Page 35 of Ghosted

“Thank fuck you’re okay,” Fitz said, choking up.

“Let’s get the fuck out of here,” Jude said. “I’ve spent enough time in this basement to last a lifetime. I was seconds away from that bitch turning me into an Edgar Allen Poe story. Thanks for saving me.”

“You’re welcome, asshole, but I didn’t do it alone.” Ronan gave Jude a shove. “Everly was the one who found you.”

“Everly?” Jude asked.

“She worked the spell with Cope, Ten, and Madam Aurora. None of the others were able to find you, but Everly was. She said something about she and Cope working in our garden together and that’s how she was able to find you.”

Jude nodded. “He taught her all about healing herbs last summer.”

“She’s going to be quite the little garden witch, according to Aurora.” Ronan beamed with pride.

“Tiny but mighty,” Jude agreed. “Let’s go home so I can hug the stuffing out of all the kids.”

“I’d like to remind you that none of this would have been necessary if you’d just kept your stupid dick in your stupid pants.” Ronan waggled his eyebrows.

“I can’t help that I’m the Chris Hemsworth of the group.” Jude snorted and started to laugh.

“You get away with that for one day because you almost got yourself killed. Starting tomorrow, I don’t want to hear any more of this Chris Hemsworth shit.” Ronan wrapped an arm around Jude’s shoulder and led him out of the basement.

“Are you okay?” Fitzgibbon asked.

Cope shook his head. “No, but I will be. When I walked into this room, that woman, thatnurse, who vowed to do no harm, was pointing a gun at Jude’s head. How do you deal with seeing things like this day after day?”

Fitzgibbon nibbled his bottom lip. “I always remind myself that I’m what keeps evil from winning. If I didn’t do this job, maybe we don’t find Jude at all or we find him too late. I might see the absolute worst of humanity, but on days like this, I also see us at our best. The three of us risked our lives to save Jude without a second thought. It’s a rare man who runs into a dangerous situation when everyone else is running the other way.”

Cope nodded. Taking in what Fitzgibbon was saying. “Thank you for being the man who kept evil from winning today and for giving me back my idiot husband.”

Fitzgibbon snickered. “You might regret thanking me the next time Jude says something stupid or does something stupid or wears something stupid.”

Cope laughed along with Fitzgibbon. The truth of the matter was that Jude could do as many stupid, maddening, reckless or foolish things he wanted and Cope would love him anyway. That’s how love worked.

Jude was Cope’s one true love. Today. Tomorrow. Forever.

EPILOGUE

Jude

Several hours later, Jude was tucked into bed with Wolf on his left and Lizbet dozing peacefully on his chest. Cope lay sleeping on his right. One of her hands laid on Jude’s cheek. Father and son were watchingStar Warstogether. Wolf’s head lay on Jude’s shoulder.

From the moment Jude walked through the door at Ronan’s house, he’d been mobbed by his kids. Both Wolf and Lizbet hugged him for ten minutes straight. Wolf told Jude he was never letting go of his father again. That way he could never get lost.

Jude’s second longest hug went to Everly. He’d burst into tears on the way home when Ronan told him how his niece argued to help Jude because he’d been her best friend from the day she was born. He cried again when Everly told him she would have done anything to find him because she knew he would do the same thing for her.

After all the hugs and tears, Jude brought his little family home. With the exception of Cope’s altar on the kitchen table, the house looked the same as it did when he’d walked out the door on Saturday morning. Now, though, he took the time to notice all the little touches that made this house a home. The kids’ sleeping bags in front of the television. The family photos lining the mantle along with seashells Wolf and Lizbet found on the beach in Florida. Wolf’s Matchbox Cars parked in neat rows in the corner along with Lizbet’s blocks.

It shouldn’t have taken Jude this long to figure it out, but this house was just bricks, wood, mortar and nails, it was the people inside it who made it his home. He’d spent so much time alone in the cage thinking about all the things he was going to do right when he got back home. He needed to sit down with Cope and offer his husband a proper apology for everything that happened at the policeman’s ball and for the way he’d stormed out of the house like an angry toddler the next morning.

Jude knew he took advantage of his husband, Ronan, and Fitz. He was going to try to be more mindful of the people in his life who made it worth living. He was going to spend more time with Wolf building LEGOs even if he was tired. He’d learn how to braid Lizbet’s hair and would run the vacuum not because Cope nagged him, but because he wanted to. He’d be a better man at work, not calling Ronan an asshole all the time and giving Fitz shit about his grey hair.

This was the new and improved Jude Byrne. A man who grateful for each and every blessing in his life. A man who planned to live that life to its absolute fullest.

THE END