The Bourbon Thief(75)

Momma... He’d been talking about Momma. Her mother and her grandfather. That was what Levi knew about and didn’t care about.

“Tamara, you know I care about you. You know that, right?” Levi knelt in front of her again. He took her face in his hands. “You have to know that.”

“I didn’t know that.”

“I married you to keep you from marrying some old geezer who’d use you and hurt you and treat you like his property. You seemed so determined and so...”

“Dumb?”

“Young.”

“I’m not as young as I look.”

“No, but you’re not as old as you think you are, either. I hate to put my foot down, but I’m going to have to do it if you try to sell this island to a timber company to spite your mother and your grandfather, who is rotting in his grave as we speak.”

“I wasn’t doing it just to spite them.”

“Then why? Why should I roll over and let you cut down every tree on this island? Because I don’t know about you, but I kind of like it here. This is the first place I’ve ever lived that felt like mine and felt like home. So if you want me to stand back and watch you destroy it, you better have a real good reason for it.”

“Daddy was going to do it.”

“No, Nash was not going to do it. Nash thought about doing it, and Bowen talked him out of it. Instead of selling the island, he decided to keep it and bring his daughter down here to live with him and—”

“And Bowen.”

Levi’s eyes flashed. “You know about that.”

“I know more than you think I know. I know more than you do.”

“Well, then, why don’t you just sit there and tell me every single thing you know that I don’t know. Do you think you could do that? Do you think you could tell your husband what the hell is going on with you? Because I am trying to be a good husband over here, Tamara. I am trying my hardest. In case the will doesn’t come out in our favor, I got a job. I’ve been saving money. I blew a big damn chunk of it to buy you that boy over there.” He pointed right at a tree where a black-and-white horse stood tied to it, whacking flies off his back with his tail.

Tamara sat up straight. “That’s my horse?”

“It is.”

She started to stand, but Levi grabbed her and pulled her back down again.

“Sit,” he ordered. “You can play with the damn horse later.”

“He’s...so beautiful. I can’t believe you got me a horse.” Tamara couldn’t stop looking at him. She didn’t feel the cuts on her hands anymore or the ache in her ankle. Levi had bought her a horse. It was so sweet she almost felt sweet again.

“Yeah, I got you a horse. Stupid lovesick idiot I am bought you a horse to make up for you losing Kermit. So there he is.”

Tamara tried standing up again and didn’t make it. She wobbled on her feet and Levi caught her in his arms.

“You’re not walking anywhere,” he said as he lowered her to the ground again.

“Sorry. I wanted to pet him.”

“Stay there.” Levi pointed at her.

He walked over to the tree and untied the horse, leading him over to her with his hand on the horse’s bridle.

“Rex, meet Tamara. Tamara, this is Rex, a Tennessee Walker.”

“Hi, Rex.” Tamara raised her shaking hand and pressed it to the horse’s velvet nose. It felt good to pat his nose and stroke his long ears. “Hi, there, guy. You’re awfully pretty there.”

“Don’t tell him that. He’s a man, not a girl. He’s handsome.”

“Hi, handsome.” Rex batted her hand with his nose, keeping his head lowered so she could reach his face and ears. “You’re a nice guy, aren’t you?”

“Nicest guy I could find. His last owner was a teenage girl. She went off to college in California and that’s why her parents sold him. He lost his girl and you lost your horse. I thought you’d be good for each other.”

“We’ll be good for each other.” Tamara smiled. She wrapped her arms around Rex’s neck, and as the horse raised his head, she came to her feet.

“Tamara—”

“I’m good,” she said. “I can stand.”

She couldn’t put her full weight on her right foot, but she could stand as long as Rex stayed right where he was and let her lean against him. She ran her fingers through his black mane, combing out the thick hairs, untangling a knot. A fly landed by his eye and she brushed it off.

“Do you believe in evil, Levi?”

“I believe in free will.”

“That’s not an answer.”

“It is if you think about it.”

She thought about it. Maybe it was an answer. Maybe it was the only answer.

“An evil thing happened to a girl once,” Tamara began as she hobbled around Rex, patting his flanks, stroking his long back. “And she wasn’t very old, only fifteen or so. And she was being held hostage in this house.”

“A hostage?”

“They used the word slave, but isn’t it the same thing? Isn’t that what you’d call it if someone stole me and put me in a house and wouldn’t let me leave? Isn’t it?”

“Go on,” Levi said. “Tell me about this girl.”