When Summer Comes (Whiskey Creek #3)(89)
Author: Brenda Novak

“That’s true. There’ll be a trial. And a punishment.”

“Prison, like I said.”

“Most likely.”

She swallowed hard. “Are you prepared to deal with that?”

“If that’s what it takes to be the kind of man I should be, I am.”

When she reached for him, he moved closer. “But prison, Levi?”

“I can’t live under a false identity forever. What if we have kids? What if this comes back to haunt us at an even worse time?”

Her hand automatically went to the necklace he’d given her, which he’d put back on her the day after the transplant. “You want to handle it now.”

“I think so.” He bent over her, kissed her forehead. “Will you wait for me if I do? Will you be patient until I can get my life in order so we can have a future together?”

They hadn’t talked about marriage. But that was exactly what Callie wanted. The long hours they’d spent getting to know each other in her hospital room, when they could do nothing of a sexual nature, had convinced her that she felt far more for Levi than lust.

She touched his face, saw the uncertainty in his eyes. He’d lost so much in his life that he had a difficult time trusting anyone or anything to be there for him, but she planned to show him that he could trust her. “How about if we get married first?”

He rubbed his cheek against hers. “Are you sure you don’t want to wait until you see how I’m going to come out of it? Now that you’re healthy, Chief Stacy might come back into the picture. He has that pension and all.”

She smiled at his teasing. “Chief Stacy wasn’t an option even before I learned about Nevada.”

“I know, but you might be committing your life to someone who could be locked away for several years.”

She captured his face between her hands and stared into his eyes. “I’d wait for you forever.”

He kissed her lips. “Then I’m going to do it,” he said. “I’m going to turn myself in. But, for your sake, we’ll marry after that.”

* * *

Callie had wanted Levi to pick her up from the hospital on his bike. But he’d insisted on bringing her SUV instead. He said she had too much medication to bring home—she’d be taking nineteen pills a day until her doctor changed her regimen. But she knew there was more to his reasoning. He felt it was too soon for her to be on the bike. He was almost too protective of her.

Still, the day she returned to the farm was one of the best of her life. She’d never thought she’d see it again, never thought she’d see Rifle, either. When her dog came bounding down the lane to greet her, barking in excitement, tears immediately welled up. She’d made it through the past few weeks. Somehow she was going to survive the summer—and maybe many more years. She found it a bittersweet thing to realize that her life had been spared while someone else’s had been lost. That sometimes created mixed emotions. But the generosity of the gift a stranger from Southern California had given her brought such overwhelming gratitude. Her parents and friends didn’t talk about that aspect, at least not to her. She knew they didn’t want to point out the obvious for fear it would make her sad. But there were times, when she was alone in the hospital, that she’d raised her gown just to see the stitches and to marvel at the difference in how she felt and her excitement about her future, which was now restored because of the magnitude of this gift.

“I love it here,” she murmured.

“I’m glad.” Levi threaded his fingers through hers with one hand while steering with the other. “Because…I have some good news.”

She turned to look at him. “What kind of good news?”

“Your parents are going to let us buy it from them.”

She grinned. “I was hoping.”

“I talked to them about it while you were in the hospital. I can make a living, Callie. I’m capable enough. If you can just hang on until…until I clear up my past, we’ll be able to afford this place. We can stay here as long as you like.”

“We’ll be okay,” she assured him. “I still have my photography studio.”

“Is it making enough that you can get by without me? Even while you recover? Or should I wait to—”

“No, we already discussed this. We need to put a definitive end to that part of your life so we can move on with ours.”

“Okay.” He stopped to let Rifle in the car, but held him back so he couldn’t be too aggressive with her.

“She’s a little fragile right now, bud,” he told her dog. “Take it easy.”

Rifle made an effort to calm down. He whined, as if it was a challenge because he was so excited, but he settled for licking her face.

“That’s a good dog. We’re all home,” she said. “We’re all home together.” She sent Levi another smile. “Where we belong.”

* * *

Three weeks later, once Callie got clearance from her doctor to take a week-long trip, they left for Reno. Levi asked Baxter to come with them. In case they arrested him on the spot, he wanted someone to be able to drive her home.

When he parked at the police station, he looked over at her. She could tell he was nervous. She was nervous, too. The thought of not seeing him for months, possibly years, had her so worked up she could feel her heart beating in her throat.

“Let me go in with you,” she said.

He gave her a halfhearted grin that did little to hide his true feelings. “And what are you going to do? Tell them I’m a good guy?”

“Yes!”

“I don’t think they’re going to take your word for it. Anyway, there’s too many germs in there. You know you have to be careful.”

“I’ll go in,” Baxter said.

Levi twisted around to address him. “I’d rather you stayed here. Take care of her, okay? They should allow me one call. I’ll let you know if…if you need to leave without me.”

When he leaned over to kiss her, she clung to him. “We should’ve gotten married first.”

“It’ll be better when I don’t have this hanging over my head. Just stay well until I can get out. Then I’ll come back to you.”

Forcing herself to let him go, she nodded. Then she watched him get out and walk through the station doors.

“We should’ve stayed in Whiskey Creek,” she told Baxter. “Of course they’re going to put him in jail! There’s a warrant out for his arrest.”