It had been longer than anticipated for the little bachelorette party the girls had planned for me, and now there was a new girl in the family. Little Aurora Ferrari, Kiara and Vidal's baby girl. I would always hold the memory of helping Kiara with her delivery so close to my heart. Delivering that angel into the world was one of the most incredible experiences I'd ever had in my life.

Lily was so fascinated by Aurora. She loved her red hair. She was the calmest baby I think I'd ever come across. I had barely seen her cry in her entire two weeks of living. Now we were going to the mansion for the bachelorette party. It would be Kiara's first little trip off the island since they went there with Aurora as a newborn. Vidal was going to take care of his daughter for the day, that day, and Kiara would get a little break.

I was getting ready, and then Lily bounced into the room, still not dressed to match me like she'd wanted.

"Mommy, I like your dress." Lily said.

"You do?" I asked, picking my Angel up and placing her on the vanity.

"Yeah." Lily nodded.

"Well then how come you're not wearing the identical one that Daddy bought you?" I asked her, tapping her little nose. "We have a party to go to."

"Uhm, because I want to be with you right now, Mommy." She told me.

"Aw, my baby." I smiled, kneeling down and kissing my baby on her little cheeks.

"Are my girls ready yet?" Gabe said as he walked in.

"One of them is almost ready." I laughed.

"Daddy, can we walk?" Lily asked.

"Yes, we can walk there." Gabe smiled, kissing Lily on her forehead.

"I love you guys." Lily said with a smile on her face.

Gabe and I smiled at each other and knelt down to her level.

"We love you too, Strawberry." We both said, each of us occupying one cheek and planting kisses all over her little cheeks.

Her happy giggled filled the room and we ended up just showering our daughter with love for another little while. I could tell she needed a little more love that day.

After that, we got our little princess dressed and ready for the girl's night we were having. James was coming with us for the walk to the mansion and then Gabe was taking him for his check up at the vet.

When we all arrived at the mansion, Lily ran towards her Nana and sat in her lap. During our time on the island last week, her Nana became one of her favourite people.

Lily was horrible with people, but these people didn't care how awkward or scared she was and she realized that and got used to all of them. She loved Sophie which was amazing because they could relate. She loved sitting beside Kiara and feeling her belly when the baby kicked, but now that the baby had arrived, her new fascination was asking about Aurora and if her hair grew longer or changed colour.

My girl was getting used to everyone and she knew that as soon as she felt even the slightest bit nervous, she could come sit with me and cuddle. My little baby was growing into a happy little girl. I was so excited to see how this little one grew into a perfect young woman, living a life that made her happy and finding love like I had.

Each girl in our family had a special spot in Lily's heart. Each of them were special for different reasons. Lily found Juliet comforting. She thought the twins were cute. She thought Ari was an older version of her. After all, they did have very similar features except for those cute freckles that Ari had. She said Sophie was the one who understood her. Which made lots of sense given their pasts.

Her Nana was the most gentle lady in all of the lands, she said that Auntie Isabella was the prettiest lady and she was the boss of everyone. She thought Rosalie was the cutest lady ever, and the best as giving cuddles. Nora was her best friend, and Mabel was just the funniest person alive and definitely the one that brought life to everything. And that boosted Mabel's large ego more than necessary.

She one of the most special girls was Hazel, because she was apparently the sunshine of the family. And Em was the strongest lady of all, she was the one who protected everyone. Then she said Kiara was like the jewel that everyone loved and wanted to protect, so everyone stayed together because of her.

They all melted when she started listing these things out. Then Mabel decided it was time to bring life to our party.

"Let's get this party started, come on, people!" Mabel laughed, getting up and turning on some music.

She grabbed Eleanor and they started dancing together, making Lily giggle.

I knew Mabel was very happy about how things had turned out for her with Theo. She was starting work at the same school as Gabe in the fall so she was all set to move to Vancouver officially. I was excited for her to settle down here with us. Her parents were very happy about her engagement. But her family was never as close as this one. Her parents had a different vision for their family life than we did. Her parents were the kind that wouldn't mind Mabel not keeping in touch unless something important happened. It wasn't bad, it was just that they were happy to let her go live her own independent life.

Mabel was more into the close family vibe that was going on here and she was happy to join us all in our insanity. Mabel and Theo were dying to have kids. It was in their plan to have kids soon after they got married. Theo was worried that it might not work though. His fertility was most likely compromised.

