“I’m wet!” Aurora shouted over the roar of the falls.
Jude turned to the little girl who was standing with her arms out and her face pointed up to the falls. He couldn’t tell if Aurora was excited or horrified by being covered in the water from the Niagara River.
“I’m part of the waterfall!” Aurora shouted.
“Me too!” Everly agreed. The two girls danced in the water raining down on them.
“Okay, I didn’t see that coming,” Ronan said, helping Jude back to his feet.
“Neither did Fitz, look.” Jude pointed to their captain who was recording Aurora dancing. It looked like he was crying, but witheveryone being soaked by the spray from the falls, it was hard to tell.
“It’s good to see Aurora come out of her shell like this and try something new.” Ronan grinned at the girls who were now talking animatedly with Wolf and CJ. “I saw you taking to Cannonball. Did you tell him what Everly knows about his future?”
Jude shook his head. “No, this wasn’t the time or place. Fitz managed to get us into Cannonball’s press conference tonight. My plan is for us to talk to him and his wife then.”
“She looks like he’s already dead.”
Jude followed Ronan’s line of sight. While the kids and Cannonball were laughing and having a hell of time for themselves, Heidi wore a sad look in her eyes. She turned from her husband and son to look up at the approaching Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side of the river. At one hundred eighty-eight feet, they were much taller than the American Falls, but provided a softer, rock free, landing. “Would you do it?”
“What go over the falls?” Ronan laughed. “Not for love or money. I remember seeing Evel Knieval on television when I was a kid and watching the shit he did scared the hell out of me. It wasn’t that I didn’t think I was brave enough to try it, all I could think of was how much it would hurt when things went wrong.”
Jude was imagining the same thing. After he and Wolf had watched Cannonball’s videos, he’d looked up the people who’d gone before him. The barrels people used to go over the falls were exactly that in the early days. The same brown barrels with metal rims that wine or whiskey were aged in. Of course those crude devices were doomed to fail. Next came barrels that looked more like coffins than a barrel. Some of them worked,while most did not, as Rooster found out first hand. There were so many things that could wrong. The barrel moving off course, the current being faster, harder, or swirling in ways that weren’t anticipated. Then there was the fall itself. The barrel could crash on the rocks, against the back wall of the falls, or land safely, but then become trapped under the pounding water. Even if Jude were single and childless, he, like Ronan, wouldn’t do this stunt for anything.
Turning his attention from the falls back to the kids, Jude studied CJ. He was the spitting image of his father with his dark hair and eyes. He had no idea what tragedy was about to befall his family. How could he? Wolf looked at Jude and Cope like they both hung the moon. His fathers were brave, strong and invincible in the eyes of the first grader. CJ saw his father under the same lens, just as Jude was sure Cannonball saw his father. The loss of Carl senior cemented Cannonball’s destiny. If his father had lived, would Cannonball have become a lawyer or a plumber instead of a daredevil? If, lord forbid, Jude were to die in the line of duty, would Wolf become a cop to avenge him and walk in his shoes? He found himself not wanting to know the answer.
The last time Jude and Wolf talked about what he wanted to be when he grew up, his son’s answer had been a firemen, because they were strong and brave and were allowed to get dirty. Jude remembered laughing over the last bit. Wolf was forever wanting to go outside and roll around in the dirt and mud. He reveled in being dirty, like Pig-Pen from the Snoopy cartoons.
Wolf had always been a thoughtful and curious little boy. The thoughtfulness came from Cope, while his curiosity came from Jude. He knew Lizbet would follow in a similar path, but were there things Jude did that his kids might emulate that wouldone day come to harm them? Was he giving them the tools they needed to survive in this world that was growing ever more hostile by the day?
Wolf’s unmistakable laugh, pulled Jude out of his own thoughts. He loved the safe and secure bubble he and Cope had created for their family. It didn’t cross Wolf’s mind to be afraid of the boat, of the fact that it could run out of gas, capsize or even explode. Was Wolf better off not knowing the dangers around the bend, or was it better to live in the moment, come what may?
Jude didn’t have an answer for that question. What he did know was that he was going to do everything in his power to keep CJ from losing his father, even if Jude, Ronan, and Fitz had to slap handcuffs on him.
Jude hoped it wouldn’t come to that.
5
Cope
After the boat ride, everyone had gone back to the hotel to change out of their wet clothes. They’d had a quick lunch at Boston Pizza, which was nothing like the pizza back in Massachusetts, but the kids hadn’t seemed to care much. Theirfull attention had been focused on the video game arcade that shared space with the restaurant.
They’d spent two hours and unknown quantities of quarters in the arcade after lunch and when the money was spent, Fitzgibbon had treated everyone to ice cream. Aurora and Everly had been over the moon to get their bubblegum ice cream cones. Cope had some too and had to admit it was delish. He promised the kids they’d have it one more time before they went home, but Cope had a feeling they’d get the sweet treat several more times before they boarded the van back to the airport.
Back at the hotel, Cope had given the kids baths. Nana Kaye was going to stay with Ezra and Lizbet, while everyone else went to Cannonball’s press conference and then to the PsychicFest welcome dinner. Cope wasn’t as excited for the meal as he was for the opportunity to speak with the daredevil.
“I’m ready to go, Dad!” Wolf said. He’d dressed himself in a pair of jeans and one of his striped school shirts, which was mis-buttoned. His hair stuck up in every direction and he still had a smear of toothpaste in the corner of his mouth.
“You’re almost ready to go. Let’s fix your shirt.” Cope reached for his son.
Wolf pulled back from Cope. “It is fixed. This is the way Cannonball wears his shirt. I saw it on one of his videos.”
Cope wasn’t thrilled with his son’s answer. “Does he also go out with gobs of toothpaste in the corner of his mouth?”
“What?” Wolf ran back toward the bathroom, nearly colliding with Jude on his way.
“Is he okay? If he’s got the runs he can stay here with Kaye.”
Cope snorted. “Wolf’s fine. He just had some toothpaste in the corner of his mouth and wanted to wash it off because his new idol, Cannonball, doesn’t go out with toothpaste on his mouth.”
