16 Tennyson

By the time they got home and got the kids to bed it was nearly midnight. The adults had sat up together wrapping presents and setting them under the tree. Thankfully, no one talked about Patrick Marsh or the women whose lives might be in danger.

Before they’d left River’s house, Ronan, Jude, and Fitz had spoken with Captain Richmond to fill him in on what they knew, which was precious little. Both Ten and Cope had read Everly to see if there was anything else she’d seen or heard when she’d spoken with Jillian Marsh, but there had been nothing. Ten wasn’t getting any information about what his daughter had seen. It was ditto for Cope. All they could do now was hope the St. Pete Police could find the women associated with Patrick Marsh and keep them safe.

Ten had fallen asleep the minute his head hit the pillow and he didn’t move until half past six when Everly and Ezra burst into their bedroom to announce Santa had come. They’d found stockings bulging with presents beside each of their beds. Everly reported that Aurora, Lizbet, and Wolf had stockings too. Jolly old St. Nick had indeed found them in Florida, thanks to notes in their Santa letters letting the big man know they wouldn’t be in Salem for Christmas.

“Can we open our stockings?” Everly asked with a sweet smile.

“Give us a few minutes to brush our teeth, okay?” Ten asked. He didn’t bother asking the kids if they’d brushed their own, the answer was no. He’d let their oral hygiene slide until after breakfast.

When the bathroom door was partially shut behind them, Ten turned to Ronan. “Any messages from Captain Richmond?”

Ronan, his mouth full of toothpaste shook his head. “He didn’t send anything to me, maybe to Fitz. Are you getting a sense there was anything else that happened after the party?”

Ten reached out with gift, scared to death he’d find something. “No, I’m not getting anything. I’ll check the St. Pete app to see if any news has been posted.” Grabbing his phone, Ten did that very thing. “There’s nothing here about any murders and there’s no mention of Patrick Marsh’s name.”

“Thank goodness.” Ronan sighed with obvious relief. “Maybe we’ll be able to get through the day without-”

Ten slapped a hand over Ronan’s mouth before he could finish his thought. “Do not jinx us.” All Ten wanted a peaceful day with his family. If Ronan kept speaking, they’d be in the line of fire for sure.

Snorting, Ronan pulled Ten’s hand away. “And I thought cops were superstitious.”

Ten pressed a kiss to the side of Ronan’s face. “Let’s go open presents.”

When Ten and Ronan walked back into the bedroom, Ezra and Everly were waiting patiently to open their stockings. “Okay kids, have at it,” Ronan said, when he climbed back on the bed.

Ezra dumped out his entire stocking and started ripping at the paper like a man possessed, while Everly removed a plastic candy cane filled with fruit-flavored lip gloss. “My favorites! Thanks, Dads!” She set the tube beside herself and pulled out the next gift.

“Cars!” Ezra shouted. He was holding two Matchbox toys, one was a big purple truck, while the other was a souped up sports car. He reached for the next gift and groaned loudly when he unwrapped a blue toothbrush. “Noooo! More cars!”

“That’s not nice, Ezzie.” Everly wrapped her arm around her brother and gave him a squeeze.

“Me nice.” Ezra offered his sister a big smile.

“I got a pink toothbrush!” Everly said. “Do you want to trade?”

Ezra shrieked. “No pink!”

The kids continued to unwrap the little stocking presents until all of them were opened. Ezra had gotten several more cars and he and Everly got candy cane tubes filled with green and red-wrapped Hershey Kisses and mini peanut butter cups. Ten had a feeling Ronan would be commandeering those treats before too long.

Ten cleaned up the wrapping paper, putting the shreds into a small grocery bag he’d brought upstairs with him when he and Ronan went to bed. “Are you ready to go downstairs and see what Santa brought?”

“Santa!” Ezra shouted, racing out of the room. Seconds later, his footsteps rang out on the stairs.

“Wait for us!” Ten called after his son. He hurried down the stairs and found Ezra standing in front of the Christmas tree with a look of awe on his face.

“Me?” Ezra asked.

Ten knelt down beside the excited boy. “I think some of them are for you, but we have to wait for everyone else, Aurora, Wolfie, and Lizbet.”

“Me get!” Ezra raced back toward the stairs and climbed them quickly.

Ten had no doubt he’d gather the troops and get them on the move. Aurora liked to open her gifts slowly and he was sure Jude or Cope would have to help Lizbet navigate the small, tightly wrapped presents that they’d put in her stocking.

While everyone was still upstairs, Ten started the coffee pot and got out mugs. He also stuck the egg bake he and Jace made the night before, into the oven and set a timer. It took an hour to bake. Ten figured they’d be done unwrapping presents by then.

“Wow! Santa found us!” Jude shouted from halfway down the stairs. “Look at all those presents.” He snapped some pictures with his phone before coming downstairs with Lizbet in his arms.

“Weeee!” Lizbet squealed when Jude set her down. She ran toward the tree and started picking up the presents. “Dada!” She sounded impatient.

“We have to wait for Wolf and the others.”

Lizbet frowned, obviously not liking Jude’s answer. She toddled toward the stairs and shouted for her brother. “Woooooooof! Wooooof!”

Wolf appeared at the top of the stairs. “We were telling Aurora to go faster. If she keeps going at this speed, she’ll have her stocking opened by Valley-times Day.”

“We don’t have that long to wait,” Jude muttered. He went to the fridge and pulled out a half gallon of eggnog and poured himself a glass. “Damn, this is good.”

“Here we come!” Fitz called from the top of the stairs. Aurora held his hand. Everly did the same with Ronan. Wolf and Cope brought up the rear.

“Wow!” Aurora cooed, as she ran for the Christmas tree. “Santa didn’t forget us.”

“Nope!” Everly took the seat beside Aurora in front of the tree. Wolf and Ezra joined them, while Lizbet sipped from Jude’s cup.

“I’ll start passing out the presents.” Ronan grabbed five packages that were the same size and wrapped in the same paper. He handed one to each of the kids.

“Me!” Lizbet abandoned Jude for her present. She flopped down next to Wolf and all five kids ripped open the paper.

“What the heck is this?” Everly asked, holding up a bag with colorful accessories inside.

“It’s a snorkel and mask!” Jude said. “Boy, Santa really hit it out of the park with this present.

“What do we do with it?” Everly asked, still looking confused. She handed the package to Ronan, who pulled out the mask and then the snorkel. “The mask covers your eyes, so that you can see clearly underwater and you breathe through the snorkel, so you can keep your face in the water to watch for fish and turtles and whales.” Ronan put the apparatus on Everly and showed her how to settle the mouthpiece. “The mask pinches your nose shut, so you can’t breathe through it. Try to breathe through the tube.”

Everly took several breaths and let out a whoop of joy. She spit out the mouthpiece. “I did it Daddy!”

“Great job! Now I bet you’re all wondering why you’re going to need a mask and snorkel,” Fitz continued.

“Shishies!” Ezra said, with his mask half over his eyes. Ten quickly adjusted it into the correct position.

“We’re going to Discovery Cove next week! We can snorkel with the tropical fish and see the otters and meet dolphins.”

“Dolphins!” Everly and Aurora said together. “We love dolphins.” Both girls ran to their fathers and gave them hugs. “This is gonna be so much fun, right, Woofie!”

“I want to meet a shark!” Wolf’s eyes glowed with happiness.

“There are a couple of shark encounters we can do.” Jude looked as excited about meeting the sharks as Wolf did.

“Daddy, I want to meet a shark,” Aurora said. “I want to give him cuddles.”

“We’ll have to see what the rules are when it comes to hugging sharks.” Fitzgibbon tickled Aurora.

“I’ll hold your hand, Aurora.” Wolf offered.

“Okay, I’ll try it, but I’m not gonna be happy if a shark wants to have me for lunch.” Aurora settled next to Wolf and giggled at something he said.

“We can practice using our snorkels in Uncle River’s pool, but, you all have to agree to keep it a secret, because we got Brook a snorkel too and we don’t want to spoil the surprise before she unwraps the present. Got it?” Ten asked. He and Ronan had wanted to go to Discovery Cove for a while now, but the kids weren’t old enough to participate in the animal encounters.

“Got it!” The kids echoed back.

Ronan handed out the next round of presents, which included unicorn stuffies for the girls and Lego kits for the boys.

“This is for you,” Ronan said, handing Ten a rectangular present.

Ten gave it a shake before ripping off the paper to reveal a photo collage. All of the images were of Tennyson with his brother. “Oh, Ronan! How did you do this?”

“We all took a lot of pics of you and River together when they came to Salem last summer and when we were here in February. I asked everyone to send me the photos they had and then Fitz and Jude helped me pic the best ones. I saved the last space for the Santa pic with both of you sitting on his knee.”

“I love it!” Ten hugged his husband. The collage was one of the most thoughtful gifts he’d ever gotten.

Everly came up beside him and peered over his shoulder. “You look so happy, Daddy.”

Ten was happy. “This pic is my favorite.” He pointed to a shot of everyone together, that the pool guy had taken, so the entire family could be in it. It’s got all of us, including baby Delta.”

“It’s my favorite too,” Everly agreed. She traced a finger over the picture of Ten and River with Santa. “I just wish Santa Shane was okay.”

In that instant, Ten’s bubble burst. He was transported instantly back to reality. A former cop was dead, so was Patrick Marsh’s first wife. He’d tried to poison the second wife and there were other lovers, past and present, who were also in danger. “I hate to ask, but have you learned anything else about this case?”

Everly shook her head. “I shut my gift down after a took a little peek before I got out of bed. I didn’t see anything else. Do you want me to look again now?”

“Nope!” Ten wrapped his arms around his daughter and hugged her tight. “Let’s just enjoy the day together, okay? Tomorrow is soon enough to get back to work.”

“Get back here, Everly!” Wolf shouted. “We’ve got presents to open!”

“Okay!” Everly pulled away from Ten and took one of the gift bags Jude was passing out. He knew each contained coloring books, tailored to each of the kids interests, along with crayons, colored pencils and watercolor pencils.

Ten snapped pictures as the kids opened their art supplies. Everly and Aurora screeched over the unicorn and fairy coloring books, while the boys plowed on to the next gifts.

This was the first time they’d had Christmas together like this with all of them opening presents together. He loved seeing the reactions of the kids to their Santa presents, but Ten couldn’t help thinking there was one Santa who wouldn’t be delivering gifts today. Instead, he was laid out on a mortuary slab, in a locked drawer.

Ten shivered. He was going to do everything he could to help solve Shane’s murder. His family deserved answers and Ronan, who still thought he’d been the ultimate cause of Shane’s death, deserved peace.