December 22nd 2021

Chapter 356
Our Support For Distance

The arrival in Tucson this time around felt a lot closer to form, with excited brothers and sisters being reunited, parents with children, grandparents with grandchildren… Everyone was so happy and excited, giving special attention to the two graduates, who would be receiving their diplomas the very next morning. And then there was Charles.

Even though he had been invited, and they were happy that he'd come, it was impossible not to see him and pause at first, thinking of who he had and hadn't been to them. But then, it would pass, and they would remember that they were very glad to have him here. Eliza was the first to go and hug him, thanking him for coming. Charles returned the gesture by thanking her for the invitation. After she'd gone, Wyatt came up, more awkward than his sister but at the same time curious. He greeted his grandfather by holding his hand to shake, which the old man did, looking at him almost the same way he'd look at Marianne sometimes. She reminded him of his daughter when she'd been small, and Wyatt… Wyatt reminded him of his son. If it all went to resemblance, he could have looked at Sam, too, but there was something else to Wyatt which made him most like their father. Granny Lizzie had seen it in him, too. For her and for Charles as well, coming in contact with grandchildren that reminded them of their own children touched to something very deep in their hearts.

Whatever would or wouldn't happen with regards to Luna, it wouldn't happen tonight. Unlike their last visit, all the visitors were staying at the Hart-Lane house. It was getting late, and they had a big day tomorrow, so all they would be doing now would be settling in and going to bed.

"I could probably carry you," Lucas joked as he followed behind Maya on the way to the attic. She groaned at him.

"You should save your strength for when I need to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night," she shot back, making him chuckle just as she paused. "Actually… maybe I should go now. Some people, and I'm not naming names, but some people are under the impression that my bladder is a toy."

Maya had never forgotten how happy it made her to have this room at her stepparents' home. Even if she didn't get to visit nearly as much as she would like to, no matter when she did get the chance to come by for a couple of days or, in this case, a couple of weeks, she had her place here, same as all the Hart-Lane kids. What had once been Wyatt's spaceship up above had now become Maisie's castle tower, where she would get to be a princess-slash-adventurer. Now and then she'd be joined on these adventures by Wyatt, or Teddy, or their Mom or Dad, or her Chen cousins… It would only ever be family because that was their privilege.

"Daddy, it's like the up-up window!" Marianne remarked when Emma escorted her up. They'd made a stop over in the kitchen upon arrival because there had been a Very Important Task which demanded her involvement. Going by the crumbs on her face, they suspected it had to do with cookies, and frosting. As soon as she arrived in the attic and saw the place, she looked mystified. It wasn't the first time she'd come out here, but evidently it had been long enough that she'd forgotten. She'd had a similar reaction the last time, too.

"Yeah, it is, although the view is different, come here," Lucas waved her over and picked her up when she came. "Now, where did this come from, huh?" he pondered, wiping a bit of the 'leftovers' on her cheek. She laughed, looking like her mother whenever she'd done something, and she was amused by it.

"We're all supposed to bring something for tomorrow," Emma explained. "For before everything starts when everyone's just sort of hanging around. Eliza and I made cookies."

"So, only this one here gets a pre-bed sugar rush and not us?" Maya teased her sister. Emma made sure that Marianne was still busy at the window before stepping up to discreetly pass a small bundle wrapped in a paper towel over to her big sister. "Your room is ready," Maya grinned, and they laughed.

"Your grandfather's coming back with us when we leave for Austin, right?" Emma quietly asked.

"Unless something happens and he just stays here, yes, he is. Why?" Maya asked back.

She hadn't missed how she'd referred to Charles as 'your' grandfather. In all the time since the families had come together, the Harts and the Lanes, there had never been any divide. One's extended family became the other's, too, across the board, and no one ever needed to ask first. With this one though, Emma seemed uncertain.

"I don't know, it's just… Well, he's been out of the picture since before Mom and Dad got married, and now he's here, and we have his name, and I don't know how he feels about us…" she slowly explained.

"You haven't talked to him yet, have you?" Maya asked her. In a way, she understood what she was feeling just now. Back when she'd first met her Hart siblings, it had been difficult to situate her place among them, even if they shared blood. For Emma, it would go even further.

"Not really, I mean, I said hi when we went to Luna's after the funeral last time…"

"Right. So, tomorrow morning when you get the chance, just go, and talk to him. Don't treat him any differently than you would anyone in the family. See how he is."

She wasn't there for that conversation, but it must have happened sometime before they left for the school and it must have gone well, going by how Emma interacted with her new grandfather. There were none so happy to find this than big sister Maya.

"You know, I'm getting the strangest feeling of déjà vu right now. Didn't we just do this?" Maya 'wondered' as they walked along the open area with the graduates' offerings, weaving through families.

"Does ring a bell, although the last time there weren't so many treats," Lucas stated, looking to Marianne, perched in his arms, with saucer eyes flitting from one table to the next. "Pace yourself, pumpkin," he kissed her cheek.

Graduation ceremonies were just part of their lives now, with Maya's job, but it would be different whenever they were attending solely in a familial capacity, not as faculty plus guests. This one, when they could remember one of the graduates when she'd been barely a year and some dust older than the girl in Lucas' lap… They might not have known Emma until she was a couple of years older than Eliza had been, but all the same… It was incredible to see how much they'd both grown.

"You know, in a few years, we'll get to tell them how they were here today," Cara leaned to whisper to Maya as they sat in their seats and waited for the ceremony to start. She'd been feeling some 'big moves' from the triplets, so naturally both Cara and Marianne had reached to feel from either side of her.

"Yeah, too bad I don't have a sign," Maya chuckled. Not too long ago, they had shown their daughter the photos from the tour with Ree, all the 'Marianne Friar was here!' shots, and it had marveled and mystified the little blonde.

"You could make one though, couldn't you?" Cara gave her a furtive look. They were all sure that Maya and Lucas knew what they were having, that they'd chosen names and everything, and that they weren't telling anyone.

"I suppose I could," Maya told her sister with a smirk. "Put away the big eyes, I'm not saying anything." Cara sighed.

"Not saying?" Marianne repeated, curious.

"She won't tell me if the babies are boys or girls," Cara informed her niece, getting a look from her sister. She only shrugged; she wanted to know, and she would sink as low as she saw fit.

"I know," Marianne nodded confidently. Now both her parents, her aunt, and whoever of the family was in earshot turned to look at her.

"You know what the babies are?" Lucas asked, while Maya plastered a hand over her little sister's mouth. Marianne giggled and nodded. "How do you know?"

"No, don't say it, pumpkin, it's our secret," Maya nodded.

"We'll talk later, okay?" Lucas clasped their daughter's hand. Deal made.

Right now, what mattered more than whether or not Marianne actually knew the answer to the big question – she didn't, as they'd later confirm – was the graduation, and Eliza and Emma. They would be called one right after the other, of course, and they chose to go on stage together, to the cheers of their gathered families. When she was called up as Elizabeth Hart-Lane, Maya and Lucas turned to see where Charles sat, next to James, three seats away from Luna. How proud they all looked, a unified front that showed nothing of their complicated relationships. And Charles, cheering for his late wife's namesake… Maya made sure that Cara would record it all from her vantage point, keeping her camera rolling when Emma would come, too. If she wanted to see how her new grandfather felt, she would have her proof.

While Cara took care of the audience side, Sam was keeping his camera trained on his sisters as they walked across the stage. He'd told Maya and Lucas, before the ceremony started, how he'd debated narrating a commentary track over the footage, sharing 'delightfully awkward' tales of his little sisters' childhood as he recalled it. In the end, he'd opted to wait and add it later, so they could have the footage with and without his brotherly roast.

When all was said and done, they made their way out to wait for Eliza and Emma and, because she couldn't seem to go very long before having to make a detour that way, Maya found herself escorted toward the ladies' room by her cousin Ginny, as both she and Sadie also attended this school.

"Your turn next year, huh?" Maya smiled.

"Yeah," Ginny smiled back. "Can't wait to get out of here." At her cousin's surprise, she went on to explain. "It's not that I don't like it, I'm just looking forward to the after part. I started looking at schools. Just don't tell Mom, she'll just want me to stay in the city."

"Our secret then," Maya agreed. "How's she doing lately?" she asked after a moment. Sure, they talked regularly, texted even more, but she was certain that there would be things she wouldn't speak or write about, things that someone would only see because they were near her every day. And there would be plenty to think about, wouldn't there? Her mother's passing, and her father's… proximity…

"Okay, I think," Ginny nodded. "After she and Oliver got back from New York, it was easier, I think, because she'd taken care of Gran."

"Yeah," Maya agreed with the assessment.

"The Grandpa thing… I don't know… I think she wants to talk to him, but she's scared of how it'll go, that she'll mess it up."

"Yeah…" Maya sighed. That was what she'd been figuring, too. "What do you think?"

"About… talking to Grandpa?" Ginny hesitated. Just going by the fact that she called him Grandpa, it said something, but still… "I don't know. I want it to work out for her, we all do. And maybe she needs to wait some more, but… How long's it going to take? Longer she waits, even if he's in Texas with you…" She'd never get around to it, not unless she was confronted with it, just about.

"What do you think? Should we help them out a bit?"

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners