February 8th 2023

Chapter 39
We Greet With Celebration

She had been a parent long enough by now to know better than to expect quiet and peace for very long on the morning of her birthday. She'd be able to count on Lucas for a bit of that when they'd wake up ahead of the kids, though that in itself was by no means a given. Some years, they'd be sneaky enough to precede alarm clocks or internal clocks, though there she had been known to only let them think that they'd taken her unawares. And that was kind of her favorite.

On the morning of her thirty-sixth birthday, Maya was awakened by some visitors, completely and freely admitted as such. But these were not her children, no.

She had no recollection of what she'd been dreaming about, only that she had been dreaming, she was sure of it, as sure as she was that it had been a really good one. It all ended, like a balloon popped out of existence, when she was 'buried' under the sudden presence of bodies and voices. She was startled, but soon she caught the words 'happy birthday,' and she saw the faces, two brunettes, two blondes… two identical, two not… Four little Hunters beaming down on her.

"Well, I can guess who let you in…" she breathed, also noticing that Lucas was nowhere to be found. Finally, she smiled, no longer so startled. Now, she could bask in the presence of these four, in how glad she was to have them be the first thing she saw on that morning. "Come here," she caught her youngest Hunter and got as good of hugs as she gave, plus extra once the other three fell in, too.

"We thought it was time that we returned the favor for all the times when you surprised us," Gracie smiled.

"Lucas talked us out of tossing a bunch of glitter on you," Nellie added, and both she and MJ gave expressions to suggest how big of a bummer they thought that was.

"Well, hey, this is good, too," Maya told them.

"Oh, I know," MJ sat up and tapped his fellow invaders' arms. "Come and give me a hand. I know what else we can make it rain…"

For about a minute, and a hilarious one at that, her siblings made it rain daughters as they ran back and forth between the two rooms, bringing the girls one by one and plopping them on the bed. They must have been told to wait their turn, or else they would have for sure dashed in on their own. Either that, or the promise of being 'flown' to her had been enough to leave them giddily patient. And when that promise was held, they would be carried over, from little Aubrey up to tall Marianne – by Haley and MJ respectively – over to land with their mother, the better to wish her a happy birthday. The fact was, of course, that their very presence in that moment would guarantee that their wish came true.

"Group hug! Group! Group hug!" Mackenzie shouted, rising on the mattress, ready to pounce, before Gracie caught hold of her. The toddler couldn't help herself; as soon as she'd learned that such a command existed when she so loved being in the middle of a mess of an embrace with her family, she'd been hooked. It was her new favorite thing, and it helped that it was something they could all get plenty enthusiastic about, too.

"Daddy's not here," Lucy reminded them.

"Let's get him!" Remy called, and a mass chase began, taking all the little Friars along with their younger aunt and uncle, who promised to ensure no one fell down the stairs in their haste to procure one father for group hugging. This would likely lead to a similar hunt for one Uncle Wy.

"Oh, hey, sure, go and leave me like this," Maya called after them. "It's not like it's my birthday or anything!" In response, Nellie and Gracie – the only others left – looked at each other with a snicker and sped up to lie on either side of their older sister/teacher and pull her down with them. "Hey!" Maya reacted, surprised, but then she was in a three-person hug with these two, her Sunny sister and her Mouse-Mouse, and that made her so deeply happy. She gave each one a kiss in turn, one forehead and another. "I love you guys."

"We know," Nellie smiled.

"We love you, too," Gracie looked at her, that great open smile in her feeling like she could still have been the small girl she used to talk to most mornings over the computer, back when she went to college in Houston.

She'd been thinking about those days a lot lately, about her life away from her younger siblings. It wasn't as though she could have helped it, could she? The Harts, eventually the Hart-Lanes, were one thing. The circumstances of their family tree were what they were, and they had all worked so hard to make up for lost time. Today, as had been the case for… twelve years already, she'd hosted four of them through their college years, as she now did with a fifth, and whether she'd do so with a sixth out of the seven, well, they'd have to wait a few more years to see. She'd have grown up across the lane from her over that time, something none of the others had gotten to do.

Now, with the Hunters… She'd still been at home when the twins were born, they'd lived together for the first two years of these girls' lives… which felt like next to nothing now, sixteen and a half years later. Nellie and Gracie always said that they had these impressions, that they knew she'd lived with them, not just from stories, pictures, videos… But it was all they had, which was already more than what either MJ or Haley had; she'd been gone by the time they came around, so they'd never lived together at all. They might have done… if she'd been younger, much younger, and that was always the issue with them, wasn't it? Lost time, lost opportunities, whereas now… now they had the means to make time, to create opportunities. They couldn't change the past, no, but the future was wide open. Now through the Hart-Lanes, they had something like a roadmap of where to start.

Was the prospect of having herself and Lucas, six daughters, a brother, possibly Alicia and the baby, and two sisters living together – not to mention the dogs – just a bit daunting? Oh, absolutely, and frankly more than just a bit. But did that mean she would ever consider turning the twins away? Not for a second, The moment they had all started considering the possibility of doing as the Hart-Lanes had done over their college years, Maya had felt a pull, a need for it to be so. She wouldn't explain it in so many words to her sisters, wouldn't want to influence their eventual choices. If they hadn't known, then Lucas definitely had. He could definitely have taken issue with the increase of residents, but he hadn't, not at all, and she was as ever grateful to him for it. She supposed this had just been their way of life, all the way back to the Houston days, to times when they had opened their doors to friends and family in the past.

And now they knew for certain: Nellie and Gracie Hunter would be college freshmen in the fall of 2038 in their hometown of Austin, Texas, and they would share the currently vacant room on the second floor of the Friar house, across the hall from Wyatt. The news in itself was dropped right there and then, sandwiching their big sister and future host on the morning of her birthday. It was about the best present she could have asked for, and she told Nellie and Gracie as much as she held them close, and they held her in turn.

"We know," Nellie sighed emphatically. "We're great, huh?" Gracie laughed as Maya nodded and kissed them both again. "You're not going to cry, are you?"

"She already is," Gracie noted, and Nellie locked to confirm this.

"Am not," Maya 'complained,' as though she could hide that, yes, she was (happily, so happily) crying. The hugs redoubled, as did the laughing.

That was how the others found them, as Lucas and Wyatt were brought over, the better to make this a proper group hug for the 'birthday mommy' as Kacey called her. There was some protest that some other people needed to be in on this, especially Ella, and Tori… This was as good as it was going to get for today though; the others would all be there the next day, for her actual birthday party. For now, it was Friday, and it would be a busy one. Never mind the fact that they all had work, and school, but that evening there was a show for TXNY and their junior band to play…

It had been pure coincidence that they had been booked on her birthday. The date had been presented to them, and the rest of the band had tried to say that it didn't have to be that day, that she should get to have that night to herself, but Maya had seen it the other way. She wanted to spend the evening of her thirty-sixth birthday on a stage, feeling the old thrill of making music with her friends.

Tonight, as they had done since officially inducting the new member of their junior band, TXNY would be joined on stage by the members of the Hexes. It had not been Ash's request that they should retire the We Are Sisters name. They would not have made them do it as condition to their joining. As it was, they were acting as much as a member of the band as they were subbing in on both bands, for Rosa on one side and Cara on the other. But their new bandmates had put it this way: they wanted Ash to feel part of the band, 100%, because that was what they were. Would they feel they were more under the banner of 'We Are Sisters,' or something less… gendered? There was no hiding the truth there, and after a very short brainstorming session, the Hexes were born. It gave a nod to their origins as well as their old name had done, and they couldn't wait to share it with their growing following.

The response had been roughly what they'd expected, and everyone had focused on the largely positive response to the addition and rebranding. They looked forward to seeing the fans of both bands, who had fully embraced the combined logo, crossing TXNY and Hexes via their shared X. T-shirts, stickers, posters… They'd seen them all.

It was the perfect way to ring in the day, after that wake up from her siblings and daughters, and after a day where many of her students wasted no chance to make her day every time they could. What made it go just right over the edge was that they actually managed to surprise her. There she'd been, playing her guitar and singing along with her student and temporary bandmate, when she started to spot them out in the audience. Siblings, nieces and nephews, friends, parents, and grandparents, either hers, as gained in marriage, cousins, some students past and present… Ella and Tori, her big girl and her grandbaby… It was a wonder she didn't break outright, but she definitely laughed through her singing, which made the audience laugh with her and the band before they could overtake her and Ash for a round of Happy Birthday.

"If I could draw half as good as you, I'd want to do this one here," Lucas later showed Maya the picture he'd taken of her face the moment she'd started seeing everyone out there, and again when they'd started to sing. Maya beamed, leaned to him. She'd love to see this art, anytime.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners