Chapter 1
Jude
December, present day…
Not wanting to leave Jude out of any of the fun of the season, Cope hadn’t bought a single present and hadn’t taken the kids hunting for a Christmas tree.
His husband had wanted Jude to be home for all the festivities, which had nearly brought Jude to tears.
Tennyson and Jace had done the same thing for Ronan and Fitz.
Yesterday, all three families had bundled up and found their perfect trees.
The kids sang songs and drank hot chocolate, while the adults argued over whose tree was bigger, fuller, and prettier.
The day had ended with dinner at Lobster Charlie’s, which had become a tradition over the years.
After the kids were tucked into bed, he and Cope had sat at the kitchen table with the Christmas lists the kids had worked on while Jude was gone. Over the course of an hour they’d picked out all the toys for the kids and decided which gifts would come from them and which from Santa.
After a huge breakfast of Mickey Mouse pancakes and bacon, Jude was wrangling the tree.
It always looked so easy when the worker at the tree farm sheathed it in the netting that would hold the branches together.
It was a different matter, trying to extricate the tree at home.
Of course, the next step was even worse, setting the tree into the stand and making sure it was straight and screwed in tightly.
There were several off-color jokes Jude could make about the situation, but the truth of the matter was he was too tired.
All he wanted to do was get the tree up.
After that Cope would feed the kids and Jude could catch a quick forty winks.
“Daddy, do you need some help?” Wolf asked.
Jude was about to tell his son no, but caught the earnest look on his face. “Sure thing, buddy! Grab the netting and hold it up away from the branches and I’ll cut it.”
Wolf did what his father asked. “Teamwork makes the dream work, right, Daddy?”
Jude chuckled. “That’s right. How was school while I was gone?”
“It was pretty good. I got a hundred on my spelling test and Aurora got into a fight.” Wolf’s dark eyes glowed with excitement.
“A fight?” Jude hadn’t heard anything about this until now. “Who did she fight?”
“Boogers McGraw!” Wolf laughed, holding his stomach.
Jude hooted along with his son. “You mean Marcus McGraw?” There weren’t any other kids with that last name in Wolf’s school. He’d never heard the nickname before either. A lot had obviously changed since he and the others had gone to Vermont.
“Yup!” Wolf agreed, catching his breath.
“Why do they call him Boogers?” Jude couldn’t wait to hear the answer.
“He had a cold and sneezed into his hands right in the middle of our math test. Instead of getting up and running to the bathroom or to the box of tissues on Mrs. Levitt’s desk, he lapped his hands.
” Wolf demonstrated, with thankfully booger-free hands.
“Aurora was super grossed out and she gagged.”
“I would have gagged too,” Jude agreed. “How did Aurora get into a fight with him?”
“Mrs. Levitt motioned Marcus toward the front of her desk. Everyone started chanting, ‘Boogers! Boogers!’ When he walked past Aurora’s desk, he smeared his hands on her shoulder.”
“Oh, no!” Poor Aurora. Jude had never wanted to arrest a second grader this much in his life.
Aurora had sensory sensitivities and wasn’t overly fond of people touching her.
With an unwanted touching combined with being smeared with snot, he was surprised his niece hadn’t melted down completely. “What happened after that?”
“Aurora called him a pig and when Marcus turned around, she punched him in the nose.” Wolf snorted.
“Boogers’ nose started bleeding. Mrs. Levitt rushed him out of the classroom, while everyone cheered for Aurora.
Then the teacher came back into the room and escorted Aurora to the principal’s office.
We could hear her shouting all the way down the hall. ”
“What was she shouting?” Jude asked, tightening the last screw in the tree stand. He got up and stood the tree upright. It was perfectly balanced, unlike last year’s tree, which had listed precariously like the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
“Fight like a girl!” Wolf shouted. “Then she asked for an attorney. I didn’t even know Aurora had an attorney.”
“Who asked for an attorney?” Cope asked, carrying Lizbet into the living room.
“Aurora,” Jude snickered.
“That poor kid.” Cope shook his head. “Aurora was suspended from school for the rest of the week. Jace had to pick her up from the principal’s office.
He was so proud of the way she stood up for herself that he took her out to lunch and then to the mall to go shopping for Christmas dresses and shoes. ”
“If I punched an asshole in the face do you think Jace would take me shopping?” Jude snorted. He was badly in need of new suits and dress shirts, a new pair of shoes wouldn’t be bad either.
“Let’s not find out. We’ll go next week with the guys.” Cope gave Lizbet a tickle and pulled her into his lap.
“Oh, sissus tee, oh sissus tee!” Lizbet sang with her entire heart.
“That’s right. You’re so smart.” Cope kissed LizzyB’s head.
Jude had never heard his daughter sing “Oh, Christmas Tree,” before. Yet another thing he’d missed while he was in Vermont. “What else happened while I was gone?” He had only been away for two weeks, but to Jude it seemed like months had passed.
“You didn’t miss that much, babe. With the three of you gone, me, Ten, and Jace banded together.
We had dinner at a different house every night and left the dirty dishes in the sink.
It turns out Jace is one hell of a cook.
We talked about books, drank wine, and let the kids fend for themselves.
Any chance you and the guys will go away again any time soon?
” Cope asked with a snicker. “We’re looking to start a book club.
You know the kind of thing with charcuterie boards, fancy chocolates, neighborhood gossip, and wine? ”
Jude raised an eyebrow at his husband. He knew Cope was joking, but it seemed like the husbands had gotten along pretty well without the detectives. “Did you miss me even a little bit?”
Cope pinched his thumb and index finger until the two nearly touched.
“Two lightbulbs went out over the vanity in the bathroom. I had to get Jace and Ten to come over to spot me in case I fell off the bathroom counter. I managed to change the bulbs without killing myself and we toasted my success after the kids were in bed.”
“Seems like you three did a lot of toasting.” Jude rolled his eyes.
“Most of which was with soda. You know none of us are big drinkers.” Cope paused, looking as if he were looking for the right words to continue.
“You being gone reminded me of when my father would go away on business trips. My mother and I would do all sorts of fun things. We’d work on spells, stay up late watching the moon rise, then sleep late.
We’d marathon episodes of The Golden Girls, and eat dinner at expensive restaurants.
You know, things my father never would have allowed if he’d been home. You know the kids missed you, right?”
Jude nodded. He definitely knew the kids missed him, but the big question was, did Cope?
“Yes, you big, silly man! Of course I missed you,” Cope said, seeming to read Jude’s mind. “It was different without the three of you being here, so we wanted to make it memorable for the kids.”
“Seemed like all of you went feral for two weeks.”
“It was pretty liberating,” Cope agreed. “We all work so hard to take care of you three by doing laundry, keeping the house clean, cooking meals, doing the dishes. It was nice to just let those things slide, guilt-free.”
Jude was about to object to what Cope was saying.
He’d never once demanded that Cope do any of those things.
His husband had sort of slid into those roles over time, along with taking care of the kids.
Jude knew damn well how good he had it and knew Cope deserved a break.
It wasn’t like the kids went hungry or were running around in the streets causing trouble.
“To be honest, I think you three should do stuff like that more often. You’re always pampering us during football season. You deserve a season of your own.”
Cope’s smile stretched from ear to ear. “If you’re serious about that, I wouldn’t mind if Santa brought me a gift card to that new spa downtown. One of my reading clients was telling me about having an arctic cranberry facial. She said it was life-altering.”
“I suppose coming home smelling like a Thanksgiving side dish would be life-altering.” Jude made a mental note to tell the guys about the spa, so they could all get their hard-working men gift cards.
“Talking about spas and wine is boring.” Wolf pouted. “I came in here to help with the tree.”
“Go grab the box of lights. I left it in the kitchen near the cellar door.” Jude pointed and Wolf ran off.
“Someone’s feeling a little Grinchy today.
” Jude maneuvered the tree near the corner of the living room, so that he’d only have to move it a few feet backward once the lights and tinsel were hung.
“He missed you so much.” Cope smacked a kiss on Lizbet’s head. “How about we make some cookies while Daddy and Wolfie do the hard part?”
“Cookies!” Lizbet bolted off Cope’s lap and ran into the kitchen.
“Call us when it’s time to hang the ornaments.” Cope pressed a kiss to Jude’s cheek.
“I will.” Jude hugged his husband until Wolf came back into the living room struggling to carry the large plastic tote with the word LIGHTS written on the side in black Sharpie.
“Hey, great job, buddy!” Jude pulled the top off the tote and started pulling out tangled strings of lights. “Damn, guess we should have taken a bit more time putting these away last year, huh?”
“It’s okay, Daddy! We’ll figure it out together. I want to hear more about the case you were working in Vermont.”
“You do?” Jude asked.
Wolf nodded his shaggy head. “I wanna be a detective just like you when I grow up!”
Jude was overwhelmed by the adoring look in his son’s eyes.
He’d never been much of a role model during his time living with Running Eagle and certainly not when he was fucking his way across the country.
Wolf having this much faith in him was humbling.
Clearing his throat, Jude offered Wolf a smile.
“You’re not going to believe where we found the bad guy in Vermont… ”
Over the years, Jude had imagined Wolf growing up to be a lot of things; a doctor, lawyer, paleontologist, an electrician.
Never once had Jude stopped to consider his son would want to grow up to be just like his father.
What an incredible feeling, one he would be sure to hold onto for the rest of his life.