Page 47 of You Can Make Me (Carnival of Mysteries #28)

We were currently in our New Orleans place, close to the fairgrounds.

We stayed here in the fall while Cooper taught journalism courses at Tulane University, then we’d take the RV up to Vegas for the winter and spring, to stay near Coop’s parents.

Summers we spent up in Fortuna, California, with Ryan and his friends while he and Kal were off tour.

We loved our roving life, but this would likely be the last year, as Miles would need to start school next fall.

Cooper and I were still debating where we wanted to settle.

Wherever we went, we’d be near our people, because our extended family was precious to us.

We’d been through hell, but we’d come out on the other side with bountiful blessings.

“Randa finished,” Miles said, as he took the bottle out of her mouth. He was such a little helper. “I go put it in the sink.”

“Good job, buddy. We’ll meet you in the kitchen and I’ll get breakfast going, ’kay?”

“Oooookeeeeeey doooookeeeeey arrrrrtiiichoookeeeeeyyyy,” he hollered as he ran down the hall.

I scooped up Miranda and burped her as I walked into the bathroom.

Cooper had braided his hair and twisted it into a bun. He stood at the sink shaving carefully around what was left of his scar, still in just a towel.

“God, you’re beautiful.”

He winked at me in the mirror and then pursed those perfect lips of his.

He’d grown to accept his scars as evidence of his strength, just as I’d hoped he would, and he didn’t keep them covered anymore.

He’d come so far. He hadn’t needed the cane in years.

He and I kept up our workouts, and he eventually went back to Jiu Jitsu and earned his black belt.

He could totally kick my ass. I loved to let him.

“Hey, you guys want to meet for an early dinner tonight? I’m craving that Cuban place we found. And the Ochoas will be here this weekend. I can’t wait for Miles and Eugene to get to play together.”

Nothing made my heart happier than watching Miles play with Gene and Sam’s son. They’d struggled for so long to have a family. We’d all struggled, and we all knew just how precious life truly was.

“Sounds perfect. We’ll pick you up.”

“Hmmm. And we can go to the park after and tire Miles out.”

I licked my lips, loving where his mind was at. “Definitely.”

Miles was sitting on the floor near his toys when I got to the kitchen. He was hunched over something and whispering to it. I strapped Miranda into her high chair and watched him for a minute.

“Whatcha got there, buddy?”

He stood up and trotted over to me.”Look what I found!”

He shoved his little hands up toward me, holding a familiar black ball.

Something twinged in my chest.

“Where’d you find this?” I asked, taking it from him.

The Magic 8 Ball. The plastic menace. The infuriating oracle. The witches had saddled me with it, joking that it was more my speed, and you know? It actually brought me a little comfort during the months when I’d waited to see whether Cooper would ever come back to me after his trauma.

“It was here in my toys,” he said, with his whole happy little chest. The kid was nothing but love and light. I had no reason to think anything nefarious was at work. Maybe Cooper had put it there.

“Wow. I used to have one just like this. Sometimes I would ask it questions when I wasn’t sure what to do.”

“I know. It tells me things, too.”

I started to ask what things when Cooper blew into the kitchen dressed in a cornflower-blue suit, yellow dress shirt, and a paisley bow tie, looking like the most sophisticated gay professor that ever professored. And damn, those pants hugged his ass in the most mouthwatering way.

“You put this in his toys, babe?”

I held it up for him, and he stopped in his tracks.

His eyes went wide and he shook his head.“I haven’t seen that since?—”

“Me either.”

We stared at each other for a minute, and then laughed nervously.

“Hop on up here,” I said to Miles. “Grandpa Frank’s famous smoothies are coming right up.”

“Great-Granddad Frank says he’s the one who came up with the smoothies, not Grandpa.”

Cooper dropped his metal water jug on the counter with a clang and struggled to right it before ice went everywhere. “Sweetie, what did you just say?”

“Great-Granddad Frank. He works at a carnival. I see him in my sleeps.”

Miles wiggled back and forth, Miranda slapped her hands on the tray of her high chair, and Cooper and I stood frozen, staring at our son.

Cooper broke first. He cleared his throat. “What does he say when you see him?”

“He tells me about Mr. Ame and the True Bay Door and his Talking Board. And someone who plays big loud machine music. And he tells me about you , Daddy Denny! How you came to see him at the carnival, and about a king named Rodney and a porpoise.”

A tear ran down Cooper’s cheek, and he stared at me, imploring.

“Daddy Denny? I can have my smoothie now?”

I shivered and moved over to the counter. I grabbed the granola from the cupboard and put my hand on Cooper’s back.

“It’s going to be okay, baby.” I leaned close to his ear and whispered, “We ended up together because of bizarre circumstances. We got our kids in strange and unusual ways. We need to be ready for weird shit to come out of their mouths.”

“Den? Did you…did you meet my granddad there? Do you remember?”

I’d tried really hard to remember what happened when I was at the carnival, but unlike Dane and Kal, my memories remained hazy.

Cooper thought that was likely on purpose, so that I couldn’t tell him anything he shouldn’t know.

I recalled pestering Ame, pleading with him to bring me back to Cooper, but that was it.

There was something familiar about this, though.

A twinge behind my eye made me suck in a breath, and I reached for the counter. I breathed through the pain, hoping it would go away like it had all the other times.

And I saw his granddad’s face, only it wasn’t at the carnival.

“I have a memory, or maybe it was a dream. You were a kid in your granddad’s living room, and he had you watching the Rodney King trial verdict. The riots. He said you needed to be a witness. He fought with your mom about it.”

Cooper nodded slowly and inhaled. “Right. I remember. I saw it when Dane and I used the board. I’m sure…Miles probably heard me and Mom talking about Granddad.”

I didn’t want to correct him, point out that our kid specifically mentioned the carnival.

“Sure. You good, baby? Why don’t we drive you in.”

“Don’t be silly,” he said. “I love taking the streetcar. It helps clear my mind.” He leaned in and kissed me gently, but there was need behind it. “You guys are going to pick me up this afternoon and we’re going to eat Cuban food until our bellies burst, right, Miles?”

“Yes siree, Daddy Coopy!”

Cooper kissed Miles on top of his head, kissed Miranda’s cheek, and then he grabbed his shoulder bag. He reached the door and turned to face me.

“I’m blessed. Every day with you. So blessed.”

“I love you so much, baby.”

He winked, waved, and was out the door.

“Am I going to have another sister?”

My head whipped around to see Miles shaking the 8 Ball.

Dear Lord.

“Huh. Daddy Denny? It’s too many letters. Can you read?”

He held it up with the triangle facing me.

It is decidedly so.

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