Lost Love Found

by Kay Lyons

  "He did what?"

  "You heard me," Holland said on the phone to Ireland. "We had the entire course to ourselves. It was amazing."

  "You know," Ireland said, "you're more like Frankie than you want to admit."

  Holland chuckled and held the cell phone away while quickly hitting the speaker button, settling into bed with her laptop.

  "So how did the night end? That's what I want to know."

  Holland blushed when she thought of the hot and heavy make-out session that had taken place in the SUV, one that had singed her skin and practically melted her very bones. "We, um, ran through a drive-thru for dinner."

  "Holl?"

  "There may have been some kissing." She touched her laptop mouse to awaken the screen and keyed in her password.

  "What are you doing? I thought you didn't work after hours?"

  "I'm not. This is… personal."

  "Oh?"

  "Yeah, I'm doing some research for a friend." She found the page she'd bookmarked the last time she'd searched for information on Akihiro Tadashi and started scanning, loving the fact she'd gotten fairly good at multitasking over the years.

  "Okay, so you and Max."

  Holland sighed, wanting to talk about Max so much but unwilling to expose their private moments just yet. "No. I don’t want to talk about it."

  "You're no fun."

  "I beg to differ. I'm loads of fun. You should've seen me on that track. Ireland, it was such a blast."

  "Oh, Dominic just walked in. I have to go have some fun with my husband."

  "I'm going to hold you to that," Dominic said in the background.

  Holland smiled, happy that her sister had found love again. "Get to it, girl. I have some stuff I need to do before bed, too."

  "Does this have anything to do with Max? Are you digging into his past?"

  "No. Stop worrying."

  "Can't. Love you, sister."

  "Love you, too. Behave yourself."

  "Never. Night." Holland tapped the button to end the call and focused once more on the screen in front of her. Every listing required a bit of reading to suss out whether the man was the right age, if there was a professional biography somewhere listing his history, and—

  Holland sucked in a sharp breath and nearly choked on the air.

  Right age. And his professional biography said, Are you him? Chills ran over her, through her entire body. She quickly saved the page and began a new search based on the information. In short order, she had gathered a huge amount of information, but as badly as she wanted to run shouting the news, she knew she had to be cautious.

  And even though it was late, going on ten, should she?

  She clicked on the page that listed contact numbers associated with Aki and said a quick prayer as she picked up her phone.

  * * *

  Max heard a soft knock and froze in the act of removing his watch. He'd left Holland at her door earlier with a good-night kiss that made it clear he would welcome more, and now his body tensed at the thought of her standing on the other side.

  He tossed the watch atop the dresser and crossed the room with minimal steps, yanking the door open so fast he startled Holland into taking a step back.

  She looked adorable. No makeup. Hair pulled haphazardly atop her head in a messy bun. She wore a tank top fitted to her beautiful torso and sleep shorts that… "Turtles?"

  "What? Oh," she said. "Um, yeah. I have a thing for turtles. Guess that's another of my secrets. Did I wake you?"

  He wore his jeans but had removed his shirt a few minutes before in preparation of stripping down to sleep. "No. I wound up having to deal with some business, so I've been on the phone for the last couple of hours. It's late, though." For the first time, he noticed she carried her laptop and her expression was one of wariness. "Do you want to come in?"

  She inhaled and Max had to remind himself to keep his gaze trained on her face.

  "N-no. I think… Um, let's go over here."

  "Holland, what's going on?"

  She backed up a step, two, and then turned, walking barefoot toward the third-floor sitting area that faced the floor-to-ceiling windows.

  His gaze lowered, taking in the sway of her hips in those short little turtle shorts, and he knew he'd never see another one and not think of her.

  Holland seated herself on the couch and lifted the laptop lid, tapping the keys. Max watched her, an uneasy feeling settling deep. "Holland, what's going on?"

  "I… found him."

  Dread filled him and he bit back a rare curse. "Akihiro?"

  "Yes."

  He ran his hand over his face roughly in the struggle to temper his anger. "I wish you would've left that alone."

  "I know. But I didn't."

  "So what did you find? Did Nan's father lie about his death?"

  "Yes."

  "Not surprising."

  She looked up at him, her expression one of apprehension he guessed was due to his tone. "If you knew my family, you'd understand why I'm not surprised," he told her. "But more than that, he was a father of a teenage daughter in a time when, like it or not, he knew my grandmother would be ostracized alongside Akihiro. Can you blame him for wanting to protect her?"

  "It doesn't matter now. All that matters is that I found him and I called and—"

  "You mean he's still alive?"

  She nodded again. "Alive and seemingly well. I-I didn't talk to him. I spoke with his granddaughter. She confirmed that he was in an internment camp in California, and he's a retired botanist."

  "Where?"

  "Virginia."

  Max turned and moved to the window, staring out at the moon over the water. "Don't tell her."

  "What? Max, I have to. I promised her I would look and—"

  "She doesn't need to know you found him."

  "Why not? What are you so afraid of?"

  "I'm just trying to protect her, Holland. I insist you keep this to yourself," he said, turning to face her once more.

  Holland lifted her chin and slowly closed the lid of the laptop, holding it against her side as she stood. She barely reached his shoulder in her bare feet, and without the makeup and the clothes and the hair, she appeared younger, more vulnerable. Until he met her gaze and saw the steely strength looking back at him.

  "I'm sorry you feel that way because I'm telling her tomorrow."

  "Holland—"

  He broke off, unsure of what he could possibly say, if anything, to change her mind.

  She paused and turned to face him again.

  "I don't know why things ended with your ex-fiancée. You've never shared that with me. But I do know this— If I ever loved someone as much as Akihiro and Violet expressed in those letters, and that love was returned in the same measure, I'd move mountains to keep it. Protect it. I didn't share that with David, and you obviously didn't share that with your ex, but your grandmother has a chance to have that, Max. How can you stand there and so coldly order me to deny her that blessing?"

  Chapter 10

  The following morning, Holland dragged herself from bed after a sleepless night, wondering if Max would be gone.

  He'd concluded his business days ago, and now that she had refused to abide by his order not to tell Violet the news, well… time would tell.

  She quickly showered and dressed, noting that makeup did nothing to hide the shadows beneath her eyes, nor the puffiness that remained from the tears she'd shed out of frustration.

  Finally. Finally she'd met a man who interested her on every freaking level only to discover he was afraid of love? Maybe it wasn't the entire truth, but that's certainly what it’d felt like in the dark of night as she hugged her pillow.

  She grabbed her laptop and phone and quietly left her room. She was halfway down the stairs when she heard Max's footsteps behind her.

  "Holland, please. Don't do this."

  "If you could give me a legitimate reason why I shouldn't, I'd consider what you said. But you can't."

  She
hurried the rest of the way down and entered the room where Violet sat at the breakfast table.

  Up until last night, she'd been wined and dined the world over but she'd never felt the way Max made her feel.

  Was she a unicorn? The only woman on earth who hadn't experienced that level of excitement? Attraction? That intrinsic something that stated loud and clear that what she'd had with Max was different?

  Was being the key word?

  "Good morning, Holland. Max."

  "Good morning, Nan."

  "Holland, dear, are you all right? Are you not feeling well?"

  Holland felt Max's gaze on her, willing her to do his bidding, but she stiffened her spine and squared her shoulders and marched to the table. "I found him, Violet. Aki is alive."

  "You… you found him? Truly?"

  She nodded, blinking hard to clear the haze of tears that appeared when Violet immediately began crying. The poor woman had cried enough this week, first losing her friend and now… Thankfully these tears were happy tears.

  The dishes on the tray Sally carried rattled as she hurried to set it on the table before she, too, pulled a tissue from her apron and dabbed at her eyes.

