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Prologue

Helena

I weep openly A high-pitched whi howl so, snorting every now and again Tears drench ers almost run into my mouth I’m a hot mess

When the celebrant smiles happily and utters, “I now pronounce you man and wife You may kiss the bride,” my sister, Natalie, throws her bouquet behind her Without flinching, Mi to the crowd Nat stands on her tiptoes and kisses her husband, Asher, through a sently hooks a hand around the back of her neck and holds her close, deepening the kiss and refusing to let her end it They smile lip-to-lip

It’s beautiful And so I howl I look across to thenext toup just a little I try to speak through , “Izz juzz so beautafoo” Hitch “So beautafoo”

I break down again, louder this ti down intocry I hear soet her out of here?”

Wet ether When I realize the annoyed person is lares at h for me to hear, “Seriously, shut the eff up and stop with the crying You’re bringing everyone down, skank!”

I weakly reach a hand out to her, body shaking with silent sobs and try to speak “I lubb ee look beautafoo So beautafoo” I sit up and wail, “I’m juzz happy So happy”

My sister She speaks e So when I see her eyes fill with tears and her lip quivers, I know it’s not long before this solo turns into a duet She looks at me and whispers, “A” The first of her tears fall, and before I know it, we’re clutching each other and sobbing openly, wailing, sounding so in a turf war

If you couldn’t tell, I don’t do weddings well They get ivetissues, as if somehow that’ll stop the tears, and usually, before the cake is even cut, my makeup is all over my face and my eyes are swollen shut

But today is worse Today it’s my sister’s special day Well, ot hitched in Vegas, ht, but when they got ho And aswas family

They organized another small celebration to be held in the best man, Nik, and maid of honor, Tina’s, backyard I have known Tina Toreith us Her parents and , naturally, we all developed a special bond Not quite close enough to be sisters, but too close to be called just friends

We became soul sisters

When Tina lost her hter, she left California and moved to New York She opened a very successful boutique called Safira’s, and Nat followed close behind Nik and Tina met, developed a friendship and fell in love A special kind of love One for the ages The type of love poets write about

Nik owns the club across the street from Safira, The White Rabbit And with Nik coer brother, Max, his best friend, Asher or Ghost, as the boys call hi her own posse, her worker girls, Miroups to form one And they did

They formed a family

Not all faether by love and laughter

Now, Nat and Asher, they didn’t always like each other In fact, they despised one another They fought their attraction to each other for a long tiether, they collided with a bang Literally Heads were butted Hooves were bucked It wasn’t pretty Not your typical roht any, ‘There’s a thin line between love and hate’? Well, they severed the line and the eed They realized their love for each other was too strong to ignore

And here they are, happily married I smile shakily

I can’t believe it

My sister is married

Sorip off of Nat and ushersass away I peer out of a swollen eye to findit’ll only s worse, but in a moment of confusion, her eye meets mine

We both still