Hunter emerged from the diner with Hannah and Nolan to find a crowd outside the store. In the middle of the crowd was Fred the moose.
“What’s he up to now?” Nolan asked.
“I don’t know, but I want to see,” Hannah said.
Nolan took hold of her arm. “None of that moose-whisperer business. You hear me? You’re pregnant, and if he ever knocked you down …”
Hannah waved off his concern. “Oh stop. He’s a pussycat.”
“She’ll be the death of me,” Nolan said to Hunter as Hannah marched ahead of them across Elm Street toward the moose.
“Don’t let her be. She needs you to live for a good long time. We all do.”
“I was joking.”
“I wasn’t.” Hunter tried very hard to never think about the awful days, weeks and months that followed Caleb’s death in Iraq. He had spent many a night holding his sister while she sobbed, sleeping next to her because he was afraid she might harm herself to escape the pain, all the while keeping a tight grip on his own grief so he could be there for her.
It had taken a full year for Hunter to feel confident enough in Hannah’s stability to let her spend a night alone in the big house she’d inherited from Caleb. That first night, alone in his house in the dark of night, he’d finally shed his own tears for the brother-in-law he’d loved.
Now, following Hannah and her new husband across the street to the store, Hunter was deeply, profoundly grateful to see her happy again with Nolan, expecting her first child and glowing with the kind of joy that had been so much a part of who she’d been before Caleb’s death snuffed the light from her eyes.
Nolan’s love had reignited that light, and no one was happier to see it again than Hunter.
“Oh for crying out loud, Fred.” Hannah marched through the crowd on the sidewalk to the front porch of the store, where Fred had Cameron trapped against the rail. His two front hooves were on the lowest step and his massive body was between her and the sidewalk.
“Hannah!” Nolan said sharply.
His wife proceeded as if he hadn’t said anything.
“Oh jeez,” Hunter muttered. He didn’t often take sides against his twin, but he was firmly on Team Nolan in this case. “Hannah!”
“Fred,” Hannah said. “Come down from there and leave Cameron alone. Right now.”
Fred let out an obnoxiously loud moo that made more than a few of the townspeople startle. Cameron’s usually robust complexion was now stark white as she stared down the moose she’d hit with her car on the way into town the night she arrived from New York City. Since then, Fred had taken an unusual amount of interest in poor Cam, who would always be known in Butler as “the girl who hit Fred.”
“Fred.” Hannah stood off to the side of the giant moose, looking small and vulnerable. Behind her, Nolan was prepared to do battle to protect his wife, even if that meant getting between her and the moose, who responded to the sound of her voice with a gentle moo and a nuzzle for her outstretched hand. “That’s a good boy. Go see Colton up on the mountain. He always has treats for you. And leave Cameron alone. I like her.”
Seeming chastened by Hannah’s scolding, Fred backed away from the porch. The crowd parted to let him through.
Hunter noticed Cameron wavering on the porch and took the stairs two at a time to get to her before she fell over. “It’s okay.” He put his arms around her. “Fred’s moved on.”
“Only thanks to Hannah the moose whisperer.” Cameron leaned into him. “Why is he so interested in me? He’s looking for revenge, right?”
“Nah.” Hunter gave her a quick hug, hoping to calm her. “He’s a passive kind of guy.”
“Right.” Her hands were shaking as she pushed hair back from her face. “Passive.”
Will came pushing through the crowd and rushed up the stairs.
Hunter stepped aside to give his brother room.
“What happened?” Intensely focused on his girlfriend, Will took a visual inventory to make sure she was okay.
“Fred happened. Again. I was coming out the door, and it was like he was waiting for me or something. He sort of pinned me against the rail so I couldn’t leave, and I was too scared to turn my back on him to go inside.”
“He’s getting more audacious all the time,” Will said.
“He wasn’t at all threatening,” Hannah said.
“Easy for you to say!” Cameron replied. “He doesn’t have a bone to pick with you.”
Will put his arms around Cameron. “Come here, baby.”
The crowd around them began to disperse, leaving only Hunter, Hannah and Nolan to witness the tender moment between Will and Cameron.
Will drew back from her, kissing her forehead. “Sorry he scared you.”
“It’s okay. I’m starting to get used to him. Kinda.”
“Were you on your way to my house?” Hannah asked.
Cameron nodded. “Not sure if I can drive though. My hands are shaking like crazy.”
“I’ll drive you,” Hannah said. “Will can pick you up later, right?”
“Sure,” Will said. “Just give me a call when you’re ready.”
“Okay.” Cameron released a shaky deep breath. “I’ll do that. Sorry for the drama, everyone.”
“Don’t be sorry,” Hannah said. “Fred can be an intimidating character when he wants to be, but he would never, ever hurt you. You know that, right?”
“I think so.”
“He doesn’t believe in revenge,” Hunter added.
“How do you know that? He seems rather bent on revenge where I’m concerned.”
“Underneath his intimidating exterior, Fred’s a pacifist,” Hunter said. “He’s a make-love-not-war kind of guy.”
“And you know this how?” Cameron asked with a healthy dose of skepticism.
“My twin is a moose whisperer,” Hunter said. “I’m on the same frequency.”
That made them all laugh, as he’d hoped it would, and Cameron seemed noticeably less rattled after a good laugh. “I’m fine,” she assured Will. “Go on back to work, and I’ll call you when I’m done at Hannah’s.”
Will kissed her, lingering as he whispered something that made her eyes light up with pleasure.
Hunter looked away, giving his brother some privacy and tuning into the talking-to Hannah was getting from her husband, who was not at all pleased with her for confronting Fred.
“One wrong move, and you’re on your ass with a two-ton moose stepping on you—and the baby.”
“He’d never hurt me.” The dismissive wave of her hand further infuriated Nolan. “He’s my friend.”
“He is not your friend. I am your friend. Cameron is your friend. Fred is a wild animal.”
“You’re not going to be my friend much longer if you keep yelling at me.”
“I’m not yelling!”
“Hunter, is he yelling?”
“He’s speaking loudly.”
“See?” Hannah said. “Hunter agrees with me.”
“You’re impossible,” Nolan said. “I’m going back to work. Go home and stay away from that moose, do you hear me?”
Hannah gave him a warm, loving smile. “Yes, dear.”
“She’s pacifying me, isn’t she?” Nolan asked Hunter.
“I would say that’s an accurate assessment.”
“You’re no help to me whatsoever, by the way. Some best man you turned out to be.”
“Hey! I gave an awesome toast. Everyone said so.”
“For all the good that does me now. You’re always going to take her side, aren’t you?”
“I’m afraid so. That’s just how we roll.”
Hannah giggled and gave Hunter a kiss on the cheek. “Love you best of all,” she said loud enough for Nolan to hear.
“Anyone know a good lawyer?” Nolan asked as he walked away, shaking his head as he crossed the street to the garage.
“That wasn’t nice, Han.”
“Oh please. He’s always blustering at me about being careful and staying away from anything remotely dangerous. If he had his way, I’d be swaddled in bubble wrap until the baby comes.”
“I might be on his side on that one.”
“No way. You can’t change sides. Doesn’t work like that.” She curled her hand around his arm. “You’re mine.” Hannah cleared her throat loudly. “Hey, public-display-of-affection-that’s-driving-away-the-customers, are you ready to go?”
“Yeah, yeah.” Cameron patted Will on the chest as she left him with one last kiss. “See you later.”
“Yes, you will.”
After the two women walked away, arm in arm, chatting like old friends, Will came down the stairs to join Hunter. “I think I’m going to have a talk with Dude about Fred.” Gertrude “Dude” Danforth, known in town as Snow White, was widely believed to be responsible for the relative taming of Fred the moose. “He really scared her this time. I don’t like that.”
“What do you suppose Dude can do about it?”
“How the hell do I know? But someone’s got to do something. He can’t keep confronting Cameron the way he has been since the night she got here.”
“He does have good reason to keep an eye on her,” Hunter reminded Will.
“What good reason does he have? He was standing in the middle of the road where he didn’t belong when she hit him in the dark. How is that her fault?”
“Have you tried telling him that?”
“Now you’re just mocking me.”
“Do ya think?”
“If you want to play that way, tell me how your first date with Megan turned into an all-nighter.”
“That’s all right. I’m good. In fact, I need to get to work. Talk to you later?”
“Yeah, yeah. You’ll talk to me later all right.”
Hunter went up the stairs and into the store before Will could dig in on his quest for information about Megan. Let him wonder.