Chapter 10 #2
“Yikes.” Holly touched her throat instinctively.
Eve laughed and carried over two mugs filled with homemade lattes. After handing one to Holly, she sat across and motioned toward the croissants. “They’re not going to eat themselves.”
Holly’s stomach growled, and Eve laughed out loud.
“Please.” She gave Holly a small plate and a napkin. “Enjoy them. I’d eat with you, but my heartburn is unbearable this morning.”
Holly drank her latte and ate three croissants, happy to let the silence stretch. For the first time in days, things didn’t feel quite so sharp.
“Thanks for doing my laundry,” she said. “That was incredibly kind.”
Eve sipped her coffee and shrugged. “Pregnant insomnia has to be good for something. And I figured if you were going to be thrown into the deep end, you might as well do it in clean clothes.”
Holly studied her for a moment. “As of Wednesday, I’ll officially be your obstetrician.”
Eve tilted her head and smiled. “I know. As soon as I heard you were joining the ob/gyn staff at the hospital, I requested you as my new doctor.”
Holly was surprised by Eve’s admission. “You did?”
“I did my research. You went to Harvard Medical school and did your residency in perinatal medicine. I trust you.” Eve paused to sip her coffee. “If I’m going to be vulnerable and hormonal, I want someone who doesn’t flinch easily.”
Something in Eve’s voice caught Holly’s attention. Tentatively, she reached across the table to touch Eve’s hand. “I’ve had a brief rundown on your medical history. Are you nervous about this pregnancy?”
“Yes.” A beat passed before Eve added, softer, “This baby came after a long time of thinking we wouldn’t try again.”
“What changed?”
“Kane came home,” Eve’s voice sounded even, but it carried weight. “We were separated for a while after the miscarriage. He needed to figure out who he was outside of the Devil’s Renegades MC, and I needed to stop being angry at him for leaving me while I was broken.”
Eve’s admission touched something in Holly’s heart, maybe because of the similarity in the stories of the love lives. “And now?”
Eve’s wide smile brightened her face and made her green eyes sparkle. “Now, Kane is a computer geek with a few federal contracts and a secret clearance. It’s less romantic than it sounds. Lots of clicking and muttering and brooding.”
Holly picked up her mug again and smiled around the rim of the best latte she’d ever had. “I’m glad you found your way back to each other.”
“So am I.” Eve chuckled below her breath. “Although the hormones still make me cry when I drop a spoon.”
Now they both laughed so hard, their voices echoed through the old kitchen. A combination of happiness, humor, with the added joy of maybe having made a new friend.
“Where the hell is Luke!” The male voice reverberated around the house and suddenly a huge man with brown hair and brown eyes appeared in the doorway leading into the hallway. “Where is—oh. Hey. Are you Holly?”
She nodded, not sure what else to say.
“Nice to meet you.” He offered a smile before turning to Eve. “Have you—”
“No.” She stood and gave him a kiss. That alone seemed to calm his temper and he ran a hand over his head. “Holly, this is Kane. My husband.”
Holly had figured as much, but she stood and held out her hand. “Nice to meet you.”
He released a deep sigh and his handshake was surprisingly gentle. “I heard about the day you had yesterday and I hope you won’t hold any of it against us or our small town.”
“Not at all.” She picked up her mug again. “I’m just happy I was able to help at the accident.”
Kane’s eyes shuttered and he crossed his arms over his chest. “I need to find Luke.”
“I think he’s in your office.” Eve kissed him on the cheek and handed him a plate loaded with croissants. “But you better hurry or you’re going to be late for the tux fitting.”
He scowled, and Holly was fascinated by the similarities between all of the Mosby men. She still had a few to meet, but she would easily be able to guess that Gage, Jacob, Kane, Ben, and Luke were all part of the same family.
“What’s all the yelling about?” Luke sauntered into the kitchen, sat next to Holly, and snagged a croissant.
Kane focused on his youngest brother. “What the hell did you do?”
Luke, with his mouth full of croissant, raised his hands. “Nothing.”
Now Kane pointed at Luke like they were in grade school. “Did you use my computer for anything?”
“I let Luke use my laptop.” Eve sat again and placed a hand on her belly.
“To do what?” Now Kane’s hands landed on his hips.
Eve and Luke were sharing exasperated eyerolls while Holly kept taking small bites of her croissant, trying not to laugh. It was apparent that Luke being yelled at by his older brothers was a regular occurrence.
“I wanted to check something,” Luke said as he shoved another piece of croissant into his mouth. “A flash drive I found. Actually, Holly found it when it fell out of Damian’s pocket yesterday.”
Kane’s eyes widened until Holly wondered if he was having a stroke.
“You put a flash drive into my wife’s computer without knowing what was on it?”
Now Luke frowned. “How am I supposed to find out what’s on it if I can’t look at it on a computer?”
Kane muttered a long string of curses and began to pace around the kitchen table.
“You never, ever, ever put an unknown flash drive on any computer. Ever. I know you’re just a surfer dude now, but you were once a high-powered New York City lawyer at Hamilton and Hill.
One of the top law firms in the country. You should know better.”
Holly snuck a peak at Luke. She’d known he was a lawyer, but she’d not known that he’d worked for Hamilton and Hill, an exclusive law firm that only handled the most famous—and expensive—cases in the world.
Sitting casually in the chair, with his boots now propped up on Eve’s table, and eating chocolate croissants with both hands, she’d never have guessed that he’d once worn four thousand dollar suits and probably spent a thousand dollars every time he went out to lunch.
Luke winked at her before saying to his brother, “Fine. Whatever. I won’t do it again. But how did you even know?”
“I got an alert on my phone.” Kane ran a hand over his head and grabbed the last croissant. “The moment you opened that flash drive, it sent a message back to the owner, along with the IP address where it was opened.”
“I didn’t know flash drives could do that.” Luke glanced at Holly. “Did you?”
She shook her head. “I know nothing about computers.”
“Kane? Luke?” Gage’s voice echoed in the hallway. “We’re late. And Lily is waiting for Eve and Holly at the café.”
“We’re in the kitchen, Uncle Gage,” Eve said loudly.
Gage appeared in the kitchen doorway and paused. “What’s going on?”
Luke stood and handed Gage three black flash drives. “I’ll tell you on the drive to Milltown.”
Gage studied the flash drives in his hand, then looked at Kane. “Bring your laptop.”
Kane sighed like he’d been dragging around a bag of baseball bats all day. “Fine. But I’m driving.”
Gage nodded, but his gaze landed on Holly. “I spoke with Abe. His plane landed an hour ago. He’s going to get his rental car and pick up your phone. He’ll be here this afternoon.”
“Thank you.”
Luke touched her shoulder as he passed her to follow his brother and uncle out of the house.
Once alone, Holly said to Eve, “Do you have any idea what that was all about with the flash drives?”
“No. I just hope whatever the issue is, it doesn’t interfere with the wedding.” Eve stretched her arms over her head and stood. But she looked paler than earlier. “Let’s go see Lily, and I’ll introduce you to everyone else. I also need to try on my “best person” dress.”
Holly brought the dishes to the sink and rinsed out the mugs. “What’s a “best person” dress?”
Eve chuckled as she wiped the crumbs off the table. “Hawk, the groom, is a lot like Luke. They are both huge extroverts. Ever since I can remember, Hawk has known everyone in the mountains, from the Maryland border, down to North Carolina and Tennessee. Probably even parts of Kentucky.”
Holly remembered meeting Hawk last night, with his energy and vivaciousness. He was definitely a handsome charmer, and in many ways did remind her of Luke. “I met Hawk last night. He’s also in the Devil’s Renegades?”
“Yes, and I wish he’d get out.” Eve tossed the crumbs into the sink and washed her hands. “Anyway, despite being in an all-male MC, and having three brothers and thirteen male cousins, he chose me to stand up for him at the wedding.”
“Wow.” Holly washed and dried her hands as well. “That’s sweet. Have you known Hawk for a long time?”
“My whole life.” Eve found her sandals near the back door and slipped them on.
“He’s a few years older than I am, but we’ve been best friends for as long as I remember.
” She grabbed her purse and a sweatshirt from a hook next to the window and held up her keys.
“The problem is that when I agreed to be his “best person”, I apparently also agreed to his picking out the dress. I didn’t know at the time that I’d get pregnant with twins. ”
Holly took her handbag and then dropped it again. Without her phone and wallet, there was no reason to carry a purse. “Can you walk me through what’s happening today?”
She hated the anxiety that settled in her stomach, but the only way to make it go away was to have a plan. Yet it wasn’t lost on her that ever since she’d landed in Virginia every one of her plans had been sideswiped.
“I’ll talk while I drive.” Eve paused near the back door, touched her stomach, and took a few deep breaths.
Holly ran over and took Eve’s wrist to check her pulse. It was fast, but not too fast… yet.
“Sit here for a minute.” Holly led Eve back to the table and made her sit. Then she got her a large glass of water. “Drink this and I’ll be right back.”
Holly grabbed her handbag, ran back to her room, and quickly sorted through her trauma kit.
Once she filled her purse with a stethoscope, blood pressure monitor, and some other medical supplies, she hurried back to Eve.
She was grateful to see more color in Eve’s face and that her ankles weren’t swelling.
But she still made Eve drink another glass of water.
“Eve, even though I’m not technically your doctor yet, I need you to promise me something.”
Eve finished her water, stood, and put the glass in the sink. “Anything.”
“Whatever is going on today, you will rest this afternoon for at least four hours.”
Eve’s eyes widened. But instead of arguing, she said, “I can do that.”
“Good.” Holly carried her very heavy medical bag/purse on her shoulder and took the keys from Eve. “And I’m driving.”