Page 129 of Mended Hearts

Eight-thirty in the morning.

So…I counted on my fingers, palming at my face as I sat up in bed, already aware my stomach felt precarious at best. Five-thirty my time.Yikes.

I sipped my water and blinked into the cute, decked-out guest room, smiling atallthe seashells and starfish and other nautical nonsense my mother had painstakingly curated for her little Florida farmhouse. There was color coming out the yin-yang, and lord knew Juniper Rhodes thrived in all this blue and yellow and coral. Each shade would make her smile for a different reason.

The sun catcher in the window was beaded out of sea glass from Mistyvale—the familiar teals making me inhale deeply, like I could feel the chilled mist on my face.

That was the thing, though.

I might’ve grown up on the black shores of the Alaskan archipelago, but in a family this size—one that roamed as freely as ours did—homewas never a place. It was our people. Their voices now filtered up from the stairwell beside this bedroom, and a familiar warmth bloomed in my chest.

The squeal of laughter and slap of tiny feet had me opening the door with caution, just in time to see a tubby, curly-haired blonde toddler go sprinting past with her little fists raised triumphantly above her head—Paxton hot on her heels.

“Mornin’, punky,” he said, grinning as he ‘chased’ our niece down the hallway.

“Mornin’!” I chirped back, shaking my head, cheeks already aching when Pax scooped the tiny little-girl version of Rhyett into his arms. Quinn shrieked with laughter as he blew raspberries on her round belly, then tossed her over his shoulder like a sack of grain—still squealing as he tickled her legs.

“Breakfast is on the griddle,” he called.

“Nice.” I yawned, stretching my arms as I followed him down the stairs. “Morning, Quinny!”

“Hep, Kai!!!”

“I’mLeighton!” I said in mock outrage, loving the way her little eyes rounded like I’d just announced I was Santa Claus.

“Hep, Auntie!!”

“Safe bet, kid—but you’re on your own.”

My feet had barely hit the last stair when the Mom Radar activated. Juniper Rhodes turned from the stove, radiant in a flowy, sapphire-blue tie-dye sundress. Her wavy mane of blonde hair was pinned up in a claw clip, and her eyes landed on me like a heat-seeking missile.

“Mornin’, Mama.”

“Oh, sweet girl,” she cooed, like I was six instead of twenty-three. But fuck, if those open arms didn’t make my knees wobble. Okay, my chin too. Knowing settled in the crinkles around her eyes as she crossed the kitchen and wrapped me up.

“God, it’s like hugging myself,” she teased, tightening her grip. I forced a chuckle. That wasn’t the first—or the five hundredth—time she’d made that joke. We were pretty much the same height, and it was no question where I’d gotten my figure from. “I love you so much, sweet pea. Glad to have you here early.”

“Just couldn’t wait to see us, beautiful?” Rhyett’s voice floated over from the griddle where he manned the pancakes. I took two steps back. The smell of bacon on deck was not gonna settle well with my current stomach.

“Obviously,” I drawled, earning a dimpled grin. He looked exactly how he sounded these days—sun-kissed, blond, and sunshiney, with a worn baseball tee and beach dad energy.

“Hey, Leigh!” Brexley chirped from the sectional near the window, her long tan legs folded under her. She had their two-week-old baby girl cradled in her arms, happily nursing like a champ. Her bleach-blonde hair was in a top knot that definitely wasn’t from today, but her smile? Brighter than I’d ever seen it.

“Hey, Brex,” I returned with a watery smile. “How you feeling?”

“A hell of a lot better than after Quinn. Second babies are a breeze, comparatively.”

“Glad to hear it.” I smiled, but my eyes snapped to Mom’s the second she loosened her hold on me, her too-knowing gaze locking onto mine. She peeled herself from our hug and cupped my shoulders.

“Come with me. I want to show you the garden.”

“She’sseenthe garden, Juniper,” Rhyett said with a knowing smile.

“But she hasn’t seen the new nasturtiums,” she argued breezily, rolling her eyes in that way that reminded me exactly where I got my sass.

“She’s gotta see Nostradamus,” Rhyett muttered under his breath.

Fuck.That actually would be helpful right now. I didn’t say that though—just laughed as Mom gave him a smacking kiss on the cheek and passed me a mug of tea she’d already prepared. Before I knew it, she was swiping a blanket from the ladder and jerking her head toward the back door.

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