After the Storm (KGI #8)(44)

The doorbell rang and Eve immediately froze. Travis dropped his half-eaten sandwich—his third—on his plate and looked uneasily in Eve’s direction. Cammie burrowed deeper into Donovan’s embrace, ignoring the nearly finished sandwich Donovan had been feeding her, her eyes wide and fearful.

Their reactions didn’t go unnoticed by the others. Swanny’s lips turned down into a grim frown and Joe looked . . . pissed. Not at them. But he seemed angry over their fear. Of what they had to fear.

“Get the door, Joe,” Donovan said calmly. “That will be Steele and Maren. Show them into the living room. When Eve, Cammie and Travis are finished eating, Maren can examine them.”

Though it was said to Joe, Eve knew the last was directed at her and her siblings. A command for them to finish eating and reassurance that there was nothing to fear. If only it were that simple.

Joe got up and returned a moment later with a smiling blond woman, glasses perched on her nose, her hair pulled back in a neat ponytail. On her heels was a tall, completely fierce-looking man holding a . . . baby. Somehow the two seemed incongruous, but then Donovan had told her that Maren had recently had a child and had been cutting back on her patient load while she was on maternity leave. This must be her husband. The man Donovan had said was his friend. But now she realized that this man must work with Donovan—and the others—because he screamed badass from head to toe.

Donovan didn’t move from his perch on the couch, where Cammie was doing her best to burrow underneath him.

“Thanks for coming, Maren. We could use you,” Donovan said by way of greeting.

“Hello,” Maren said in a warm voice as she took in the occupants of the room.

She turned to the man holding the baby. “I’m Maren, and this is my husband, Steele, and our daughter, Olivia.”

Joe gestured toward Eve. “This is Eve and this is her brother, Travis, and her little sister, Cammie.”

“Hello,” Eve managed to stammer around the knot in her throat.

“Smile, Steele,” Maren admonished. “You’re scaring the children!”

Steele rolled his eyes but offered a sincere smile first to Eve and then to Travis. When his gaze lighted on Cammie clinging to Donovan’s neck, his expression softened and genuine compassion filled his eyes.

“You’re in good hands,” he said gruffly. “Van will take good care of you and my wife is a doctor, the best. She’ll have you all right as rain in no time.”

Maren smiled, her cheeks coloring at her husband’s praise. But then her expression turned serious. “Whom shall I start with?”

Donovan rose, lifting Cammie with him and then turning to deposit her on Swanny’s lap. Cammie didn’t look thrilled, but neither did she protest. But she didn’t wrap herself around Swanny as she had with Donovan. She stared up at him from underneath her lashes, watching him cautiously. She seemed fascinated with the scar on his face, and then to Eve’s surprise she reached up to touch the puckered skin.

“Did a bad man hurt you?”

Swanny smiled, warmth entering his eyes. “Yes, sweetheart. But you know what? Donovan and KGI took care of it. Those bad men won’t ever hurt anyone again.”

“My daddy hurt Evie,” Cammie said quietly. “Can you make it so he never hurts her again?”

“Cammie!” Eve chastened, shocked at the child’s outburst.

But no one in the room missed her comment. Donovan’s expression grew fierce, and anger surged in Joe’s and Steele’s eyes. Even Swanny was scowling now, but as if realizing he would scare Cammie, he worked at controlling his reaction.

“No one will hurt Eve. Or you and Travis,” Swanny softly amended. “You have my guarantee, little bit.”

“’Kay,” Cammie said, leaning in a little closer to Swanny’s chest. Swanny seemed delighted that the little girl was warming to him and he wrapped his big arms around her, anchoring her more firmly to his chest. It was a silent message to her—and to Eve and Travis—that he was entirely serious in his commitment to see them safe.

“You need to start with Travis,” Donovan said. “You’ll need the X-ray equipment in the infirmary. I’m concerned he has broken ribs. We can ride over. I don’t want any of them walking after what they’ve been through. I don’t want to risk injuring them further.”

Maren nodded her agreement. “What else am I dealing with here? Do you know? Have you made an assessment?”

Eve appreciated Maren’s brisk, no-nonsense, all-business approach. She was clearly in doctor mode. Intelligence gleamed in her blue eyes, but what Eve liked the most was her gentle manner. She hadn’t come in making demands or barking orders.

“No,” Donovan said. “We haven’t had time. My priority was getting them here so they could be evaluated. Travis and Cammie were in a culvert when we found them. Eve got caught in the storm trying to save Travis and we found her trapped underneath a mattress.”

“The mattress probably saved her life,” Maren murmured.

Eve felt the blood drain from her face. She hadn’t considered it. She’d been too swept up in the terror of the moment and had been relieved to survive such a deadly storm. But Maren was right. If the mattress hadn’t knocked her flat and kept her trapped underneath, she probably would have been killed.