Charlotte
Our beautiful farmhousehas been turned into a busy wedding venue. No matter how simple we said we wanted our wedding to be, the decorations and guest list spiraled out of control.
This morning, Trinity, Serena, and Mercy turned our bedroom into my bridal suit. Marcel was sent packing to Carter’s loft to get ready.
Serena has me perched on a bench in the nook of our bay window where she said she had perfect natural lighting to work with. I can’t help my gaze from straying to all the activity going on outside.
“Look up, Charlotte,” Serena reminds me.
She dabs and pats something cool but sticky all around my eyes. There’s a soft clickety-clack and she snaps open a plastic box full of tiny colorful rhinestones.
“What are you doing to me?”
“Trust the process, Charlotte,” she murmurs, carefully selecting a stone and placing it on the tip of some metal poke-y-looking device.
I close my eyes and let her have her way with my face. I’ve never seen her makeup looking anything less than flawless so hopefully she can recreate the same magic for me.
“Thank you so much, Serena. I know the timing is, uh, precarious.” I nod to her still-dainty baby bump. The woman’s due to give birth soon and somehow managed to maintain her cute, earth mother pregnant silhouette, while I already feel like a circus bear.
“Not yet.” She presses her hand to her stomach. “He’s still got some baking to do. And Gray hasn’t finished the nursery.”
“Yikes. We haven’t even gotten started on a nursery yet.” I glance at our bedroom door. Twins mean we’re going to need more room.
“I hope my brother appreciates all the effort,” Heidi says from the couch where she’s nursing the newest member of the family. “All he’s doing is showering, maybe running a comb through his hair, and getting dressed.”
Mercy bites her lip and closes her eyes. “And he’ll look damn fine doing it.”
“That he will,” I agree.
“There. Perfect.” Serena stands back and studies my face.
“Wow,” Mercy breathes out, the two of them studying me like I’m a butterfly pinned to velvet. Makes sense. My stomach won’t stop fluttering like a thousand butterflies turned loose. “Now that’s a glam wedding look,” Mercy pronounces.
Serena finally lets me turn and look in the lighted mirror.
“Oh my God.” Gone are the circles under my eyes. Serena managed to give me an almost ethereal glow. Above a set of fluffy false lashes glued to my eyelids, a row of tiny clear rhinestones line my lashes, sweeping into a glittering but elegant wing. “It’s beautiful. Thank you.”
“You’re beautiful,” she says softly. “Congratulations, Charlotte.”
“Thank you.”
“Let’s get started on your hair,” Swan says, hefting a big black kit onto the window seat.
Someone knocks on the bedroom door.
“Who is it?” Mercy yells.
“Just me.” Shelby quickly opens the door a crack. “Are ya decent?”
“More or less.” I wave her inside with a flick of my wrist.
“Your brother’s downstairs, fixin’ to give ya something,” she says.
“Give me something?”
Shelby shrugs. “I didn’t ask.”
“I’ll text him and tell him to come up when I’m done with your hair,” Swan promises. She pulls out her phone and quickly taps out a message, then shoves it in her pocket. “What do you think about sweeping some of your hair back, so we can show off your pretty eyes, but leaving the rest long, loose, and curly?”