New Chapter of Come to Me Like Rain Book 2

A sample chapter that I've been working on from Come to Me Like Rain Book 2
Nicole has just learned that Alexander has been injured in the war and will be returning to Nine Run. 

          When I learned he would be coming home, my first response was that of fear.  I was afraid, terribly and unreasonably afraid.   I had no ill-conceived notions of Alexander Bradshaw’s heroism on the field of battle. I had no fantasies as to his goodness and valor.  I alone knew the depths of his hatred for my husband and I alone had been the one to bear the brunt of his unbridled fury. I knew what he was capable of doing. 

Now that I had a son to protect and a husband who meant the world to me… would Alexander’s return be a new beginning or would it mean the end to everything that I’d come to love?

            Bryan assured me that all we needed to do was ‘trust God and everything would be fine.  I had to believe that Bryan could (And would) protect his family.  He was, until one of his elder brothers returned ‘the man of the house’ and most certainly as my husband ‘the head of our family’ and he assured me that all I needed to do was concern myself with being a wife and mother. 

            That kind of blind trust is hard to achieve; even with a husband as honorable as mine.

            As much as I loved Bryan; I hated Alexander with equal intensity.  I could not wait placidly by for the return of a man whom I had built up in my mind to be the very devil. 

             I heard--well-- overheard Doc speaking quietly to Bryan on the front porch after we received the letter from Stephen Thornhill.  I was intentionally eavesdropping from through the kitchen window as I pretended to clean up after our supper.    

             “Men are never the same after they go off to war.” I heard Doc say before he took a draw from one of the stinky cigars that he smoked.

Lord, I hope not.  I thought to myself and I strained to hear as I wiped down the table.

 I heard Bryan cough. Doc’s cigars made his eyes water and his nose stuffy.  He moved to another position upwind. 

“War only seems that it only brings out the worst in some men.” Doc finished the cigar and I saw the flash of the embers as he threw it off the porch.  “You should be careful.”

            For a moment my heart forgot to beat.  My hands became rubber as this new thought struck.

  Alex could be worse?

Holy Moses! Was that possible? He was bad enough already, how could he possibly be worse?

“He could finish what he started that night.”  A voice whispered in my head and I dropped the plate I was holding.  It shattered at my feet and made enough noise to bring every adult in the house running.

Bryan and Doc came tumbling through the door and I suppose the look on my face told it all. 

“What happened?”  Doc wheezed past a new cigar.  Bryan’s eyes were red from the smoke of the first one. 

“I’m clumsy.”  I shot back as I hurriedly tried to clean my mess. 

Bryan dropped to his knees beside me and helped me drop large chunks of porcelain into my outstretched apron. 

“You heard that,” He said under his breath.  “Always eavesdropping.  I’m gonna put a cowbell on you.” 

I ignored him and mumbled something about tripping. He glared at me through his red rimmed eyes and told me we’d talk tonight.

Great. 

Mother toted a wide-eyed David on her hip.  He leaned out and studied me thoughtfully, that wisp of hair that always stood up on his crown fluttered as he craned his neck to watch me work. 

“Its fine dear,” she assured me.    I wondered if this had been any of her ‘good chinaware’ that I had just shattered into a thousand pieces.  She seemed hardly affected by it at all if it was; her mood had improved a hundred fold since learning that her firstborn would soon return.  “Just don’t cut yourself,” she said as she went back into the parlor.

“Or get a sliver,” Bryan warned.  “I’ll have to test my doctorin’ skills.” He looked up at me impishly.  “It will hurt.” 

I wasn’t sure if he was stating the facts about the proficiency of his doctoring skills or if that was some sort of veiled threat. 

It was after that when I excused myself to rock the baby.  Even then I couldn’t take my mind off Doc’s words.  I sat and held David close, listening to the soft sound of his breathing until Bryan came to take him to his bed.

By that time I had been considering it for a full hour.

Bryan returned and shut the door behind him.  He glared at me when he turned around.

“What does the word ‘private’ mean, Nicole?”

I shrugged because I knew he was angry and I didn’t have the resolve for a snappy comeback.

“Well, let me tell you what it doesn’t mean,” he stalked toward me, “it doesn’t mean that you eavesdrop from the window! We went out there to talk for a reason.  Backyard talk isn’t intended for a lady’s ears!”

“Then you should have gone out to the back fence,” I replied under my breath. 

Bryan’s dark brows rose together then down again.  “You’d have followed us out there and listened from behind the azalea bush!”

Probably.  I ducked my head and my face burned with shame.

He was right.  Now I wished I hadn’t heard it.

“Why do you have to talk privately anyway?”  I wanted to know.  I had been the one that had been hurt the most by Alex before he left.  It seemed correct that I should have some say in his returning.

“Why do we have to talk privately?”  Bryan  repeated and turned away from me, unbuttoning his shirt.  “Perhaps one of us might feel the need to curse.” 

I laughed and he paused and took the opportunity to glare at me again.  I had never heard Bryan use an ill word since I had known him.  The prospect of him cursing was positively shocking but also a bit comical.

He strode over to where I was sitting in the rocking chair and put his hands on the handles, pinning me in place. 

“You don’t think I could curse skilfully?”  He tried to act offended but the corners of his mouth turned up playfully.  “Well, well.  I don’t know whether to be insulted or flattered by your skepticism. You forget, Mrs. Bradshaw that I spent several months on a cattle ranch out west where I learned words that would curl your toes.  Would you like me to teach you a few?”

“Yes!”

“And spit as well, now that you can throw a punch like a Bradshaw I suppose you should learn to curse like one!”  It was true, William had made it a point to show me how to punch correctly before he left.  I think perhaps he was worried that it would be needed skill if Alexander ever returned. 

I threw a mock punch at Bryans jaw.  He rolled his eyes like it dazed him and I laughed then he kissed me.  His lips lingered on mine for several seconds and I trace the line of his jaw with my fingers. 

Lord, I loved that man.  I loved the way he kissed me and the way his lips tasted on mine.  He gathered me up in his arms and deposited me on the bed where he kissed me until I had to push him away and gasp for air. I could think of nothing but him when he held me that way. 

But when he let me go the troubles came rushing back in on me.

“What if…” I started to say but he never let me finish.  He covered my lips with his finger and shook his head. 

“If…” He lay back in the bed beside me and I felt it give with his weight.  “We don’t know how badly he’s hurt.  It’s been almost two years since we’ve seen him, Nicole and we’ve been praying all this time.  Maybe he’s changed for the better.  If not…”  He sighed looked up at the ceiling.  “Let me worry about it.  I promised to take care of you both and I will.  Trust me, but give God a chance.” 

His mother shared Bryan’s optimism- or perhaps his faith.  “I’m going to have my son back.” She told us that night when we prayed together.  “I don’t know what it will take or how long, but God is going to bring him back to us.”  She spoke with determination in her dark eyes each time we gathered for prayer. 

Bryan tried to bolster my courage.  He found the story in his Bible of the reunion of Jacob and his brother Esau.  He explained how Jacob had stolen his birthright from Esau before their father’s death and Esau had promised to kill his brother if he ever saw them again.  In my mind one brother was dark and the other was light.  Jacob had fled his brother and feared for his life when he returned but all those years brought forgiveness from Esau. 

Maybe that would happen for the Bradshaw’s.  The only problem was… Alexander wasn’t Esau.