September 14th 2020

Chapter 258
Their Help to Cheer

They couldn't say how long it had been since they had been this glad that the weekend had arrived. Usually this came along after a week where they'd had a loaded week at work, or at school, but in this case, both Maya and Lucas were so very glad to wake to Saturday morning because it meant that the Hunter kids wouldn't have school for the next couple of days, and they could take a breather from this entire Winger brothers situation they'd been caught up in all week, all the while having their parents nowhere near them.

When he woke up, Lucas found he was not gripped by the little Hunter girl who'd been sharing his and his wife's bed for the last several days. At some point in the night, Haley had evidently let go of him, flopped on to her other side, and burrowed her way into her big sister's arms instead, at which point Maya had put her arm around her and carried on sleeping, her hand absently cradling her baby sister's head. Even in sleep, there was so much fierce protection in her, telling the world it should think twice, three times, before going anywhere near the girl. After this week, it was no wonder. He almost had to ask himself if some part of Haley Hunter could sense that and now attempted to comfort her. Honestly, he wouldn't put it past her.

The next thing his barely awakened mind caught on to was the sound of voices. As hushed as they might have been, in the pin-drop silence of early morning, it carried very well from one room into the other, across the hall. He counted one, two, three voices, telling him the other siblings were all awake. If he turned his head, he could just barely see three sets of feet dangling from one bed, MJ's bed, which would mean the twins had gone over to sit with him. What the three children discussed, he couldn't say, but then it wasn't his to know.

A moment later, he spotted Sam, coming down the hall and likely on his way down to make breakfast. He stopped as he was coming past the doors, and he looked into the kids' room, finding them awake. He went in, crouched in front of the bed, and now he was the one whispering. A few moments later, Sam and the kids got up and walked out of the room, their steps soon heard on the stairs as they headed down below. Lucas smiled, turning his head back to find his wife's eyes were starting to flutter open as she woke. He watched her discover Haley's presence, watched how it made her smile, stroking the side of her face with her thumb, and this told him that the kid was also awake, staring back at her sister. Mornings like this, oh… They would take as many of them as they could get.

By the time they made their way down to the kitchen, the place smelled like food, and they could feel their stomachs growl in anticipation. Lucas, recalling the scene he'd partially seen upstairs earlier, came up to the counter where, stood on a step stool, MJ Hunter was carefully working to mix together the fruit his sisters had been cutting and dropping in the large bowl before him.

"That looks great, huh?" Lucas told him, and MJ nodded. "How's it going this morning, sleep alright?" Lucas asked, leaning to kiss the top of the boy's head.

"Uh huh," MJ nodded again.

"That's good," Lucas smiled, reaching to swipe a grape from the bowl.

"Hey!" MJ protested, though his laughter severely undercut his complaint.

"The lights are on," Gracie spoke then, and when the others looked at her, she pointed out the window toward the Hex. Both Lucas and Sam figured for a second that Maya had forgotten to turn them off, as this sometimes happened, even though they knew like she knew that this wasn't the case this time. Only she was the one to remember first what this meant.

"Oh sh… oot…" Maya bolted out the kitchen door, with Haley still on her trail following behind. She reached the studio door and found that of course it was unlocked. She opened it, letting out the sound of someone playing guitar before she could look in and find Ree Forster sitting there. Today was to be their third session. She'd meant to push it back, or wanted to at least, but she just didn't want to take the chance, knowing how tight the singer's schedule tended to be.

"One of these mornings, I am going to endorse this casual wear policy and show up in my pyjamas as well," Ree joked, only to give the excited gasp of any affectionate person in the presence of a small child, especially one as sweet as Haley Hunter. "Well hello, love, look how you've grown," she set down her guitar and came to crouch before Maya's sister. "You might not remember, last time I saw you was almost a year ago, at your big sister's wedding."

"You're the singer lady," Haley declared, which made Ree laugh her jolly laugh.

"I am that, yes," she confirmed, and that was good enough to trigger Haley's extended arms.

"That means she likes you," Maya smiled. Ree was not one to be asked twice, and she stood before scooping up the three-year-old.

As cute as it always was to see her do it, they still couldn't help but wonder if one of these days her trusting nature would get her in trouble. They would repeatedly remind her that even if a person proclaimed to know her parents, unless she remembered them, too, she shouldn't just 'arm up.' There were no such concerns today of course.

"I am so sorry, it completely slipped my mind this morning that you were here, with her and the other kids…" Maya explained, gesturing back to the house.

"No, please, it's alright," Ree promised, still enchanted by Haley, who was smiling back at her.

"Did you eat yet?" Maya asked.

"Well, I had thought to take you out somewhere for once, before we started in there, but I imagine that'll be more complicated today, won't it?"

"I have my siblings for a couple of weeks, I'll explain later. Breakfast is almost ready though, please join us."

It was always sort of funny to see the way people reacted to Ree's presence. It all depended on whether or not they knew who she was, but then she was famous enough that, whether they actually listened to her music or not, people were more likely to know her name, or her face, than to not know her at all. Kids though… Whether they knew her or not, they would not go off all starstruck, as Maya and Lucas had seen so many people be. If anything, the older ones might ask her questions, but on the whole, especially once she became a recurring presence, they treated her as they would just about any friend of the family: they treated her like she one of their own.

"We are going to need another plate, guys," Maya announced as she returned, with Ree and Haley behind her. At once, the twins turned to one another and got to whispering before turning again.

"You can sit between us," Gracie told Ree, while Nellie shifted one chair over, only to realize there would not be enough space for everyone.

"I know where they are!" she ran off, without stating what 'they' were. By the time she returned, grunting under the weight of the chair, which was almost as tall as her, Haley had been set down on her own chair, while Ree had taken Nellie's vacated place next to Gracie.

"Hey, I got it, be careful," Lucas moved to help his young sister-in-law.

"Thanks," Nellie breathed before hurrying over to sit on the other side of Ree.

"Do you know, I am also a twin," Ree addressed the girls on either side of her. This easily got their attention; they loved meeting other twins.

"You are?" Gracie asked.

"Yes, well, not identical, not like you two. I have a twin brother. When we were little, we did look enough alike to mess with people though," she added, in a tone of conspiracy, which made the girls laugh. "Here, look," Ree pulled out her phone and showed them a picture of herself and her brother, which appeared to have been taken at Christmas recently.

"He looks like you a lot," Gracie declared.

"But with a beard," Nellie added.

"Looks much better with it, if you ask me," Ree nodded, slipping her phone away just as Sam brought out a load of scrambled eggs, scooping some on to plates where they were requested. After MJ got his portion, he turned to Maya, who picked up the bottle of ketchup with a knowing look.

"You tell me when, okay?" she told him, and he nodded. The red sauce was squeezed on to the heap of yellow eggs, as MJ and just about everyone else at the table soon kept a watchful eye. "Dude, say when already," Maya smirked.

"Okay, now," MJ finally spoke two seconds later. At home, Katy or Shawn would have cut him off long ago, saying that he would end up with more ketchup than eggs if he kept this up, but at his sister's house, especially now, he could count on being given just a bit more leeway.

"You and my daughter would get along there," Ree told MJ, who received this news with a smile before mashing the eggs and ketchup together. He had a whole system, setting his load of ketchup and eggs on to one toast and then mashing another on top. At last, he could dig in. "Now this is new," Ree nodded.

As they ate, the kids happily told Ree about what they were doing that day. Nellie and Gracie were bound for Sullivan Stables with Lucas, for Nellie's riding lessons. Gracie didn't ride, but she preferred to be nearby, to watch her sister. Sam, along with Cecilia, was taking Haley for her swimming lessons, and oh how excited the little Hunter was. She was never so happy as when she was in the water. This left MJ. He didn't have any lessons on weekends, not at the moment, and usually, once his sisters were all at their own things, he would either be going to Mikey's house, or Mikey would be coming to the Hunter house. This had been the case right up until last weekend, but now… Now it had all changed, of course. When asked what he would be up to today, he looked… stuck. Everyone else had something to do, somewhere to be, and he didn't know what he was supposed to say.

"Hey, MJ, you've been in the Hex with me before, yeah? Would you like to come and see what Ree and I will be up to today?" Maya asked her brother, stealing a look to the singer and hoping she had made the right assumption, that she would be alright with this. By the smile she got, she knew that she had been one hundred percent correct. As for MJ, he looked intrigued at once.

"Can I?" he asked, looking to Ree as well.

"It would be my honor," she assured him. She had no idea what this week had been like for him, didn't know how much good it did his young heart. But she had done it anyway, and for that… Oh, Maya was even more excited to get started on today's songs. Of all her Hunter siblings, MJ was the first to show any kind of pronounced love for music, and she could just imagine what it would be like for him in there, to experience Ree's magic from up close.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners