The Best Laid Plans (Chicago Sisters Book 2)

by Amy Vastine

  “It’s too bad John couldn’t get time off to come with her.”

  “He’ll be here for Christmas,” their dad said. Gerald Fletcher was a portly man. His round face always wore a smile. Every year, about two months before Christmas, he started growing a beard so he could dress like Santa for all the grandkids.

  “I wish we could come home for Christmas,” Candice said with a sigh.

  “You’re always welcome, sweetheart.”

  “Trent wants to go to Fiji this year.” She didn’t sound excited about it.

  Charlie glanced at her over his shoulder. She sat in the backseat behind their dad, staring out the window. Candice was the prettiest of his sisters. Long blond hair, green eyes like Charlie’s, always dressed to kill in designer duds. But there was a sadness she couldn’t cover up with makeup or fancy clothes. Charlie didn’t like it one bit.

  “Trent can go to Fiji and you and the kids can come to Chicago.”

  Her eyes shifted his way. She forced a smile. “You’re funny, Charlie.”

  Becca would have to work on her.

  They made it to O’Hare and followed the signs for Arrivals. Becca had texted she was standing at Vestibule B4. Charlie scanned the parkway for her.

  Standing right under the sign marked B4 was Becca and her very prominent baby bump. Everyone in the car asked the same question at the same time. “Did you know about this?”

  No one knew. Charlie jumped out of the car and swooped his sister up in his arms. “You’re pregnant?”

  “I am, so you better put me down.” Becca smiled from ear to ear. The rumors about pregnant ladies having a glow were completely true. Becca was radiant.

  “I am so happy for you and mad at you at the same time,” Candice said as she approached.

  “Your mother is going to be so excited!” their dad said with tears in his eyes.

  Becca let go of Candice to give her father a hug. “Hi, Daddy. Surprise!”

  “This makes me even more happy to be retiring. Mom and I can come visit you and the baby whenever we want now!”

  “I was hoping you would say that.”

  Charlie threw Becca’s bags in the trunk and let her have the front seat. Everyone wanted to know everything. Becca was twenty-one weeks along. She hadn’t told anyone in the family yet because she and John had lost two in the past year and a half as far along as sixteen weeks. Once they’d made it to eighteen weeks with this one, they were going to make the announcement. By then, the trip was so close, though, and surprising everyone seemed like the better option.

  “I’m so happy for you, Snow Mama.” Charlie put his hand on her shoulder.

  “Aw, I love that nickname more than I can say.”

  “Do you know if it’s a boy or a girl?” Candice asked.

  “We don’t. We wanted to be surprised. After trying for so long, all we wanted them to tell us is that we had a healthy baby in there.”

  “It’s a boy and you’re going to name him Charlie, after his favorite uncle.”

  “You’ve made that suggestion every time one of us had been pregnant. No one is naming their baby Charlie,” Candice said, giving him a swat with her hand. “You’re going to have to have your own son and name him Charles Jr. if you want your name to live on.”

  “I like Logan Charles actually,” Becca said. “My favorite brother will be recognized, I promise.”

  Charlie grinned. He knew he could count on Becca.

  “He’s your only brother,” Candice reminded her.

  “Hey. Stop trying to rain on my parade. What is up with you? You sound like Kristin.”

  “Nothing,” Candice said with a dismissive flick of her wrist. She went back to glaring out the window. Their dad caught Charlie’s eye in the rearview mirror. His raised eyebrow communicated his worry and confusion. Something was wrong with Candice, but she wasn’t ready to talk about it.

  “He’d be my favorite if I had one or seven brothers,” Becca said, turning sideways so she could see Charlie. “He’s my favorite sibling. How about that?”

  “Of course he is. I’m surprised you didn’t tell him you were pregnant before everyone else. Before me.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Becca asked. “What is the matter with you?”

  Candice covered her face with her hands and began to cry. Charlie quickly forgot about being mad at her and threw his arm around her shoulders. He pulled her against him, and she cried on his chest until his shirt was wet.

  Candice confessed that she had been unhappy for a while and had asked Trent to go to marriage counseling or she would have to ask for a divorce instead. Trent had balked at counseling but tried to cut back his hours at work to spend more time with the family. It hadn’t been enough. They had communication issues and Candice had found herself resenting the fact that Trent thought he could solve all his problems with money. She didn’t want a new necklace, she wanted him.

  “If he won’t go to counseling, I don’t know what I’m going to do,” she said through the sniffles. “He’s so worried about how it’s going to look. He thinks it means we’ve failed.”

  “You haven’t failed until you get divorced. He needs to remember that,” Becca said.

  “He’ll come around, honey. You have to have faith in him and in your marriage,” their dad said.

  “I’m with Dad,” Charlie agreed. “A little faith can go a long way.” He honestly believed that. His faith in Pete had proved well placed and he was finally reaping the benefits of his faith in Emma. Candice had to find hers and Trent needed to get his act together, quick.

  Trenton Chamberlain did not want to mess with the Fletchers. They might love to fight with one another, but when there was a threat from someone else, the seven of them banded together and showed no mercy.

  * * *

  AND SO THE drama had begun.

  Pregnant Becca caused a new wave of joyful hysterics when they got back to the house. Their mother broke down in tears and Kristin and Mandy immediately began competing to be the child’s godmother.

  The little kids were running around, excited to be with their cousins, while the older ones were glued to their phones and completely antisocial. They were all sitting in the sunroom, staring at their screens.

  Charlie decided to annoy them until they engaged in conversation with at least one person at their grandparents’ house.

  “Mom!” Kristin’s middle son was the first to break. “Uncle Charlie keeps sending me random texts and interrupting my game. Tell him to stop being annoying!”

  “I’m trying to figure out how to block him,” Mandy’s oldest said. “Here, just do this.” The two of them put their heads together and found a way to block Charlie’s number. At least they were interacting.

  Kristin’s youngest son decided he’d try to beat Charlie at his own game and began sending Charlie texts at record speed. Charlie resorted to single-letter responses and was still being out-texted two texts to one.

  “Kristin!” Charlie shouted from the sunroom. “Quinn keeps sending me random texts faster than I can send him random texts! Tell him to stop being annoying.”

  Quinn grinned from his seat in the corner. That gave the other ones the same idea. In a matter of minutes, he had three hundred new texts. His phone was seriously going to explode if they kept this up.

  “Okay, okay! You guys win! I give up.”

  They all high-fived and laughed at their uncle, then quickly started sharing crazy texting stories. Quinn once had five hundred and seventy-two missed texts when his parents took his phone away for a weekend as punishment for a bad grade. That sparked a conversation about school and sports. The next thing everyone knew, all six teens were outside playing basketball together.

  “I am so good,” Charlie congratulated himself. The only other grown-up in the sun
room was Candice. She was turned, arms resting on the back of her chair, watching her two little ones play in the backyard with their cousins.

  Her eyes drifted his way and her lips curled up ever so slightly to show she was in a more playful mood than in the car. “Good at annoying people? Yes, we know.”

  “You used to love me, Candy Girl. What happened?”

  She sighed. “I still love you. You’ve always been my annoying little brother. Nothing’s changed.”

  Becca escaped from the kitchen but was followed by Mandy and Kristin.

  “Maybe I can fly out to Denver over Thanksgiving and help you guys with the baby. Give you a chance to catch up on some sleep,” Kristin said, nudging her way in between Mandy and Becca.

  “I know Mike will let me fly out to Denver when the baby comes. Maybe after Mom leaves. You’re going to need help right away. You won’t want to wait until Thanksgiving for more help,” Mandy said, sitting down on the love seat and patting the open cushion as an invitation for Becca to take a load off.

  These two were so predictable. Becca gave Charlie a look that screamed, “Save me!”

  “What time are we taking this family photo?” Charlie asked in an attempt to steer the conversation away from the impending Snow Baby. “Shouldn’t we have the kids change clothes soon? Don’t we have to be somewhere?”

  “Mandy said the photographer was coming here in about an hour. We’re taking pictures by the pond,” Candice answered. The neighborhood had a large retention pond in the middle of it, next to a small park. Charlie, Candice and Becca used to hunt for toads and frogs in the summer and ice-skate on the frozen water in the winter. It was a place full of good memories.

  “The mosquitoes are going to eat us alive,” Kristin complained.

  “This humidity isn’t helping your hair any, either,” Mandy quipped.

  Kristin shot her the dirtiest look. “I wouldn’t talk, Miss Frizzy.”

  “Be nice, girls,” their mother demanded as she entered the room. Perfect timing. Everyone was always on their best behavior when their mom was around.

  Vivian Fletcher was a true beauty. No one would ever know she had given birth to five children, two of them at the same time. Their dad always said he fell in love the first time he laid eyes on her. He was won over by the four Ps. She was petite, pretty and had a perky personality.

  She, on the other hand, always said their dad had the three Ps—positivity, personality and patience. Vivian had known he would make an excellent husband and father because of it. She was right.

  “Let’s get everybody ready. I want everyone looking their best for the picture. It’s not often we’re all together,” their mom said.

  Candice never made it for Christmas anymore. Mandy did Thanksgiving with her husband’s side of the family. Becca could only afford to fly in once a year. Getting everyone here had been a feat but showed how important their dad was to all of them.

  Mandy rounded up the big kids and Candice corralled the smaller ones. They all put on clean clothes and brushed their hair. Charlie didn’t wear a suit, but he did put on some dress pants and a button-down shirt.

  When the photographer got there, all twenty of them headed down the bike path to the pond. Charlie realized there was no worse job in the world than being a photographer who had to get twenty people, ten of them children, to stand next to one another and smile at the same time, in four different poses, while looking at the camera.

  Candice’s five-year-old son, Dylan, was more interested in the cattails growing along the edge of the pond than taking a picture. Mandy’s little one, Lyla, tripped while trying to keep up with her cousins and scraped her knee. She was still crying even after both her parents and grandparents kissed it all better. The teenagers kept asking how much longer.

  The grown-ups weren’t much better. Kristin and Mandy complained about where they were positioned no matter where they were asked to stand. Mandy’s husband, Mike, was so busy making sure his kids were looking at the camera he forgot to look half the time. Becca kept saying things to make Charlie laugh and he returned the favor by making farting noises in between each shot. That got the kids even more riled up.

  The photographer was an absolute pro. She somehow managed to keep her cool and promised that her Photoshop skills were even better than her camera skills. She could take all the pictures and cut and paste the best shot of every person into one big perfect photograph.

  After some pizza, Charlie and Becca headed back to the city for the night. She was so tired, she dozed off on the train. Charlie got her back to his place and gave her his bed because a pregnant lady could not sleep on the couch.

  “I’m happy for you, Snow Mama,” he said while tucking her in. “I know how long you’ve wanted this.”

  “Thanks, Charlie.” Her eyes were heavy. “Promise me you won’t leave me alone with Kristin or Mandy tomorrow. I’m not sure I can stand another day of listening to them tell me how much they want to help me with the baby just so I’ll pick them to be the godmother. Seriously, they are so transparent.”

  “I don’t know why they don’t think it’ll be Candice. Twins trump everything, right?”

  “I’m worried about her. Our Candy Girl is not happy. She was mad at me for not telling her about the baby, but she’s never mentioned problems with Trent until today. I’m kinda ticked about that.”

  “We’ll double-team her tomorrow. Get her to tell us everything. Right now, you need to sleep.”

  She was out like a light before he shut the door. Charlie settled in on the couch, which wasn’t long enough but would have to do. He pulled out his phone and thought about sending Emma a text. He had wondered all day what she would think of his family. Would they scare her away or would she fit right in? She’d probably win them all over the way she’d won him.

  He hadn’t told Emma about his family coming to town because that would have led to talking about them and their craziness. He needed to feel a bit more secure about how things were going between them before he opened that can of worms.

  Still, he couldn’t resist a small check-in. He sent her a text.

  Thinking about nightingales.

  His phone chimed with her reply.

  Hopefully just one.

  There was only one. After watching his sisters take individual family pictures and seeing Becca’s round belly, he knew he wanted that with someone more than ever. Emma was it. He was sure.

  Just THE Nightingale.

  * * *

  THE NEXT MORNING, Charlie and Becca headed back to the suburbs. Everyone was busy decorating the house and preparing food for the party. The kids were running amok and the entire scene reminded Charlie of what this house used to be like when they all lived there.

  “I’m feeling nostalgic, Snow Mama.” He handed her the bottle of water she’d requested. Becca was getting good at this being-pampered thing.

  “It’s nice to be home. Even better to have everyone home. They might all be nuts, but their our nuts.”

  He tapped his water bottle against hers before taking a swig. “Yes, they are,” he said as they watched the chaos for a minute.

  The party was an open house. Guests were free to come and go throughout the day. That had seemed like the smartest thing to do. Charlie’s dad had retired from the local high school where he had taught social studies for forty years.

  Today’s celebration was going to include people he had worked with over the years, students who loved him and all his friends and family. They were expecting almost a hundred people to drop in.

  There was a huge tent set up outside with tables and chairs arranged underneath it. Mike was the electronics expert and hooked up some speakers so they could play some music out there. The neighborhood bike path ran through the extra-wide lot next to the house, which gave them some extra space to set up a volleyb
all net and ladder golf.

  Charlie had always felt his father was a great man, but seeing the number of people who came to wish him well in his retirement still blew him away. His father meant so much to so many. When his dad made a heartfelt speech to thank everyone for coming, Charlie got a little misty-eyed along with him.

  Surprisingly, it made him wish Emma was there. He would have liked her to see where he came from and meet the people who helped shape who he was. He had never been more proud to be a Fletcher.

  “What’s with the silly grin? You thinking about something that could get you in trouble?” Becca asked.

  “I’m thinking about that girl who kissed me. Twice now, by the way, in case you were keeping count.”

  Becca cocked one eyebrow. “That sounds like big trouble.”

  “I think she’s decided to pick me over the doc.”

  “That makes me think she might be smarter than I originally feared.”

  “You would like her. She’s someone you’d be friends with and then convince not to date me.”

  Becca’s mouth fell open then snapped shut. She smacked his arm. “I only did that once. And I didn’t want you two to date and then break up because then she and I wouldn’t have been able to be friends anymore.”

  “Gretchen Filmore. She was so hot.”

  “You two never would have worked. She thought there was a ghost who had imprinted on her. She was sure he followed her every time she moved to a new apartment. Not right away, of course—it took him a little while to find her again and he would always be really mad when he did.”

  Charlie nearly doubled over in laughter. “Thanks for helping me dodge that bullet.”

  “I need to meet this woman who’s got you grinning and spinning over two kisses,” she said when they finally stopped giggling.

  “I’d like her to meet you.” Becca was a safe place to start.

  The day was long, but the party was a grand success. Everyone was ready for bed as soon as the sun began to set. Candice and her family headed back to the hotel as soon as her kids hit the wall. Becca was dead on her feet and ready to go back to the city. Charlie realized they hadn’t gotten to talk to Candice as he had wanted. They’d have to do it tomorrow when they came back to clean everything up.