A/N: [November 11th 2024]

November 11th 2023

Chapter 315
We Wake On A New Year

They'd had visitors in their bed every night over the last few days, and much of this probably went back to the shock of the Minkus news, but the more nights went by, with these visits sort of… escalating in number each time, it had started to dawn on Maya that this might have been something else, something a lot happier. When they reached full compliment in their room on the night before her birthday, she had her proof. They were all squeezed in there save for the eldest two, but even with Marianne and Shonagh on the floor near Ezra's crib, it felt to Maya that they were all there, all the better to be good and ready when the sun came up the next day.

"Mommy… Are you awake now?"

She couldn't keep the smile in, not that she'd been pretending to be asleep, but as soon as she did show the smile, it was the best invitation she could provide for the speaker – Mackenzie – to decide she was in the clear to squeeze-hug her.

"Happy birthday, happy birthday!" she spoke up now.

Whether or not any of the others were asleep didn't matter nearly as much. Thankfully, they had all been anywhere from halfway to fully awake, and the greeting was like a call to launch, the other girls piling on to get their turn at a wish, and a kiss… Maya welcomed each one with arms wide and ready. Just having them there, already, she could know that their words would come true, that she would have a happy birthday.

"Hey, where are you going? No more hugs?" she joked when they sprang away and dashed out of the room, taking their little brother along with them. "And where do you think you're going, Huckleberry, I didn't get my kiss yet," she gave him a look when he turned a grin at her. When he shrugged and went anyway, she opened her mouth to argue, then… "Oh, wait a minute…" she braced.

The rumble of feet told her she'd guessed correctly, all of two seconds before her siblings barreled into the room and pounced on her, laughing. She had no chance, not that she offered up a whole lot of resistance. Once they'd had their fill of giving their big sister all the birthday wishes she could need, they went off, promising a solid breakfast waiting for her.

"Someone ask for a kiss?" Lucas asked, returning. Maya nodded firmly and waved him back to the bed, so he came and caught her up in his arms, making her laugh once again before meeting her lips in a lingering kiss before pulling back just enough to look at her. "Happy birthday," he told her.

"Why, thank you," she beamed. "So, what's the plan?"

"Uh… You'll see," he nodded. His innocent look was just too good, and he'd let her see it, sometimes, just because he knew it would make her smile.

By now, the last week's events had managed to move from the fresh and overwhelming to just… their reality. They were coping with the loss at the ranch, and Dovey was fast becoming part of the Sullivan Stables family. And the impending Minkus divorce was… still fresh in a lot of ways, still full of questions that had not been answered yet, so it felt like there was no settling yet, not completely. They were just getting used to being stuck in that stage. It didn't matter that they were miles away from their friends, they were as close to them as they could be. They were part of their lives, all of them whether they could admit it or not performing a bit of overactive friendship. They knew where it came from, knew that they all felt like they could have prevented this if they'd done more somehow.

Farkle and Isadora knew it more than them, had pointed it out and insisted that it was not necessary, but they couldn't help themselves. They hated to think that their friends were in distress, and they needed to help in some way. They had been keeping up to date with how everyone was doing out in Dallas, which was about as much as they'd been able to do so far. Farkle and Isadora had been so focused on how their children would take the news that their own feelings didn't seem to matter as much, but they were there, and they were as complicated as approaching the end of a marriage as long as theirs had already been, the marriage and the relationship that had preceded it by years.

On Lucas' side, some of his responsibilities came in the form of asking an awkward question. Everything was happening at the same time, things were so complicated right now, but also Maya's birthday was coming, and her birthday party. If they didn't feel able to join them on that day, they would understand completely, but he also didn't want to take it as a given that the Minkus family would not be in attendance.

"Of course, we'll be there," Farkle told him when he asked. To hear him say it, Lucas had to guess that he and Isadora had already asked themselves the question. Now, he explained that they had decided that they would go, so long as Lucas didn't think they would bring down the party.

"We need you guys there," Lucas promised back. "You're part of the family," he went on, hating that in his mind he could hear himself think 'whether or not you're together.' So, they would be there, the four of them. Even though she was not supposed to know about the party, Maya got ready that morning with a look about her like she was the slightest bit on edge. This would be the first time they all saw each other since the news had been shared. She needed to see with her own eyes how they were all coping.

She wouldn't have long to wait. Farkle, Isadora, Ada, and Bertie would be the first to arrive. Seeing them walk up from their car, it felt very likely that the drive out from Dallas had been very long and very quiet. Bertie had a book in his hand, and Ada lagged behind the rest of the family, playing a game on her phone while her little brother guided her forward like someone used to the task. Farkle and Isadora had gifts in their arms, many more than felt called for on one person's birthday, even if that person was one of their oldest and best friends.

Maya and Lucas hugged their friends once Marianne and Shonagh had come to relieve the pair of their packages and carried them into the house. They were quiet for the most part, but in one another's arms, they said all they needed to say. They asked how their friends were doing, and their friends responded. They would claim they were okay, but also they were far from. Meanwhile, the children… Bertie had been very quiet since he'd been told, which was saying something, as he'd always been an introverted kid. Ada's silence was off-putting for the opposite reason. She'd always been an animated and outspoken kid, but since she'd learned of her parents' upcoming divorce, she'd been pulling away from them. She would never do so in front of them, but her parents knew that she had been crying, hiding away in her room. When she was out and about with them, it felt at times that she was in denial, or that she was trying to convince them they didn't want this, that they still belonged together, the two of them as a couple and the four of them as a family.

They had left the house early and been on the road ever since, all in an effort to be there first. They didn't want to arrive last, didn't want to drag everything to a sudden stop as everyone tried to figure out what to say to them. This day was about Maya, and they wanted to keep it that way. It was going to be awkward at times, whether they liked it or not. This was the best they could do.

The house filled out fast. Their friends arrived, the family at large… The kids united around Ada and Bertie, and while some of them didn't know what to say or do around them, there were others who could at the very least show them how to act by example. They went and climbed down the stairs into the basement, where they stayed most of the time, some of them emerging once in a while to swipe some food and bring it back below. Up above, the friends were spread out throughout the room, trying not to take too much note of the fact that Farkle and Isadora were at one end of the room and the other, forcing the rest of them to alternate from one side to the other.

It wasn't as awkward as it might have sounded. With how many of them there were, this was normal, a lot of the time, only this time it felt more deliberate than ever. For everyone's sake, they tried to keep the conversations going as they normally would, all the while giving a wide berth to the one topic none of them wanted to discuss. They had plenty to talk about at least, between jobs, and kids, and everything else going on in all their lives. The important part here was to see to it that Maya had a great party, and though she was not unaware of the unspoken distance, she was able to look past it. She recognized it as her friends doing their best to make it so that everyone wouldn't go and focus on them. When the party started to wind down, when guests started to leave, the Minkus family remained, and they remained, and they remained, until in the end, with even Maya's in-house siblings clearing out for the evening, the four of them were there, all in the same place for once.

Farkle and Isadora sat by a while as they watched their friends interact with their children. Now that he'd emerged from the basement, Lucas was able to share his pictures, and videos, and stories about Dovey with Bertie. The boy stood by his seat, looking at the screen and listening with quiet interest. Meanwhile, Ada sat by her Aunt Maya's side, head to her shoulder and looking more at peace than she'd done since they'd arrived earlier that day. She had always looked so much like her mother, but at heart she'd reminded her aunt of her father, of a small boy who loved a good turtleneck, and it was like something in her saw Maya and connected with her the way her father had done as a kid. She had a similar affinity with her aunt Riley.

When time came for the Minkus family to start back for Dallas, Maya and Lucas briefly got around to talking with Farkle and Isadora, the most open they'd been able to do it all day. They hadn't approached the big questions, but they had to know. If there was a plan for the future, if they needed any help, they wouldn't be alone. Nothing had been decided yet. As much as they had to do it, for everyone's sake, they couldn't figure out how best to take those first steps.

"Can I come here over spring break?" Ada asked Maya before she followed her parents and brother. She looked this close to tears, and Maya could imagine her now, hiding away in her room. She hugged her close.

"You can come anytime, okay?" Ada nodded into her shoulder. Maya kissed her goodbye, and she marched off, pulling her phone from her pocket, ready for the long drive back.

With the last of their guests gone, the siblings out, and the kids off to bed, it was down to the two of them in the living room. The party had been great, but they were kind of glad to finally have this time to themselves. Lucas had given her his gifts already, along with the kids, but he had one more. He'd asked Marianne if she was sure she didn't want to be there for this, seeing as she'd worked so hard on it, but she insisted that this was how she wanted this to go. The gift was for Maya, but by its nature, it would be good for Lucas, too, so they needed to experience it together, just the two of them together on the couch… mostly. The dogs had all come along to join them as he got the video up on the television screen. Haru had put his touch on it from afar, but it had been Marianne's project, with her sisters, too, and her father… even if he hadn't been allowed to see any of it up until that night, on Maya's birthday.

She didn't even have to be told that their firstborn's faraway friend had played a hand in this. His style was all in there. Later, when they would watch the whole video over a second time, she would state her opinion that the boy was turning into a great young filmmaker. Paired up with someone like their daughter and her wild imagination, now, those two could be unstoppable. Just here, they had put together this ode to Maya on her birthday, and it made her laugh, made her smile, made her cry happy tears… and all the same for Lucas, too.

"So, how did we do?" he asked when they climbed up to their room at the end of the night.

"Great birthday, well done," she smiled at him, and his satisfied little nod made her chuckle all over again.

"Wait until you see next year's," he told her, and her laughter was reined in under the memory that her next birthday would be her fortieth.

"Let's not go there yet, huh?" she suggested.

"I won't if you don't," he agreed. His fortieth was all of four months away by now.

"You're on, Huckleberry."

"Night, Mom," he touched Melinda's photo.

"Night, Gramps," Maya touched Tanner's photo, now stationed near her mother-in-law's. She'd tried not to think about it too much today, this being the first birthday she'd had without him, but he had been with her still, like an echo of his great, deep voice. She could almost feel the brush of those great whiskers under his nose. It hadn't hurt as much as she would have thought it would, and that was all thanks to the people she'd had all around her, wasn't it? So, it was just as she had told Lucas. It had been a great birthday.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners