June 28th 2020

Chapter 180
Their Joy in Colors & Lights

"Hey there, bridesmaids," Maya smiled as she and Lucas had just barely emerged from Juliet's house to find themselves accosted by Eliza and Emma. The girls came running along toward the newlyweds like they'd just been waiting on the chance to give a proper greeting. They'd seen each other before the wedding, but only very briefly or from a distance, and as patient as they'd been able to make themselves they had been just so very eager to come up close and hug the pair of them, and look at them…

"I love your dress," Emma declared, with the enthusiasm of her budding fashion lover's heart. She'd been trying her hand at sketching, at creating her own pieces, and as they were 'twins by marriage,' she and Eliza had taken to scouring for materials over the weekends, the latter offering herself up as a willing mannequin.

"I will introduce you to the costume department ladies who made it with me, yeah?" Maya told her little sister, and the fourteen-year-old gave an excited nod.

"Thank you!"

"Sophie said she was going to come and get you to take pictures in ten minutes," Eliza reported.

"She did, huh?" Lucas turned a look to Maya. "So, what should we do with all this free time?" he wondered. The girls started to speak all at once, and though the words trampled over one another, the ones that floated to the surface sounded a lot like 'Ree Forster.' It had been fairly expected that the singer's presence would settle like a buzz over the gathered guests. It didn't take away from this being the bride and groom's day in the slightest. If anything, it added a new layer of excitement which complimented the event. "Okay, let's try that again and only one of you talks at a time?" Lucas tried not to smirk. The girls looked to one another, and Eliza was elected to speak.

"We saw Ree Forster back there," she pointed.

"I'm sure you did," Maya nodded. "I did invite her."

"You didn't tell us she was coming," Emma stated.

"We call that a surprise," Maya told her. "And look at you… surprised!"

"Can we talk to her?" Eliza asked, almost reverently.

"She's a human being, Lizard. A very nice human being, who will be very happy to meet you both. Just, you know, try and act like the human being you are… I think… and you'll be fine. You go up to her and say 'hi, we're Maya's sisters,' and you'll see what happens. Alright?" Their response was to dash off again without a word.

"Are they human? Are you sure?" Lucas joked.

"Now that you mention it…" Maya played along. "So, we have… we have…" she reached into her pocket – her second pocket, not the cookie pocket – and retrieved her phone to look at the time. If she'd had a pocket big enough, she might have taken her proper camera, to get shots from the day, from her point of view, but she didn't, so the phone camera would more than do the job. "I'd say we have a good eight minutes before we get summoned for a bit of posing and smiling. What will we do with ourselves?"

"Might be hard for us to sneak around all inconspicuous, what with you looking like this," Lucas pointed out. It only felt more so as he'd helped her get the train layer back on before they left the house. Much as she would take it off for the reception, she'd need it back on for the photos.

"I should have gotten myself a dark cloak made, with a hood and everything, you know?"

"Because that would have really blended in," Lucas laughed.

"Good point. Maybe a cowboy hat instead?" she smiled up at him and got a kiss for it.

"Whatever you want to do right now, if you want to stay covert until we have to go out there, we can do that, or if you want to go and say hi to people…"

"What do you want to do?" Maya asked him, casually fixing his collar, his bow tie. This one had been a gift from his godfather, his mother's brother, Michael.

"I wouldn't mind having you all to myself for a little while longer," Lucas admitted.

"Then we better get moving before anyone sees me and my very discreet outfit," Maya took him by the hand and led him around the house. "There, perfect," she nodded as she spotted a bench for them to sit. "Seven minutes and, knowing Sophie, it will be seven minutes, not eight, not six."

"Because why be late when you can be on time," he recalled her saying this once or twice. Maya laughed, just as quickly attempting to stifle the sound as she looked back the way they came.

When Sophie came up to the house – seven minutes later – she was directed to find the bride and groom in their hiding place via a text.

"Come along, Friars!" she called out when she spotted them.

"We still haven't figured that part out, have we?" Lucas thought aloud as they went.

"We've been busy. But we'll figure something out. I know you'll say that whatever I want you'll be okay with, but we went through all that a while ago, remember? Your opinion matters to me, too."

"How about we talk it out on the plane? We'll have a few hours ahead of us…" he suggested.

"Deal," Maya agreed at once, and it was settled.

As they walked along, following Sophie, they could see that the chairs had been taken away, their occupants spread out here and there… And there was Shawn, camera in hand, getting a few shots with the people he already had on hand.

