61 - Forever Friends

Before long it was time for Destiny to age up into a child.

Happy birthday Destiny!

And as Maia’s pregnancy by Riley progressed, she taught Caspian to walk, talk and use the potty.

She finished teaching Caspian his toddler skills just in time to go into labor.

It was a boy! Welcome Ryder!

Maia invited Riley over to visit with his new son.

Meanwhile, Destiny played with Caspian, and the two quickly became the best of friends, forging a bond Maia was sure would last forever.

And then Kai and Marina aged into toddlers.

While Destiny kept Caspian entertained and Riley cuddled Ryder, Maia began teaching Kai and Marina their toddler skills.

Afterwards, the three toddlers all played with their IF’s— Kai with Ripples, Marina with Bubbles and Caspian with Drizzle.

Although Maia always loved spending time with her babies, she was happy to return to work after her lengthy maternity leave and start making some progress with her fortunetelling career again.

While she was at work, Isak often came over to watch the babies when the teens were in school so Maia didn’t need to hire a babysitter.

While he was there, he always took the time to do any needed repairs around the house and give A.C.E. a tune-up.

Maia was grateful to have him to depend on, but she was concerned too. Isak had become a very good friend to her, one of the few she had in Lucky Palms, and she was worried about messing up that friendship by having a baby with him. What if their relationship turned into something more involved and heart-breaking, like it had with Aashif?

The same thing had nearly happened with Hamilton, and Maia had to admit to herself that she had been more than half in love with him until he became so possessive of her that she’d had to kick him out.

It was one thing to choose a willing father from a list or have a one night stand to further her baby task, but it seemed to Maia that every time she’d had some sort of relationship with a man meant to father a child for her, things became problematic.  Even the baby daddies whom she did consider friends that she’d managed to not fall in love with, like Braeden and Alexander, had their own agendas that had complicated her life. 

Would it be the same with Isak?

He was at her home so often now, always helping and supporting her in some way, calling to check up on her when he wasn’t, and sending her thoughtful little gifts. It was almost as if he was purposely making himself available, and Maia didn’t know what to think of that. But she couldn’t bring herself to ask Isak what his intentions and expectations were.

But maybe she could try doing a psychic reading on him and find out!

So Maia offered Isak a private reading, explaining it would be good practice for her job.  He seemed to think it was a pretty cool idea.

Maia splayed her hand across Isak’s face and concentrated as hard as she could.

She felt a sudden chill emanating from him, and an image began to form in her mind.

It was a vision of a wintry mountainous landscape; starkly beautiful, but treacherous and bitterly cold. The impression that engulfed Maia was one of emptiness and pain.

Maia cried out, abruptly cringing back from Isak and the burning cold she felt in her palm.

“What’s wrong?” Isak asked with concern. “What did you see?”

Maia reluctantly explained the impression that she had received from touching him and her interpretation of it, the bleak and lonely future she felt that awaited her due to her involvement with him. “Having you in my life will lead to nothing but me feeling even more alone than I already do!” Maia said despairingly.

“I don’t understand!  I have only ever tried to help you.  Maia, I’d never do anything to hurt you; I thought we were friends!”

“We are, and that’s the problem!” Maia sobbed.

Slowly and patiently, Isak managed to coax Maia to speak so he could get to the root of her fears, until he thought he finally understood. 

Maia craved love so deeply, but her challenge wasn’t likely to allow her to ever have it. After everything she’d gone through so far in her loveless or short-lived romantic relationships, and believing her future could only hold more of the same, Isak couldn’t blame Maia for feeling as lonely and confused as she did. But how could he convince her he meant her nothing but good? He could only try.

“Maia, that vision you saw—it has nothing to do with my feelings or intentions towards you. The image you described is a real place; it’s called Aurora Skies and it’s where I used to live before I moved here to Lucky Palms. It is a beautiful town, but living there has been difficult ever since... Well, that’s not important now. But what is important is that you're my friend and I care very much about you. If that means I don’t father children for your task in order to make things less difficult for you, then I’m okay with that. If you choose to have children with me for your challenge, then I’ll help keep things strictly platonic between us afterwards so as not to cause you any more pain. But I promise you, no matter what you decide, I will always do whatever I can to help you, and I will always be your friend.”

Maia didn’t know what to say.  For starters, she wasn’t exactly thrilled that her reading for Isak had been so off the mark. As for the rest, part of her was glad that Isak offered her a friendship without complications even if they had children together. And yet she couldn’t help but feel disappointed that this would be just one more relationship where there could be no romantic love. She knew—really, she did—that there was no hope of her having that while she still had her task to perform, but that didn’t stop her from wanting it. But having someone who would be a friend to her forever would be almost as good. Almost.

Maia agreed to consider everything Isak said before she made her decision, and he promised to give her as much time as she needed to make it.

Time passed, and soon there were more birthdays to celebrate. Maia still felt discouraged, but she was determined to pull herself together and make her children’s parties the joyful occasions they should be.

Happy birthday Caspian!

The triplets and their IF’s were also ready to age up as well.

Happy birthday Quinn!

Happy birthday Rhys!

Happy birthday Sierra!

Happy birthday Nickels!

Happy birthday Pickles!

Happy birthday Tickles!

Then it was time for another graduation.  All the kids did extremely well in their classes and Sierra was named class valedictorian.

Quinn was planning on becoming a singer, while Nickels wanted to be a busker and do street performances for tips with all the various instruments he had learned to play. Rhys decided to pursue a martial arts career. Pickles planned to be a culinary librarian, and possibly write a book or two of his own and share all his grilling techniques.  Sierra had enrolled in culinary school in order to become a chef, and Tickles intended to pursue her dream of writing books for children.

And then it was time for them to go. Maia hugged each of them goodbye, and as she did she had that same feeling of foreboding she’d had when the twins had moved out to begin their own lives. But she knew she was still very inexperienced with fortunetelling, as evidenced by her reading with Isak. Her children would likely have some difficulties now and again like everyone did, so Maia figured she was just picking up on some minor things. And it wasn’t like she had the sense that anything horrible was going to happen to any of them. She was probably just being a worried mother who wasn’t ready for her children to leave, like always.

The next day, Isak came over to give A.C.E. his tune-up while Maia was busy in the lab stocking up on metamorphium potions.

When he’d finished with A.C.E., Isak bid her goodnight and turned to leave, but Maia put her hand on his shoulder, stopping him.

“No matter what, we’ll always be friends, right?”

“No matter what.”

“Then be my friend and help me move forward with what I need to do.”

And so, Isak led Maia into the bot machine to help her further her task.

Afterwards, Isak asked, “Do you want me to stay?”

But as tempting as the idea of the comfort that he offered was, Maia declined.  “No, I don’t think I could handle the intimacy that would bring.  I think that was part of the problem with Aashif and Hamilton, and why things became so much harder for me when it came time to move on. I guess it’s good that I understand that now.”

“I suppose,” Isak said. “It doesn’t make things easier though, does it?”

“No,” Maia sighed.  “It really doesn’t. But I suppose I should focus on the fact that I will be further along in my challenge very soon.”

“Maybe so. And the sooner you complete your challenge, the sooner you’ll be ready to seek that Great Love that you’ve been wanting for so long, waiting just for you.”

Maia had to agree that her friend was right. “But do you really think my soulmate out there somewhere, waiting for me?”

“I do. And no one will be happier for you than I when you finally find him.”

And that’s when Maia began to believe that Isak was indeed her wonderful, forever friend.