A/N: I don't own Miracle. Thank you so much to all my reviewers. You guys really encourage me.

Chapter Four

Anna's POV

I had big plans for that Saturday. Friday night had been a mix of absolutely amazing and absolutely awful. Jack was an awesome guy and I had a lot of fun with him. But I couldn't understand Rob for the life of me. He insults me but then when I put a little effort into my appearance, he suddenly expects me to lie down at his feet and beg him to date me. And when I spend a little time with Jack-a guy who actually respects me no matter how I'm dressed, Rob acts like I've betrayed him to his death. Men are so complicated.

So I had a fun day planned. I was taking Kelly out for lunch and then we were going to do a little shopping. She needed some clothes for school in the fall and that had been our thing to do together ever since I started driving six years earlier. We went shopping for school clothes and such together. Gayle and Rosemary were tagging along to help add a few items to my wardrobe as well.

Then at four, Gayle and I were meeting Jack, Rizzo, Silky, Jimmy, and Buzzy at the grocery store. Kelly was also going to tag along at the grocery store and then we were dropping her off on the way home. It didn't escape my notice that most of the guys who had volunteered for cooking were from Boston. I knew that Jimmy and Jack were both from large Irish families and I figured hat they had probably had to help out with the cooking growing up. I didn't know where Rizzo and Silky learned to cook but I did know that Rizzo was Italian, so that had probably contributed to it.

It did disappoint me that no one else was willing to cook. But I was finding that these Boston boys were good cooks. Rizzo's spaghetti was amazing. Jack could also make good macaroni and cheese and his soup was pretty good too. Jimmy made really good bread and Silky made really good meatloaf and mashed potatoes. We were all finding our little niches in the kitchen.

And I was growing to love Sunday night dinner. That was my night when Jack and I cooked together. It had started the first Sunday I'd been cooking. I had been making chicken tetrazzini and he came in and offered to help. I accepted his offer and gave him mushrooms to chop. We ended up making the whole meal together and talking. We found out that my little brother is the same age as his youngest sister, Fiona, and we started kidding around about setting Danny and Fiona up during the Olympics.

Every Thursday night, all seven cooks met in the kitchen and planned out the menu for the next week. I made the grocery list while Jack and Silky took turns writing out the menu for the week. Neither of them had great handwriting and people regularly commented on it. One night, my dad stopped by for dinner and saw the cooking schedule for the week and tried to read it out loud. "Saturday-Am ran is making toy key with port toes and grease, Sunday, Am ran is making church soup with bread and frogs, Monday, Jerk is making Marconi and choose, Tuesday, Silk and Crap are making rooster meat with pasta and bread, Wednesday, Goyle and Busy are making sauce argh with crap and hissing, and Thursday, Marissa is making sporks and meet basses. Well, it looks like you boys will be eating well this week."

Silk, who had written the menu the week before, spoke up. "No offense, Herb, but you completely misread that. Saturday, Anna made turkey with mashed potatoes and gravy. Sunday, Anna made chicken soup with corn bread. Monday, Jack made macaroni and cheese. Tonight, Jimmy and I made roast beef with pasta and bread. Tomorrow, Gayle and Buzzy are making sausage casserole. And Thursday, Rizzo is making spaghetti and meatballs. All that food is perfect safe for human consumption. I promise. Anna, aren't Jimmy and I good cooks?"

"Jimmy makes really good bread," I answered. "And all this food is safe to eat, Herb. Trust me; I screened all of them before I let them cook in this kitchen."

Herb shook his head. "All right, I'll believe you for now."

Gayle and I picked Kelly up at ten. We were meeting Rosemary in Penny's at ten-thirty. Kelly was standing on the front porch of house waiting for us, but I still stuck my head in the front door to say hello to my mother. Kelly was tapping her foot during the entirety of the following exchange.

"Hi, Mom," I said. "How are you?"

"Oh, hey, Anna," she replied. "I'm good. How are you?"

"I'm doing pretty well," I answered. Then spotting my little brother who was sitting on the living room floor eating cereal and watching cartoons, I added, "Hi, Danny."

Danny didn't reply but my mother said, "Anna, don't spend too much money on Kelly. I've given her some money and if she needs more, you can buy what she needs but please let me see the receipts so I can pay you back. I don't want you spending more money than you have. And for goodness's sakes, Danny, please acknowledge your sister when she acknowledges you."

Danny sighed and looked up at me. "Oh, hey, Anna, it's nice to see you."

"Good to see you too, Dan," I replied. "How's hockey going?"

"It's pretty good. Can you ask Dad to let me watch hockey practice one day, please?"

"I'll see what I can do for you, kiddo."

"Thanks," he said.

Just then, Kelly sighed and let a loud moan; personally I was wondering if she was dying. "Are we ready to go yet?"

I smiled. "Why, yes we are. I'll see you later, Mom, Dan. Tell Dad I said hello." When Danny and Kelly are around, I refer to Herb as "Dad." Herb was at the rink dealing with something. There might have been practice today, but I couldn't remember. I had Saturdays off and the boys hadn't said anything this morning anyway. But they might have been too tired to talk; they'd had a big night last night. I'd barely even spoken to Jack this morning before Gayle arrived in the kitchen. But Jack had been busy taking care of Rob. That was something I never thought I'd see; Jack O'Callahan was taking care of a hung-over Rob McClanahan. But miracles can happen.

When we got to mall, Rosemary was waiting for us in the girls' department of Penny's. I hadn't see Rosemary since I left for work the day before because she'd still been out with Jeff when I went to bed the night before. And then she was still in bed when I left to go pick up Gayle and Kelly. So when she was beaming like the morning sun, I had to know why and so I asked her what was going on.

"You're never going to guess what Jeff did last night!" she squealed.

"Umm, he paid for dinner?" I asked. I was pretty sure I knew what he had done but she wouldn't be happy unless I played along with her game.

Rosemary flashed her left hand in my face. "He proposed! And I said yes!"

I hugged her. "That's awesome. When's the wedding?"

"January," she said. "I know that's fast but we don't care. We talked to our parents last night and they're fine with it. And of course, Anna, you'll have to be the maid of honor."

"I'd love to be your maid of honor," I replied with a smile. Inside I was praying that she wouldn't pick ugly bridesmaid dresses. I'd already been in two weddings in the past year-Gayle's and Lisa's. I was Gayle's maid of honor and let me tell you if I'm in one more wedding after Rosemary's, I might have to shoot someone. Being in weddings means you have to wear an ugly dress and high heels and dance with guys you really hate. I'd rather just get married and have that be the end of my wedding career.

"Thank you so much! I love you!" Rosemary squealed. She's a squealing person. Rob says he doesn't see what Jeff says her because she can't cook and she communicates by squealing really loudly. "And Gayle, will you be one of my bridesmaids, please?"

"Umm, sure, yeah, I guess so." Gayle's been in five weddings in the past six years not counting her own. I haven't been in as many weddings, but that's because I don't have as many cousins in the Twin Cities area as Gayle does. My mom only has one sister and one brother. My aunt Joyce has two children, both of whom are younger than I am. My uncle Henry has three children, none of whom are married. However, my cousin, Janice, is getting married in November and I'm going to be her bridesmaid. So, Rosemary will end up being my fourth wedding in less than a year. I just pray that Rosemary doesn't decide to make me wear a bright orange dress or something; that would be positively hideous.

We spent two hours looking for clothes for Kelly. We found plenty of cute skirts and tops that Kelly loved. She also picked out a few pairs of jeans and corduroys. We had so much fun looking for clothes for a nine-year-old. It's so bizarre how much fun three twenty-two year old women can have watching a nine-year-old model new clothes.

When we were done shopping for Kelly, we grabbed lunch at Mariana's, this really amazing Italian restaurant that had just opened at the mall. I adored malls these days because you could drive to one place and do all your shopping there. It saves a lot of gas. But I also loved hanging out with my sister and two of my favorite girls.

"So after lunch," Gayle began as she stuck her fork into a plate of spaghetti. "I'm thinking that we should head back to Penny's to look at clothes for Anna."

"That sounds good," Rosemary said. "But we should also hit Sears and a couple of the smaller stores as well. We need to start by getting her a few basic pieces she can wear to practice and meetings."

"Right," Gayle replied. "She's definitely going to need some basic pieces. But she'll also need at least one nice suit and a nice skirt and top outfit to wear to hockey games. I mean we can't send her to Sweden wearing a Minnesota sweatshirt and the jeans she bought in tenth grade."

"So true," my roommate agreed. "She'd be a disgrace to Americans. The Swedes would think that Americans are stupid idiots who have no clue how to get dressed in the morning."

I sighed. "Okay, you guys, be honest with me. Am I really that bad of a dresser? Are my clothes that ugly that people would be embarrassed to admit that I'm a representative of the United States?"

Gayle suddenly became very busy spinning her spaghetti around her fork and Rosemary became very interested in examining her lasagna. But of course out of the babes comes truth and Kelly spoke up immediately. "Yes, you dress like a boy. At this rate you're never going to get married. Face it, Anna. You need this make-over they're trying to give you."

I felt like I'd just been hit by a car and smashed through a brick wall. My little sister thought I looked like a boy. She thought I really did need to completely change my look. I guess I must have just sat there staring at my bowl of pasta for a while because suddenly, Gayle's hands were in my face. "Anna, are you all right? Are you okay?"

"Am I really that bad?" I whispered. "Do I really dress like a boy?"

Rosemary looked at me. "Answer one question for me, please. Where do you buy the majority of your clothes?"

I took a deep breath before admitting "The boys' department. I buy my jeans in the boys' department and I get my sweatshirts and t-shirts in the men's department. But I did buy my dress and my suit in the women's department."

"True," Gayle said. "But you bought them about four years ago and they're both practically falling apart."

"Honey," Rosemary added. "Face it; it's time for a new wardrobe for you. Look at yourself."

I was wearing a pair of jeans-from the boys' department and a black t-shirt that I'd stolen from Steve Janaszak after a hockey game last winter. Okay, maybe I do need new clothes. And Steve's shirt was way too big for me. Granted, Steve is almost a foot taller than me, so the shirt doesn't fit me at all; it was basically just hanging off of my body.

"But I really need to find shirts that can fit my chest," I pointed out. "And I don't have any problems fitting my chest into guys' shirts."

"And then of course no one can see your gorgeous body," Gayle pointed out. "Just go shopping with us for a little while and see if we can't find just a couple things that you like and that fit you really well."

"Okay," I agreed reluctantly. "Just don't make me look like Abby."

Rosemary smiled at me. "Don't worry, sweetie. I'd never do that to anyone I loved."

In the end, we bought what I considered a huge amount of clothing. I got two pairs of jeans, a pair of black dress pants, a pair of gray dress pants, two knee-length skirts-one black and one gray, five blouses, two blazers, and a couple of shirts for weekends and relaxing. And apparently, this purchasing of new clothes was not done either. "We're going to get you more things closer to Christmas and the Games," Gayle informed me. "Eventually, we're also going to get you some make-up and even get you to cut your hair."

Okay, so at this point I should explain something. I haven't had a serious hair cut since my freshman year of high school. I've had trims every now and then to keep from getting split ends, but nothing serious since then. My hair hasn't been cut in eight years and the last cut I had-the summer before freshman year-they cut my hair to my shoulders. My hair now falls to my butt. I wear it in braids or ponytails or buns most of the time but I will readily that I do have a lot of hair. Maybe it is time for a hair cut just like it's time for a makeover.

So we put all the clothes in my car, said good-bye to Rosemary, and we headed over to the grocery store to meet Jack, Rizzo, Silky, Jimmy, and Buzzy. Kelly wasn't exactly thrilled about tagging along, but I didn't think that any of the guys were terribly enthused about going grocery shopping themselves. But I was pretty sure that those guys would entertain Kelly so things shouldn't be too terrible for the next hour.

You would think that spending an hour with Gayle, Kelly, and the five guys wouldn't be too terrible. But somehow, Buzzy decided to spend the entire time we were in the grocery store terrorizing my little sister. We split up the list and then split up into groups; each group was responsible for one part of the list. This does not sound too terribly difficult. Silky and Jimmy had the list of fruits and vegetables; then they set off to conquer the produce department. Rizzo and Kelly had the dairy products and they headed off in search of ice cream, cheese, yogurt, and milk. Buzzy and Gayle had canned and boxed foods as well as the baked goods section. And Jack and I had the meat department and snack foods. Now, you might wonder why I was working with Jack and not with my sister. Well, it's very simple. She fell in love with Rizzo about two seconds after she met him.

So Jack and I were filling up on beef, chicken, and ground chuck when we saw Buzzy chasing Kelly around. Apparently, she had been walking past a freezer full of ice cream when he popped out and screamed. Well she screamed louder and he started chasing her. Sometimes, Buzzy is not so smart. I ended up with my little sister clinging to me and Jack dragging Buzzy out to the car. Apparently, this was not the first time Buzzy had tried to "surprise" Kelly. So Gayle took Buzzy home, leaving me with a station wagon to take Kelly and four guys home in. Well, I hope everyone likes being comfy-cozy in the car because the trunk was going to be full of clothes and food. And we were going to have to take a side-trip to take Kelly home, which meant that the dinner we had planned for six-thirty was now going to end up being closer to seven or seven-thirty.

It was at this point Jack announced that someone should invent phones that you could just carry around in your pocket or purse so that you could call someone whenever you needed to. This way, according to Jack's reasoning, we could have just called my mom and asked her to meet us at Kroger's.

That would have been so much easier. By the way, if you're wondering, initially, Gayle had been planning to take Kelly home so that I could end back to the U to make dinner. Buzzy really complicates things sometimes. But you've go to love him, or at least I do; he is married to one of my dearest friends, after all. As my cousin Liam likes to say, "God save us from a death like that on the wreath of Norman's woe." I have no clue what that's supposed to mean, but it sure as heck sounds nice.

A/N: Okay, so this was a bit shorter. And I'll explain about dinner and the next day in the next chapter-and all from Jack's POV. But I'm leaving for college and I wanted to get this off to Emador before I leave for school

Oh and with me heading off to school, please expect updates to slow down a little. I'll be working and taking classes and other fun things starting soon which will slow down my writing process.