Page 48 of Sheltering Instinct

“Why are you crying?” Enrico stepped forward. “Are you in pain?”

With her fingers wrapping the edge of her sheet in tight fists, Tess shook her head.

“You're afraid?” Enrico was grasping.

Levi pulled Enrico away and said quietly, “She's crying because we were kind.”

“Kind?”

“We're helping her. Kindness is theonlything that makes Tess cry.”

Enrico posted his hand on his hips and tipped his head. “Silently?”

“Yup, silently.”

Enrico turned his gaze to the ground and was quiet for a long minute. When he finally looked up to catch Levi’s gaze, he said, “That is some heavy shit, brother.”

“Yeah. It is.”

Tess could hear it in their voices that they had a deep understanding of what that meant. Coming from their backgrounds in the military with brothers and sisters who experienced things that rewired their brains, she felt they wouldn’t judge her or press her for more than she could give.

For some people, life would always be a wrestling match with the past.

But Levi was wrong when he leaned into the word “only.” Tess remembered vividly the stream of tears she shed that gathered all the feelings in her body when she accepted Abraham’s marriage proposal. Those feelings from that day still felt raw.

The appearance of one of the two doctors conferring on her case relieved Tess of the need to deal with the awkwardness of Levi knowing something that intimate and sharing it with a near stranger.

Could they be strangers after what had happened today?

No. Impossible.

“Enrico,” this doctor said, a wide smile brightening his face as he held out a hand for a shake, “all is well?”

“For me, yes. Good to see a friend is taking care of a friend.” Enrico held out a hand toward Tess.

“How are you feeling?” The doctor moved around to peer at her face. “Would you turn so that I might inspect the wound?”

“Uhm.” Tess blinked at Levi.

Levi turned his face to the wall, and the other men followed his lead.

Lowering the head of the bed and pulling the sheet to the side, Tess held the back of her hospital gown together so she wasn’t mooning the man while he checked the wound site.

“Yes, good. I see no changes. You can turn over again.”

Tess situated herself before calling out, “I’m covered,” so the men could turn back around.

“My nurse is arriving with the results of the lab work.” He circled her bed and moved to the chair in the corner. Pressing his feet together, he let his legs fall to the sides. A metal chart hung from his hand between his knees.

Tess thought that he looked tired and was probably on his second shift of the day.

He smiled at Tess. “You are not the first American woman I have spoken with this week about snakes. I had an American woman visit me the other day. She brought a picnic with things that I had never tried before. There was a dish called deviled eggs and another that was called Texas caviar. Most interesting.”

“Another bite?” Enrico asked, his brows furrowed with concern.

Tess thought there was a lot to his worries. There were life and limb dangers to people and that meant mounting emergency interventions. But too, Namibia had three main industries, and tourism was the most important one. If word of tourists dying from venomous bites spread, an already difficult economic environment would worsen.

“No, this woman, she was doing research. I think perhaps she was a travel blogger.”

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