  Max muttered something Holland wasn't able to make out as he crossed the room to swipe a cup from the table. He moved to the carafe of coffee and helped himself.

  "Where? How is he?"

  Holland pulled out a chair and sank down onto the cushion, hoping it would help ease the trembling that had taken root in her limbs as she ignored Max's glare and informed Violet of the details she knew. "He turns ninety-four in a few days, as I'm sure you probably know."

  Violet nodded, smiling.

  "I talked briefly with his granddaughter. They share his home in Virginia. She said he had a successful career as a botanist."

  "He made it back home," Violet murmured softly.

  Once again, Holland nodded. "She said he and his father survived their time in the camp, but his father was very weak and unable to travel afterward. He was free a year before he passed away, and then Akihiro worked his way back across the country. When he got to Virginia, he learned of your marriage.

  "He married at some point, had a family. His wife passed many years ago, though, and his granddaughter said he never remarried. I-I have his contact information." She pulled the Post-it Note off of her laptop and left it on the table.

  Violet didn't speak and Holland wasn't sure what to do. Sally took a shuddering breath and quietly began removing breakfast from the tray but left the coverings to keep the plates warm.

  After a long moment, Violet got to her feet and retrieved her cane from the arm of the chair where it hung. She picked up the note, staring down at it.

  "Holland, dear. Thank you. I-I suspected my father lied to me about Aki's death."

  "Of course."

  "I'm going to go lie down, my dear. I hope you understand."

  "Yes, but… is there anything I can do?"

  "No. I just need some quiet time to think and pray."

  Holland watched as Sally took hold of Violet's arm and slowly helped her employer and friend down the hall toward her suite. Max remained at the windows drinking his coffee, but when she quietly said his name, he turned on his heel and stalked out without a word to her.

  Holland sat there a long while before gathering her things and heading for her room. She wrote out a note to Violet explaining that she had all of the photos and information she needed. She thanked her for her hospitality, hoped she hadn't caused her any pain, and packed her suitcase.

  Crash and burn, she texted to Ireland once she was in her car.

  Several seconds passed before the three little dots appeared.

  911 at the dream catcher?

  Yeah. Gimme an hour though.

  Drive safe.

  Holland pulled into her house forty minutes later due to traffic and left her suitcase in the trunk. She entered the empty house and quickly changed into a bathing suit, topping it with shorts and a tank before grabbing a towel as she headed right back out the door. It was a gorgeous day. Plenty warm enough to sit on the sand and take in some rays while she complained about her love life.

  She made her way to the dream catcher mailbox a few blocks away, located down on the sand between the ocean and the dunes. Ireland was already there when Holland arrived. "That was fast."

  "I've been worried about you. Are you okay?"

  "Yeah. Just needing some sister time." She plopped down beside Ireland and linked their arms before laying her head on Ireland's shoulder.

  "You realize I'm not buying the stoic face, right?"

  She squeezed her sister's arm and stayed quiet, staring at the water and letting the sun and the sand and the surf heal what they could.

  Frankie arrived with London from the direction of the pier.

  "Carolina's trying to find someone to cover for her at the pier house," Frankie said. "But she's on her way."

  "Oh, that's right. I forgot," Ireland murmured. "Baby brain," she said by way of explanation.

  Frankie reached over and placed her hand on the growing mound of Ireland's belly.

  "Hear that, kid? Your mama is accusing of you being a brain-sucking monster."

  "Frankie."

  They all laughed at the teasing and Ireland's playful slap in Frankie's direction.

  "So what's up?" London asked. "Is something wrong? Ireland, it came from you. Everything okay?"

  "She did it for me," Holland said. "I've just missed you guys."

  "I take it you're done with the assignment you were on?"

  "The in-house stuff, yeah. I have a few finishing touches left to write but I can do that from home."

  "Cool," Frankie said. "What's next?"

  "Time off, remember?"

  "Hey, she made it," Frankie said, lifting her chin to where Carolina jogged toward them.

  Caro dropped to her knees on the towel before sliding onto her butt.

  "What's up with the Bat signal?"

  Ireland nudged Holland. "Go on. Tell them about Max," Ireland said.

  Holland lifted her head from Ireland's shoulder so she could glare at her sister. "Really?"

  "Who's Max?" London asked.

  "And why are you sending hate glares at Ireland? Who is this guy?" Frankie demanded.

  "Maximilian Bane," Ireland said.

  "The billionaire?" Carolina asked, gasping as she got back on her knees in her excitement. "Seriously?"

  Holland took a deep breath, glared at Ireland, and nodded. "Yes. But… I'm pretty sure it's over."

  "Holl, stop being so vague and tell us what happened already," London ordered.

  "Wow. You have certainly perfected that mom voice in a short amount of time," Frankie said to her twin, referring to the two adorable twins that would become London's once she and Cooper married.

  "Holl. Seriously," London said.

  "Yeah, you're stalling and we're not liking it," Frankie added. "You're not you and we can tell. What happened? And how long have you known this guy?"

  "Not long."

  "Long enough," Ireland corrected. "When it's made you this sad."

  "I'm not sure what I am. I mean, yeah, I'm…" Her throat thickened with tears she refused to shed, and it took her a moment to gather herself. "I'm hurt. He's angry. It's just not a good situation."

  "So did you break up?" Carolina asked. "And can I just freak out for a moment because my sister is or was dating Maximilian Bane?"

  Frankie shoved Carolina over on the towel and Holland looked at Ireland. "Now do you know why I didn’t want to talk about dating him?"

  Frankie and London both told Carolina to hush while Ireland hugged Holland close.

  "What now? Where did things stand when you last talked?"

  Her phone chimed and then began to ring. Holland ignored it and it stopped, but seconds later it began ringing again.

  She pulled the phone from the towel and flipped it over to see the screen. Max? She quickly swiped to answer. "Hello?"


  "Please tell me you're with her," Max said, his tone urgent and tight.

  "What? With who?"

  "Nan. She and Sally are both gone."

  "Maybe they just went out for some air," Holland said, aware that her sisters listened to every word. "Sally might be trying to cheer Violet up? Get her out of the house?"

  "Hang on."

  Holland frowned and ignored Ireland's concerned stare. She sat close enough to possibly hear both sides of the conversation, but thankfully, if Ireland could hear, she wasn't sharing.

  "I just checked and Nan requested the Bane jet be fueled and waiting for her so she can go visit a friend in Virginia. Thankfully the jet was in Florida, so it bought me some time, but I have get to her before they take off."

  "I'll meet you at the airport."

  "Holland—"

  "Don't you dare tell me not to come," she said, scrambling to her feet.

  "Meet me at the house. It's closer," Max said before the phone went dead.

  "My bike is parked at the beach access," Frankie said. "I'll take you home."

  "Quick, put my jeans on. You can't go like that," London said, looking around at the empty beach before shedding down to her underwear.

  Holland quickly gave London the shorts she'd pulled on over her swimsuit and they both wriggled into the denim.

  "You can have my top," Carolina said. "It'll look good over your tank."

  Holland yanked the shirt on and followed Frankie to the closest beach access and climbed on.

  It took only a few minutes to get back to the house but every one of them felt like an hour. She had to run into the house to grab her purse and keys, but she was right back down the stairs and into her car.

  She raced down Dow and prayed the entire time that God would give her a pass and not let her get pulled over. She made it to Carolina Beach Road in record time, a steady stream of prayers in her head as she focused on getting to Violet's as quickly as possible.

  It took too long, but considering she'd nearly doubled the speed limit a couple of times getting there, she couldn't complain. She wheeled the car into the drive, where Max waited, and he waved her into the SUV. Not what she wanted to do when her adrenaline was pumping from the wild drive but fine.