Tangled Hearts.

~Chapter 67~

~Raelyn~

~June 1st 2024~

The first thing I heard on the morning of my wedding wasn't birds chirping or soft music.

It was screaming.

Girl screaming.

Followed by baby babbling.

And then more screaming.

I groaned, flopping onto my side in the giant bed of the girls' cabin. The silk sheets rustled underneath me, cool against my bare legs. My eyes cracked open to see a tuft of dark curls bobbing over the edge of the mattress. A second later, Aspen's face popped up.

"Buh!" she squealed triumphantly, like she'd found me.

"Hi, Bean," I whispered, voice still crusty. I scooped her up and nuzzled my face into her neck. She smelled like lotion and baby shampoo and faintly like bagel. How?

Then another scream echoed down the hall. Probably Gigi losing her mind over her hair being brushed again. Or Daisy knocking over someone's mimosa. Or Isa threatening to burn the cabin down if someone didn't give her the flat iron.

You know. The usual.

I changed Aspen into her little daisy-print onesie—yes, I was that mom—and carried her to the kitchen, where chaos was already peaking. Devyn was sitting at the counter with her makeup kit exploded in front of her. Kalani was behind her, wrist-deep in curling wand wires, muttering something about burning someone's ears off. Tara had just burst in from outside, completely winded, hair sticking to po her face.

"Bagels. I have bagels." She wheezed, then shouted, "I HAVE COFFEE."

"I would marry you if I weren't already getting married," I said dramatically, snatching one of the lattes like it was the last sip of air in the world. "You are a godsend. No. You're a god. End of sentence."

Tara slammed a brown paper bag onto the counter like she'd just won *Top Chef*. "I also got hash browns. Because I love you. And because Isa would've strangled me if I didn't."

"I threatened to lock her out of the cabin," Isa called from the hallway, her voice muffled but full of menace. "She's lucky."

Isa swept in then, dragging Daisy by the hand and glaring at Gigi, who was sobbing dramatically on the couch over a hairbrush. I couldn't blame her. That thing looked like a medieval torture device.

"Kalani, I swear to God, your child has more hair than I've ever seen on a six-month-old in my life," Isa groaned referring to Daisy. Aspen squealed in my arms as Devyn booped her nose. "She yanked the baby brush out of my hand and tried to EAT it."

"She's determined," Kalani said proudly.

"She's unhinged," Isa corrected, then kissed Aspen on the forehead.

While I sipped my latte like it was intravenous, Katrina came barreling in with her steamer, frantically waving a green satin dress. "Who crumpled the bridesmaid dresses like tissue paper? I swear to God, I just ironed these last night—Devyn, did you use this dress as a napkin?"

Devyn didn't even look up. "I *dabbed*. There's a difference."

"YOU USED A \$200 DRESS TO DAB—"

"Girls," Lesa said gently, emerging like an angel of calm from behind the kitchen island. "Maybe let's not scream right next to the bride's head, hmm?"

Mom stepped in, her own soft pink robe tied with militant precision, a steaming cup of tea in hand. "Everyone, take a breath. Or two. Or seven. Raelyn, sit. Eat something before you pass out halfway down the aisle."