Page 38 of High Water

“I’ll talk to her if you want. Lay the groundwork at least. Maybe soften the blow.”

“I don’t know if that will help. She was also pretty pissed I told you before I told her.”

“I’ll tell her I twisted your arm.”

“I explained the situation already. It is what it is. It was easier to tell you than tell her everything, you know? There’s not all the other stuff wrapped in it. Still hurt like hell to do it though.”

“I know. I… Grant was shell-shocked by the revelation about Dad. In a way, it’s made everything clearer, but in another, it’s made me question whether we ever knew him as well as we thought we did. He hid so fucking much. And for what? He couldn’t trust his own sons with the truth?”

“As angry as I’ve been with him for making me keep that secret, I know he did it out of a desire to protect his family. He didn’t want you to have to hold that secret for the rest of your lives. He didn’t want me to have to worry about a trial or prison for my involvement in it.”

“And he didn’t want to have to worry about his own future. Let’s not pretend he didn’t have selfish ends in mind too. He wasn’t the perfect man we thought he was growing up.”

“We all put him on that pedestal. He might not have been perfect, but he was a good man. A great one, really. The good he did still outweighs the bad in my eyes. At least, assuming Aspen ever forgives me. But he got to where he did by being shrewd and cunning. Running this town with an iron will and malleable ethics that served his purposes. He’s not all that different from any of us.”

“Maybe not. But I can’t imagine covering up my brother’s death.”

“Creighton wasn’t himself that night. I didn’t know him well, but he seemed panicked. He wasn’t seeing reason in anything Kip said—wasn’t backing down. I imagine there was something that made him think he needed the money.”

“Or the relic,” Levi states matter-of-factly. “I can only think of one person who can incite that kind of reaction that I know of.”

“The governor? You think? All those years ago?”

“Why not? It was an obsession for him.”

“I just would imagine if I were running for office, I’d have better things to do.”

“Not if you were superstitious and believed this was your only way up. Then you might do something to ensure it.”

“Maybe.” I consider the possibility. “Superstitious or desperate more like.”

“Speaking of…” Levi gives me half a smirk before it fades into something more serious. “I’ll talk to her and let you know how it goes. Maybe I can get her to talk to you again.”

“You can try.”

“If I do, you’d better have the best fucking speech in the world prepared for why she should marry you.”

SIXTEEN

Aspen

“Absolutely not.” I look at my brother like he’s lost touch with reality. He’s in the middle of making a plea for forgiveness on Bishop’s behalf. “I need distance from him. I have to figure out how the hell I even wrap my head around letting him near our daughter again. I don’t have any interest in discussing things with him, and the fact that he went to you again is just icing on the cake.”

“He didn’t go to me. I asked him,” Levi explains, staying calm even as I lose the threads of mine.

“I understand he’s your friend and that you go back even further than he and I do. I know you feel an obligation to him because of what he did for you, but this is not your business.”

“I’m afraid it is.”

“How?”

“Zephyrine’s safety might depend on it. Certainly, any semblance of peace in this family long-term depends on it.”

“How would Zephyrine’s safety depend on it?” I stop short of folding the last bit of my laundry and turn to look at my brother.

“The last relic she’s been sent to hunt down. It’s the sword that Dad and Uncle Creighton were fighting over.”

“I assume Bishop knows where it is?”