Bring on the Rain (4 page)

The tightness in his gut won out. He
asked gruffly, “Did you forget what it is to be young? To feel that
kind of fascination and excitement? To want to be around each other
all the time?”

“
I didn't forget anything.
Particularly when a young man takes that kind of emotion and uses
it to get what he wants.” She looked away from him “When he gets
you high, before he lets go and you crash and burn. It’s deceptive
with you Coburn’s. It’s almost…real.”

Anger mingled with bitter hurt. Mitch
lashed out, “You burned yourself. Don’t lay shit on me because I
didn’t keep begging, making a fool of myself. Sure, I got married.
So did you, I recall.”

“
You absolutely amaze me. “
She laughed hollowly, and then whispered, “Still a lying bastard,
after all these years.”

“
I—”

“
Mom?”

Mitch stepped back clinching his fists
to contain himself as Brook got in. He got a fuming look from
Madeline. They could both see the young woman had been well kissed
and rumpled by Coy’s hands.

Madeline started the engine, and then
pulled out fast and sprayed gravel on him before she headed down
the road.

~*~

Mitch walked up the steps.

Coy was standing on the porch. His gaze
following the Bronco as it sped down the black top.

“
Did Daddy mess with
her…Madeline?”

“
No.”

The young man sat down in a rocker.
Mitch eased in to one of the others. Coy propped his cast on a
planter and ruffled his already disheveled hair. “What the hell is
her problem?”

Mitch tried to sound casual but his
mind reeled back from the encounter with Madeline.

“
Hey, you know how it goes.
There has never been a girl from Diamond Back allowed here. That
place has always looked down on us. Town folks want to marry their
little girls off to city boys.

“
I’m not trying to marry
her, just date her.”

“
Even that is
forbidden.”

“
Freakin' stupid.” Coy grit
his teeth and shook his head. “Her mom works as a waitress, but I
know her dad’s some wheeler-dealer.”

“
D.B Tavern is not a beer
joint. Sunny Lightfoot and his mother are all class. It’s not about
money with them, anyway. It’s about this life we have here.” Mitch
glanced at the pasture next door where cattle grazed. Sweet green
grasses shone emerald under the sun. Wildflowers sprang up
alongside fruit trees and rose bushes planted by his
ancestors.

There was a goat or two ambling along
the other side of the fence, eliminating the need for mowing.
Behind his house, the hillside was dotted with fast, sleek pacing
horses.

In most parts these standard bred
horses were used to buggy race, they had a trot-like gait at high
speeds and were ridden all over the south under the saddle. They
were bred high strung, proud, and often half wild. His horses were
huge and well known for their registered bloodlines. They weren’t
gentle pleasure riding animals. Like racehorses, they had a
temperament and personality, lightening on hooves. It took a tough
man or woman to train and show them.

Nipper was making evening rounds. Mitch
watched the black and white spotted mutt as he said, “It’s the car
racing, the macho image. The whole thing is a mite too rough living
for their daughters.”

“
That’s
bullshit.”

“
Yeah, it always has been.
But hey, we play music and ride an odd motorcycle or two. Our
weekend shindigs are a bit too cranked up for their
kind.”

“
I’m sorry, that’s freakin’
dumb.”

“
Yeah.”

“
Did you date
her?”

Shit. Mitch considered lying, but Coy
and Jason were close. Coy would talk his problems out with Jason.
He’d better tell the truth. “Yes. I did.”

“
Man. What the hell did you
do to her?”

“
A year ago, I’d have said
nothing. Today is the first time we’ve spoken in nineteen years.
But now, I don't know.”

Coy still looked stunned. It was
understandable given that Mitch was the official family elder, and
everyone thought they knew everything about his life.

Coy asked puzzled. “Uncle Mitch, why
the hell did you give her up for Aunt Ronda?”

“
I didn’t—ah—it’s
complicated. You know, Jude’s told you, we married who Grandma
Dovie picked out. But that's not an explanation.” It was too damn
complex to weed out right now too.

“
Grandma cries all the time.
It makes Jason and me uncomfortable. She’s falling apart. All she
can do is cry about you and Dad and the divorces.”

“
She used to be stronger,
more manipulative you might say. I love that old woman, but she
sure steered us wrong.”

“
What about Madeline? What’s
up with y'all?”

“
I have no idea. It ended
badly, for both of us. I wasn’t ready for it. Things were
different. Dovie held everything until we turned twenty-one; paid
for college, set us up in whatever business we wanted. She spoiled
us, or maybe it was manipulation. We didn’t have any real rules. We
worked, got to play hard. We had all this land, owned most the
hollow; the lakes and meadows were ours to ride dirt bikes on or
swim and fish. We brought girls around all the time.”

Coy raised his brow waiting for more
information.

“
As I got older she put the
law down. Madeline was nice to her, made a point of talking to her.
Today she said Grandma called her crazy white trash
something.”

Mitch shook his head, still trying to
absorb it. He had no illusions. He knew his grandma was hard and
tough as nails in those days, spoiling them. But, it had taken
years to understand how the spoiling and manipulation had all
worked together. Mitch couldn’t believe she’d been mean to
Madeline. Yet, Madeline wasn’t a liar.

“
I know about Brook’s
grandma. The one that who killed herself,” Coy cut in his
thoughts.

“
She was a fragile woman. I
didn’t see her. No one did much, although, I recall rumors and
talk. Madeline was the kid in school who always had to rush home.
She was the one doing the grocery shopping and walking into town to
pay her mama’s bills. She did everything, but was as locked up in
that house as Adell was.

I didn’t think Grandma held that
against her, she just set her mind on picking our spouses…like
marrying Jude to your mother because your Grandpa Brown was a
businessman. Deena got stuck with the old banker friend of
Granny’s. Me, I fell in step too, with Ronda.”

“
Grandma sounds like people
from Diamond Back.”

“
Pretty much. Only they
manage to make better marriages.”

“
You mean, she didn’t choose
Madeline for you?”

“
I don't know now, Coy. I
was told Madeline didn’t want to see me. She said it was over. Her
mama killed herself afterwards, and she didn’t answer my letters,”
he thought back with sudden clarity. Mitch admitted, “I was tore
up, drank all the time. I reckon if Dovie hadn’t pushed, I would
have never come out of it.”

“
Madeline hasn’t. That’s
freakin’ obvious.”

“
I can’t fix what I don't
understand yet, Coy.”

“
Find out, Uncle Mitch. I
care for Brook.” Coy got up and went inside, leaving Mitch sitting
there, staring down the road at nothing, and feeling as if he were
swimming in unanswered questions.

Chapter 3

Diamond Back
Tavern…

“
It’s been a long time since
you called us, honey.”

“
I know Aunt Gee Gee.”
Madeline stood in the back room at work, unable to get her mind
clear. She was talking to her aunt in Kentucky. “How’s Max doing
now?”

“
I can hear something in
your voice, sweetie. What’s wrong?”

Gee Gee, her dad’s sister had totally
not understood her mother. Gee Gee had loved her brother too, but
moved on after his death. He had been in a crash he might have
survived had the car not caught fire. But Gee Gee always kept in
touch, and later when it counted, she came to her rescue. She and
her Uncle Harold were pediatric surgeons, well-traveled and fast
track people, but at the same time, Aunt Gee Gee remained
incredibly warm and caring.

“
Brook and I are butting
heads.”

“
Oh, the teenage
thing.”

Madeline laughed. “Yes, but she’s
sneaking to Copper Creek.”

A hesitation. “—Not to?”

“
No, not Mitch’s. She’s
discovered Jude’s son.”

“
I never met them, although,
you know what I think. You want me to take her for a
while?”

“
No.” Madeline felt her
heart sink. To think, she might actually be so bad at parenting she
couldn’t even raise one child. She knew Gee Gee wasn’t thinking
that, of course, but if she sent Brook to her now, those old fears
would prove true. She’d think herself as incapable as her mother of
child rearing.

“
Oh honey, sometimes I’m
insensitive. Of course I meant only a visit.”

“
I know. Hey, are you
honestly retiring?”

“
Yep. We might travel now
since Max is settled.”

Madeline closed her eyes, her fingers
tightening on the phone. “What’s he doing?”

“
He’s writing the sports
column for the local paper and doing a lot of freelance work. He
can’t decide between photography and writing. Frankly, we encourage
both. I keep telling him to go to Europe. But he’s one of those
people fascinated with his own roots.”

“
I’m glad he’s doing
well.”

“
I wish you would have let
me tell him.”

“
No, I…I can’t see any good
in it right now. I‘m going to soon.”

“
He asked me
once.”

“
About me?”

“
No dear, about his parents
in general.”

“
I’m here at work. I can’t
stay on long. Do you think maybe he and Brook noticed anything last
year?”

“
Only that you don't let
them around each other much,” Gee Gee said matter-of-factly. “He’s
charmed by her. They did laugh a lot together. He thinks you’re
protective, that you shelter her or something to that affect.
Listen, honey, he’s going to ask me again one day.”

“
It’s a bad time to be
considering this,” she admitted. “Brook is going to get her heart
broken. She hates me. I swear it. But those Coburn's will eat her
alive. I’ve called Bud, but chickened out of sending her. She’s
head cheerleader, only got a bit of high school left, and all her
friends are here.”

“
That Bud would smother her.
My God, he’s more fixated on which fork to use than he is in touch
with reality. She’d be miserable.”

“
She says she’s going to him
after Graduation. He’s supposed to pay her tuition.”

“
It’s about time he paid
something, isn’t it? I think she should take a year before
deciding. Brook is intelligent and things come too easy for her. I
don't think she takes studying seriously. You realize, Madeline,
her being hot for this boy and making decisions under pressure is
not good.”

“
Boy, don't I. My nightmare
is she’ll do something to spite me. Out of rebellion.”

“
Hang in there. If you need
me…”

“
Thanks, Gee Gee, and tell
Max... Hi for us.” She wanted to say a hundred more things, but
she’d made a point of playing the role of cousin to Max, even with
Gee Gee.

“
Relax, he’s crazy about
you. Thinks you’re hip and all.” The woman laughed. “The older I
get, the more nicknames he has for me, now he calls me Ma Fuddle. I
think it’s because I sent him the menu for a dinner party instead
of the letter I wrote.”

“
Are you all right?” Her
heartbeat paused. Gee Gee had become her anchor in the
world.

“
Yes honey, worked too hard
and long is all. Nice plush retirement will fix
everything.”

“
Is Max living in Frankfort
now?”

“
No, he’s in Lexington.
Although, he takes off to who knows where on a story. Traveling
with a ball team this summer I think. It’s been a long time since
he’s stayed at our house. Hard to believe he’s only nineteen,” she
sighed again. “Graduating at fifteen made him grow up too fast for
me.”

“
He takes after his
father.”

“
Oh, I don't
know.”

“
I’ve got to run. Rafael is
holding down my tables for me. I just needed to whine.” Madeline
always hated to hang up and cut off the sound of that comforting
voice.

“
Love you.”

“
You too, bye.” She hung up,
smiled at her co-worker Joe Parker, and went to relieve Rafael. She
had heard something about Max’s life, and it gave her some small
comfort to know he was doing fine.