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

February 4th 2023

Chapter 35
We Gather On The Cusp

Wyatt had felt bad about not following them out to Arkansas. He'd been looking forward to it since before he'd moved in with them, and under normal circumstances he would of course have been along for the ride. But he really felt that Austin was where he needed to be, to be where Alicia could reach him if she needed him for anything at all, and they respected that. Marianne had been disappointed at the news that he wouldn't come, as her little sisters had been, but she knew the real reason, of course, and so she could more easily turn around and respond reasonably. This was turned into a project, as she vowed that she and her sisters would put together a travel log full of drawings, the better to tell him about how the trip had gone when they got back. He had told them that he couldn't wait to see it, and so he would, after the turn of the year.

So, off they went, the Friars, the Hunters, and the Clutterbuckets, off to join the family back in Katy's hometown. It was the first time that some of the little girls got to see the sign that proclaimed said town's famous connections, with their grandmother's and – by their connection – their mother's pictures. At least it was the first time that they saw it with more of an inkling that this was Something Special. It never got old.

"You're here! Hi!" They were greeted by the speedy exit of Caitlin Olsen from her parents' home, and the fourteen-year-old looked just on this side of overwhelmed, so many people she wanted to hug and only so many arms… She was just going to have to work her way through, from nearest to furthest, though once she reached her grandparents, it was hard to let them go.

"Hey, Wiz," Lucas grinned when he came across ten-year-old Harry Olsen. He'd hated the nickname last year, as goodhearted as it had been. This year, it didn't exactly amuse him all of a sudden, but he just took it in stride. Later, they would hear how he'd found his mother's old books over the Christmas break from school, and he had started to read them. If nothing else, he was getting to understand why it had been so important to name him what she'd named him, so he also appreciated the nickname under a new light.

"I can take that," he pointed to Marianne's bag as she came along, lugging the load with both hands.

"I'm fine, Wiz," she insisted, grinning and moving past him. Harry looked from her back to Lucas with an exasperated sigh. Now she was saying it, too, and he wasn't sure how he liked that. It was one thing when his cousin or her husband said it, but beyond that… "Come on!" Marianne called back to him, and Harry followed her inside. They'd long debated which of the kids would stay in Caitlin's room and which would go in Harry's, and it had come down to the green room girls plus Tori with him while the triplets would stay with his big sister.

Harry Olsen had no idea how often his family would look to him over the days to follow, look at him and think one specific thing that had not nearly as much to do with him specifically as he might have assumed. The fact was that they would look at him, and they would remember that he was ten years old, and because of that they would remember, they would realize… It had been ten years since the estranged family had been brought back together. Tanner and Angela Clutterbucket this year had celebrated their sixtieth wedding anniversary, which had meant another party, months ago, but ten years before that, at their fiftieth, that was when Katy and Shawn and their children had made the trip out from Texas, invited by the secret intervention of one Charlene 'Charlie' Olsen, who really wanted to meet the big sister she'd never known.

They had so much to show for those ten years, most of all the fact that they were no longer strangers to one another, that they shared their lives in such a way that they might never have been apart at all.

"This really just makes me wish he could have been here even more," Maya confessed, on the night of the thirtieth, as she watched all the kids, hers, Charlie's, those of the Clutterbuckets near and far, and the little Hunters, working together on their plans for The Big Night, the last of the year.

"I know," Lucas nodded. They had been keeping in touch with Wyatt, naturally, all the while doing their best not to come off like nosy parents… or a nosy big sister and brother-in-law. "We'll make up for it… next year…" It didn't fix everything, but she'd take it anyway. "I noticed you gave your own… contribution to the travel log."

"And you're surprised by this?" she joked.

"Not at all… I'm just wondering if I might get to give it a shot, too," he smiled back at her, making her snort. "You can critique my artistic skills."

"Oh, I would never…" she pressed a hand to her heart. He gave a skeptical nod in return, and she gave his foot a tap with her own, even as she remembered… "Hey!"

"Hey?" he asked back.

"Hey," Maya pointed at him. "You've still got that thing with my mother," she whispered. He opened his mouth, closed it.

"I do, that's true," he slowly nodded. She raised a brow, which he took to mean 'can you tell me now?' "Well…" he chuckled, and she nearly yanked him on to his feet so he'd follow her where they could talk in private.

"Where are you going?" Kacey called after them, rising up on her knees from where she sat.

"Be right back, cub," Lucas promised and left it there. Anything more and she would have followed… as would her triplets and little sisters.

It didn't seem so long ago that the idea had been presented to him to turn his book of ranch stories into a series, an idea spearheaded by Katy Hunter and Stella's mother, didn't seem so long ago that they'd gathered so excitedly to watch the premiere either. But now they'd been on the air for a handful of years and were still going strong, so much so that there had been some talk going on for a little while and more so recently. They wanted to expand the universe, as it was. Specifically, the idea was to follow Stevie Brett's character… into a spinoff.

"No way!" Maya blurted out when Lucas told her, and he shushed her even as she essentially shushed herself before going the way of expressing her excitement in deeply expressive sign language. "Is this happening for sure? Does Stevie know yet? Is this going to be at the ranch, too?"

"Yes, she knows, but she's not supposed to tell anyone either. She might have told Stephen and Daphne, same as I'm doing with you now, but they'll have to keep it quiet, too, and so will you, alright?"

"Yes, of course. I would never tell," she insisted, and his chuckle was not born of mistrust but rather of amusement at her portrayal of her own innocence.

"The news should break soon enough. I don't know a lot of the details yet, but obviously if there's a chance that they'd need to use the ranch in any way, too, then they had to go through me." Maya patted him on either shoulder at this, grinning. She so loved to tease him and call him Boss Man in times like these, but just now she chose this more… understated expression, and he appreciated it.

"Does my mother know you're telling me, or do I need to pretend like you haven't? Because she's going to wonder why I dragged you up here otherwise…" she let her hands trail off with a smirk.

"You just love to try and get me to…" he told her aloud, laughing. Now he was the one to be shushed. "Well, so long as we're up here…" he stepped closer.

"Oh?" she matched him. He moved to kiss her… then raised up to land at her forehead before opening the door. "Oh, not right. Not right," she mock glared at him and followed.

They may not have gotten a 'moment' up there that night, but the next morning, the last of the year, was another story. Afterward, as they went about dressing in the event of a sudden visit from any one of their girls, they could only look to the new year that was just hours away. Whether or not they spent this day here in Arkansas, as they'd done more often than not in the past decade, but especially when they were here, they would find it so easy, so important to stop, take a moment, and consider the year that was ending and the one about to begin.

The one ending, well… It had started with the cheating scandal at school. Five years since Lambert. The MSC musical had finally, truly hit its stride, even as Marianne went and made her debut, on the Silvan Hughes theater stage. The Hart-Lanes had moved from Tucson to Austin. Maya and Lucas had celebrated ten years of marriage as she'd celebrated just as many years of teaching, and he had been handed the keys to Sullivan Stables. There'd been the Davenport… situation… and now of course there was Wyatt and Alicia. If they were trying to balance the good and the bad, they'd say it had been a very good year on the whole. What good would it do them to dwell on the bad when they had so, so much good to hold on to?

And now the slate was about to be cleared. Brand new year, brand new opportunities.

"After the musical premieres, do you think they'll update the sign back there?" Lucas asked, stepping up behind her, putting his arm around her. Maya laughed, leaned into the hold. He wasn't ready to let go… neither was she.

"If they do, I'm going to insist they get your name on there somewhere."

"How is that going to work out, huh?" he grinned.

"Hey, you're married to me, you're a part of the family," she affirmed before taking a moment to ponder and compose. "Katy Hunter, née Clutterbucket, now produces and stars in her own very successful series, based on the work of Austin author Lucas Friar…"

"I don't know about author," he hummed, nudging at her collar with his index, the better to clear a path for him to press a kiss at her neck.

"Author, top ranked…" she breathed, then froze at a knock to their door. "Who's there?" she asked in her best mom voice.

"Mack Attack!" a chirping little voice announced.

"Ah, well…" Lucas whispered, moving back, and Maya almost had to pinch her mouth shut to keep from laughing aloud.

The days went by so fast, and then they'd be here, the town square in all its glory. It was glorious, the lights, the colors… but the part they loved best had to be watching their girls in the middle of it. They would always remember these little nuggets of time, memories of when they'd see it for the first time but also the first time that they'd really see it, and when they'd come back with anticipation in their hearts because they knew what was waiting for them. Watching them experience it all together, running and laughing with one another, as they did that night… It made the fact that they'd be leaving again in a couple of days, even if it was in order to go home, feel like something they would like to push back, even if only for a little while longer.

"Alright, time for wages," Maya tapped Lucas' arm as they looked on while Taylor led Ella in a tried and true tradition right out of the Dylan Orlando handbook. Currently, they were giving Kacey and Remy a ride, holding tightly as the girls seemed much more invested in looking at the lights and other decorations around them while their 'horses' ran along than focusing on the risk of falling down.

"What are we betting on?" Lucas asked. They both seized up, briefly, as it looked like Ella might have lost her footing, but she was alright, and Kacey never noticed a thing.

"Who's making it to midnight and who's going to snooze the year away," Maya told him.

"Ah, right," he nodded. "Well…" he looked over to where Tanner Clutterbucket sat with his two youngest great granddaughters, both of them asleep in his arms and kept warm by a blanket like a great Mackaubrey wrap.

"That means nothing, they could wake up… especially her," she indicated Mackenzie.

"Fair, but your grandfather's pretty good at keeping them sleeping, so…"

"We'll put a pin in that one then. Marianne?"

"I say she makes it. Now those three…" he looked to the two riding around and the third, looking on as she sat with Aunt Charlie. Lucy was cheering both the twins on because it wouldn't matter at all who won; either way, she'd be happy. "All or nothing," Lucas decided. "Either they all sleep or none of them does."

The triplets would all be asleep by the time everyone prepared to count down to midnight. Mackenzie remained under her great grandfather's spell, while Aubrey beat the odds. She woke up, not on purpose, no, but there she was, and as they came to the last ten seconds, she was in Ella's arms, while Marianne was sitting tall on her future brother's shoulders. They all called out the numbers along with the others, although if they listened closely to Aubrey, they'd hear how she was mostly raising a random cheer with the same excited tone as the others had, swinging her arms out all the while. It made Ella laugh so much that she struggled to keep up with the count, but then that just made Aubrey more committed to her 'countdown.'

And finally, the moment came. Zero. Midnight. It was 2038, a new year just starting. Just now, what they wanted most for it were good things for the people in their lives. They spared more than one thought for Wyatt, back in Austin, as he faced a year of monumental changes. They thought of the premiere of the MSC musical. Maya hoped for a great end of the year for her students, for her seniors especially. Lucas had great hopes for what could be in store for the ranch, with or without this spinoff. And for their girls… more new experiences, more of their budding friendships, and just more of what they'd had tonight, as sisters together and with the two of them.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners