Page 5

The next several days had flown past in a flash. Ten had suffered through two more nightmares, but neither had provided any more information about what was to come. All he saw was a flash of the pink dress. Cope, Cole, and Carson weren’t able to glean any new information from Tennyson, and Everly was also at a loss, which was a larger concern.

Ten always assumed the hardest talk he’d ever have with Everly would be about the birds and the bees. He never imagined having to sit down with his six year old daughter and ask if she’d seen something ominous coming for her father. Thankfully, or maybe not, Everly hadn’t seen anything to do with Ten’s dreams. She did, however, provide one additional piece of information. Everly felt like her gift wasn’t working. She’d been able to read Ten from the time she started to talk, so this was definitely a new, and unexpected, development.

Wanting to put the dream out of his mind, Ten had spent the last few days getting ready for River’s family to arrive. He’d stocked the fridge and pantry at his and Kaye’s house with Brooke’s favorite snacks, plenty of diapers for baby Delta, along with thick steaks and chicken for the grill. It might only be February, but in their house, every season was grilling season.

“Did you know dreaming about death don’t mean you’re going to die?”

Ronan asked, startling Ten out of his head.

“What?”

Ten asked. He’d been standing at the picture window in the living room waiting for River’s car to arrive from the airport. “It’s not even for certain that my nightmare is about death, mine or anyone else’s.”

Ronan, continued, seemingly undeterred, “According to the great and wonderful Google, dreams about death don’t mean you’re going to die. They can signal change is coming or that you’ll have some sort of personal growth.”

Ronan looked down at his phone and tapped several times. “You could also have unresolved emotions that are triggering these dreams. What do you think?”

Ten raised an eyebrow at his husband. It wasn’t like Ronan to put stock in dream interpretation. Or even to research it. He’d always felt that something was real if he could reach out and touch it. Doing all of this reading told Ten that his husband was more worried about the dreams than he’d let on. “Those kinds of dreams can also signal fear of change.”

“You read the same article?”

Ronan asked.

“Seems that way.”

Ten stepped away from the window and wrapped his arms around Ronan. “I appreciate you doing everything in your power to help figure out what’s going on. The answer to this situation is going to reveal itself in due time.”

“Is ‘in due time’ before or after you’re lying dead in a crumpled heap?”

Ronan offered a hard stare, but stayed quiet.

“I don’t know.”

Ten sighed. He hated not having any answers as much as Ronan did, but at least he had a better way of handling the situation.

“How the hell can you be so calm about this?”

Ronan asked, sounding edgy.

Ten sighed. “Because there’s nothing I can do about it.”

He casually lifted one shoulder, as if he couldn’t care less. It wasn’t the case, but he didn’t have the energy to go through this all over again with River expected to arrive at any second.

“Nothing you can do?”

Ronan roared. “How about taking precautions to protect yourself? Or seeing every damned psychic in town until someone offers an actual answer? You sound like you’re content to sit and wait to fucking die!”

“They’re here!”

Everly shouted from upstairs. Before Ten could respond to Ronan, Everly came charging down the stairs. She threw open the front door and raced outside. Ezra was hot on her heels.

“Everly, grab your brother!”

Feeling more tired than he had minutes ago, Ten turned back to Ronan. “Let’s finish this conversation later,”

Ten said, feeling a headache coming on. “We can’t bundle me in bubble wrap until the danger passes. The last thing I want is to die, Ronan. I’ve got babies to raise and future grandbabies to spoil. I’m not taking these dreams or their implications lightly, but I’m also not going to sit and waste precious time by worrying or stewing over how or why this thing could potentially happen.”

Ronan opened his mouth looking like he had a lot to say on the matter.

Ten held a hand up to stop him. “Let’s finish this discussion later, okay?”

He pressed a kiss to Ronan’s face and hurried outside to join Everly just as a dark SUV, pulled up to the curb.

“Everly!”

Brooke shouted from inside the car, banging on the window. Seconds later, she was scrambling outside and hugging her cousin. Both girls laughed and started talking at once.

“Ten!”

River ran around the vehicle to hug his brother. “It’s so good to see you.”

“I missed you.”

Ten held his brother, never wanting to let him go.

River broke the embrace to help Barb and Delta out of the car.

“You look tired. Don’t tell me you’ve been slaving away getting ready for our arrival?”

Barb asked after hugging Tennyson.

“Nothing like that,”

Ten said, not wanting to lie to his sister-in-law, but not wanting to burden her with what was going on either. “Ronan, why don’t you take the kids inside and call Fitz, so he can bring Aurora over. Same with Jude. I’ll head over to Mom’s house and help River get settled in. After that, we can order some pizza and catch up.”

“Sounds good,”

Ronan agreed. The dark look in his eyes was anything but good.

Ten pulled Ronan to the side, while River gathered their baggage from the car.

“I understand how upset and worried you are about what’s going on. Trust me, I am too, but every time we’ve seen my brother, there’s something going on. There was a dead Santa, the amusement park death, not to mention River being in jail for a murder he didn’t commit. I just want to have a peaceful reunion with my brother for once, without all of us running around to trying to catch a killer.”

Ronan sighed. “Okay. I hear you, but I’ll have my eye on things. Jude and Fitz too.”

“I would expect nothing less.”

Ten brushed a kiss against Ronan’s cheek. “Not too much sugar for the kids or for you. Got it? The last time you ate some of Everly’s Skittles, you both had the zoomies for two hours.”

“Yes, dear.”

Ronan rolled his eyes and herded the kids toward the house.

“Is all of this luggage yours?”

Ten asked, looking at the bags on the street. There were three full sized suitcases along with two smaller ones and three backpacks.

“I live in a house with three women. Just be thankful there’s not more.”

River grimaced.

“Oh, there will be when it’s time to go home.”

Barb laughed. “Fitz said he’s got a ton of Aurora’s clothes for baby Delta to wear. Plus we’re going to shop until we drop!”

“That’s what I’m afraid of.”

River laughed at his wife. He dropped a kiss on her temple and grabbed two of the bigger suitcases. Ten grabbed what he could, leaving Barb with the backpacks, and followed River across the street, where Kaye was waiting for them.

“There you are!”

Kaye wrapped her arms around River.

Ten smiled at his mother and half-brother’s embrace. Kaye’s reaction to River had been nothing short of miraculous. Finding out David had cheated on her before they were married had been a hard blow, but she’d never once taken that out on River or his family, treating them as if they were her own.

“Where are my grandbabies?”

Kaye pulled back from River and hugged Barb.

“Ronan’s got them all. He’s gonna call Fitz and Jude and get everyone together. We’re gonna order pizza,”

Ten said, hugging his mother.

“Well, I’ll just head over there for more hugs and to make sure Ronan orders salad to go with the pizza. He keeps trying to argue that he’s getting his veggies from the tomato sauce, but I call bullspit.”

Kaye grinned at Ten. “You should have everything you need upstairs, but if there’s something I missed, we’ll pick it up later.”

Kaye hurried across the street in time to meet Fitz, who was calling after Aurora. The little girl was in a dead run toward Ronan’s house.

“Let’s get these bags upstairs.”

Ten lugged suitcases up the front stairs and then onward to the second floor. He left Brooke’s bag and backpack in her room and did the same for Delta, who had the most luggage of all of them.

Fifteen minutes later, all the bags were where they needed to be and Barb was unpacking stuff for the baby. Ten and River headed down to Kaye’s kitchen. The table had a fruit bowl filled with apples and pears. He grabbed bottles of water for himself and for River.

“Okay, little brother. Spill it,”

River said, when Ten took a seat at the table.

“We’re still nailing down details about the charity circus, but that shouldn’t take up too much of my time. We’ll have plenty of time to hang out together.”

River raised a skeptical eyebrow. “Don’t try to bullshit me. I saw the look on your and Ronan’s faces when we got out of the car. Something’s up. What’s wrong?”

Ten sighed. “You’re right, there is something going on, but it’s not what you think. Ronan and I aren’t fighting and there’s nothing wrong in our marriage.”

Aside from the fact that Ronan’s dirty socks never seemed to make it into the laundry hamper, he added silently.

“Okay, so what had the two of you looking so grim?”

River wore a worried look.

Ten shook his head. “Every time we see you guys, something big happens or someone dies.”

“You do seem to attract more murders than Jessica Fletcher on Murder, She Wrote .”

River grinned.

Ten burst out laughing. He loved that show when he was growing up and was a fan of the conspiracy theory that Jessica Fletcher was a serial killer. “Isn’t that the truth. No one’s been killed, but the person on the hitlist this time might just be me.”

“What?”

River asked, his eyes widening. “Someone’s trying to kill you? Why the hell didn’t you tell me sooner?”

Ten knew his brother was worried about his wife and family. Truth be told, he should have told River what was happening long before today. “I’ve been having this recurring dream I can’t figure out. All I can ever remember is a pink dress. Cope saw something ominous coming.”

He paused waiting for the news to sink in.

“Jesus, Ten.”

River’s mouth hung open like a fish out of water. “When is this cloud of doom supposed to arrive?”

“We don’t know. Cope can’t seem more than that. Everly isn’t seeing anything at all. We don’t know how, when, where, why, or how. All I can do in the meantime is live my life. Ronan’s pissed that I’m being so casual about this whole thing, but really, what else can I do?”

Telling River about the issue made Ten feel a bit better. Talking to his brother always made his heart feel lighter.

“Stay away from people moving pianos for a start.”

River snorted.

Ten laughed along with his brother. “We’ve got so much going on with the circus. The kids are going to have fun learning how to swing on the trapeze and dressing up like clowns.”

“Sounds like fun, just so long as Pennywise isn’t one of the damned clowns.”

River shivered in the warm room.

Ten had tried to read the infamous Stephen King book years ago, but hadn’t made it past Pennywise’s first appearance. “You’re not afraid of clowns are you?

“I’m not afraid,”

River said on a nervous giggle, “but that doesn’t mean I won’t be ready to kick the big-footed fuckers in the balls if push comes to shove. I’ll keep you safe from the clowns, little brother.”

River held up his pinkie finger and Ten wrapped his around it.

“Well, now that we’ve got that settled, let’s go grab some lunch. I’m starving.”

Ten wasn’t, not really, but the last thing he wanted to do was sit around and talk about his dream in more detail. River was only going to be in town for nine days and Ten wanted to make the most of them.