Page 11 of Bound in Ashes

Hoping that he still did, even if I didn’t deserve it.

“Uncle Levi, I⁠—”

My words were lost on a chest-rending sob.

I ran to him like I’d always been too proud to when I was a child. He let out a surprised grunt and then pulled me into a hug.

I breathed in the familiar scent of farm air and the harsh dollar store laundry detergent my aunt hated with a passion.

Normal smells from a normal world.

A world that was no more.

“Oh, baby girl,” he whispered, the tenderness in his voice cracking the last of my resolve.

I cried, the tears pouring out of me, seemingly without end.

Was I crying for myself?

Crying for him?

Crying for all of it?

When the tears slowed, I stepped back, suddenly aware of Jack’s eyes on me.

I shouldn’t have been embarrassed. It wasn’t like Jack had never seen that before.

But I was. Told myself it was just all the emotion of the day getting to me.

Uncle Levi shuffled from foot to foot and I looked at him again, seeing the reflection of tears that old codes of what it meant to be strong would never let fall.

Most of all, I saw the love.

“You were always good at that,” he said, his voice thick with emotion.

I wiped my face on my sleeve, momentarily mortified by how gross that was before I refocused. “Good at what?”

“Well, I was about to tear you a new one for leading those things to my fence, but you distracted me before I could get a word in.”

I shook my head, managing a laugh through the last of my tears. Uncle Levi smiled back, the expression bright, genuine, despite the ugliness around us.

He titled his head. “You got company?”

I glanced back at Jack, who stepped closer.

He stood ramrod straight, his weapon still in his hand, but all things considered, he looked relaxed enough. I wondered if Uncle Levi saw him that way.

“Jackson Thorne,” he said, looking at Uncle Levi with the same unpretentious confidence I knew so well.

“Levi Griffin.”

Uncle Levi didn’t offer his hand, a fact that wasn’t lost on me, and one I knew wasn’t lost on Jack, either.

But as the seconds ticked by, Jack didn’t say anything.

Neither did Uncle Levi.

I couldn’t help but roll my eyes and gestured toward the pasture. “Are you two genuinely having a stare-off right now?”