March 14th 2020
Chapter 74
Their Day of Dressing
Saturday proved to be as much of a whirlwind one they got to Tucson as it had been back in Austin as they had hurried to get to the airport for their flight. Abigail and James were having a very small and uncomplicated ceremony, but even that required a lot of preparation. And as any of them present that day could attest, sticking any large number of people in one house on any day was bound to bring extra amounts of chaos to disrupt the flow of activity as much as aid it.
By the time evening rolled around, they were glad to stop and settle down for some conversation once the kids – and James – were out of sight. Sam, in support of his future stepdad, had accompanied him and Teddy over to Luna's house, where they were to remain until the next morning, and where they would be getting ready for the wedding. He had hesitated at the thought of leaving Cecilia behind, even though she still had Maya and Lucas there with her, and even though she and Abigail and his other siblings were all getting along wonderfully. Maya had just briefly glimpsed Cecilia quietly reassuring Sam that she would be alright before kissing him, and to see how he looked at her now… The boy was so in love…
"How's your friend doing?" Abigail asked Maya and Lucas as they sat there in their quiet after the storm.
"About as well as she can be doing, all things considered," Lucas declared with a nod.
They found themselves in a complicated place at times, when they would be asked for news of Sophie. Much as they were close to the people who asked, much as they trusted them, there were some things they didn't think it would be appropriate for them to share. They weren't going to go and tell Abigail about how she'd been having nightmares, and it would wake her up only to have her find herself sort of stuck where she lay due to her mobility issues. The thing was that she didn't want Chiara to know, didn't want to give her more to worry about, but then she didn't have a choice. Even though she didn't want to pull her into that side of her recovery, she was just as thankful that she was, or else she might not have found sleep again.
"She must really mean a lot to you," Abigail went on, and there was no need to wonder what she meant there. She'd been just as surprised as any of their other parents when the news had come down that they'd decided to postpone their wedding for a year so that one of their friends would get a chance to get back on her feet. Abigail was on the outside looking into their lives for a lot of things, but she still knew of Sophie, had met her a few times… It didn't lessen her surprise over the decision any more than it had done for those of their families who had known the young woman for so many years.
"Can't be put into words," Maya nodded, looking back to Lucas. But it can be put in what we're doing now.
For once, the spaceship in the attic was Maya's room once more, and much as it was hers, as it had been since the move from New York, much as it would remain hers even as the Lanes moved into the house… It would still feel as though she was reminding herself every time that this space was hers whenever they were here. They would visit, once a month, more than once if the opportunity struck, and it kept leaving her in awe that there was this room, standing year round in the event that she should visit. They wanted her to consider this place as her home, too, as much as she could do so of her other parents' home back in Austin. It had taken some time, but she really felt she was coming around to losing that notion in her like she was only a visitor.
If she needed to call it proof, well, there was what she and Lucas had gotten up to once they'd retreated up there for the night.
"Never did that here before…" he declared, his heart still hammering in his chest.
"Almost did a couple times," she chuckled, her ear planted near enough that she could hear that drumming very well. If it wasn't for them actually being interrupted by one of her siblings, there would be the belief that it would happen, sooner or later. It hadn't even crossed their minds tonight. "Hey, Lucas?" she asked, pulling herself up enough that she might see his face.
"Yeah?" he smiled, closing his arms around her.
"I want us to pick the new date. Now," she nodded, and it made his smile grow.
"I like the sound of that. Why now though?" he had to wonder. She shrugged.
"I keep thinking about what Sam said, and then all the questions like… why did you do it, are you sure about this, so when are you getting married, if you're still getting married…" she rattled off. "Right now we're sort of in limbo. The wedding was so much a part of our lives for weeks with all the planning we were doing, it was becoming so real and now… now it's floating again. So I want us to anchor it again, I want to make it a… a then instead of a when," she explained, making him laugh.
"I love that," he nodded, which got her grinning.
"Thought you might," she told him, stretching up to kiss him.
"This is starting to feel less like picking a date and more like the start of round two," he pointed out after a while, pausing for breath.
"Can't help if I need a little… inspiration," she smirked, doing the same.
"Uh huh," he kissed her one more time before turning to grab his phone and bring it to where they might look together at a calendar of the following year… 2027… "July again?"
"Maybe, maybe not," she hummed, happy to cause distractions in walking her fingers along his chest, especially when she'd catch him reacting to anything ticklish.
"Right, well… hey, hey!" he stalled her hand, which got him a full blast of those innocent blue eyes turned up at him. "That really doesn't work under… circumstances," he pointed out, which got her breaking character and laughing again.
"July sounds good," she nodded, then, looking to the calendar on his phone, she had a thought and prodded one number, which brought up the day itself. Friday, July 2nd, 2027. "Look. Two-seven, seven, two… Or seven, two, two-seven, depending how you write your dates, either way… That's a good number, don't you think?"
"That's a very good number," he declared, smiling back at her.
"Good. Now, put the phone away," she whispered.
"Right now, doing that," he nodded, blindly setting it back.
The next morning started bright and early. Lucas and Maya climbed down from the attic and went about collecting their young siblings, those of them here today. Teddy had gone along with Sam, so they might be with James, so it left Cara, Eliza, Emma, and Wyatt, along with Luna's girls, who were to be flower girls that day and would want to be getting ready with their cousins, and also with Maya and Lucas and Cecilia. Eliza and Emma had had the idea that they should make breakfast for Abigail, because it was her very important day and she was the bride. They couldn't say no to that brilliant idea, no, they could not.
When Abigail had come downstairs and discovered this treat set out for her, there was no doubt that they had all succeeded in making her feel special. She learned who the instigators of this project had been, and she'd pulled them both into her arms, kissing the tops of her young daughters' heads.
Soon enough, breakfast had to make way for the final preparations leading up to the wedding, now only a few hours away. Cecilia and Cara had teamed up to get all the littler girls ready, as Lucas did the same with Wyatt, which left Maya to see her stepmother into bride mode.
"Wow, I love that…" she beamed when she finally saw Abigail's dress.
"You think so? It's not too…" Abigail nervously asked, making a gesture that completed her sentence as 'too sexy or revealing.'
"What? No, are you kidding? Very decent, all the while telling everyone 'yeah, that's right, four kids,'" she flourished, getting her stepmother to laugh and forget some of her nerves.
"Alright, I trust you," she nodded. Soon, Maya was zipping her up into the dress and she could look at her reflection in the mirror. The nerves had a revival here, as Abigail breathed in and out, setting her hand to the pendant around her neck.
Maya knew it had been a gift from her father, Kermit, early on in their relationship. She'd had it on for as long as Maya had known her, and many years before that of course, but since he'd passed away it had taken on a new meaning. When she'd started seeing James, there had been a question like whether or not she should keep it, but then he would never have asked her to take it off. He had this old twisted coin he carried in his pocket wherever he went, something his late wife had found and 'gifted' him on their first date. He still had it now, and he would continue to have it.
Today though… Today the both of them were about to marry other people, marry one another, and Maya could see at least where Abigail was concerned, how much the memory of Kermit weighed on her in this moment. Much as he had been one thing to Katy, to Maya, back in the day, when he had met Abigail he'd been another person. No one had loved him just the way she'd loved him. And today…
"I think wherever he is right now, he's gotta be so happy for you," Maya spoke quietly, finding herself reaching to the chain around her own neck, where she wore the old guitar pick. Abigail looked at her, seeing this, and she took another breath, pulling her stepdaughter into a hug.
"I hope you know how glad I am that you're here today."
"Wouldn't miss it," Maya smiled. "Now, have a seat so I can do your hair."
Once she'd done her part, Maya had left Abigail to do her makeup, going off to see what the others were up to. No unwanted haircuts had been administered, and instead she found all the girls running about in their dresses, hair done and everything, along with Wyatt in his little suit, which was nothing short of adorable and made Maya anxious to see him in one again, July after next…
"Starting to see why you couldn't make up your mind on what to wear…" Lucas stood from where he'd been texting with Sam, sitting on the couch, when she came down the stairs.
"It was very hard," she nodded dramatically, which made him snort. "So, what's he saying?" she asked, nodding to his phone.
"Everything's right on track, they're almost on their way, waiting for the okay here."
"Great, Abigail's almost ready now. Wait until you see her dress, it's perfect… Possibly giving me ideas for a couple changes on mine, nothing big but just… I don't know," Maya shrugged.
"Well, you've got time, yeah?"
"One year, two months, twenty days, but who's counting?" she came up to him, reaching to straighten up his bow tie. "I like this," she informed him, tapping the bow. "It's like you're wrapped, and I better not finish that thought, I hear the wild bunch coming from upstairs…"
TO BE CONTINUED
See you tomorrow! - mooners
