Chapter Twelve #2
I cleared my throat. “Well, now you all know. I mean, Spencer and Penny don’t, but—”
“What don’t we know?” Penny asked from behind me.
I looked over my shoulder. She and Spencer were walking hand in hand from the direction of the hotel.
“Our brother is getting married to Allison to help her gain custody of the twins,” Maddox informed them.
Spencer’s eyes bulged. Penny’s mouth hung open. She looked at Spencer and then whispered, “I don’t know how to react.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Why? I mean, there’s got to be another way to do this, right? People fight for custody all the time.”
“True, but Hugo told us it’s best not to gear up for a fight. I mean, Sophie and Bob are the twins’ grandparents, after all.”
“So it’s better to go ahead with this charade?” Gran asked. The disapproval on her face threw me a bit.
“Gran,” I said carefully, “I’m not sharing this with the family to ask for anyone’s permission or blessing. I’d be grateful if you could support my decision, but we’re going to do it anyway.”
Gran closed her eyes, pressing her lips together. “You will always have my support, Nick.”
“We just want to make sure that this isn’t something that can bite you in the ass,” Jake said.
“It won’t,” I assured them. “One important thing, though: no one except the family can know that this isn’t real, just in case Bob and Sophie do start digging around.
I’ll tell everyone that I fell for Allison madly and we decided on a whim to get married.
I’m impulsive anyway, so that fits me. Bob and Sophie might attend the event at city hall.
If they do, then we’ll double down on making sure they believe us. ”
“Fair enough,” Maddox said.
“Now, why don’t we check why that food isn’t coming. In the meantime,” I said, looking straight at Ben, “how about chasing your Uncle Nick out to that big tree right there?”
Ben grinned. “I’ll be the first one here.” He broke into a run, laughing the whole time.
I ran behind him close enough that in case he stumbled or something, I could quickly reach him.
He reached the huge tree first. Seconds later, I said, “Ha, would you look at that, buddy. You won.”
“I love this tree so much!”
It was definitely impressive and had been on the property forever. It was one of the reasons Cami had been so against the sale. She was attached to these old trees, and Maddox initially planned to cut them down.
“Come on, let’s go back.”
“What’s a fiancée, Uncle Nick?” he asked me.
“It’s the person you’re going to marry.”
He nodded. “Like Mom and Dad are?”
“Exactly.” It was endearing that he called Penny “Mom.” In a flash, I imagined Annie and Jack calling me “Dad.”
Jesus, how did I get there? That could never happen. One thing was certain: I’d never want them to forget Jim and Nora. And I was only temporarily in the picture as a father figure. Thinking that bothered me in ways I hadn’t expected.
“So now you’ll have someone who’ll come with you every time?”
I smiled. “Yeah, and you know who else? Two little kids.”
“What? There will be more kids? But wait, don’t they have to be small first? How small are they?”
“They’re a bit younger than you.”
He frowned. “I don’t understand.”
As we reached the group, I said, “I’ll find a way to explain it to you, buddy. I promise.”
The staff had brought the baskets while we were gone.
They’d served an assortment of finger foods.
While everyone was filling their plates, Maddox and Gabe came up to me, and I realized by their expressions that they wanted to continue talking about my announcement.
I nodded toward the forest so we could step away from the family.
“Dude, sorry about earlier. You just caught us by surprise. Obviously, you’ll always have our support,” Maddox said. “But you could get yourself, not to mention Allison, into a shitload of trouble if people found out what it really was.”
“Yeah, you have to convince a lot of people. And just so we’re clear,” Gabe added, “we think it’s a batshit-crazy idea. But you have our support.”
I nodded. “Thanks. That means a lot.”
“So, how are you to going to do this? You’re still going to live at the penthouse, right? She’ll move there with the kids?”
“I’ll move into her house.”
“The one with two bedrooms?” Maddox asked. He didn’t look concerned anymore. In fact, he was giving me a mocking smile that soon turned into a shit-eating grin. “Dude, you’re so toast.”
I scoffed. “I’m a grown-ass man. Allison is a grown-ass woman. We’ll make do. I’ll sleep on a pull-out couch if I have to.”
Gabe started to laugh. “Yeah, that’s going to happen. You’re going to live in that small house with a smoking-hot woman, but you’ll sleep on the pull-out couch.”
“It’s none of your business,” I warned.
“No, it’s not. You’re right. It’s just fun to meddle. I’m starting to understand why Gran likes it so much,” Maddox said.
“So, your plan is to just stay completely celibate for however long this takes?” Gabe asked.
“That’s between Allison and me,” I said, though the question had been on my mind a lot.
“Then we wish you luck,” Gabe said. “And by the way, we have some news about Dad.”
I groaned. “He’s up to trouble again?”
“He’s trying to open a restaurant business in Sydney… and using the Whitley name to do it,” Maddox explained.
“What the hell? People will think it’s part of the company.”
“We think that’s exactly what he wants. Then again, it is his name.” Gabe sounded conflicted.
I decided to be honest with them. “You know what? I have enough on my plate. I can’t worry about Dad too.”
“We’ll keep an eye on him. Let’s return to the group,” Maddox suggested, and I nodded.
Everyone must have been talking about me while we were gone, because the whispering stopped as soon as we reached the table. That made me laugh.
“You know, you don’t have to gossip behind my back,” I told them.
“Oh, we plan to do it in front of you too,” Meredith said.
Cade’s wife was just as feisty as he was.
And she’d slowly adopted every new girlfriend/fiancée over the years.
Which was why I wasn’t surprised when she said, “I want to meet Allison. We all do. We need to give her a proper welcome to the family.”
Her words struck a chord. This was bizarre. I wanted Allison to feel at ease with all of us Whitleys, but this was nothing more than a charade, after all.
“I’ll talk to her and set something up,” I assured her.
Meredith tilted her head. “Good. Because we have some questions for both of you about the city hall thing. But we’ll give you time to organize yourselves first.”
“How magnanimous of you,” I taunted.
“Oh, it is,” she said. “It really is.”
I spent the entire day with my family and didn’t check my phone once. We’d moved on from the topic of my impending marriage to other things, thankfully. I only checked my messages after I left Essex.
Allison had texted a few hours ago.
Allison: How did it go? What did your family say?
I grinned as I replied.
Nick: As expected. They all pointed out how batshit crazy this is. But we have their support. And they might show up at city hall too. Gran refuses to miss a wedding.
Allison: But this isn’t real!
Nick: Doesn’t seem to matter. Might legitimize it more. I’ll start all the formalities and let you know how it’s going.
Allison: Thanks a lot!
This was happening. Allison and I were getting married—and I was looking forward to it.