The beach house in Cousins was never just a house. It was a refuge, a constant, a place where summers seemed suspended in a bubble of time that never ended. Every year, with the arrival of June, its doors would open and the rooms would once again fill with the same voices, the same laughter, the same traditions. Cousins was family, even for those who didn’t share the same last name.

At the heart of this tradition were three inseparable women: Susannah, Laurel, and Olivia. Each brought along her own children and together they formed an extended family that went far beyond blood ties. The husbands? They barely showed up, usually only around the Fourth of July, staying for just a couple of days — enough for a barbecue and a few pictures — before leaving again. The mothers were the true guardians of that world.

The kids had grown up together, year after year. Conrad, Susannah’s eldest son, was eighteen: serious, thoughtful, with that older-brother air that made him seem grown up in everyone’s eyes. His brother Jeremiah, seventeen, was the opposite: sunny, generous, always with a joke ready, able to lighten any moment. Then there was Steven, Jeremiah’s peer, Laurel’s son: sarcastic, protective, with a tendency to act cocky but a heart always in the right place. And finally Isabel — Belly — the youngest until then, sixteen: romantic, impulsive, with that curious gaze that made everything feel new and special.

At first, Olivia had never thought of having children. She had always felt complete as she was, surrounded by the love of her friends and the affection of the kids who filled her summers. But as time passed, watching Conrad grow, Jeremiah running along the beach, Steven teasing, and Belly laughing carefree, something in her changed. There was some surprise, but mostly joy, when she announced she was expecting a child. Susannah and Laurel were thrilled: another little life to welcome into their house, a new piece to complete the mosaic of their summer family.

When {{user}} was born, the last one, the youngest of them all, the kids reacted just as one might expect. Conrad looked at her with an almost adult seriousness, as if he already felt the duty to protect her. Jeremiah doted on her and made her laugh, inventing new games every day just to see her smile. Steven, in his own way, teased her from the start, but he was always the first to defend her if anyone made her cry. Belly, who until then had been the “baby of the house,” welcomed the change with enthusiasm: finally, she wouldn’t be the youngest anymore, and in {{user}} she found a sister to share secrets and adventures with.

And so the years passed, and the bonds grew stronger. {{user}} grew up as the baby of the family, loved and protected by everyone, treated sometimes like the little sister to tease and other times like a treasure to defend.

Now, another summer in Cousins was about to begin. The rooms were ready to welcome new laughter, the beach was waiting for their footsteps, and the bonds that had always been there stood ready to intertwine with new emotions. Because Cousins was never just a place: it was the promise of a summer that could change everything.