“I sure am. We’re gonna have a little chat about bullying this morning and then we’re gonna have a great day. Before we go to class I want to tell you I’m sorry for how Mrs. Robbins treated you and your friends. I promise nothing like that will ever happen again.”
“Thanks. I feel much better now. I’m ready to go learn!” Aurora turned around and hugged Fitz. “I’ll be okay, Daddy. Thanks for walking me inside the school.”
“You’re welcome. Have a great day.” Fitzgibbon and Jace each waved to their daughter.
“Wow, is that a real police badge?” a small boy asked from behind Fitzgibbon.
“It sure is.” Fitz unclipped it and handed it to the little boy to hold. He marveled over it for a few seconds before handing it back.
“Anytime you guys want to come in and give a little talk, you’re more than welcome,” Max said.
“Thanks for everything, Max. We’ll take you up on that offer if anyone else tries to bully my daughter again.” With a short laugh, Fitzgibbon headed for the door.
“Have a good day, little miss.” Ten hugged Everly. “What kind of accident is Timmy gonna have? A number one or a number two?”
Everly giggled. “Two.”
“In that case, stay far away from him so you don’t get splashed,” Ronan said.
“Bye, Dad!” Everly ran off to catch up to Max and Aurora. Wolf was right behind her.
“Crisis averted, for now?” Ronan said.
“Yeah,” Ten agreed. “They’re all gonna be fine today. Well, all of them except Timmy.”
“I can’t say that I’m sorry to hear that. No one gets away with hurting my family.” Ronan offered a bright smile. “What do you think is gonna happen to Mrs. Robbins?”
“Oh, I don’t think, I know.” Ten waggled his eyebrows. “She’s being moved into an administrative position. Max will bring in a long-term substitute teacher until a permanent replacement can be found. Some people shouldn’t work with kids.”
“Agreed.” Ronan said. “Who’s in the mood for pancakes? I think we deserve a treat after being such kickass parents.”
“You realize you just said ‘ass’ in a school full of kids?” Ten rolled his eyes at his husband.
“I hate to break it to you, babe, but so did you!” Ronan snorted. “Guess that means we both need a time out.” He waggled his eyebrows.
“Feed me pancakes and tell me I’m pretty.” Ten laughed and followed Ronan toward the door.
Ten was glad the situation with Aurora was resolved. He hoped whoever Max got to replace Mrs. Robbins would be someone who could lift the kids up instead of tearing them down.
7
Ronan
Two hours later, his belly filled with more pancakes than a man his age should eat, Ronan turned on his laptop and tried to figure a way to identify the remains in the box. He supposed the simplest thing to do would be to pull up the obituaries in theSalem Daily News.
Logging into website, Ronan bristled at the idea that the obits weren’t free. He understood that people worked hard at the paper and should be properly compensated for their time and work, but obituaries were a public service, and as such, should be accessible to everyone.
“I told you not to have that last stack of pancakes,” Jude said, taking a seat at the conference table across from Ronan.
“What are you talking about?” Ronan asked, his belly grumbling.
“You’ve got constipation face.” Jude chuckled.
“I’ve gotwhat?” Ronan asked. He had no idea what the hell Jude was talking about.
“You’ve got that look like you haven’t taken a dump in a week. You ate your weight in pancakes and now they’re sitting in your gut weighing you down like an anchor. That’s why you’ve got that sour face.”
“He’s always got a sour face,” Fitzgibbon said, joining them at the table.
