December 4th 2020

Chapter 339
Their Secret in Family

That Friday afternoon was the first time Maya found herself addressing her baby. It was no bigger than a lonely little fig at the moment, but she sat there in her minivan, outside the pre-school, and she just… She set her hand over her belly button, still having to guess at how she'd come to expand, and she looked down to it, as though it represented the child by proxy.

"Hey… Hello… Mom here, how you doing? Is it nice in there? Comfortable?" She laughed at herself, but it felt good right about now, so she went with it. "Alright, look, this weekend is about to get a bit hectic. A lot of your aunts are going to be at the house, and they don't know about you yet. You're a secret, a really… really good secret, and you have to stay that way a little longer, yeah? I am really just talking to myself when I say this, I know, but… Let's keep it cool tomorrow morning, please? Okay, good talk."

From what Maya had heard from her parents, Haley had been most excited for this weekend, for as long as she'd known about it. She had been to these sleepovers before, yes, but for the four-year-old it all existed for the most part much too far in her memories for her to genuinely remember. This would probably be the very first one she'd be able to think back on in years to come. Shawn had already dropped off the girls' things at the house the night before, after they'd returned from their errands, and by the looks of it Haley had done her packing like she wanted to be ready for anything.

"We found her swimsuit in there," Shawn had told them. "Also, mittens…"

She made a mad dash for her big sister now, and as small as the baby was, Maya was sort of glad that her little sister did as she usually did, stopping before her and holding out her arms rather than taking some great leap and nearly tackling her.

"Let's go!" Haley begged, once she'd been lifted up.

"Okay, alright, keep big little girl pants on," Maya laughed as they left the pre-school. Next stop: the elementary school. She was picking up an extra kid today, as Desi Russell had been recruited to the ranks of the Sleepster.

Nellie and Gracie had practically mounted a whole presentation over the phone a couple days back, making the case for how they wanted their friend to attend the sleepover. No, she was not their sister, by blood, or marriage, or sort of accepted ties into the family, like cousins or a brother's girlfriend… But then they were getting to a point where they understood the idea of coming upon friends in their lives who felt as good as a sister, a sister by heart, the way Maya had with Riley and so many of her friends. And they might only have known Desi for about two thirds of a year, but she fit so well with them, which said something for the twins, who'd always had one another from before they were even born. In some ways she had a bit of each of them, had Nellie's energy and drive but also much more of Gracie in the way of actual focus and gentleness. Having known him all year, Maya also saw much of Khalil's influence in his little sister, those well honed manners and deep care for others.

But Desi didn't have sisters, and it was easy to see that she wanted them. She had a big brother, and grandparents, and her parents who were so far away… The rest of their family, aunts and uncles and cousins and all that, were back in New Mexico, and as much as she loved it here in Austin, she missed that part of her old life. They might still have been back there, her and Khalil, except none of those relatives were in a position to take them both on. They might have taken one here and one there, but they wanted to stay together, so Texas it was. And now, thanks to her new friends and sort of sisters, Desi Russell stood waiting for Maya along with the twins and MJ, sharing some of that excitement shown by Haley earlier.

"Want me to grab those for you?" Maya asked, spotting the violin case, the rolled up sleeping back and the duffel bag sitting next to her, along with her schoolbag and her lunch box.

"Thank you, I can do it," Desi smiled as she stood and collected her things in what could only be called a very efficient manner, balancing it all with ease and heading for the minivan. Maya opened the back and Desi unloaded the bags in the empty space.

"Now, one very important thing for this weekend," she turned to address the nine-year-old. "You remember what you're calling me?" she asked, guarding her smile.

"Maya," Desi laughed. When they'd first met, even though it was in the context of being the twins' sister, she already knew her as her brother's teacher, which had left her to choose to call her Mrs. Friar, as he did. Nellie had laughed, not so much at Desi but at hearing her sister called that way, and she had set her friend back on to calling her by her first name.

"Thank you… Miss Russell," Maya teased.

Meanwhile, on a pick-up of his own, Lucas had been bound for the airport, having borrowed the Hunter minivan and left his own car for Katy and Shawn over the weekend. It had been a draw between Maya and him to decide who would go to the schools or the airport that afternoon, and this was how it had ended up, on the reasoning that he'd find more of his group on this side of things, along with several more of the Sleepster side.

They had really worked to ensure they would get everyone if possible, everyone who had at one time or another earned their status as being part of one group or the other, the Sleepster group, and then the collection of brothers off to do their own thing. Last time, this hadn't happened, much to the disappointment of the smaller boys especially. No disappointment this time.

When they'd realized just how many of them would be in Austin at the same time, and once they'd known about the baby, there had been a real thought given to just using the opportunity to share the news. That way, they wouldn't be across a screen, and it'd be better, wouldn't it? But then if they did tell them now, it would just be about convenience, and if convenience was what they were after, they would have told people already. They had chosen to wait until June, and that was what they would stick to. Maya would be past three months by then, and that was what was usually suggested, wasn't it? They didn't like lying about it, and they could call it concealing, or withholding, but then they'd be looking their mother or father in the eye, and it'd feel a lot like lying. Just now, Lucas was looking at Abigail and James, and… Yeah, it was definitely lying.

"Are you sure you don't want us to drive the girls out to the house for you?" Abigail asked when she hugged him hello.

"No, it's all good," Lucas promised. "Besides, they'll all want to see say hello to each other before we split off."

So, with that, the minivan had been packed up with many bags as well as the boys and girls they belonged to. Lucas now had Cara, Teddy, Eliza, Emma, Wyatt, and Maisie Hart-Lane in his care, along with Sadie and Ginny Chen. It was definitely a case of 'one more would have been too many,' and especially one of 'extra precious cargo on board' as he drove them off to the house, while Abigail and James went off in their rental to go and visit Katy and Shawn.

"Are you looking forward to the tour?" Lucas asked Cara, as she sat in the passenger seat next to him. Part of what had motivated this trip, parents and all, had been so that Cara might tour the campus, to get to know the university she would start attending in the fall. They would be heading out there the following afternoon.

"Uh huh," Cara replied, staring out the window as they went. After a moment, she seemed to come around to the fact that she'd sounded so completely disinterested, and she sat up and looked over. "I am, yeah," she smiled, looking so much like her big sister all at once. "There's this girl I went to school with, back in New York, and she's going to be coming here, too. She's supposed to be here this weekend."

"Were you friends, or just…" Lucas asked. It was the expression on her face that made the memory come to him absolutely out of nowhere. "It's not that girl you got in a fight with, is it?"

"Bethany," Cara slowly nodded, though she didn't look upset about it, not as he might have assumed. "She reached out because one of my friends back there told her I was coming to Austin, too. She said how she was sorry for what happened back then, that she was embarrassed of how she used to be, and if I'm willing to meet her, she wants to apologize in person."

"Are you going to?"

"Yeah, why not?" Cara shrugged. "It's been five years. People change." Lucas agreed on this, and though he knew she would also agree, deep down, on another level Maya would not see it so plainly. When it came to anyone laying a finger on one of her siblings she was already so protective. But now, with the baby growing inside her, and her body going through all those big and little changes, it really felt like she'd have a completely different view of this meeting with the girl who'd called her little sister broken, who'd bullied her online, after Kermit had died.

"Did Wyatt ask you about your dad and Maya, too?" Lucas quietly asked, though the boy in question was further back in the minivan and currently playing a game with his cousins and his brother Teddy.

"Yeah, sort of," Cara nodded, before admitting how she'd sort of sidestepped it and told him he should ask Maya herself instead. "I just didn't know what to say."

"That makes two of you," Lucas assured her. Maya was definitely not looking forward to that conversation, though of course she would do it anyway.

"I'm really starting to get why Sam found it hard to leave for a bit," Cara went on. "It's like all of a sudden all you can see is the parts that make you want to stay." This much at least Lucas knew about. Cara had been so looking forward to having her boyfriend, Declan, be in Austin along with her. But then just a couple weeks ago he had told her how he and his band were looking to travel around the world instead, maybe do some shows along the way where they could. The temptation had been there for Cara to toss college aside and go with him, but then she'd chosen to follow the path she'd set out for herself and come to Austin as planned, even if it was without Declan. Maya said her sister and her boyfriend were planning to continue on long distance, and how they were both very sure they could make it work. Maybe they'd defy the odds, like Sophie and Chiara had done, but it seemed more likely they'd go the way of August Matthews and Michaela Zhu and finally drift and break apart. They'd just have to wait and see.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners