Chapter Twelve
Tess
There he was, larger than life.
From the tension around his eyes, he was as surprised as she was that they were suddenly in the same spot at the same time.
Levi, by nature, was stoic. He kept his thoughts and feelings to himself. But in his blue eyes, Tess could see the storm.
Here he was, a natural hero, the kind of guy who would dive off the bridge to save a drowning person. He’d do his best to help her. Of that, she had no doubt. But it would come at a cost. Just her presence would stir up old ghosts.
If Levi hated her, she completely understood.
There was a moment of hesitation. A moment when he pulled back as if the mental shock was a physical one.
He dragged a hand over his face as if painting a mask into place.
But in a split-second, he was by her side, scanning Tess from head to foot, looking for a problem to solve. An enemy to take down. A village to save.
“Shit, Tessy,” he hissed between clenched teeth.
Tess could decipher those two words in a handful of ways. And he probably wanted to convey all of them.
Gwen leaned forward. “The bite was to her right calf.”
Kneeling beside her, Levi lifted her wrist with a light pressure on her pulse point. He’d find her heart racing. She’d done a good job keeping her cool through this situation right up until she saw his face.
Frowning at his watch, Levi gently laid her hand back on the wooden platform, then pulled a pad and pencil from his thigh pocket. “You’ve stayed still?” Just a trained medic running down his medical checklist.
She deserved that.
He wouldn’t feel the same for her as she did for him. They were a long-ago dream. And this was a brutal reality.
“I haven’t moved,” She chattered out. Her whole body was awake and buzzing. The flutter of her heart when Levi’s fingers touched her skin was nothing new to Tess. She remembered it so well.
It was the same reaction all these years later.
With venom in her veins, Tess’s body's response to the sight of Levi was a betrayal of its limbic system.
Tess knew from her early days that survival comes before emotion. You may fear the roaring waters, but you swim them anyway. Then, you sit in front of a fire and tell your pain to the flames that carry your words away with the smoke.
The snake app said this was a life-threatening event.
And until she was told otherwise, the bite was her priority. All the Levi feelings, all of them … she’d deal with that at a later time.
If she had a later time.
The future was a luxurious thought. People walked around, not realizing what a treasure it was to consider the future, to think beyond their present moment.
Lying here, processing the idea that she could have deadly venom flowing through her body and that she might very well not see the sun rise on a new morning, had a familiar sensation.
How was it possible that she was lying on a platform in Namibia, and Levi was the one who climbed to her rescue?
While Tess was scolding herself into the right frame of mind, Goose was off to the side, reviewing the chain of events with Gwen. “And when did this happen?”
“About an hour ago. I have the time stamp on one of the photos. It took a few minutes to get Tess lying down and put an action plan in play. But I spotted you on the road right away and tried to signal with a mirror. Before you had your flat, that is. That’s when I switched from the signal mirror to the whistle. I guess you heard that.”
“Mojo did.” Goose tipped his head toward Mojo, who lay down on the wide platform, sweeping his gaze over the vista as he guarded their activity.
“So, about an hour. You said you had photos of the snake?”
Gwen pulled up the video. “Just the skin markings, not the head.”
Goose took the phone and held the video out for Levi to see.
“Do you know what kind of snake it is, Goose?” Levi asked. “My bet is zebra cobra.”
“That’s what I came up with.” Goose lifted his head. “Which leg, the right?”
Gwen’s voice rippled with anxiety. “Yes.”
“Hey there, Tess. I’m Goose,” He knelt beside Levi. “I’m a vet for Iniquus and trained in field medicine. Do I have permission to render first aid?”
“Absolutely. Yes. Thank you.”
“Levi, get her shoulders.” Goose edged closer and reached over her legs. “Tess, we’re going to roll you onto your left side so I can access your wound.”
Tess’s teeth chattered.
“You’re going to keep your legs sealed one to the other. On the count of three, Levi and I will do the rolling. You’re not to help.”
There was a count, and as the men moved her, Tess tried to be water and let them manipulate how she flowed.
Once Tess was on her side, Levi held her in place with a hand on her shoulder and waist while Goose leaned over to look.
Levi was scared for her. She could feel his concern radiating out of his hands.
Scrambling around to the other side of Tess and sitting where Tess could see her face, Gwen provided moral support.
“I see two puncture marks. So we are dealing with a venomous snake.” Goose turned to Gwen. “An hour?” he confirmed.
Gwen nodded vigorously.
“The good news, Tess,” Goose continued, “is that as I look at the puncture site, it’s not red or swollen or oozing. That’s all encouraging. Enrico, thoughts?”
“In my years in Namibia, I’ve never known anyone, man or dog, with a snake bite. I know the basics—immobilize and race for the hospital.”
“Reaper is waiting for a whistle report,” Levi said. “Enrico, as far as the race to the hospital, which whistle count will make that happen?”
“One. People coming up aren’t going to help. That trail is one-man-wide. We take her down, put her in the vehicle, and hightail it out of here. Rounding up a rescue crew means their climb up with equipment and then down. Broken leg, I’d make a different assessment.”
“There are risks to that,” Levi said. “And Tess needs to make the final call.”
“Levi, just get me down,” she whispered. “I trust you.”
“Gwen,” Levi said. “give one whistle blow and wait for the same in response. Do that three times.”
As Gwen moved off the platform onto a boulder to blow long and hard, Levi scrambled to pull his pack off, one arm at a time—so he didn’t release Tess’s shoulder—and placed his bag under her head. “Are you in pain, Tessy?”
“I can’t tell,” she whispered. Pain? Yes. Absolutely. The sight of Levi splintered her. And though she fought the distraction, it absolutely took up head space. How could it not?
Tess preferred one crisis at a time.
The noise of the whistle sequence completed, Enrico asked, “Gwen the snake bite happened in this location?”
“There where that boot is.” Gwen pointed.
“I’ll give the area another sweep. Mojo,” Enrico commanded as he went over to retrieve Tess’s boot, “hunt snakes.”
Mojo jumped from the platform and wedged his body underneath.
“Aren’t you putting him in danger?” Gwen asked. “If he’s sticking his nose under those rocks, he could be bitten as easily as Tess was.”
Enrico’s response was lost on Tess. She was watching Goose pull a syringe from his pack.
“Hey, Levi,” Goose said, “while I prep this, get her boot and socks off. Rings. Anything that could constrict and cut off circulation if Tess starts to swell.”
Levi started with her boot and socks, then moved around to face her.
He’d aged. Levi’s face had new crinkles around his eyes. His skin had roughened. There was a determination in his eyes that she didn’t remember. But that might be the situation—both being in rescue mode and the fact that this particular damsel in distress was someone he must loathe.
As directed, Levi pulled off the rings on her right hand, then lifted her left hand where there were none. “Where’s your wedding ring?” Levi’s voice was unusually gruff.
“I was widowed about fourteen years ago. Abraham was sick when he moved to America. He fought as long and as hard as he could for his children’s sake,” she said softly. “But he died.”
He died.
And she had made promises to see the children into adulthood. She felt her sense of loyalty and commitment to the boys straighten her spine. After everything, wouldn’t this be a horrific way to break her vow?
“Fourteen years ?” Levi’s eyes hardened.
And Tess forced her face to go blank.
“I’m sorry for your loss,” he murmured, handing the rings off to Gwen.
“Thank you.” A churning tide of conflicting emotions was dragging her to someplace she didn’t want to be. As Mama Ya used to say, “The only way to survive was to float and wait until you find the eddy.”
Tess made that her mantra— Float . She steadied her breath.
But she couldn’t quite raise her head over the river of shame.
She’d always felt her cowardice in not finding Levi and telling him in person the whys of her marriage. Writing it would have put Abraham’s visa status at risk, even though it shouldn’t have. Her vows to Abraham had been true, she would love and care for him for all his days. But, the devotion she felt for Abraham was vastly different than the love that Tess held for Levi.
Had always and unwaveringly held for Levi.
Tess knew she’d go to her grave loving him.
Each of those thoughts was a crashing wave that pulled her under. She was drowning in the profound grief for what she’d lost.
Pulling at her shirt as if that would give her more space to inhale, Tess gasped for air.
“Tessy. Tess!” Levi’s face hovered over hers, his thumb stroked over her cheek. “What’s going on right now?”
She had no idea.
Was this cobra venom attacking her system? Or was this Levi?