“Thank you, Tennyson.” Lucas held his hand out to shake. “Elizabeth would have loved to know you, Everly. She believed in the occult and would have been most interested in your ability to speak with spirits.”
“If you can, bring Elizabeth to me. I know I can help her, but she has to leave the lighthouse willingly.”
“I will do my very best.” With a nod to Ronan and Fitzgibbon, Lucas vanished.
“I can’t believe what I just saw and heard.” Fitz took a seat. “That man has been dead for nearly two centuries and he was standing right here speaking to us as if he were still alive. Do you think Lucas will be able to help Elizabeth, now that you and Ten have stepped in to help?”
Everly frowned. “I don’t know. Usually I know what’s gonna happen, but right now, I can’t see anything more than Elizabeth weeping for her lost husband. I’ll keep reaching out to her to see if I can make a connection. Thanks for your help, Uncle Fitz.” Everly hugged him and went back to her spot on the deck with Aurora.
“I didn’t do anything but tell the story of what happened at the lighthouse.” Fitz wore a perplexed look. “I’ve never felt more unhelpful in my entire life.”
“You filled in the blanks in Elizabeth’s story and offered your strength when Lucas appeared. You did an amazing job, Fitz.” Ten patted his shoulder. “I’m gonna go back down to takepictures of Ezzie and Wolf, driving the boat. Lobster rolls for lunch, yeah?”
“Yes!” Everly and Aurora called out.
“I’ll come downstairs with you. I want to see our little captain at the helm.” Ronan gave one last look at Boon Island Lighthouse. It was a small island with a big story to tell. One that was still ongoing. He hoped Everly and Ten had been able to help Elizabeth. Lucas was the saddest looking man Ronan had ever met, aside from Tennyson in the aftermath of the Autumn Miller case.
Maybe helping Lucas would help Ten find his happy place again.
6
Tennyson
The rest of the day had gone by in a flash, it seemed. After the harbor cruise, they’d gone for lunch at a cute bistro down by the water and had done some shopping. Fitz got everyone t-shirts, while Ronan and Jude shopped for fireworks to light off on the beach. Ten had hoped they’d have bought simple things like sparklers and bottle rockets, but Ronan had come back with an assortment of Roman candles and dancing butterflies, which Ten had never heard of. Jude assured him that they would beset off on the beach with the kids watching from the deck. Ten prayed everyone would go home from vacation will all ten fingers and toes.
For dinner, Fitzgibbon grilled chicken, which was served with rice and a salad. Dessert was popsicles eaten on the deck. Ten had taken some fun pictures of the kids’ sticky faces with popsicle juice running down their chins.
With Ronan on bedtime duty, Ten sat on the deck in the near dark watching the waves pound the shore. A light breeze ruffled his hair.
“Dad?” Everly said, stepping out onto the deck.
Ten lifted a hand into the air. “Right here.”
“I brought you a water.” Everly handed two bottles to him and climbed into the lounge beside her father.
“Thank you.” He twisted the cap on the first bottle and handed it to his daughter and kept the second for himself. “Are you okay?”
Everly sighed. “I haven’t heard anything with Lucas and Elizabeth. I’m worried he wasn’t able to get through to her.”
“I’ve been worried about the same thing.” Truth be told, Ten had been more worried about how Lucas and Elizabeth’s story would affect Everly. All he wanted was for his daughter to have a fun, relaxing weekend without having to help reunite spirits who’d been dead for nearly two hundred years.
“Iamhaving fun, Dad.” Everly waggled her eyebrows at Ten. “Working with spirits is what I do. It doesn’t matter that I’m only seven or that we’re on vacation. I help where I can. You taught me that. Tell me you haven’t been doing everything you can to reunite Lucas and Elizabeth.”
Everly had a point. “I have been, but it’s because I’m an adult and I can handle situations like this.”
“Just because you can, doesn’t always mean you should.” Everly sounded much older than her years. When Ten didn’t respond, she continued, “I know you’re still struggling with Autumn Miller.”
“Something like that doesn’t just go away overnight.” Or even over several weeks, for that matter.
“I know. You’ve been very busy since that night at the hospital.” Everly paused, looking up at Ten. “I think you stayed busy on purpose, so you didn’t have to deal with what happened.”
Ten sighed. Everly was right. She was always right. “If that’s the case, and I’mnotsaying it is, how do I start to heal?” He couldn’t believe he was asking his seven year old for advice on how to ease his own trauma.
“Take your own advice for a start, Dad.” Everly rolled her eyes.
“What advice?”
“You told Lucas to focus on happy memories he and Elizabeth shared together and that she was going to need a lot of patience and love to find herself again.”