Poor Theo had a hard life. He was always ready for something to go wrong just because that's what life had taught him. First his girlfriend had to move away and then he got diagnosed with cancer and then Evan who he was really close to, had some issues and they all had to drag him out of it. By the time Evan recovered, his life was able to settle for a while, but then Arabella met Micah. Soon after they were introduced to him, Ari had that accident and fell into the coma. It was just one bad thing after the other for poor Theo. So I hoped that the fertility issues because of his cancer treatment wasn't something that bugged them too much when they tried to have kids.

I was also excited for Juliet. She'd had a really hard life. She was so young but life really hit her hard and forced her to grow up faster than she ever should've. Luckily, Eleanor was quite the extrovert and she didn't have any problem with being looked after by her aunts and uncles. So Romeo had the chance to help Juliet make up for all the fun she'd missed. She was a really wise person, and she gave the best advice.

"Hey, May and..." I couldn't help it, I started laughing before I finished my sentence.

"What?" Mabel laughed.

"May and July!" I laughed.

"Oh, shut up." Juliet laughed, understanding that I was referring to her as July and Mabel was May.

"Where's June?" Ari laughed.

Mabel rolled her eyes and plopped down beside me.

"What's up?" She asked me.

"I was wondering when you guys were planning your weddings for and what kind of weddings you were going for." I said.

"I don't know. I just want to get married honestly. I just want a family wedding." Mabel shrugged.

"Same here. There's no one other than the family that I'd invite." Julie said.

"Do you guys want to.... get married together?" I asked them.

"We can invite your parents, May, then it'll be all three of you getting married on the same day. I don't think the guys would mind!" Rosie cheered, seeming excited about it.

"That's actually an amazing idea!" Julie smiled, plopping down beside me.

"Can we please do that?!" Mabel asked, turning to Em.

"Ok.... Three wedding dresses instead of one, I guess." Aunt Em smiled.

"And I'll help." Rosie smiled, snuggling into Em's arms. Em was really just the perfect mother for Rosie. Rosalie needed a mother, she hadn't ever really had one until Em, and it was all just perfect.

"Rosie... you don't mind?" I asked her.

"What?" Rosie asked.

"You won't mind us getting married and not waiting for you?" I asked her.

"Goodness, of course not!" Rosie chuckled. "Evan and I aren't there yet... we have some things we've got to get through still. I love that man with all my heart, but we haven't even had our first date yet."

"Are you serious?" Ari asked, facepalming.

"I'm serious." Rosie laughed. "But it's ok. I've still got stuff to like.... Get through."

I held out my arms for a hug from Rosie and she came over and hugged me tightly.

"I love you, Rosie." Lily whispered.

"Oh, baby." Rosie smiled, hugging Lily as well.

"Can I stay with Rosie and Evie?" Lily asked me.

"Of course. You can stay with Rosie and Evie on the wedding night. Or you can stay with your Nanas and Papas, it's up to you." I told her.

"Eleanor, do you want to join too?" Rosie asked.

"Yeah!" Eleanor giggled. "Then I can tease uncle Evie and make him turn pink!"

We all burst out laughing, knowing that Evan turned red really easily.

"Three brides?!" Ari giggled.

"Yup!" Mabel squealed. "I can't wait!"

"Wait... come here, Haze." I heard Sophie whisper in the corner, dragging Hazel out of the room by her legs as if Hazel was a dead body. It seemed no one else noticed them.

"Mommy, did you see what auntie did?" Lily asked me with a little gasp, seeming to have seem them as well.

"They're crazy." I chuckled with a nod.

"What're they doing?" Lily asked me.

"I don't know." I laughed.

"Alright, wedding dresses." Em said. "I'll go get all the fabric."

On her way out of the room, I saw Sophie grab her and pull her in another direction.

Then they eventually came back and all three of them seemed excited.

"So.... Us three are planning the wedding... can we have the freedom to do crazy things?" Hazel asked.

I laughed and looked at my fellow brides who nodded their heads.

"Sure, what did you have in mind?" I asked.

Sophie clamped her hands over Hazel and Em's mouths and smiled.

"Something.... Normal." She laughed, basically proving to everyone that this wedding was anything but normal.

We all laughed at Sophie because she seemed to be the most excited.

"This is going to be amazing!" Sophie giggled, bouncing up and down.

"Tell me." Lucie insisted, waving her daughter over.

Sophie told her mother what she was planning and Lucie got super excited.

"Lily is going to come with Nana and Papa, right?" Her Nana asked her.

"Yeah. Can we have lots of cuddles?" Lily asked.

"Yup, and chocolate strawberries too." Lucie told her.

"Yay!" My baby giggled.

"Does Papa kiss you too much?" Lily asked, her excitement pausing.

We all chuckled and they turned to me asking me to stop traumatizing my daughter with all the kissing Gabe and I were doing.

"Nora can come with Nana Bella and Papa Teo." Auntie Isabella smiled.

Nora giggled and nodded, bouncing up and down.

"Mommy and Daddy are gonna be married!" Nora giggled.

The little ones were really happy about our wedding.

"Who wants to take my babies?" Ari asked.

"Evan and Rosie can! Since we're not going to be doing what the rest of you will be." Rosie said with a laugh.

"Oh, God." Mabel and I said, turning red.

"I'm the youngest but most mature, I see." Juliet said.

"Are you really the youngest?" Rosie asked.

"Yeah, I'm twenty one, Kiara's twenty three and You and Ari are twenty four... then Mabel who's twenty seven and Ava is twenty eight." Juliet said.

"You're twenty one?!" Rosie said in shock, her eyes flickering towards Eleanor.

"Come here." Juliet said, taking Rosie's hand and pulling her aside to talk.

Juliet had only been sixteen when she was forced to marry a random man and the way Eleanor was conceived was not at all consensual. But Juliet didn't like to think of it that way, she made excuses for her ex husband, but only to spare her own feelings about the matter. She didn't want to admit to herself that what happened was a lot more serious than she makes it seem.

Her and Romeo had that figured out though. Romeo was so perfect for her in so many ways. The way he made up for everything she'd been through, the way he gave her everything she missed out on because of the greed her parents were controlled by. He was going to be the best husband, I was happy for them.

"Hey, Ava." Mabel whispered, nudging me as Em walked in with all the fabric for our wedding dresses.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"You haven't ever... done that... right?" She asked me.

"No, I'm new to that level of intimacy." I said, turning red.

"I'm kinda nervous." Mabel said.

"Me too... but like... I've always been that way." I shrugged.

"Nervous?" She asked me.

"Yeah... I tend to be insecure." I chuckled.

"Ava, have you lost your mind.... You of all girls is the insecure one? I'd kill for that body." She said, nudging me.

"Says the girl with the perfect curves." I said, rolling my eyes.

"Ava, can I ask you a question?" She asked me.

"Yeah." I nodded.

"Does Gabriel love you because of your body?" She asked me.

"No..." I said.

"He loves you because you're a highly motivated, determined, successful, intelligent, amazing woman!" Mabel said to me.

"Aw, thanks.... But he wouldn't like me if I initially wasn't pretty... because he wouldn't have even talked to me." I said.

"But you are gorgeous! He thinks your gorgeous. Nothing about your body could possibly be underwhelming to him, ok? Men literally like anything female. He loves you and he wants to have sex with you because of the love he feels for you, not because your body looks a certain way." She told me.

"You're right." I nodded. "But like... what if I embarrass myself."

"Embarrass yourself? How? By making too much noise?" She asked me, making me turn red and push her off the couch.

She laughed and got back up to sit beside me.

"I'm serious. But anyway, there really is no reason to be nervous." She told me.

"Says the person who just told me they were nervous like two minutes ago." I laughed.

"Ok yeah, but... I was really nervous when I flew out here for Theo's birthday... it was a happy, excited kind of nervous.... Same with this." She explained.

"We'll be fine." I concluded.

"We will be." Mabel nodded. "And remember to moan."

I melted in my spot on the couch and hid my red face.

"Stop!" I said.

"Ok, ok, I'm done." She said. "Actually one last thing, don't be too loud. I don't think your neighbours will want to hear you."

"Go, go, go! Go away!" I said, kicking her away.

She laughed as she scrambled away from me.

Then we started designing all our dresses, including the girls who weren't getting married. My favourite thing about that evening was having Lily run around and get used to all the girls. She knew she was safe with them, so things were fine. She hadn't had any panic attacks ever since the first one, which was good. It seemed there were just some things that triggered her.