"What are you going to do when you have to get in the shot there? I know how much you hate timers," Maya told her father as they approached. "You didn't bring a selfie stick, did you?" she gasped.

"Oh, we're funny, are we?" Shawn turned to her. He had the tiniest reaction again at seeing her in 'bride mode,' and she resisted the urge to call him on it. "It's alright, I trained myself a couple of stand-in photographers," he nodded over to where August Matthews and Henry Hillard stood, very dapper in their suits. Maya gave something like a mock hurt look. "Hey, you'll always be my favorite student," Shawn told her, and she could just see the memories playing in his mind, of days when he would be in dropping by for a visit because he was 'on assignment' when he really just wanted to see her mother and her. He'd put that camera in her hands, and show her what to do. Those were some of her favorite memories with him, maybe the very favorites.

"Where do you want us?"

The amount of combinations for these photos felt endless, but not nearly in any way that felt like they had to force themselves to look happy when Shawn's camera would capture the shots. For a lot of them, it was the first time they had a chance to stop and say hello and congratulations to Maya and Lucas, just as it was the newlyweds' first chance to thank them for being here. There would be time enough for conversation at the reception.

"I'm starting to think we might need a checklist to make sure we'll have talked to everyone today," Lucas breathed as the revolving door of groupings gave way to just the two of them.

"Like wedding guest bingo," Maya nodded. "Maybe Sophie can hook us up."

The guests had been directed to go toward the proper reception area, little by little, until finally it came down to the trio of the bride, the groom, and the photographer/father of the bride. After being helped out of her train layer once again, Maya wanted to see the pictures already, but Shawn told her to wait until he could get them developed.

"They are perfect, trust me, and it's not time for you to go all nitpicky."

"I'm not nitpicky," she protested, turning to Lucas.

"Do you want me to be on your side or do you want me to be honest?" he smiled at her, giving her hand an affectionate squeeze.

Lucas remembered a number of events having taken place here over the years, and he had such a distinct memory of those large tents, and the floor, and the lights, the flowers, the table settings… He remembered helping set some of those along with the staff when he was little. Today though, knowing it was for him and Maya, it felt entirely surreal. This was all for them, and it was just beautiful. Sophie had done a really outstanding job.

"Oh, boy," Maya breathed, next to him, and he found her fighting another wave of 'wedding induced weepiness.' "It's tables and chairs, what is wrong with me?" she just about scolded herself under her breath, as Shawn went along to see if they could go ahead or if they had to wait and be announced.

"It is just emotions, yeah?" Lucas quietly asked, because he had to.

"Oh, yeah, yeah, I swear," she chuckled, which did help to some degree to rein in those happy tears. "Now you get to have your very own stage entrance," she realized excitedly as they heard Zay on the microphone, calling the guests to attention so they might greet the arrival of the newlyweds.

"I'll try not to embarrass either of us," he smiled, guaranteeing that Maya would be walking into that tent with remnants of laughter.

As they had gone and taken their seats at the head of the table of honor, facing out on the various tables dotting the tent space, it felt like a reverse of when they had been at the altar. Where they had once had their backs to all their guests, now they were facing them all, and it really was impressive to see how many of them there were. Sure, a small number of them were plus ones, but on the whole these were friends, family, co-workers, neighbors, one world famous singer…

"I can still the seating chart in my head," Maya whispered to Lucas, who buried his laugh behind his hand to the best of his ability. "A bunch of tiny pin flags like a battle plan. I'm sure Sophie will be glad she doesn't have to rearrange that thing anymore."

"You did give her a tall order when you added all your mom's side of the family."

"Oh, I was sure she'd quit on us," Maya laughed.

Dinner was still a half-hour away at this point. It might have been set to start later, but with the amount of children in attending it had been decided among the bride and groom and their planner that they would start service earlier than they might have done otherwise. The time would have easily passed along with everyone talking amongst themselves, but before long Sam was spotted, rising from the long table, a few seats over from his big sister and weaving through the table to get to the stage and the microphone sitting in front of the unoccupied instruments.

"Hello? Hey, everyone," he held his hand up in a short wave as they started to look at him. He looked just a bit uncomfortable being up there, and it was easy to see why, even though he secretly had a solid singing voice of his own, he worked so hard not to have anyone find out and try to get him into a position like this. "For those of you who don't know me, my name is Samuel Hart-Lane. I'm Maya's brother," he introduced himself, and peering across the tables toward the couple at the tall-backed chairs, he smiled. "And now I'm also Lucas' brother."

