by Pandora Pine
The older woman smiled. “Why don’t you invite me in so I can explain this to everyone and I don’t waste time repeating myself.”
Ronan had to admit she had a point. If Tennyson didn’t want to see her, he could tell her to leave. For his part, Ronan wanted to hear what she had to say. “Come in. You may not get the warm reception you might be expecting from everyone.”
“I know exactly what I’m in for, detective. Bertha is a very direct woman, as I am sure you already know.”
Ronan did indeed. He also knew Bertha was like a mother tiger when it came to the people she loved. He had a feeling the meeting between these women had not gone well for Aurora. He ushered her into the house. “Everyone, this is Madam Aurora. Now, before you all assassinate me with your eyes, I did not invite her here.”
“Bertha invited me. I go where I’m needed. I have the key. I’m here to unlock a door,” Aurora said, simply.
“Jesus Christ, she’s the psychic Mary Poppins.” Kevin snorted.
“Aurora, this is my boss, Kevin Fitzgibbon.”
Kevin held out his free hand, which the psychic shook. “Interesting. Get used to holding an infant, captain. There is one in your not too distant future with a man whose name starts with a J.”
The usually stoic cop paled. “You’re funny.”
“You’ll see.” She turned back to Ronan.
“This is Truman Wesley, Carson Craig’s husband.” Ronan pointed each man out.
“Ah yes, I read a great deal about the two of you in the paper after Carson’s little misfortune. You really should have listened to his visions, Truman.” Aurora raised an eyebrow at him.
“You call getting shot a little misfortune?” Carson asked incredulously.
“I’ll contribute to the swear jar on my way out,” she said with a grin. “And, of course, I know Tennyson.”
Ronan was waiting to see how Ten would react to seeing Madam Aurora after all these years, but he sat stone-still with a placid look on his face. Ronan was proud of him. He wouldn’t have been able to do what Ten was doing, but then again, there was so much riding on these next few minutes.
“Hello, Aurora,” Ten said.
“Bertha explained to me what you’ve been going through over these last few weeks. Then, after that, she told me in no uncertain terms why the blame for parts of this lay at my feet.” She smiled brightly at Tennyson.
“I’m listening.” Ten’s voice was tight, matching his posture.
Ronan thought she had a lot of nerve to be smiling like that, especially since she was admitting blame here.
“Every psychic needs a mentor. It’s why Cole and Carson sought you out. You taught them everything you knew, without holding any of your knowledge back. No one ever did that for you, Tennyson, and for that, I am truly sorry that I failed you. Salem is a small town and I was afraid I’d lose the business I worked so long and hard to build once people realized how good you were.”
“This is the real world, not kindergarten. I knew exactly what you were doing and why. I’ve gotten over that. I don’t hold it against you, but at the same time, I would never treat a young talent the way you treated me.”
“Bertha also made that very clear to me as well, about what a clean and pure soul you have.” She looked around the room at everyone and clapped her hands together. “Anyway, let’s get down to business. Tennyson, may I see some of the bruises?”
Ten raised an eyebrow at the psychic, but held out both of his arms to show her. Ronan walked over, hovering, needing to make sure this woman didn’t harm Ten in any way.
“If I give you my word not to hurt him, will you take a step back, detective?” Aurora frowned at him, while Sadie growled from Ten’s lap.
“Well, aren’t you five pounds of pure menace. I promise you I won’t hurt Tennyson either, okay?” She made kissy faces at the dog and looked at, but didn’t touch Tennyson. Taking a few steps back, she closed her eyes and seemed to be taking a few deep breaths. “Wow, you really used the force, Luke. That door is shut good and tight.”
“The door to my gift?” Ten turned toward her. He took a deep breath of his own and tried to blow out all of the old resentment he held toward her. He’d made a success of himself and his life. All his bitterness toward the woman standing in front of him was holding him back. It sure as hell wasn’t hurting her.
“Yes. The first thing you need to learn how to do is open and close it freely, just like a toddler does with the refrigerator door. The second thing you need to do is work on your open and closed signs.”
“Open and closed signs? What, like you see in a shop window?” Ronan asked. He moved closer to Tennyson and slung an arm around his back. Sadie hopped into his lap and started licking his face.
Madam Aurora nodded. “If you’ve ever watched The Long Island Medium, she gives her little spiel about being ready to work and that’s her signal to the spirits in the room that she’s open for business. It’s not so much giving a speech to all the spirits around you. It’s more that you are opening yourself to the spirits already here. Ten has always been open. He never learned how to close the door. He closed the door for the first time with the force of his emotions during the tantrum. He’s never done it before, so he doesn’t know how to open it back up.”
It made perfect sense. “Is it that easy? I mean, do I just picture opening and closing a metaphorical door in my mind’s eye?” It couldn’t be that simple. He’d been trying to do that in various ways for weeks now. He’d been turning door knobs, crying out ‘Open sesame,’ twisting keys in locks, using a combination dial, clicking a hands-free remote fob like he used for his car. Nothing was opening his mental door.
“It’s going to be that easy once I show you how. Tell me what you’ve been doing in the meantime to try to get it back.”
Ten felt like he’d told this story a hundred times already. “I’ve had a massage and a facial. I learned how to do visualization exercises. Had bone melting sex on vacation with Ronan, took a bubble bath and Ronan pampered me.”
“Does Ronan have a straight older brother?” Aurora laughed. “Having beauty treatments are good. You are here to enjoy life and you spent a lot of years helping other people and not really taking care of yourself. You need to keep doing that once you’re back on track with your gift. Agreed?”
“Agreed.”
“You all heard him say that.” Aurora looked around the room, making eye contact with everyone. “Is it your intention to keep working cold cases with Ronan?”
Ten looked up at Ronan who was smiling at him. “So long as he still wants me working with him.”
“I don’t think you’ve got much to worry about there. The problem with working murder cases is that you are carrying around a lot more negativity. You are going to need to learn to deal with that or you’ll burn out quick. This kind of work is different from passing on messages from dear Aunt Babs or telling Dolly that her Nana misses her. You need to learn to let go of what you see or it will destroy you. This will manifest physically in things like headaches or sexual dysfunction, which makes having boundaries so much more important so you’ll have time to rest and recover, and to reconnect with Ronan. Does that all make sense?”
“It does,” Ten agreed.
“We’ll all make sure he stays balanced,” Kevin chimed in.
“Are you ready to give it a try?” Madam Aurora asked.
Was he? Was Ten ready to see spirits and hear their voices again? “Hell, yes!”
“Do you mind if I come sit next to you?”
Ten nodded and scooted a little closer to Ronan.
Aurora sat next to him. “Take my hands.”
Ten looked at the hands being held out to him. He took them both and shut his eyes.
Ronan had no idea what was going on. Both Ten and Aurora were silent. Both had their eyes closed. He couldn’t sense any tension in his lover’s body, but that didn’t mean that everything was okay either.
He looked over at Carson who was starin
g intently at what was going on, as were Truman and Fitzgibbon.
Moments later, Ten’s eyes popped open. He turned around to Ronan wrapping his arms around Ronan’s neck.
Ronan held him tight. “Are you okay.”
Ten nodded against his neck. “Bertha told me to hug you and never let you go. I promised her I would.”
“Bertha said?” Ronan pushed Ten back from him. “It’s back? You have your gift back?”
Ten nodded. “Your mom is here too. Boy, she was ready to kick my ass earlier, but she loves me and says I owe you one for being so patient and loving me so much.”
“Is that it or are there any other messages from the great beyond?” Ronan laughed.
“Don’t be a wiseass, young man!” Carson and Tennyson said together.
“I love you too, Mom!” Ronan meant it. He knew she had been looking out for Tennyson the whole time. Keeping him safe and making sure he was never alone. “Is there anything else Madam Aurora?”
“Tennyson should be all set from here. He has all the tools now that he needs so that this never happens again. He also knows that my door is always open as a mentor and as a friend if he has any other questions going forward. That also goes for Carson and for Cole too, if you’ll please pass that on to him for me?”
“Boy, Bertha must have really given her tree a good shake.” Truman laughed.
“Bertha Craig is very persuasive and has, shall we say, a rich vocabulary. I think you’ll find your daughter is her namesake in every possible way. She’ll be putting money in her own swear jar before too long.” Aurora stopped to place a hand on each of the babies, whispering a few words over them, before she turned to go.
“Did you mean what you said, Ma’am? About the man and the baby?” Kevin asked shyly.
Aurora smiled at him. “You have already met this man, Captain. I believe he was a suspect in one of Ronan’s recent cases. What most people would consider a tragedy is about to befall this man, however, it will be what sets him free and will allow your life together to begin. Oh, and you’ll want to hang on to the clothes that Bertha and Stephanie outgrow. Toodles!” Aurora waved and was out the door before anyone thought to walk her out.
“Holy shit!” Ronan’s mouth fell open. “I know who she’s talking about.”
Kevin scowled at him. “Shut up! No, you don’t!”
“Oh, yes I do!” Ronan turned to Tennyson who looked like he was trying to figure Aurora’s riddle out too.
“Oh, come on, you two. His name starts with a J! He’s so far in the closet he can see Narnia!” Ronan couldn’t believe the cap and Tennyson were really this dense. “Rich, Boston philanthropist. Father won’t allow him to come out…”
“Holy shit!” Kevin’s eyes looked like they were going to bug out of his head. “No, it can’t be him.”
“Jesus fucking Christ!” Carson half-screeched. “Who! Just tell us before I burst!”
“Uh, Carson? Swear jar!” Kevin laughed. “Jace Lincoln. The guy who runs the Tremont Street Mission. Ronan did interview him for a case we worked on a while back.”
“How do you know it’s him? Aside from the fact that his name starts with a J?” Truman asked.
“The part of the riddle where Aurora said a tragedy was about to befall him. We found out during the course of the investigation that Jace’s father is dying. The old man doesn’t want Jace’s being gay to taint his real estate legacy. So long as he agrees to stay in the closet, his father gives five million dollars a year to Jace’s homeless shelter. I suppose that becomes moot once the old homophobic bastard dies.” Fitzgibbon shrugged.
“How do you feel about all of this?” Ten asked.
“Is it true, Ten? Is she right?” Kevin stared at him with amazement in his eyes. “Shit, I’m nearly fifty, been married to my career for thirty years, and am raising a teenage son. Is my happily ever after really starting now?”
“The name Aurora has a nice ring to it. Don’t you think so, Uncle Ronan?” Ten winked at him.
“As a matter of face it does, Uncle Tennyson.” Ronan had no doubt that Kevin Fitzgibbon was going to be one amazing father to a daughter. He pitied any boy or girl who showed up to take Aurora Fitzgibbon-Lincoln out on a date.
33
Tennyson
Tennyson was nervous. Carson had dropped him off at the Magick store so he could pick up his car and drive it home. Ronan had said he’d meet him back at his apartment a bit later. He had an errand or two to run before he came back for the night.
They hadn’t really finished making up at Carson’s house before Fitzgibbon had burst in and ruined his apology to Ronan. He knew things between them were going to be okay, but he wanted Ronan to be here so they could tell that to each other.
He was pacing around the living room when Ronan’s key turned in the lock. “Ronan?”
“Oh, good! Your gift really is working.” Ronan’s laugh floated into the living room.
“Asshole!” Ten called out.
“Well, this asshole brought you dinner and a surprise.” Ronan strolled into the kitchen carrying a takeout bag and a bouquet of flowers.
“You grabbed dinner from Lobster Charlies?” That was Ten’s favorite place down by the harbor.
“I had a whole day planned out for us before it got blown to hell by that Reiki bitch. I hope you leave her a strongly worded review on Yelp!” Ronan set the bags down on the counter. “I was going to take you to lunch at Lobster Charlies and then out for ice cream.” He pulled out a pint of ice cream from a different bag. “Then I thought we’d come back here for a nap and some television.”
“What about the flowers?” Ten was eyeballing the two dozen blue Gerbera daisies sitting in their cellophane wrap.
“Ah, well,” Ronan picked up the flowers and held them out toward Tennyson. “The color of these flowers reminded me of the color of the ocean at Sand Dollar Shoal. Since we’re leaving for the hotel in a few days, I thought I’d pick these up as a start to our official vacation countdown.”
Ten took the gorgeous blue blooms from Ronan. They reminded him more of the color of the Caribbean Sea. Some were almost aqua, while others were a were a darker blue. “They’re gorgeous, Ronan. With everything that’s been going on, I almost forgot about going back to the Cape.”
“Do you still want to go?” Ronan nibbled his bottom lip as if he expected Tennyson to say no.
“Of course I do. I can’t wait to have some free time for just the two of us. Plus, I’m looking forward to seeing all of our friends again.”
Ronan let out a big breath. “I got an email from Presley today with a list of Fourth of July events. There’s a sandcastle building contest which I guess is pretty popular and they have a sea glass contest too, and of course fireworks that you can see right from the beach along with a clambake.”
“A sea glass contest?”
“We found some nice chunks of sea glass on their beach and they have a contest for the best piece that’s found on the Fourth of July.”
“All of those things sound like a lot of fun.” Ten grinned.
“Why don’t you put the flowers in a vase and I’ll set the table?” Ronan moved away to grab the bag from Lobster Charlies.
Ten still felt like he had his apology to make even though Ronan was full steam ahead with their night. He loved that Ronan did everything in his power to recreate the day he’d had planned for both of them.
While Ronan was getting dinner on the table, Ten filled a blue vase and set the gorgeous flowers inside. He had no idea daisies even came in this color. “These are gorgeous. Thank you so much for doing all of this for me.”
Ten set the flowers on the table and saw that Ronan had gotten them each a bowl of the seafood chowder. A giant lobster claw garnished the top of the bowl. He’d also gotten them the large New England lobster roll where the lobster was smothered in melted butter, rather than mayonnaise and placed in a toasted roll with a side of French fries.
Ronan was holding out his chair. “
I did this for us, babe.” He pressed a kiss to the side of Ten’s temple as he slid his chair in. “These last few weeks have been tough on both of us. We both have things to apologize for and I want to be the first to say I was a real dick at times. I’m sorry for not being as understanding as I could have been.”
Well, damn. “That was pretty amazing. I wanted to say almost the exact same thing to you, Ronan. The only thing that was different was that I don’t want you to beat yourself up over what happened last night with the spirits in my dream. There was nothing you could have done to stop what happened or to have protected me any better than you did.”
Ronan frowned. “Aurora never did answer my question. Could that angry spirit mob have hurt you worse than what they did?”
“She answered me in our private little session. When she held my hand, she was sending her thoughts to me, like we were speaking to each other’s minds.”
“I had a feeling something like that was going on.”
“It is possible for the spirits to have hurt me worse than what they did. I’ll leave it at that.” Ten struggled not to shiver over what Madam Aurora had told him. “I know how to open and close the door to my gift now. While you were gone I was practicing that and how to use the ‘ready to work’ sign as well.”
“It’s really back, Ten? Your whole gift?” Ronan held out his right hand.
Ten linked their fingers together. “It’s back. Bertha and your Mom rode back over with me in the car. Not being able to speak with them was the worst part. Bertha has been like a mentor to me and well, your Mom has become the mother I never had, but always wanted.”
“How is she?” Ronan grinned.
“Same old. She spent a few minutes giving me hell for scaring her so badly last night. Then spent a few more minutes telling me how much she loved me and was glad I was safe.”
“Let me guess, then she gave you more hell for fighting with me?” Ronan laughed.
Ten frowned. “She hates it when we fight, but, yeah, she did put this one on my shoulders, saying that there was no way I could push you away and you’d actually stay away. Said you’re stubborn like that.”
