14 Tennyson

Ten relished the silence left in Ronan's wake. His husband hadn't been at all thrilled at the idea that he was going to be Spencer's trustee and that he'd also have to attend the meeting with his attorney. To be honest, if he were in Ronan's shoes, he would have pushed back against the plan too.

There was nothing Ten liked more than helping spirits who still had work to do in the physical world, which could certainly be said for Effy Lou. For years he'd stressed to Ronan that spirits had their own agendas, but in all the years he'd been speaking to ghosts, he'd never run across anyone like Spencer's aunt. She was strong, opinionated, and determined to change her nephew into someone worthy of praise. Ten wasn't so certain things were going to work out to Effy Lou's liking. God help them all when that day came.

"You who, Effy Lou?"

Ten called out. "Are you here or are you with my snack of a husband at your attorney's office?"

"Lord above,"

Effy Lou said, appearing in the seat across from Tennyson. "How on earth did you land a man like him? Not to be rude, but it seems to me like you're punching above your weight class."

Ten snorted. He wasn't always good with sports metaphors, but understood Effy Lou was saying she thought he and Ronan were hopelessly mismatched. "I landed my husband by pushing every single one of his buttons. Repeatedly. Although, to be honest, he did the same thing with me."

Effy Lou sighed. "It was the same with me and my husband, Blue. We were opposites in every way possible, but somehow we just worked. We got married in a time when you stayed married, no matter what, but I wouldn't have left my husband for anything. It was a true love match and I've mourned that man every day since his passing."

"Blue and Effy Lou?"

Ten asked with a snort.

"His real name was Bennedict, but his family started calling him Blue after he'd choked on a quarter when he was seven years old. His brothers tried to help him cough it up, but it wasn't working, so one of them ran for their father, who tipped my future husband upside down and slapped his back until the quarter flew out. Didn't have the sense God gave a houseplant, my husband, but he made me laugh every single day we were together."

It was plain to see how much Effy Lou still mourned her husband. "Have you been able to reconnect with Blue now that you're on the other side?"

Effy Lou shook her head sadly. "I thought he'd be waiting for me when I passed, you know, like you hear about on television, but he wasn't there when I died. No one was. Not my Meemaw or my Pawpaw, my parents, or my sisters. It was like I'd been completely forgotten."

Her eyes were misty, but Effy Lou appeared to be fighting the emotions threatening to pull her under.

Ten's heart broke for Effy Lou. "Did you see the white light when you passed?"

"No. One second, I was lying in my hospital bed struggling to breathe and the next, I was standing beside myself as the nurse shut off the beeping machine telling her I was dead. Maybe I didn't do enough good things in my life to go to heaven."

"I don't believe that for one second,"

Ten said, setting his hand over his heart. "You obviously had unfinished business here. I assume it has to do with Spencer."

"He never came to see me when I was in the hospital. I wanted him to be there for me at the end, but…"

Effy Lou dabbed at her eyes. "I'd done everything for him after his parents were killed in a car crash, but nothing I did ever seemed to be enough for him. I knew he was mourning my sister and brother-in-law, but I couldn't get through to him. All he seemed to be interested in was my money, when all I wanted was for him to grow up and be responsible for himself. Earn his own living. Find someone to love and have a family with. He can't spend the rest of his life playing video games."

Ten begged to differ. Yes, Spencer could spend the rest of his life playing video games. There were several members of the Salem Police Department who did that very thing. Several of the officers had invited Ronan to their game nights and none understood when he declined the invitation to spend the night at home with his family. "I absolutely get where you're coming from, Effy Lou, but I'm not sure that making Spencer jump through hoops to get his inheritance and haunting his every waking second is the way to go."

Ten knew from person experience with Ronan that nagging made his mule-stubborn husband double down. He had a feeling Spencer operated the same way.

"Maybe so, Tennyson, but what else can I do?"

Effy Lou asked, looking desperate.

"For obvious reasons, I wasn't much for church, but there was one platitude that's stuck with me throughout my life. Do you want to hear what it is?"

"Please."

"Let go and let God,"

Ten said simply. "If you're leading a horse to water and he won't drink, then you've done all you can. The horse will drink when it wants to or it will die."

Effy Lou sighed. "That sounds like something my mama would have said to me back in the day."

"I'm guessing you were stubborn too, huh?"

Seeing several instances of Effy Lou going toe-to-toe with her mother made Ten snicker. She would have given Spencer a run for his money back in the day.

"Of course not!"

Effy Lou sat up straighter. "I was the perfect embodiment of young womanhood. My manners were perfect, I could sew and play the piano."

Effy Lou gave an unladylike snort. "If you believe that, I've got a patch of swamp land to sell you."

"Maybe you and Spencer are a lot more alike than you'd care to admit?"

"I guess so."

Effy Lou grinned. "It wasn't until I met Blue that I started to find my way. I was twenty years old when I met him. Spencer will be twenty-five next month and his life seems pretty hopeless."

"Maybe his Blue is waiting for him down the road a bit, you know?"

Ten asked. "Before I met my husband, he'd been through some stuff. He'd gone through an awful divorce and had a drinking problem. Almost losing his job was what set him on the right path. I like to think I had a little bit to do with it, but truth be told, Ronan had already done all of the heavy lifting."

"Your husband loves you to the moon and back. Same with your little girl. I had quite the chat with Miss Everly last night. The two of you are raising a little spitfire."

Ten grinned. He loved hearing Effy Lou's opinion of his daughter. "Everly didn't mention speaking with you."

"Of course she didn't, the girl's got manners. She was able to see what was coming in Spencer's future, but didn't want to tell me. Maybe you gave your daughter too many manners. If Everly won't say what's going to happen does that mean it's bad? I just need to know that he's going to be all right."

Knowing that Everly was tight lipped about Spencer ignited Ten's own curiosity. He couldn't wait to get home and have a chat with his little miss. "No, it might not mean something bad at all. It could also be that there are forces in motion that are going to change what she's seen. Does that make sense?"

"I'm not so sure it does. I thought our destinies were written in stone."

"Thanks to free will, it doesn't work that way. I'm supposed to go home and make chicken nugs and fries for the kids and Ronan tonight, but if my craving for pizza overtakes me on the way home, I could get into an accident. Our future is fluid. Anything can change at any second. A few months back, Everly worked on a situation with me where she kept seeing conflicting outcomes. One outcome was for the good. One for the bad. The person making the decision kept changing their mind, which was what caused her to see two separate paths. I think that's what is going on with Spencer. I don't know what you have up your sleeve with that will, Effy Lou, but it could just be that your nephew is approaching a fork in the road."

"I made one last attempt to make Spencer see that there's more to life than himself. What if it doesn't work?"

"Then you've done all you can do. I think the white light will appear once you realize things truly are out of your hands."

"Let go and let God,"

Effy Lou said, not sounding thrilled with the idea.

Ten nodded. "I promise Ronan and I will do what we can for Spencer, but let's face it, the rest is up to him."

"I'll go have a think on that."

Effy Lou offered Tennyson a smile. "Do you mind if I visit with Miss Everly again tonight?"

"Not one bit,"

Ten agreed. "Just don't keep her up too late. She's learning how to add without counting on her fingers and if she's anything like me, she's going to need all the help she can get, which includes plenty of sleep."

"You know, maybe it's not Spencer's life that was supposed to change, but mine. Ever since I met you, your family and Bertha Craig, things feel different. I feel different."

"You don't say."

Ten burst out laughing at the shocked look on Effy Lou's face. "How has it felt to stop swimming against the tide?"

"Not half bad."

Effy Lou shook her head, as if she couldn't believe she'd been so blind. "I'll check in with you later, Ten. Thanks for everything."

"Just one more thing before you go?"

"I promise I'll stop haunting Spencer. Hand to God."

Effy Lou threw up her right hand and vanished.

With all this talk of God, Ten felt like he was back in the first pew of the Union Chapel Calvary Baptist Church, but if that's what it took to help Effy Lou and Spencer, then it was worth it to dust off some of his Sunday School lessons.