“How do you know about the Bride of Frankenstein?” Ten asked, sounding as if he already knew the answer.
“Dad showed me videos on YouTube, but I wasn’t scared.” Everly offered Ronan an adoring look. “Woofie could be a werewolf, Aurora could be the Creature from the Black Saloon and I could be Captain Jack Sparrow!”
“We’re going to need to have a discussion later about the videos you and our daughter watch.” Ten shook his head in obvious dismay.
Ronan sank lower in his seat. He hadn’t shown Everly anything that would give her nightmares, well, mostly not. She had been pretty scared by the Creature from the Black Lagoon, but when he explained it was just a guy in a costume, not a real monster, Everly hadn’t looked like she was going to scream in terror.
“Everly makes a good point,” Fitz began, settling a calmer Aurora on his lap. “What if this year’s theme was pirates? We could all wear striped shirts and bandanas on our heads and eyeliner and eye patches.”
“Oh, just like One-Eyed Willie!” Everly gushed.
“Who’s One-Eyed Willie?” Wolf asked, sounding curious.
Jude opened his mouth, looking as if he had a snarky answer.
“Zip it!” Cope poked his husband’s side, before turning to his son. “He was a pirate character in a movie you’re probably not old enough to watch.”
“Grownups have all the fun,” Wolf sulked. “You don’t have bedtimes, you watch cool movies, and can eat ice cream for breakfast.”
“How about if we let you have ice cream for breakfast on your birthday?” Jude asked.
Wolf’s dark eyes lit up. “Deal!” He shook his father’s hand. “No take backsies!”
Jude chuckled at his son’s antics. “Are we all agreed on a pirate theme for this year?”
Everyone around the table nodded in agreement, with the exception of Ronan. “I was looking forward to being Frankenstein with a green face.”
“You can be a zombie pirate like the ones in the movie,” Everly added helpfully.
“Zombie pirates?” Ten asked, sounding exhausted.
As much as Ronan loved Everly’s enthusiasm for the movie clips they watched together when Ten was giving Ezra his bath, he had a feeling that he was going to be sleeping in the Mustang for the next week or two. “They’re more skeleton pirates thanactualzombies.”
“Not helping!” Jude barked a laugh.
“You know what, Daddy?” Everly asked, setting her hand on Ten’s arm. “I like learning about fake scary things with Dad. I’ve seen a lot of really scary things in my life and zombie pirates are pretty funny in comparison to some of the ghosts I talk to.”
Ronan had to admit his daughter made a good point, but he wasn’t stupid enough to say those words out loud. There might be a way to weasel his way out of trouble yet again thanks to Everly.
Ten nodded his head. “I just want to protect you.”
“I know you do and you do a really good job, but I need to experience healthy fear,” Everly said, sounding much older than her six years.
“Healthy fear?” Ten asked, wearing a bemused look. “Where did you hear that?”
“From Whoopsie Goldberg onThe View. Nana Kaye loves those sassy ladies, especially when they argue with each other.”
“We seemed to have gone from the grotesque to the bizarre.” Ten pressed a kiss to Everly’s head. “We’ll talk more about healthy fear and your television watching habits later.” Ten grabbed a notepad and a pen. “I love Halloween as much as the rest of you,” Ten began, “but what we really need to focus on is next week’s elementary school fundraiser.
Ronan and Jude groaned in tandem. “I’m still having nightmares from last year’s kindergarten fundraiser.” Ronan vividly remembered trying to talk class parents and other members of the community into buying Ten’s ooey-gooey brownies. He hadn’t had any luck moving the merchandise, but when Everly gave it a go, the sweet treats were sold out in no time. “Please tell me it’s not another bake sale.”
“Nope! You’re off the hook, Betty Crocker,” Jude chuckled. “This year the school is doing a carnival.”
“A carnival!” Everly and Aurora screamed.
“That sounds like a lot of work.” Not that Ronan was opposed to rolling up his sleeves, but a carnival seemed like an awfully big production for a single weekend.
“Local food truck will have food for sale. We’ve got farmer’s market stalls with fresh apples, honey and baked goods, with proceeds going to the first grade,” Ten began. “An artist is donating their time to do face painting. Last but not least, is the dunk tank.”
