Author: Pandora Pine
Category: LGBT
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Ten gave Ronan a long look. “Don’t push you? This is my house too. I’m a part of this family even if you’re angry at me. Everything that I did was to protect you and our child. If you think that you would have made a different decision in my shoes then why don’t you tell me all about it.” Ten sat back, folding his arms over his chest.
Ronan’s eyes narrowed while his nostrils flared. “Talk.”
Ten sighed. This was getting them nowhere. “What I told you at the courthouse is exactly what happened.”
“Tell me again. I was so fucking pissed off that I couldn’t see straight.” Ronan wasn’t making eye contact.
“I rode with Tony in the ambulance to the hospital. Bertha was with me. She told everyone at home what happened. When Carson got to the hospital, he was very upset because he couldn’t reach Carlie.”
Ronan stopped scribbling in his notebook. His eyes met Ten’s for the first time since he sat down at the table. “What do you mean he couldn’t reach Carlie?”
“He kept trying to call her and every call went right to voicemail like it does when your phone is off. We were all so upset about Tony at the time that it didn’t register with us that her phone really could be off. I realized what was going on with her later.” Ten shook his head.
“Don’t skip around. You were in the waiting room.” Ronan’s pen was back to hovering over the notebook.
Ten rolled his eyes. Ronan was obviously in cop-mode. He wasn’t going to get anywhere by trying to buck the system. “Yes, all of our friends got there along with members of the BPD. Then after a few hours Faulkner Hayes walked into the room and announced to us that Tony was dead. It didn’t seem odd to us at the time, but now that I’ve had time to think about it, wasn’t he with you and Fitzgibbon?”
“Yes.” Ronan looked up. “He was with us on the ride out to the airport. He was gone once Dragonni was apprehended. Faulk was supposed to go to the hospital and be with you and Tony and report back to Fitzgibbon. We never heard from him.” Ronan’s face twisted into a grimace.
“He was with Tony. He sure as hell wasn’t with me. After he made his announcement, he asked to see me in the hall. I figured it had something to do with getting in touch with Carlie or something. I told Carson to let you know where I was, since neither of us had our phones and I went with Faulkner.” It had been such a confusing time made especially hard since they were without their phones which had been confiscated when they went into Protective Custody.
“It never crossed your mind to ask what he was doing making a death notification?”
Ten shook his head no. “I was surprised to see him. I thought he was with you. Then when he asked to see me, I was afraid there was something wrong with you.” Ten sucked in a deep breath. “You have to keep in mind that everything happened so fast. One minute I’m in the waiting room and the next he’s announcing Tony is dead and pulling me out of the room. Then he’s telling me what I’m about to witness can’t go beyond the room.”
“What room?” Ronan barked, not taking his eyes off his notepad.
“Faulk took me to a hospital room with a closed door. He knocked a certain way and when someone on the other side asked who it was, he said the word ‘Rubicon.’ Then the door opened and that’s when I saw Tony and Carlie.”
“You’re telling me there was a secret knock and fucking code word?” Ronan’s brow was raised high.
“That’s exactly what I’m telling you. Before we walked in the room, Faulk told me not to say a word, that I was just there as a witness. I didn’t keep to that. I asked Tony what the fuck he was doing alive when Faulkner had just told everyone he was dead. That’s when Cruz Clemente introduced himself.”
“What did he say?”
“That I was there to witness Tony’s confession and that I couldn’t tell you that Tony was alive. I told him that I didn’t want any part of this. He said I didn’t have a choice. That he’d been made aware of my gift and that he couldn’t take the chance that I already knew Tony was alive and would tell you.”
Ronan’s brow furrowed. “Why was me finding out such a big deal to Clemente?”
“I don’t know.” Ten shook his head. “I told him repeatedly that you would never be a threat to Tony’s safety. I was about to leave when Cruz told me under no circumstances could you know about Tony.”
“What did he tell you exactly?”
Ten cast his memory back to that day. The memory was as clear in his mind as if it had happened yesterday. “Cruz said that if I told anyone, you, the psychics at the shop, anyone, he would arrest me and make it his mission to see that I served time and would never see our baby.” Ten felt his eyes go glassy again. “He said I would never see her while I was in jail, not even a picture of her. Then he smiled at me, as if he was enjoying himself.” Ten swiped at the tears that were leaking from his eyes. “I told him I’d do this under one condition, that when the time came, that he’d explain to you that I’d wanted no part in this, that he coerced me. He agreed. Carlie and Tony also said they’d talk to you too. I figured that would save me. All of these people telling you how hard I fought against this. How fucking stupid was I to think that you’d forgive me for lying based on their words?”
Getting up from the table, Ten shook his head. “All the feds cared about was nailing Dragonni. I told Clemente that he’d confessed to killing Tim Marshal and Judge Washington and the attempted murder of his attorney, Frank Lawson. He also confessed to shooting up the Ritz Carlton. We all heard him make that confession. We all saw him shoot Tony. Not to mention the triple murder caught on tape. They had more than enough to put him away for good, but that wasn’t enough for Clemente. He wanted to make his name with this case at the expense of our family, our marriage.” Ten leaned against the sink, wiping away the rest of his tears.
“I had no idea Clemente couldn’t really arrest me or keep me from you and Everly. There wasn’t a way to call you or Fitzgibbon or a lawyer. All I could do was make the best, worst decision I could at the time. Clemente made me think he had the house bugged. If I could do it all over again, I would have told you, Ronan, but we can’t turn back the clock. Can we? I did what I did because I love you and our daughter. Ronan, I’m so sorry.”
Ronan was silent.
When Ten turned around Ronan was sitting stone-still at the table. He didn’t know what else to say. Should he tell Ronan how much he suffered over these last few months or should he let sleeping dogs lie?
His husband settled the matter for him. “I’m leaving. Don’t call me. I’ll be in touch when I can deal with you.” Grabbing his notebook, Ronan left the table.
Tennyson could hear Ronan’s footsteps fall heavy on the stairs. He stayed where he was in the kitchen. He’d said his piece. There was nothing left for him to do now but let Ronan walk out the door.
19
Ronan
Of all the places Ronan had to go, he found himself pulling into Jude Byrne’s driveway. He had no doubt that the grapevine of gossip had made its way to Jude.
“Jesus, Ronan.” Jude pulled the door open wide and ushered his friend into the house. “I had no idea you were coming. And for the night,” Jude added when Ronan wheeled his suitcase past him and into the living room. “It’s a good thing Copeland found a place of his own,” he muttered under his breath.
Ronan collapsed on the couch.
“When was the last time you ate anything?” Jude moved away from the door to stand in front of his friend.
“Breakfast,” Ronan muttered.
“Pizza sound good?”
Jude was already dialing when Ronan looked up at him. He listened while Jude ordered a large pepperoni with an extra-large order of buffalo wings.
Sitting across from Ronan, Jude seemed to be studying his friend. “Tell me where you are with this. You don’t need to rehash it. I know the details.”
“Do I want to know how?” Ronan asked, feeling world weary.
“Copeland read it last night. Tennyson didn’t have his
guard up and Cope read the guilt. He said it was overflowing like water from an overfilled bathtub. I didn’t say anything because I knew if you were testifying today it most likely meant that Tony would be too.”
Ronan sat forward, burying his face in his hands. The tally of people who’d known about this secret and hadn’t told him was up to five. “Are you the end of it? The people who knew?”
“Yes. So far as I know, it was just me, Cope, Carlie, Carson and Ten,” Jude admitted quietly.
It wasn’t as bad as Ronan feared. He’d originally been thinking everyone knew but him. “I don’t know what to do next.”
“I understand where you’re coming from. I told Tennyson myself that if I were in your shoes, I’d never be able to trust him again.”
Ronan’s eyes flew open. “You said that to him?” He didn’t know why he was so surprised. Jude didn’t trust easily. Ronan should know that once that hard-won trust was lost, it could never be earned back.
“I did,” Jude agreed. “I realize now that I was being overly harsh. He was placed in an unwinnable situation by a man who was out for his own personal gain. Clemente didn’t give a fuck about Tony or the two of you or my goddaughter. All he cares about is his career. It doesn’t matter who goes down in flames so long as his star continues to rise.”
Ronan had also gotten that impression from the FBI agent who hadn’t tried overly hard to impress upon him the true facts of what happened that day in Tony’s hospital room.
“What happens now?” Jude asked gently.
“With Tennyson?”
Jude nodded. “I just got rid of one roommate. Am I getting another one?”
“I don’t know.” Ronan didn’t know much of anything at this moment. Before he’d left the house, he’d heard Tennyson crying quietly in the kitchen.
“Tell me what you’re feeling.”
“Jude Byrne willingly talking about feelings? It must be a world gone mad.” Ronan shook his head. How did he feel? “When that bailiff called Tony’s name, I thought it must be a dream, you know? Then the courtroom doors opened and in he walked. He was suntanned and looking better than he fucking looked when we met fifteen years ago, like he didn’t have a care in the world.”
“Okay, so there’s some anger and maybe bitterness directed at Tony.” Jude nodded as if he’d been expecting that.
“When he walked past, he reached out and touched me. Set a hand on my shoulder, like old times. I don’t know, like maybe he thought we’d go out for dinner when this was over and he could catch me up on what his fucking life was like for the last five months in Hawaii?” Ronan’s hands clenched into fists in his lap.
“From what Cope told me about the time he spent in Galveston, in his own self-imposed Witness Protection, it wasn’t any fun, Ronan. Yes, he was on a beach in a beautiful place. Yes, he had a tan, but that’s where the fun ended.” Jude made air quotes over the word “fun.” He leaned forward in his seat. “He couldn’t contact anyone from his old life in New Orleans. He didn’t make any friends. He never left the house. The only human he spoke to in the years he was gone was the man who delivered his groceries and that was only to say ‘hello’ and ‘thank you.’ I can’t imagine Tony had any meaningful conversations with the U.S. Marshalls who were assigned to keep him safe.”
Ronan shrugged. He was sure Jude was right. “Tony was still living in fucking paradise while I was here mourning his death. Blaming myself for not having done more to have mended our friendship faster.”
“Okay, so you’re mad at yourself too,” Jude added as if he were making a list.
“What are you, my fucking conscience?” Anger was churning in his gut again.
“No, Ronan. I’m just trying to get you to see this from a different perspective. You admitted being angry at Tony and yourself. What else have you got to say?”
“Tennyson’s part in all of this. He actually believed Clemente could throw him in jail for telling me about Tony.”
“Well, can’t he? Isn’t that obstruction of justice or something?”
“No, Jude, it isn’t.” Ronan shook his head. “If the Attorney General of the United States had told Tennyson not to disclose Tony’s status in WITSEC, then it would have been a crime punishable by a five thousand dollar fine or up to five years in prison.”
Jude raised a speculative eyebrow. “Did you know that off the top of your head or did you look it up today?”
“I knew something about it, but had to look up the details,” Ronan admitted sheepishly.
“Ronan,” Jude sighed. He took a deep breath, looking like he was trying to hold on to his patience. “You had a vague idea about some federal regulation or something because you’re an officer of the law in Massachusetts. Tennyson was a scared citizen whose family was being threatened by some federal agent. You weren’t there to protect him and he had no one to turn to for help. He didn’t even have his phone to look this up on, right? I don’t blame him for making the decision he made. Plus, this asshole made him think your house was bugged.”
“What? I didn’t know that.” Actually, that wasn’t totally true. Ten mentioned something about that tonight, but he hadn’t been in the mood to get into it with Ten. He had just wanted to get out of the house.
“If you gave Ten half the attitude you gave me when you walked in here, I’m guessing he left that out due to time restrictions. You treated him like a suspect, didn’t you?”
“Maybe,” Ronan muttered. He had treated his husband like a suspect. Tennyson had accused him of as much. “Was there a bug in the house?”
Jude shook his head. “Cope did a walk through and didn’t find anything. Tennyson was scared though. He said something about Clemente threatening him when he was at your house the other night.”
“Jesus Christ. Ten was really freaked out. He made it seem like he’d never met the guy before but he was awfully scared for having someone from the FBI knock on our door looking for me.”
“If I were a betting man, I’d say that wasn’t the first time Clemente had been to your house.”
“What do I do Jude?”
“Well, I suppose the big question here is what do want to happen with your marriage? Is this something big enough to divorce Tennyson over? Personally, I think if you do, there will be a line of alpha male-types lining up around the block from the Magick shop wanting to take him out.” Jude shrugged.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Ronan thundered. “Talking about men who’d want to date my husband?”
“You didn’t let me finish.” Jude was trying and failing to hide the smirk on his face. “Or, you could man up and find a way past this. You both worked so hard to be together and to survive all of the adversity life has thrown at you both. Now, you’re about to be fathers in a few short weeks. Is this worth throwing all of that away over? All of the hopes and dreams you share for that little girl’s future? Tennyson didn’t do this to hurt you, he did it to protect you and your family. Is this one situation worth walking away for good over?”
The ringing doorbell stopped Ronan’s answer in its tracks. Was this incident enough for him to divorce Tennyson over? Did he deserve a second chance?
Jude had certainly given him a lot to think about.
20
Tennyson
It had been the longest night of Tennyson’s life. Now that the secret was out, he didn’t lose sleep over the worry of Ronan finding out Tony was alive, instead he hadn’t been able to sleep over the worry of his husband not wanting any contact with him.
It had been a long night of tossing and turning in the bed they shared. With his future as a husband and a father up in the air, Ten hadn’t been able to sleep at all. He’d finally given up the ghost about an hour ago and had gotten out of bed to start his day.
Ronan had at least listened to every word that he’d said, which was more than Ten thought he was going to get. He’d even written down most of what he’d said too. Ten assumed that was so that when Ronan was calmer, he’d be able to
read over his notes. Or so that he’d be able to use Ten’s words when he questioned Tony or Cruz Clemente. He had no doubt Ronan was going to do both.
His husband was a reasonable man above all else. Ronan was going to come to a point in time when he realized that Ten had done the best he could with the information he’d had at the time. At least he hoped that was the decision Ronan was going to come to. He couldn’t imagine Ronan thinking the best course of action would have been him telling the truth and then going to jail as Cruz Clemente promised.
When his husband had stormed out of the house last night, he had no idea where he was going. There were several places he knew Ronan would be welcome. Thankfully, Ten knew where Ronan was now. It was the only thing that had settled him down last night.
Jude had sent him a text during a trip to the bathroom to let him know Ronan was with him for the night. He’d gotten other messages from Jude throughout the night. It was comforting that he was checking in on him, but none of those messages were substitutes for the one that never came. From Ronan.
The last words Ronan said to Ten were going to stay with him for awhile. “I’m leaving. Don’t call me. I’ll be in touch when I can deal with you.” Tennyson’s heart hurt just thinking about those words. He didn’t know if he would ever be able to get over what Ronan said to him or the look on his face when his husband said them.
He understood what he’d done over the last several months was wrong, but it hadn’t been his choice. Ten wasn’t keeping the truth from Ronan to cover up his own dirty deeds, he was doing this at the order of the FBI. If only Ronan could have understood the position he’d been put in on that dark day.
There was nothing to be done about it now. All Tennyson could do was move forward. He supposed the best way to do that was to go to work. He had clients who were counting on him. Men and women who’d never heard the name Vito Dragonni. Families who needed healing messages from loved ones beyond the grave.
Work would also serve to keep his own mind off what was going on in his life. Emilyn would be at West Side Magick today. He’d be able to spend time with his little miss and his best friends. Carson and Cole would be able to give him advice on what he should do next.