Tangled Hearts.

~Chapter 39~

~Raelyn~

~April 2nd~

Okay, let me be clear: living in the trap house was never in my life plan.

But neither was falling in love with Colby, adopting a feral six-year-old who thinks ketchup belongs on everything, or getting pregnant two and a half months after Colby spilled juice on my favorite leggings and called it foreplay.

Yet here we were.

Blake and I had only been living in the trap house for about a day. I had barely unpacked my bras, and the fridge already looked like a frat house sponsored by Costco. Colby and I shared the master, which I barely touched — except to replace a weird sword hanging above the bed with a picture of us at the beach and a polaroid of Blake smiling with barbecue sauce on his face.

The only people in the house who didn't know I was pregnant yet were Jake and Corey — which made them the only two people still walking around acting normal, drinking energy drinks like they weren't about to become uncles.

And naturally, Blake was seconds from combusting. The kid had been holding in this secret like a shaken Coke can.

I glanced at him from across the living room, where everyone was laid out after lunch. The girls had cooked — and by "cooked," I mean they tossed frozen taquitos in the air fryer and called it gourmet.

"Ready?" I mouthed to Blake.

He nodded aggressively. The kid looked like he was about to announce the apocalypse.

"Okay," I sighed dramatically, clapping my hands. "Everyone shut up for a second."

Jake, who had a chip in his mouth, paused mid-chew. Corey looked up from some random TikTok recipe that involved putting pickles in hot Cheetos.

"What now?" Corey asked. "You're not making us do dishes again, are you?"

"Nope," I said, standing up. "Blake has something to tell you two."

Blake marched across the room, stopped right in front of Jake and Corey, puffed his chest out like he was about to deliver a presidential speech, and declared:

"Mommy's making a human."

Everyone froze.

Jake blinked. "Wait—what?"

Blake held his arms up like ta-da. "She's pregnant! With a baby. Like, an actual baby. In her belly. It's in there right now. I'm gonna be a big brother."

The room exploded. Jake screamed. Corey choked on his sparkling water. Jake then looked at me like I'd just told him I was adopting a tiger.

"You're WHAT?" Jake said, standing up so fast he knocked over the Pringles can.

Colby, casually leaning against the doorframe, tossed a grape in his mouth and smirked. "Told you they'd react like this."

I held my stomach — not that there was much of one yet, unless you count the burrito from last night — and shrugged. "It's true. Baby on board. Surprise."

Jake pointed at me, then Colby, then Blake. "So let me get this straight. You two are having a baby, you knew this," he pointed at Blake, "and you moved in here just to drop this baby bomb on us after feeding us frozen taquitos?"

"Yes," I said sweetly. "Also, we need you to keep it a secret."

Corey stopped coughing. "You want us to keep this a secret? You're out of your mind. I just had an emotional experience."

"Keep it between us for now," Colby added. "Not even your parents, your barbers, or your favorite barista. Capisce?"

Jake groaned and flopped onto the couch. "You're lucky I like your kid."

Blake beamed. "I'm gonna teach the baby how to steal cookies without getting caught."

Corey sighed. "This house is going to be chaos. Like, actual chaos. There's going to be diapers. Screaming. Snot."

"Sounds like you on Taco Tuesday," Tara quipped from the corner.

Everyone laughed.

"You know what," Jake said, "I'm actually hyped. I call dibs on buying the baby their first hoodie."

"Absolutely not," I said. "I've seen how you dress."

Blake bounced over and flopped into Jake's lap. "Do you think the baby will like dinosaurs or race cars more?"

Jake raised an eyebrow. "Both. And sharks. Gotta start 'em early."

Corey looked at Colby. "How are you feeling about this? You look way too calm."

Colby shrugged. "I'm excited. Scared. Still can't believe Rae's uterus let me in."

"COLBY," I hissed, throwing a pillow at him.

Blake giggled like a demon. "What's a uterus?"

"Nope," I said, holding a hand up. "We're not having that talk until you're at least twenty."

Jake was still staring at me. "I can't believe you're gonna be a mom. You're literally still the girl who cries during dog food commercials."

"Shut up," I said, throwing another pillow. "Hormones are real, okay? And for the record, I am a mom. I adopted a ketchup gremlin off the street and called him mine!"

"I HEARD THAT!" Blake countered.

We spent the next half hour tossing around baby names—most of them terrible. Jake suggested "Pickle." Corey suggested "Blazé," with an accent. Blake suggested "Firetruck."

It was chaos.

It was perfect.

~April 5th~

The doctor's office was too clean. Like, smelled-like-sanitizer-and-expensive-insurance clean.

Colby was nervously tapping his knee. I was nervously chewing my lip. Blake was sitting in the corner with his iPad on 2% battery and a banana he had no intention of eating.

"You guys found out late March?" the doctor asked, glancing at her chart.

"Yeah," I said. "Somewhere around the 28th. It was... surprising."

"But you're feeling alright? Any symptoms?"

"Some nausea. Mostly in the mornings. Sometimes if Colby eats barbecue chips near me, I dry heave."

Colby frowned. "It was one time."

"It was a whole bag."

The doctor smiled. "Totally normal. You're about ten weeks, give or take. Want to take a look?"

She turned the screen, and suddenly there it was. A little squishy bean shape. Floating. Wiggling.

I blinked. "Is that... it?"

"That's your baby," she said.

I covered my mouth. "It looks like a gummy bear."

Colby leaned closer, and I saw his jaw clench like he was trying not to get emotional. "That's our kid?"

"Little arms, little legs," the doctor said. "Heartbeat's good. Nice and steady."

Colby reached over and squeezed my hand. "Holy shit."

"Language," I said, but my voice was cracking.

He looked at me. "We made that."

I nodded, tears threatening to spill. "That's in me. Right now."

Blake, from the corner, piped up. "Does it have a face yet?"

"Not yet," the doctor chuckled. "But soon."

Colby and I just stared at the screen, holding hands like idiots, totally quiet.

It was real.

Tiny, blurry, gummy-bear shaped... but real.