at the high school, but Lucas had already seen him dance around at gatherings for his old team's players and families, so he knew him as relaxed and a good mover. It would be a great match. "He's coming here today so we can practice together. I went with Amy and Julie to buy a dress, and they will do my hair and makeup…" She was looking forward to it, and for her sake he hoped it all went exactly as she wanted it.

They would try and have days, over the weekend, where the young members of the afterschool program would be able to visit the ranch outside of school days, to spend more time there than the brief hours between the end of school and the time where their families would collect them for dinner and whatever it was they all did in the evening before bed. This was to be one of those days, and soon word got around that the kids were starting to arrive. They had been collected by their usual school buses, in an arrangement with the bus company and the schools, and now they descended upon Sullivan Stables in droves. It was really something to see, all of them landing among them with their various group colors on display until they come off like a batch of rainbow sprinkles moving toward the property. Lucas didn't know that he was ever so proud of the work he did at the ranch than when he was reminded of all the people who were brought there and would grow with a similar feeling toward it as he'd done. They would grow knowing it as a safe place, where they were always happy to be.

"Hi, Daddy!" a call caught his ear, and he turned to spot a cluster of many colors detaching itself from among the rest to make a beeline toward him. There were his girls, five of them running while the sixth - Mackenzie - who had been the one to call out, was once again riding on big sister Annie's back.

They could very easily have come to the ranch with him, with their little brother, but they wanted to come along with their friends and classmates, to take the bus with all of them, and who would he be if he denied them that, right? They would end up here, one way or another. This way, they came with a story they couldn't wait to share with him. They all crowded around him and hugged him as though they hadn't just seen him a couple of hours ago. Now that they were here, they all had so much that they wanted to do, and they rattled those lists off with great, great smiles that warmed his heart like they had no idea. This one wanted to go riding, that one wanted to hear stories at the archive, this one wanted to play a game, that one wanted to draw pictures for their mom out in the arts and crafts room… Lucas told them they could do all those things, especially seeing as he was there with them, but then they would remind him that they planned on going back on the bus with everyone, just like when they'd come in. That was part of the experience, wasn't it?

For all the plans they claimed to have, he had a strong feeling that a lot of those were going to be forgotten as they would take in their surroundings and see how the preparations for the ball were underway. They wouldn't just see it all and shrug, moving on like it was no big deal, no. They would want to get involved at once, to join in. He knew it, and he could clock the moment when they switched over. It made him smile, and only for knowing that it was genuinely what they wanted to be doing right now, he led them off to where they all wanted to go.

They had all been part of the planning process, and he really could not get enough of the way they all followed him with half serious looks to them, like they were looking to be given all needed information to know what the staff had been up to without their input, the better to make corrections if necessary. Marianne was right up there with her eyes set to scrutiny, but her little sisters were just as on point as she was, and it was both impressive and a tiny bit scary.

The serious faces all fell away when they made it to the main reception area, where the ball would be held. When they got there, they were back to being young girls, every last one of them, young girls with an active imagination, and a flair for the romantic and the magical. The dance floor was always going to be the highlight, the centerpiece, as well it should be, and this year would not disappoint for a second.

"Ezra, come, come," Marianne waved for her little brother as though he wasn't in their father's arms, and Lucas had no choice but to put him down, because there was no chance he wouldn't answer these summons and go to his sisters, especially as the others all echoed Marianne's words.

Mackenzie was allowed to sit on a wheeled cart, where she could hold on, and the triplets would work together to speed her along, spin her around… And it was everything she could have wanted in her current predicament. She laughed, but also she had this spark in her eyes like she imagined herself to be in the middle of a real life musical. Given the tune to fit this moment, she would probably have sung it out.

"Yeah, you got it, EZ!" Aubrey giggled, and Marianne was laughing, too, as the two of them moved around their brother and danced with him. What he did may not have fallen as evenly under the umbrella of 'dancing,' but all he knew was that he was dancing, and no one would tell him otherwise, not for a second. He was really good at the 'jumping around' dancing, and that at least worked pretty well. He'd be good and tired out by the time they got home, that was for sure.

"Dad?" Marianne came up to him, later on, as they had all gone seeking snacks and drinks after their big 'dance break.' Sometimes he would just get hit with how much she was growing, more so than usual, and this definitely felt like one of those days. He held out his arm, and she folded herself underneath it until he could close his hold around her.

"Yeah, pumpkin?" he replied, matching her tone. It made her smile, a flash of her mother's face right there in her own, and he bowed his head to kiss the top of hers as he recognized the look in her eyes all too well. Something had made her feel… different, and she didn't know how to deal with it.

When she didn't answer his question, he didn't need too much time to guess what it was that had gotten on her mind. Him… He'd gotten on her mind, more to the point, he and his mother had gotten on to her mind. She'd remembered that the anniversary was coming up, and it had momentarily robbed her of the glow of the ball. She needed to know that he was okay, but more than that, she didn't know if she was okay. She'd been right there by his side every year since he'd lost his mother, and he'd expected no less. Marianne had been called Melinda's soul mate from the beginning, hadn't she? Each year that went by, his journey through grief hit new peaks, highs and lows, and she was there with him for all of it, growing older, growing wiser. Now, she was twelve, and it had never hit her this deep before.

"You know what?" he finally told her, deciding that they would both be better off getting back to the happy and the magical. "I can't wait to dance with you." She smiled up at him, nodded. She couldn't wait to dance with him either.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners