The Return of Brody McBride

by Jennifer Ryan

Determined to go into town, he’d stood in the doorway, looking out at his new yard and driveway, drinking strong coffee. As soon as Jim, the contractor, showed up, he asked him to have one of his guys take him to Eli’s garage.

  On edge, the morning got away from him. After speaking to Jim about the plans for the addition and the work to be done that day, he took several calls for work. By the time Jim’s man took him to town, it was past lunch. Before leaving, he took his pills, stuffed the bottles into his pocket just in case, and rode into town with a plan to get his truck, bust down Owen’s office door, and demand to know where to find Rain.

  His truck wasn’t outside in the lot, so he went in through the open bay door. The truck sat in another stall against the far wall. He didn’t see Eli anywhere, but a pair of black work boots and legs in coveralls stuck out from under a Buick. Since the boots and legs were too small to be Eli’s, Brody figured the guy for one of the mechanics.

  “Hey, man, have you seen Eli? I came to pick up my truck.”

  A tool clinked on the cement before a long silent pause. Brody waited for a response from the owner of the small feet. When a pair of equally small hands grabbed the side of the car and the rest of the person slid out on a rolling cart, his heart stopped. Lying at his feet, Rain, dressed in a pair of dirty coveralls, a black ski cap on her head, and a stunned expression on her heart-shaped face. The garage was cold this time of year, her face was a little pale and her lips weren’t quite the rosy pink he remembered, but her eyes were that same shade of sable brown. With her pert little nose and big round eyes, she had always reminded him of a fairy, especially when she smiled. Which she wasn’t doing now. One perfectly arched dark eyebrow went up when he just stood staring down at her.

  “Pop’s in the office. Keys are in the truck,” she said in that same husky voice that had whispered to him in the night.

  “Rain,” he managed on a ragged exhale.

  “Ah, you remembered.”

  She rolled up to her feet in one fluid motion and stood before him a little bit of a thing at five-five to his six-three. Hands on her hips in true Rain fashion, he could only stare at the woman before him. She looked the same. Well, except her hair was all tucked up under that cap. He wanted to snatch it off her head and let her hair fall down her back in waves of deep brown. He remembered exactly how it smelled of sunshine and flowers, how it felt in his hands when he kissed her and held her head to him. The satiny feel of it brushing over his bare chest when he made love to her.

  “And here I thought you came home to see me. I must have been misinformed.” She tried to hide her nerves under all that sarcasm, but he recognized the tactic.

  “I did come home to see you. I just got sidetracked with the truck and the cabin. What are you doing here?”

  “Changing the oil on Mrs. Bloomfield’s car.”

  “No, why are you working here?”

  “I’ve worked here since I was a kid. Did my first oil change when I was five. Or have you forgotten?”

  She was being obstinate. He deserved that and a lot more. At least she wasn’t screaming at him. Though he wasn’t sure about this calm woman standing before him. Something was definitely different about her.

  “How’s the head, Brody?” She put her hand up to touch the bruise and cut at the side of his face by his hairline. Instinctively, he pulled back, blocked her hand, sweeping his out to push hers away, and regretted it immediately when she let her hand fall to her side. What he wouldn’t give to feel her fingers on his skin again.

  “Sorry. It’s not you, it’s just . . .”

  “How’s the leg? Doesn’t look like it’s bothering you much. Owen said your rehabilitation went well. He said you have a slight limp . . .” she halted her rambling and just looked up at him. “Sorry. You probably didn’t come here to talk about that.”

  “I have a lot of things I want to talk to you about. The head’s just a scratch. The leg’s . . . well, it’s better. What about you?”

  “Oh, I’m fine.”

  “You look it,” he said without thinking. “You’re more beautiful than I remember.”

  Rain let out a nervous laugh, and he caught a glimpse of that elusive smile. She looked down at herself. Didn’t matter what she wore, she would always be the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen in his life.

  “Thanks.”

  Someone’s shoes scuffed on the ground behind him. Eli. Wasn’t hard to imagine what was coming. Rain kept that passive expression on her face when she said, “Turn around, Brody.”

  The first punch hit him in the jaw, but he expected it and turned his face with the blow, taking much of the sting out of it. He hoped Eli didn’t notice. The second one came fast, but Brody grabbed Eli’s fist and held it.

  “Hi, Eli.”

  “Sonofabitch.” Eli quit pushing against his hand, so Brody let him go. “Looks like you learned a few things over there,” Eli said, obviously referring to the war.

  He rubbed his jaw, easing the sting. “A few. I deserved the punch and a good pounding, but I’d really rather just say I’m sorry. I hope you’ll let me talk to Rain and let us work a few things out.”

  “Well, damn, boy. You had to go and grow up and ruin my fun.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Sir, shit. I’ve known you since you were just a baby. Let’s just keep it at Eli.” He turned to Rain. “You two have enough time to talk about . . . you know?”

  “No,” Rain said and looked up at him. “Brody, there’s something you need to know. I don’t have much time. I want you to hear this from me before anyone else in town gossips to you about it.”

  “Whatever it is, I’d love to hear all about it. Let’s go somewhere and talk.” He wanted to get her alone. Somewhere he could just be with her, maybe even kiss her. God, he wanted to kiss her.

  “I can’t. I’m waiting for a couple of people to meet me here. Brody, when you left, I never got the chance to tell you . . .”

  “I took off on you, Rain. I didn’t want to leave you, but after what I’d done, I figured you’d never want to see me again.”

  “Yes, but there’s something you don’t know.”

  “Owen told me you didn’t go away to school. Why? It’s all you talked about. You had everything planned.”

  “Yes,” she snapped. “I did have it all planned. But life has a way of pulling the rug right out from under you.” Hands back on her hips, her cheeks flushed. Pissed off, she let him have it. “After years of friendship, all those months we were seeing each other, growing closer, you went and threw it all away. And for what? A pair of tits half the men in this town have gotten their hands on for nothing more than a ‘Come on Roxy, give a guy a little sugar,’” she said scathingly. “Two days after you slept with her, you and I . . .” She stopped herself from going on, knowing full well her father was standing right there discreetly listening to everything. It wasn’t lost on Brody that Eli wasn’t about to leave them to their privacy. Rain had something on her mind, and Eli would stand beside her while she got it said.

  “Rain, this isn’t how I wanted things to go.”

  “Yeah, well, we don’t always get what we want,” she snapped. She let out a deep breath and added, “Sometimes, we get something better.”

  “I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”

  Stomping her boot against the cement, she said, “Shit. I’m out of time.” A car pulled up behind him. The engine cut off. Rain struggled to say whatever it was on her mind.

  “Brody, when you left, I was angry. Angrier than I’ve ever been. But two weeks later everything changed. I tried to find you. I really did.”

  “Owen told me you tried to find me,” he confirmed, because she looked so lost for a minute. Her eyes went soft and she bit her lower lip. He’d never seen her look this sad and unsure.

  Her chest rose and fell with a heavy sigh. “Brody, when you left, I was pregnant.”

  Brody stilled, rooted to the floor like some great oak. That familiar closing in of
his senses took over. The air grew charged. His ears were ringing again. For a minute, he thought his bent mind would take him back to the war and some other kind of nightmare. He wasn’t sure he wouldn’t welcome it this time, because he couldn’t be that bastard who left his woman behind, pregnant, without a word from him for eight years. It just couldn’t be.

  “No.” His voice was quiet, but she heard him. Her eyes were round and sad and pleaded with him to understand.

  She’ll never take me back, he thought as the world came back with one sentence from a small voice behind him. “That must be him.”

  Before Brody turned to that voice, Rain grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him to make him look at her. “We have a little girl, Brody. But there’s more.”

  Of course there was more. There was always more, he thought miserably.

  “A few months after you left, Roxy started showing, too.”

  “No,” Brody heard himself say. “No.”

  “She had a little girl, too.”

  “Rain. How? She. Roxy. Your school. What?” Not a single thought would take hold in his mind and work its way out of his mouth. He couldn’t think. Instinct told him to run. Get as far away from this mess as he could. A bigger part of him, a part he had often ignored in the past told him to stay put and hold on to Rain. This could all be worked out. He had a child. Children. Two little girls. His. Looking at Rain, his only thought was, mine.

  Damnit, this time he wasn’t letting her go.

  “Brody, you have two daughters. They’re standing behind you. They’ve waited a long time to meet their father.”

  Taking a step toward her, he said softly, “You gave me a daughter.”

  Rain took a step back and ran into the car behind her. “Yes. She’s right behind you.” Her eyes grew wide when Brody advanced on her, grabbed her by the front of her coveralls, hauled her up to her toes, and kissed her.

  He felt her shock and the jolt when their bodies touched. She went rigid, her mouth not responding, her eyes wide. But he didn’t give up. Not after all this time. He wanted her more than anything in the world. After everything he’d been through, the taste of her eased all the anxieties, crowded into all the dark corners, consumed all the anger and pain and left nothing behind but good.

  When she went lax against him, her lips softening against his, he pressed her into the car, his whole body aligned with hers. She returned the kiss with as much heat and demand as he gave to her. This he remembered. This is how things used to be between them. One touch ignited the fire in both of them.

  “Is he mad at her?” a little voice asked behind him.

  “No, honey. He’s very happy,” Owen said with a laugh in his voice.

  Brody reluctantly stopped putting on a show for everyone standing behind them watching. With his forehead pressed to Rain’s, he tried to rein in his emotions and put words together that would make sense and tell her just what this meant to him. “Thank you. I’m sorry.” He kissed her slow and softly. This time, there was no resistance. Her silence made him nervous, but he was just so damn glad to be this close to her. “Thank you, Rain. You don’t know what this means to me.”

  “Is he going to kiss Roxy like that, too?” the little voice asked, and Rain’s body turned to stone with a look of pure rage in her eyes a moment before she pressed both hands to his chest and shoved him away. Falling back onto her flat feet, he gave her some space. He needed some, too.

  “No.” Brody never took his eyes off Rain.

  Rain slapped a hand on his shoulder and turned him toward the two girls standing in front of his brother.

  Time stopped, everything in him stilled. They looked alike in every way, and so much like him. Blond hair and round faces with little pert noses. They even dressed alike. Both girls wore jeans, pink tops, though one had a darker version, and pink Converse high tops. Rain’s influence there, he thought.

  One of the girls belonged to Rain. He recognized which upon closer inspection. The one with the light pink shirt had wavier hair and her mother’s nose. Looking more closely at the girl in the darker pink shirt, he tried to see Roxy in her. She seemed to be the shyer of the two. Everything about her appearance resembled him. The only thing he could say that spoke to Roxy’s contribution was that she was slim and maybe the shape of her eyes was a little like Roxy’s. The color was all him and shared by both girls.

  He bent on his good knee in front of them, knowing full well Owen, Eli, and Rain watched him closely. The two girls remained reserved, but inquisitive enough to look him up and down.

  “Hi,” he said and had to clear his clogged throat. “I’m Brody, your dad.”

  The two girls looked at each other, then Rain’s daughter spoke for the two of them. “Do we have to call you Brody?”

  “If you want to for a while, that’s okay. But it would really make me happy if you called me Dad.”

  “Because you want us?” Roxy’s daughter asked softly.

  Brody thought he’d lose it. His throat hurt for keeping the tears from spilling out his eyes. “Yes, honey. I want you very much. If I’d known about the two of you, I’d have come back for you.”

  “Are you going to take us?”

  Confused by the question, he glanced up and found Rain standing close. She went to the girls, stood behind them, and put a hand on each of their shoulders. “Girls, Brody just found out about you. Whatever decisions have to be made, Brody and I will discuss them. But no matter what, I’ll always be with you.”

  “But, Mom . . .”

  “Dawn, let it be for now,” she said softly.

  “Dawn?” Brody asked.

  Rain looked down at him and smiled softly. The smile didn’t really reach her eyes; too much worry clouded any happiness she might feel. The sadness he read easily. Her heart couldn’t stand he’d missed out on knowing the girls. “I think you know Dawn is your daughter with me.” She looked down at the other girl. “Autumn is your daughter with Roxy.” Rain smiled at her worried little face.

  “Dawn and Autumn. Beautiful,” he said, meaning their names and the girls themselves. It hit him hard. He was their father. As time ticked by, the meaning of that took root inside of him. A piece of his heart grew two sizes and came to life. His chest ached, he was so full of emotion.

  “Well, I guess we’ll have to talk with your mom, Autumn.”

  “No! She’s not my mom. God put me in the wrong belly!” Autumn yelled and buried her face in Rain’s stomach. Rain wrapped her up in her arms and stared down at Brody, rolling her eyes and letting out a frustrated sigh.

  “Brody, Autumn is mine. It’s a long story, one we’ll get into another time.” Cocking her head toward the two girls wrapped around her. “I figured you’d be by today for the truck. I just wanted you to meet them.”

  Unsteady, he rose to face her. “But, Rain . . .”

  “Let it be, Brody. Give yourself and them time to adjust.”

  Rain moved away, leaving him feeling lost. Dawn and Autumn stood beside Eli. Owen stood near Rain. He was the outsider here. He had a past he’d come home to face with Rain, but the girls made everything more complicated. He owed Rain more than an apology for leaving.

  She’d given up everything to be a mother to his children. He wasn’t sure why she had Autumn, but it was clear Autumn saw Rain as her one and only mother.

  Eli spoke up, trying to defuse a volatile situation. “Let’s start with a family dinner. Say, six o’clock at Rain’s house?”

  Owen smiled wickedly. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

  Rain rolled her eyes and turned her back on all of them. “Let’s go home, girls. You’ve got homework. I’ve got to cook dinner for six.” She left the garage bay with her head up, shoulders stiff. A little girl on each side of her, tiny hands clasped in hers, she’d never looked more beautiful.

  Chapter Six

  * * *

  “SHE’S PISSED,” BRODY said, stunned the girls driving away with Rain belonged to him. His girls. All of them. That�
�s how Brody thought of them now. He liked that. A lot. Still, the guilt threatened to swallow him whole. It gnawed at his gut and made it hard to breathe.

  “She has every right to be pissed,” Eli said, examining the Buick, checking to see where Rain left off.

  “What about me? Don’t I get to be pissed that I have two daughters no one told me about? Owen?” As overwhelmed as he was right now, his mind grabbed on to the one thing no one had said. “Why the hell didn’t you call me? You had my captain’s number for the last six years. You knew about my being shot, the roadside bomb.”

  “Don’t blame me. You’re the one who slept with two women within days of each other. Normally, I’d high-five you and buy you a beer. But you were reckless and a sonofabitch. You left, never thinking you might have gotten even one of them pregnant.

  “People who hide the way you did, usually have a good reason. We all know why you were hiding. Think about how that made Rain feel. You’d rather disappear than face her.

  “Imagine how she felt when you took off without a word. Then, imagine how she felt when everyone knew she was pregnant with your baby, and there’s Roxy parading around town pregnant as well.”

  “How did anyone know Roxy’s baby was mine to begin with?”

  “Seriously? You know what a conniving bitch Roxy can be. She told everyone the baby was yours. Sure, everyone had their suspicions the baby could belong to any number of men in and around town. But she wouldn’t shut up about it being yours. It’s like she had some sort of grudge against Rain.”

  “She did,” Eli interjected. “Roxy hates Rain.”

  “Why? Between their three-year age difference and their completely opposite lives, why the hell would Roxy care about Rain at all?” Brody had never understood the grudge Roxy held against Rain.

  “Simple. Look at Roxy’s life. Look at what Rain’s life was supposed to be. Rain had a chance to leave small-town-nowhere behind, go to college, build a dream life with an education behind her and opportunities in front of her. Roxy had been stuck here all her life, raised in that bar by her father before he died the year after she graduated. She wanted more. Never got it. Always looking for the easy way, she never considered working hard to earn it. Then, she set her sights on you. Probably because she wanted to take Rain down a few pegs, or just because she wanted to take one of those good things away from Rain.”