Chapter 10
The Turn of the Year

Maya woke up the next morning, as she would tell Lucas when he woke, like she now had some butterflies in her stomach to keep the sprout company. She was excited about going to the museum event with Professor Robinson, to be sure, but at the same time… She was going to have to tell her about her decision to move back to Austin. Sooner or later, especially with her spending the night here, the news might slip out, and she really wanted to speak to her professor and mentor instead of having her find out from someone else. Much as the decision had been made, and it was the right decision, she still dreaded having make it properly official with her.

"Where are you going?" Nellie asked, as she and Gracie sat up on the bed and watched her get ready after they'd all had breakfast downstairs. Maya was somewhere between amused and surprised that her little sister had rightly interpreted this as more than just getting dressed for the day.

"I am going to the museum with one of my teachers," she told her sisters. They gasped, and she could just see the question forming in their eyes. They wanted to come, too. Maya had been taking her sisters to museums for as long as they could probably remember. They were so well behaved in there, it stunned most people at every one they visited, like they were just used to seeing kids running around or looking bored and anxious to leave. Nellie and Gracie, instead, tended to emulate their big sister, and when she would tell them things, or when Lucas would do it, too, they would look up at them and at whatever piece of art they were pointing to, and they would listen. Whether they retained much of what they were told remained debatable, but they would have a great time, and that was what counted. Despite all of this, of course, she couldn't bring them along today, so she had to act quickly. "I'm afraid it's only for grown up people. But when I get back, I promise I will tell you about everything, yeah?"

"Okay," Gracie replied, looking a bit sad about not getting to go but also happy at the prospect of a story. Nellie nodded, giving much the same look.

Maya's new dress was once again called up for the day. She'd had the opportunity to go and shop for a second one in the last few days, but she'd decided to just keep this one for now. Whether or not this was due to her attempting not to end up in a maternity store with Melinda Friar, well… Still, as she tugged the dress into place and watched it settle to her form, a new thought occurred to her. The wedding, specifically the wedding dress… Years of sitting alongside her mother on those marathons of Say Yes to the Dress had taught her despite herself that it would be best to buy the dress months in advance, the better to allow for any alterations necessary.

"Try and alter that…" she muttered to herself, turning sideways to look at her little bump, imagining what that would look like in a few months' time. The more she thought about it, she knew she at least wanted to buy the dress before she changed too much… And by the time they'd be gearing up for the wedding they would be back here, so it made sense to go to a store in Austin to buy the dress… And since they were already here… Oh… She was going to be walking right into that one, wouldn't she?

After she'd finished getting ready for the museum, Maya had gone back down the stairs, her sisters trailing behind her, much more agile at climbing their way down as they'd once been. The whole place felt a bit like the calm before the storm, except in this case it was more like the hold before the arrival. Mr. Friar was reading the paper in the living room, Pappy Joe was watching some football replay… Lucas was in the kitchen, recruited by his mother to help down a few dishes again. When Melinda saw her come in, she got that jolted smile about her, as though she was being reminded every time that the girl standing before her was now carrying her grandchild. Before she could say anything – or before any nerves could silence her – Maya addressed her future mother-in-law.

"I'm going to go shop for a dress on Monday. That dress… I'd like it if you were there, with me and my mom and the girls," she spoke evenly, ending with a smile. Lucas, up on his step ladder, almost looked jealous that he wasn't being invited. Mostly, he looked like he already envisioned this being a hectic adventure. Melinda Friar though… Oh, she was thrilled, and she accepted the invitation at once, finding herself here again divided between knowing she was to receive a guest while also wanting desperately to begin doing some research, the better to assist the bride to be.

When the doorbell rang, Lucas' mother genuinely flinched, like she'd forgotten herself, before hurrying toward the door, slowing as she approached it. Lucas came down from his step and moved to Maya, one brief moment left to them before she had to go.

"If you keep this up, she's going to love you more than me," he teased, making her grin.

"Hey, I don't make the rules, man, I just play the game," she shook her head. He barely managed to kiss her before they were summoned to greet their guest.

As they left the kitchen and came down the hall, they found everyone standing there, Patty Robinson crouched before the twins. Nellie was a social butterfly as ever, but even shy Gracie couldn't resist the charm of the older woman with the grandmotherly powers. Pappy Joe soon extended a hand to help her stand again, and looking at the two of them as they started to talk, there was a distinct impression left for the rest of them to see, the impression being that the rest of them could have been gone for how little Lucas' grandfather and Maya's professor seemed in any way aware of everyone else in the room.

"What is happening?" Maya whispered.

"No idea…" Lucas whispered back. Neither of them seemed sure whether they meant to be shocked or amused. They pulled it back in as the professor finally looked up and saw the two of them.

"Here you are, hello, hello, oh… look at you…" she approached, making an expected beeline for her student, her roundness now defined as it was. She gave the slightest gesture as though to say 'may I?' and when Maya nodded, she reached out and set her hand to the little belly. "I was just telling Mrs. Friar about that day in my office, when I overheard you on the phone. And now I hear you two are getting married?" she looked from Maya to Lucas and back. Maya pulled the chained ring from underneath her shirt to show it.

"In September," Maya confirmed, feeling without looking that Lucas was very much smiling at her side.

They had to leave for the museum soon after this, and Maya already suspected that within two or three minutes of their being gone, Melinda Friar would be at her computer, looking up bridal stores. She also suspected she'd already been looking and had a whole folder compiled.

As they climbed into the professor's car and started for the museum, Maya debated whether to launch into the conversation now or maybe just waiting until that night, back at the house. Maybe it wouldn't be the right time, what with the event and…

"Something on your mind, dear?" Patty asked, and Maya looked at her, hesitant. The woman smiled. "The way I see it, if there's something to get off your chest, better get on with it. No sense carrying that weight around if you're able to unload it."

"I… we…" she started, sighed.

"Moving back here?" Patty guessed, and at Maya's wide eyes she laughed. "I figured you might. You two should be with your families if you can, and there's nothing to stop you, is there?"

"No, not… not exactly. It's just… It means I'm going to have to transfer schools," she started. The professor nodded, agreeing. "I'm going to lose… well, I mean… I wish it didn't mean I'd have to lose you as one of my professors, I…"

"Maya, now, why would you say a thing like that," the woman shook her head and smiled. "True, you won't be in class with us going forward, but in case I haven't made myself clear, as we are headed to this event you and I, it matters a great deal to me to continue guiding you as much as I can. We will work something out, you have my word." Maya was at a loss for words for a moment, brought back only as she felt the emotions rushing through her.

"If I cry right now, I have no control over it," she declared. The professor laughed, and for the rest of the ride Maya truly felt like a weight was gone from her. She mentioned Pappy Joe's old house, how he had given it to Lucas and now the two of them were aiming to move out there after the end of the semester. She was about to add how Lucas and a few of the others would be at the house soon, to deal with the dust and cobwebs, but the mention of Pappy Joe had soon led to a question and another, and the only thing that stopped them on that line of discussion was their arrival at the museum.

"Oh, now, this is perfect," Patty declared as they walked in, once they had been confirmed by the man at the door. Maya thought she was talking about the museum, where many of the guests already walked about, while servers moved around with trays of small bites and wine and champagne. Instead, after they'd checked their coats, the professor had taken her lightly by the arm and guided her through until they found themselves before a tall Indian woman who lit up the moment she saw…

"Professor Robinson, I was hoping to see you here today," she spoke in a clear Scottish accent as the two women embraced.

"As did I, Meera, dear, especially now. Allow me to introduce you to one of my students. Maya Hart, this is Professor Meera Patil. I taught eight years in Edinburgh, oh, I won't say how long ago," she turned a smile to the woman. "I had the pleasure of having Meera as one of my students, top of her class. And when I returned and settled in Houston, we kept in touch, until I discovered she would be starting her career teaching at university, here in Austin." The way she looked to her, Maya didn't have to ask what she was implying. This woman here may well be one of her professors, once she relocated.

"She introduced me to so many people," she told Lucas, that night, as they were getting ready for bed. "I keep forgetting how connected she is to everyone, I just…" She was still so exhilarated from the day, from the things she'd seen and the people she'd spoken to. Up to now she had never felt so secure in their choice to move back as she did after this day with her professor.

"Less worrying now?" Lucas asked, and she nodded. "And hey, if things keep up like they were going downstairs earlier," he nodded out the door. She laughed, recalling the discourse maintained between Professor Robinson and Pappy Joe over dinner.

"I never got to ask, how did it go today with the house?" she wondered, taking a look to her sisters sleeping in the bed already.

"Well, we won't need masks to go in there tomorrow," he reported with a smile. "There's still so much to do, but we hit hard on the dust and the webs, it was everywhere. Dylan wanted to go and jump in the lake when we were done, but we reminded him it was December."

"I really wish I could have helped out there," Maya laughed, looping her arms around him. "I'm not saying I'm not going to benefit from you guys not letting me do some things along the way, but I am going to feel bad about it sometimes… How are your shoulders?" she asked, smirking. "All that dusting, that must have been so… strenuous…" she shook her head.

"Yeah, now that you mention it, there's definitely an ache," his face bloomed with a smile.

They had spent much of the following morning with Maya's siblings, back at the Hunter Hart house. They had originally planned to spend New Year's Eve night here, waking the girls in time for the countdown, seeing them through the fireworks, as they had done the year before. But now that they had decided instead to head to the house just him and her, they had both felt the need to compensate just a bit.

"Your mom called mine earlier," Maya told Lucas as they were driving up toward the house just after dinner. "They were talking wedding dresses." He had to work so hard not to laugh, and she saw it all on his face anyway. "I do want them there, and I want their input, I just don't want them to turn into those moms on those shows sometimes, who just shake their heads at every dress they see and then try and force something ridiculous looking on to their daughters, and then they end up leaving empty handed because no one can make up their minds anymore."

"Ask my dad to go with you," Lucas told her after a beat of reflection. She looked at him. "What, I can't be there, and he's the next best thing to make sure my mother doesn't go off the rails. I don't know about your mom, would having your dad there help?" She laughed. "What?"

"Nothing, I just imagined him in that store and it was funny…"

"Funny good or..."

"I don't know," she shrugged. "But I will think about it," she promised with a nod, just as they reached the house. "Oh, you did way more than dusting," she sat up.

What had greeted them as they'd come up the road a few days past had felt like driving into an untouched part of the woods, the grass tall and unruly. One lawnmower and a lot of landscaping later, it looked like people might actually be living here, looking after the land.

They'd wanted to do so much more than what they'd ended up doing. Lucas knew, and he had told the others as much, this was not about getting the whole place to shine. All they really needed to do was get the place to breathe easier by getting the place dusted, opening the windows out a bit while they were there… He'd had a lot of help and been thankful for every last one. Riley, Dylan, August, Sophie, Chiara, Franny, Kayla, Will, and a handful of the old basketball teams' players who were in town for the holidays.

They all knew about the engagement and the baby by now, of course. Once they'd told their parents, the news was fair game, and they'd put it out there for all to know. As far as the band was concerned, the followers had already known that Willow was expecting, but then Maya on top of that… Part of them had feared that there would be repercussions, like people would see them out there, two out of their five young members having babies, and they'd react badly somehow, but so far all they were seeing was positivity. It had brought up the question of what they would do in a few months' time.

Willow would be out for shows before long, and then Maya would have to bow out as well. Much as they believed that Rosa, Kayla, and Riley could hold their own until the others were able to start doing shows again, even they felt hesitant about it. Back in the day of the original four, they had performed most of the time just Maya, Riley, and Nadine, while Isadora would only get to join them whenever she would visit. That was just not what the band had been since there'd been the five of them, and though she'd never label herself in any way above them, Maya was their frontwoman, no doubt about it. Without her, everything changed.

They would figure it out. Like everything else, they wouldn't have a choice… especially in six months' time, when four of them would be out in Houston and she'd be here, in Austin, with Lucas and the baby, in this house.

"It's like the 'I just cleaned my phone screen' version of this place…" Maya declared as they walked through the door. "By the way," she held her index up. "I need to clean my phone screen. But later," she moved forward, looking around. She smiled, noticing someone – and she suspected this someone was in the room with her – had cleaned the glass on the frame with the picture of young Lucas on a horse. The sheets had been removed from the furniture, which was a tremendous help in getting the place to look a bit more like someone's house. It also showed some of the work that still needed doing, but they could ignore that for now.

Going up the stairs, they had found their way into the master bedroom, what had been Lucas' grandparents' room until his grandmother's passing. It felt at once as though a lot of time had been spent here the day before, not out of some effort to make it theirs, but more for nostalgia's sake. Maya spotted a few items piled on the old bed, small things like framed photos, some old theater stubs, a hat…

"I was thinking maybe he'd like to have these," Lucas admitted. "Him or my dad."

"We'll bring them back," Maya smiled and nodded. "Hey, so your grandparents lived out here for decades, yeah?"

"Since the day they got married," Lucas nodded.

"Which means one of these other rooms was your father's room when he was growing up, wasn't it?" she asked. He smirked, moving out into the hall and indicating the room across from the master, not the one where Pappy Joe had moved after becoming a widower, but the third room.

Tom Friar had not lived here in a very long time, and it wasn't as though his parents had kept a shrine, but if you looked around you could definitely see small details that a young man had spent his adolescence here, somewhere in the early 1990s.

"Oh, now, we need to have a discussion about this," Maya moved to the worn poster on the wall.

"Nope, come on," Lucas pulled her back out of the room as she giggled.

"So, where are we sleeping tonight?" she asked as they went down the stairs again.

"You can have the couch, I'll sleep on the floor," he told her.

"But… spoon…" she mimed, cranking up the pitiful look.

"I'm not having you sleep on the floor, not now, and the beds haven't been slept in for so long, how do we know…" he started to count off.

"We have blankets, we will work something out up there. Come on, don't make me sleep on my own. I will give you The Eyes all night," she 'threatened,' giving him a preview. There was no resisting her and they both knew it.

Getting their sleeping situation settled ahead of time was probably for the best, though he had to admit he felt a bit uneasy about their taking his grandparents' bed. He knew it was silly, but he couldn't help himself, not now at least. In time, he knew, he would have to, but that time was not now. He would get there, he hoped, in the months to come, before the two moved in, ready to become the three of them.

"I… I want to keep this base," he touched one of the four posts of the bed's frame. It was in dire need of being freshened up, sanded and varnished all over again, but he would put that on the list he'd already started.

"Okay, we will," Maya smiled at once and he nodded.

They would spend the rest of the evening, waiting for midnight, sitting huddled in blankets around the campfire he had built up for them down the path from the house. Maya had brought her guitar, and so they sat there for a few hours, talking here, playing and singing there, just… taking in the night and thinking about the year that was about to start. The year where they would be married, the year where their little sprout came into the world… It would be a big one, the biggest.

"See, this is what's going to stop me playing eventually," Maya had laughed when she'd first pulled the guitar from its case and brought it before herself. "The more I'll expand, the further it'll be."

"Still works now," he reminded her, holding up his phone sideways.

"Are you filming me, sir?" she squinted at him.

"Chronicling," he specified.

"Riiiight, right," she nodded, setting her hands in position over the instrument. "Then you have to sing with me." He opened his mouth to protest, but she wouldn't have it. "Either you do or I don't," she shook her head before moving her arms back down. She held his gaze, held and held it, until finally he sighed and she grinned. "Too easy," she declared as she picked up her guitar again, strumming lightly. "Let's see," she looked up, thinking of a song they could do. "Is it too late for Christmas songs?"

"My mother would say as long as there's still decorations everywhere you're in the clear," Lucas told her.

"Sounds good to me."

"You're taking this woman dress shopping in two days," he cut back. Maya chuckled, starting on a definite song now.

"You're not going to rattle me, now sing, Huckleberry Claus."

The later the night had gotten, Maya wasn't so up for playing anymore. As they'd rolled past eleven, she had now moved to rest cozy in Lucas' arms as they looked to the stars and thought about the new year.

"I can't wait until it moves," Lucas told her, smiling.

"I can't wait until we don't have to call it an it anymore, right Sprout?" Maya peered inside the blankets wrapped around them like a cocoon of body warmth.

"Any thoughts on names?" he asked. She hummed, pondering.

"Riley would say that Riley is an excellent name that works no matter what comes out of me in a few months." He laughed. "If it's a boy, we could name him after you," she turned her eyes up to look at him. "I mean, due in June? He'd be a perfect June-ior," she pointed out.

"Wow," he laughed harder now, though at the same time he couldn't pretend like he hadn't gotten a bit of a jolt at the thought of a son, carrying on his name. "Well, in that case, if it's a girl, we'd have to call her Maya."

"I don't know about that," she snorted, settling again. "Then again, do we want to name him or her after someone or do we want to pick a name that would be all their own? No pressure, nothing but a blank slate for them to fill."

"That works, too," he agreed, kissing the top of her head.

"So, basically, we're nowhere closer than we were a minute ago," she frowned to herself.

"Okay, close your eyes," he told her. She looked up. "Close them, come on," he insisted, so she did. "This is what we're going to do. You're still convinced it's a boy?"

"Ninety-ten, yeah… That ten's mostly for you though."

"Right, and I'm still… ninety-five five on it being a girl."

"Only giving me five, wow…"

"So, what if we just decide on those… I'll come up with a girl name, maybe two or three, and you'll do the same for a boy."

"How is that getting us closer?" she tried again, opening her eyes.

"I'm getting to that part. Close them." She scooted back against him, shutting her eyes to humor him. "You're the artist here, use your imagination. It's… eight, nine years down the line. We're living out here, in this house. You teach at our old school, and I have my clinic."

"Good for you," she tapped his arm blind.

"And we live out here – for the sake of your vision – with our son. He's always running around the place, chasing after the dogs." She laughed.

"He needs a haircut," she provided.

"You see him?"

"Yeah… He's got your eyes." Listening to her, it was hard not to pass her another five points on the boy-girl odds. His cheek lay pressed to the top of her head.

"Right, so you hold on to that image, hold it tight… And you call out to him, call him back to the house. What do you call him?" He listened to the crackle of the fire, the distant sounds of cars on the road, likely people headed to the fireworks nearby. Maya stayed quiet, but looking at her he could see a smile on her face, like she'd gotten her answer but she was holding on to it. "Did you call him?" he asked.

"I did," she replied.

"And that's his name?" he smiled when she told him.

"Might be, might not… What about you? Do you have one picked? If we find ourselves with a daughter?" His smile lingered on as he nodded and told her. "That's a good one," she sniffled just a bit. "Maybe in the long run we can have them both."

"I think so, too," he reached to stroke her cheek, kissing her under the light of the stars and the blaze of the fire. Their lips had not yet parted when her phone gave off the alarm that it was now 11:59. She grasped on to his jacket, saying without having to say it. Kiss me into the new year… So, he did, the seconds ticking away unnoticed, until somewhere in the distance the sky burst with sound and with colors. Finally, they took in air, looking to one another with glowing smiles.

"Happy New Year," they spoke, almost as one, and they laughed. They couldn't imagine a better way to ring in the start of the Year of the Sprout.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you next week! - mooners