Sweet Soul (Sweet Home #5)(86)
“Sorry,” I said ashamedly and ducked my head. Lexi pulled back from our embrace.
“You have nothing to be sorry for, Elsie. Nothing. I’m just happy you’re back, and you’re safe. Yeah?”
I nodded my head, casting a glance to Levi who was stood with his two brothers, the light between to darks. He was smiling at me proudly, and I turned back to Lexi, knowing my shy guy was there for me to lean on.
“I think, if it’s possible, that I’d like some help… to deal with everything that’s happened in my past… the bullies, the loss… everything.”
Lexi’s green eyes glossed with tears. “Of course, sweetie. On one condition.”
I raised my eyebrows waiting for her terms.
“That you consider working with me afterwards, at Kind.” I glanced away, unsure if I could after Clara when Lexi said, “You made a difference in her life while she had you in it. I saw it. We all did. Celesha wants you back, as do I. One day, when you’re healed enough to return.”
“Okay,” I replied, fighting the apprehension I felt. This woman had taken me in, no questions asked. I wanted to give her that same honor.
Lexi hugged me again then stood back. Ally Prince’s huge smile greeted me and she pulled me in her arms. “I knew you’d be back,” she said.
“You did?” I questioned.
Ally rolled her eyes then spun me around to face the three Italian brothers and pointed at Levi. “You see that look in Levi’s eyes, the same one Aust is giving Lex and the one my tough guy is giving me?”
I blushed, but nodded my head under the attention of Levi’s storm cloud colored gaze. “Well that’s how I knew you’d be back. Once a Carillo cracks his hard shell and lets you in, once you see them look at you like that, you’re toast, and you’re theirs. You never really had a choice.”
Lexi laughed as Axel shook his head at his fiancée, and I laughed too. But it was in happiness. Because I saw that look in Levi’s eyes, and for as long as I lived, I never wanted it to fade.
A yawn pulled on my mouth, and Levi’s arms were suddenly around me. “We need to rest,” he said to his family, Austin and Axel threw me a wave.
Ally pressed a kiss on my cheek and walked to her car. “We’ll see you soon, darlin’. You’re one of us now, ain’t no shaking us off.”
“She ain’t lying,” Levi whispered into my ear and I laughed. I laughed free of restraint. And I sighed. I had a family. A loving family.
“Come on, Elsie, let’s go,” Levi said and led me through the back gate. When we entered the pool house, I let him take the jar from my hands and put it on the side table. He next pulled off my hat, my scarf and my gloves, slowly unzipping my jacket and pushing it off my shoulders.
He put them all in the closet, and when he came back, he tugged on the string of my hoodie, the one that always smelled like him. “When I saw this had gone, I still had hope, a little hope that you weren’t done with me. That you still wanted me.”
My heart fell. “I could never be done with you,” I said and Levi kissed my lips.
When he pulled back, he’d gone all shy, his eyes looking everywhere but me. I lifted to my tiptoes and pressed my palm to his cheek. “What is it?”
Levi ran his finger down my cheek. “I’ve done something for you, because of something you said, a while back… about your mom.”
I stilled. Levi dropped his forehead to mine. “That night, when you saw my mamma’s statue, when you touched her face and told me you never got to say goodbye to your mom. That you never got to tell her you loved her, in your own special way,” he swallowed and rocked on the balls of his feet, “well, I, I wanted to give you it, your goodbye… your final ‘I love you’…”
My heart slammed in my chest as I listened to him stumble over his words. “Levi?” I questioned, when Levi stepped aside and pointed to his dresser and what was on top. Whatever it was was covered in a white cloth that hid it from sight.
I glanced back to him and he put his hands in his pockets, his olive cheeks red with timidity. “I got it for you, to help you. And because… because I lo—” Levi dipped his head, choking on his words.
I knew what he was going to say, but I could see that he needed me to see what was under the cloth first. He needed to know whatever he’d done was okay.
My feet felt like ton weights as I walked forward, each step feeling harder than the one before. When I arrived at the dresser, and the object that was placed directly at my height, I lifted my shaky hand, dragged off the linen, and…
“Levi,” I whispered, a soft disbelieving cry pouring from my lips. My hand flew to my mouth and I couldn’t look away.
Levi cleared his throat. “I… I had Axe make it. I took a picture of the photograph inside your locket on my phone while you slept a few weeks back and gave it to him. He finished it yesterday. He brought it in here for when you came back, for when you—”
“You gave me back my mom?” I hushed out, pushing out my hand, but then pulling it right back too afraid to touch the snowy white marble. “You brought me my mom so I could say goodbye?”
I forced myself to turn and look at Levi, whose expression betrayed his fear—his fear that he’d done something wrong.