Page 18 of Levi
Who in life have I pissed off to earn everything that has been thrown at me the last few days?
There are pages of back story and pictures of us photo shopped to make us seem like we’ve been together for years.YEARS!How in the world could they have pulled all this together in such a short amount of time?The pictures are of Brody and I at the beach, of our ‘wedding,’ at a Halloween party, at Christmas, dancing.There are so many I can’t wrap my head around this, it looks so real.Like, we really are this couple who are so in love with each other.
How do families in Witness Protection handle all these changes?
“I can hear your brain going into overdrive over there.I’ve sat in silence a while to give you some time to adjust but now we need to talk,” Brody says as he pulls off an exit.
“How did all this happen?”I wave the photos and paperwork over for him to see.
He shrugs, “It’s the government.They can do pretty much anything and in a short amount of time if you know the right people.”
This boggles my mind and it makes me wonder if Levi’s team is as good as those who did all of this.This is a good thing though, right?It means that the police department will be able to catch this mentally disturbed person quickly and we’ll be able to resume our lives soon.
“Where are we going?”I ask as to why we’re stopping if we just stopped thirty minutes ago to fuel up.
“Starving, how ‘bout you?”The moment he says that my stomach makes a growling noise that makes him smile.“What does the little jellybean want?Burger, fries, chicken, shake?”
“Mmm.”I haven’t had fast food since meeting Levi.He always deemed it unhealthy and bad for the body.“Burger, fries and a large chocolate shake.”I actually moan as I say the words.
“Done.”
We pull into the drive thru and place our orders.Brody gets double what I ordered and it makes me wonder how he can eat so much and still have a body like that.We eat on the road in comfortable silence, which surprises me.
“So, are you having to live a lie also?I mean with the military background and all.”I point down to the middle console at the folder.
“No, I served my time and just recently got out.I’ve read over the file and it matches up to my life pretty much.Joined the Marines right out of high school and up until a year ago, I was an active member for twelve years.”
“So that makes you thirty.”
“Yes, just had a birthday three months ago.Don’t you remember?You planned this big trip to the beach.What a bad little wife you are.Being married for three years and you still can’t get my birthday right.”He gives me an astonished look like I really knew when his birthday was.It makes me giggle and I start to relax a little more being in the same close quarters with him.
“It’s going to take while for me to get on board with all of this, you know that right?I’ve never had to lie or try and make something up on a whim.”I’ve looked over the file and most of it seems easy enough but I still have my doubts.
He throws me a genuine smile.
“No worries little lady.I’m a patient man.”He winks and focuses back on the road.“Look, the town we are going to be in is not large in size, and with you being pregnant it makes sense for us to be ‘married’ so as to not raise any questions.People will just think we are settling down to start a new life and we’ll keep mostly to ourselves.”
“Little lady?”I scrunch my nose at his endearment, but his reasoning is spot on.I am trying to stay under the radar and not draw too much attention to myself.
“Yeah, I’m trying to work out what pet name works best for you, sugar.”
“Ugh!Definitely not sugar!”
“Pooh bear?”
I shake my head at the direction this car ride has headed.Brody has definitely made the tension leave, and it’s as if we’ve been old friends bickering for ages.
After another hour and my belly full of greasy food, my eyelids start to grow heavy.I can feel my head bob and a soft pillow catches my chin.
“Here.”Brody places the pillow on my shoulder and grabs in the backseat for a blanket.
“Thank you, Brody,” I say as I lean my seat back slightly.
“Anytime, Momma Bear,” I hear him whisper before sleep takes me under.
I feel the truck come to a stop and hear the gear shift pull to the park position.My eyes are still so heavy, but from the small sliver through my eyelids, I can tell we’re at his ranch.
My door opens and I feel Brody unfasten my seatbelt and pull me close to his body.
