July 2nd 2021

Chapter 183
Our Space For Twelve

They weren't much younger than she'd been when she'd come to Texas. Maya realized this on the day when she and Lucas went shopping for Nellie and Gracie's birthday presents. They were turning twelve, while she had been just a few months shy of fourteen at the time, but the numbers didn't matter half as much as the proximity one and the other did.

"I wasn't a sister before them," she told Lucas. "I mean, I was, yes, three times over, but I didn't know them, and I didn't expect to know them. And then my mom and Shawn got married, and they got pregnant, and I was going to have not one but two siblings, two baby sisters. All I ever wanted was for them to have a childhood they could look back on and smile about. I wanted their strength to come from a different place than mine had to." She wanted the very same for Marianne.

With that memory in mind, all she could think was that... they got it. It hadn't been perfect, all the way, especially in the last year, but this came on the heels of so many good years, and those girls... They were their own people, so strong... They were on their way to finding their place in the world and it would be a great one if they had anything to say about it.

Every year, in some way or another, they made sure that the girls still wanted one party, celebrating them both at once instead of having their own individual parties. Yes, they were identical twins, infinitely close, but they were also two people, with tastes that overlapped and tastes that stood apart, so if at any time they wanted to get their own day, they would get it. They hadn't so far, and it surprised no one that they didn't this year either, not after Gracie's accident.

"I think we might need to make it clear to Marianne that sneaking into people's homes shouldn't be made a habit," Lucas whispered as they approached the house. They had been very careful to ensure that their daughter would not wake up after they got her out of the car, the better to keep things quiet... and sneaky.

"It's not like no one knows we're coming, and also I have a key, Sheriff Hee Haw," Maya whispered back.

"Oh, we're doing new nicknames now?"

"Trying it out. What do you think?"

"Not bad, but I'm partial to the old standard..."

Into the house they went. They knew when the girls would wake up, and they were ahead of that, so while Lucas took Marianne into the kitchen to find her grand and great grandparents in breakfast mode, Maya went upstairs on sneak-ideal socks. She was careful all the way to the door with the twins' name plaques before finally letting herself in and shutting the door again. As she had imagined, Nellie and Gracie had gone to the same bed on the last night before they turned twelve, and so they would wake together. It definitely made things easier for her with her surprise.

If not for the risk that she might harm Gracie's hip, she might have gone for a controlled pounce, the better to startle them awake. Instead, she carefully nudged the two of them closer together, to make space for her to lie down next to Nellie and put her arm around her and Gracie on the outside. After that, she was free to wish them a - loud - happy birthday. They woke up very fast here, giving a gasp before they saw it was her. Once she did, Nellie turned herself around to hug her big sister.

"Happy twelfth, sunny girl," Maya beamed before giving her many cheek kisses.

"Thanks!" Nellie replied, even as she crawled over her and out of the way.

"Ow, ow! Careful!" Maya laughed before turning a smile toward Gracie, who was smiling, too. Maya tried not to go into the 'if we had lost you, what would today have been like?' place. Instead, she cupped her little sister's face and peppered it with kisses before hugging her close, too, laying more kisses to her head. "Happy twelfth, Mouse-Mouse."

"Thanks, Maya," Gracie hugged her back.

"Do you think I should go by my full name now?" Nellie inquired. She was still halfway on top of her big sister, like a little monkey. The question must have made Maya make a funny face, going by the laugh Gracie tried to rein in.

"What?" Maya asked, sounding just a bit like someone who'd choked on water.

"Penelope, instead. Or just Nell, if not," Nellie went on, like she didn't pick up on her big sister's 'distress' at all. "Not that I have a problem with Nellie, that's what everyone's called me all my life, but Nell is a bit more grown up, and Penelope... I love it, sounds like a name in a story. Plus, if it's just my name now, no one can use it like I'm in trouble," she said this almost more to herself.

"It's your name, you get to decide what you want. If you want something else, then the rest of us will follow your lead, okay?" Maya told her as she extricated herself and sat up. The twins sat up and turned to her, too.

"You can test them out. Do one week for each and see how you like them," Gracie suggested.

"Oh, I could do that!" Nellie nodded at once.

"Word of advice, maybe don't start that today. Some people, and I'm not naming names because they're our parents and I get it..." Maya started, making her sisters laugh, "But some people are already emotional enough as it is about this birthday, alright?"

"Alright," Nellie sighed.

"But while we're on that line of thought, I've got something for you..." Maya reached for the bag she'd left on the floor next to the bed. "Other presents later, but these ones had to come now," she explained of the two identical boxes in different wrappings. She offered them out according to recipients, and the girls started unwrapping at once. It was always amusing to see them unwrap presents together, like they had worked out the rhythm to ensure they would be done at the same time and neither one would see a thing before the other.

When they opened the boxes, their reactions were much the same. They were surprised and very excited. They had been just little girls when Maya had bought them their lockets, each with their initials engraved on the front. The lockets had been very small, fitting for the small girls they'd been, but they weren't so small anymore, were they? They would be teenagers in a year's time, and while she could have waited until then, it had felt right for this year. They still wore the little ones at every special occasion, but now they weren't little, so it felt appropriate that their lockets should reflect it. So, she'd gotten them new, larger ones, still with the letters on the front. P for Penelope, G for Grace.

"Can we put the other one on the chain with the big one?" Gracie asked. She was very attached to it.

"Of course, you can," Maya smiled. "You know, you can wear them every day if you want."

"Maybe. I kind of like when we get to put them on for a special occasion though..." Gracie pointed out.

"Then you can keep doing that, too."

"Oh! I have an idea!" Nellie blurted out before getting up and moving to the dressers. She paused and turned to Gracie. "Can I get yours?" she asked permission. When she got it, she pulled out the two necklaces.

They'd swapped out the chains in the past when they'd gotten kind of short. Now, Nellie took the two golden hearts from their chains and brought them to the bed, where Gracie had the open boxes showing the new necklaces, with the bigger hearts. Nellie set the little lockets next to the big ones, and both Gracie and Maya understood at once what she was doing. She'd placed the little G next to the big P and the little P next to the big G.

"What do you think?" Nellie asked her twin hopefully.

"I love it. Then we've always got each other," Gracie had a tremendous smile now, and the two girls busied themselves at getting the little hearts on the chains and then the chains around one another's necks.

"Pictures!" they exclaimed all at once before moving to leave their room and find their parents, their big sister in tow.

It felt a lot like a flashback to the day when the twins had received their first lockets, with them running to their parents to show what they got and then to ask about getting pictures to put inside, much to Katy and Shawn's pleasure. To hear them go on this time, Nellie and Gracie might have needed a locket that folded out, with several spaces available. They wanted their parents, of course, but then also their siblings, and their grandparents, too, which had gotten Angela Clutterbucket all misty eyed... possibly Tanner, too. They would sort it all out in due time.

"Hey, Marianne needs one, too," Nellie stated as they waited for their father to go retrieve MJ and Haley. She indicated Marianne, who was awake now and not happy about it but lifted her head at the sound of her name. Maya and Lucas shared a look. They kind of had a point, didn't they?

"We could get it for her!" Gracie jumped in.

"For when she turns two!" Nellie followed without missing a beat, and that was the plan settled.

"Can we do that?" Gracie asked Maya.

"I would never stop you," Maya laughed. How many times were they going to make her emotional today?

"How much do they cost?" Nellie inquired, making her laugh harder.

Maybe it was because it was the first of their birthdays since Katy and Shawn had moved back, but it was easily the best one they had in a while. The twins had a great time, with their friends and classmates all around. For some of them, it was a moment of discovery, as they realized that Nellie and Gracie's mother was on television, and their big sister was a singer who 'does songs for people.' Whether this would make things weird in any way, they didn't worry about it at all, not today.

Only after the party was over and they were driving home would Lucas tell Maya about the talk which he'd seen take place between Sophie and Gracie back at the house. Their friend had been keeping up with the girl's recovery all along, with the particular interest and perspective of someone who had gone through a difficult time of her own in that department. She knew, mostly from Maya, how Gracie had been struggling still, and how it weighed on her. She had ended up approaching the birthday girl about it, and she had taken a careful path toward offering her assistance, in a way she felt Gracie would feel able to accept. And she did. They would figure things out, the two of them, benefitting from these last weeks of summer first and foremost.

"I had no idea she did that..." Maya blinked, wishing she might have known earlier, so she could thank her friend right away.

"Hey, so, speaking of summer's end..." Lucas went on a minute later.

"Yeah?" Maya asked.

"I was just thinking that maybe it would be time to start talking about... bringing some new life into the house, the way we said we would?"

It took Maya a moment to be sure about just what kind of life he was referring to, but then she understood... and yes, she felt the same way. It was time to see about some new canine friends.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners