March 4th 2024

Chapter 64
The Year of Independence

The children were not happy with the idea of leaving Arkansas the day after New Year's, even if it meant going back to their home, their people, their town. It did feel the tiniest bit like they were bribing them when they reminded them that they'd be seeing their pets again… and that they had a big family project to tackle before they all went back to school, but it helped to shift their mindsets enough that they stopped resisting the departure and they were able to undergo the return trip.

When they did arrive, even if they knew that there weren't actually fairies involved in the process, it did feel like someone had come along and undone all the magic they'd had over their house through the month of December. It was to wonder how their actual 'fairies,' being MJ, Wyatt, the Davis twins, and Nellie (who would not be told what to do no matter how many months pregnant she was, thank you very much), had pulled it all off without Finneas seeing anything. Regardless, they were all home, and as much fun as they'd had back in Arkansas, they were all very happy to be back in their own space.

The nature of their 'special project' had been promised to be revealed when they arrived, and though it had been their intention to get into all that once they'd had a chance to relax from the drive, maybe get the unpacking done, the kids had other ideas. They wanted to know about the project, and leaving them to wait really only felt like an invitation for them to keep asking, so they just told them. They explained how it was really long past the time for Ezra to not be staying in his parents' room, to have a space of his own in the house. So they had to figure out where he would go, doing all necessary redecorating, possibly having to do the same for one or more of the girls, depending on who went where. And once Ezra's things were out of their room, there would also be the matter of seeing about getting everything set up ahead of the new baby being born, too. That was still a couple of months away, sure, but it did feel kind of necessary to get everything set up just in case, didn't it?

"Where's he gonna go?" Remy asked what the girls were all likely wondering as they looked to their little brother. Ezra mostly just stood there, looking like he had no idea what was going on. He was having fun playing with the dogs, who had not left the pack of them since they'd been reunited.

"We don't know yet. We have to figure it out, and we wanted to hear from all of you before we made any decisions," Lucas explained.

"If he comes into one of our rooms, there's going to be too many of us, isn't there?" Kacey asked.

"True," Maya agreed. "But there's the guest room upstairs, and we can turn that into a bedroom for one or more of you…" This was an interesting prospect, though by the way the girls all looked at each other, it also came with so many choices as to become too many choices, and that could quickly land them locked in indecision. They really did not like the idea of ending up there. But then it went to show how much the Friar sisters had come to grow together that, in this situation, with the possibility of confusion just ahead of them, the solution became 'let's see what Annie thinks.'

Marianne had been turning the question over in her head since they'd started talking about it, and her parents could see it. Now a thought was forming in her head, one that was at once intriguing and just on this side of terrifying.

"I could go upstairs," she half raised her hand, as though volunteering. "And Ezra could take my place with Mack and Aubrey." The two little sisters looked surprised at this, but Marianne just smiled at them. "You two can be the big sisters in the room now." The girls looked at each other, then to the still clueless Ezra, then to their big sister. They kind of liked this idea…

The rest of the day was spent looking at the rooms they would be transforming and figuring out what they would need to get. It wasn't until a little way into that step that Ezra seemed to catch on to what they were doing, and he was very hesitant at the idea of no longer being in his parents' room. That was on them, they knew. If they hadn't waited so long to move him out of their room, he wouldn't have gotten so acclimated to being with them, but they couldn't change that now. All they could do now was show him the potential of this switch. He would get to be in his big sisters' room now, and it would be his room, too. He loved being in there, as they reminded him, and they were going to have so much fun! That had potential, and they made sure to involve him in the choices they made for the room, especially as sooner or later he would realize that Marianne would not be in there with the three of them…

He would not be alone in those emotions at least. His soon-to-be roomies were having a lot of those feelings, too, the more time they had to think about it, and as they started to talk about getting her things out of the green room, and changing things in there, and then getting her set up in the now former guest room… They had shared that room with their older sister for as long as they could remember. Mackenzie had been there back when it was just the two of them, before Aubrey, and she didn't even remember that, but both of them had always had Marianne across the room from them, like a promise against bad dreams. All they had to do was open their eyes, turn their head, and there she'd be.

She was having plenty of feelings about not being with them anymore, too, and she did not keep that fact from them, not when she knew it might actually help them to know that they weren't alone in those feelings. So just the way Ezra was reassured by his big sisters, Mackenzie and Aubrey would be reassured by theirs, while her parents would be there for her, always open to hear from her if she wasn't sure about anything. This would be a big step for her, they realized, but it would be a very important one, too. They all just needed to remember that just because they had different rooms, it didn't mean they weren't all together anymore. All of them had shown across the years how little room 'assignments' meant when they just wanted to have a sleepover in someone else's room, and this wouldn't change a thing. They were just going to get to refresh their rooms a little, and the triplets would get that same privilege as they did their shopping.

They started the work the next morning. Everyone wanted one more night in 'the old way,' so they got it, and bright and early after breakfast, they would finally begin. They started in the green room, as Marianne insisted she would be fine if they didn't finish her room right away. She had already been going through some of her things ahead of this moment, to make it easier to move everything out when they'd start for real. When they'd gotten her completely moved out of the room, it was genuinely kind of startling. A lot of it went to the sudden emptiness, but still… All of them were briefly kind of stuck there, staring, before they finally got back to work.

They weren't just going to stick Ezra in the empty spot, and though they had tried to figure it all out before, they changed their minds a couple of times before eventually making up their minds. Mackenzie was moved to Marianne's old side of the room, and Aubrey was moved more or less where she had been, and this left space for Ezra to be sort of in the middle, with his sisters there, on either side of the room from him, by the window.

"What do you think? Do you like it?" Maya asked the kids when the room was all settled. They'd kept the green walls, which did feel like the three of them still having their big sister with them, thanks to her favorite color. Apart from that, it all looked so different, but the girls looked excited for this change to their room. "What about you?" Maya asked Ezra. He'd been standing there a while now, looking around, almost deciding. But then he just went and ran to sit on his bed, with the new bedding set that he'd picked out, and he had that smile… He could get used to this.

When they'd given the triplets' room its makeover - which had mostly required some paint, some wallpaper, and a furniture rearrangement, they were on their way to the second floor, for the last and most extensive change, turning the guest room into Marianne's brand new solo room. She hadn't been on her own for as long as Mackenzie had been old enough to leave their parents' room, but she vaguely remembered what that had been like. This was completely different, or it would be, once they were done. She was twelve now, just barely, but still less and less of a year away from entering her teenage years, and so even though it had played no part in her decision to take this room, this would be her room. It was entirely possible that she'd end up having one or two of her sisters up there with her at some point, but they could also end up in one of the other rooms once Maya had no more young siblings lodging with them through college, so… time would tell.

The guest room furnishings would all be taken down to the basement, along with what had been stored in the room all this time. What they would do with all of it remained to be seen, but it could wait. Right here, they had a blank canvas, and that was always one of their favorite things to have. They were a family blooming with artistic potential, weren't they? The possibilities were right there for them to explore. Marianne's single request when they'd planned out her new room, the one thing that would factor in every subsequent decision, centered on one of the walls, which she wanted white and without obstruction. What would become of that wall, again, time would tell, but Maya and Lucas were most curious to discover.

When all that was left was for Marianne to finish putting her things away and add decor touches to the room, she and her sisters were left to it, with 'foreman Mack' directing from her post on Marianne's desk chair, it was almost dinner time, but Lucas and Maya still decided to go and see to the last part for them. The crib was brought up from the basement earlier, and now it would be reassembled, making sure that everything was still as it needed to be. Already just pushing it back in the spot it had occupied last for Ezra, and then Aubrey before him, and Mackenzie, and way back with Marianne, after its stint across the hall back when they'd had need of three cribs at once… This would be where their baby Colby would sleep, and just seeing it made them feel like he'd never been so close. Maya couldn't stop smiling, especially as she could just feel the emotions radiating off her husband. She leaned in at Lucas' side, and he placed his arm around her. The wait would feel so long and so short at the same time when they got to this point, and they were fine by all of it.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners