Author: Pandora Pine
Category: LGBT
Go to read content：https://onlinereadfreenovel.com/pandora-pine/page,20,465324-dead_to_the_world_cold_case_psychic_book_10.html
“I can’t imagine the guilt that must have been eating him up inside. All I did was keep one thing from you, Ronan. A secret that had a deadline, and it was driving me out of my tree. I can’t imagine living with all of the lies that Tony had and for all of those years.” Ten shook his head.
Ronan opened his mouth to respond to Tennyson when the doorbell rang. “I bet that’s Truman dropping off muffins from the bakery.
Ten shook his head no. “Try to be openminded about what Tony’s here to tell you.”
“Tony?” Ronan was stunned.
“I’ll stay up here to give the two of you some time alone to chat. Just remember that he loves you like a brother, Ronan. Nothing that he did was ever meant to hurt you.” Ten reached over to press a kiss to Ronan’s cheek.
“Okay.” Feeling gobsmacked, Ronan walked out of the bedroom and down the stairs. He could hear Dixie’s nails clicking on the stairs behind him. Ronan was glad for the support. Looking through the peephole, he could see that Tony Abruzzi was standing alone on his doorstep as Tennyson predicted. Ronan took a deep breath. He hoped he had the right words to handle this conversation.
Ronan yanked the door open. “Hey, Tony.”
“Ronan, do you have some time for me? I wanted to talk to you and wasn’t sure you’d want to see me so I just showed up.” Tony shrugged. He looked nervous.
“Sure, come on in.” To be honest, he wasn’t quite sure what he would have done if Tony had called first. With Tennyson involved, he probably would have invited his oldest friend over, but if it had been up to him alone, Ronan wasn’t totally sure how that conversation would have gone.
Tony walked into the house and into the living room. Dixie gave a rough bark as he passed her.
“Aren’t you a little toughie this morning?” Ronan scooped the tiny dog up and settled her on his lap as he sat in the armchair across from Tony.
“How’s Tennyson doing? I’m so sorry that he was abducted by Dragonni’s men in order to find me.” Tony’s dark eyes were filled with a world of pain.
“He’s okay. Ten used his gift and his wits to get through the day and save his own life. It wasn’t easy, but he’s getting through it. Thank you for asking about him.” Tony’s remorse for the part he played in what happened to Tennyson was obvious. Ronan kept playing Ten’s words over in his mind. Tony hadn’t meant any of this to hurt his family. It had and Ronan was trying to deal with that.
“I can’t say enough how sorry I am about all of this, Ronan.” Tony looked up from his hands to make eye contact with his old partner. “When Dragonni came to me with the gun thing, all I could see was how sick my father was. I knew what I was doing was wrong and that it went against everything I stood for as a member of the Boston Police Department. In that moment though, my father meant more to me. It never crossed my mind how far the tentacles of that decision would reach out over the years. How many people it would affect and hurt. It almost got all of us killed back in August and again yesterday.” Tony shook his head. “Your little girl could have been an orphan before she’d even taken her first breath.”
That very thought had crossed Ronan’s mind in the middle of the night. He’d woken up to the sound of Dixie snoring and had wandered into Everly’s bedroom. He’d sat with his back propped up against her crib and cried over the thought that she could have lost Tennyson and then cried harder when he’d remembered the bullet that had whizzed past his own head. He hadn’t shared that piece of the action with Tennyson. He never would. That call had been a little too close. Ronan simply nodded at Tony. He knew if he spoke his daughter’s name out loud, his emotions would get the best of him.
“It’s amazing how one decision can have that kind of ripple effect. What matters now is what you do going forward.” Ronan could feel forgiveness for Tony pumping through his entire body. It would have been a different matter if Tony had taken the money to go on lavish vacations or to fill his closets. That had come later on in the game, but he’d gone into this with the purest of intentions. Ronan knew that once you got in bed with the mob it was hard to get out.
“After I gave my statement yesterday, I was brought in to talk to Captain Davidson.” Tony paused, looking like he needed a minute to compose himself.
Captain Davidson was the man they’d both worked for in Homicide. Technically, he was still Tony’s supervisor at the BPD. Ronan had a feeling that the meeting hadn’t gone well in terms of Tony being able to continue his career with the department. He stayed silent waiting for his friend to fill him in on the details.
“He’s happy to see that I’m still alive.” Tony huffed a rough laugh. “But my career is over. I’m going to be allowed to retire with my full pension and all of my benefits, but I’ll never be a cop again. Anywhere.”
Ronan felt a ripple of shock run through his body. What a lot of cops did was retire in one city and collect their pension, then go to work in another town or for the State Police and put in another quick twenty years and collect another pension. Tony saying that he wasn’t going to be allowed to do that made sense in light of what happened with Dragonni, but still came as a bit of a shock. “I’m so sorry, Tone.” It was all Ronan could think to say.
“I’ve been a cop for twenty years. I don’t know what else to do with myself.” Tony looked lost.
Tilting his head to the side, Ronan let his mind wander for a minute. “I have some thoughts if you want to hear them.”
Tony nodded. He sat forward in his seat. “Sure.”
“I know how affected you were by what happened in your boys’ lives before they came to live with you. What would you think about spending some time volunteering at Jace’s homeless shelter? They always need people to cook or to counsel the young people there. You and Carlie could make a real difference in the lives of those young people. Maybe through volunteering, the two of you would be able to figure out what you want to do next?” Tony’s wife had never worked a job aside from the part-time job she’d held at a florist shop when she and Tony had split up last year and being a wife and mother. Now that all of boys were in college, it might be good for her to have something to do with her time.
“That’s not a bad idea, Ronan. I know how much Carlie was interested in doing more to help kids like our boys. I’ll mention that to her.” Tony ducked his head. He was staring at his feet.
“Are the two of you going through a bit of a rough spell?” Before Tony’s “death,” he and Carlie had been living apart. They had just started putting the pieces of their marriage back together when Vito Dragonni shot him. Ronan was sure being forced to live apart for the last five months while Tony was in Witness Protection, coupled with the fact that he’d run guns for the Dragonni crime family hadn’t done anything to help the state of their marriage.
“We’ve got stuff to work on, that’s for sure.” Tony looked up from the floor. “How are you and Ten handling all of this?”
After everything he and Ten had been through, Ronan really wasn’t in the mood to rehash it all again, but he could see this was really something Tony could use help with right now. “I completely lost my shit when you walked into the courtroom the other day. I knew there was a secret Ten was keeping from me. He’d told me there was something going on and that his keeping this thing from me was to protect me and our daughter. The funny thing about it all was that I believed him at the time he told me that. All of those words went completely out of my head when you walked into the courtroom. All I could think about was how much I’d grieved for you, Tone. How much I’d beat myself up for the way that last year of our friendship had gone down. There was a lot of guilt there.” Ronan shook his head.
“That was all my fault too. Everything that happened after Mark died.” Guilt was etched in Tony’s dark eyes.
Ronan smiled up at his friend. “We all have a second chance here. Me and Ten. Me and you, and you and Carlie. Not very many people get this kind of an opportunity. My advice to you is to not let it go to waste. Spend every second you can with y
our wife and kids. Be as invested in their lives as you possibly can be. There might be some bad blood or some hard feelings, but don’t let that stop you.”
Tony nodded. “I want us to get things back on track too, Ronan. You and Tennyson have done so much for me and I’ve been nothing but a son-of-a-bitch to you both.”
Ronan laughed. “You know where to find us. We’re going to have our hands full with our little miss. It would be nice to have the occasional pan of lasagna dropped by and I know that baby is going to love getting to know her Uncle Tony and Aunt Carlie.”
“You really mean that.” Tony’s eyes went glassy.
“Of course, I mean that. The one thing Tennyson has taught me above everything else is the value of family. I want to make sure Everly is surrounded by people who love her and will be here for her rain or shine.” Ronan knew it was going to take a village to raise that little girl and he was going to make damn sure it was filled with the best people possible.
“You’re going to be an amazing father.” Tony laughed. He stood up.
Ronan set Dixie on the floor and stood up too. “I spent all those years watching you with Vinnie. I had a great role model. Although now I’m going to be a bit out of my element with Barbie dolls instead of baseball bats.”
Tony set a hand on Ronan’s shoulder. “You’ll pick it up quick. I have faith in you.”
Pulling Tony in for a hug, Ronan felt his own eyes getting misty. He’d spent the last five months thinking his best friend was dead. This moment was priceless. “Don’t be a stranger, you hear me?”
“I won’t. I know Carlie is going to want to meet your little girl. After all those boys we’ve raised she’s going to want to spoil that little girl to pieces.”
“Join the club. If either of you need anything, you call us.”
Tony nodded. “I can’t thank you enough for being there for us, Ronan.”
“That’s what family does.” He walked with Tony to the door.
“Give Ten my best.”
“You do the same with Carlie.” Ronan hugged Tony again. He stood in the doorway watching as Tony went down the stairs. He raised a hand to wave when Tony opened the driver’s side door of his car. All of those months he’s spent in despair thinking the next time he’d see Tony Abruzzi would be when he’d punched his ticket to the other side. Watching him pull out into traffic now was nothing short of a miracle.
Ronan O’Mara wouldn’t consider himself the luckiest of men, but with his best friend back from the grave, his husband waiting for him upstairs, and his daughter weeks away from being born he was definitely blessed.
EPILOGUE
Tennyson
Valentine’s Day…
Today was the day. Everly Erin O’Mara would be here sometime between midnight and 11:59pm. The only problem was that Tennyson, Emilyn, and the rest of their psychic friends network had no idea when the newest member of the O’Mara-Grimm family would decide to make her debut.
Everyone was at Tennyson and Ronan’s house. Em was cozied up on the sofa with Dixie at her side. The tiny dog had been stuck like glue to Emilyn ever since she’d moved in four days ago. There had been a blizzard forecast to hit New England and Ronan wanted both of his girls at the house with him and Ten. It had started to snow, predictably enough, a little after midnight.
If Ronan had his way, he would have brought Emilyn to the hospital when they’d all gotten up at 7am. Ten had patted his shoulder when he made the suggestion. He hadn’t thought it was a bad idea either, but there was no way he could explain to the staff in the maternity ward that his surrogate was going to go into labor at some point during the day. How did he know that? Oh, because he was a psychic. Even in The Witch City that would have gotten him funny looks.
So, here they all sat. Ten and the Craig brothers were playing cards in the kitchen. Truman was trying to keep his toddlers busy in the living room. Frozen was playing on a loop, which was ironic since it was snowing outside. Cassie was sitting with Emilyn trying to keep her calm. The last time Ten had been in the living room, they’d been talking about the newest royal pregnancy and if the baby would be a boy or a girl. Ten had a feeling Em knew the answer to that question and was just playing along with Cassie.
Fitzgibbon was working a crossword puzzle book in the chair across from Em, while Greeley and Kaye were cooing over Cassie’s eight-month-old son, Brady, on the other end of the couch. Ronan, for his part, was wandering back and forth between the kitchen and the living room.
“Ronan, why don’t you play cards with us.” Ten patted the empty seat next to him at the kitchen table.
“I can’t sit still for more than a few minutes at a time. I’m so excited and nervous all at the same time. I wonder if it would have been better if we hadn’t known Valentine’s Day would be her birthday.” Ronan frowned. “No, it’s better that we did know today was her birthday.” He looked at Tennyson, confusion blurred his blue eyes. “I don’t know what I think. All I know is that I’m nervous as hell.”
“Oh, Ronan.” Ten got up from his seat. He wrapped his arms around his husband. “It’s going to be okay.”
“It’s really snowing out there. Maybe we should all get in Fitzgibbon’s SUV and just go to the hospital. We can sit in one of those family waiting rooms until it’s time. Then we’ll be there, safe and sound.” Ronan’s blue eyes held a hint of fear to go along with his nervousness.
Ten knew where Ronan was coming from. He just wanted everyone to be safe. “Em’s happy where she is right now. What’s important is keeping her calm and happy. She’ll let us know what she wants to do and when it’s time to go, okay?”
Ronan nodded. He opened his mouth to agree with Ten when there was a commotion in the living room. There were shouts followed by Greeley’s pounding footsteps. The teenager raced into the kitchen. “I think it’s go time!” His face was animated with excitement and a little bit of fear.
“What do you mean you think?” Ronan ran toward him. Greeley whispered a few words which had Ronan dashing into the living room.
Ten stayed back in the kitchen, already knowing what was going on. He exchanged a look with Carson and Cole who were both nodding their heads. All three of them knew it was time to go. He would be better served staying out of the way. He knew Ronan was going to act like a stampeding elephant.
“Oh my God!” Ronan shouted. “Tennyson! It’s time! Where’s the bag? Isn’t there a bag? My keys. Don’t I need my keys? Tennyson!” His voice echoed through the entire house.
It was hard not to laugh out loud. The last thing Ten wanted was for his freaking-out husband to think he was laughing at him. There was already a plan in place. Kevin was going to drive them to the hospital. All of the bags they were going to need were already stowed inside. The captain had been elected to drive. He had the SUV and the steadiest nerves out of all of them. Ten thought he could hear Kevin’s calm voice coming from the living room.
Ronan trudged into the kitchen a few seconds later looking like a little boy whose balloon had floated off into the sky.
“What happened to you, big guy?” Carson pulled Ronan into a hug.
“Kevin told me to sit down and be quiet. He said I was upsetting my baby.”
Ten bit his lip. He didn’t think he’d ever seen Ronan looking so dejected in the time that they’d known each other. He watched as Cole got up from the table and patted Ronan’s back. Ten knew the brothers had Ronan well in hand. He used the quiet time to slip into the living room to see how things were going with Emilyn.
She was sitting on the couch. Cassie was holding her hand and timing the contractions on her iPhone. Kaye was sitting in the chair where Fitzgibbon had been moments before and was cradling Brady. Truman was sitting on the floor with the little ones. “Where are Fitzgibbon and Greeley?”
“Outside cleaning off the SUV. There’s more snow than we thought there was. I also called Jude and Copeland to let them know what was going on. I knew Everly’s godfather would want to be there today. What
else can I do, Ten?” Truman’s green eyes looked worried.
“Just keep everyone calm. Cole and Carson are doing that very thing with Ronan in the kitchen. He’s kind of losing his shit.” That was the understatement of the century. Ten knew he was going to look back on this moment years from now and laugh his ass off, but right now he was worried about Ronan.
“I was the same way on the day when our babies were born. Our surrogate was rushed in for an emergency C-section. It was all so fast.” Truman started fast-blinking. “Carson was the calm one, so I figured he knew how the whole thing was going to turn out with the babies. He told me later that he had no idea, but knew that if he was calm, I would be too.”
“Thanks, Tru. That’s really good advice.” Ten gave his friend a hug.
Fitzgibbon came back into the house. His heavy parka was dusted with snow. “Okay, sweetheart. The SUV’s all ready to take you to the hospital.”
Emilyn got up from the couch with a little help from Cassie. Dixie whined and trotted behind Em as she moved toward the door. Kevin helped her into her boots and coat. She turned and waved to everyone as Kevin helped her out the door.
Ten nodded as Kevin escorted her outside. He knew Emilyn’s bag was already in the car as were all of the things Everly would need once she arrived. Ten grabbed his and Ronan’s coats and brought them into the kitchen. “Okay, Ronan. This is it. Are you ready to go?”
Ronan looked up from Carson’s embrace. His eyes were a bit misty. “Is Em okay? Did I scare her too badly?”
“She’s just fine. Kevin’s getting her all settled into the car. All we need to do is get our coats on and we’re ready to rock and roll.” Ten knew Ronan was just feeling a bit sensitive today. He was too, but was doing a better job of hiding it.