January 2nd 2024

Chapter 2
The Opening of New Chances

"Daddy!"

"You see something out there?" Lucas smiled as he spied his son in the rear view mirror. He would cling to whatever toy he'd selected for the day's ride, with gentleness challenged by distraction, while his eyes would seem to shine out with whatever he was seeing.

"Look, the birds! Birds!" Ezra pointed, prodding the window when his fingers were stopped by the glass. "Flying!"

"They are, huh? Do you see the colors?"

Ezra looked at him, then out the window again. His eyes found the birds and he pointed to one and another, speaking the colors quietly. He got most excited at seeing a splash of yellow, or green, and it made Lucas laugh to himself. They followed the birds all the way to the ranch. Whenever Ezra lost sight of any of them, Lucas would spy one and point it out, and the excitement would rise again. This made him think of his mother, of all things. If she knew of this fascination of her grandson's, oh… She would bring him some good bird toys for his car rides, and he would hold them as snuggly as he held the stuffed orange cat he had that day.

"Is Twixxy coming with us? Or is he going to stay here?" Lucas asked as he worked to unbuckle Ezra. The boy hugged his cat with instant protective care. "He had a close call last time, didn't he?"

"Twixxy fell in the mud," Ezra nodded.

"Mommy cleaned him up good, she did. Maybe this time let's leave him here while we go out there, yeah? We'll tuck him in and he can nap." Ezra looked around for some blanket they might use. Lucas was way ahead of him, and within a minute, Twixxy was tucked in, lying in his owner's seat while the Friar father and son headed out of the parking lot.

Most days he wouldn't really go and think about the years that had gone by since he'd started working at the ranch in earnest, or the way any of it had changed. But then sometimes it was impossible not to see it, to see the things that had changed as much as those that had stayed the same. The people were what he noticed most of all. They were the ones who made that difference and sameness feel palpable. Growth, evolution… He saw it in his children all the time, but also in the kitchen staff, the trainers, his own medical team… Some of them had been students in the beginning, and now they were fully certified. There had been weddings, births… deaths… And all along, they were Sullivan Stables together.

Ezra loved each part of the property in its own right. When he'd be in his father's main office, he would want to touch everything, to sit in any number of places whether they were particularly inviting or not. His favorite was under the desk, like it was a secret fort, and now he would hurry over and crawl under at once.

"That didn't take long," Lucas smirked. Ezra stared out at him with an invitation in his grayish eyes. "You want me to sit there, too?" Lucas pointed. He did. "Well, I'm not going to fit down there, I think, but I'll do what I can, okay?"

The old injuries were not what they had been after his attack, but there were for sure things he knew better than to do if he didn't want to regret it later. His injuries had made him feel older than his years, and he had his children to thank for shrinking that gap. When he sat halfway under the desk with his boy, seeing his excitement, he thought of nothing else except that smile.

"What do you want us to do after rounds today?" he asked. Ezra was caught up in his head, playing as he did day to day with his sisters back home. It would feel as though he was recalling those games and playing them on, conjuring his band of big sisters in his young mind and bringing them into play that way. Lucas didn't interrupt him, though he naturally participated whenever incited to do so. They would go out when they were ready to go. All would be handled in the meantime.

The one thing that could interrupt this father-son moment was the real world calling in with no idea that they were doing so. When his phone rang, he gave it a quick look, knowing he would dismiss the call unless he had no choice. But it was about his new book, and he had to carefully crawl aside until he could sit up and talk. Ezra wasn't distracted. He kept on playing, and his voice could be heard in the background all through the conversation, threatening to make his father lose his composure and break into laughter.

After he hung up, he lay back on the ground and looked around until Ezra came and stared down at him.

"Daddy, you want a blanket, too? Nap?"

"No nap, just felt like it," Lucas promised. He reached up to brush at his hair and Ezra responded by scooting to lie down against him. Lucas happily held him, and he smiled again as he could tell the game was still going on in his boy's mind.

In his stories and his games, one day, there could well be inspiration from this new book that was on its way to being published. The girls would share it with him, he could imagine, and it would be part of them all, as it should be. It was family history, given life all over again by their memories.

Eventually, they had to move again, as he would be hearing from the families of their new batch of exchange campers. They had been with them for just a little while as of yet, but it was a big day for all of them, and naturally their parents would want to know that they were doing well.

He got to speak with Calvin Larose's family back in Louisiana, assuring them that he'd briefly seen him that morning while dropping off Marianne, as he was in the sixth grade, too, hosted by her friend Mosi Okafor and his family. There were two versions of Calvin as far as Lucas had gotten to know him. There was the lively and talkative boy who'd been at the ranch here and there since his arrival, and there was the one beyond the ranch, the quiet one. He was nervous to start at this school, naturally, but he was not on his own, and with Mosi and the others around him, he would be just fine.

He also got to speak to the family of Deanne Wallis, the sixteen-year-old, the sophomore guest of Angie Anna Bowles. He got to promise her father that she was equally surrounded by people who would help her thrive. She wasn't dealing with shyness so much as grief. She'd had nowhere near the time needed to recover from the loss of her mother, and he could hardly say that he had gone through the same thing she'd done, having lost his mother as an adult, but regardless, he would look out for her for as long as she was with them in Austin, and later once she went back to Arizona if she wanted it, too.

When he got to talk to Sophia Georgiou's mother back in Greece, he had plenty to tell her, as she and her host, Kennedy Bell, had been coming out to the ranch every day since the XC had arrived. They would be dropped off by Kennedy's father, or older sibling Ash, or they would take the bus just the two of them, and then they would be all over the place, exploring whatever the ranch had to offer, but most of all, naturally, they would be found with the horses. Sophia was teaching Kennedy to speak Greek, which was at times a tricky success and at other times a laugh-inducing mess. The seventh grader was clearly devoted to succeeding though, and so they would carry on.

Lucas would tell Sophia's mother all the stories he could think of, though he would also take calculated steps away from bringing up Kennedy's father and the way the two girls had the touch of mischief in them. More than a couple of people had been left wondering if the girls were seeking to match their respective parents to one another. It wasn't as though they didn't want this for either side, but it was also impossible not to consider the ways in which this could end badly. There was that big hurdle of their all being split across Texas and Greece, which didn't have to be a deal breaker, but it would for sure create a crack or two if left unattended. They would stand by, and they would what life had in store for them.

He'd already spoken a few times more with Himari Aoki's family than the other three, if only by virtue of happening on calls between them when the seventeen-year-old and her host, Amy Dixon, would stop by the house, or when he would make his way to the house up the road and run into them there. There were benefits in that way to their being neighbors. He had gotten to witness how the girl had been settling into her home of the next year, and he had gotten to get to know her.

She had always wanted to be a veterinarian, and here she was, settled so close to someone who could be an example to her. She had been blind from birth, a fact that had been kept from there until very late in the game, but that was only a part of who she was, and Lucas was never once deterred from guiding her down her chosen path. If anything, he had been seeking means of putting documents in her hands that she could use to further her knowledge, in whichever way would best suit her.

She would be at the school by now, already with Maya for all he knew, part of her first class of the day, the one she'd always had, with the seniors, now the regular seniors as split from those taking AP Art later in the day. Last he'd spoken with Himari, she had acknowledged that she was nervous about this first day, by no means because of class and much more for how people would treat her. She'd run into any number of reactions all her life, but this was so far from her home in Japan. She didn't know what to expect. Both Amy and younger sister Julie had vowed to be there for her, and that was the best thing she could ask for, if Lucas had any say in it.

Thinking of the girls heading into Maya's class, now, made him think of his wife… and their baby… Here in the office, his smile could go unguarded, and it flowed from him like pure honey. They weren't telling yet, nor were they saying the quiet part out loud, but it was definitely there. They would not forget what had happened the day Aubrey was born. Five years had gone by, and this number added to their ages, to Maya's most of all, could only leave them to feel the fear in them. What if something happened again? What if they never got to hold that child? What if Maya didn't get better this time? They had allowed nature to take its course again, and now it had… They would give their joy the spotlight it deserved, but the worries would never leave their position, standing in the wings, until they got to bring their baby home.

"Hey there," Lucas reached out and scooped Ezra when he suddenly stood and made to run. The boy giggled and squirmed like he was being tickled.

"Time to go now! Horses! Check-ups! Let's go, Daddy!"

"Alright, alright, Mr. Friar," Lucas moved to stand with him. "Where should we start?"

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners