Brave the Storm, Season 2, Episode 3 (Rising Storm)

by Lisa Mondello

  Brave the Storm

  By Lisa Mondello

  Rising Storm

  Season 2

  Episode 3

  Story created by Julie Kenner and Dee Davis

  Brave the Storm, Episode 3

  Rising Storm, Season 2

  Copyright 2016 Julie Kenner and Dee Davis Oberwetter

  ISBN: 978-1-942299-94-3

  Published by Evil Eye Concepts, Incorporated

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination and are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or establishments is solely coincidental.

  Book Description

  Brave the Storm

  By Lisa Mondello

  Rising Storm, Season 2, Episode 3

  Secrets, Sex and Scandals …

  Welcome to Storm, Texas, where passion runs hot, desire runs deep, and secrets have the power to destroy… Get ready. The storm is coming.

  As Senator Rush’s poll numbers free fall, Marylee tries to drive a wedge between Brittany and Marcus. Across town, Anna Mae and Chase dance toward reconciliation. Ginny longs for Logan, while he fights against Sebastian’s maneuvering. And Hector, newly freed from prison, heads back to Storm…

  About Lisa Mondello

  New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author, Lisa Mondello, has held many jobs in her life but being a published author is the last job she'll ever have. She's not retiring! She blames the creation of the personal computer for her leap into writing novels. Otherwise, she'd still be penning stories with paper and pen. Her book The Knight and Maggie's Baby is a New York Times Bestseller. Her popular series includes Texas Hearts, Dakota Hearts, Fate with a Helping Hand and the new Summer House series. Writing as LA Mondello, her romantic suspense, Material Witness, book 1 of her Heroes of Providence series made the USA Today Bestseller List and was named one of Kirkus Reviews Best Books of 2012. You can find more information about Lisa Mondello at lisamondello.blogspot.com and sign up for her newsletter to receive new release information at http://eepurl.com/xhxO5.

  Also From Lisa Mondello

  Click to purchase

  Dakota Hearts Series:

  Her Dakota Man

  Badland Bride

  Dakota Heat

  Wild Dakota Heart

  His Dakota Bride

  Dakota Wedding

  His Dakota Heart

  Dakota Cowboy

  One Dakota Night

  Dakota Homecoming

  Texas Hearts Series:

  Her Heart for the Asking

  His Heart for the Trusting

  The More I See

  Gypsy Hearts

  Leaving Liberty

  His Texas Heart

  The Wedding Dress

  Fate with a Helping Hand Series:

  The Gift

  All I Want for Christmas is You

  The Marriage Contract

  The Knight and Maggie's Baby

  My Lucky Charm

  Heroes of Providence Series:

  Material Witness

  Safe Haven

  Reckless Hours

  Summer House Series:

  Moment in Time

  Moment of Impact

  Moment of Truth

  Moment of Trust

  Standalones:

  Nothing But Trouble

  Material Witness

  Part of the Rodeo Knights series:

  Her Knight, Her Protector

  Foreword

  Dear reader –

  We have wanted to do a project together for over a decade, but nothing really jelled until we started to toy with a kernel of an idea that sprouted way back in 2012 … and ultimately grew into Rising Storm.

  We are both excited about and proud of this project—not only of the story itself, but also the incredible authors who have helped bring the world and characters we created to life.

  We hope you enjoy visiting Storm, Texas. Settle in and stay a while!

  Happy reading!

  Julie Kenner & Dee Davis

  Sign up for the Rising Storm/1001 Dark Nights Newsletter

  and be entered to win an exclusive lightning bolt necklace specially designed for Rising Storm by Janet Cadsawan of Cadsawan.com.

  Click here to subscribe.

  As a bonus, all subscribers will receive a free

  Rising Storm story

  Storm Season: Ginny & Jacob – the Prequel

  by Dee Davis

  Table of Contents

  Book Description

  About Lisa Mondello

  Also from Lisa Mondello

  Foreword

  Family Trees

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Rising Storm

  An excerpt from Lightning Strikes, Rising Storm Season 2, Episode 4 by Lexi Blake

  1001 Dark Nights

  Special Thanks

  Family Trees

  Allen Family

  Alvarez Family

  Douglas Family

  Grossman Family

  Johnson Family

  Moreno Family

  Murphy Family

  Prager Family

  Rush Family

  Salt Family

  Chapter One

  Coming home wasn’t supposed to be so hard. Chase Johnson eased himself into a chair on the porch and gazed out at the wide spread of the ranch he’d grown up on. He picked up his guitar and held it in his hands. The instrument had always been more like an extension of his arms. A music reviewer who’d seen him play at the Ryman had once said that Chase played as if he’d been born holding that guitar in his hands. Most nights it felt that way.

  But that had changed a few months ago. A visit to his doctor, a few tests, and it was like his arms had been ripped from his body.

  Closing his eyes, he placed his left hand on the neck of the guitar and fingered a G chord. With his right hand, he held a pick between his thumb and two fingers and steadied the tip on the G string. He paused, listening to the slight scraping of the pick against the string as he waited for the trembling in his hand to stop.

  Except it didn’t. He knew it wouldn’t.

  With the back of his hand, Chase wiped the sweat on his upper lip as dread filled him. He’d been assured that although his Parkinson’s would get worse eventually, the longer he kept his music, the longer he could hold “eventually” off.

  But now …

  Well, apparently “eventually” had caught up to him.

  Chuckling with no humor, he placed his beloved instrument in the guitar case and locked it. Nashville had been his home for more years than Storm had been. But Storm, Texas, had always been in his heart. It would always be home. His family was here.

  And Anna Mae.

  Chase may not have lived on the ranch all these years but after the short time being home, he already knew he still had a whole lot of fences to mend.

  * * * *

  “We’re sliding.” Sebastian Rush sat behind his desk at his campaign headquarters in Storm, his most recent polling numbers mocking him from his desktop.

  Marylee scowled at him from her perch on the chair a
cross from him. “If I hadn’t stopped smoking years ago, I’d be chain smoking now. You realize your stupidity may cost us the election.”

  “Mother,” Sebastian warned. Her tantrums over his indiscretions with Dakota Alvarez and Ginny Moreno had become a broken record that tormented him week after week after week. “It happened. Rehashing it every time we face a dip in the polls isn’t going to make it go away.”

  “Everything will go away if we don’t figure out a way to salvage this campaign before you sink any lower.”

  Marylee pushed herself up from her chair and moved to the window. There wasn’t a wrinkle on her suit. Every hair on her head was in place. Just like always.

  After a moment, she turned to him and cast him the disapproving glare that had become habit. “You were the golden boy, Sebastian. Ever since you were a little boy I knew you were destined for great things and I was prepared to lead you there. And you pay me back by rolling around in the mud with the trash of Storm.”

  He stayed quiet, familiar enough with the tirade to know she’d wind down soon enough.

  “And what if Ginny Moreno really is carrying your baby? The press will eat you alive.”

  “The baby won’t be born until after the election. I’ll already be safely in office.”

  “That remains to be seen,” she sniffed. “And even then, Ginny’s spawn can still damage your career. We have to plan for that possibility even while we fight to win this election.”

  She was right, even though Sebastian didn’t want to hear it. Damn, if he had only known there was a possibility the baby she was carrying was his, he could have made it go away. But it was too late for that. Now her family had rallied around her. And there was no way she’d give up the baby. She was too determined to believe it was Jacob Salt’s. Not that there was a chance in hell of that being true.

  “We’ll figure out a way to spin it, Mother. We always do.”

  “Sebastian, what we need is a distraction. Oliver agrees,” she added, referring to Oliver Stayton, the political consultant she’d brought in to clean up this mess. So far, Sebastian had to admit the man knew what he was doing.

  “What do you have in mind?”

  She sat down again and crossed her legs. “Everyone loves a hero and we have our very own right here in Storm. I think we should call on Logan Murphy again.”

  Sebastian sighed and tossed the pen he’d been twirling between his fingers on the blotter on the desk. “He’s been lukewarm at best regarding helping my candidacy. Given his connection with Ginny Moreno, I’m not sure that’s the best course of action.”

  “They broke up.”

  “Yes, but I’ve seen him looking at her. The kid may not know it, but he’s still pining for her.”

  Marylee’s lips curled into a smile. “Doesn’t matter. That’s what news editing is for. He’s exactly the type of positive press we need. We just have to get the footage and then we can turn it into the perfect sound bite. We get Logan on the air to show your support for veterans, and that’s what people will be talking about. Not the fact that you can’t keep your damn pants zipped.”

  Sebastian scowled, but he had to hand it to his mother. She was a master at turn-around play. And her plan could work if they could get Logan Murphy to cooperate.

  “I’ll have my assistant give Logan a call.”

  “No. You handle it personally. And soon. We need to stop this before it has a chance to get any worse.”

  Chapter Two

  Anna Mae sat at the kitchen table with a pad of paper and a sharpened pencil. Her coffee cup had long been drained, but her mind was still cluttered with things she didn’t want to think about.

  Chase Johnson.

  “Are you going to hang around this house brooding all day again?” Rita Mae asked, dropping the last of the morning dishes into the dishwasher.

  Most of the guests they’d had overnight had either checked out or gone about their business of the day. The house was quiet and Anna Mae was ready to dive into a long list of tasks she’d written out on a notepad last night before bed.

  “What are you talking about?” Anna Mae asked as she reviewed her list. She knew. She always knew. Anna Mae just wasn’t in the mood for another one of Rita Mae’s lectures.

  Mary Louise came into the kitchen dressed more formally for the day than she normally did. “I’m not sure when I’ll be home tonight,” she said.

  Rita Mae tilted a curious eyebrow. “Oh, no? Why not?”

  “Why is she not sure or why won’t she be home?” Anna Mae asked.

  “Both.”

  “Leave the girl alone. She’s young. She’s probably got herself a hot date.” Anna Mae winked at her niece.

  Mary Louise grabbed a glass from the cabinet and then went to the refrigerator and poured some orange juice before answering. “I could say the same of you.”

  “Me?” Anna Mae laughed. “Don’t be ridiculous. I’m too old for hot dates.”

  “Don’t say that. Please don’t say that,” Mary Louise said. “I can’t bear the thought that romance dies and love goes stale as we get older. I haven’t even had a real turn at it.”

  “Oh, so it is a hot date,” Rita Mae said. “I saw you talking with Tate Johnson at the barbeque yesterday. Are you seeing him?”

  “It’s a meeting. That’s all. Tate and Hannah broke up and we’re…we’re just friends.”

  “But you’d like it to be more?” Rita Mae asked.

  Mary Louise shrugged as a blush crept up her cheeks. “Besides, now that Chase Johnson is back in town, why shouldn’t you have a hot date, Anna Mae?”

  Anna Mae dropped the pencil she’d been holding. “Why would you say something like that?” she said, feigning ignorance.

  “Oh, come on. It may have been a long time ago but Daddy told me you and Chase were once an item. I even saw an old picture of the two of you hugging.”

  “You did?” Rita Mae asked.

  “Yeah. Daddy and Chase were both playing at some club. It didn’t look like much more than a rinky-dink honkytonk. That’s what my mother used to call them. Of course, Mom had a thing for hanging out with Daddy at those honkytonks. Do you remember, Anna Mae?”

  There were too many places like that to remember which one Mary Louise could be talking about. Too many late nights with too much drink and too many years that made it all fuzzy now.

  And she could lie to herself about how much she remembered, but Anna Mae had made a career of silently cataloguing all those moments with Chase Johnson. Perhaps that’s why her anger had grown exponentially over the years after she’d told him to leave. She could have stopped him. And he would have stayed. She was sure of that. They’d loved each other so very much.

  But Anna Mae couldn’t bear the thought that eventually his love for her would have turned to resentment. Playing music had always been his dream. And if she’d trapped him in Storm, he’d never have truly been happy. Her brother had tried that and it had ended in divorce, and Mary Louise being more Anna and Rita Mae’s daughter than his.

  Would it have been different if Anna Mae had followed Chase to Nashville? It was a question that she’d rolled over in her mind for many years on many nights while missing the feel of Chase’s arms around her.

  “Anna Mae?”

  She turned her attention to her sister, who was staring at her from across the kitchen. Her mind had wandered to a time when she was younger than Mary Louise. Despite the fact that she hadn’t had her happily-ever-after with Chase, that didn’t mean that Mary Louise couldn’t have that.

  “To be honest, when I was a girl, I went to so many music halls I can’t even count them. Your father was quite the musician.” She stifled a sigh of regret because she didn’t want to feel it. She wanted to remember times that were happy and those late nights with her brother and Chase playing were happy memories. None of that had changed because she’d stayed in Storm. “Your dad and Chase used to play really well together.”

  “When I was little, I remember Daddy playi
ng in the living room while I sprawled on my stomach with a coloring book. And sometimes I sang along with him.” She placed her hand over her cheek as she chuckled. “Badly, I might add.”

  “It couldn’t have been that bad. I’ve heard you sing a time or two. You’re good enough to have gone on the road with your daddy,” Rita Mae said.

  “Not everyone is meant for that kind of life,” Anna Mae said.

  Rita Mae sighed quietly and turned toward the coffee pot. “No, I guess not. So, Mary Louise won’t be home for dinner. I guess that means you and I can go out, Anna Mae.”

  Anna Mae shook her head slightly. “I have a lot of things to do here.”

  “Hey, that sounds like a great idea,” Mary Louise said. “If things change then I’ll meet you there.”

  A wide smile split Rita Mae’s face. “Perfect.”

  “I can’t,” Anna Mae insisted, rubbing her head as if she had a headache.

  “Oh, come on. It’ll be fun. We haven’t had a meal and a drink at Murphy’s Pub in a long time. It’ll be nice to—”

  “I don’t want to go! Not everyone has time to sit around drinking at Murphy’s.” Anna Mae launched herself to her feet so fast that her chair tilted back and nearly fell over. At the shocked expression on Mary Louise’s face, Anna Mae sat back down slowly. “I’m sorry. I…”

  “Just because Chase Johnson is back in town, doesn’t mean you’re going to run into him every time you leave the house. Ever since you ran into him at the barbeque you’ve been finding busy work. And to be honest, you’re becoming a big pain in my ass.”

  “Rita Mae! In front of Mary Louise?”

  Mary Louise laughed. “I’m not ten years old. I’ve spent a few nights having drinks with friends down at the pub, Anna Mae. It’s nothing I haven’t heard.” Pulling her purse strap up on her shoulder, she headed for the door and called over her shoulder, “Call me on my cell if you end up going to Murphy’s. I may stop by.”