April 30th 2020

Chapter 121
Their Rally Around Dinner

Bright and early on Thanksgiving morning, the house on the lane was wide awake and full of activity. Not all of their guests would be arriving early, some wouldn't come until well in the afternoon, but one small crowd – in number and in size – would be coming along, the better to watch the parade with their big sister, which meant no lying around, no matter how cozy any of them were. Katy had sent a text when they were about to leave, and by then they had just finished getting dressed for the day, which left no more than twenty minutes for any of them to get everything done that needed to be done by the time any of them arrived.

"What time are you going out to Cecilia's?" Lucas asked Sam, as the two of them moved the table from the kitchen and out into the living room. After some consideration, they had decided to move the couch and everything else as though they were in party mode, the better to set the table in full extension out here, giving everyone some room to breathe where they might not have managed it, being as many of them as they would be.

"She said to be there at four. I don't know if she actually wants me to come earlier, maybe I can help with things. She might not even need me to, but…" Sam shrugged. But he just wanted to help, to show support in his girlfriend's attempt at a first proper Thanksgiving dinner since before she'd lost her mother and her father had made retreating into his office something of a default mode.

"How about you text her around three, see where she's at, and then you'll know," Lucas suggested.

"That could work…" Sam looked encouraged.

"I can drive you once you know," Lucas promised.

"Okay, but first we have to call back home, for Mom and everyone," Sam reminded, to which Lucas gave a nod. He had not forgotten, nor would he have been able to, with how Sam had reminded them already several times in the past week. After nearly a year and a half out here with them, it still showed in him how determined he was not to let any holiday or birthday slip by unnoticed, not to have any of his siblings back in Tucson believe he had somehow forgotten them. It was very rare that they all didn't see each other, whether they'd visit or be visited, on or around those days, in fact he was sure this was the first time, which made it no wonder to Lucas that Sam's more neurotic side would be flaring up.

It reminded him so much of Maya, back in those early days, as she had been faced with the realization that she would not get to go to New York and be with her old friends over the holidays. She had counted on it so much, and when she hadn't been able to go… Of course, she'd had a few things to help her through that, and he counted himself lucky to have been one of those. Another had been Shawn Hunter, though Lucas doubted either he or Maya had any idea on that day how much his arrival would impact their lives in the long run.

"We made pies!" Nellie Hunter proclaimed as her big sister opened the door and found her there, holding up a covered plate.

"Oh, thank you!" Maya took the plate with a sneaking smile, making as though she was about to shut the door and go eat the whole thing by herself.

"No!" Nellie giggled. "That's for everyone! And just for dessert, it's morning now!"

"Alright, fine, I guess," Maya sighed dramatically, pulling her little sister in a one-armed hug and kissing the top of her head.

"Is it started?" Nellie turned to look at the television.

"No, you're good, still got a few mi…"

"Hurry up, it's going to start!" Nellie called back toward the car. Gracie stood there, waiting with another pie in her arms, while MJ, who had just been helped out on to the ground, came dashing at the call. Shawn was pulling a couple of bags from the back, while Katy had just gotten little Haley from her seat. Once they started to head toward the house, Gracie followed and finally went ahead toward her sisters, setting her pie down where she could before hugging Maya.

"Hey, Mouse Mouse," Maya smiled down at her as she looked up. "I made spaghetti," she whispered at her, and Gracie smiled before dashing over to where Nellie already sat in front of the television, on the ground, with Trix and Lou sniffing about. MJ approached Maya now, like a four and a half-year-old spy, sneaking looks over to the twins before pulling a folded piece of paper from his jacket pocket and holding it up to his sister. "For me?" she asked.

"Secret," MJ whispered before going to join the girls. Maya unfolded it to find it was a drawing he had made, of a happy turkey and himself next to it. She had to keep from laughing, knowing how much he loved sharing his drawings with her, but also grasped the fact that Gracie was in a state where she would not appreciate it the same way.

"Ya!" two-year-old Haley come tottering toward her when she was set down on the porch. Maya scooped up the youngest Hunter and peppered her with the kisses she deserved. Her littlest sibling was only getting bigger by the day, it seemed, and it was making Maya emotional in ways she had not expected.

"The one and only," Maya confirmed as the girl giggled, and wriggled, and held on tight with strong, tiny hands… She was like a doll, polished and sweet, which only heightened her status as being the youngest of their bunch, especially where Shawn was concerned. Maya and her mother would joke around from time to time, at the notion of Shawn Hunter being granted four daughters out of five kids, and what that would look like once those three young ones grew up and started bringing boys around…

"Save me a seat, I'll be right there!" Shawn called out to the kids now crowded around the television, stopping at the door for a beat to greet his eldest before heading into the kitchen with his bags.

"He wanted me to let you know he'll be having whatever you have for Gracie, too," Katy came up to her daughter and hostess at last.

"Okay, sure," Maya nodded at once. "Solidarity?"

"Oh, every step of the way. Gracie's been asking a lot of questions since the whole turkey debacle started, and now she won't eat meat at all. I wasn't sure what we were going to do about it, but Shawn, he's been looking into other options for her, and he's been having whatever she's been having, every time," Katy revealed, with a smile on her face that showed just how much this small gesture of her husband's for their daughter would touch her heart.

It had not exactly been the intent for all of them to end up sitting on the ground as they watched the parade in the transformed living room, but then when Shawn had gone to join the kids he had been beckoned down to their level by Haley with an increasingly familiar 'Da come!' and so in time the rest of the group was made to follow suit, or suffer the stare of the little doll.

"Asher!" MJ pointed to the screen when a familiar face appeared, singing with his cast mates in a performance from his new stage role.

"No, bud, that's not him, that's Joey, remember?" Lucas asked, as the boy didn't so much sit with them as he stood behind Lucas, hands perched on his shoulders. He would move around like this, sometimes standing behind one of his parents, or his sister, or Sam, like he couldn't sit still in wait for the moment he knew would come, at the end, when Santa would show up.

"Oh… Sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure," Lucas chuckled.

"Oh… Okay," MJ shrugged and went on watching.

Maeve arrived around lunch, standing like a nervous wreck with a plastic container which held her offering to the meal. Lucas wondered at first if she was nervous about them possibly spilling the beans on her secret, but then he quickly shifted to realize maybe she was mostly uncertain of how she would be when surrounded by small children, like something in her brain would cause her to go and change her mind due to exposure and hormones. The greatest challenge to this resolve could easily have been Haley, when instead she soon became locked in conversation with seven-year-old Gracie regarding her recent dietary shift. Leave it to the bookstore clerk to come up with a number of possible books to recommend, all off the top of her head and, in time, through her phone, as the small brunette looked on, stuck at her side in full attention.

By the time Sam called to Maya and Lucas that it was time to call over to Tucson, so he could then head over to Cecilia's, the Friars of both Austin and Houston were on the verge of arriving. The trio excused themselves and headed up into the attic with the laptop. They had barely gotten themselves set up when the call came in ahead of them getting a chance to do it. Sam clicked to answer and smiled to find younger sister Cara smiling back at him. He loved all his siblings equally, but it was easy to understand why he would miss her the most. She had been in his life the longest of them all, an honor he couldn't even say would have gone to Maya in another world, as he would never have existed in it.

"Hi!" Cara waved to all of them now.

"Hey, weren't we the ones who were going to call you?" Maya inquired of her younger sister.

"You were, but I couldn't wait anymore," Cara explained.

"Why, what's going on?" Sam asked. Cara opened her mouth to reply and just as quickly closed it again, looking around.

"Nothing, just miss you," she finally shrugged, fooling absolutely no one.

"You are such a bad liar," Sam shook his head at her.

"Better than you," she shot back with a smirk. "Not that I'm lying now," she added after a beat, just as Eliza, Emma, and Wyatt came hurrying into frame, waving and talking over one another while Teddy casually appeared in the back, eldest of the bunch as long as Sam was in Texas.

"Alright, alright, make some room," James called as he appeared, hoisting up Wyatt so he might sit on the couch and deposit the boy on his knees, while Abigail was given the seat on the other side of Cara when Eliza and Emma scooted down on the ground in front of the others.

"Happy Thanksgiving you three," Abigail smiled. As often as they all spoke and visited one another ever since Sam had moved in with them, she still had that look in her eyes like a day away from her son was as bad as a month. As they all returned the greeting, they could just see how every one of them back in Tucson was eager about something, not just Cara, and it didn't take long for it all to be put out in the open. Rather than to hold on to pretense any longer than they had to, they came right out with the news. They had plenty to be thankful for this year, but right about now, the item at the top of the list was the discovery of six days prior that Abigail and James were expecting.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners