6

Tennyson

After all the shouting settled down, Ten felt like his gift was fried. Information had been flying at him from all directions, and somewhere along the line, he'd crossed into sensory overload. Looking around at Carson and Cole, he could tell they were feeling the same way.

Cole got his father and stepmother settled in the conference room while Carson tried to save the customers who'd been about to walk out of the store. Needing something to do himself, Ten grabbed bottles of water and granola bars from the breakroom, passing them out to Corny and Destiny, who looked less than impressed.

"We come all the way from California to see you, and all you offer us are snacks and the rudest welcome possible?" Destiny looked as if she were about to fly off the handle again.

"You never told me you were coming," Carson said as he walked into the room with a dark look on his face. He shut the door behind him and seemed leery of taking a seat at the table. "Cole, what about you?"

"Corny hasn't contacted me since he walked out when I was a toddler." Cole shot his father a cold look. "I wouldn't know him from a hole in the wall. How the hell do we even know you are who you say you are?"

Tennyson quickly read each of the people sitting at the table. "They are who they say they are, but Destiny isn't her real name. It's Martha."

Destiny pointed at Ten. "Witch! I decry thee a witch!"

"Jesus Christ," Cole muttered, rolling his eyes. "This isn't an audition for The Crucible ."

Carson strode to the table to take the empty seat between Ronan and Fitzgibbon. "Enough bullshit. A leopard doesn't change his spots, Corny. You're an infamous grifter and a con man. The last I'd heard, you served time for fraud in Arizona, which is how I'm guessing you ended up in California. You'd worn out your welcome . Again ."

"You've been keeping tabs on him?" Cole asked. He sounded hurt.

"Yeah, I run a Google search on him every few months. I also set up alerts from when new information is added." Carson shook his head. "It doesn't matter. You and I can talk about this later." Looking back and forth between Corny and Destiny, Carson sighed. "What are you doing here?"

"Is that any way to great your long-lost father?" Corny asked, a hand fluttering to his heart. "What happened to hugs and invitations to family dinners?"

Tennyson turned his attention back to the old man. Scanning him quickly, Ten was revolted by half of what he was able to see. The other half was going to be the true problem. "He's sick."

Corny's eyes widened. "Who the fuck is this asshole? Are you with the police too, boy?"

"You surprise me, Corny," Tennyson said with a snarky smile. "There's no way in hell you came in here blind. You know who I am. Who Ronan, Jude, and Fitz are and what they do for a living. Unless I miss my guess, and I never do, you two have been researching the shop and all of us since that mishap with the GoFundMe scam in Boulder, yes?"

Corny's eyes widened, but he remained silent.

"I know all about the sick child." Ten made air quotes over the word sick . "You raised nearly a quarter million dollars for the little mite before you fucked up and were seen around town driving a brand new Caddy."

"You've got to be fucking kidding me," Carson muttered under his breath. "You took advantage of a sick kid?"

Corny raised an eyebrow as if to say he was keeping his mouth shut.

"He stole a picture from St. Jude's website. Doctored it up a bit, giving the boy dark hair instead of blond, and made him look much sicker, then slapped it up on GoFundMe. You would have gotten away with it too, if only you'd traded your banger in for the Cadillac on your way out of town instead of two days before." Ten felt sick to his stomach reading Corny. His thoughts consisted of ways to take advantage of his sons and enlist their help with his medical condition. "You know, it's funny."

"What's funny, you psycho creep?" Destiny asked.

Ten ignored Destiny, keeping his full attention on Corny. "You scamming the kind people of Colorado for money for a sick kid when you're the one who's actually sick."

"That's the second time you've said that, Ten," Carson said. "I've been trying to read my father since he walked in the door, and I'm not getting anything like that."

"Same here," Cole said.

"Do you want to tell your sons, or should I?" Ten asked. David Grimm might have had his faults, but he'd never tried to use Ten for anything, even after he'd gained popularity for his work on the Michael Frye case.

"You're a real douche canoe." Corny scowled at Tennyson.

"Tell them." Ten crossed his arms over his chest, unwilling to back down.

"I need a kidney." He shot Ten an angry glare. "You happy now?"

Shaking his head, Ten wasn't happy in the slightest. His heart was breaking for Cole and Carson, who were having this man, his offensive attitude, and Destiny forced on them with no notice.

"Why are you sick?" Cole asked.

"It's my old friends' fault. Jack Daniels, Captain Morgan, Johnnie Walker, and Jim Beam." Corny shrugged. "Doc said my best chance for a match was with a blood relative, and since the two of you are all I've got, here I am. So, which one of you wants to help your old man?"

Carson turned to Ten, who simply nodded. He knew his friend was asking if Corny was telling the truth.

The room was dead silent.

"Seriously?" Destiny shouted. "Neither one of you fuckers are going to lift a finger to help your dying father? Fuck you all!"

"Where are you staying?" Carson asked, looking as if he'd aged twenty years in the span of this conversation.

"In the Caddy," Corny said.

Pulling out his phone, Carson left the room. The longer he was gone, the more awkward the silence in the room got.

"Where were you diagnosed, Mr. Craig?" Fitzgibbon asked.

"All over the damn place. When I went to rehab in Texas, the first time. Rehab in Albuquerque. Back to Texas. I collapsed at a bar in Toledo and was rushed to the emergency room. After running me through the mill with every test under the sun, the docs said I needed dialysis and a new kidney." Corny pulled down the front of his shirt to reveal a dialysis port. "The docs all warned me to stop drinking, and I never listened to a word they said."

As Corny explained his medical history, Carson came back through the door. "I got you a room at the Hawthorne Hotel. I've told them to take all the booze out of the minibar, and they've agreed not to serve you in the hotel bar. You can order food from room service. It had better not be all lobster and filet mignon."

Ten wasn't often surprised by people, but Carson putting his father up in the lap of luxury and offering to feed him shocked Ten. Not that Carson wouldn't want to help someone in need, but that someone in question had caused him no end of heartbreak over his lifetime.

"Before you head to the hotel, tell me why you're listening to the advice of your doctors now?" Carson asked.

"Destiny's got my bun in her oven." Corny patted Destiny's abdomen. For the first time since Destiny arrived, Tennyson saw her smile. She covered his hand with her own. "I've finally got something to live for."

Carson's mouth dropped open in obvious shock. The angry look on Cole's face darkened. Both brothers remained silent.

"Well, we're off to the hotel! Gotta feed my little woman. After all, she's eating for two. Later, boys!" Corny hopped up from his seat as if it were on fire. He took Destiny's hand and led her out of the room.

"Motherfucker," Carson muttered. "Am I having a stroke, or did that just happen?"

"That just happened," Fitzgibbon agreed.

"Why didn't you tell us about the bun in the oven?" Cole asked, looking shell-shocked.

"I didn't know." Ten shook his head. "I don't know if he was blocking me from seeing it. Same for Destiny, but I'm just as surprised as you are. The two of them have all sorts of tricks up their sleeves, and I feel like we fell for them all."

"What the hell are we going to do?" Cole asked.

"I don't know," Carson said on a sigh. "We need to call a family meeting. If you all can make it tonight at six, we'll talk about everything then. Jude and Fitz, I'd like you to be there. We're going to need to corroborate everything he told us and find out if there are any warrants for his arrest. If you can do that without breaking police procedure."

Fitzgibbon nodded. "I'll speak to Cisco and see what we can find out. Why don't we have the meeting at my house. The kids can hang out in the pool while we talk. I'll call out for pizza."

"Thanks, Fitz." Carson headed out of the room with his head bowed. Cole was right behind him.

Ten stayed in his seat while the others filed out of the room. He was having a hard time coming to terms with the hurt Corny had inflicted on his sons when he said that his new baby gave him something to live for. Even with the help Carson offered, and undoubtedly of the help to come, Corny had still gone for the jugular.

The first thing Ten was going to do when he got home was hug his kids and tell them how much he loved them. Just thinking about being estranged from Everly and Ezra made Ten feel sick to his stomach. Ten's kids were his life. How the hell had Corny walked away from his two sons and Bertha?

Ten had a feeling he was about to find out.