Ghost Falls (Haunted Souls #22)

15

Cope was tired after the meet and greet. Thankfully, there were no other disturbances after Jude and Ronan led Cannonball away. He’d met with a lot of great people that morning, several of whom were already making plans to visit Salem next summer.

When Jude told him about Cannonball possibly joining their mini golf outing, he wasn’t sure that was the best idea. With the exception of the day at the indoor water park, the stuntman had been volatile at every encounter they’d had. He was mostly worried about Everly, as she was the one who’d seen what was to come for Cannonball and for Wolf, who seemed to idolize the man more every day. He still wasn’t sure how to handle that problem.

“It’s ten past eleven,”

Tennyson said. “How much longer are we going to wait for this guy to show up?”

“We’ll give it a few more minutes. Jude seems convinced that this outing will do Cannonball and CJ a world of good.”

Cope had listened carefully as Jude had filled him in on the conversation they’d had with the daredevil after they’d gotten him out of the ballroom. It didn’t surprise him one bit that Cannonball’s unhappy childhood was the reason for all of this madness. The one thing Cope had noticed about the man as a father, was that he obviously loved his son, but didn’t seem to understand how to connect with him. It made perfect sense why that was the case when Jude told him about Rooster’s treatment of his son. Maybe today, Cannonball could take a lesson from Ronan, Jude, and Fitz, who were amazing fathers themselves.

“There he is.”

Ten pointed toward the elevator where several kids were asking to take selfies with Cannonball.”

A few minutes later, Cannonball and CJ joined the group. CJ ran to Wolf and the two began laughing together “Ready to go?”

He looked absolutely exhausted.

“Let’s do it.”

Jude wrapped an arm around Cannonball’s shoulder and led him toward the lobby doors.

Cope stayed a few steps behind with the kids. Whatever Jude was saying looked important and Cope didn’t want to interrupt.

“What would you do with your last day on earth?”

Ten asked a few minutes later as they started up Clifton Hill toward the mini golf course.

“I’d want to spend it with Wolf, Lizbet, and Jude. I’d want to build Legos with my son and read every storybook we own to my daughter and spend my last few hours alone with my husband.”

Just the idea of having to say goodbye to his family was gut-wrenching, Cope didn’t know how Cannonball was handling it so well.

“I don’t think he is handling it well,”

Ten said, obviously reading Cope. “I think he’s scared to death and trying to hide his feelings with his bravado.”

Cope turned his attention to Cannonball, who was still deep in conversation with Jude. He wondered what they could be talking about. Whatever it was had a calming effect on Cannonball. He stunned Cope a moment later when he burst out laughing.

When they reached the golf course, Fitzgibbon paid for everyone and the kids began to choose their putters. Disaster was narrowly averted when a second pink club was found for Aurora, after Everly took the first one.

To see who’d go first, Ronan flipped a coin, with Aurora calling tails. “Tails it is, little lady.”

Aurora set her ball on the mat and lifted the club over her head as if she were about to bash it to smithereens.

“Hold on!”

Fitzgibbon knelt beside his daughter. “You have to hit the ball gently enough to get it through the T-rex’s legs.”

He showed Aurora how to hold the club and how to swing it. “Got it?”

Aurora nodded. Her tongue stuck out as she concentrated on the ball and took her swing. The bright pink ball rocketed through the dinosaur’s legs, hit the back wall and rebounded forward, neatly rolling into the hole. “I did it!”

Aurora jumped up and down with Everly, Wolf, and CJ congratulating her.

“That looked so easy,”

Wolf said and waved away Jude’s offer of help.

Cope knelt on the ground to take a video of Wolf’s swing. They’d never played mini golf before and knew his son had never used or even seen a golf club. He crossed his fingers and prayed the ball made it into the hole.

Wolf swung the club and the ball sailed through the rex’s legs, stopping a few inches in front of the hole. With a short putt, Wolf sank his shot. “Yeee Haaaw!”

“Everly, do you want to go next?”

Ronan asked.

“No, Dad. CJ can go before me.”

Everly took a few steps back so that she was standing beside Cannonball, who was snapping pictures of his son. “He’s gonna need three shots to make the hole,”

she said quietly. “First one’s gonna hit the side wall and bounce right back to him. Second shot will ring around the hole, but not go in. He’ll make the third shot.”

Cope could hear what Everly was telling Cannonball, he watched as the daredevil shot her a questioning look, but stayed silent. Cope had a feeling he knew exactly what Everly was doing, proving to the man that her visions were always on the money.

CJ took his first swing and, like Everly predicted, it hit the side wall and rolled back to CJ. “What!”

the little boy laughed. He reset the ball on the little tee mat and swung again. The ball headed straight for the hole, but just as it was about to fall into the cup, the ball circled the rim, but didn’t drop in. CJ made the hole with his third shot.

“How did you know that?”

Cannonball asked, kneeling in front of Everly.

“I saw it in my mind. Just like I can see that it’s gonna take my dad four shots on the hole and he’s gonna say a bad word.”

Cannonball laughed. “What bad word?”

Everly looked over at her father who was lining up his shot. “Fuddruckers.”

“Fuddruckers is a bad word?”

Cannonball asked looking surprised.

“It is the way my father says it.”

Everly laughed and focused on her father.

Ronan struck the ball and it sailed up high, hitting the T-rex, mid-chest. It ricocheted back and hit him in the head. “Fuddruckers, that hurt!”

he shouted, rubbing the red mark, while Wolf chased after the ball.

Tennyson grabbed his husband’s arm and tugged him away from the start point. They spoke in low tones for a few seconds with Ten patting his shoulder. He rolled his eyes when Ronan’s back was to him.

“What did they say?”

Cannonball asked.

“Well, I’m not supposed to listen in on their conversations, but Daddy said that now isn’t the best time to teach every kid in Niagara a new word. CJ’s gonna say it all the time. He thinks my Dad is pretty neat.”

“Why is that?”

Cannonball asked, sounding more sad than curious.

“Because my dad loves to play and laugh with us. When we’re at home, Dad is the Fly Piper, all the kids want to hang out with him.”

“The Fly Piper?”

“Yeah, you know the story where the man blew a horn and led the kids out of town.”

Everly giggled and ran to the start position and set her ball up for her shot.

“She’s gonna hit a hole in one,”

Cope said, when Cannonball moved to stand beside him.

Everly pulled back her club and took a swing. The ball rolled straight under the T-rex and fell into the hole. “Hole in one!”

Everly bounced into Ronan’s arms. He swung her high above his head as he warbled the chorus to “We Are the Champions.”

“Is he always like that?”

Cannonball asked.

“Annoyingly so.”

Cope grinned. “Ronan was still working for the Boston Police Department when Everly was born. He actually took paternity leave so he could stay home with the baby and after going back to work for a few days, decided to retire so he could spend more time with her.”

“Wow, that’s really something. He must have had the best dad when he was growing up.”

Cope shook his head. “Actually, Ronan’s father left the family before he could walk. He was raised by his mother, who never remarried.”

“If he didn’t have father to mentor him, how did he learn to be such a good Dad to Everly?”

Cannonball sounded stunned, as if he really couldn’t believe someone could be a good parent without a role model.

“He mostly followed Everly’s lead. When she got interested in Disney princess movies, he learned all the songs and bought the dolls to play with together. When she started speaking to spirits and having visions, Ronan read every book he could get his hands on, so that he might understand her gifts better.”

“I never thought of it that way. I just always did what I wanted and figured CJ knew that I loved him.”

“You’re the same kind of father that Rooster was to you?”

Cannonball nodded.

“When he died, did you know that he loved you?”

Cope hoped the stubborn man would see his point.

“No.”

Cannonball’s mouth fell open. “So you’re saying that if I die tomorrow, CJ won’t remember that I loved him?”

Cope shook his head. “No, he will remember things quite differently. That his father thought fame and trying to best his own father were more important than he was.”

The blood drained from Cannonball’s face. He looked as if he were about to faint. Cope led the man to a nearby bench. “My father hated me. Hated that I was a gay psychic witch who didn’t want to run his natural gas business alongside him.”

“You’re a witch? They’re actually real?”

Cannonball’s eyes were so wide that Cope was afraid they’d drop out onto the ground.

“Yeah, we’re real. I’m a fifth generation legacy witch. My mother’s family fled France several hundred years ago to escape being burned at the stake. I know some spells that would knock your socks off, including one that would give you a fear of the water.”

Cope waggled his eyebrows.

“Did you do it or cast it or whatever?”

Cannonball asked, looking strangely excited.

“No. You need to make this decision on your own. If not, you’ll just try this again and we won’t be here to save your dumb ass.”

“Fitz said his Coast Guard friend is going to call later.”

“Around eight tonight,”

Cope said confidently. At the moment, the time was the only thing he could see about the phone call. He had no idea if Milt could help Cannonball. “Come to our room and you can sit in on the conversation. I’m sure the information you can offer will be helpful in determining if the Guard can help you.”

“Yeah, okay.”

Cope stood up from the bench ready to head back to his family. Wolf’s turn was coming up again. “You know it’s not too late to forge a relationship with CJ. In the last two days I’ve learned that he loves trains and sharks. FYI, they’ve got a set of megalodon jaws at the Ripley museum.”

Cope pointed up the street where a large purple and aqua King Kong statue that marked the entrance to the museum. “You can stand inside of it and have your picture taken. There’s also a train museum back over the U.S. border in New York.”

“How do you know all this?”

Cope held up his phone. “This little invention called Google Give it a shot.”

He turned and headed back to Wolf, who was waving him forward from the second hole.

Cope didn’t know if his little chat with Cannonball would change his future, but maybe the man would take the hint and go to the Ripley’s Believe it or Not museum to spend what could be their last afternoon together.

Fingers crossed.