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


November 25th 2022

Chapter 329
Our Production of Us

Dear Maya,

I've been trying to write this letter to you every day for the last three weeks or so. I've started, I've gotten a couple paragraphs in, but every time I reread what I'd put down, I threw it out and started over. I'm pretty sure I've written some version of these first lines at least a dozen times now, and of that revelation, too. No matter what I do, I can't find the words to say what I need to say, but I have to keep trying. Every time I think about just talking, it feels like my throat gets all choked up and nothing will come out except tears. I made such a mess of everything, and I don't know how I got that far. All I know is that I am so, so sorry, but that won't change what happened, will it? A lot of people will probably forget it in time, a lot of people will never know, but you will know, you will remember, and I will, too. We're always going to have this thing sitting between us, of how I cheated.

Ever since people found out, they've all wanted to know why I did it. It wasn't like I was doing badly in class. I was doing better in some classes than others, but that's everyone, right? And I'm on the quiz team. That kind of tells people that there's no way I'd ever do a thing like this, doesn't it? Except there was a way to end up doing what I did, I just never saw it coming until I was there. I haven't been doing as well this year as I've done in years before, not even bad enough that I'd be anywhere near failing, just far enough from how I used to do that I panicked. I needed to get back up and it felt like I needed to make a big push, but I was running out of time. And then when the idea started to come about, I don't think I was even going to use the answers. I was just going to help the guys because it was a challenge. That sounds so bad, but it's the truth. I knew it was wrong, and maybe I didn't even want to go through with it, maybe I just wanted to see if we were able to pull it off and then we'd just leave. But we went in, and we got all those answers, and when it was through, I just… I couldn't help it. They were right there, and maybe if I did better this time, it would give me the peace of mind I needed to get back up where I wanted to be on my own.

And the thing was, once I sat there, with those tests, knowing the answers, all the questions made sense. I didn't just know the answers because I'd memorized them anymore. I'd told myself to at least get a couple of answers wrong here and there, to not look so obvious, but then I couldn't help myself because of course the questions made sense now. It wasn't until after it was all over and we were on break that the spinning in my head just stopped, and I realized what I'd done, and how likely I was to be caught, and what would happen when they did find out. I came so close to just confessing, to you, to Mr. Matthews, and Mr. Brett, when I saw all of you over the break, but I could never get up the courage.

Then we got back from break, and it happened. I couldn't even be upset that we got caught, because how could we not? But then to see everyone's faces when they knew, to see you, and Lara, and my dads when they showed up at school… Everyone that I care for was suddenly looking at me like I was a completely different person, and maybe they weren't wrong. I couldn't recognize myself anymore either. What's worse is I ruined something that was so much more important than a few grades that weren't up to my standards. And I can't change that back, and whenever I think about it, that's when the tears come.

I don't think I can be on the quiz team again next year. It wouldn't be right for the others. Everyone will think that they're okay with a cheater, or that they're all cheaters, too. They've been so good to me since this all came out, and I haven't earned that. They shouldn't want me around. I barely want me around these days. That sounds bad, it's not like that. Being on that team meant so much to me because you chose me, and I wrecked it. I don't deserve to be a member anymore. Maybe you should find a way to replace me now, even though the year's more than halfway through. I'm sure there's someone better suited for it than someone like me.

Lydia Sullivan-Reyes

.

The day of the letter, five days before New York

Michael Sullivan welcomed Maya when she arrived. She asked him how he was doing, and it was one of those times where she could see those traits that Marianne Sullivan had been responsible for, passing them on to her son and to her daughter before him, as she had passed them to her son, and he had now passed them on to several of their daughters. There was still tension in the household after what had happened at school, and much as she knew they didn't want it to be this way, it was just as Lydia had said in her letter. Her people couldn't forget it. She asked to see her student/cousin-in-law and was directed up to her room. When she arrived at the closed door, she lightly knocked and announced herself, asking if she could come in. She was invited to do so.

Lydia was laid out on her bed, staring up at the ceiling, her phone perched on her stomach, one earbud in, the other in her hand. She turned her head to look at her visitor.

"Hi," she quietly greeted her. Maya shut the door behind her and moved up to join Lydia, who finally moved to sit up, running a hand through her hair to send it back in the proper direction. It still curtained back over her face, like it was under the assumption that this was where it needed to be at a time like this. Lydia sighed and went about twisting it all into a hasty bun, tying it off with the elastic at her wrist. Maya pointed to ask if she could sit with her. Lydia shrugged, so she settled in next to her on the bed.

"I got your letter," Maya revealed, and Lydia looked nervous at once. "It's okay, you're okay," Maya quickly reassured her. "Hey… Come here," she reached out her arm, closed the girl up into a hug as motherly as she'd ever given to her own girls, and the freshman melted into it at once. Her arms were telling her, as plainly as they could, that nothing that had happened could change how she felt about her. Lydia didn't go and burst out crying, but Maya definitely heard some sniffles. "I don't think you should quit the team," she told her. "I'm not going to think any less of you, and neither is the rest of the team. You made a mistake, and you owned up to it. Now you show them what that looks like. We're not giving up on you, and if anyone has anything to say, well they can come to me. I'll give them a bit of New York Maya, see how they like it," she whispered, tipping Lydia's head back to look at her. She was treated there with a small smile that meant the world to her. Maya pressed a kiss to her temple. "You're going to be okay. We've got you. We're family."

x

It had not been an easy thing to trick the girls. The story itself was easy to come up with and deliver. They told Marianne, Lucy, Remy, Kacey, and Mackenzie that the dogs had found their family, and they were on their way home. This was true. They just didn't know that this family was their family, and this home was back in Austin. The hard part resided in disappointment, and all those little hearts being left somewhere in between the loss of those puppies they'd come to love so much and the conviction that, at least, they were going to be in a good place now… even if it wasn't with them. After the wonderful night that they'd had before, going to the musical, the morning of their departure quickly dipped toward something so utterly morose that more than once Maya and Lucas had to resist the urge to simply come clean and tell them that the dogs – as yet to be named – were in fact going to be boarding the same plane they were very soon and would be taken to their house.

It made for a very sedate flight back, which might have been good news for some of their fellow passengers, but less so for the quiet girls' parents. By the time they'd land, parting ways with the Arroyos, it would be just as well that they'd already had 'go get ice cream' as part of their master plan. The girls looked like they needed a little pick-me-up, which their mother and father all too happily obliged. And they all did seem a bit happier for it, almost entirely back to themselves with maybe just a hint of 'I wish the dogs were here' pouting.

Finally, they headed home. As they went, they got a message from Eliza saying that she and Emma and the guys had taken the dogs – Jax, Artie, Crowley, Squeak, and Honey Bee – for a walk, so they wouldn't be home when they arrived. The girls very nearly lost their ice cream-gained mood lift at this, like if they weren't going to have their new friends then at least the old ones would be there when they got home, but they were contented with the fact that the dogs loved to go for a walk, and this was good for them. The real reason was that they hadn't wanted the new pair to get overwhelmed when they arrived, dropped off by the Arroyos who hadn't stopped for ice cream on the way.

"Look, there's our house!" Lucy called out happily as they made their way up the road, and Maya and Lucas were never so glad for the power of homecomings after a time away as they were today. Their daughters were so glad to be back in their hometown, and now to be at their house again after a week away… Everything was familiar again, and that was what they needed.

Out of the minivan they went, the girls just a bit overeager to get inside and having to be told to wait as they were all still being taken from their seats, right down to baby Aubrey. They would see to the bags once they got everyone inside, they said, so they went up the porch steps and got the door open – Kacey got her turn at doing it once her father had put the key in and turned it – and there they found…

There was not a single intelligible word out of the girls as they spotted the two small dogs, just a few steps past the door. They had been settled into a cushy little bed, both of them together, and it was possible that they had been sleeping until not too long ago, until they had caught a familiar scent and they had been awakened. Then when they saw the girls, oh, they were very happy, too, and they came skittering up to them until there was a block, preventing the door from being shut. None of the girls seemed to either mind or realize when they were nudged in order to close the door. They were all too excited and focused on the dogs, on petting them and holding them… Marianne just burst into the happiest of tears when she found herself holding them both, so much so that her hands were shaking. She kissed them both and they licked her face, licked her tears away, which made her laugh.

"Was it a good surprise?" Lucas asked, as he and Maya came to crouch and sit with the girls. They all nodded, even Marianne, through her ongoing happy meltdown.

"They're staying here now, Daddy?" Remy asked.

"Yes, they are," Lucas told her with a smile. "So now we have something very important to ask all of you…" The girls looked at him. "What are they going to be called?" he asked.

Oh, they had almost forgotten about that! But they remembered now, remembered how they'd tried to come up with ideas back in New York, at the hotel. Under Marianne's advisement, since they had found the dogs in New York, it only seemed right that they give the dogs names that reflected that. The triplets and Mackenzie had all seen this as a reasonable idea. Now that they were officially going to decide though, they had to make sure they picked the right names, didn't they? So, what were they going to be? The choice was left up to the girls, so they asked to be left alone to discuss it before announcing their decision.

While they waited, Maya and Lucas went and got their luggage from the minivan. Cara, Mateo, and Felix headed on home, just as eager to get there themselves. The deliberation continued, slightly delayed by the girls getting distracted with wanting to play with the dogs, and show them around the house… Maya and Lucas went about unpacking, discussed what they might do for Valentine's Day, which was just around the corner…

"Mommy! Daddy!" Kacey's voice was heard.

"In here, cub," Maya called to her, and then they all came, the twins each holding one of the dogs in their arms. "Did you all decide?" she asked, and they nodded. "Great! So, who do we have here?" she asked, pointing to the female dog in Kacey's arms.

"Liberty," she enunciated, and it made her mother smile. Like the statue? Yes, like the statue.

"Great choice," Maya told her, and Lucas agreed.

"What about this guy?" he asked, indicating the male dog held by Remy.

"Yankee!" she announced with a big grin, which had her parents chuckling. As much as they all loved basketball in this house, baseball was a very close second, and here it could be reflected in this new member of their family.

"There's as many of them now as there are of us," Marianne noted, indicating herself and her sisters, whether present or not. They hadn't even considered it that way, but now they were happy to know it. Seven dogs, seven girls… They liked the sound of that.

TO BE CONTINUED


See you tomorrow! - mooners