Chapter 154
Branches New & Old

It was easy at first for them not to remember about their impromptu guest. Morning started, and for them, with a baby and two toddlers to look after, it wasn't difficult to wake up and get out of bed already thinking about them and nothing else. Maya went and collected Jamie from his crib, and Lucas let the two of them be while he went to see what Elliott and Noah were up to. It was actually thanks to them that they remembered… There was someone downstairs. Not just someone… Katy's sister. Maya's aunt. Charlie Olsen was among them, and soon Betsy Young and her family would be arriving, too. When Lucas was reminded, he went back to look into their room and found that Maya had a look on her face like she'd remembered it, too.

"Okay, guys, come on, let's go see what's going on down there," Lucas guided the boys toward the stairs, scooping Noah up in one arm as they went rather than let him double back to check in on his mother and little brother.

Elliott led the way, and he sped up on his way about half a second before Lucas and Noah caught the scent of something cooking over in the kitchen. Lucas reached out his free hand to ensure that the three and a half-year-old didn't trip and fall in his haste. Once he was off the stairs, he hurried on ahead, so Lucas put Noah back on his feet, sensing how badly he wanted to follow. He followed his sons and found just what they found. Charlie was hard at work, making breakfast. Her blond hair had been released from its knot after her time in the rain the night before, leaving it to run in waves halfway down her back. From the back, Lucas had to say, he couldn't decide if she reminded him more of Maya or Katy, which was somewhere between funny and unsettling. By the way Elliott and Noah would look at her as she turned and greeted them, they were even more confused.

"Good morning, guys!" Charlie addressed them, radiating maternal energy when faced with these two small children who were barely older and younger than her own daughter, back in Arkansas. "Are you hungry? I'm making pancakes," she revealed. The shock broke. Pancakes had that effect. The boys nodded as one. "Great!"

"If you need some assistants…" Lucas casually suggested, indicating them both to their guest. Charlie took the invitation in stride, asking the boys if they wanted to help her. They responded by moving to grab their foot stools.

"I hope you don't mind…" Charlie turned to Lucas, looked back at all she'd been doing. "I woke up, called home, and after that, I just had to do something…"

"Oh, not at all, please," Lucas assured her. "Did you sleep alright?" he asked, considering her early rise like she might have had an uncomfortable night. Maya had set her up as best she could, fishing out her favored late pregnancy pillow, which had been received with many thanks. Charlie had travelled out with little more than the clothes on her back and one bag. She'd come with a singular purpose, and she'd achieved it.

"Oh, as much as I tend to these days," Charlie explained, catching on to his train of thought. "Always been an early riser, helping my parents growing up."

"Yeah, Maya's that way, too," Lucas smiled, pointing up. "I didn't use to be, but once we got together, and lived together…"

"Sounds about right," Charlie grinned, suggesting that her husband had gone through the same 'morning adjustment.'

"We help with the pancakes now…" Elliott started to ask. The way he stopped, both Lucas and Charlie guessed that he had no idea what to call her.

"Well, technically, I'm your mom's aunt, but if you want to call me your aunt, too, I would love that," she told them, and that was good enough. From here on out, she was Aunt Charlie.

While Charlie and her assistants went about making breakfast together, Maya went on tending to Jamie. This took them from the bed over to the changing table, and just as she was picking him up to go and get him dressed, her phone rang.

"Who do you think this is, huh?" Maya softly asked her son as she carried him over to her nightstand where she picked up her phone… "Hello?"

"Maya, good morning!" She hadn't even looked to see who it was, and even after preparing for the arrival the last few days, she still got a jolt.

"Betsy, good morning to you, too," she smiled.

"Listen, I know it's early, but I figured you might be up by now. Sasha and I were just thinking about breakfast, and we wondered if maybe we could adjust our plans a little bit, share the meal." Maya's mouth fell open just a bit, releasing a noise befitting of her conflict. Betsy interpreted this as her being against the suggestion. "Or we can come as we…"

"Oh, no, that's not it," Maya quickly explained. "It's just, uh… someone already beat you getting here. Charlie's here." Now her mother's cousin was the one to make a noise of surprise. Hers sounded especially like someone who didn't know what she was supposed to say, because as much as she had it on good authority that this was the same person she was thinking of, what if it wasn't and she ended up revealing… "She showed up last night, spent the night here. My mother was there when she arrived, so she met her, too, and she told us who she was." That clarified things well enough. Betsy let out a breath.

"I should have known she would do this once I gave her your address. Maya, I… How did it go? How did Katy take the news?"

"Pretty well, I think. They talked for a while on their own before my mother headed home. She'll probably be coming back soon…" she thought aloud. Her feet carried her to the window like she expected to see her parents' minivan making its way up the road. "Look, why don't you guys just come here for breakfast? Smells like they're already working on it downstairs, I'll just tell them to make more…"

"Are you sure? We wouldn't want to…"

"More than sure. Come on over."

With the matter settled, Maya followed up this call with another, to her parents' house. She talked to her father, who confirmed that they were just getting the kids dressed and had been about to call her. She told him about Betsy being on her way and that they should do the same.

"How did it go last night, after you left?" she asked. She hadn't been able to stop thinking about her mother and what it must have been like, heading home with the knowledge that she'd had a little sister she hadn't known about all these years.

"A lot of thinking, not a lot of talking," Shawn reported. "Took a while before I could get her to come to bed, not sure how much she slept." Maya sighed. That was sort of what she'd imagined would happen.

With this expansion on their breakfast guest list, Maya headed down the stairs with Jamie. She walked into the kitchen to find that Elliott and Noah had warmed up a great deal to their new aunt. They were presently helping her prepare what looked like cinnamon rolls, and they looked completely fascinated that she was able to do this. To Maya, it just brought back memories of her mother telling her how her mother was such a great baker. It was one of those things she could see her mother latching on as something she missed about being with her own mother, because it was easier to say that than to ever suggest that she just missed her. To look at Charlie now, Maya could just about picture her learning to do all these things with her as she grew up. Katy may not have picked up on those skills beyond basic expertise, but her little sister looked like a pro at the counter.

"Uh… hey…" Maya announced herself, getting looks from her husband, their sons, and her aunt.

"Good morning!" Charlie beamed, once again shy for being found making use of her hosts' kitchen.

"We're making pancakes, Mommy," Elliott informed her.

"And wheelies!" Noah pointed to the tray that was about to be put in the oven.

"I see that," she smiled and nodded "How much of everything do we have?" she asked, passing Jamie into Lucas' arms, where he was received with goofy faces and kisses.

"Uh… All of us and your grandparents comfortably," Charlie estimated, tipping a look to Lucas to indicate the senior Friars. "A few more if no one wants seconds."

"Right. We're going to need more," Maya announced. "I can help you, while all of you go and get dressed," she told Charlie before turning to Lucas and the boys. They stared at her again. "Betsy is on her way with her family, and so are my parents and the kids."

The news shouldn't have been entirely surprising, but it still caught both Charlie and Lucas off-guard for a moment before they finally went into action. Lucas corralled the boys and guided them back up the stairs, much as they complained that they were supposed to be helping their aunt. Meanwhile Maya and her aunt went to work on preparing more food. Charlie looked just a bit frazzled at the thought of everyone being here soon. She wanted to know how Betsy had reacted when she'd found out that she was here, and Maya told her that she'd been surprised but also not surprised.

"My… impulsive reputation precedes me," Charlie gave a sheepish smile and Maya chuckled.

"I met my best friend climbing through her window when I was six, I get that impulse," she pointed out, and now Charlie was the one laughing. "Gotta be genetic, huh…"

Even without saying it, Maya's mind went to her mother, running away from home when she was fifteen, going to New York… It wasn't a totally impulsive move, she'd prepared, but she'd made up her mind, and she would not change it. She knew what that was like.

She hadn't said it, but she'd thought it, and the way silence stretched for a few seconds, she guessed Charlie had thought about it, too. She would have been raised knowing about her sister leaving, yeah? Whatever she did or didn't know, she'd come all this way on her own the moment she'd had a line to follow to get her to her sister. Finally, she broke the silence with a small smile of confidence.

"That's my Mom's side right there," she told her niece, and Maya grinned. At the same time…

Whatever image she'd been allowed to build in her head over the years, Angela Clutterbucket had always been little more than that… an image. Suddenly, through Charlie's presence, and Betsy's approach, she was a real person, a woman, a mother… whose child had disappeared. She'd been living out there in Arkansas, not knowing where her daughter was, if she was doing okay, if she was even alive, for nearly thirty years. Maya would have felt compassion for her whether she was a mother or not, but she was a mother, three times over, and small as they were right now, the idea that any of them could up and leave one day…

"You've got a great kitchen here," Charlie complimented, directing them both to a safer subject. Maya gladly took it up.

She told her aunt about how she'd taken up baking, going up to this idea of the cake business, then her junior bakers at home, which got her in position to lead the baking club at her old middle school. Charlie was quickly fascinated by all she heard. As Maya had guessed, she'd grown up baking with her mother, continued on her own once she left home and moved in with her husband. That wasn't what she did for a living though…

"Hold on, you have a music store?" Maya asked, with a renewed jolt of interest. Charlie grinned and opened her mouth to reply… only to be cut off by the doorbell. They both paused and looked at themselves. Maya was still in her PJs, while Charlie, even dried off, looked like she'd gone through a rainstorm. "Okay, we're good here, follow me, quick, quick," Maya grabbed her aunt's hand and led her out of the kitchen, up the stairs, where they nearly ran into Lucas and the boys. "You guys look great!" she beamed. "Get the door? We'll be right down… Keep an ear out for the timer!"

Lucas had done his best to get himself and the three boys dressed quickly but properly. Elliott could more or less dress himself by now, though he had a tendency to put his shirts on backwards. Noah had been watching him, so he'd been trying. His problem was currently about getting the right limbs in the right holes… and not putting two of them in the same hole… So, Lucas had helped them both at the same time before taking care of Jamie. He was at his best quiet self this morning, so he was a breeze. His brothers watched him while their father got dressed, and then it was all of them off for a round of hair care, and then… the doorbell.

After passing Maya and Charlie, with the responsibility of answering the door in their hands, Elliott and Noah both scrambled to get down the stairs as quickly as their legs would carry them. Noah decided to just get back to his 'tried and true' method: he bumped his way down on his hands and knees. It worked for him and he caught up with his big brother so that they arrived at the door together. They looked at their father and he nodded. They could open it. Elliott got to do it, as he was better able to reach, and the boys were soon presented with two women and two boys they had never met. They were expecting strangers though, so this was fine. Actually, one of them had something in her features that felt familiar, especially in the smile she gave them both upon first seeing them.

"Hi, guys! Hello! You're Maya's boys, yeah?" she asked, and at hearing their mother's name they nodded. Lucas stepped up behind them and the woman he guessed to be Betsy Young carried her smile up to him and to Jamie, who received a little wave from her. "And you'll be her husband." He nodded and extended his free hand, which she shook as they introduced themselves. "This is my wife Sasha and our boys, Dax and Miles." The ten-year-old twins had what Pappy Joe would call 'breakfast faces,' which was to say that the morning was progressing, and they hadn't had food yet, so they were getting antsy.

"Please, come in," Lucas told their guests as he indicated for the boys to step back and let them through. "Maya and Charlie will be right down," he told the women after closing the door. "Let's just head into the kitchen while we wait," he went on as he remembered the oven. "Here you go, tadpole," Lucas kissed the top of his youngest's head before setting him down in his seat. He didn't like this, going by the squeak he gave, which tended to precede his starting to cry. Lucas was already at the oven, but Sasha volunteered herself at once to pick him back up and was encouraged to go ahead.

"Hello, fella…" she smiled as he calmed in her hold. "What is it that your daddy called you, tadpole?" she asked. At once, Elliott and Noah started talking, informing her that this was his 'little name,' as they called it. They had those, too, theirs were sprout and bee! "Ah, I see," Sasha chuckled, looking from the little boys to their baby brother.

"Grandpa calls him Chewie, too," Elliott indicated Noah, who tugged his front curls down over his face and gave his best impression of his favorite character. Not only did it get laughter from Betsy and Sasha, but it grasped their sons' attention away from where they'd been ogling the food on the counter and staring in complete drooling awe of the cinnamon buns sitting in the oven. They loved Star Wars, too.

It was probably the one time where Maya was glad she'd been so busy with other things that she hadn't put away her maternity clothes just yet. There was still a selection of it in the closet and her dresser, perfect to fit her aunt. Charlie had a change of clothes in her bag, but this had not fared too well with the storm either, and it was downstairs, so she was given free range of her niece's wardrobe and went about changing while Maya dressed, too. They exchanged brief small talk about late pregnancy and the weeks and months after delivery. Maya had been through that part three times already, while Charlie was about to have her second. As she told it, her daughter had been born so suddenly. She'd been at the market, she'd started to feel something happening, only to realize it must have been going on longer than she'd known. Paramedics just didn't make it in time, and Caitlin Olsen was born in the cereal aisle, delivered by the store manager. When she heard this, Maya chuckled and pointed down.

"Jamie, kitchen floor, thunderstorm, power outage. Nearly had to have two middle school girls deliver him, but the paramedics finally arrived."

"I better have this one in a hospital," Charlie shook her head, and they both laughed.

"I don't know why I'm nervous…" Maya finally admitted, breathing out, as they moved to return downstairs.

"Oh, don't be, Betsy and Sasha are the best. When she called and told me about your call, she was so emotional, so happy, and relieved… Betsy is probably nervous, too, so just get down there. You'll be alright," Charlie promised her.

She was absolutely right, wasn't she? They went down the stairs, and as they walked into the kitchen, which was loud with four young boys talking about their favorite Star Wars things, Maya and Betsy locked eyes on one another, and it felt as though they both caught their breaths at once. Betsy stood from where she'd taken a seat at the table and walked up to her cousin's daughter, looking at her like she could see so much of the girl she'd once known, though Maya was a few years older than Betsy had ever seen Katy. On the other side, it was still sort of stunning to Maya to find herself stood before an as yet unknown relative, with familiar features, features that tied to her mother and not her birth father… Betsy half raised her arms, the recognized signal for 'can I hug you?' and Maya responded by initiating the embrace herself.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you next week! - mooners