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

May 19th 2020

Chapter 140
Their Invitation to Participate

They'd spent the rest of the day up in their rooms, like spies in hiding. They really just wanted to do their best to minimize their contact with anyone who might make things more complicated than they already were. Already Clinton Frye existed like an obstacle always buzzing near the main desk. From what Katy had told the rest of them, the Frye family lived just up the road from the Clutterbuckets. When she'd been growing up, the boy had always been hanging about, and she had it on good authority that, had she stuck around, he would have tried and courted her with all he had. Right now, this was not the concern so much as the fact that he had likely called up his folks and passed on the news of the prodigal daughter returned, complete with a daughter of a certain age.

Early the next morning, the quartet had left the hotel, with everything they would need in order not to return until after the party. They were then on their way to Charlie and David's house, where they would be met by a small band of travelers having left Austin in the very early hours.

"Mommy!" Nellie proclaimed, bolting toward Katy, who caught the flying hug without falling, soon joined by three more pairs of arms piling on. She was so very happy to see them, enough that she looked ready to cry, but she did her best not to show it, bringing only smiles. There was a rush of voices, as they all spoke about how they had gotten to go shopping for new clothes for today – courtesy of the Friars – and then they had gotten on a plane, and it was dark, and then they ate in the airport, and then they drove, and they were here, and there was a lady that looked like her…

"Where are we?" Gracie inquired, after the pack of arms had migrated to Shawn, and Maya and Lucas… "Who are they?" she also asked, in a whisper, looking to Charlie – who observed the scene in quiet fascination – and David, with a barely awake Caitlin in his arms.

"You see her there?" Katy asked, crouched before the four of them, Haley clinging to her like she'd been away from her mother for one night and didn't care to repeat the experience, thank you very much. The other three turned and looked at Charlie, then back at their mother to confirm that they did see her. "She's my sister," she revealed to them, turning a small smile to the woman in question. It was the first time she'd gotten to say the words, and they fit her just fine. "That means she's your aunt. And that's your uncle with her, and your cousin."

"Since when?" MJ inquired, puzzled.

"Well, I only met them yesterday, but since always. We just didn't know them. And today, you're going to meet a lot more people like that. It's going to be strange, I know, but I know you'll do alright."

Nellie had been the first to detach from the 'family huddle' and journey across to the Olsens, forever their most valiant ambassador. She introduced herself, Penelope Jane Hunter, but they could call her Nellie… Actually, she preferred to be called Nellie, because she usually only got called Penelope if she was in trouble. Charlie had met this explanation with how she was only called her full name for those reasons, too, so she understood. Nellie loved her instantly. Soon, the rest of the group followed, and more introductions were made. Little Caitlin found herself a kindred spirit in her new cousin Gracie, and the feeling was mutual.

"Is it going to be weird that I'm here?" Sam asked Maya and Lucas. He had been put in charge of the four little ones, put on the plane with them by Mr. and Mrs. Friar.

"Listen, I'm swimming in uncharted waters as much as you are, but as far as I'm concerned, you're family, so you're right where you belong," Maya told him. Katy and Shawn had already expressed their thanks to him for bringing the kids over, and they would have answered the same.

Though the party wasn't until that evening, the circumstances made it so that everyone got ready, right there at the house, and soon after lunch they split off in their cars and started on the short drive to the Clutterbucket farm. As reassured as Katy had been through her sister's tale, enough to have the kids flown over to be part of the anniversary and the reunion, they could hardly blame her for the trepidations that accompanied this final stretch of her return home. She was about to see her old house for the first time in the better part of her life, which would bring plenty of memories, too, but her parents… Maya knew how much she'd been thinking about them ever since the invitation had come, and ever since she'd decided to go. Whatever she'd thought in particular, she hadn't shared it all, but now… They had to imagine a lot of those thoughts had gone and been challenged. Whatever happened next, they could only guess it would challenge a lot more.

Maya and Lucas both had seen pictures of the house, the land, in the album from Katy's box, so as they approached, they could see as much as she did, to some extent, the changes of the last twenty-eight years since she'd gone away. There weren't none so drastic. The structures were still where they had been, though it could be said they had been restored over the years, some new paint here, some updated bits there, but on the whole very much as they had been left. Looking to Katy now, as she took it in, this might not have been a bad thing at all. The biggest difference, temporary as it was, came in the form of decorations, set about the place in anticipation for the party.

There had been a lot of discussion as to how they would do this. They couldn't all go into the house at once, had to give people time to react, to adjust. This was going to be a shock no matter how they did it, but they could administer it in waves. In the end, they had decided to start with a trio. Charlie, Katy, and Maya with them both. Katy may have been 'ready as she'd ever be,' but she needed support, and for this she turned to her eldest, as she'd done for so many years. Charlie led the way, opening the front door for them and letting them in.

Maya could feel her mother breathing deep at her side. She slipped her hand into hers. This had been her home, since she was born. The way she looked around, it couldn't have changed all that much. Katy squeezed Maya's hand, who squeezed hers back.

"Mom? Dad?" Charlie called out.

"In here, baby girl," a man's voice called out, not shouting. It simply carried through the quiet of the house. The effect of hearing her father's voice for the first time in so long hit Katy about as deep as it did for Maya to find her own nickname may have had roots here…

"You're early!" a laughing woman's voice followed, and Maya felt a tremble go through her mother, even as she breathed deep to try and steady herself. "Where's my little hugaboo?" the woman went on to inquire, in a tone that suggested that 'hugaboo' was Caitlin, presently still in the car outside with her father.

The woman emerged from the kitchen now, her hair a mix of what had to be dyed blond paling into silver and styled simply but with care. Maya knew her grandmother was sort of a home hairdresser of sorts, or had been back in the day, maybe still now. One way or another, she had aged well, from the eighteen-year-old bride on the cover of that invitation card to the sixty-eight-year-old woman whose granddaughter seeking smile went through what could only be a very startling shift, as her eyes found Charlie, and then… and then…

The noise she made came off as something between a shout and a cry of disbelief, the whole thing soon muffled beneath her hands as they came to be clamped over her mouth. Her eyes were fixed on Katy, like the whole world had disappeared except for her.

"Angela?" the man's voice responded to this sound, and a moment later there he was, too, and immediately brought to a standstill as he saw what his wife had seen.

He was… tall. Maybe later, Maya would joke about how a man that tall had any way of being related to her, but right now… He was tall, not lanky but definitely not broadly made. He had the look of someone who had been born and bred on manual labor, bronzed by the sun, weathered, though not so much as to rob him of good looks of youth he had passed on to the grandson he didn't even know he had. He was seventy-five years old, but you wouldn't have known it by looking at him. For all that… When he saw his daughter, his firstborn, it was as though for a moment he had been made to bear his age, because in that moment he finally allowed himself to feel just how long it had been since he'd last seen her with his own eyes.

Maya had been told how her grandfather was not a man known to show him emotions, but she had to believe, with what Charlie had told them yesterday, and with what she saw now, that Tanner Clutterbucket could be given over to some emotional displays, under certain circumstances. That day, Katy and Charlie both saw their father cry for the first time.

He walked across the room, like a man approaching a dream, and if he came too fast, if he wasn't careful, it would turn to stardust. Maya recognized so much of her mother in him, small things Katy herself might not have been able to recognize in herself, but here… Tanner came to a stop, standing in front of his firstborn, and it reminded Maya very much of Katy's encounter with her sister the day before. The difference here was that, whereas she had reached out to Charlie all at once, her father looked as though he wanted to reach for her and didn't know how. His hand took three or four tries in touching her face before it finally landed. When it did, Katy whimpered, and her father wrapped his arms around her.

Maya was so caught up in bearing witness to this, getting choked up for her mother, that she startled at the feeling of a hand touching her shoulder. When she turned her head, she found herself face to face with her maternal grandmother, who had finally noticed her standing there, understood who she had to be, and approached her with what could only be described as instant love and affection.

"Hi…" Maya spoke quietly and then, speaking the first thing that came to mind, "Happy anniversary." Her grandmother had that same smile she had passed on to both her daughters. She went and hugged Katy now, when her husband stepped back, and she might never have let go of her for how she held her, and cried like she was unleashing twenty-eight years of tears but also had not been so happy in so long, because she was back in her arms.

Now here Maya stood, faced with her very tall grandfather, as he noticed her for the first time, too, noticed her and realized who she had to be. This man had been the antagonist to so many of her mother's stories of her childhood, the ones she'd shared, only to be cast in new light that left her wondering just who he was, and now… here he was, staring back at her like he had no idea how to break the ice, how to even begin.

"My name's Maya," she held out her hand, slipping on confident openness and hoping it held. This proved to be the right call, as he met this with a firm handshake, not so much the kind that felt like your bones would break, more so the kind that told you nothing could harm you so long as he was on your side.

"Tanner Clutterbucket," he introduced himself, and somewhere under that beard, Maya thought she caught the hint of a smile.

"Of all the days, I can't even…" Angela declared, holding to one of Katy's hands even as she reached for one of Charlie's, allowing her to have both her daughters side by side for the first time in any of their lives. This whole time, the younger daughter had been left to stand back and watch, doing her best not to blubber so much as her hormones played tricks on her. That was her story, definitely just the hormones.

"I… I sent an invitation," she confessed, to her mother and father both. In no time, the story came spilling out, how Betsy had tracked Katy down quite by chance – though exactly how that had happened didn't come up, as it would be a story for another time – and passed on the information to Charlie, who then decided to send an invitation, unsure whether it would ever pan out. But Katy had received it, and after a bit of soul searching she had decided to go, and when they had arrived, it came to be that Maya and her aunt crossed paths. Now here they were.

"A miracle…" Angela looked from one daughter to the other, and to her granddaughter, who she'd only discovered. "Is your father here, I would love to…"

"My father… my birth father passed away, almost three years ago," Maya confessed. "It's a long story, we were estranged for a long time but we had time to mend before we lost him." Her grandparents took this information in as anyone could. "My stepfather… my father," she smiled to her mother, "He's here, waiting outside, with my sisters, and my brother… and my stepbrother, and my fiancé…" she counted off. "And my uncle and my cousin," she turned her smile to Charlie now.

"Well…" Tanner spoke after a beat. "A whole lot of people to leave out in the cold," he looked around to the four women standing here with him. "I'll put on some coffee. There will be so much… so much to talk about, before the guests arrive." He moved toward the kitchen, and by the looks on both his daughters and his wife's faces, Maya had to guess this was her grandfather's version of letting out a build-up of emotions. He could not have asked for a better gift on this golden anniversary day.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners