Chapter 12: Forever With The CEO: Chapter 12

On Saturday morning, I woke up later than usual. It had been a long week, and yesterday I caught up with a college friend who was in town for the day, and we stayed out until late into the night. I was glad I caught him as he was passing through.

My family was having a picnic today at Maddox and Gabe’s hotel, forty minutes outside the city, if the weather held. If not, we’d eat indoors at their gourmet restaurant.

As I got out of bed, my thoughts went back to last evening at Allison’s. Bob and Sophie were exactly as unpleasant as I remembered them. The whole thing had been difficult to get through, but kissing Allison had been such a damn highlight. I’d go through an entire dinner with Bob and Sophie again if it meant I got to kiss her. I’d been looking forward to the moment when I’d have an opportunity to do it again. I was sure one would rise occasionally. After all, it came with the description of fake fiancé.

After getting out of the shower, I checked my phone to see if everyone was already on the way. First, I saw a message from Allison, then realized she’d sent me a picture. No, a screenshot of an email.

Hi, Allison. It was good to see you and Nick yesterday. Don’t think that changes our plans to file for custody. I look forward to your wedding.

Allison: …

Indeed, there was nothing else to add.

Fucking Bob and Sophie. I didn’t understand what their game was. I distinctly remembered Jim telling me that his parents weren’t very involved in the twins’ lives, that they’d rather do anything else other than take care of Annie and Jack. But their motives didn’t matter. People did shitty things all the time. I’d learned a long time ago not to waste time guessing why someone did what they did.

I texted her back quickly.

Nick: Then we’ll go ahead with the plan.

Allison: Looks like it.

Nick: I’ll tell the family today.

I dressed in jeans and a polo shirt before leaving the penthouse. Getting used to a smaller space would be a challenge. Allison’s house was cozy, but it’d been years since I’d lived in anything smaller than four bedrooms. I only needed one, but I liked the flexibility of having a home office and spare rooms. I even had one with a pool table. But I could give up the pool table and everything else to make sure that Annie and Jack wouldn’t be carted off to the middle of fucking nowhere by their grandparents.

I’d have to seriously think about what to do with this place in the interim. I didn’t want to sell it. And I didn’t really like the idea of renting it out and having someone else live here either.

Just then, a genius idea came to mind: I’d put it up for rent but ask for a very high price so no one actually took it.

To make things work, I’d probably need to live with Allison and the kids for at least a year, maybe two.

Wow. Two years. Was I ready to put my life on hold like that?

I had to be.

I arrived in Essex right on time. The parking lot of the hotel was full, so it was impossible to see who else from the family was here.

Gabe and Maddox had done a fantastic job with the space. When they first told me they’d applied to the city to open a hotel, I’d been wary because both of them had separate businesses too. But they made it work. They’d initially planned to open it somewhere else, but then we got wind that Dad wanted to snatch up this property, and there was no way in hell we wanted him back anywhere near Boston. Fortunately, my brothers decided to buy it first. It had driven Dad right back to Australia, where he was also working in the hotel industry. He’d stayed there ever since, and I, for one, hoped we’d heard the last of him.

I headed straight to the huge backyard that went around the building. They had an outdoor area for guests too. The picnic was in the section that had previously been an adventure park that belonged to Maddox’s fiancée, Cami. She’d been against selling the business to him in the beginning. I thought my brother would fail to convince her, but eventually he did—and then some.

Quite a few members of the family had already arrived. The picnic was very informal. They’d brought out wooden benches and tables I’d never seen around the hotel perimeter before.

Cami waved at me. “Welcome.”

“Good morning. Hey, nice spot,” I said.

“Only the best for the family,” Maddox replied.

Gabe was holding our nephew, Ben, in his arms. I swear, sometimes I couldn’t believe how fast he was growing up.

“Was the drive okay?” I asked my grandparents, kissing Gran’s cheek.

“Of course,” Grandad replied in a stern voice. “It’s only forty minutes. We’re not dead yet.”

I exchanged a glance with Maddox, but he didn’t say anything. You never knew what mood the grandparents had woken up in. Sometimes they owned up to their age, and sometimes they didn’t.

I greeted everyone else after. Spencer and Penny had to be around somewhere, too, since Ben was. Maddox, Gabe, Colton, and Jake were here with their respective better halves.

