Chapter 27
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Frankie
“I’d like to make an accusation.”
Everyone turned to Chandler, his narrow eyes moving around each person seated on the living room floor.
“Be careful, Chandler. This group is very clever,” Gigi warned from her perch on the couch, excluded from the game during the last round because of a wrong guess.
“I think it was Mrs. Peacock in the dining room with the lead pipe,” Chandler forged on, his tipped smile confident as he reached for the Top Secret folder in the center of the Clue board.
I knew he was wrong before he slid the cards out; I had the lead pipe card in my hand.
“Shit,” he muttered a second later and shoved the cards back in the small envelope while Lou and Harper high-fived, Max and Violet shook their heads, and Jamie and Mom just stared each other down, their competitiveness almost as comical as the way Gigi was always the first one out. “I was so sure…”
I bit into the side of my cheek to keep from smiling. Failure looked adorable on him. Everything looked adorable on him. I swallowed a groan, wishing I could blame these thoughts on pregnancy. I did—I would, but I had a feeling in another five months, I’d look at him, the big, bad billionaire sitting on the floor of my mom’s living room, agonizing over a game of Clue with my family, and still think the same.
I was in love with him.
The man who didn’t believe in my ghosts. The man whose touch gave me an out-of-body experience. The man who made candles for me when the scents made me sick. And the father of my baby.
“All right, Frankie, you’re up.” Jamie kept order during game nights.
“It was Mrs. Peacock in the dining room with the candlestick,” I declared and reached for the envelope, Chandler’s gaze pinned hotly to me. A second later, I smiled and laid out the three cards in the center of the board. “I win.”
“Of course you do,” Chandler muttered, a small smile toying with his lips. “With the candlestick, no less.”
I stuck my tongue out at him playfully, but the look in his eyes when I did it made my skin feel like tinder, catching aflame on the heat of his want. Nothing like feeling as though I were on fire in the middle of the living room, burning in front of my entire family.
For him.
Because I loved him.
“Winner cleans up,” Harper said and pointed to the large charcuterie board next to her; it was one of three that had been passed around during game night, everyone picking as we played .
“Yeah, yeah.” I grabbed it with a winning smile on my face, but before I could make it to the other two, Chandler had already grabbed them.
My pulse fluttered. Like my cards, I’d kept my emotions close to my chest. I’d let them swell and strengthen over the last two weeks since he’d said the words to me, but every time they felt about to burst, something held me back.
We went into the kitchen, followed by Gigi, who’d asked Lou to help her with some jam in the basement.
I went to grab Ziploc baggies from the drawer when Lou came rushing up the stairs and darted through the kitchen, her distress as explosive as a firework.
“Lou, wait!” Next I knew, I was following her into the hall and grabbing her arm.“What is it?”
She shook her head and tried to tug her arm away. “Nothing.” She wouldn’t meet my eyes.
“Not nothing. Tell me.”
Her lips pulled together, the flutter of her eyelids exaggerated underneath her glasses. It took a few seconds, but finally, her shoulders dropped, and she said quietly, “Now I know how you feel.” Before I could ask, she lifted her arm and unclenched her fist, a crumpled paper in the center.
No, not a paper. I took the label from her hand, my chest tightening as I unfolded it and read Gigi’s handwriting, the single word stained with a tear.
Cheated .
My swift gasp punctured the air, and Lou let out a small cry.
“It doesn’t have to mean that,” I blurted out, shaking my head vigorously. It couldn’t mean that. My shy, thoughtful sister deserved a better destiny than that. “It could mean anything. Just look at me—at mine. How long did I think that Chandler meant candlemaker? ”
The question was meant for her—meant to strike a different thought in her mind than the worst-case scenario—but instead, it struck me.
He’d always been my destiny.
“I don’t think there is anything it could mean that is good,” Lou said and took a trembling breath, her eyes slowly going vacant. “It’s fine. I have the inn now, and that’s all that matters to me.”
“Lou—”
“I think you’re right, Frankie,” she interrupted, a spark glittering in her gaze. “Maybe it does mean something different for me. Maybe it means I’ve cheated my way out of needing love to be happy.”
Oh, no.
“You thought you were the one who got to escape matchmaking, but maybe this is proof it’s been me all along. That I get to just be satisfied and focus on my dream.”
“It…could.” What else did I say? It could mean anything. It could mean nothing. I didn’t want it to mean this. Not for Lou.
“Thank you.” She pulled me in for a tight hug and then released me, saying, “I’m just going to get some fresh air” before disappearing outside.
I stared at the front door for a long second, wondering how I was going to fix this for her. Wondering if I even could.
“Is everything okay?” Chandler rumbled when I returned to the kitchen.
I nodded slowly, about to explain, when Gigi appeared at the top of the steps. “Francesca, where is your sister?” Gigi looked upset, too.
“I think she stepped outside.”
“All right.” The brightness in her eyes had dimmed; it was the first time I’d ever known Gigi’s premonition to be painful. “ I have this for you, Chandler.” She set a label face down on the kitchen counter. “Francesca can explain. I have to talk to Lou.”
When she left, Chandler looked at me, then to the label, and then back at me again.
I placed my fingers on top of the rectangular slip.
“Gigi has…a thing. A gift, she likes to say,” I began, my own curiosity itching to know what she’d written for him. “Sometimes, when she gets to know someone, she’ll get a vision, usually a word or two, that generally reveals something or someone in their future.”
“And this is mine?” His brow lifted.
“I know it sounds crazy, but I promise, it’s the truth?—”
“I believe you,” he broke in and added with a tipped smile, “I know what you look like when you try to lie about the supernatural.”
I pursed my lipsand pushed the label toward him, my heart thudding louder. He reached for it and then paused, his gaze lifting to mine again.
“What did yours say?”
My jaw went slack, heat dousing my cheeks. My tongue took a minute to work before I could wet my lips and then trace out the syllables of his name.
“Chandler.”
At first, he didn’t realize I was answering him. His eyes narrowed in that probing way, but something on my face made him realize, because then everything softened.
“Your…fortune was my name?”
My chin dipped, and it felt like him knowing this somehow connected the last of the dots inside me. All the pieces of my life—my past, my dreams, my future—all circled back to him.
“It was so long ago. When she gave it to me, I thought it meant my business because chandler means candlemaker. ”
His eyes went wide. “This was why she was so excited when she met me…”
Again, I nodded.
“So, all this time, I’ve been your destiny, and you’re only telling me now?” he rumbled and stepped closer.
“I like to keep my cards close,” I murmured softly.
He cupped my cheek and tilted my head up. “No, you don’t like being told what to do.”
A whisper of a smile teased my lips. Months ago, I would’ve hated the idea of someone knowing me this well, but now I ached for it—for him like a drug.
I swayed toward him, my gaze drifting toward his mouth. “No one told me I had to fall in love with you.”
I watched the rush of air pull through his perfect lips. Watched a different kind of fire ignite in his gaze.He reached for me, his intent clear.
“Wait, your label?—”
He balled it in his fist. “You’re it for me, Frankie. I never needed it written down,” he growled and kissed me.
My curiosity melted under his caress.The hard press of his lips. The deep swipe of his tongue. And then he drew back with a curse.
At first, I thought it was because he realized we were in the middle of my mom’s kitchen and not the most private place for us to…but a second later, the real reason appeared.
He dropped the crumpled label on the counter and pulled out his phone, the screen lit up with an incoming call. “I have to take this. I’m sorry.”
I started to catch my breath as soon as he left the room, but my heart I was afraid was too far gone.
“Frankie?”
I smiled at my mom. “What’s up?” I went to the sink before she could get a good look at my face. “Lou and Gigi are outside,” I offered up as a distraction.
“I’ll talk to your sister later. I don’t want to overwhelm her.” Mom sighed, always aware of what was going on.
“I told her it could mean anything. It doesn’t have to mean that. ”
Mom hummed, not taking the bait. “Is everything okay with Chandler? I saw him rush out of the room.”
I swallowed through the tightness in my throat. “Yeah. Just a work call.”
“This late on a Saturday?”
I breathed out slowly. “It’s a big acquisition.”
She hummed again and waited. Unfortunately for me, I could only scrub a cutting board for so long, and when I turned, she was waiting for me. Mom stood on the opposite side of the counter, her arms crossed and her expression firm. She looked regal.
“I’m going to tell you what I plan on telling your sister,” she said and rounded the counter until she was in front of me. “Neither of you are going to settle for anything less than you deserve.”
A cry bubbled from my chest, and she pulled me to her in a tight hug. I wanted to ignore it—the doubt itching in the center of my chest—but now, her words wouldn’t let me. As much as Chandler had made me a priority. As much as he’d melted away all my anger and distrust and fear, there was still this: his dedication to his business. The common ground we’d had when we met. A thing I’d once admired was now the thing that could harm me.
But I didn’t deserve to come in second place in the life of a man I loved. And neither did our baby.
Mom squeezed, and then, with a murmured, “I love you,”went back to the living room, leaving me with nothing but those last words.
And Chandler’s label.
I couldn’t stop myself, my emotions were like a tangled, thorny knot in my chest. I grabbed the slip like it would inflate into a lifesaver. Instead, the word gutted me.
Freedom .
“I’m sorry about that.”
My head snapped up as Chandler strode back into the kitchen, a different kind of hunger on his face.
“What happened?” I wanted to talk about anything except the elephant in my chest.
“The deal’s done—or will be done,” he said, a tentative smile breaching his face. “GC Holdings has nothing left. My acquisition of the company will be finalized this week.”
Done .
Relief spread through me. Why was I worried? It was over—or would be soon.
“That’s great.” I went to him, knowing how hard he’d worked to finally erase this last piece of his father’s legacy.
“I have to go back to Boston this week,” he interrupted, the single sentence spearing straight through my chest. “I have to meet with them. Review the terms. Signed papers. This is only the first step. Once I take control of the company, I’ll have to split up all the pieces. Sell what’s failing and revitalize what’s left. By the time I’m done with it, no one will be able to recognize any of the pieces that belonged to him. Like a butterfly from a caterpillar.”
Pain speared through my chest. By the time he was done with it, I wouldn’t recognize him.
“My doctor’s appointment is this week. Another ultrasound,” I croaked, only able to cling to concrete things at the moment .
His jaw tightened and released. Twice. Like two gunshots to my heart. “I’ll try and make it back?—”
“No.” I shook my head and stepped out of his hold, something wild breaking loose inside me. “Don’t.”
“Frankie, please?—”
I ignored his pained voice and moved around him, beelining for the front door and hoping Gigi and Lou had finished their conversation or taken it elsewhere.
“Frankie, please.” He caught up to me on the porch. Before I turned, I noticed how the sky was devoid of stars tonight, like even they didn’t want to risk my wish being made on them.
“I can’t do this, Chandler. I’m sorry,” I said, lifting my chin.
“I’ll be there. I’ll be at the appointment.”
“Even if it’s the same day as your meeting?”
“I—yes.” His hesitation was his downfall.
“I’m sorry, Chandler.” I forced myself to be strong. “You can be a part of our baby’s life. A part of my life. But not…not like this.” Not where he had the ability to hurt me like this.
“Please, Frankie. You don’t understand,” he protested, taking my balled fist in his. “I have to do this. After what he did, I have to.”
“I do understand,” I said softly. I remembered the anger that gnawed inside me, waiting for the moment I turned eighteen so I could change my name. I remembered the need to destroy anything and everything that tied me to the idea of my father after how he’d hurt Mom.
And that was why I couldn’t be angry at him. I knew his hurt. I knew why he needed to do this. No one deserved to be chained to the past like that, especially by someone they loved—by someone who loved them.
I just wish his own happiness was the key to unlocking that chain and not his vengeance .
“I love you, Frankie.” His hands tightened around mine as he repeated the words against my fingers. “I love you.”
“I love you, too,” I said, tears leaking down my cheeks. “But it’s not enough.”
It wasn’t until I went to pull my hand from his that I realized there was something in it. His label. I uncurled my fingers and held it out for him to take.
“This is yours,” I said softly, watching as he took the crumbled paper like I was giving him the remains of my heart—my heart that had the word freedom etched into its very beat.
It was what I was giving him. Freedom . Because I loved him too much to take it away.
“I hope you get everything you want, Chandler. I really do,” I said and walked back into the house, leaving him to read his label alone. And free.