Bring on the Rain

BRING ON THE RAIN

Eve Asbury

Copyright ©2005-2009 Reissue 2012 Eve
Asbury

All rights reserved. No part of this
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without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent
purchaser.

The right of Eve Asbury to be
identified as the Author of the Work has been asserted by her in
accordance with the Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act
1988.

All characters in this publication are
purely fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or
dead is purely coincidental.

Published by GayleEden at
Smashwords.

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Notes

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Copyright 2011 Gayle Eden
(reissue)2013

What Reviewers are Saying:

“
Bring on the Rain is a
heart-tugging book. It reaches out, touches the reader, and makes
the heart leap for joy. Madeline and Mitch have a timeless passion.
The obstacles they face with family are remarkable in the way they
handle the situation. Ms. Asbury pens a delightful tale and the
addition of the Copper Creek boys screams for more stirring
stories. She sketches a romance with deep-rooted emotions that
stirs many sensations in this poignant read. With a believable
storyline, she fashions characters and places them in a real-life
situation that the reader can relate to. The well-rounded secondary
characters add just the right seasoning to make this one charming
tale that comes highly recommended and deserves a recommended read.
Bring on the Rain is an excellent title for this magnificent
story." - Linda L., Fallen Angel Reviews

“
...pure heartache, southern
style... Her prose is vivid, rich in detail and poignant... For
every woman who has been down that broken road, Ms. Asbury delivers
a warm-hearted happily ever after." - C.C. Ellis, Romance
Divas

"This book is begging for sequels..." -
Janalee Ruschhaupt, The Romance Studio

Chapter 1

Madeline Logan slammed on her brakes to
block the red Mazda coming out of Copper Creek Road. Her beat-up
Bronco shuddered to a halt and sprayed gravel. Leaning out the
window, glaring at her daughter on the passenger side of the car,
she yelled, “Get your ass over here. Now, Brook!”

The driver, sixteen-year-old Karla
Boggs looked anxious. She put the car in park as Brook got out and
gathered her things from the back seat. “Mrs. Logan, please don't
be mad. I can explain,” Karla, pleaded.

“
Brook isn’t allowed in
Copper Creek. I’ve told you that a thousand times,
Karla.”

“
Do you have to do this?”
Brook strode toward her, jerking open the Bronco door and slamming
her books inside. She jumped into the seat. “Do you have to be
dramatic, Mother? God!” She thumped her platform shoe against the
floor of the car. ”I’m not a child.”

Madeline glanced from her daughter to
Karla. To Karla, she said, “I’ll see you later,” in a voice that
was probably too accusing, though she did not blame her this time.
She blamed Brook, and she blamed these hated teen-age years where
everything between them was falling apart.

“
We were taking homework to
Coy Coburn. He broke his ankle,” Karla leaned out her window and
explained.

“
Later, Karla.” Madeline
pulled out onto the road and headed the fifteen miles to Diamond
Back. She glanced at her daughter. The March wind ruffled her
russet hair, the same color as Madeline’s, but streaked with
honey-blond and styled a la Meg Ryan.

“
I told you to stay out of
Copper Creek.”

“
Yeah—and away from Copper
Creek boys,” Brook sang with a mocking twang. “What did you do, spy
on me?”

“
I was coming from Ruby
Peyton’s. I left work early and thought I would pick you up. That
is not the point. You were forbidden to go there.”

Brook glared out the window. “I can’t
wait until Daddy gets me a car.”

The Bronco hit a chug hole. Madeline
swerved, muttering, “I swear. If you pull this stunt again, you’ll
go live with your father in Nashville.”

“
Oh I am. But I have three
months of school to finish. And you need to chill out.”

Madeline counted to ten and flexed her
fingers on the wheel. The tension between them had been rising
steadily since she’d found out Brook was sneaking to Copper Creek a
week ago. She had hoped it was the normal good-girl curiosity with
the place. Every Diamond Back girl seemed to want to glimpse the
forbidden. Some, like her, had done more than that and paid dearly
for it.

“
Did you go to Coy’s
house?”

“
Yeah.”

Madeline nodded, feeling a nerve tic in
her forehead. She cleared her throat. “To take him
homework?”

“
Yeah. We went to his Dad’s
first, but he sent us to his uncle Mitch’s, because someone said he
stayed there now. He let us right in.”

“
He would.” She felt a kick
to her gut at Mitch’s name. “I don't want you going out there
again.”

“
Whatever.” Brook snorted.
“There’s nothing dangerous about the place. The way y’all talk, you
would think it was a wicked den of iniquity. It’s a town, nothing
else.”

“
The Coburn men own that
place. They’re wild. It’s a rough town and no place for
you.”

“
I’ve gone to school with
some of them. Jason Coburn, Mitch’s son, was two years ahead of me.
He’s a nice guy. So what if they happen to be long, lean, and
handsome? You want me to hook up with a car dealer like Dad? I love
Dad. But man. Even you couldn’t live with him.”

Madeline reached their house and pulled
into the drive. It was a small residence, a little front porch and
fenced lot. She put the Bronco in park then switched off the
ignition and got out, waiting for Brook to do the same.

Brook ran ahead of her and opened the
door with her own key.

Madeline followed her through the
house, trying to calm down because she knew she was overreacting.
Yet, how could she help it? Her daughter was drawn to the same
family that had destroyed her world at that age.

Leaning against the bedroom door,
watching Brook slam her books down again and pick up her bass
guitar, she said, “I’m not finished. I want you to promise me
you’ll stay out of Copper Creek.”

Brook looked over her shoulder. “They
play down at the Tavern, don't they? The Copper Creek Band? That
means you must talk to the Coburn's, what's the big deal with me
doing it?”

The Tavern was more than a watering
hole, it was a sports bar, a restaurant and in the back a dance
club where live bands performed. Madeline shoved her hand through
her hair and sighed. Brook had always been a good girl, an honor
student and never rebelled. Lately, the way she talked to her
grated on Madeline’s nerves; she felt as though she was living with
a stranger.

“
Why are you doing this? We
used to be so close.”

“
You used to be more
relaxed.” Brook unhooked the strap and placed the instrument on the
guitar stand. She flopped on the bed, causing her crop shirt to
ride up, exposing the diamond naval stud they had argued about last
year. She clunked her platform shoes together, inspecting Madeline
with narrowed eyes, in an assessing way she hated. It made her feel
as if she wasn’t measuring up.

Brook spoke in a reflective tone, “When
you and Daddy divorced, you were happier than you’d been in those
first six years. I was too. Both of you were easier to get along
with afterwards. I always wondered how a man like Dad ever hooked
up with a woman like you.”

“
What does that mean?” A
woman like her? Madeline thought sourly. What the hell was suddenly
wrong with the woman she was?

Her daughter’s gaze traveled over the
faded Levi’s and black T-shirt, the western boots, which she’d had
forever and wore to work. She was only five-five, shorter by two
inches than Brook. She had flesh, not scrawny or over-weight,
generous in the hips and butt and about average in the bust.
Madeline was the mom-next-door in any southern town.

At least, she thought so. Bud was a
suit guy, shiny shoes, big car and cell phones. She was down-home,
laid back. Yeah, it had been a deplorable match. But Brook had
years to deal with that.

“
You’re so different than
him,” Brook muttered finally. “And lately, you’ve been on my ass
for everything.”

Madeline felt a headache coming on, and
felt compelled to defend herself. She knew Bud better than her
daughter did, and different meant he didn’t care what Brook did if
it enhanced his image. His strict rules had to do with outward and
keeping up with the who’s-who crowd. He was a middle-aged car
dealer with an over-inflated opinion of himself. It didn’t help
that women apparently didn’t care. Bud had no problem getting
women. Admittedly, they were more on looks than brains, but he knew
how to wine, dine, and manage them.

She told Brook candidly, “You’ve been
pushing. You know you have. I’m not stupid. If you lived with Bud
you’d be going to private school and having friends named Buffy and
Chad. We both know he’s stricter than I am. All I ask is that you
stay away from certain places and people. Other than that, I’ve let
you earn a good amount of freedom and trust.”

“
The Coburn’s are the
handsomest boys, and men, around, what kind of girl pretends to be
blind to that?” Brook snorted and sat up. “They ride those fast
pacing horses. Karla said Coy has one called Nimrod, a wild thing.
Coy, Jason, and some of their cousins played at the school talent
show. They’re talented, have respectable jobs too. I don't
understand what’s depraved about them.”

After that rushed information dump,
Madeline muttered, “They‘re different.” They’d had this
conversation before.

“
Old Man Coburn left two
hundred acres to those men. They live a bit edgier than the rest of
us. They own and work in most of the businesses. They play hard,
and I-don't-mean-softball. They bust heads and break hearts.
They’re not for good girls.”

“
Oh, come on. You work in a
tavern. Okay. It’s classy, and Sunny Lightfoot is a lawyer. But
what if my friends were forbidden to hang out with me because you
serve beer?”

“
I’m not talking about
something that simple.” Madeline walked in the room and sat in a
neon orange chair. “There are dangers that are hard to put into
words. A girl can get swept away by the lure of Copper Creek.
Particularly by the Coburn’s. They make the rules there. And, old
Dovie, their grandma, causes hell for anyone she doesn’t personally
approve of.”

“
You sound as if you’ve been
there”

Madeline stood, hiding the jolt that
she’d guessed, and not ready to open that door yet. “Just stay out
of there. Please.”

“
I want Coy
Coburn.”

Madeline closed her eyes and let a long
breath escape. “I’ll call your Dad to come and get you next
week.”

Brook went off, “You can’t do that. I’m
the lead cheerleader! I’ve got a life and… hell! Why won’t you be
reasonable?”

“
I’m working in the morning,
Brook. You have all night to come and tell me you’re going to obey
my wishes. If not, I’m calling your father.”