“Is it just me, or do you feel like you’re going to puke?” Jude whispered.
Ronan gave a sharp nod. He noticed Fitz and Aurora were still laughing, as were Brooke and River. It was a world gone mad. When he reached Ten, his husband looked concerned. “Are you okay?”
“Just having a little tummy trouble.” Ronan thought back to the way his stomach had ached on that day long ago when he and Craig Feeney sat in the front seat of the Viper. He’d been scared then, so he could only hope there was a way to overcome his fear so he could tame the beast again. “Jude is too.” Ronan inclined his head toward his friend.
“Mommy! Did you see me!” Brooke ran into Barb’s arms. “I was so brave!”
Barb hugged her daughter tight. “You were very brave.” She looked around the group. “You were all brave. Especially Jude and Ronan!” She coughed when a small giggle erupted from her lips.
Ronan knew Barb was laughing at his color. He had a feeling he was looking like the Incredible Hulk. Jude didn’t look much better and had started to sweat.
“Can we go again?” Everly asked. Wolf, Aurora, and Brooke joined in the chorus.
“Yeah, let’s do it!” Cope said. He sat Jude down next to Lizbet’s stroller. “Make sure you take a video of us.”
“I’m coming too!” Ten took Everly’s hand and headed toward the line with her.
“What the fuck just happened?” Jude asked.
“You’re old,” Barb said, all traces of her giggles gone. “It’s been decades since you last rode something like this, and I’m betting your equilibrium is a bit off. You’ll both be fine to try again in a little while.”
“We both drive fast muscle cars. How the hell can a tiny roller coaster make me feel like I’m going to hurl?” Jude wore a confused look.
Ronan knew his face mirrored Jude’s. He was strong and healthy. Why was his body betraying him like this? He knew the top speed of the dragon coaster was probably twenty miles an hour, if that. There had been times when Ronan had pushed the Mustang over eighty miles an hour, and he’d only felt buzzy excitement. There had been no sign of nausea.
“I’m guessing that when you’re in the car, your head isn’t bouncing around like a sock in the dryer.”
“Only when Ronan drives.” Jude snorted.
“You’re both going to be fine.” Barb turned her attention toward the dragon coaster, where Brooke was shouting to her from one of the cars.
Grabbing his phone, Ronan hit the Record button. He focused in on Everly, who was patting Ten’s shoulder as if she were comforting him. Ronan figured Ten’s enthusiasm for the coaster waned when he got into the front seat and buckled up. His husband had the same sort of reaction to the Mustang the first time he drove Ten around in it.
The kids howled like wolves when the ride started. Their hands were thrown high in the air. The adults were howling along with the kids. On the last drop of the coaster, Ten managed to peel his fisted hands off the bar and lifted them over his head. Within seconds, he was laughing his ass off alongside Everly. He felt his eyes getting misty as the car pulled back up to the platform. He shut the video off and shoved the phone in his pocket.
“You okay?” Jude asked.
Ronan wasn’t quite sure. “Ten read a million books about kids and parenthood before Everly was born. They prepare you for the big stuff like first words and steps, but they don’t prepare you for the little day-to-day things that make your heart fill with so much love for your kids. Did you see the smile on Everly’s face? Or the way she encouraged Ten to be brave. We taught her to be brave in everything she does, and that’s exactly what she’s doing. I guess I’m stunned that she listened to us.”
Jude snorted and threw an arm around Ronan’s shoulders. “There are so many times I’ve assumed Wolf wasn’t listening to me or blowing me off, and then he’ll turn around and do what I was suggesting. We see it as a big deal, another step in their journey to adulthood, but to them, we’re just leading the way like we did when we held their little hands when they were learning to walk and all the times we repeated “Dada” so they’d know our name.
“You’re right. I never looked at it that way before. Thanks, Jude.”
“Anytime. Now, are we gonna conquer the Viper or what?” Jude waggled his eyebrows.
Ronan was saved from answering the question when Everly threw herself into his arms and asked if he’d been watching her slay the dragon. If Everly could be a rookie roller-coaster riderand nail it, certainly Ronan, who’d ridden the Viper dozens of times, could do the same.
6
Tennyson
After they’d all finished riding the Dragon Coaster, they’d checked out the pirate ship. The first time the kids rode it, they sat in the middle rows, which didn’t swing that high into the air. By the third ride, the kids sat in the back row with Jude and Fitz, screaming their lungs out.
Several attractions in the park took photos of the riders. Ten bought copies of his own pirates shouting, “Yarg!” at the top of the boat. He knew the Viper was another ride that did the same thing when the cars were upside down on the first loop. He would love to stick a pic like that on their mantle but wasn’t sure where Ronan stood on the matter, which was odd for his very vocal husband.
When the kids were finished with the ride, Jude and Ronan rounded the kids up for bottles of ice-cold water. The last they needed was for the kids or themselves to end up with heat stroke. Ten and Cope used the break as an opportunity to reapply sunscreen.
“Now’s the time to tame the Viper,” Jude announced. “Who’s with me?”
