Love Me Dear (Love Me Book 3)

Chapter 22

The party was a success, her parents were glowing, and she couldn't help but smile at their happiness. For a brief moment, she wondered if she and Levi would look just as happy after forty years of marriage. Trinity looked over at Lia and Ben dancing, and she knew that they would be as happy as her parents.

She was suddenly overwhelmed by sadness, and she stepped out of the hotel ballroom and wandered onto one of the balconies overlooking the river. She wondered what Levi was doing as she pressed against the railing while she looked down at the people milling on the street below and the river beyond them. It wasn't as pretty or peaceful as the mountains with their snow-covered peaks. Although, the warmth was a welcome change.

"I've been waiting to get you by yourself," a voice said behind her. She recognized it instantly as belonging to her ex-husband Christopher.

"Really, why?" Trinity couldn't turn around because he was so close to her that he was blocking her.

"I need privacy to convince you it's time to come home," he said right next to her ear.

Trinity assessed what she was feeling. She did feel a little bit of fear, but she was also in so much pain from missing Levi that the fear seemed minor by comparison.

"Savannah isn't my home anymore, and I belong to someone else now."Trinity smiled as she thought of Levi. Even though they wouldn't be together she knew she was his forever.

"No," Christopher grabbed her arm and spun her around, "you belong to me!"

Trinity looked at Christopher, seeing him not as her husband, but as a stranger. He wasn't the young man she had married. He had a bit of a paunch, and his hair was receding. It amazed her how evident his flaws were. They were flaws that now made him appear weak to her.

Trinity smiled once more as she was filled with a sense of calmness. "No, I don't belong to you, but its more than that. I like who I am becoming so much better than who I was when I was with you, and nothing would ever make me go back."

Trinity watched in fascination as his face turned red and contorted with anger. It was a look that she was familiar with and one that she used to fear, but now she looked at him as one might look at a small child getting ready to throw a tantrum.

He stepped towards her, and Trinity didn't step back as she used to do.

"You have no hold on me, Christopher, and I hate to think of all of the wasted time I spent worrying about what you thought. I don't care anymore." Trinity tilted her head, watching as the red started to turn to purple.

When her phone buzzed she reached into her sweater pocket and pulled it out, it was the ultimate dismissal. Her heart skipped a beat as she hoped it was Levi. It wasn't, it was Rita and she took a minute to look at the message, ignoring the angry vibrations coming off of Christopher in waves.

                                "911! COME HOME NOW! PLANE CRASH! LEVI MISSING!

Trinity stopped breathing as she read the text for a second time.

"I have to go," Trinity said, pushing past Christopher in an absentminded fashion. He was officially the least of her worries.

"You're not going anywhere," he growled, grabbing her arm to stop her. She used the same move she had in Levi when he had tried to stop her, and it brought Christopher to his knees.

"I'm not the same meek woman you married, Christopher! Find someone else to pick on!" She let go of his arm, and he immediately jumped up and tried to grab her from behind, but she floored him again.

"Everything alright?" Ben asked from the door to the ballroom.

"No." Trinity looked at Ben with tears in her eyes. "There's been a plane crash, and Levi is missing!" She let go of Christopher and rushed towards her brother. "I have to go home."

Ben frowned as he thought about the best thing to do. "It will have to be first thing in the morning. Flights don't run this late at the local airport." He put his arm around her shoulder and led her into the ballroom.

Even though she was in panic mode, it wasn't lost on her that she had just dealt with Christopher all on her own. Levi would be proud of her. "By the way, thanks again for the self-defense classes." She looked up at her brother with a watery smile. "I guess I owe you one."

"If you want to pay me back, go home and work it out with Levi and the others, whoever they might be. Be happy, Trinity. That's the best way you can repay me." He kissed her on the top of the head. Neither one of them looked back.

*******

The next twenty-four hours were a nightmare. There were no updates, no news. Levi's plane had gone down on his way to Jackson Hole, and they had found the wreckage, but the weather was to bad to send in a helicopter, so they were sending in a rescue team on foot. It felt like much longer than twenty-four hours by the time she parked her car in front of Levi's house. As she looked at the familiar sight, she wished that it had all been a lie and that he would be there to greet her.

The door opened as she climbed the steps, and Rita rushed out to greet her. "We still don't know anything." She had tears running down her cheeks as she embraced Trinity.

Josiah appeared behind her in the front hall, and she had never seen him look so upset. Without a second thought, she moved from Rita to Josiah, pulling him close for a hug. He held her tight, and she could feel his body shake as he cried.

"I'm so sorry. It's all my fault," Josiah whispered.

"No. Levi is a grown man who made choices. It's wasn't your fault then, and it's not your fault now, Josiah." Trinity stepped back and looked at him.

"What I said to you, it was my fault you left without him," he looked down at her. "That's where he was headed. He was coming to get you."

Trinity pulled him close. "I wanted him to come and get me." She choked back as she was overwhelmed with relief that he wanted her enough to go after her. "Let's try to eat, you know it's what Levi would make us do if he was here now." She sniffed and reached for Rita's hand.

"You can fill me in on what I missed at the office. It might take our minds off of this for a few minutes." Josiah and Rita nodded as they headed to the kitchen.

At midnight there was still no word, and they decided to try to get some rest, even though they all knew sleep wasn't going to happen. What they really needed was some time alone to absorb the possibility that Levi might not be alright.

Trinity wandered up to Levi's room and closed the door behind her. It was as if she could feel Levi in the room, he had left a t-shirt on the chair, and she immediately stripped off her blouse and pulled it over her head. It still held his smell, and it made her feel closer to him.

She couldn't help but think of the three years that she hadn't seen Levi as a man. He had said he knew how he felt from the start, and she hated that she hadn't felt the same way. They had wasted so much time. Even though she had only just realized her feelings, she couldn't imagine feeling any other way.

What she had told Christoper was true. She belonged to him. She only hoped she would get the chance to tell him.