Bring on the Rain Read Online Free PDF Page A

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