Bring on the Rain (3 page)

The stereo got louder. He was about to
get up and seek out coffee when he spied the old Bronco flying up
the two-lane hollow. Mitch sucked in air and cursed. It was
Madeline. If the sound of the old engine grinding wasn’t a warning
to her mood, the fact she’d flown by Eula Mae Short and splashed
mud on her was.

Eula Mae was shaking her fist in the
air, hopping mad. The mouth of the south, an old prude who felt it
her business to run the whole county. It was no small thing to
upset Eula Mae.

He sat there, bare feet on
the grass, watching the Bronco slide in beside the Mazda,
shuddering to a noisy stop. A few
tings
and knocks later, the engine
sighed.

Madeline got out. The slam of the car
door echoed down the hollow. He noticed her typical work clothing
of jeans, T- shirt, and boots. Madeline was generous in the hips,
with an ass that made him take note whenever he was at the Tavern
watching her work.

She was damned healthy looking. Mitch
loved the feel of soft womanly flesh beneath him. Unfortunately, he
hadn’t felt much of it in years.

She took the concrete steps swiftly.
Mitch saw the threatening darkness in her violet eyes before she
stopped in front of him.

“
Is my daughter
here?”

“
In the den.” It was the
first words they had exchanged in nineteen years. Hell, mad, she
was a cross between Katherine Hepburn and her own pissed hauteur.
He had observed that look from a distance over the years. Madeline
had learned how to intimidate men she didn’t care for.

“
May I go in and get
her?”

“
I figured she wasn’t
supposed to be here.” Mitch could almost hear her teeth
grind.

“
You figured right,” she
muttered. Then walked past him.

“
They brought Coy his
homework.”

She stopped and whirled round in the
great room. “That’s a piss-poor excuse she’s come up with. Did she
call here last night?”

“
Yes.” He shrugged, already
seeing more temper on her than she’d displayed the whole of their
young relationship. Hell, she had to be mad to step foot in his
house.

“
Dammit.” She shook her
head.

“
Want me to go get her?” he
asked.

“
How long has she been
coming to Copper Creek?”

“
A few months driving
through. Lately, hanging out with Coy.”

“
She’s forbidden,” Madeline
grated. “Both. I have never allowed her to come here, and she knows
not to—”

“—
Date a Coburn?”

“
I won’t allow
it.”

He grunted. “Figured not.”

She smiled coolly. “When Diamond Back
girls have their curiosity satisfied about Copper Creek boys, it’s
usually at their expense.”

“
Is that what it was?” Mitch
could taste bitterness in his throat. No wonder they hadn’t spoken
in years. Now that she was here in front of him, he felt a
combination of resentment, and that chemistry that just wouldn’t
die.

“
Yes.”

Mitch deliberately dropped his voice to
an intimate tone. “But you got satisfied.” He let his gaze rake
over her.

Her nostrils flared, lips tightening.
“I’m not here to dredge up history. I’m here to keep Brook from
getting mixed up with y'all.”

“
Y’all? Meaning
Coburn's.”

“
Obviously.”

For a few silent moments, their gaze
held. In the background, rock music pounded out a primal beat.
Mitch was guilty of rehearsing the day Madeline would speak to him,
in his mind over the years. So far, nothing she had said was
remotely close to his fantasy.

Mitch didn’t feel like a
forty-year-old, he felt like that young man who had had his heart
ripped out. He waved toward the den. She went first, following the
music.

When they entered, Brook was lounging
on the sofa with Coy, who had his cast-laden foot propped on a
pillow. Brook was going through a stack of CD’s. Karla sat on the
far side, thumbing through a magazine.

He glanced at Coy who’d looked up, and
motioned to the stereo.

“
Shit! Mom.” Brook jumped
up, her eyes wide. “Mom! I can’t believe you followed
me.”

Mitch stood to the side watching Coy’s
tawny eyes shift from mother to daughter.

Karla looked like a deer in the
headlights.

Madeline ordered taut, “Let’s
go.”

“
Come and meet him, please?
Coy, this is my mom. You’ve seen her at school.”

The young man nodded carefully, “Yeah.
In the Tavern, too. Hi Mrs. Logan. Uh—Brook Was—”

“
Brook was not supposed to
be here.”

“
Mom, please. If you’d talk
to him, get to know him, you’d see he’s not a punk.”

“
Not here, Brook. Not
now.”

“
Where else? You think I’m
going to stop because you’re sneaking around following me? You
think I’m going to have the same prejudices as you? Well I don't. I
think you’re screwed up because of th—”

“
Dammit, Brook. Shut up.”
She went down the shallow stairs. Her voice raised a notch, “I
trusted you. I asked you last night and you swore to me. That’s the
point here. Nothing else.”

“
Mom, you’re humiliating me
doing this.” Brook flushed. “What do you think Karla thinks of me?
Her Mom doesn’t follow her around, jumping out of corners. Don’t
you care what these people think? What Coy thinks?”

“
You’ve been lying to me,
Brook, for quite a while. That's what I think.”

Brook groused, “I have to lie to you,
Mother.”

Drawing in a sharp breath, thinking, oh
hell, he had to be right. Mitch’s gaze went to Coy who was now
sitting up trying to look at the muted TV. A muscle clenched in his
jaw. Shit, this was worse than awkward; this was apparently a
long-standing argument between mother and daughter. He and Coy were
looking at each other on and off, not knowing what the hell to say.
On his nephew’s behalf he was pissed at Madeline, on the girl’s, he
felt out of his depth, since it was a parenting issue.

“
Let’s take this home. Where
it belongs,” Madeline told Brook firmly.

“
No Mom. I want you to talk
to Coy. Get to know him.”

“
This is someone else's
house, not Coy’s. I think you’ve said enough.”

“
You know Mitch Coburn.
Jesus, he plays at the club. Get real. These aren’t
strangers.”

“
Brook. I swear.” Madeline
reached out and took her daughter’s arm, pinning their gazes.
“Putting us both on display here is not winning you any points
right now.”

Mitch tensed as Brook stood. Mother and
daughter locked gazes, the young woman’s eyes still shimmering with
emotion. They wouldn’t duke it out as the Coburn’s did, but still,
there was some real tension between them.

“
You know, Mom. I don’t
care. I’m sick of this. I don't know what makes you hate them so
much. I think it’s you who looks bad right now. Not me.”

“
I’m not trying to impress
anyone. Now I’m telling you, it’s time to go home. I’m going out to
the car and wait for you.” Madeline let go and turned, shooting
Mitch a killing glance before walking out of the room.

Brook took a shuddering breath. A tear
seeped out and down her cheek. She looked at him. “I’m sorry I put
you in a tight spot here.”

Mitch didn’t know which role to play.
He smiled lamely and shrugged. “I’d rather you didn’t from now on.”
Meaning clearly, she’d better have permission before she came
again.

Coy reached up and took Brook’s hand.
“I’m coming back to school Monday. I’ll have the truck.”

“
It’s no use, Coy.” Her lip
trembled and she sank down beside him a moment. “Mom is going to
mess this up for us. I know her. She hates y’all. I don't know. She
won’t let this go. She’ll send me to Daddy.”

Coy’s long tanned fingers splayed on
her head as she buried her face on his shoulder. He murmured, “Hey
baby, it’s about us, not her. We’ll work it out.” His eyes met
Mitch’s. “Whatever happened, we’ll find out and fix it.”

Mitch saw the strawberry blond slip out
of the room. He looked at the couple, saying to Coy, “Best let her
go now, Coy.” Mitch turned and walked up the steps, looking over
his shoulder to see them kissing passionately, Coy holding her
tightly in his arms.

He walked outside and heard Karla
trying to explain, give up, and get in her car and leave. Then
Mitch went barefoot down the steps.

Madeline sat sideways in the car with
the door open, her boot heels hooked on the edge.

Standing on the gravel was
uncomfortable. He leaned his hand on the window of the open door,
looking Madeline in the face. “She’s too young to be mine, so
what’s the problem?”

“
You ass,” Madeline spat.
“You think I want her put through what I was?”

“
What, Madeline? No one did
anything to you. You had your fun and walked.”

She laughed. “Get real. You were
engaged to Ronda Housewright the whole damn time.”

“
I was not.”

“
Liar,” she grated. “Which
one of y'all will be the messenger for Dovie this time, if my
daughter falls for this nephew of yours?”

“
What are you talking about?
You’ve got your head screwed up for some reason. That’s nothing to
do with them.”

“
Don’t you say that to me.”
He saw her eyes blaze with fury.

Mitch remembered her mother‘s illness.
He cussed. “Hell, I didn’t mean it that way. I mean this shit
you’ve said.”

“
Mitch,” she sighed and
shook her head. “They’re only sixteen. She’ll find someone in
Nashville.”

“
Someone better?”

“
Yeah, someone
whose—”

He cut her off, “You’re like Grandma,
trying to control and manipulate—”

She didn‘t let him finish. “Don't you
compare me to that woman! I know she’s old and sick now, but she
all but spat on me in the street.”

“
When?” He yelled. To his
knowledge, Dovie had always been civil to Madeline.

“
You know when,” she
accused, then, growled, “I’m not in the mood for this
game.”

“
What the hell are you
talking about?” Mitch couldn’t believe what she was saying. Dovie
hadn’t ended their relationship, Madeline had.

“
When...never mind. Dovie
made her feelings about me clear.” Half under her breath Madeline
finished, “Don't ever paint me in her light. I was nice to her. I
didn’t do anything to the woman but date you. She called me crazy
white trash.”

She snorted suddenly, eyeing him with a
look he hated. “Why am I telling you this anyway? You knew exactly
what happened.”

Mitch felt his anger boiling. “I did
not.”

“
Yes you did.”

“
Is that why…?”

“
Why what Mitch? You got
married. You and Ronda were a couple. No, it’s not the reason.” She
shook her head. “I’m not watching Brook go through it. She is too
young to screw her emotions up. She’s going to college, and doesn’t
need any emotional garbage from the Coburn's to hold her
back.”

“
You don't even know Coy,”
Mitch challenged, surprised that she had been feeling so much
contempt for his whole family all this time.

“
I do. I know he’s a good
student, an athlete. I know better though—he’s a Coburn, and that’s
enough said.”

He wanted to shake her, but was too
caught up in the things she’d spewed out. “Tell me what Dovie said
to you? What do you mean by messenger?”

“
No. We were kids, and it's
all history. All I care about is Brook.”

Mitch disagreed. “I think it’s the
present. It has everything to do with Brook and Coy.”

“
You don't need me to tell
you how your family is,” she grated. “Don't come off as if y'all
don't march to Dovie’s tune.”

“
We did what Dovie asked,
yes, but I didn’t have a commitment with anyone that summer. Dovie
had plans. But I agreed to nothing until you refused to see me
again.”

“
Liar,” Madeline said and
for moment the anger left her face. She scrubbed her hands over it
before clutching the wheel, resting her chin on her chest and
murmuring, “Let it go. I have.”

Like hell. “No, you haven’t. Coy and
Brook are going to see each other. If you think he won’t drive to
Nashville, you are mistaken. He’ll move there if she does. You’d
best handle this another way, Madeline.”

Her head snapped up. “Please, don't
tell me how to raise my child. The day a Coburn becomes an expert
on relationships…” Her grating laugh followed.

Mitch stepped closer, between her
knees, and leaned down. He could smell her soft womanly scent.
Emotions chased themselves through his mind and body. It caught him
off guard. Anger yes, but such hunger built up from nineteen years
of not having touched Madeline.