The Bourbon Thief(84)

“You miss your friends?”

Tamara sighed and shrugged. “I feel so far away from them now. It used to be slumber parties every Friday night and birthday parties and we’d all go riding together on Saturdays. But Carol and Katie are going to college and Billie’s moving to Ohio for a job with her uncle. And I’m...”

“An old married lady?”

“A young married lady.”

“You can go to college if you want to,” Levi said. “I would never stop you going to school or working.”

“Momma wanted to go to college. She didn’t get to.”

“Family wouldn’t let her?”

“She got pregnant with me. That was the end of that.”

“Speaking of pregnant, Rotten... I hate to tell you this, but your stomach is flat as a pancake. You gonna wear a pillow under your dress when we see the judge?”

“I’ll wear something baggy and I’ll make myself throw up on your shoes. How’s that?”

“Sounds like a plan. I could use new boots, anyway.”

“Well, guess what?”

“What?”

“Now we can afford them.”

He kissed the back of her hand and kept on driving. The windows were open, and even with the wind blowing in, the August heat was stifling. The back of Tamara’s leg stuck to the vinyl seats and left little square indentions on her skin. She should have worn pants instead of a dress. The air felt swollen with wet heat. Levi chugged Tab to stay alert and Tamara stared at barns and pastures and horses that she hadn’t realized she’d missed until she saw them again.

The bank clock read 4:37 p.m., so they drove into downtown Louisville to Judge Headley’s office. He hadn’t been expecting them until tomorrow, but he didn’t seem to mind at all that they showed up a day early.

“There’s my girl,” Judge Headley said, embracing her. “You’re as tan as your husband now.”

But Tamara only rolled her eyes at his joke as she sank into Headley’s strong arms. This man was her father. Her father was holding her. He didn’t feel like her father and nobody but Daddy ever would, but it gave her a modicum of comfort to know she came from this good man who gave such strong and gentle hugs.

“My girl,” Levi corrected. “But I’ll let you borrow her for a hug.”

“You’re a generous man,” Judge Headley said, shaking Levi’s hand with real affection. “Now, I hope you two aren’t too tired from your drive. I need y’all to sign a few hundred pieces of paper. Ready?”

Tamara looked at Levi, who cracked his knuckles as loud as he could.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Judge Headley said.

“It’s a yes,” Tamara said. “Let’s get this thing over with.”

They signed until her signature read “Tammy Shelly” and Levi’s looked like nothing more than an L, an S and a long squiggly line afterward. The whole time, Judge Headley kept up a steady stream of chatter about the will probation process, and how it had looked to be a long nasty battle until one day three weeks ago Virginia Maddox up and quit the fight.

“She just quit?” Levi asked. “Doesn’t seem like her.”

“She didn’t seem happy to quit. But she threw in the towel and said you could have it all. She meant it, too. She’s moved out of Arden. She’s staying with a friend of hers in Lexington.”

“As long as she stays away from us, that’s all I care about,” Tamara said, capping her Bic pen and tossing it on the table.

“Why’d she give up?” Levi asked, and Tamara wished he wouldn’t. “Did she say?”

“Beats me.” Headley gathered up all the papers, the deeds and money transfer notices, into one neat pile and started sorting them out. “But it made our jobs easier. We pushed it through, got it done, and now you two have the rest of your lives to enjoy each other. And you don’t have a damn thing to worry about ever again.”

Tamara leaned over and hugged him again. She could have hugged the whole wide world. Did Judge Headley have any idea how good that sounded to her—never having anything to worry about ever again? She’d done nothing but worry for the past year and a half. Wouldn’t it be nice to take a long vacation from worry? Better than a trip on the Love Boat.

When it was all done, Tamara told Levi she was tired and asked if he’d mind pulling the truck up to the front of the building. He didn’t mind at all. She knew he wouldn’t. He shook Judge Headley’s hand and left them alone.

“Thank you,” Tamara said. “Thank you for doing this. I know you went to a lot of trouble for me.”

“You’re like family, angel face. You know that. Your daddy and Eric and I swore when we were boys we’d always be brothers even if blood had nothing to do with it. I can’t believe those boys are gone, but you’re here. And you’ll always be like a daughter to me. Even when you’re doing something crazy like getting married and having a baby before you’re even old enough to vote. When’s the baby due, anyway? December?”

Tamara swallowed hard. “Yeah. Or January, maybe. Hard to tell sometimes.”

“Levi happy?”

“He’s real happy. Me, too.”

“That’s good. Junior can call me Uncle Grandpa if he wants.”