Bring on the Rain (15 page)

He stood, walking with cowboy ease and
broad shouldered confidence. He shook her hand. When he looked her
right in the eye, she noted his eyes were a mix of hazel colors.
His voice, not surprising, like honey. “Nice to meet you,” he said
after introductions.

“
You too.” Madeline stepped
aside, looking back as he left. Even the Coburn cousins seemed to
have been gifted by the gods. She turned and saw the nurse, a woman
in her late thirties with blond hair and a kind smile who nodded.
Madeline nodded back.

With Jason’s nudge, she stood at the
side of the big antique bed. It was massive with four scrolled
posts reaching the ceiling. Finally, she let her eyes rest on Dovie
and a queasy knot tightened in her stomach.

Twenty years ago, Dovie had been a tall
woman, six foot, robust, and full bosomed with brown streaked hair
she had worn in a twist. She’d had a face so strong it was not
pretty or ugly, simply intimidating. Her eyes, a bright blue ice,
bore through people in a way that made their knees quake.
Nevertheless, she wasn’t like that now.

Madeline swallowed and looked at the
oxygen mask, the IV, and monitor. Dovie at one time weighed 280,
now she went less than a hundred, she guessed. She was bald and the
hands upon the covers were claws, twisted by pain and swollen in
the joints. At the moment, her eyes were closed, but she got the
feeling by watching a pulse beat amid the slack skin of her throat
that Dovie was awake.

“
Grandma?” Jason spoke
quietly.

That frail head moved sluggishly and
rolled toward them. Dovie’s eyes opened. The nurse stood and wiped
the matter out of them. She spoke soothingly and nodded to
Jason.

Madeline was awash with a great
sadness. Her heart ached when she saw the gray tinge to her skin
and the black bruises under those eyes. The skin was so thin she
could see the veins. One twisted hand came up to slide down the
oxygen mask. Dovie looked at her with eyes thick-filmed, and
Madeline wondered if she could see at all.

“
Madeline,” she
rasped.

“
Mrs. Dovie,” Madeline
drawled softly, addressing her as she had done years ago. She moved
close to the bed, seeing out the corner of her eye that Jason moved
to the far window and looked out. The nurse busied herself cleaning
things she’d been using in her care of Dovie. There was a thick
medicinal odor in the air.

Madeline saw that hand lift. She would
never know what made her take it, because the woman had hurt her
dreadfully, spoken to her with malice. Nevertheless, she did, and
felt the parched papery fingers curl into her hand.

Those white lips moved, but from the
stroke, one corner stayed fixed, and the words she spoke so softly
were only for her ears.

“
Was...jealous of you. Loved
too strong… Knew I couldn’t get my way, if he kept you.” She
breathed in a deep rasp, “Watched Mitch fall in love with you. But
I raised them all. I was the center of attention. …didn’t want
anyone to take them away… Was scared of…much love from someone
else. “She breathed hard again, and whispered, “Thought I would
pick…rich women who would add to the land, easier to control…give
big family, but they hated it. I still wouldn’t let go. As long…as
I had my boys back, I could… live with it.”

“
I understand.” Madeline
felt her eyes and nose sting. How insecure a reason. Moreover, how
hard that was to believe, remembering the woman’s overpowering
confidence. Oh, God in heaven, she could not believe it, yet she
knew she was speaking the truth to her. She was truly sorry, and
she had, behind that wall of hardness, been weak.

“
No. You were…everything I
could not be…strong…cause of your Ma… Strong in ways you don't
know. I was torn between you being good for him and my own pride.
Didn‘t have your humble heart, or capacity to give real love—Just
knew how to possess.”

“
It’s all right,” Madeline
permitted the tears to proceed, scorching down her cheeks. She
shook her head. Pity welled deep in her, compassion for the near
skeleton on the bed. “It was many years ago.”

“
I put Deena up to it…to
telling you-he didn’t love you. I messed up with her…I did worse
with her and can’t undo it, she was jealous of you too. She and
Jude competed for Mitch’s attention—he had been their idol growing
up. Deena-- I used her, she used me, and now her life is a mess. My
grandchildren, children…it’s bad…”

She wheezed, “When my husband was alive
he was a strong man. Controlled everything. I was proud of that,
but didn’t like being silent, serving my family, and getting no
credit. When he and my son, Mitch’s daddy, were killed, I became
everything to all of them. I used that dependence and love. That
respect, to get my own way. I taught Deena wrong….”

Madeline’s stomach was churning. She
felt ill, but she felt too a pity beyond her own hurt. “I’m sorry
for her. I understand, and I forgive.” She sniffed and wiped at her
tears with her free hand and added, “I’ve had a life, a fine one.
This is nothing for you to carry on your mind, Mrs.
Dovie.”

The old woman was crying too, plump,
sluggish tears rolled through the creases on her face. “’Kept an
eye on you. Told myself it was to make sure you stayed away. I look
back…now, and I know the wickedness of what I done... It never
stopped bothering me.”

Madeline waited while the nurse let the
patient breathe oxygen, but Dovie seemed impatient and only took
enough to fill her lungs, before speaking again. “Want to make
things right. Want to get to heaven.”

She felt those bony fingers contract
with that heartbreaking admittance. “Oh, Mrs. Dovie, I’m sure the
good Lord understands misguided love. Don’t you worry about it, all
right?”

The old woman shook her head. She wept
a while, before calling out, “Jason!”

“
Yeah, Grandma.”

“
In the bureau drawer. Give
Madeline the... packet.”

He arose opened the drawer, looking
over and shaking his head, then moving aside a scarf and finding a
leather packet. He took it to her, and left them alone
again.

Dovie said, “Go now. Thank you, for
coming. I know it won’t make it right, but it’s all I can do. Sorry
Madeline. So sorry. Please forgive me.”

Madeline leaned over and kissed her
cheek; brokenly whispering softly in her ear, “I forgive you. We
are only human in this life, Mrs. Dovie. We’ll all know perfect
love someday.”

The old woman wept, nodded, and
whispered, “I’m ready now—tired, so weary. God forgive
me.”

The nurse spoke to them at the door.
“The doctor called earlier. It’s not good. The tests came back and
he has doubled the medication, a week, or two, and that’s
stretching it.”

Jason nodded. “Have you called
everyone?”

“
Everyone I could reach.”
She looked at her watch and stepped out into the hall. “She’s had a
steady stream of people here today, poor soul. I think it's what
keeps her going, trying to make amends. On one hand, you don't want
to tire her, although I respect her right to make her own choices
as long as she is able.”

“
I agree.” Jason nodded,
thanked her, and escorted Madeline out.

They got in the car, but he drove up
the hollow, slowing by a riding ring, white fenced and built to
train horses for arena showing. Men were riding rapidly around it,
the horses stretched out full speed, riders lying back on the
horse’s rear. Further, he paused while an elderly man on a tractor
crossed the road. They passed a house where a pretty teen in a
bathing suit top was washing a sports car. Jason apparently knew
her, he blew the horn and she waved.

“
Where we going
now?”

He glanced at her. “To eat. I never
take a woman home hungry.” He smiled. “Your make-up is running.” He
leaned over and opened the glove box, handing her wipes.

“
Thanks.” She flipped down
the mirror and made repairs.

“
Can I ask what Grandma
said?”

“
She said she was
sorry.”

He grunted, glanced at her and back at
the road. “She talked a long time.”

“
Yes.” Madeline felt the
packet lying in her lap.

He pulled into a low-roofed restaurant,
obviously it was a Coburn owned business.

They got out. She took a seat outside
at the shaded picnic tables, after telling him she only wanted a
cold drink and something light. She watched him greet a woman who
looked a little like a Coburn.

He came back with a tray, holding two
big sodas and a ham and cheese for him, a small garden salad for
her.

Seated across from each other, they ate
unhurried, looking as an occasional car or bike went by, hearing
the hum of weed eaters and the chatter of birds.

The wind ruffled her russet hair. Jason
looked at her so long that she asked him bluntly, what he was
staring at.

“
I was thinking, how you
don't know us. How long it has been and all. The changes must have
happened since you and Dad were young. I suppose you and him were
coming from real different places. Musta’ had a lot of pressures. I
guess it made things more intense for y'all?”

“
I’m sure it did.” That was
a mature observation, she thought.

He gazed at Madeline, asking quietly,
“You did love him, didn’t you?”

Her emotions still fragile, Madeline
met those blue eyes. “With all my heart.”

He did not look away. “He’s been upset
for a week now. Not sleeping well. He isn’t speaking to Uncle Jude
anymore. They had words the other night. Coy said Dad went to the
Blue Gill Bar, and found Uncle Jude, and they fought.”

“
You mean... Fists?” She
paused with her fork half raised.

“
Yeah.” He chuckled, shook
his head. “Daddy ain’t done that for years. Uncle Jude has, but not
Daddy.”

“
I’m sorry about
that.”

“
Well, we all used to fight
more. We compete at everything. I kind of figured Dad must have
found something out that pissed him off.”

“
I didn’t date
Jude.”

“
I didn’t think so. But I
think they all hurt you, right?”

Madeline nodded. “I wish you’d let it
go. It’s history. Over and done. Mitch needs to realize no matter
what he finds out, it doesn’t change a thing.”

He sat back, wiped his mouth, and slid
the tray away. Sipping his soda, saying finally, “Grandma’s not
going to be here much longer. I don't know what kind of mixed
feelings Dad’s going to have about her death if he doesn’t talk to
her before she goes.”

Madeline pressed her lips together and
looked away, idly watching a woman jog down the road with
headphones on.

“
It would be good if you
were around to help him deal with it, since it’s about y'all. I
know it’s asking a lot.”

Madeline sighed. “Mitch wed your mother
on his own. It wasn’t all bad. They had you.” She smiled. “I don't
think we’d make a difference in each other’s lives now. I know for
sure we can never go back and get what we lost.”

He gave her a look conveying that he
wasn’t satisfied with that, but he let it go for now. They got in
the car and drove home.

Madeline laid the packet on her bed and
fixed dinner. Brook noticed she was quiet, but there wasn’t time
for talk, she had to be back at the school at seven for a meeting,
and Coy took her. Madeline did the dishes and put off touching the
packet until Brook returned and had her bath and went to bed. In
the silence of her bedroom, she sat in the middle of the bed, and
slowly opened it.

It was a legal document.

To my grandson, Maxwell Lambert Griffin
I bequeath the deed to ten acres of his grandfather’s original
land, starting at the edge of Copper Creek Lake. Surveyed and
marked, duly recorded and legal. To his mother, Madeline Logan, I
leave the sum of fifty thousand dollars to be used as she wishes.
The check enclosed is legally recorded and approved by my
accountant, J.K. Hornsby.

Staggered, Madeline sat there, closer
to hyperventilating than she had ever been before. Her life was
taking a turn she was not prepared for. The Copper Creek men were
once more going to rip her heart out!

Oh Dovie, have you any idea what this
means?

How else was she to give Max this
legacy? Could she keep it from him and not tell? Was it her right?
Did she have any right? Could she explain it to Brook?

Why-oh-why did those people keep doing
this to her? Madeline fell back on the bed, holding her hands over
her eyes. No, no. They were not going to destroy her
family.

She would tell Max when she was ready.
She would tell Brook when she was prepared. And, telling Mitch? She
shuddered. Brook would hate her again. Max would too, he
would.

Dovie had now taken those choices out
of her hands.

Chapter 10

The next day when Ruby came in the
tavern to give her an update on Jenna, she noticed the circles
under her eyes and asked about them.