The Best Laid Plans (21 page)

Kendall’s dad arrived with the photographer. Mr. Everhart was a nice guy, reminded him of his own dad in some ways. He shook Charlie’s hand and thanked him for all he had done for Max and Kendall. Charlie didn’t feel as if he had done much. Everything had been part of Emma’s vision; her hard work had paid off. Her sister was going to have a gorgeous wedding.

They took some pictures and were sent to the back room to wait for the ceremony to start.

“Are you nervous?” Mr. Everhart asked Max. “No cold feet?”

“No, sir. Marrying Kendall is the one thing I am not worried about doing today. In fact, I’d be happy to just pull her back here, grab the priest and get it over with.”

Mr. Everhart chuckled. “Emma would kill you.”

There was that name again. Charlie ran his fingers under his collar. It felt too tight all of a sudden. It turned into a noose when Emma pulled open the door.

“Dad, we need you and the ring bearers out here. You have to walk your daughter down the aisle, remember?”

She was stunningly beautiful, making it that much more difficult to look at her. Like the sun, she burned his eyes. Charlie tried to breathe, but it felt as if all the air had been sucked out of the room. The broken pieces of his heart splintered and frayed.

He was suffocating on his sorrow, when her eyes connected with his. It was only a fraction of a second, but it felt like a lifetime. His lungs opened up and he inhaled the air now perfumed with her scent.

“Are you ready?” she asked, focusing on Max.

“More than ready,” Max replied. “Let’s get this show on the road.”

“All right. See you out there.” She spared Charlie one more glance before disappearing behind the door with her father and the boys.

“You ready?” Max said, bringing a hand down on Charlie’s shoulder.

No.

“It’s almost time,” Owen said.

Charlie took a breath and fixed the boutonniere on Max’s lapel. There wasn’t anything to do but grin and bear it. With the most sincere smile he could muster, he said, “Let’s do this.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

S
HE
KNEW
SHE
wasn’t going to make it through this wedding. Emma had hoped that if she kept herself busy enough, she wouldn’t be able to think about Charlie, but that was all she could do.

She hadn’t been able to think about many other things than Charlie since he walked out of the hospital on Monday with her heart in his hand. She didn’t think he even realized he had it.

I give up, Emma.

The giving-up part, although horrible, wasn’t what had made her cry herself to sleep every night since. It was that he’d called her by her given name instead of his usual term of endearment. She couldn’t remember one other instance in the entire time they had known one another that he had called her Emma.

She hated it. It bothered her because it was his way of breaking their connection. He’d let go of the rope and let her fall.

Emma was still falling, into what was an endless pit of despair. The wedding was the only thing that kept her breathing. If it weren’t for that, she would probably be in her bed, crying all the tears she was holding inside. If someone poked her with a pin, she was sure she’d spring a leak.

The closer it had gotten to Friday, the crazier Emma had become. Lucy had taken to calling her the Wedding Bully, a much less flattering nickname than Nightingale. Lucy told her she was sucking the life out of all the fun, but she had to stay focused and follow the plans she had made. The wedding would be perfect and fun if everyone stuck to the plan.

“Aunt Debbie just sat on my flowers,” Lucy reported when Emma returned from the back with their father and nephews in tow.

This was not what Emma wanted to hear right now. She had just seen Charlie and her head was fuzzy. Charlie in a tux was going to cause her to hyperventilate.

Lucy held up the smashed bouquet of white freesia. “What do you want me to do with this?”

“I don’t care what you do with it.” Emma stormed past her sister and into the bridal room.

Kendall and their mom were adding blue flowers to Kendall’s updo. “Doesn’t she look beautiful?” her mom said.

Emma sat down on the white-and-gold-padded bench against the far wall and put her head between her knees. The tears flowed freely; there was no stopping them anymore.

“Honey, are you okay? What’s wrong?” Her mom sat down beside her and rubbed her back, instructing her to take some deep breaths.

Lucy came in. “They’re just flowers, Em. They aren’t even Kendall’s flowers. No one will care what’s in my hands.”

Emma couldn’t speak. Now that the floodgates had opened, she was never going to stop crying. The more she tried to stop, the harder she sobbed.

“This isn’t about the flowers, is it?” Kendall asked, sitting on the other side of her.

Emma shook her head.

“What else could go wrong? Did Max run off or something?” Lucy asked.

“Nice,” Kendall said sarcastically.

“What? I’m kidding. I’m sure Max can’t wait to marry you.”

“Someone else back there made you upset?” Kendall asked.

Emma nodded. What had she done? She had stood there on Monday and said nothing as the greatest man to ever welcome her into his life told her he was in love with her but didn’t think she loved him back enough to fight for her. Why hadn’t she told him how she felt? Why hadn’t she opened her mouth and at least told him he had it all wrong?

For as confused as she’d been the last couple months, there had been one thing that became crystal clear the moment Charlie gave up—Emma could not imagine her life without him in it. She was in love with him. She loved everything about him, except that he had given up.

“This is about Charlie?” Lucy asked, exasperation in her tone.

No one was going to have sympathy for her. Emma didn’t deserve anyone’s sympathy. She had ruined the best thing that had ever happened to her. She had taken something pure and simple and destroyed it with her self-doubt and her ridiculous plans.

“What happened to forgetting about there being anything other than friendship between you and Charlie?”

“There was more than friendship between you and Charlie?” their mother asked, surprised but sounding pleased. “He is such a sweet man. Why didn’t I know there was something going on between you two?”

Emma sat up and wiped her face with the back of her hand. “I’m in love with him. I’m in my-life-is-never-going-to-be-the-same love with him.”

“Oh, honey, that’s great.” Her mom tried to help dry her eyes. “So why are you crying?”

“Serious Sister Business, Mom,” Lucy replied.

“Oh, no. Don’t you three start with that again. I didn’t like it when you were teenagers and I don’t like it now. If there’s something going on, you should be able to tell your mother.”

Emma hadn’t told anyone what had happened at the hospital on Monday. She knew if she talked about it, she would ruin the entire wedding. She’d tried burying herself in last-minute wedding plans to block out the pain from the gaping hole in her chest. It had sort of worked until today. Until she saw him and knew she couldn’t let him go.

“I met his sister on Sunday, but I didn’t know it was his sister. I accused him of dating other people right after he found out I actually did date another person. Now he loves me but can’t be with me because he thinks I don’t love him back.”

“I knew it was a misunderstanding. You owe me two pints of ice cream from the Triple C,” Kendall said, pointing at Lucy.

“Are we sure it’s his sister or did he just
say
it was his sister?”

“It was his sister, Lucy,” Emma said with a sniffle. “His sister was here for his dad’s retirement party.

“Well, sounds like you blew it,” Lucy said matter-of-factly.

“You just have to make things right. When he knows you love him, everything will work out,” Kendall said, always the-glass-is-half-full to Lucy’s half-empty.

“He said he’s given up on me. He deserves better than someone who’s afraid he’s not the right choice.” Emma dissolved into tears again. She had been afraid. Stupid and afraid. Charlie was the only choice. Her not-perfect perfect match.

“I can kind of see where he’s coming from,” Lucy said, earning glares from her mother and Kendall. “Well, he’s right. She was so afraid of not following her plan she didn’t go all in with Charlie. You know how I feel about love. I don’t believe in the fantasy, but I do believe lots of people settle for much less than they deserve. I think he did the right thing.”

“But she does love him,” Kendall argued. “He wouldn’t be settling. He’d be getting exactly what he’s wanted from the beginning. She just needs to prove it to him.”

There was a knock at the door, and the church’s wedding coordinator stuck her head in. “Five minutes, ladies.”

Their mother sprung into action. “All right,” she said, clapping her hands together. “This pity party is over. We have a wedding to get ready for. And you—” she put two fingers under Emma’s chin and tipped her head up “—are going to fix your makeup and be happy for your sister. And after you get through this day with grace and dignity, you are going to be honest with Charlie and let him know that he can give up if he wants, but you plan to fight for his heart because
that’s
what he deserves.”

“Oh, that’s good,” Kendall said, impressed with their mother’s advice. “I think we should let Mom in on all Serious Sister Business from now on.”

“That’s why you’re my favorite,” Maureen said, giving her daughter a kiss on the forehead.

“Hey!” Lucy protested.

“
Today.
She’s my favorite today. Be good and you can be my favorite tomorrow.”

Emma almost laughed. She took a deep breath and dug deep to find her grace and humility. Her mom was right. Get through the wedding and then be what Charlie deserved. That was the best plan yet.

* * *

S
AINT
C
LEMENT
HAD
BEEN
built in 1917 and was an amazing piece of art and architecture. With seventy-three stained-glass windows and a majestic circle of angels gazing down from the eighty-foot-high heavenly dome, it was a sight for all to behold. Kendall and her artistic heart had been enamored of the building since she was little. Every Sunday, she’d sit in the pew and take in all the intricate details, never hearing a word the priest said.

When she married Trevor, he had wanted to get married in his parents’ church and Kendall had given in. She had called it a compromise. Lucy and Emma had called it him being controlling. That was the main reason Emma wanted her to have this wedding instead of a simple exchange of vows at the courthouse. The only place Kendall should be pledging her undying love was in the church she loved, as well.

The music started and so did the processional. The royal blue cocktail dress Lucy had found last week on a clearance rack actually looked quite regal. Her blond hair was neatly rolled into a classic Grace Kelly updo and the red roses she had stolen from one of the arrangements on the altar made an acceptable replacement for the smushed freesia.

She was followed by the two most adorable ring bearers known to man. Aidan and Simon were symbols of Max’s and Kendall’s pasts, but also their future as a family. The boys held hands, both clearly needing the other to muster up the courage to walk down the long aisle in front of a lot of unfamiliar faces. They were proof that you didn’t need to share blood to be family, only love and understanding.

Emma was next. She smoothed down her ruby-red skirt, hoping no one would notice any wrinkles. The strapless crimson dress was shorter than she liked but had been the one that left Charlie speechless when he helped her pick one out a couple weeks ago.

She closed her eyes and reminded herself to breathe. Charlie was going to be standing next to Max, watching her, loathing her for breaking his heart. She needed to suck it up and do this for Kendall.

Emma placed one foot in front of the other and made her way to the altar. She felt as if there was a spotlight on her as she approached the rest of the wedding party. The heat of her blush ran down her neck and across her chest. Focusing her eyes forward, she tried not to let them drift over to the man standing on Max’s left, but his pull was undeniable.

Her heart stuttered when she noticed he was staring a hole in the ground between his feet. He couldn’t even look at her. There was no way he was going to listen to anything she had to say. The disappointment rattled her as she took her place next to Lucy and shifted her gaze back down the aisle.

The guests all stood as the music changed and Kendall and their father entered the main sanctuary. When the doors opened, light from the church foyer backlit the bride and her dad. Their silhouette stepped forward and everyone got their first glimpse of the beautiful bride.

Kendall had never looked so lovely. Her dress was simple this time around—a cream-colored gown with an empire waist. There was some sparkle on the bodice, but the rest of it was a soft chiffon.

Emma peeked at Max, who raised his fist to his mouth as he was overcome with emotion. When their father and Kendall reached him, Max thanked her dad for trusting him to be her partner. Kendall’s eyes welled with tears. Max quickly helped her wipe one away with his thumb before she took his arm.

“You’re absolutely breathtaking,” he whispered, bringing tears to Emma’s eyes, too.

Just over Max’s shoulder, she spotted Charlie. This time his stare was solely focused on Emma. The irrepressible urge to shout, “I love you! Please don’t give up on me!” overcame her, but the priest began the ceremony and Charlie looked away.

This was Kendall and Max’s moment. Emma’s would come.

The ceremony was short and sweet. They exchanged traditional vows, and with Simon and Aidan, filled a vase full of four different-colored sands to represent their new blended family. When the priest finally said it was time to kiss the bride, Max sighed with exaggerated relief. He dipped his new wife and kissed her with the flair of a Hollywood movie star.

Husband and wife made their way down the aisle, smiling at friends and family as they passed. Emma stepped toward the center. This was the moment she dreaded the most. Charlie stood beside her and offered his arm. She feared she wouldn’t be able to let him go when they got to the end. With shaking hands, she roped her arm around his, linking elbows. His eyes were fixed on Kendall and Max as they followed them out.

A reassuring warmth flowed through Emma as they walked. Just touching him centered her, made her feel safe. But the moment they crossed the threshold, Charlie slipped his arm out of hers. His silent rebuke left another tender welt on her already broken spirit. How was she ever going to get him to believe she was sorry and would be worth his trouble if he couldn’t stand to be near her for more than a few seconds?

Emma was going to have to get creative.

* * *

T
HE
W
EST
S
IDE
L
OFT
was located on the top floor of the Aberdeen Art Center. Somehow, even with spectacular, unobstructed views of the entire Chicago skyline, it was still a hidden gem.

Kendall knew many of the artists who had studios in the building and had taken Emma to a private art show there a few months back. Kendall loved the exposed-brick walls and wood-beamed ceilings. When Emma found out they rented the space for private events, she knew it was the perfect spot for the reception. The guests would even be able to see the fireworks over Lake Michigan later in the evening.

Dinner was served after some light appetizers were passed around. Gianna’s sisters reminded Emma of her and her sisters. They looked alike but each had her own unique personality. More important, they cooked a delicious meal that left everyone full and satisfied.

After dinner, it was time for the two speeches. The best man was scheduled to go first and then the maid of honor. Emma had written her speech shortly after Max and Kendall’s engagement. She pulled the paper out of her clutch only to grab the pictures of her and Charlie from the wedding they’d crashed. She had forgotten they were there. She held the photo strip in her lap. There were two silly photos, one of them both smiling at the camera and one of Emma staring up at Charlie with an expression of complete adoration.