August 4th 2020

Chapter 217
Their Surprise From News

It was hard not to feel as though the world had taken a new spin, as they processed the revelation put on to them. As much as they had all been keeping in touch in the last couple of years, those of them in Austin and these four here in Houston, there would be those instances where they would be reminded of how there was this whole other world growing out here, in this house and the one across the street. Surely, if they had all been living in the same city, seeing each other more often, they would have heard of this sooner in some way.

It was already something to hear of Zay and Nadine on their road to adoption, or Farkle and Isadora expecting the next Minkus baby in just a few months. Now they had the four of them here, making an extended family out of themselves. To hear them explain how they had gotten to this point, this decision, it really felt like they had been headed for this all along, and it was perfect for them.

"When are you going to know for sure if it all worked out?" Maya asked Sophie and Chiara, as they sat back at the table after dinner, leaving the guys to clear away the dishes.

"I have an appointment on Thursday," Chiara explained. "Once that is done, Ray will have to go and do his part, and then after that, after they do the procedure, I guess it will all depend."

She looked so happy and just a bit nervous at the same time, which Maya could easily understand. If it all worked out, then they would be on their way, but if it didn't, then how many times would they be willing to try? Maya asked her this, and Chiara responded with an immediate and confident smile.

"I am not worried about that. The women in my family have always been very... fortunate with babies, every one."

Even as she said this though, Maya could see what lay underneath that statement. What if she was the one who broke the line? What if something went wrong and she couldn't do it? More than that, there was Sophie to think about. The two of them were so intent on this idea, and after what had happened to her wife, Chiara was the one who had to step up and do it. If that wasn't enough, now she was essentially being put in charge of ensuring the birth of their child and their friends' child as well. It was a lot of pressure, and her confidence could only handle so much before it had to face this potential reality.

"She'll be the best," Sophie declared, with some confidence of her own, born of complete love for the woman she had married. "I can't wait," she smiled, and Chiara received the words like they had come and fortified her.

Maya couldn't say for sure how Sophie felt about the fact that she wouldn't be the one to carry any of the children they might have. Whether or not she would have been able to before, whether or not she might have wanted and chosen to, this was different. This was something that had happened to her, a lasting effect of that night almost two years ago. It would be something else, for the choice to be taken from her like that.

"Have you told your parents?" Maya asked of the two of them.

"My mother has been in Japan for the last month, she's not going to be back until the spring," Sophie revealed. "I'm sort of hoping to tell her in person, not over Skype. She might figure it out before though..."

"If it all works out before then?" Maya guessed.

"That, too, but mostly the part where I am going to be dipping into a lot of my funds to pay for the whole thing. It's not cheap, and for once I'm thinking I might as well benefit from what I've got thanks to her."

"Oh, yeah," Maya nodded. "So maybe you should just tell her. Better on a screen than not at all, right?"

"Right, no, you're right, I just wish she was here right now," Sophie shrugged. Chiara caught up her hand in hers, gave it a squeeze.

"My family is coming out for Christmas," she turned to Maya. "Hopefully, we will have good news to give them when they do," Chiara breathed deep.

"Are you going to tell us when you know, or do we have to wait until Christmas, too?" Maya asked with a sweet smile, making her friends laugh.

"Yes, you will know, we promise," Sophie told her, checking with her wife and getting a nod.

"Okay, good, because I am going to be waiting for the news like you wouldn't believe."

"Wait, are you saying you are too curious for your own good?" Sophie feigned shock.

"Hey, hey," Maya pointed at her, 'warning,' only getting giggles in return. "I can't help it if I'm this eager to go all Auntie Maya on your kid. Your genes and his, that's going to be some weaponized cuteness right there," she told them, nodding back over to Ray.

"Oh, we know," Sophie nodded. "Asher said the same thing."

They both looked so thrilled at the prospect, not about this mythically cute baby specifically but about this baby in general. Maya knew the look too well by now. She had seen it on several of her friends' faces now. She'd seen it on her own face and on Lucas' face as well, more and more. It was unmistakable and inescapable, too.

"We're trying very hard not to think too much about what every combination will look like," Sophie went on.

"Hey, you know, I could try and draw that. Then we'll see how close I was," Maya joked.

