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

March 3rd 2020

Chapter 63
Their Contract on Girls' Night In

"Is it… Does it hurt, when you go up and down the stairs?" Cara asked Cecilia as they arrived back in the living room, Maya and the two of them. Maya wasn't sure how the older girl would respond to this. She hadn't gotten around to asking those questions, though she did wonder at times, especially after that day of shopping for that first date outfit. She hadn't wanted anyone, not even Maya, to see her scars, so what was or wasn't off limits for her? Cara asked it though, and it came with such openness and care. Cecilia didn't hesitate to reply.

"It did a lot more in the beginning. My father had my room moved into his office downstairs and his office into my room while I was recovering, so it'd be easier, but it's back the way it was now, so I do it every day. Mostly it's just… If someone felt it for the first time, they might call it hurt, but me I've gotten so used to it, and… and I've felt so much worse, so I just call it uncomfortable. Some days are worse though, like I can really feel it. I usually sleep on the couch on those days."

"Our dad would sleep on the couch, the last few months he was alive," Cara shared, her voice showing the ever present pain for the loss, but also the comfort of just remembering Kermit. Even in the bad times, there had been some really good times, too. Maya shared the feeling. "It was too hard for him to go upstairs. We would all try to make it sound not as bad as it really was, for Eliza and for Wyatt, but we knew."

"He and I spent a lot of time talking over Skype, when he couldn't sleep," Maya recalled now. "We'd watch shows together."

With the younger girls off to bed, somehow it had never been what Maya envisioned for the rest of the evening. Here she thought she'd be plunged back in the fare of sleepovers of old, with her and her friends back when she'd just moved to Texas. Instead, they ended up talking about dead parents for a while. Maya and Cara talked about their father, how he'd been young when Maya was born, and he had left her and her mother, eventually meeting Abigail and making a family with her, turning things around in a lot of ways except for the one that involved his firstborn child. They spoke about how they had been brought back into each other's lives, by chance, when Maya and the band had given a show at Sam's old school, how the siblings had all been getting to know each other for a while before Kermit's illness came around and really gave him the wakeup call he needed to really go and start patching things up with Maya. She spoke about that whole journey, right up to when he passed, and Cara shared some of what she and her siblings had gone through from losing him.

Cecilia spoke of her mother. In all the time they'd known her, it hadn't dawned on Maya or Lucas that this had been none other than Audra Jones, a bit of a local celebrity from when she'd been little, a renowned ballerina and teacher. The accident, her death, had been on the news, and Maya recalled now the mention of her daughter having been in the car as well, but she'd never made the connection. Instead, now, she was presented with so much more of a picture of Cecilia's life, of the girl who'd grown up wanting to follow in her mother's footsteps… dance steps… only to lose both her and the dream.

That she finally spoke of it now… Maya knew just by looking at her that she didn't talk about it often, if at all. She might have told Sam by now, no way to tell, but Maya was near certain she'd never talked about this with anyone that wasn't her father, or Sam, or the psychiatrist she'd been made to see since after the accident. Cara mentioned how her mother had wanted to get her and her siblings into therapy after they'd lost their dad, and how she didn't want to go, to the point where she wanted to come and live here, with her older sister. She asked Cecilia what it was like, and Cecilia told her it had helped a lot, and how she hadn't wanted to go at first either. She hadn't been given a choice, unlike the Hart kids, which had led to a lot of uncomfortable sessions in the beginning, but it had gotten better in the end, and now she was glad for going. Cara looked like she was filing away this information, just in case…

"Can we do something else now?" she sighed after a few beats of silence.

"Sure," Maya smiled at her. "Movie?" she offered, looking to both girls. She got two resounding nods in response. "Time to break into the secret stash," Maya whispered, holding a finger to her lips.

Three oversized ice cream sundaes crafted in the kitchen, the trio had settled in on the couch, six feet propped up on the coffee table in an array of colorfully mismatched socks. Much as Maya would have loved to include the little ones as well, they would all have paid for it the next day, so instead they had this smaller group here, while upstairs…

"You don't really think they're sleeping up there, do you?" Cara asked.

"Oh, not a chance," Maya laughed. "They will though, soon enough. And until then, well they can have their own thing going, too, with the lights, and the stars…"

They were able to enjoy this part for themselves when they finally went up into the attic to settle into sleeping bags themselves. The others had fallen asleep by then, as predicted. At some point, it seemed, Haley had ended up with Gracie, with the twin holding her little sister near. Maya, Cara, and Cecilia went and climbed into their own bags.

Maya was the last one to go to sleep, feeling very happy with how the whole day had turned out for herself and her sisters. The next day, after the boys would return and they could all spend the day together, she would spend much of the evening immortalizing some of that sleepover in her sketchbook.

On Sunday morning, the last before the Tucson Harts went home, everyone got dressed and packed into the minivan and the car as they went off to Ma Maggie's for breakfast. As soon as her siblings had started coming to Austin, Maya had started to cultivate their love for the restaurant, and it was now well within their hearts. Where else would they be on this day?

"Mommy!" Wyatt gasped, bolting out of his chair when he spotted Abigail and James coming through the door. They'd all still been looking at their menus, and Maya and Lucas were both happy to find they had timed it just about right. Abigail was just as happy to receive her youngest into her arms, lifting him off the ground. In no time, the Hart and Lane children were crowding at their parents, talking over one another as they relayed the story of their weekend in Austin.

"Maybe we need to send you guys away more often, if this is the welcome we're getting," James teased, keeping his daughter good and close as he hugged her and she hugged him.

Once they had all gone to sit at the table, looked at the menu, and made their orders, the various threads of their weekend stories finally came untangled to be shared with Abigail and James. The girls talked about how they had been looking at dresses for Maya and Lucas' wedding – which they could finally go and shop for after breakfast – and how they had practiced doing their walk outside the house. The 'aisle' of branches and rocks remained mostly intact back there, just in case they needed to use it again. They also talked about how they had made pasta with Sam's girlfriend, ensuring that their parents would nag him just a bit even as he awkwardly blushed, and how they'd played basketball. Finally they told all about the lights and the stars in the attic to close out the day. Meanwhile, the boys had plenty to say about staying at the Zvolensky house, with Mrs. Carlton, and all the rooms, and the grounds, the pool and the theater, the dinner and the giant beds…

All the while as they listened to their children's lively tales, Maya and Lucas both could just see the parents smiling so bright. All of them had been having a wonderful time in Austin, which was already the best they could ask for, but beyond that… they had been having a great time together, the Harts and the Lanes, Hunters, too… They all cared deeply for one another, it was plain to see, and it was good, with what they were about to reveal to them all… Most of them, anyway. The surprise was less of a surprise to some of them, but that wouldn't stop them from acting as though it was when, finally, they confirmed and announced that they were engaged to be married.

If they were expecting any resistance from any of their children, they got none of it. Instead, they found happy faces and excitement all around, with another volley of questions piling on top of one another. When would it happen? What were they going to wear? Where would they live and would there be bunk beds?

For answers, Abigail and James gave what they could. Primarily, they stated that they were not looking to have a very big wedding, either of them, just something simple, with the people they loved the most – mostly everyone at this table – somewhere in the months to come. As to where they would live, the question had been explored deeply, and it came down to James asking Teddy and Emma if they would be alright with moving in with Abigail and the Hart kids. They were, completely.

"Yes, you can have bunk beds," Abigail smiled, when that question came up once again. Eliza and Emma were very happy to hear it.

After breakfast, the group moved on from Ma Maggie over to the store where the girls were to find their bridesmaid/flower girl dresses. They were met here by Katy and Shawn, so they might be there to buy the twins' dresses and then take them and Haley and MJ back home when all was said and done. There was some surprise at first at the news that everyone would be getting different colored dresses, but then they could see how it made sense, with who the bride would be. They went in to that store with the images printed out from their search back on Friday, and by some chance everyone came away with what they had hoped to find. To see them all running around with their dresses, like a rainbow on the loose, there was no denying this had been the right call.

With this errand done, much as none of them looked forward to it, the time had come for everyone to say goodbye and head on home, whether that was here in Austin, or a flight away and back to Tucson. It had been most difficult for Sam, to see his family going away again, and for those departing Tucson Harts and Lanes as well, none of them eager to part with both Sam and Maya, and Lucas either. But finally it was done, and as Sam went off to spend some time with Cecilia, Dora, and Adam, all that remained was for Maya and Lucas to head back for the house, driving the now passenger-less car and minivan.

"It's always way too quiet around here when everyone goes," Maya sighed as they arrived and went into the house. Almost to prove her wrong, Trix and Lou were there, waiting and barking at the door. "Hey, ladies!" Maya crouched to scoop them up at once. "Are you ready for some special snacks because your humans are emotionally weakened right now?" she asked in cuddly tones. "Yeah, you are, aren't you? Yeah, you are…"

"This might be me being…"

"Emotionally weakened?" she repeated, and Lucas chuckled.

"Yeah, that. But I was thinking… maybe I'd like to go and take a trip to the shelter, see if maybe there's any dog there who might be needing..." Maya turned back to him at once.

"You had me at shelter. How about, you two? You want a little brother or sister?" She received many kisses from the pups, which she took as a yes. "Say it, don't slobber it!" she laughed.

They decided to take Trix and Lou along with them as they went to the shelter. Maybe they would be able to sniff themselves out a new friend. They were well known there at this point, and this soon led them on the path to leaving with not one but two dogs to join the ones they already had, although one would be to keep and the other would be to foster for a few weeks, until he was ready to be taken to what would be his home. This one was called Max and looked eager to go as soon as he was taken out to meet his hosts. The other, who was to join Trix and Lou as members of the Friar-Hart family, was still just a pup, small and fragile after having been found abandoned with his brothers and sisters, all of them already adopted and gone. Given the proper love and care he would grow bigger than Trix and Lou combined.

"We're going to need to find you a name, huh?" Lucas smiled, holding the puppy in his arms as Maya led Max and the others toward the minivan.

"Imagine if we'd done all that before they went back to Arizona," Maya told him, imagining how they would all have crowded in much as they'd done back at the restaurant. "We'll see what Sam has to say when he gets home later. Right now we need to get this bunch back there. Want me to drive?" she asked, smiling as she watched Lucas with their nameless new buddy.

"Probably a good idea, yeah," he nodded before looking to their foster friend. "Don't know how he's going to do in the car though."

"There's no rush," Maya assured him.

When Sam would return home shortly after dinner, he would be surprised by both Max and the puppy. To see the grin on his face might have been the perfect capper to their sleepover weekend. When he was handed the jittery pup and offered the task and privilege of naming him, Sam grew thoughtful at once, observing him as though attempting to discover his soul.

"Archer," he finally pronounced himself, pausing to see if he liked the sound of it, then smiling when he found he did. "That's his name."

"Archer it is," Lucas nodded, as he and Maya both took their turn at welcoming little Archer to the family.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners