EPILOGUE
Tennyson
One week later…
Tennyson Grimm stood beside the empty grave as Ronan lowered Damien Rhodes’s remains into the same plot that held Josh’s cremation urn. He’d somehow gotten permission to inter Damien with Josh. Ten thought the mayor of Salem had stepped in to help.
Ronan agreed to pay for the cremation, the urn, and all the other incidentals. Ten knew it was something Ronan felt he had to do. This was his way of closing the Josh Gatlin chapter in their lives, once and for all.
“Ashes to ashes and dust to dust,” the man from the funeral home recited when Ronan slid the top of the urn vault into place. “Go in peace.”
Everly grabbed Ronan’s hand when a man from the cemetery crew began to fill the hole with the turned earth that had been hidden under a piece of green astroturf. “Let’s go home, Daddy.”
Nodding, Ronan followed Everly past Jude and Fitz, then back to the car.
“Are you okay?” Jude asked.
Ten nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
“Cope said this is the end of Josh. His spirit won’t bother you again. Everly never came into contact with him.”
“Thank God for that. I wouldn’t have known how to explain that kind of evil to her.” The thought of Josh coming anywhere near Everly turned his blood to ice in his veins.
“Me either,” Jude agreed. “I know I don’t have to tell you this, but Ronan’s hurting. I’m not sure he understands why. Do you?”
“Ronan blames himself for Josh ruining another life. He ran Ronan’s off into a ditch when he filed for divorce.
Josh abused that sad little wife of his.
He spun a fantastical dream for Damien and when it fell apart, he was so shattered that he killed two people and had plans to kill Michael Miller, Ronan, and our kids.
He feels like he could have somehow prevented Josh from spreading his venom to another victim. ”
“Damien Rhodes isn’t a victim, Ten,” Jude said, his voice rough.
“He knew what Josh was, what he’d done, what he would do again if he were ever freed.
He chose to love the good parts. He chose to throw away not only his freedom, but his life.
Damien said Josh was in the room when he was dying. Was he?”
Ten shivered in the warm sunshine. “Yeah, he was there.”
Jude nodded. He didn’t look one bit surprised. “This is the end. Josh and Damien are together in hell or wherever you end up when you’re a cold-blooded killer. He’s gone for good. Now it’s time for you and Ronan to live again. Be happy. Dream big.”
“We thought he was gone twice before.” Ten sighed. Was this really the end?
“Excuse me, sir?” Jude asked the man who was filling in Damien’s grave. “Can I have your shovel?”
The man handed it over with a nod. Jude gave it to Tennyson.
“Bury him in your past, Ten, for good.” Jude squeezed Ten’s shoulder.
Ten approached the grave. He scooped up dirt and shoveled it into the hole.
He kept adding more and more dirt until the grave was filled.
“Good fucking riddance.” Ten slammed the shovel down to pack the earth.
He nodded to Jude and Fitz and walked toward the SUV where Ronan and Everly were waiting for him.
Jude was right. It was time to leave Josh and the ruins of what he left behind in the past. Ten and Everly would make sure Ronan got his head out of his ass and started to live again.
Life would go on. There would be laughter.
There would be tears. At the end of the day, Ten would be by Ronan’s side, surrounded by their kids, and their eventual grandkids.
He knew fate and Karma could be fickle, even downright cruel, but for the moment, Ten had all the love he could ever need from his family and friends.
THE END