Chapter 125
The Great Parental Fold

Saturday morning, both Maya and Lucas were opening at their respective stores, so they headed out early together, splitting off as they entered the mall next to the bookstore. Maya then continued on toward the escalators and made her way to the second floor and on toward the art store. It wasn't every week that she would find Stella sitting out there, waiting for the store to open by the time she arrived, though it was most times and more and more.

Last week, she'd realized that Stella left the store without having bought anything, suggesting her only reason for coming in that morning was so that she'd get to see her, to look at things and chat for a while. It left her to understand that, other than more supplies for her latest projects, Stella was starting to drop into the store to find a friend, to find her. When she'd told Lucas about this, he'd pointed out how Stella had sisters, all of them older, some by over a decade, maybe even about their age, so it wasn't out of the realm of possibilities that she saw her like one of them, especially when she was here and none of them lived in Texas with her.

She didn't have anyone else. It wasn't like she'd been rejected by other kids her age, she just never sought them out, as she would have to, what with not having regular school to provide the opportunities. Knowing this then, it was no longer a sort of idea in the back of her head. She had invited Stella to join her force of junior bakers. Between Cara, Eliza, Ariel, and Daphne, surely she would get some more of what she yearned for. She didn't exactly frame it like that when she made the proposition to Stella and her father, but it didn't matter. She wanted to do it, and he was all for it. Maybe, once he heard about the other girls who'd be there, Mr. Buckley was left thinking it would be good for his daughter, too.

Today was to be the first time her newest baker would join the others, to fulfill an order put in very discreetly by Stella's father himself, and so part of her figured the girl wouldn't be sitting there that morning and she would only see her that afternoon, after she finished work and went home. But there she was, hunched over a sketchbook and drawing away. She had several colored pencils bunched in one hand while the other worked at the page. The closer she got, Maya discovered she was drawing a cake.

"Is that for today?" she asked. Stella nodded without looking up, filling in some more of her design. They had done one cake together already, of course, in the Buckley kitchen, for one of their lessons, and Stella had immediately shown an ease and understanding which made sense. Between her own artistic interests and her father's perpetual attachment to the kitchen… That one experience and the drawing here promised that their new recruit would be an asset to the small business. "Do you want to finish that here, or… want to help me refill some shelves?" she casually asked. Stella looked up at once.

"Can I?"

"I checked," Maya nodded. "Turns out you're that much of a regular and a great customer that they insisted. You know, in a year or two, you could get a job here. Just imagine, an employee discount," she whispered after Stella got up and gathered her things to follow. It made her laugh.

X

Of all the things to draw Lucas' attention as he walked into the back of the store that morning, an excess of mint was not what he expected. He soon found it to emanate from his friend and co-worker, Tilly, as she stood with her phone planted on a shelf, front camera as a mirror while she fixed her white-blond hair. She'd told him once how, between that and her complexion, she used to get teased relentlessly as a kid, with classmates wondering if she was an albino, or a vampire. Some of them had taken to hanging garlic wreaths on her locker and would make the sign of the cross when they passed her in the halls. The fact that she burned so easily in the sun didn't help.

If it was possible, she looked a touch paler than usual today. She was chewing the minty gum like she'd grabbed two, maybe three sticks in one go, and there was something about her… Maybe he was imagining it, or maybe he'd just seen Maya in a very similar state three times now…

"Tilly?" he took a few steps toward her.

"Hold on," she told him, chewing away as she finished twisting her ponytail and tied it off in a neat bun high on her head. She pulled an empty gum wrapper and discreetly spit out the wad and tossed it in the trash before clearing her throat and turning to him. "Yes?" He gave her a look, and maybe his thinking was very clearly expressed. She let out a breath which – intentionally or not – left a small smile to be diffused across her face. "Is it that obvious?"

"I might have the cheat codes, just a bit," he pointed out, and of course she understood that, having been part of the scheme to reveal to him the coming of the tadpole. "How long have you known?"

"Like a week?" Tilly replied. "We weren't going to tell yet. My mother, both she and her sister had trouble with this. My aunt lost three before she stopped trying, and my mom lost two between my brother and me, so I'm trying not to let it get into my head, but…" But clearly it worried her a lot, no matter how much she tried not to let it introduce any stress that might make things worse. "Judd's been doing so much reading. He wants me to cut back my hours here, says he'll work twice as many hours if he has to, just so I can take it easy, put all the chances on our side."

"Are you going to?"

"I don't know. I work cash. I can have a stool if I want one, there's not that much strain compared to me sitting at home. Sure, it gets busy sometimes, but it's just one customer at a time, same as usual, right?"

"You're very efficient with them," Lucas agreed and complimented.

"Thanks," Tilly smiled. "So… yeah, I don't know. For now, I'm okay."

"If you need any help and I'm in the store, don't hesitate to call on me. I won't tell about… your new friend," Lucas gestured without gesturing. Tilly nodded. "Even if I'm not here, you can call anytime. I think I can speak for Maya, too, she'll be more than happy to answer any questions you might have."

"That would be great, yes…" Tilly took a deep breath, then, "I guess my… friend… and your…"

"Tadpole," he smiled, knowing what she was suggesting. Their babies would be due right around the same time. "Between the four of us, I think the two of them will get along great." She needed so much hope right now, and she took what he offered of it. "So… since I know, does that mean…"

X

It had not been a hard bet to make that Stella would enjoy stocking shelves, fixing displays, seeing the back of the store… She worked alongside Maya while the store was still closed and for a little while after they opened, and it was almost like when they were at her house. Maya had quickly gotten to know 'the two Stellas.' There was the one she knew here, at the store, as she had known her since the days she was known as the waif, and there was the one she knew at the Buckley house, back in the environment where she felt able to really open up, to show her true self. Maybe this would be putting more odds on the side of her feeling able to share the great girl she was with the world, and not just with her friend/tutor.

When the task was completed, Stella headed on home. She needed to finish an assignment for her 'everything else' tutor and she also wanted to finish her cake design ahead of that afternoon. Maya watched her go, long braid swishing along, and she couldn't help but smile. Maybe she saw her like a little sister, too.

"You know, she first started showing up here on her own when she was ten?"

Maya turned to find Judd passing by with his cartload of canvases. Even after having worked with him for a while now and knowing him from when she'd been only a customer herself, she would still get that same impression running through her head. The guy wasn't a giant, six feet at the most, but something in his build and the way he spoke and carried himself… All the time she'd known Lucas she'd been teasing him, calling him Huckleberry, alluding to him like he was a cowboy, because that was what he'd seemed to her, fresh out of New York. Judd made him look like a big city guy by comparison. He had that same gentle manner to him, too, and Maya and Tilly had more than once found themselves resisting a giggle burst to see Lucas and Judd together, like they were about to have a competition of courtesy and politeness. The big joke, of course, would be that both guys would insist that the other had done better, and there would never be a clear victor.

"Who, Stella?" Maya asked.

"Oh, yeah. I was just starting out back then, and I kept seeing that little kid on her own. She was the same as she is now, always looked like she knew what she was doing and she could be left on her own, but still…" A child that small, on their own, would definitely get the attention of any person working in a store that was actually paying attention.

"No wonder everyone knows her by name," Maya smiled, and Judd tipped his head to confirm. Even knowing that she could look after herself, but maybe out of overactive maternal instincts, Maya couldn't help but picture a ten-year-old like Stella on a bus on her own and any number of ways something could happen to her. Well, that was neither here nor there, wasn't it? She wasn't ten anymore, and anyway, Maya wasn't exactly one to talk, having once been a six-year-old so bold as to climb through a stranger's window…

"Can I talk to you about something real quick?" Judd asked, all the while looking around. There were some customers going around already, not a lot, but still enough that he got this look on his face which Maya interpreted as his not wanting to be overheard.

"Where are those going?" she pointed to his cart.

The cart was led into the back of the store and, after they'd made it past the swinging doors, Judd seemed to freeze up, just a little, like he didn't know how to go about things just now. He had the distinct look of someone who had to step into the spotlight and was entirely unfamiliar and ill-equipped, so he would speak robotically, slow and searching. It would have nothing to do with the subject either, wouldn't mean that there was anything wrong. For all she knew, there could be something very good… and there was.

"Well, now, it's like this…" he finally started, and the act of starting seemed to set him right, so he nodded to himself. "Wasn't going to tell no one just yet, but Tilly said how Lucas figured her out, so I should tell you back."

"Okay?" Maya smiled, curiously. "Tell me wh… Wait," her eyes widened, and Judd's humble smile told her everything she needed to know. "Really?" she asked, remembering they were supposed to be discreet and pulling in her excitement.

"Really. It's early days though, and… She hasn't mentioned anything about her mom to you, did she?" he asked with new hesitation. She had, actually, and remembering it now, Maya understood at once how their friends had to be feeling right about now, all at once so happy to be expecting this baby but at the same time faced with the possibility that they could be setting themselves up for heartbreak.

"Whatever you guys need, you can come to us anytime, okay?" Maya told Judd, and his smile showed gratitude as much as it acknowledged that he'd assumed no less from her or Lucas. "So, it's just the two of you knowing for now, or did you tell your families already?"

Tilly's parents had split up when she was in middle school, her older brother had gone to live with their mother, while she'd stayed with their father. They'd all been a bit distant from one another for a while, but they'd been growing closer again in recent years, after her father's heart attack. Judd's father had passed away when he was just starting college, and he didn't feel comfortable leaving his mother on her own, with his brothers and sisters – two of each – all grown and moved on their own.

So, he still lived there and, as Tilly had come into the picture, she'd understood his position very well. When they'd gotten to the point where they wanted to live together, Tilly had moved in with him and his mother. The two of them had been engaged a year now, with plans to wed once they had more money put away, although maybe now the baby would make them reconsider.

"No, no one… except you two now," Judd revealed. "Tilly…"

"… wants to wait, of course," Maya nodded. Right about now, that tiny little start of a child felt as fragile as a soap bubble to them. "Does that mean, well…" Maya motioned like she wanted to hug him, to congratulate him. Was that off limits, too?

"Tilly's banking a lot on us thinking positive, so come on now," Judd opened up his arms with a smile, and Maya gave him a solid hug.

"Oh, you'll get to watch the two of us balloon up together, it'll be great. Couple of September babies."

TO BE CONTINUED

See you next week! - mooners