February 3rd 2021
Chapter 34
Our Cheers For Merry Days
They had been getting light snow, on and off, over the past few days, but waking up on the morning of December 25th, they were granted their first pass of genuine ground-covering snow to kick off their Christmas day. Lucas would be the first to discover it, as Maya slept on when he woke, and he did his best to keep it that way as he got up and padded his way toward the crib where Marianne was casually staring up at the mobile with its colors. They'd been up with her a couple times through the night, and somehow Lucas didn't notice the snow when it started, only here and now.
"Hey, Pumpkin, merry Christmas…" he whispered, grinning, as he picked her up and kissed her cheek. As ever, she reached up her hands to touch his face, and he let her go at it while he carried her over to the window so he could see outside. "You're not going to remember this, but that's okay. I'll tell you about it someday," he smiled. He could never get enough of seeing her looking back at him the way she did. She was still so small, sure, but she'd been part of their lives for nearly two months already, and in that time, they had started to know her so well, witnessed those quirks developing in her. "Next winter, whole new game, you just wait."
"What does it look like out there?" Maya's mumbling voice drew him to turn around and he smiled, moving back to the bed where he might sit with her.
"Like a Christmas card, little bit," he estimated, all the while passing Marianne into her waiting arms.
"Hey, baby girl…" she spoke quietly, as good as glowing as she looked upon their daughter. "Merry Christmas, merry Marianne." The day had barely started, but already she felt taken with so much emotion in her, to be here, on Christmas morning, with the man she loved, with their child, in their home, and snow all about… It was one of those 'if I didn't feel so deeply awake and alive' moments, where it didn't seem possible for any of it to be real. She was having so many of those recently, and she was very aware and very thankful for each and every one. She embraced them all, didn't take them for granted.
It was just the three of them and the dogs today, or it would be, until they started getting guests. So, much as they would have to think about getting ready, they wouldn't deprive themselves of a nice Christmas breakfast as a family. Granny Lizzie was in Tucson, along with Cara and the rest of the Hart-Lanes. It had been something of a debate, about who would be where on this day, and much as the two of them, like Sam, would have wanted to be here for Marianne's sake especially, in the end, it just felt like the right answer. Anyway, Elizabeth needed to inform the others that she would be staying in Austin permanently, which needed to happen in person, and then she needed to get the rest of her belongings packed away and sent along to the house here. Cara had offered to give her the room upstairs and take the basement instead, but her grandmother wouldn't have it. She was perfectly content with her current situation.
"Are you ready for the big finish?" Maya asked, peering back into their room to find Lucas was finishing up getting dressed. Maya had not stopped teasing him, saying how his suddenly embracing ugly Christmas sweaters on his first year as a father was very interesting indeed. She would balance this with the fact that no sweater could manage to look 'ugly' on him, and that was the furthest thing from a joke. It was uncanny, and just on this side of hot.
"Give it to me," he challenged, laughing, as she walked in and presented him with their girl, in the latest of her Christmas dresses. This one was another of Maya's purchases, and she had definitely saved it for today. Lucas took one look, at both his wife and daughter together, and it was almost too much. "Alright, I wasn't ready," he declared. Maya had such a grin on her for that, and she barely got to kiss him in 'compensation,' when the bell rang. "And we're off," Lucas breathed while Maya nodded in agreement.
As expected, they were joined by Charlie, David, Caitlin, and Harry Olsen. When Lucas remembered that Maya's two-year-old cousin loved Christmas trees, he saw to bringing little Harry into the living room, where he would be able to take in their own. The boy served up some strong saucer eyes at the sight of the tall thing with its lights and its branches loaded in so very many ornaments of various kinds and colors. Even as the day would progress, he would often be found planted here and there in front of the tree, so he might discover something he hadn't seen before. It would often require for one of his parents to stay near him, in the event that he got it in his head to take a closer look and got tangled up in any of the precautions already in place to keep the dogs away, too.
His big sister, Caitlin, found her own fascination in baby Marianne, and she could not wait to show how she was able to hold her. She proved herself soon enough, and the six-year-old would get repeat chances throughout the day to do it again.
"She informed me and David that she is 'in desperate need of a little sister,'" Charlie informed Maya in a dramatic whisper, which made her niece laugh.
It was weird sometimes to remember that this was her aunt and not her cousin, when they were barely a year apart in age, with Charlie the senior. Sometimes, she thought how the two of them could have been like sisters if they'd been allowed to grow up together, but then just as quickly, she had to remind herself how impossible this was. Unless her mother had gone back to Arkansas after having her, the more likely scenario went that Katy would never have left at all, and if she hadn't, then… then neither Maya nor Charlie would have been born at all, in all likelihood. She herself, she definitely would not, then Charlie…
"Is that something you guys are looking into? Another kid?" Maya asked her, careful to keep her voice down, just as her aunt had done, with little Caitlin not so far out of earshot, tending to the contented girl in her arms.
"Honestly, no?" Charlie admitted. "We always thought two would be a good number for us. We're not saying we won't be happy if another one comes along, but we're not going to actively try and make it happen, not like we did for the ones we got."
"Well, if you want to come and visit more often, I'm more than happy to see those two get a bit more sisterly," Maya smiled, nodding over to where their daughters were having a nice quiet time together. Charlie smiled, too.
"Yeah, I'd like that, too."
Little Caitlin found play time with the baby interrupted for a time, as the house welcomed more guests, presently Riley and Dylan, and then Zay, Nadine, and Mia as well, not ten minutes after the first pair had arrived.
"Look at your belly!" Maya gasped and grinned, after Riley arrived and took off her coat. She was slowly coming along now, but today really felt like the first time she'd dressed to put her curve in evidence. After having been on the receiving end of belly feels from her best friend, it felt the slightest bit surreal to now be the giver, though from the smile on her face, she guessed Riley had been eagerly awaiting the moment herself.
"I know!" she laughed.
"We are so ridiculous, aren't we?" Maya sniffed as she hugged her, and she knew they were both happily crying along.
"Our kids will be so embarrassed," Riley agreed, which only made them laugh some more.
"Seems fair, don't you think?"
It was kind of amusing now, for Maya and Lucas both to see their friends go through the steps that would take them toward parenthood after they themselves had done it not too long ago. It brought back memories, then made them laugh when they'd be left wondering if they'd been like those two, between the occasional fretting, and the different way they suddenly acted around the Olsen kids and Marianne. Dylan, for one, who had always been great with kids – some would say because he had never stopped being one himself in his heart – almost looked like he was worried about where his own level of maturity and responsibility was and should be, once he went and had a child of his own.
"Oh, a merry Christmas to you, Goddaughter," Zay took up Marianne with that sort of smile Maya had once described as a mix between paternal affection and what they'd previously seen on him when he'd been appointed as Riley's guide around the school after she'd just moved to Texas. It was so on point that now Lucas had to resist laughing whenever he saw it. "The Friar is really coming out in you, huh?" Zay told the baby, who had never met a face she didn't attempt to poke with her fingers.
"You think so?" Lucas asked, peering over his shoulder. "She just looks like Maya to me."
"No, you're definitely in there, too," Zay insisted. "This kid right here, she definitely looks like she's got Santa Claus blood in her," he nodded. "Like a twinkle," he added, and now Lucas had to laugh.
"Alright, I guess I can see that."
There were plenty more guests throughout the day. The quartet out of Houston dropped in along with little Giulia, for a much shorter visit than they would have liked, but then they were due to drop in on Sophie's mother and Asher's parents, too. They were staying in Austin overnight, so they promised to drop in for breakfast the next day if they got the chance. Then there were the Sandersons, all of them coming up from their farm and spending much of the afternoon with them. This definitely cut in Caitlin's time with the baby, as she went from one set of arms to another.
Morgan and her boyfriend checked in, too, as did Lindsay Alcott. Then came the Days. Maya had invited Barton to come with his family, as it only felt natural for how much she knew he had been doing for her at school, with her students. The invitation also meaning that two of her students – and two of her future students, too, in all likelihood – would be stepping into their teacher's house apparently did not bother the Day boys so much, but then for knowing them as she did, Maya was not surprised. She was very happy to see Dakota and Roman for a couple of hours, even as she got to meet their little brothers, Lambert and Anton. The former would be starting at the high school in the coming fall, when she went back to work, while the latter would be starting middle school for the time being. Thinking back on how Barton had exclaimed a wish for a daughter, she could also see how much those boys of his mattered to him, and she was really glad she got to see them all together for once.
"Any chance you'll stick around until New Year's?" Maya asked her aunt, when the Olsens finally went about getting Caitlin and Harry ready to go at the end of the night.
"Wish we could, but we really need to get back. One of these years, you should come out there for New Year's Eve, you'll see. Or ask my mom and dad, and Katy, they'll tell you," Charlie smiled, that same smile she shared with her sister and mother, the one that said, 'you'll thank me later.'
"Alright, now I'm intrigued," Maya agreed, hugging her before crouching next to her young cousin. They'd practically needed to have Lucas sit and crouch nearby, with Marianne, before the six-year-old would agree to get her boots on. "Thank you for taking such good care of her today, Caity girl," she smiled, getting one back from her cousin. "I'm really glad we got to spend Christmas together this year."
"Me, too," Caitlin nodded, holding out her arms to hug and get hugged. Maya did not leave her wanting.
"Next year, how about we switch it around and we go to your house for New Year's Eve?"
TO BE CONTINUED
See you tomorrow! - mooners