It hadn't taken long for Lucas to get up and offer his assistance to their hosts in clearing the table, putting away the leftovers, and cleaning the dishes. All the same, both Asher and Ray knew Lucas enough to know he wouldn't be turned away so easily without his manners won out, so they welcomed his offer.

"Okay, so how bad is that team?" Lucas asked.

"Oh, it is amateur hour, I mean... Alright, so none of us are pros, sure, but the three of us might as well be compared to most of the guys. Ray and I work so hard to try and win, but that's never happened once. One time, one time we came close," Asher told him, raising his index in an almost too dramatic fashion.

"What happened to make you lose?" Lucas had to wonder. Asher's face bent itself to what felt like an unmistakable 'I don't know if I want to say' expression.

"Tell him," Ray could barely keep a straight face.

"I needed to change those laces, alright? I knew it, and I kept putting it off, and that's what I got. Laces, man, they're no joke."

"A good parenting tip right there," Lucas offered, and it made both the guys smile at once.

They all talked daily, the whole of their group jumping into messages as though a part pf them was always there, in a conversation they'd kept going for over a decade. Some of them had come along earlier than others, but they'd always been in it, sometimes just with an emoji or two, a picture, anything.

If he were to look back on messages in recent weeks, Lucas was almost sure he would start to see certain messages under a new light, like only in knowing what they were all planning would it start to make complete sense.

None of them had had younger siblings until Nadine had come into the picture. Then suddenly there were two little sisters, in the form of Marley and Michaela Zhu. Both of them had soon become staples in the boys' lives. Lucas thought about those days now, as he thought about Asher as a father. He thought about those two girls, and then little sister Olivia, and he thought about the Hunter Hart kids... He had always been so good with them. What he'd been awkward about at the time, he would make up for in so many ways that you practically forgot about the rest. As he had gotten older, he had improved, finessed those awkward points until they just didn't exist anymore.

And Ray, well, the guy had always been so loving and welcoming. He would be wonderful as a father, there was hardly any question. From all Lucas had seen of him, especially from the point where he had lived with him and his parents, his whole thing had just become about appreciating the good things and people in his life, the ones who showed him genuine love, not the kind left to be conditional with who he was in his heart and mind. He deserved so much for things to turn out as he envisioned them.

"Does anybody else know?" Lucas asked the guys, and he didn't specify who he meant here. The rest of their group back in Austin, whether they knew yet or not, would be the first people they wouldn't be able to wait to go to and talk about this, like the band of future aunts and uncles they were.

"Well, not really, actually," Asher revealed. "Dylan and Riley were going to be the first, but they had to reschedule, so now here you are, so... yeah..." His face told him without words that, even if things had not gone the way they had first intended, they were very happy with the alternative.

"Right, so we shouldn't tell them," Lucas guessed. The guys confirmed. "When is this make-up dinner?" he asked, discreetly tipping his head to his wife. She would not enjoy having to wait.

"Tomorrow night," Ray told him, understanding soon enough.

"Good, good, that shouldn't be too bad," Lucas told himself. "What about Rosa?" he went on then, thinking of how she had been supposed to come tonight.

"Yeah, she would be the 'not really' I mentioned before," Asher spoke up now, and Lucas blinked. She already knew? "It wasn't planned, but she came up to visit her mother a couple days back, and well, she's so close by, so she came over. There were some pamphlets and then... well, we had to tell her," he explained with a shrug.

"I'm starting to think she didn't come tonight just so she wouldn't have to play poker face," Lucas thought aloud. The guys' faces said enough here for him to know that was exactly what that was. "Wow..."

"Oh, don't tell your parents either," Ray requested. "We're headed out there next weekend, and I'd like to tell them," he admitted. Lucas smiled at this.

"Hey, you should," he clapped him on the shoulder. "I'd like to be there, too, you know, family affair and all." Ray beamed at this, giving him a quick hug. No matter how many the years since those days, no matter how that time when he had lived with them was made to feel small and far away by comparison, none of them had forgotten, and this was his brother, part of the family who had taken him in when his own had turned him away. Of course he had to be there. "It'll be their first grandkid," Lucas told him, and he believed it, as much as he didn't regret the privilege.

"She is going to flip out," Asher grinned, looking at his humbled husband, his heart feeling high in his chest and caught in a tremor of emotion.

"Flip out, more like pass out," Lucas chuckled. Oh, he definitely had to be there for that.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners