A/N: The new chapter of "We Three Hearts" is now available!
August 26th 2022
Chapter 238
Our Hearts in Love
They may not have been there, that morning when Ella showed up on Taylor's doorstep, but she'd told the tale, in as sufficient detail as she'd been willing to give, enough so that her mother and father felt that they could picture it in their minds. They'd had to wait until the next night, when she'd returned to Austin to find her daughter and accompany her to the Equestrian Ball, and it was fair to say that they had been on pins and needles in the meantime. All they'd had to go on, thanks to Theo, was that she'd seemingly up and decided to fly to Indiana, and there could really only be one reason for her to do that, one person she had been in desperate need to see.
The way she told it, she hadn't started off thinking that she would make that trip when she did it and how she did it. All it had been… It was this feeling, one that had been growing ever more incessant within her over days upon days. It wasn't new, not by a long shot. She hardly needed to say it, not to them, but here and now, it felt necessary to say that she had been coming to terms with these feelings she had for Taylor, for one of her best friends. There had been a time where she'd tried to ignore them, and a time where she'd tried to deny them, for too many reasons she didn't want to get into, though they could generally guess. Everything that had happened with Theo and the pregnancy, and then minding Tori in all this, and a friendship she didn't want to put at risk… Right now, the biggest hurdle of all was this distance, her in Texas, him in Indiana. The problem was that, as much as this distance felt like a reason to shove those feelings down deep and leave them alone, it instead had worked the opposite on her. It made her miss him so much it hurt, and in that pain, she'd found something like a mirror, demanding that she face up to the fact that her feelings for him would not go away, shouldn't have to go away…
She'd come very close to giving in a couple times before. There had been that time when he'd come home for a few weeks over summer. She'd just run at him, unable to help herself. They'd been so close in that moment and had there been no one around them at the time, she was sure she would have kissed him. Then there had been New Year's Eve, in Arkansas, the two of them walking around, talking, passing the minutes to midnight… He'd sort of… not exactly made his move right then, but also not… not… He'd said something that had stayed with her, like he'd wanted to say it without saying it, hoping she'd catch on and say something back but also leaving it just vague enough that it gave her an out. As far as she was concerned, she'd essentially crossed one foot in the door and kept the other in the hall. And they'd left it at that.
Now here they were, a month and a half later, and it was all Valentine's Day's fault. Everywhere she turned, everything she saw, was so much talk of love, and relationships, and valentines… And just the day before, she'd had a call with Marianne – as she would do regularly, between days when she was able to come down for a visit – where her little sister had told her all about the card her friend had made her. She'd also talked about how excited she was for the ball, and she'd recounted what Lucas had told her, about him and Maya, and the two of them and what the girls brought them…
It had started her thinking… and thinking… and the next thing she knew, she was looking up flights to Indiana. She'd packed a bag for herself and for Tori, and they'd made their way to Austin, where she'd left her daughter at her parents' house. She'd considered leaving her at Theo's, which would have made sense, too, but with how it was all happening so fast and could be confusing to the four-year-old, she'd felt like it would be better if she was at her grandparents' house, with them and her little aunts. Theo had concurred. He'd have her over the weekend anyway.
She hadn't set out to go and make this grand gesture, honestly, she hadn't. But she was in one state, and he was in another, and she needed to see him, not just call him. Of course, it was already the evening of the thirteenth by the time she drove off to the airport, and by the time she landed, hopped in a taxi, and made it in the general area of Taylor's apartment building, it was early hours in the morning. She'd stood there for a few minutes, probably looking exactly the way she felt, like she'd taken off at a run, back in Houston, and now that she'd stopped, she could see where she was, and she feared that she'd done something too crazy. What was she supposed to do now? He'd be asleep right then, and she couldn't just go up to his door all 'surprise!'
She'd ended up going to find a coffee shop nearby, the very one he'd sometimes call her from, she was sure. There she picked up a couple of coffees and breakfast for the both of them, trusting her knowledge of his preferences. By the time she'd make it back, he'd just about be waking up; another thing she knew about. So, up she'd gone to the building door where, by some chance, she'd been let in by one of his neighbors on their way out. For that, she'd been able to go up the elevator and to his apartment door… and knock. Her heart had beat so fast that she'd sort of worried that it would make her hands shake enough to drop the breakfast bag or spill the coffees all over herself. And then he'd opened the door, barefoot, shirtless, and dishevelled, barely out of bed but immediately jolted fully awake to find her standing there.
This was where the story grew sort of vague, as Ella didn't want to share exactly what had been said between them or what might or might not have happened when they'd said it. Maybe in due time she would share it with her parents, but just now the smile etched on her face said enough. She had only been able to stay out there for part of the day, after which she had to get back to the airport and fly home, but those hours they had spent together had seen a lot of cards put on the table after they'd effectively been not so much hidden up sleeves or in pockets but worn pinned to their fronts for a time, whether they ever acknowledged them or not.
And now… Well, had their circumstances changed all that much? Overall, no. He was still going to be in Indiana for another couple of years after he finished this one, and she still couldn't uproot her life and Tori's. So, while they would both very much consider themselves as together, they'd have to find ways to make it count even if their chances of being physically in the same place would remain limited to holidays and breaks. They didn't mind, they were… motivated. They'd been raring to go for nearly two years already; they could make it through two more.
"Please don't tell anyone, okay?" she asked her parents. "I'll tell Lea and some of the others myself, but I don't want it to get to the girls, especially to Tori, not yet."
"Don't worry about it," Lucas assured her, even as Maya just had to reach out and hug their eldest. Oh, this was just wonderful news. After how long the two of them had been doing this dance… And speaking of dances…
Not telling the girls was fine, but they'd nearly busted them on the conversation, as it was high time that they all made their way to the ranch for the start of the ball. They would all be there, Maya and Lucas and all of their girls. They might have left Mackenzie with a sitter, but they didn't want to leave her out of this event. Would she very likely sleep most of the time? Probably, yes, but that didn't matter. She would be with them, and maybe get to have a slow turn on the dance floor with her father.
"Dad, there's Mosi over there!" Marianne perked up as they were making their way out from the parking lot. "Can I go say hi?"
"Yeah, go for it," Lucas smiled, and she bolted off.
They'd soon catch up with her, joining the Okafor family as the two kindergarteners talked to one another. Marianne was telling Mosi how she liked his bow tie and, when he complimented her dress, she showed him how the skirt moved for dancing. It made the boy laugh, giving a good view of those missing front teeth. Would he dance with her? When she asked him, his expression became one like a deer in headlights. He was not a good dancer, he told her so as he'd done before.
"You don't have to be good. You just have to have fun," Marianne confidently told him, and Mosi looked like he thought that this made a lot of sense. He would give it a try.
When the two kids would get to have their first attempt at a dance, they would be near where both of their parents could see them. As Lucas had promised his daughter when she'd asked if the two of them would get to dance together, he first took Maya out for a turn. The rest of the girls did not lack for supervision with the ranch staff and several of the guests there that night being family or friends. The triplets were currently in the hands of Donna Devereaux and her young 'assistant' Britt, while Mackenzie was being seen to by Phoebe Munroe. She'd insisted on taking her while her teacher got to dance with her husband. Nearby, Ella was dancing around, holding Tori in one arm. The other arm was held out with her phone, recording a bit of this dance, and of the scene all around them. They easily suspected that this video would find its way to Taylor back in Indiana. Wish you were here…
"I still can't believe she went all the way out there like that," Lucas slowly shook his head, chuckling to himself.
"Oh, you can't? Really?" Maya turned a smirk up to him. She didn't have to recount that time, many summers back, when he'd flown to Philadelphia to find her, thanks to 'Air Zvolensky.' Neither of them had forgotten it, and even though his visit had been compelled by a need to set the record straight because of something bad – the realization of how the two of them had ended up in that car accident – hers had also been to set the record straight… for something so much better.
"I… Yeah, alright, fair enough," he nodded.
"I just hope things work out alright for them," Maya hummed. She rested her head against his heart as they went on dancing. They weren't exactly ignoring the rhythm of the song, but their sway was good at the moment and that was what mattered.
"Daddy, is it my turn now?" Marianne appeared at their side. Lucas looked down at her, then back to Maya as though to ask her permission.
"He's all yours," she smirked at him before tipping her head to their daughter. "I'll go and sit down a minute, so no one decides to come and suggest it."
As she did sit, she was rejoined by her nearly ten-month-old daughter when Phoebe brought her back, Khalil right behind her.
"Thank you for the macaroni," she told them even as she made a funny face to the girl who looked about this close to dozing off. "You two go out there," she now nodded to the dance floor, missing the exchanged look between the young couple that preceded Phoebe's turning to look at her and speaking…
"I'm pregnant." Maya froze, looked up at her. Khalil looked a bit surprised, while Phoebe could only smile sheepishly. "I couldn't decide how else to say it, so I figured, why not just get right out with it? Kind of worked, huh?" she gestured to her former teacher's face.
Oh, neither one of them may have been her actual children, but to find out that they were going to be parents, she imagined, her reaction was not unlike what it could be, someday, when it would be one of her daughters. She stood up again, momentarily very aware of the baby curled up at her chest and sleeping while she had an urge to shout out for joy. All she could do instead, even as she could feel her eyes spill over with tears, was to try to silently express herself and finally hug the pair in turn. She couldn't make herself look away from them, couldn't stop smiling as she asked after details. Had they known long? When were they due? How was Phoebe doing? Had they told anyone? They were more than happy to catch her up, including the fact that Lucas had inadvertently found out some days back.
It was a wonder that she managed not to let their secret spill out all night, or even Ella's, too. A pair of secrets, both of them thrilling in their own ways… How had it all happened in one night? Between all that and a second night of dancing with Lucas – now with more actual dancing – and of course Marianne's first event 'with a boy,' there was no chance of forgetting this Valentine's Day. By the end of it, Maya and Lucas had themselves five sleeping girls to load up in the minivan and take back home. Knowing everything she would have taken in on that day, Lucas quickly designated himself to see to getting them all into the house, changed, and put to bed, the better for Maya to go on ahead and pull out her sketchbook. For her, there could not be any better end to the night. In time, he came back to find her sat up there on their bed, sketching away, and he came to sit at her side and see what she was up to.
"You know, I might need to get some string lights in here, maybe a banner of some kind…" he suggested quietly. When she gave him a look, he shrugged. "Well, I said how we would dance every night, but the first couple ones were at the school dance and at the ball. I have a standard to keep up," he pointed out, which made her snort. He could see the Huckleberry come before she got to speak it, and he was happy to receive it from his Valentine, always.
TO BE CONTINUED
See you tomorrow! - mooners
