4 Tennyson

An hour and a half later, Fitzgibbon parked the van in River Ramsey’s circular driveway. “We’re here, kids!” Ten called back to them. He listened as the kids were quick to unbuckle themselves and ran forward to the front of the van.

“You all need to grab your bags from the back,” Ronan said. “My hands will be full bringing in the food, okay?”

“Yes, Dad, but we need to hurry up. I’ve got to hug Brookie!” Everly sounded impatient. Ten could see her buzzing with excitement.

“Me too!” Aurora agreed.

“What about you, Wolfie?” Jude asked.

Wolf shook his head, sending his messy hair whipping around his head. “Nope! I’m good without girl hugs.” He hopped out of his seat and stopped in front of his fathers. “I don’t know if you know this,” he looked around, as if to see who was listening in on what he was saying, “but girls have cooties.”

Ronan gasped. “They do?” He shot Tennyson a horrified look.

“They do, Uncle Ronan. Timmy Bowman told me so.” Wolf wore a look as if to say Timmy word was the definitive opinion on the matter.

“Ah, yes, the infamous Timmy Bowman, who brought his nana’s cremation urn for show-and-tell,” Ronan said.

“First grade hasn’t exactly been a rousing success for Timmy,” Fitz said with an evil grin on his face. “He was the one who was bullying Aurora.”

“Yeah, but God got him for that when Timmy shit his pants in front of the entire class.” Jace wore an identical grin to his husband. “Oh, happy day!”

“Okay, all ashore!” Fitz called from the back of the van.

Tennyson helped Ezra out of his car seat and watched him rumble toward the front of the bus, he looked like a linebacker about to sack the quarterback.

“Hey, everyone!” River called when he came out the front door.

“Uncle River!” Everly shouted and ran to him. “Where’s Brookie?”

“She’s in the house helping Barb with her little sister. I wanted to meet you all out here so that it will be calm in the house for Delta. She has a bit of trouble sleeping sometimes and can be a bit of a crab if she doesn’t get her beauty sleep.”

Aurora gasped. “Baby Delta is just like me! I’m an absolute wreck if I don’t get enough sleep, right Daddy?”

Fitzgibbon nodded and put his arms out like Frankenstein’s monster. “I can give you some tips about things that worked for us.”

“We would definitely appreciate that.” River spotted Tennyson and held open his arms. “There’s my little brother.”

Ten laughed at the little brother comment and wrapped his arms around River. “It’s good to see you. I missed you.”

“Same, River agreed. “Let’s get the kids settled in the pool and then we’ll have a chance to catch up. I’ve got a lot to tell you.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Ten stared at his brother with wonder in his eyes. He couldn’t believe that it had been nearly a year since he found out that he even had a brother. Life certainly had a way of throwing curve balls. He hoped there wouldn’t be any this Christmas. All Ten wanted was to enjoy two fun-filled weeks in the sunshine with his family. It remained to be seen if he’d get his Christmas wish.

Ten helped Ronan carry in the food they’d brought for the cookout. Cope and Jace had picked up hotdogs, along with a potato salad, juice pouches and ice cream cups for the kids. River had said he was going to make burgers and wings. When he walked into the kitchen, he saw his sister-in-law, Barb sitting with the baby. Everly, Aurora, and Lizbet crowded around her. “Hey, Barb.”

“Shhhh!” Lizbet said. “Sweepy!”

“Oh, the baby is sleeping?” Ten asked, kneeling behind the kids.

Lizbet nodded and reached out for the baby’s hand. She giggled when Delta grabbed her finger.

“Who wants to go in the pool?” River asked.

The kids hands shot quietly into the air.

“Let’s go.” River opened the sliding glass door and led the kids outside. Ten could see Ronan and Jude helping to set up the kids table.

“How are things?” Ten asked, taking the seat next to Barb.

“If I’m being honest, this is the happiest and most exhausted I’ve ever been in my life.” Barb smiled down at her sleeping daughter. “We had a few bumps in the road with Brooke being jealous of the baby, but we’re getting through it.”

“I well remember those days with Everly and Ezra. They’re best of friends now, but when he came home from the hospital, Everly kept asking when I was going to return him as if he were a library book.” Ten laughed at the memory.

Barb got up from the table and handed the baby to Tennyson. “Have you got her for a few minutes?” She pointed in the direction of the bathroom.

“Take as long as you need. I’ll be fine with this little princess.”

“Thanks, Ten.” Barb gave his shoulder a squeeze and headed out of the room.

Ten took a minute to study his baby niece. He’d seen pictures, but kids at this age changed so fast. Delta had whips of dark hair, which Ten knew were going to turn into crazy curls just like his own and River’s. The baby opened her eyes and looked up at Tennyson. He cooed down at her and wondered what it would be like if he and Ronan added another child to their family.

“Don’t get any ideas,” Ronan said, walking into the kitchen. “Our family is complete.”

Ten raised an eyebrow at Ronan.

“I’m serious.” Ronan looked anything but.

“Uh, huh.” Ten rolled his eyes, knowing full well that if he wanted another baby, Ronan would on board with that plan. “Do you want to hold your niece?”

“No way. I’ve got to be the voice of reason here. We’ve got two kids and they each have their own rooms. A new baby would mean someone would have to share. You know the third baby is always the wild child. What if she could start fires with her mind or was genius enough to send to Harvard at ten years old. I don’t know how I’d cope with either scenario.” Ronan shrugged as if to say he was glad he wasn’t going to find out.

“I saw you and Jude talking outside. Looked pretty serious. Is everything okay?” Ten didn’t think the men looked upset, just focused.

“Jude was telling me that Patrick Marsh only lives a few blocks away from here. He suggested that after everyone ate and the kids were in the pool, that we could do a drive by.”

“Did you say Patrick Marsh?” Barb asked, walking back into the kitchen.

“Yeah, do you know him? He’s originally from Massachusetts.” Ronan asked, with a gleam in his eyes that told Ten he was back in detective mode.

“We know him very well. In fact, he and his wife will be at our Christmas Eve party. Did you know him from when he lived up north?”

Ten shot Ronan a warning look. They needed to talk about this more before letting Barb and River know what happened to Patrick’s first wife.

“Yeah, his first wife was, uh...” Ronan obviously realized, too late, what he’d been about to say.

“His first wife died,” Barb said. “On Christmas Day, if you can believe that. Very tragic. From what he told me, he moved down here shortly after for a fresh start. River met him on a construction site a year or so later and contracted his landscaping company to work on a housing development. He liked Pat so much that his company is the only one River will hire. I’ve spent some time with Mabel, she’s sweet.”

“Who’s Mabel?” Ronan asked.

Ten knew exactly who Mabel was, which was going to seriously complicate matters.

“That’s Pat’s second wife. I think you all will like them. Nice family,” Barb said.

Ronan shot Ten a look that said not-on-your-life.

Barb gazed between Ten and Ronan. “There’s something you’re not telling me. What is it?”

“Well,” Ten began, very reluctant to get into the meat of this story at their family reunion.

“You were right when you said Patrick’s first wife was dead, but I’m afraid he didn’t tell you the whole story,” Ronan began.

“What’s the rest of the story?” Barb asked, a look of horror dawning in her eyes.

“Jillian was murdered in their home a few hours after they’d returned from a Christmas Ever party at her parents’ house. According to what Patrick told the police, he’d been in bed sleeping and woke to the sound of a gunshot. He raced downstairs and found his wife’s lifeless body. Ten years later, the crime is still unsolved.”

Barb sat down hard at the table. “Was Patrick a suspect?”

Ronan nodded. “Yeah, he still is. Fitzgibbon wants-”

“He wants what?” Barb asked.

Ten shot Ronan another warning look.

“Guys, fill me in here. It does no good for the two of you to keep this to yourselves. This man is invited to our home in a few days and I need to know if he’s a cold-blooded killer.”

“Who’s a cold-blooded killer?” River asked, walking into the house.

“Patrick Marsh,” Barb said. “Well, maybe.”

“What?” River asked, his full attention on Ronan. “I’ve worked with him for the past eight years. He’s a great husband.”

“Who lied to us about how his first wife died,” Barb said. “She didn’t just die, River, she was murdered.”

“No one’s ever been arrested in connection to the case,” Ronan quickly added.

“And you guys think that Patrick killed her?” River’s eyes widened.

“We don’t know. Cap wants to show up at his house and ask a few questions.”

“You mean interrogate him?” River challenged.

“Sort of,” Ronan admitted.

“What do you mean, sort of?” River asked, sounding confused.

“Jillian’s case has been cold for nine years. From reading the police file, no one from the Salem PD has been in contact with him since a month after he moved to Florida. Patrick’s guard is down and the last thing he’s going to expect is for a bunch of Cold Case Detectives to ring his doorbell a few days before Christmas.”

“I just want to see his reaction to us,” Fitz said walking into the room. “Is he antsy and anxious? Angry? Heartbroken over Jillian’s death. How he responds can help us tell if he had anything to do with his wife’s murder.”

“I get that, guys, I really do,” Barb said. “But his family is coming here on Christmas Eve. Can’t this wait a few more days?”

Ronan sighed. He wore a look that said waiting wasn’t a good idea.

“I think we can, Barb,” Fitzgibbon said.

“Hold on. I don’t want a murderer in my house on Christmas!” River’s eyes widened.

“We don’t know that he killed his wife,” Fitz said. “But, meeting him and his wife at the party is the perfect way to get to know him a bit. We’d need the two of you to keep our interest in him and the new wife to yourselves. If he’s the killer and you tip him off to who we are, he could bolt.”

“Can you guarantee my family’s protection?” River asked.

“They’ve been perfectly safe for the nine years you’ve worked together,” Ronan began. “I have no reason to think anything would change on Christmas Eve, unless you alert him to our presence.”

“When he asks what you do for a living, what do I say? You guys are all over the internet. A simple Google search will turn up all kinds of stories about what you do for a living and the fact that Ten’s a psychic.”

“Right, but we’ll just say we’re bank tellers, or something,” Ronan said, lamely.

“You guys might be a lot of things, but bankers are not one of them,” River laughed. “Just say you’re private investigators who look into cheating spouses. It’s true and you’ll have a million funny stories to tell. None of us will mention Patrick’s first wife, right Barb?”

“Right,” she quickly agreed.

“Sounds like we’ve got a plan.” Fitzgibbon looked pleased with himself.

“I don’t know about you,” River began, “but I’m starving. Let’s fire up the grill.” He motioned for Fitz and Ronan to follow him outside.

“Do you see anything about how this will turn out?” Barb asked.

Ten shook his head. “I’m drawing a complete blank.” Which scared Ten more than he was willing to admit. Usually he had an inkling of how things would turn out, but at the moment, he had nothing to go on or to use to protect the people he loved most in this world.

One thing was for certain, Ten wasn’t going to have a Holly Jolly Christmas until they figured out if Patrick Marsh killed his first wife.