A/N: The new chapter of "We Three Hearts" is now available!

May 13th 2021

Chapter 133
Our Wonders For Time

Their plans for the turn of the year had been set since before it even began. Christmas last year, Marianne's first ever, they had been visited by the Olsens out of Arkansas and extended an invitation to see how they did New Year's Eve, and Maya and Lucas had accepted gladly. It had felt so far away at the time, but now here they were, after several hours on the road, passing the sign welcoming them into Katy's hometown.

"Wait, we have to stop for this," Lucas grinned. He signalled before pulling to the side of the road, watching to confirm that the Hunters' vehicle would do the same behind them. Maya couldn't help but laugh as she followed him out. In the back, her grandmother and grandfather were coming out, too, Grangie pulling Marianne from her seat, and from the other minivan came Katy, Shawn, and the little Hunters, so they could all of them stand before the sign.

They had all seen the pictures, from Charlie and David, from many of their relatives in town and other people they knew out there. There had also been a number of pictures from people who'd travelled out to see it, which remained as much of a wild idea as the presence of the sign itself, touting the fact that it had been Katy's birthplace, and for that they extended their claim to Maya herself. It could have come off a bit opportunistic, but by her grandfather's own assurances she could see they were really just proud to know that they could call her one of their own. A few years back, she might have wanted nothing of it, but now that she and her mother and her siblings were finding themselves more and more reconnected with the place… Yeah, she was happy to call it home, as much as New York, as Texas.

"This is never going to be not weird," Katy shook her head as she looked to the sign, Maya close at her side as they watched the little Hunters standing close to the sign so they might read what it said under the heading. Haley was sounding out the words, her finger pointing up to follow along.

To Maya, as much as to her mother, she knew, it was just one of those moments when it all felt as though the last fifteen years were spinning before their eyes over and over. Once upon a time, they'd been just the two of them, driving from New York to Texas to try and make a better life for themselves with no promise that they'd ever get it. Those two, that Katy, that Maya, they would never ever have dreamed they'd ever be standing in this spot today, both celebrated, both blessed with this life, with these people around them.

"So long as we know it, right?" Maya smiled. She leaned over to kiss her mother's cheek and Katy laughed, reaching her free hand to cup her eldest's face. You and me, that was what her eyes said, and Maya nodded.

After submitting to requests from the others to pose for a few pictures in front of the sign, they all got back to their cars and continued on into the town. Maya kind of wished she could have been in the other car, with her mother, to see how she would react to being back here at this time of year. The way everyone spoke about it, from Katy herself to Tanner and Angela, to Charlie and David and the rest of the extended family, there was no place like it. Some of that probably went to memories through the years, but even as a first timer, just rolling along in late afternoon… Yeah, it was really something. Maya would never say it out loud, especially with her grandparents in the back of the minivan, but she remembered her mother saying how this time of year was always something like a saving grace for her life before she ran away. Now, for the first time in over thirty years, she was seeing it again, and Maya knew how nervous she'd been about it. Could she help it when she'd held on to that memory for so long?

"Do you see those arches out there?" Grangie pointed out the windows as they passed the town square. Maya turned to look while Lucas pulled to a stop where he could before he could take a look as well.

"Yeah," Maya replied, smiling.

"Your grandfather helped build them, him and his brothers and your great grandfather. They've been up in the square every December for over sixty years," her grandmother informed her with a glowing smile full of pride for her husband. The tall man, humble and stoic as ever, was looking at the arches, too. They knew him so much better now, and in as little as he gave for them to see, they could guess at nostalgia for those old times as much as they'd see happiness for being out here again to see it after having been in Texas the year before.

"I have a hard time picturing you as a little kid… or a little anything," Maya turned to look at him in the back.

"Used to be I was the runt of the family," Tanner informed her, making her and Lucas both laugh. She may not have been able to picture him as a kid, but she would look at those arches, knowing he would have been one when they made those, and it made her love the structures even more.

"Your father did woodwork?" Lucas asked the old man, thinking of his aunt Dot, and Dora…

"He was a real Jack of all trades," Tanner nodded. "Nothing that man couldn't do," he reflected. Maya knew that, if she were to turn and look at Lucas, he'd have this look on him as though to say that he knew someone like that, too, the genes having carried down the family tree. All she'd needed was to hear him hum in response.

At long last, they arrived at the Olsen house. They'd seen pictures of the decorations, both indoor and outdoor, in pictures and on video calls, when Caitlin had insisted on taking her mother's phone to show her cousin and her grandparents, and it was even better to see it all in person, especially when they spotted the children waiting for them on the front lawn. Three-year-old Harry stood peering between the holes in the fence, while his seven-year-old sister had climbed up and set her feet on the lower board while she held to the top one for support.

"You won't be satisfied until you fall and break something, will you?" Charlie could be heard telling her daughter as she pulled her down to the ground while everyone climbed out of the minivans.

"I can do it, Mom!" she protested, looking back at her, and going by the way she couldn't keep from smiling no matter what, it was clear that Charlie knew this to be true, no matter how much it worried her to think of her failing at it one day, or worse for little Harry to try it in turn. He was right in the pocket of wanting to do everything his big sister did.

"And I believe you. Just humor me, alright?" Charlie leaned to kiss the top of her head.

"Okay, Mom," Caitlin told her before slipping out of her arms to go and hug her grandmother. Angela Clutterbucket was beyond happy to be in Austin looking after her other grandchildren, but oh how she missed these two when she couldn't be with them.

The girl and her brother both found their way over to their cousin Maya, who they loved deeply and revered, not for her musical prowess and fame, but solely on the merit of her being someone who made them laugh, and her being able to do and show so many things whenever they asked her. Even before they'd moved toward her and Lucas, they had heard the children speak of 'turnip,' over and over, and they knew this had nothing to do with any sort of vegetable. Turnip was their new kitten, and they couldn't wait to introduce him to every single person they could.

"He's tiny!" Harry would inform them with a determined nod and his two hands forming what had to be a rough estimate of the animal's size.

"Come, he's upstairs," Caitlin grabbed hold of Lucas' hand and started dragging him toward the house. She was very impressed whenever she heard about him being an animal doctor, so now this evidently empowered him with checking that little Turnip was in peak condition.

Maya watched him go off, at the mercy of the small blonde, while she turned to receive the greeting hug of her aunt Charlie, in tandem with Marianne as she lay draped in her arms. After the long ride, she wanted and would have nothing except to be held by her mother, and there she would remain.

"Turnips and pumpkins, I think we're on to something here," Charlie grinned as she lightly touched the girl's back. She wouldn't dream of pulling her out of her bubble too quick.

"Well, good, I'm getting hungry," Maya smirked. The way Marianne held to her now… She had nothing to worry about. She could stay with her as long as she wanted.

"How was the drive?" Charlie asked as they all made their way inside and the question could be fielded by many more voices at once. Depending on who you asked, it had been too long, or it had gone by in the blink of an eye. It was so boring, or it was thrilling and needed to be repeated whenever possible. Time would tell how they felt about the return drive, which would take place a week later.

They'd made the plan to depart for Arkansas two days after Christmas, after Sam and Dora's wedding. The two of them had left for their honeymoon the previous morning, and while the plan had been for the young Friars, the Hunters, and the Clutterbuckets to head up for the 31st especially, there was no reason why they couldn't get the most of this visit. So, they decided to make it an extended stay.

The next few days would give the group many an occasion to discover and rediscover what made this time of year as anticipated as it was in this place. The whole town seemed to transform. Katy and Charlie's cousin Randall referred to it more like the town was regaining its true state, when everything and everyone was at its very best. It could be seen out and about as much as in shops, and restaurants, and any other establishment, outside people's homes… The crown jewel was of course the town square, with its great arches, and its tree, which would only come down after the turn of the year.

As great as it all was, they could only be most thankful for this chance to be here, with their family, to see the Hunter and Olsen kids play together, them and their other cousins in town. Once Betsy and her wife and sons arrived, too, they might have hit the peak of this holiday getaway. As though she'd just been waiting for this great big audience nearby, it was on the afternoon of December 31st that Marianne graduated from simply standing around on her little feet. With her aunt Nellie holding her hands aloft, she went and took her first tentative steps.

Later they would remember and laugh about how startled she looked when all those who'd been standing nearby gave a cheer. Not all of them had seen her take those steps, but then the moment they heard that she'd done it, they all turned to look at the small girl in her sparkly New Year's Eve dress. All at once, the noise and the eager eyes frightened her enough that she started to cry and was scooped up by her father.

"Alright, I know, that was too much, wasn't it?" Lucas hushed as Maya came and positioned herself at his side, so she would be in Marianne's line of sight.

"You did so good, pumpkin," she gave a glowing smile, even as her heart was still twirling around in her chest from what had just happened. One look to Lucas and she could see he was in the same boat. Sure, it had only been one foot and another and then all hell had broken loose, but it was something, wasn't it? She had walked! Their baby girl had walked!

"So good, so good," Lucas echoed, kissing Marianne's forehead, keeping his lips pressed there. "You can retire for tonight, no rush." Maya nodded in agreement, submitting herself to the sniffling babe's wandering hand. If she wanted to poke her in the face, she was welcome to it. "Maybe it's time for that nap if we want to take her with us tonight. I'll take her, you should mingle," he nodded to the gathered family all around the Olsen home before giving his wife a pointed gaze so she wouldn't give way to hesitation.

"Alright, text me if you want company," Maya told him.

"I might just text you anyway, just because," Lucas smiled before heading off upstairs with Marianne.

The next few hours were spent with the two of them exchanging what could only be described as a mix of laugh inducing and blush triggering messages while Lucas stayed with Marianne and Maya spoke with this aunt or that uncle or these cousins… Eventually, once David Olsen had taken Harry up for a nap of his own, Lucas was convinced to leave Marianne in the borrowed crib and rejoin the party.

When the time came for them to head out to the town square, it was a new discovery all over again. They had been around town in the last few days, in daytime and nighttime. They had seen the way things looked in the dark, with all the lights, but on this night, it felt even grander, with all the people, and the activities, and the food… It was like a wintery version of their fall festival, but with added holiday spirit. Charlie had been right: this was worth the trip.

"I don't know how she'll do with the fireworks," Maya looked to Marianne, huddled in her arms and wide awake despite the hour.

"She didn't freak out too much last summer," Lucas reminded her.

"I'm just glad we're with her this year," Maya gave a jolly smile as Marianne turned her head up to look at her. How had it been a whole year already since she and Lucas had stood in a huddle around their phone, the better to count down the year with their baby girl? She'd been all of two months old back then, and today she'd taken her first steps. Time never stopped or slowed down, and before they'd know it this brand new year would be upon them, bringing more developments, more ups and downs… Right now, all they could ever focus on were the good times. The three of them together, the new year looked wide open.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners