A/N: The new chapter of "We Three Hearts" is now available!

December 16th 2020

Chapter 351
Their Place to Observe

Mornings had long been something they had taken to cherish, ever since they had gotten to the point in their relationship where they shared a bed every night, woke up next to one another every day. But lately it had become something even better. Maybe it was that all day long while Maya was out in the world she would be doing what she could to hide the fact that she was pregnant, but when she'd wake up in the morning there would just be something about the quiet surrounding them… They would be so encapsulated in this moment, just him and her… and their growing little bean. It would be little more than minutes, until they'd finally get out of bed, but it would feel so real. They were becoming a family.

This morning, Saturday, was special in itself for being picture day. Every Saturday now for the past three weeks, Maya would stand by the window in their room, turned sideways, in the exact same spot, and Lucas would stand back – also in the same spot – and he would take two pictures, one with her shirt down, adopting her curve, the other with her belly as exposed as she could make it. There hadn't been so much to show in the beginning, and there wasn't so much of it to show now either, but there was something, and it was noticeable, especially on the second picture.

"Check out last week and now," Lucas brought the camera for her to see, clicking between the images. Maya smiled, seeing it as he did. "Maybe when we're out on the tour, we can do the shirt down ones outside somewhere, so we can see where we were at the time."

"We should," Maya was quickly on board. She hid her smile in his sleeve, seeing how fascinated he was, still clicking between the pictures. Once they actually had the baby, he might well lose all coherency for how much he loved the little guy or girl…

They were headed off their own ways today, him off to the bookstore while she headed off to cheer on the girls' team on their final game. The way people talked about it, this would be a very heated game, no clear favorite to win it. The whole thing would come down to whichever said played the best game that day. Meanwhile, for Lucas, it would be something of a turning point, too, as he'd be going in to discuss exactly when he'd put in his last days working at the bookstore before he was good and resigned and no longer an employee. With the school year fast coming to an end for him, and the tour approaching as well, the time had come. When he returned to Austin at the end of August, he would be working up at the ranch, eventually starting his residency… It was all happening.

"Wish you could be out there with me today," Maya hummed as she and Lucas saw each other off. Sam had the day off at least, and he'd agreed to go with her to watch the game. Maya and Lucas would joke that he was doing it solely to ensure that Maya didn't overdo it with the cheering.

"You give them a taste of our call for me?" Lucas asked. Maya laughed.

"Deal."

When Maya and Sam arrived at the gym, the former soon started regretting her choice of wardrobe. It was already a bit warmer than she'd anticipated, and she had been in gyms for games like these enough times to know it would only get warmer. The way she was dressed now, she would be sweating more and more as the game went on. What other choice did she have though? As little as she had to show, she had always been slight enough that the minor changes made a big difference, and this had simply been her best option at keeping up the secret of her peach-sized tenant a little longer, say somewhere about the size of a sweet potato…

"What about if you tie your jacket around your waist?" Sam suggested. Maya made a face that said 'yeah, but I don't want to.' "Fine, I guess we'll just wait for the other option to come and… No, there isn't one," he reported. Maya stared at him for a moment before letting out a sigh and quickly pulling her jacket off and turning to face him.

"Make sure no one we know is looking this way," she asked him while she fixed up her jacket. "If you ask me, this actually makes it worse… for so many reasons. But at least now I'm not as hot, so…" She reached into her pocket, pulling out her phone. "Riley hasn't called yet, I don't know if…"

"She's here," Sam told her. Maya looked up.

"Who is?"

"Riley, and Dylan, too," he nodded past her and Maya quickly turned, finding the two of them just as he'd told her she would. Cutting their way through the gathering spectators, the siblings headed toward the Orlando couple.

"Hey, I didn't realize you guys were going to be here today," Maya looked from one to the other.

"It was kind of decided this morning," Riley explained. "We remembered how you said you'd be coming to this, and… and Phoebe being on the team and all…" At this, Maya blinked, looking to Dylan. He looked nervous, just a bit uncertain, like he was rethinking everything.

He wanted to see her for himself, his half-sister.

But it was more than that, wasn't it? Phoebe would be out on the court, yes, but there was also a very good chance that Phoebe's family would be out in the bleachers today, too. Her parents, her brother… His mother…

"Right… Okay… Well, come on, we should find a spot before it fills out."

Whether or not this was a good idea, it was difficult to say. No matter what, they didn't see Dylan as being the type to cause a scene, but he might inadvertently cause one anyway, if he intended to actually seek out Jo Munroe. For the time being, they went and sat together, the four of them, and not a minute too soon. This was a final, so the place would be packed. It's provide plenty of coverage, hiding them at the heart of the crowd.

The whole time, as the minutes went by, Maya could see how Dylan looked around, left, right, down, up. He was looking for Phoebe's family… his mother's… What did he have to go on? Not a whole lot. He hadn't seen his mother or Peter Munroe in seventeen years and some, and much as he could have recognized them if he ended up standing in front of them, the most he could expect to find would be the backs of many heads unless they turned.

"Hey," Maya touched his arm, once and then a second time. When he finally turned toward her, she kept hold of his arm and directed his attention on to the court. "There, number 64," she pointed. Dylan followed her finger, and finally he spotted her. Phoebe. His little sister.

She was out there now, with her teammates as they warmed up. This was such a far cry from the girl who'd tried out and ended up with a busted nose. She'd always had the skill, absolutely, but it had been easy to forget and instead focus solely on how easily she would tend to injure herself or nearly injure herself… and others. Now… When she'd tried out for this year's team, she had regained her spot and then she'd made the very most of it. She was one of their top players.

More than anything, she was Phoebe out there. She'd be very focused on the game, all the way, but it would never mean that she turned into a machine, locking down anything of herself that wasn't about getting out there and winning. For her, it was about going out there, and having fun, and hey winning was a bonus that came out of what they did out there when they had fun. And Phoebe loved being out there.

"Wow…" Riley blinked, seeing her, too. "I know I've seen her before, I just thought… I don't know…" she shook her head before looking to her husband.

Dylan watched the girl out on the court, followed her progress as she'd run this way and that, as she'd receive the ball, pass it… It was impossible to tell what he was thinking in that moment except that he was thinking about her, not their mother, not anyone else. Finally, he looked to Maya, signalled for her to follow him. This was easier said than done, but they managed it, as Riley and Sam stayed back and did their best to keep the seats open.

In the hallway, Maya looked to her friend as he stood there, still thinking for a moment before finally pronouncing himself.

"Don't tell her. We can't do that to her. She should get to go on with her life the way it is right now. She's good, she's happy. It's not fair, I know, but… but it's been tearing me up inside since last night. She's just a kid. Please…"

Maya hugged him. What else could she do? Here he was, knowing that he had a sister for less than a day and putting her well-being ahead of questions long left unanswered. Maybe that was just as much because of who he was as a person, yes, but she'd watched him as he watched her out there. They had never met, maybe never would, but he'd looked at her, and he'd seen enough in her to see how they were connected. Maya didn't know that she would have tried to talk him out of this. As much as she had wanted to look out for him, deep down Phoebe had always been a special kind of priority. She was her student, in a way her responsibility, and she needed to know that there was someone out there looking out for her interests, even if that someone was her.

"I won't say anything," she promised, and Dylan looked relieved. "You're still going to watch the game?"

"I don't think I should stay. If they're out there, if she sees me…"

"I saw Mr. Munroe out there, him and Taylor. It didn't look like they were waiting for anyone else. Come back in there with us, okay? Don't you want to see what she's like out there?"

He still looked unsure as they cut their way back through the crowd and found Riley and Sam. They'd managed to hold on to the two spots, and Maya had a pretty good idea of which of the two had done the heavy lifting in this. She could be a real beastie when she put her mind to it… Right now she was only a concerned wife, as Dylan came back to her side. He simply took her hand, promising quietly that everything was fine.

Soon after, Maya indicated for him to look down and to the left, to where Peter and Taylor Munroe sat. Maya had no idea what the man had looked like all those years ago when Dylan had known him, but it couldn't have been so different, going by his reaction. And then Taylor… He really was so like Dylan, down to the shoulder-length hair. They caught a look at his face, just by chance, and it was as Maya had said. He was so like the Dylan Maya had met when they were thirteen years old.

It would have been a shame for Dylan – or anyone – to miss this game. Their girls had played their best one of the whole year, just when it counted the most. By the end of it, when time was running out and they were in the lead, they were all cheering loudly along with the others, Maya, Sam, Riley, Dylan, all of them…

Dylan and Riley left soon after the game, while Maya and Sam hung back so that the art teacher could take a moment to congratulate the girls, especially those who she knew from her class. They had done well last year, but not nearly as much as they'd done this year, and they were all so beside themselves with joy.

"You're here!" Phoebe hurried over when she saw her.

"And I didn't even have to break my way in," Maya smirked, and Phoebe had to stop the gulp of water she'd been about to take from her bottle as she laughed. "Family's out there?" she casually asked.

"Yeah, see?" she pointed. "There's my dad and Tay. My mom never comes to these. She says she loves me but the sport not so much, so when I come home and we lost she tells me to pick whatever I want for dessert that day and she'll make it. And if we win, well… she does that, too, but there's less consoling," Phoebe explained with a happy nod before drinking down from her water bottle.

Maya smiled at this, though at the same time she hated that she could infer so much more from this now than Phoebe herself was able to. Maybe it was just reaching, but she had to wonder if Jo Munroe, formerly Jocelyn Orlando, might find being at any of these games to be too difficult for the thought of the man and the boys she'd left behind seventeen years ago.

"You know they're going to want to put a picture of you girls in the trophy case now. You're legends," Maya dramatically declared. Phoebe considered this for a moment before reaching to touch her sweat-drenched hair.

"Gotta go," she ran back to her teammates and Maya chuckled to herself, heading off to find Sam so they could leave.

"So you guys aren't going to tell her?" Sam asked, on the drive home. They were stopping on the way for celebratory pastries from the bakery, somewhat inspired by Phoebe's tale.

"No," Maya shook her head. "Dylan made his point, and I kind of have to agree with him," she explained, then, "I'm guessing you don't?"

"I don't know… I mean, I get it. This is going to suck when she finds out, but I just think… You and I, we lost a lot of time we could have had together, same as the younger ones did. Wouldn't it be good for all of them to know each other? Dylan, and Phoebe, and their brothers?"

He wasn't wrong either, and naturally she had thought about that, too. How could she not?

"I get it, I do, but… right now it's better this way. It might not always stay that way. Until that moment comes, if it comes, then… This is how it has to be."

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners