“I was afraid that would happen. Wolf’s got a bit of hero worship which only seemed to grow after he met the man, the myth, the legend.” Jude wore an amused look, but Cope was anything but.
“Wolf doesn’t know Cannonball’s destiny. I asked Everly not to tell him. She agreed, but is scared for Wolfie.”
“Scared? Is something going to happen to Wolf?” Jude turned to look back at the still-closed bathroom door.
“No, nothing like that, but she knows how devastated Wolf is going to be when Cannonball…” He trailed off, knowing Jude would get his drift.
“Fuck,” Jude muttered under his breath. “We need to figure out a way to save Cannonball’s dumb ass.”
“Save Cannonball from what, Daddy? Is he gonna be okay?” Wolf looked between his fathers.
“Of course he is.” Jude scooped Wolf into his arms. “I was talking about saving Cannonball from the media at his press conference. I bet it’s pretty annoying to have people shouting questions at you from all different directions.”
“I bet he’s used to it,” Wolf said, knowingly. “I need to get used to it too.”
“What? Why do you need to get used to reporters asking you questions?” Jude asked, sounding as if he didn’t want to know the answer.
“’Cause I’m gonna be a daredevil too!” Wolf announced. He scrambled off Jude’s lap and launched himself onto the otherbed. Thankfully, there was only two feet or so that separated the king-sized beds, so the landing was soft and easy.
“A daredevil?” Jude asked, sounding scared. “You can’t be a daredevil.”
“Why not?” Wolf asked, a dark look in his eyes. “You said I could be anything I wanted, Daddy. Was that a lie?” Wolf’s eyes widened. They’d had several discussions about lying before they’d left Massachusetts. Wolf had told a few tall tales and Jude and Cope wanted to make sure their son understood why that wasn’t okay.
“No, Wolfie, I didn’t lie. You absolutely can be anything you want.” Jude wore a look that said there were several things he didn’t want his son to be.
“You can’t be a daredevil because there’s already one here in Niagara Falls. You don’t want to steal Cannonball’s thunder, right?” Cope asked.
“Oh, right. Good point, Dad.”
Cope felt himself sag with relief at Wolf’s easy acceptance of his answer. When they got home, he was going to take Wolf to the Museum of Science in Boston so that he could fall in love with dinosaurs and astronauts, in hopes he’d forget all about being a stuntman. A knock at the door stopped Cope’s train of thought. “That must be Nana Kaye.”
“I’ll get it.” Jude went to the door. “Hey, Ezzie!”
“Joooo!” the little boy squealed. He ran past Jude and climbed onto the first bed where Lizbet was watching a princess movie on her tablet.
“Thank you so much, Kaye,” Jude said. “We really appreciate the help tonight.”
“When I came back up here after a trip to the store, people were surrounding that stuntman. He was signing autographs like he was a member of The Beetles.”
“Nana Kaye, why would bugs sign autographs?” Wolf asked, laughing.
“I’m just being silly, Wolfie. Have fun tonight.” Kaye bent to kiss the top of Wolf’s messy head.
“We won’t be too late. I mean how long can it take for this one to suck down a couple of steaks at the dinner buffet?” Cope pointed to Jude.
“Do you need us to bring you anything back?” Jude asked.
“No, thanks, the kids and I are gonna get room service. Mac and cheese for them and a burger for me. Although, to be honest, I’m still kind of full from all that ice cream earlier.”
“Not me!” Wolf announced. “I’m so hungry, I could a whole hippopotamus!”
“Well, then it’s lucky no hippopotami live in Canada!” Kaye giggled with her grandson.
“We’d better go meet the others. Text if you need anything or if Lizbet won’t go down.”
Kaye raised an eyebrow at Jude. “Lizbet always goes to sleep for me like a little angel. It’s you she gives a hard time to because she knows you’ll relent and give her more cuddles.”
Jude snickered. “You know, a day is gonna come when neither of my kids want to give me cuddles, so I’ll take all of them I can get right now.” Jude gave Lizbet a kiss and hurried out the door with Cope and Wolf behind him.