Maya stole a look to Lucas at her side, finding him with a smile just like her own as they looked on their Sam, braving what had to be buckets of butterflies storming in his stomach.

"I'm realizing right now, it's kind of funny, the first thing Maya ever asked me was if I wanted to step on a stage," he blinked, indicating where he now stood. At the long table, Maya laughed, remembering. "I met my sister when I was ten years old. The first eight years of my life, I was the big brother, there was no one else before me. And then one day I saw a video on the internet, and there was a girl singing. I didn't know who she was, but there was something about her that felt familiar."

Maya and Lucas both knew the next part, how he had shown this video to his parents, thinking little of it. But then, later on, he'd overheard them talking, and he'd discovered there was a reason this girl felt familiar… She was family, his big sister by his father but not his mother.

"For the next couple of years, I just got to know her from a distance, and I thought she was the coolest big sister a kid could ask for, even if she didn't know who I was. And then I met her, and I found out I'd been right. We were both artists, and that was the first thing we really bonded over. I'd liked to draw, but I didn't really take it seriously, no one did. But there was this thing that made me happy, and it made her happy, too. We didn't grow up together, and we've both regretted that. Maya, she could have not wanted to know me, to have me in her life, but when I met her I realized that was never going to happen. That wasn't who she was. She met me, and she reached out immediately."

The day after, but there were circumstances…

"When I met Lucas, he was kind of like that, too. He didn't have any reason to, at least that's what I figured. Sure, he was dating my sister, but I was just this kid who lived across the country. But we got along from the start, and after a while I understood he wasn't just being nice to me because of her, or because he was a nice guy. It was as easy for him to become my brother than it was for Maya to be my sister even if we hadn't grown up together. What that tells me is that we were always meant to have each other, to be a family."

They would always end up laughing, whenever Sam would introduce the two of them to people he knew. Maya was his sister, Lucas was his brother, but Maya was engaged to Lucas… So, the titles tended to flip flop, and Sam and Lucas would only be referred to as brothers half the time. Right here, his brother and his sister were both very touched.

"That's kind of how I see the two of them, too. They didn't grow up together either, and if things had happened differently they might not have met. But if you ask me, I'd say they were always meant to have one another, too. If you know them as individuals, you know wonderful they can be in their own rights. When they come together though, when they combine the power they have in them, well, it's just next level and they become… like superheroes. It's really corny to say it, but that's what they are to me. They're always there when I need them, and they make me want to do better. If that doesn't fit the bill, then I don't know what does. So, here's to you, Maya, Lucas… Oh, I was supposed to have a… Thanks," he crouched to take the glass Cara had jogged up to give him. He lifted it up, causing a wave of glasses to join his across the tent. "Here's to you, here's to the future."

Under the cheers of the gathered guests, Sam had left the stage with a breath of relief, now that he wasn't up there anymore. He'd made his way back to his seat, stalled momentarily by his mother, who stood to hug him and briefly talk to him, her and James both. When he came back around the table, Cecilia was giving him thumbs up and grinning, even as Maya and Lucas were both on their feet, waiting for him. She got hold of him first, giving him a good, strong embrace which he returned. They held to one another for a good fifteen seconds before Maya pulled back, looking to her little brother… It used to be she had to look down to meet his eyes, and now to look up at him…

"I don't even have the words anymore," she laughed through her tears.

"I do what I can," he smiled, and she could tell he was just barely keeping himself from crying, too.

"Hey, come here," Lucas reached his arm out when Sam had parted from his sister's hold. The boy moved around and into a new hug. "I really liked what you said up there, and I know how much you wanted to get down from there, so I really appreciate it."

"My legs felt like jelly the whole time," Sam admitted, as though they couldn't have guessed it already.

"Here," Maya appeared again when the brothers stepped apart. She held out the bundled handkerchief from her pocket. "You and your jelly legs earned them. Just, you know, maybe keep them for after dinner," she smiled.

He would not have had time to dig in to even one GiGi cookie anyway, as the wait staff started to come with the first course just a minute after he'd gotten to return to his chair, next to Cecilia.

"Do you think if I asked them to just bring all the courses as soon as I finish one they would do it?" Maya joked… half-joked… Those cookies back at the house were getting to be a bit of a distant memory in her stomach.

"Well, you know, with great bride power…" Lucas 'reminded her,' earning a squint.

A minute later, they observed a curious sight. Haley Hunter, who sat at the kids' table not too far from the long table along with her brother and sisters and the Hart-Lanes, stood up and turned to approach their table. Her little hands were joined around something they couldn't make out, and she looked like she was considering her options for a moment before lifting up the table cloth and crawling underneath.

"Hey, hey…" Maya lifted the cloth on her side of the table, finding the almost three-year-old staring back at her with a smile. "What are you doing under there? Watch your head," she guided her out until she stood there, between her big sister and her new husband. "What's that you… oh," she laughed, as her little sister offered out a bread roll. "For me?"

"Yeah!" Haley beamed.

"They're my favorite, thank you," Maya laughed, hugging her.

"Hey, what about me?" Lucas played hurt, but when the girl looked ready to dive back under the table to get him one, he made like he'd been joking by pulling her into a hug of his own which made her laugh. "Let's get you back, okay? Ready?" Hoisted over the table, she was deposited in the waiting arms of Hank Hillard, who'd come up at a nod from his nephew and carried the Hunter girl back to her seat.

"You realize she's going to want to do that again at least seven times tonight, right?" Maya laughed, watching Haley, who was already looking back at them like she was thinking of going.

"Oh, I know she will," Lucas promised, his smile suggesting he was ready to swing his tiny sister-in-law over that table as many times as she wanted him to.

"And in a dozen years, you can embarrass her in front of her friends with the story," Maya suggested.

"I wouldn't do that to her…" Lucas slowly shook his head, letting a couple seconds go by. "First time she brings a crush home though…" Maya just managed to stall her glass as she'd been about to take a sip, laughing as she looked back to him.

As the meal progressed, it felt like a constant cycle of joyful emotions. There would be the occasional striking of knives on glasses, calling for attention and another toast, or in other times for a kiss between the newlyweds… Haley came back three times, each time with bread for her sister, which they came to refer to as the roll toll, and each time she was guided under the table, offered her roll, and immediately turned to Lucas with her arms up in the air. She was lifted in a rush of giggles and set back on her feet by Hank to then run back to her table. When the main course plates were taken away, Nellie and Gracie hid the half-empty basket under the table so it would not be taken away.

Teddy took it one step further, hurrying from table to table and collecting all the leftover rolls to then add them to the hidden basket. As they would hear it, this was equal parts enabling Haley and ensuring that the rolls would not be thrown away. Under Cara's counsel, Haley had just taken the whole basket, with brother MJ's help, over to the long table. This would be advance payment, good for the whole night.

"You, sir, have a serious case of baby fever," Maya whispered at Lucas' ear, after the basket delivery had earned two turns one after the other. He smiled, but she could tell he was seeing it, too.

"Imagine that…"

"I mean, it's really sweet and I'm digging it," she confessed. He looked at her after getting hold of his butter knife, giving his glasses the careful hits they both knew would soon be picked up across the room. "That's cheating," she grinned, leaning in for the kiss. "But I'll take it anyway."

Given a bit of a breather before the cake would come along, Lucas had been summoned to the kids' table by his little sister-in-law's call for 'Lucky.'

"He totally considered climbing under table, didn't he?" Nadine leaned forward from where she sat, a few places over from the newly vacated seat.

"Big time," Maya agreed, smiling as she watched her husband, crouching next to Haley's chair, where the small girl seemed to be in the middle of telling Lucas some very animated story.

"Look at him, goes and takes another of my girls," Shawn 'scoffed,' two seats over from Maya's.

"Don't worry, you'll get that one back by story time tonight," Katy patted his knee with a laugh, looking on to Haley the storyteller.

At last, the cake came along. It had been designed and created by Ellie Beale, back in Houston, at the bakery where Sophie used to work. It easily brought back memories of their time living out there, when they were all in college, especially the infamous Halloween of the leg and arm cakes. This one was definitely not made to scare or gross out anyone. It was beautiful, impressive, and entirely reminiscent of the couple it had been made for.

"Do we have to cut into it?" Lucas asked, in genuine awe as they saw it for the first time.

"Say the word and I'll make everyone leave, then it's you and me and two forks," Maya replied, equally taken by the creation.

Much as they could have stared all night, they had gone and made that first cut together, and soon the pieces began to be distributed. The cake had been a combined effort in the end, as Ellie was joined at the bakery by Isabel Garcia, the better to create a much, much larger version of her infamous honey cake, forever a favorite of the couple of the day, bringing many more sweet memories back to them with every bite.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners