The Other Brooks Boy (Texas Wildfire Series)

by Diane Roth

  Call me the instant you land at the airport.

  Please.

  Cara sat back down in the seat and tried to draw breath into her trembling chest, the full depth of her children's discovery nearly slaying her. How could she have been so careless with her phone? Lord, of all the ways for them to find out. This was so unfair to them ... probably looked so dirty and ... Lord, even incestuous.

  "Cara, what's wrong," Greg asked, his voice firm, worried.

  "Ryan found my phone and everything that was on it," she said, her own voice sounding oddly disembodied.

  Greg frowned deeply, then his eyes flew wide, his mouth going round with understanding.

  "Oh, shit."

  "Yeah," Cara said.

  "Like all the texts we've exchanged?" he asked, but she could tell he didn't want to really think about that any more than she did.

  She nodded woodenly. "Yeah."

  He closed his eyes and blew out a breath between pursed lips. "This is bad, isn't it?"

  She closed her own eyes for a moment, trying to steady herself. "Yeah, it is. Maddie says Ryan is trying to take her car over to your house to confront you." He sat back down beside her, moving out of the way of others trying to leave the aircraft. He shook his head, frowning into mid space as his mind whirled, just as hers did.

  "This is not at all how I wanted them to find out," she said, her heart aching for what her children must be feeling right now.

  "I know," he said gravely.

  "What do we do now?" she asked him.

  He thought for a moment, then slowly blew out another deep breath. "Babe, there's nothing to do now but damage control," he said, and she knew he was right ... didn't even know why she'd asked. She said nothing, concentrating on simply breathing and not overreacting in a self-blaming or self-defeating manner. She had to stay calm and use sound judgment in talking to Ryan and Maddie about this.

  The flight attendant approached and asked if there was something they needed.

  "No, we're good. Just leaving," Greg answered, standing and reaching to draw Cara to her feet.

  She rose as well, and they exited the plane, walking silently, each lost in the ramifications of this revelation.

  They made their way through the airport and walked out of the terminal into the early evening darkness, and Greg stopped, parking both pieces of their luggage he'd been pulling. Cara stopped, too.

  He leaned over and kissed her lightly, but lingered, perhaps drawing some strength from it. Cara was beyond feeling at the moment.

  "Listen ... we'll get through this. I'll follow you to the house and we'll talk to them."

  Cara shook her head, dazed. "I don't know."

  "You don't know what?"

  "Whether you should go with me. Ryan is so pissed off, Greg." She couldn't decide if it would help or inflame for Greg to go with her.

  "Exactly. It may take some muscle to settle him down. There's no way in hell I'm letting you face this without me," he said more gently, brushing an errant lock of hair back from her cheek. "We're in this together, Sunshine. We'll get through it." His voice gave her courage, and she was thankful he'd be there.

  "You think I should call Maddie and tell her we're on our way?"

  "No, I don't." He shook his head. "Let's just go and get it done."

  He walked her to her car and put both their bags inside her trunk, then leaned in the driver's side window and kissed her lingeringly, lovingly. "That might be the last time I get to kiss you this weekend. I wanted to make it a good one."

  She smiled at him. "Thanks. I needed it. I love you."

  "Love you, too, Cara."

  Chapter Ten

  Cara pulled into the garage, noting that Maddie's car was not in the driveway. It sent a bolt of fear through her stomach to think about Ryan driving around without a license or the experience to be safe. Especially when he was so worked up and angry.

  "Lord, please protect him in his hot-headed foolishness and bring him home safely," she whispered, putting her car in Park and taking a deep, fortifying breath before getting out to face whatever came. Greg pulled into the driveway behind her and met her in the garage.

  "Where's Maddie's car?" he asked.

  "I'm guessing Ryan is out in it." She opened the trunk, and Greg lifted out their luggage.

  "He'll come home soon enough," Greg said. He popped up the handle on her luggage and nodded toward the door. "Ready?"

  "Not really," Cara said honestly.

  "It's okay, babe. We'll talk them off the ledge," he assured her, then leaned over and kissed her quickly. "Come on."

  They walked into an eerily quiet house, and Cara thought they might get a moment's reprieve, until she heard Barbara's voice. "Someone's home."

  "Mom? Is that you?" Maddie called from the den.

  "Yes, it's me," Cara answered and made her way toward the den with Greg on her heels.

  They entered the den to find Barbara and Maddie sitting side-by-side on the sofa, matching irritated expressions on their faces.

  "And me," Greg said.

  Maddie didn't even acknowledge him, but spoke to her mother in a less than civil tone. "You could have called me from the airport like I asked you to."

  Cara nodded and sat down in the chair facing them. "I could have. You're right. But your text threw me for a pretty good emotional loop, Maddie. I needed a little time."

  Maddie's eyes narrowed, her jaw set at a stubborn angle. "What? To get your stories straight?"

  Cara took that one on the chin. "There's no story to get straight, Mad. This just isn't how I wanted you all to discover that Greg and I are seeing one another." She sent Barbara an apologetic look. "It's not how we wanted to share this with any of you."

  Barbara said nothing, but her expression was less damning than Maddie's, at least.

  "Well, why didn't you share it? Why did you keep it a secret? And how long has it been going on? Some of those texts--" Maddie stopped and rolled her eyes extravagantly, showing her disgust. "Some of those were like four months old."

  "We've been seeing one another since summer," Cara admitted quietly.

  "Why would you keep it from us?" Barbara finally spoke up.

  Cara sighed deeply. "Because this is how I thought you'd all react to the news." She shrugged. "And look at Ryan's reaction. Is he out there somewhere in your car, Maddie? No license ... all worked up?"

  "Oh, you have no idea. I think he put a hole in the sheetrock in his bedroom with his fist. He is pissed. I mean pissed," she said, then paused for effect. "So yeah ... he's out somewhere looking for you, Uncle Greg. Don't guess he found you at home though or--" she stopped suddenly, then raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Oh, my gosh ... you were in Florida with her, weren't you?" she said, her voice dripping with disgust.

  Greg didn't answer her. "Call Ryan and tell him to come home right now," he said, nodding at the ever present phone in Maddie's hand.

  "I cannot believe this," she said, but did as he told her to.

  Barbara rose and inclined her head toward the kitchen. "Come speak with me, Greg." It wasn't a question.

  They left the room, and Maddie finished her very short conversation with Ryan, then hung up. She didn't look at her mother, but concentrated on her hands in her lap instead.

  "Maddie, I didn't set out to deceive you and Ryan. Nor, did I set out to fall in love with Greg."

  Maddie's head snapped up sharply. "You're in love with him?" Her expression ... the disbelief in her eyes told Cara it was the last thing she'd expected to hear.

  Cara nodded softly. "I am, Maddie."

  Maddie closed her eyes, her head shaking slightly. "I'm sorry, Mom, but that is effed up. Like, totally effed up." She studied her hands again.

  "Does it really feel that way to you, Maddie? Is it really so out of the realm of imagination that Greg and I would grow to care about one another in a new and different way than we had before?"

  "I don't get it," she said, shaking her head some more.

&nbs
p; Greg returned to the den and sized up the situation for a moment. "Mom's leaving. Said she'd like us to come see her one night this next week so we can talk," he said, his expression telling Cara it wasn't something he was looking forward to.

  "Is she all right?" Cara asked.

  He shrugged a little and sent a bewildered look in her direction. "I don't know."

  He sat down on the arm of Cara's chair. "Did you get Ryan?" he asked Maddie.

  "Yeah." She wouldn't even spare him a look.

  "That's it? Yeah?" he asked.

  "What do you want me to say, 'Yes, Daddy'?" she sneered, sending him a hateful look.

  It cut. Cara felt his body flinch beside her, and her heart swelled up painfully in her chest.

  He sat quietly for a moment. "No, Maddie. I don't want you to call me Daddy. I'm not your father."

  Cara could almost read Maddie's mind. You're damn right, you're not. But Maddie dropped her defiant gaze back into her lap and fiddled with her cell phone case.

  "But you probably ought to go, 'cause it's only going to make it worse when Ryan gets here and you're here. He's gonna go off on you, for sure."

  "I can handle Ryan's anger," Greg said quietly. "I'm not leaving your mother to deal with this alone."

  Maddie's pique might have lifted a tiny measure with that. Cara saw a glimpse of respect in her regard for Greg before Maddie shuttered it.

  "I still don't understand why you guys kept it such a secret for such a long time," she said, and Cara began to hear more hurt in her voice than anger.

  "Maddie, we didn't think you guys would understand. Good grief, we didn't understand ourselves how our feelings could suddenly shift from being family to attraction like this," she said, slicing the air between herself and Greg. "It was very confusing for us in the beginning. We wanted to make sure it was going to work out between us before we put you all through something like this unnecessarily."

  Maddie didn't say anything, but Cara could feel the softening in her daughter and hoped her son would be inclined to listen to reason as well.

  "So ... ," she paused, her face still downturned, but her eyes rose to question them both. "You guys are like ... serious?"

  "Yes," Greg answered for them both, but Maddie looked more to her mother for an answer. Cara nodded.

  "How weird is that gonna be if I have to tell my friends that my mom is marrying my uncle?" she asked, really just thinking out loud.

  The front door burst open, and Ryan charged in, having seen Greg's truck in the driveway.

  It startled them, and they all came to their feet at the same time.

  Ryan was breathing like a raging bull, his nostrils flared, his fists balled tightly at his sides. "You sorry motherfucker," he said through gritted teeth, advancing on Greg across the room.

  "Ryan!" Cara shouted, putting herself between Ryan and Greg, but Ryan stepped around her, setting her aside with a firm but gentle push.

  "I told y'all he was crazy pissed," Maddie said, and ran around to the backside of the sofa, her eyes like saucers.

  "Boy, you'd best settle down if you know what's good for you," Greg said, his tone grim, his expression grave.

  "Fuck you! Don't tell me to settle down when you've been fucking my mom on the sly, you bastard!" He no longer advanced on Greg, but stood his ground, shouting so loud Maddie huddled down to a squat on the other side of the room and covered her ears.

  Cara placed a calming hand on Ryan's arm, but he flung it off angrily. "Ryan, stop it," she said, her own voice shaking and breathless.

  "No way. He wants to be the big man, then let him hear me out. I'm gonna tell him what I think of him!" His eyes were full of flaming anger, his voice quaking with rage.

  "And I'm willing to listen to you, but only if you act like a man instead of a brat, spewing profanity and insulting your mother and me both," Greg told him, his own voice rising considerably.

  "Ryan, please," Cara cajoled, approaching him again, but he stepped away, turning his back on her, leaned his head back and covered his face with both hands. His chest still worked like he'd run a marathon, his breath blowing in and out harshly.

  "We can't talk to you when you're raging like this. I promise we'll listen to you. You'll have your say, but you have to chill out," Cara said, amazed she was able to string that many calm and sensible words together in the face of his awful anger.

  "Arrrrrrrgh," a strangled sound escaped from Ryan's throat, a sound of pure frustration and crazed wrath, and he whirled on Greg then and took a full-fledged swing at him. It was only Greg's quick reflexes that saved him from a solid punch in the face.

  Before Cara could have said how it happened, Greg had Ryan turned around, his arm pulled up high behind his back and his face smashed up against the far wall of the den. Maddie whimpered in the distance, creeping ever farther from the action, now perched in a squat on the bottom stair of the staircase completely across the room.

  "Oh, my Lord, Greg, don't hurt him," Cara cried, her mother's instinct kicking in.

  Greg looked at her like she was crazy. "Are you kidding me? He took a solid swing at me. I'm not standing still for that shit. Cara," he said. And she knew he shouldn't have to.

  Ryan grimaced as Greg pinned him to the wall, his face a contorted mask of fury and pain. "Let me go, you asshole," Ryan seethed.

  Greg snorted in disbelief. "That's not the way to convince me, dude."

  Cara approached, trying to calm the situation. "Greg, please ... let him go," she asked quietly, her heart stammering like a wild thing in her chest.

  Greg was breathing hard, too. He looked at her, his inner struggle evident in his eyes, then he turned back to Ryan. "You ready to talk, or you wanna scrap some more?"

  "Just let me go," he said, jerking his arm in Greg's tight hold in an attempt to free himself.

  Greg shook his head firmly. "Nope, you're not ready yet. And I'm patient, Ry. I'll stand here all night if that's what it takes for you to settle down and get your emotions under control."

  "How am I supposed to get my emotions under control when you've betrayed me? Tell me, Uncle Greg," he said sarcastically, his voice cracking.

  Maddie was sobbing into her hands across the room.

  Cara's heart was absolutely breaking, falling into her stomach like chunks of lead until she felt nauseated and faint. "Oh, Ryan ... God, Greg, let him go, please," she begged, placing her hand on Greg's arm.

  Greg closed his eyes for a second, then drew a shaky breath into his chest. "Listen to me, Ryan Daniel. I'll put you on the floor in about half a second if you take a swing at me, or start cussing your mother again. You hear me?"

  After a rebellious moment, Ryan nodded tightly.

  "Say it," Greg barked, pushing Ryan a little tighter against the wall.

  "Whatever! I hear you, man," Ryan yelled, frustration getting the better of him again.

  "You'd better," Greg said, easing his hold on Ryan's arm a little. "You'd sure better, boy." He released him, and Cara drew a breath finally, not even having realized she'd been holding her breath for some time.

  Ryan turned around and, if he could have slayed Greg with that look, Greg would have been on the ground. He worked his shoulder, and continued the glower. "Way to manhandle my pitching arm."

  Greg shrugged and shook his head. "You came at me, man. There are repercussions for that kinda crap, Ryan. You're lucky I didn't swing back. It's instinct."

  "It's also instinct to protect your mom," Ryan told him, his eyes damning him.

  Cara moved back between them then. "Okay ... okay." She leveled a look on both of them.

  Ryan glowered at her some then, but walked across the room and raised Maddie to her feet by her elbow.

  "I'm sorry, Mad. I know it freaks you out when I get pissed like that. Come on. Sit down with me," he said gently, leading her back to the sofa. Maddie huddled under the protective arm he draped around her shoulders, and together they sat down opposite Cara. Greg remained standing, his arms folded across h
is chest.

  "Thank you," Cara said, and blew out a pent up breath and blinked a time or two. "Please let's discuss this calmly."

  Silence reigned. Neither of her children would even look at her, and it dawned on her that battle lines had never been drawn in such a manner, with her on one side and her children in solidarity on the other. It cut her to the quick.

  "Please know that I will forever regret you finding out about my relationship with Greg in this way. I know it's shocked you and hurt you both. I'm so sorry for that," she said. Still she got no response. "Ryan, I told Maddie, and I'll tell you, too. We didn't want to confuse you guys and put you through this ... this mess if we didn't think it was going to go anywhere. We were confused by our changing relationship in the beginning and didn't think it was wise to reveal it until we were sure about our feelings."

  Ryan finally raised his face to look at her, but his expression was so full of bored contempt until she wished he'd hide it again. "So. Would you have told us if I hadn't found all that shit on your phone?"

  Cara nodded. "Yes, we decided this weekend that we were ready to share this with you and Maddie ... and with your grandmother."

  Confusion flitted across his brow. "Wait ... this weekend ... " He frowned at Greg, then turned back to Cara. "He was with you this weekend?"