In Death 18 - Divided in Death

and now her face glowed, as if someone had flicked a switch under her skin. “My baby moved. Like . . . like little wings fluttering.”
    Eve felt her own color drain, right down to the bone. “Is it supposed to do that?”
    “Uh-huh. My baby moved, Dallas. Inside me. It’s really real.”
    “Maybe it’s trying to tell you not to worry so much.”
    “Yeah.” Mavis wiped away fresh tears and smiled beautifully through them. “We’re going to be fine. Better than best. I’m glad you were here when it happened. When I felt it. I’m glad it was just you and me and the baby, this one time. I’m not going to screw it up.”
    “No, you’re not.”
    “And I’ll know what to do.”
    “Mavis.” Eve sat beside her again. “Looks to me like you already do.”

Chapter 12
    Roarke walked into the house and saw Eve sitting on the steps, head in hands. Alarm twisted through his belly as he hurried to her.
    “What’s wrong? What’s happened?”
    She blew out a huge breath that hitched on the end. “Mavis.”
    “Ah, God. Is it the baby?”
    “It’s all about the baby. At least I think. What do I know? She wasn’t even wearing lip dye. What was I supposed to do?”
    “I think we’d better start over. I’ll go first. Is everything all right with Mavis and the baby?”
    “It must be. It moved.”
    “Where?” He caught himself, cast his gaze to heaven. “Now you’ve got me turned around. She felt the baby move, then? Isn’t that a good thing?”
    “She thought so, so it must be.”
    She sat back, looked at him. He was holding her hand still, studying her face. Waiting.
    All so normal, unless you felt, as she felt, that subtle change of rhythm. Things weren’t normal between them right now, and maybe they’d never be again. But they were both willing to pretend otherwise.
    The pretense that there was nothing hanging over them was oddly terrifying.
    But if it was all she had, she was as willing to hide behind it as he was.
    “She was all down and teary when I got back,” Eve continued. “Figured she’d mess up with the kid because she was messed up as a kid, or something. Afraid she wouldn’t know what to do or how to feel. Had herself a serious weep.”
    “I’ve heard that’s fairly normal for pregnant women. The weeping. I imagine she’s a bit scared. It must be considerably scary if you think about the whole process.”
    “Well, I don’t want to think about it, that’s for sure.”
    He’d let go of her hand, and he’d shifted, just the slightest bit away from her. So she knew he felt it, too.
    She called herself a coward, but she pushed it out of her mind.
    “Anyway, she calmed down mostly, then the baby did whatever it did in there and she got all happy again. She was practically doing handsprings when she left to go tell Leonardo.”
    “Well, then, why are you sitting here looking miserable?”
    “She’s coming back.”
    “That’s good. I’d like to see her.”
    “She’s bringing Trina.” Eve’s voice rose nearly an octave as she gripped Roarke’s shirt. “And their instruments of torture.”
    “I see.”
    “You don’t. They don’t gang up on you and come at you with strange, sharp implements or goop unknown substances all over your face and body. I don’t know what they’re going to do to me, and whatever it is, I don’t want it.”
    “It’s hardly as bad as all that, but you could actually have used work as an excuse and put all this off for a while.”
    “I couldn’t fight her.” She dropped her head back in her hands. “She had me with that naked face, how often do you see Mavis with a naked face?”
    He touched her hair, the lightest stroke. “Never.”
    “Exactly. And her eyes are all puffy and red—and shiny. And her belly’s poking out. This little white lump sticking out. What was I supposed to do?”
    “Exactly what you did.” He shifted to kiss the top of her head. “You’re a good friend.”
    “I’d rather be a bitch. It’s easier, and more satisfying emotionally, to be a bitch.”
    “And you’re so good at it. Well, this should be a fine time for me to fire up that barbecue grill again.”
    “I can’t believe you’d kick me when I’m down.”
    “I’ve a handle on it now. I’ve been practicing on the side. We’ll have burgers. They’re the simplest.”
    She could’ve told him she’d had a burger for lunch, but that would have put too glossy a shine on what she’d swallowed at the Blue Squirrel.
    “I just want to