“The night before the final divorce papers were going to be signed, Jennifer came to see me and asked me to read her future. I knew she was hoping to see a wonderful life with a new love and a couple of kids and that was exactly what I saw. I sawher wedding day and her children playing on the beach. She went home so happy and hopeful that night.” Bertha paused and dashed unshed tears from her eyes. “The next morning, in the parking lot of the courthouse, Burt shot her five times and saved the last bullet for himself.”
“Oh, Bertha!” Ten pulled her into his arms and held on tight.
“I never saw any of it coming.” Bertha looked up at Ten. “I shut the shop down and stayed in bed for a week. I knew after that I could never be a working psychic again.”
“What happened to change that?” Ten asked.
“Madam India. She was a psychic who worked over on Essex Street in the storefront where Omen is now. She’d heard through the grapevine what had happened to Jennifer and how badly I was taking the news. She pounded on my door until I got up and answered it. We had a come to Jesus meeting, psychic-style. India was the one who told me that the future was fluid. I’d seen Jennifer’s rosy future, because Bert hadn’t made his decision to take matters into his own hands. I couldn’t have predicted what would happen to her, in the same way that you never could have predicted what Autumn Miller would do when your prediction didn’t come true.”
Ten sat with Bertha’s words for a few moments.
“What happened with Everly and Aurora getting hurt was horrible. Same with what followed at the hospital, but did you ever stop to consider what the outcome would have been if you’re gift hadn’t told you Autumn and her cop boyfriend were coming to the hospital to kill all of you?” Tears leaked from Bertha’s eyes, telling him she’d seen the carnage Ten had been able to avert.
“I don’t know what to say.”
“Seize the day, Tenny. Stop living in the past. Bad things happen to good people. Ronan can tell you that the good guys don’t always win. Stop being afraid of your own shadow and live again. If you want to learn astral projection, I’ll teach you.”
Ten snorted and started to laugh. “When were you going to tell me about you teaching Everly?”
Bertha shrugged. “I don’t know. It was our thing, the same way that going for ice cream after Everly’s dentist appointments is yours.” Bertha laughed. “She was perfectly safe and better still, that skill is going to come in handy today.”
“I know,” Ten agreed. “Is Ronan going to be able to do this?” Under other circumstances Ten would think Ronan trying astral projection was a colossal joke.
“He’ll be fine. Crow and I are going with them.”
“I wondered about that.”
“Crow loves Everly.” Bertha smiled as she said his name. “We’ll keep everyone safe, I promise.”
“I know you will, Bertha.” Ten hugged her when she got up from the bed. “Thank you for giving my butt the kick it needed.”
“Anytime. Catch you later! Toodles!” Bertha vanished.
Ten took a deep breath. He felt stronger than he had in weeks. What he needed to do now was use that strength to help Everly, Ronan, and Jude spirit walk. The sooner Bellamy and the other prisoners could be freed from Warden Donald Benedict’s clutches, the sooner he could get back to having fun in the sun.
11
Ronan
After dinner Fitzgibbon and Jace took the kids, with the exception of Everly out for ice cream, which meant there wouldn’t be any interruptions while Ronan attempted a spirit walk.
Truth be told, Ronan didn’t know much about the Lakota tribe or the ghost dance. What he did know was that he trusted Jude and his daughter implicitly. Jude would tell him what needed to be done, and for once, Ronan would obey.
“Okay is everyone ready?” Jude asked, looking a little nervous.
“Almost.” Everly ran to Ten and hugged him. “I’m gonna be okay, Dad.”
“I know you are. Bertha stopped by and we had a little chat.”
Everly nodded. “Mimi told me she was going to come see you. I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you about going on spirit walks with Mimi Bertha.”
“You don’t have to be sorry, honey. I know Bertha will keep you safe. When I was growing up, I didn’t have anyone like Bertha who could help me work with my gift, to uncover my potential. You are so lucky to have her. I would never begrudge you the opportunity to stretch your wings, but I would like a heads up when you try new things.”
“Deal!” Everly agreed quickly. “Daddy’s pretty upset about me working with Mimi.”
“He’s not upset. Just worried that something could go wrong. Which, if you think about it, is the same thing as your Dad running behind you when you were learning to ride your bike. Only this time he couldn’t follow you.” To be honest, Ten thought Ronan was taking all this spirit walking in stride. He supposed that was because Ronan was being allowed to go along.
“I’ll talk to him later.”