Jake was holding his daughter in one arm. I had to give it to him, he never put that girl down. Then again, I never liked putting Annie and Jack down either whenever I was with them. I was looking forward to spending more time together as a family, even if the reason and logistics around it were complicated.

“Are we supposed to get food from inside?” I asked.

“The staff will bring out baskets so it looks like a real picnic,” Gabe explained.

“Besides,” Maddox added, “it’s a very convenient way of carrying stuff. We’ll eat from paper plates.”

“It was such a great idea to have a picnic,” Cami said. She was sitting on one of the benches, eyes closed and enjoying the rays of sunshine on her face.

“I knew you’d like it, fiancée,” Maddox said and bent at the waist, kissing her forehead.

“When are you going to put a ring on that, Maddox?” Gran asked, which made my brother laugh.

“I already did, Gran, but we’re both busy with other things. We want to give our wedding a lot of consideration.”

I never thought I’d catch an opening so soon, but here went nothing. Besides, my brother would thank me for taking the attention off them. Gran was getting bored now that her matchmaking had been too successful and had started nagging everyone about their wedding dates.

“Speaking of fiancées, I have one.”

The entire group was so silent that it was almost eerie.

“I’m sorry, what?” Gran asked.

Gabe groaned.

“Dude,” Maddox said, “you didn’t.”

Of course he’d already figured out what happened.

“We were joking, Nick,” Gabe went on.

“Yeah, dude. Come on! You aren’t serious?” Maddox blinked.

“What’s going on?” Granddad asked. “Not that we’re not happy, Nick.”

“Of course,” Gran said, “but this is a bit unusual. Who is the young lady? We’ve never even met her, have we? Except Maddox and Gabe, apparently.”

I shook my head. “It’s not what you think. I’m just trying to help out Allison.”

Everyone started talking at the same time. It was impossible to hear anyone specifically.

“I can’t answer all your questions at once,” I said, fighting laughter.

“You find this amusing?” Maddox asked.

“Yes, actually. If you calm down, I’ll explain.”

The chatter instantly stopped.

“So, all of you know I lost my best friend, Jim, months ago. He and his wife, Nora, passed away in a car accident. Their twins were not in the car with them. Nora’s sister, Allison, has them now.”

“We know that,” Gran said impatiently. “Skip to the part where you want to marry her.”

Hmmm. The way she accentuated want troubled me. Hopefully she’d understand.

“I have a very good reason, Gran. Jim’s parents have threatened to sue for custody. I spoke with Hugo. As you know, he’s the best in the field. He said they could win with her being a single mom and all. But it would help her case immensely if she were married.”

“Good to know society is still misogynistic,” Leo exclaimed. “And why did these two know about this and I didn’t?”

“We actually didn’t know about it,” Gabe said. “We just… It doesn’t matter.”

My brother sounded completely stunned. I’d only been able to stun Gabe on three occasions in my life, this being the third. It was quite an accomplishment.

“Nick mentioned that Hugo told Allison that the judge would look favorably on a two-person household,” Gabe continued.

“And we jokingly,” Maddox emphasized, glaring at me, “said that he could be the one to marry her.”

“Dude, what the hell?” Gabe asked.

I shrugged. “It makes sense. She can’t marry some random person she met two days ago. At least she’s known me for a while.”

“Honey,” Gran said in a very careful tone. She was sitting farthest from me on the wooden bench. “Do you think it’s prudent? Marrying someone is more than just signing a piece of paper.”

“That’s actually exactly what it’s going to be. We’ll go to city hall, sign the papers, and that’s it. It’s all for the sake of custody.”

“You’re simplifying this too much.” That came from Colton. “Have you gone over this with Hugo? Are there ways in which it can backfire? What if Jim’s parents find out this isn’t real?”

I nodded. “Hugo assured us that the law can’t punish you for marrying the wrong person. Even if we divorce down on the road, it’s nothing unusual.”

“Even if?” Cade asked, an eyebrow raised.

I’d wondered when he’d start talking. He’d probably been in shock. Now I was in for a treat.

“So, in this grand plan of yours, is there an outcome that doesn’t involve you divorcing?” he continued.

“Well, I was just saying, for the sake of explanation.” Shit.

He flashed me a knowing smile. “Right. That’s Allison, the hot chick you told me about?” he asked Gabe and Maddox.

This time, I was the one at a loss for words. I hadn’t realized my brothers had had conversations about me behind my back.

Gran wasn’t saying much. In fact, half the family still seemed to be mute.

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.