A/N: The new chapter of "We Three Hearts" is now available!
February 4th 2021
Chapter 35
Our Cheers For Time
"Can Maisie hold the baby? She keeps going 'want baby, want baby,'" Emma asked Maya, imitating the two and a half-year-old Hart-Lane girl. Maya smirked, spying her youngest sister sitting next to her mother, who presently held Marianne, like she wanted nothing more than to get her own turn.
"If she's careful, of course," Maya told Emma. "Abigail will know how. You know, whenever she's ready to pass her off." This made Emma laugh, like she'd picked up on that resistance in her stepmother. "They're not looking to have another one, are they?" she wondered.
"I don't think so. Dad said how having a grandchild made her realize she wasn't going to have another baby of her own."
"He did?" Maya laughed.
"Yeah, when we were shopping for Christmas gifts," Emma reported.
She had long been admitted into Abigail's heart like her very own daughter, and this was something that really meant more to Maya than she could say, because she knew the notion pre-dated even their meeting for the first time. It was part of the letter her father had written her, the one she'd gotten after he died. He told her how he had told Abigail about her, about his first child, the one he'd regrettably left behind, and how even without guarantee that she and her would ever even meet, she had accepted her. She was part of him, would be part of their children, and so she was part of her, too. She would be as a mother to her, too.
When she had finally met her, first through calls on the computer, and then in person over that first summer, long before she ever got that letter, Maya definitely felt a connection to the woman which defied the thing that brought them together. Maya had never had it in her to hate the woman who'd come along after her father had left her own mother and her, and looking back on it, she could just see how much it had meant to Abigail that they got to meet. More than that, she could see how much there was some part of her that wanted Maya and Kermit to find their way back to each other, knowing her husband wanted it deep down but failed at every turn, while her would-be stepdaughter just couldn't even deal with him. She got that, and she never tried to force Maya's hand in any way. She was just there, and as the years went by, Maya would look at her and know… She was as much her mother as Shawn was her father. It didn't matter how late she came into her life, that was who she was.
And after Kermit passed away, she met James Lane, and he was a lot like Abigail in that respect. To him, his new wife had five kids, and so he had five new kids, too. Maya was part of that, from day one. Now, here they were, looking on to Marianne Friar… and she was their first grandchild, no question to it.
They had arrived late the night before. Abigail, James, and the younger kids had all gone off to the hotel, while Elizabeth, Cara, Sam, and Dora had made their way to the house on the lane, driving the small truck with the rest of the grandmother's belongings. They would all have come by plane, except for the move. And once some of them had been bound for a road trip, the others hadn't taken long to chime in with the desire to do the same. They'd done it before, and they loved it more than flying.
This morning, the last of the year, Maya and Lucas had awakened with the confident knowledge that if they went down into the kitchen, they would find Sam working on breakfast, as though he'd never moved out. And he'd been there, too, along with Dora, and Granny Lizzie. One check at the end of the hall before going down the stairs had found Cara still asleep and they'd left her there to enjoy this first morning back as they brought Marianne down, there to be snatched up by good Uncle Sam.
The remaining Hart-Lanes descended upon the house an hour after they'd all finished eating, and from there the day was on its way. As closers went, this year's final day would be a busy one. TXNY had been called on to perform at the radio station's countdown show, and as excited as they all were to go up there and play, Maya knew Cara especially was thrilled at the prospect of performing in front of her whole family. The only ones to be left behind would be Wyatt, Maisie, and Marianne, and as sad as the ten-year-old was about not getting to go, he showed his heart in finding it an acceptable alternative to be put in charge of his sister and niece upon being left with the elder Friars for the evening. They were going to be joining the Hunters and Clutterbuckets in time, and likely would be allowed to stay up for the countdown, so that was good, too, wasn't it?
"I know that look," Lucas spoke as he and Maya were getting dressed to go, changing from their casual home holiday style to something a bit more in line with where they were headed for the evening.
"You do, huh?" Maya hummed, rummaging through her earrings for the pair she had in mind. Without a word, Lucas came to stand next to her, nudged the box aside so she could see what he'd seen from across the room. "Oh, there they are," she smiled, picking them up and looking at them for a moment. "Not sure if those are the right ones anymore," she contemplated before holding one up to her ear and looking over for his opinion.
"We've never left her before, she's always been with one of us, and I feel weird about it, too," Lucas confessed.
"She'll be with your parents, she'll be fine," Maya let out a breath, fidgeting with the earrings. She was definitely trying to convince them both, not just him. "Your mother alone would probably throw herself in front of a splinter to spare her," she joked, which made him laugh and got her to relax, just enough. "Will she think less of me if I ask her to send me pictures every half hour?"
"I think she'd swing for every ten minutes if you asked," Lucas smiled.
"Alright, that might be excessive," Maya laughed as she finally stuck the first earring on, then, "Guess twenty minutes might be good."
"Guys! Teddy's here!" they heard Eliza call from downstairs.
As they came down the stairs, Maya and Lucas were happy to find the missing brother had indeed arrived. He was in his second year of college, though he had gone off to study in Chicago. He had spent Christmas out there, too, invited as he'd been by his girlfriend's family, and he had promised to try and make it down to Texas for New Year's, but it hadn't been for sure until just the day before. Now he was here, the girl standing just behind him showing all the signs of someone stepping into a loved one's world and feeling nervous about making a good first impression.
"Hey! I'm really happy you made it," Maya hugged her brother, laughing at how, even after the years had been very kind to him in height, he still felt like the young teenager she'd first met, when James and Abigail's relationship had evolved into 'family merger mode.' If he never hugged her any other way, that'd be fine by her. He finally pulled back, turning in the same motion to look for his girlfriend. She stepped up now, her face curtained in blue braids. "You must be Noelle," Maya smiled on, and the girl nodded even as she seemed to recognize and realize who she was.
For sure, Teddy would have told his girlfriend about his family, including his stepsister and how she fit in the family tree, but he wouldn't go around telling everyone about exactly who she was, and Maya didn't blame him for it. Still, Noelle looked kind of blindsided. Maya hoped this would not cause problems between them later on.
"Not gonna lie, I almost went and handed her Marianne to just sort of… smooth things over," Maya told Lucas later on, as they drove off from dropping their daughter and her young aunt and uncle off at Thomas and Melinda's, making their way now to the venue for the show. "They'll be okay, right?"
"We had to do it sooner or later. We can't just follow her all her life, we're not those parents… Are we?" Lucas asked, sounding almost worried for a second. Maya just stared at him for a second or two, pressing her smile shut so not to laugh.
"I was talking about Teddy and Noelle," she explained. Lucas blinked.
"Oh… right… Yeah, yeah, I think so… yeah," he finally nodded, and now Maya couldn't keep from laughing anymore, which returned a smile on to him until he laughed, too.
Eventually, they had to take a breath, pull themselves together. They were being silly, understandably so, yes, but now that they'd recognized it, maybe it got easier to move back on track. They were parents, yes, but they were also their own selves, two grown adults, husband and wife, and tonight they had a show to attend, the better to ring in a new year together with friends and family.
"You know they're going to try and get you on stage tonight, right?" Lucas asked as they pulled up to the venue.
"Oh, I know," Maya nodded.
"Are you going to do it?"
"I…" she started, pausing with a sigh.
She'd been thinking it over, for about as long as they'd had the band booked for the show. She wasn't even the one getting the calls for this anymore, when it had always been her, for more than a decade. But seeing as her circumstances had changed, it didn't take someone particularly bright to think 'if I can't establish contact in this way, there's always that way.' Suddenly, Lucas found himself speaking for the band, as he and Maya had agreed – whether it was right or not – that finding a man's voice on the other end of the call would establish a different atmosphere.
Now as to the New Year's Eve show, she mostly told herself that she shouldn't go. She had made a deal with herself and – even though she was still too small to have any say or understanding over it – with Marianne. She was taking a break from performing, for a year, or near enough to it. She'd given her last show with Ree at the end of August, and she wasn't going back to the band until the following summer. She hadn't decided exactly when in summer, especially as those months were always those most open for them, with very specific opportunities, but the very earliest she'd make her comeback would have to be June, after the schools let out. After that, well, she'd see.
Would she be lying if she said that she wasn't drawn to go up there tonight though? She would, absolutely. She missed it, she really did. After everything she had done over the tour, last summer, it was like she'd unlocked some new level of loving that stage feel, and she was beyond eager to get back out there with her girls, her bandmates. If anyone needed proof of that, they only had to look to her songbook. In those days since she'd been home on leave, before and after Marianne was born, she'd been filling one notebook she bought in Japan with bits of lyrics, of melodies, enough to put together so many songs she couldn't say for certain. It could well be that some would never be finished, or that they'd sit unfinished for months, years, until the inspiration struck, and it could be that she'd reserve some of those songs for future contracted works, but she knew in her heart what it was that was driving her inspiration. She might not be taking the stage, but she was in the band, and that was how her brain chose to cope, by collecting new goodies for them to work on together.
"I won't go," she finally told Lucas, as he was about to get out of the car. He stopped and looked back at her. "I made a promise, and I need to keep it. I want to keep it." He smiled, reaching over to squeeze her hand. "Anyway, how many date nights like this are we going to get anytime soon? I want to go see a show with my Huckleberry husband," she raised her chin. Lucas laughed.
"And he wants to go see one with his… award-winning wife," he countered, which made her snort.
"Did I get these awards for… wifing?" she inquired.
"I'd give you one if there were," he promised. Maya responded by waving her hand in his face to suggest he was heading into peak Huckleberry.
So, they went, and they found their spot to enjoy the show. As expected, there were a few more attempts to get Maya to take the stage, but she reasonably turned down each one. Lucas wouldn't have faulted her for going, but he also appreciated very much that she did stay with him, just as she'd decided she would. They got to be part of the audience, to experience the band together, and it was actually kind of amazing, especially with the others in the audience with them.
"What are we going to do once Riley needs to step back, too? It'll happen before you go back," Lucas pointed out, as the band finished playing until after the countdown, where they'd play a while longer before the show was good and done.
"We haven't figured it out yet," Maya shrugged. "We'll get there," she assured him, giving a smile that reminded him what was coming within all of five minutes. Lucas nodded, filing the subject away for now. "I do wish…"
"I know," he told her, and she smiled. Even if she would have slept through it, they would have liked to have Marianne with them at this time. "Call my dad," he told her, as the idea came to him. Maya smiled again, and she put in the video call.
As the host called for the countdown, Maya and Lucas stood huddled together, one of his arms around her shoulders, one of hers around his waist, while their other hands, with birds extended before them on their arms, held Maya's phone. On the screen, while Thomas Friar held his own phone out, Melinda held the sleeping Marianne, and all together they counted down, quieter than the crowd at the venue. And in this way, one year ended, and a new one began.
TO BE CONTINUED
See you tomorrow! - mooners
