May 20th 2020

Chapter 141
Their Time in the Attic

"What do you mean I have to scrap the seating chart?"

"Hey, Sophie," Maya tried not to laugh, though she did smile to herself as she sat back in her chair, up in the attic. She'd only answered the call, tapping the speaker key, and before she could even say hello, this had been the greeting she had gotten.

"The wedding is less than four months away," Sophie stated.

"Is it?" Maya played surprise. "Look, I'm sorry, but we don't have a choice." Opening the drawer at her side, she pulled out a stack of small envelopes, which had been arriving day by day over the past week. "And I did wait until I had exact numbers, so it could all be done in one go instead of little by little. And… well, I'm the bride…" she stated, putting forth all the power of 'innocence face' into her voice. There was a pause.

"Fine. Hit me," her wedding planner requested.

It had been little over a month now since they had been in Arkansas for her grandparents' golden anniversary, and in that time, well… the landscape of life, of family, had been brought to reshape itself, accounting for existence of this whole side of her family tree she could not have known she might ever get to claim for herself.

That day, back at her grandparents' house, it had already been overwhelming enough that they could all have forgotten what they were there for in the first place, caught up as they were in reunions, and introductions… And then there had been the doorbell, reminding them that there was going to be a party that evening, and there would be guests. Of all the people to show up in that moment, they could not have asked for anyone better as the follow up to the couple of the hour. Charlie had gone to answer, and in a moment the voices had started to fade away, as though the arrival's shock had turned to a shockwave.

"Mom, is that…" Maya had touched her arm, and Katy turned to lock eyes with the one staring back at her with eyes already welled up with tears.

"Hey, Bets…" Katy stood from the couch, where she'd been sandwiched between her mother and her daughter, three generations in a row.

If Tanner Clutterbucket had been left to suffer under an antagonistic portrayal all these years, Betsy Young had stood like a beacon of virtue. Maya had not seen so much as a picture of her for most of her life, and the ones she had seen were nearly thirty years old. Despite any of this, when she saw the woman standing there with her aunt, there was no doubt in her heart that she was exactly who she'd made her out to be all along.

"Katy…" her voice had trembled, her whole posture existing on that same spectrum of 'is this real, am I dreaming?' as the others of her family they had encountered so far. She had found her, after the concert, she'd called and left that message, but that had been the extent of it. She had not seen or heard from her cousin since then, not for a good quarter of a century before that. And now here she stood.

"I should have called you back, I just… I didn't know how to…" Katy shook her head, which was enough to pull Betsy out of her own shock and send her hurrying to embrace her cousin. She very nearly lifted her off the ground. When they pulled back, still holding to the other's arms, it was as though they had both travelled back in time for the way they looked to one another…

For as long as Katy could remember, Betsy had been so much more than a cousin. She'd been her best friend, practically a sister. She was the one person who would feed that little beast in her heart that thrived on drama, on performance. She would show her movies, and she had magazines, and she had music… If ever the opportunity came where she needed a babysitter and Betsy was the one to do it, oh… they would have the best of times.

The day she had learned of her departure from Arkansas, with no explanation except that she was gone and would perhaps never return, Katy had cried herself breathless. Betsy had made their small town feel just bearable enough to be in it, and without her… A few weeks later, she'd been approached by a girl on her way home from school. She'd been a classmate of her cousin's, and she'd received a letter containing another which was to be passed to her. Katy had been so careful taking it into the house, afraid it might somehow get taken away from her.

She had never spoken to her aunt and uncle again after that day, realizing why Betsy was gone. Oh, she'd known her secret already, and she'd kept it, but they…

Another thing had happened because of that letter, a small seed of an idea had taken root in Katy's mind. Betsy was in New York. New York… The city felt like it couldn't possibly be real sometimes, but now Betsy was there, and she was making her own life. If she could do it…

When Katy had run away, when she'd made it to the big city and found her cousin, she hadn't expected for her to be upset, but she was. She'd heard through their cousin Randall of how she'd disappeared, and everyone was looking for her, and now what was she supposed to do with her? For a few frightening days, Katy had been so sure her life was about to get a thousand times worse, and she had started to entertain the idea of grabbing her things and striking out on her own. She couldn't go back, she wouldn't…

And then Betsy had told her she could stay. At the time, Katy had just been so thrilled, she hadn't considered the logistics of it, but over the years, she'd had to wonder. There had been no subterfuge when she had been put in school, she'd had her own name, and Betsy was responsible for her… How had child services not gotten involved? The only thing that could make any sort of sense was if Betsy and Katy's parents had undergone some kind of arrangement, essentially making Betsy her young cousin's guardian, something… What must have happened then, three years later, when she'd up and disappeared again?

"Hello…" Betsy had finally turned to Maya, with the stilted reach of someone who wanted to ensure it would be okay to hug a stranger. Maya had nodded, and they had briefly hugged. "When I saw you on that stage, I can't even begin to tell you…" Betsy shook her head, smiling that smile of someone meeting a very dear friend or family member's child for the first time, even if that child was now a twenty-five-year-old grown woman. Maya had so many questions for her in that moment, but she knew those would need to wait, especially as the reunion turned into a new introduction match.

The growing party now counted another woman walking in, carrying a large wrapped object, all the while corralling a pair of identical boys ahead of her, both of them carrying loaded bags. The boys had no idea of what was happening here, but the woman stopped at once, seeing the spread of strangers around them, but there with Betsy, someone she recognized, even though they had never met. She was introduced now as Betsy's wife, Sasha, along with their sons, Dax and Miles, recently turned ten years old.

"You have twins, too?" Katy had laughed, turning to motion for Nellie and Gracie to come forward now. Nellie had been quick to come up, scooping her twin's hand to ensure she'd follow. This had led MJ to go after his sisters, and Haley to go after all of them, and little by little all the introductions were made. The two sets of twins would spend much of this day together, sharing a curiosity for others like them.

Maya recalled when she had gotten to talk to Betsy really for the first time, in a proper conversation, later that same day. The party had been going for a while now, and so much was being processed at once, with new family members almost everywhere she looked, some easier to get along with than others, some bombarding her, or her mother, or sometimes even the little Hunters right up until Shawn would put an end to it… She and Lucas had gone to sit somewhere quiet for a few minutes, and when he had gone sneaking back to get them something to drink and eat, she'd been joined by her mother's cousin, which would make her a… first cousin, once removed? She could never get it right…

"They're a lot, I know," she'd said, laughing.

"Yeah," Maya breathed.

"I didn't come back out here until about twelve years ago, so I sort of get what your mother must be feeling right about now." From what she'd been hearing through the day, this would have been about the time she and Sasha got married. "You know," Betsy told her as she came to sit next to her. "One time, I swore I saw your mother with you, on the train. I'd just gotten off at my stop though, and it left before I could go and know for sure." By the way she said it, Maya guessed this was one of the great regrets of her life.

"Did you know? When she left…"

"That she was pregnant?" Betsy asked. Maya nodded. "I suspected it," she sighed. "She never brought your dad to the apartment, but she'd talk about him all the time, and as much as they were into each other, when I came home and found her note, saying she was going to go to live with him now, it felt like a leap. But then she'd been off for a few weeks, and well she was starting to change, physically. She'd say it was stress, the end of senior year and all that, but she was doing fine. And then she was gone, I… I looked for her, for months. I couldn't get why she would go like that, never calling, never visiting. She didn't want to be found, I just didn't get why she wouldn't want to be found… by me…"

"I think maybe she thought she let you down. And she didn't want it to get back to her parents," Maya shared.

"The day I had to finally tell them I didn't know where she was anymore…" Betsy shook her head to herself, but then just as soon turned to Maya, took her hand. For all that had happened, she was glad to know her cousin's child, at long last. "You give me a call sometime, alright? I'm dying to hear about you working with Ree Forster." Maya had laughed, promising she would do just that. And she had. She'd called, and she'd written, and over the last month the two of them had been in constant contact. The same went for Betsy and Katy. They were planning already for Betsy and her family to come over to Texas for a visit sometime in the spring.

"Well, she sounds amazing," Sophie declared, upon hearing all about the woman.

"She's pretty great, yeah," Maya smiled. "And she's coming to the wedding, the four of them are, two adults, two kids. If the boys aren't with their moms, can you see about getting them near Nellie and Gracie?"

"I will do that, yes," Sophie promised, voice trailing like she was taking notes as they spoke. "Alright, who's next?"

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners