The Other Brooks Boy (Texas Wildfire Series) (15 page)

Greg quickly
gathered her into his arms as if he could protect her from whatever threatened
her. "Cara ... what is it, babe?" He soothed her hair, pressed kisses
to her forehead, the bridge of her nose, just anything he could do to comfort
her.

"It's a
thousand things," she said into his chest, then raised her head to look at
him through swimming, brimming eyes. "It's my kids ... and your mom. What are
they going to say, Greg?" But before he could say what he thought about
it, she went on. "And those people we went to school with all our lives. I
can hear them now.
'Wasn't one Brooks boy enough for you, Cara?'
"
she said snidely and rolled her eyes at the thought. "Especially Lindsay
Grisham. That heifer was practically drooling over you at the reunion."
She dropped her face back into to the pillow like it was too much to consider.
"It's everything."

Greg lay beside
her silently for a long moment and let her settle a bit.

"Does it
really matter so much to you what anyone says? Will it change the fact that you
love me? Because no matter what anyone says, nothing will change the fact that
I'm in love with you, Cara," he said quietly.

She idly rubbed
the palm of her hand back and forth across his ribs and seemed to think
carefully before answering. "I don't want to care. I'm sick of caring more
about what other people think than what I want. Jason expected me to toe the
line.
'Perception is everything,'
he'd say. But I'm tired of it. I want
to stop worrying about what people think about me and the decisions I
make."

"But you do
care, don't you?"

She nodded, an
almost imperceptible little movement against his chest. "I guess I do.
Mainly about my kids and Barbara." She bent her head back, looking at him.
"Do you think your mom will freak out?"

He considered
for a moment, then shrugged. "I don't know what to expect of her,
honestly. She's done a pretty good job of deifying Jason, and she might take it
as a betrayal of him by both of us. I don't know. On the other hand, she might
be more accepting than the kids. I expect Ryan to have a pretty tough time with
it."

Cara closed her
eyes, sighing long. "Yeah, he's the one I most dread telling."

He rolled over
and pushed his hands under her head, cradling her gently. "Listen, I
couldn't care less what anyone we went to school with thinks or says about
this. I didn't need their approval in high school ... damn sure don't need it
now. But I do care about our family." He caressed her softly, bending his
head down to kiss her forehead. "But we'll work through our family stuff
together, okay? We're a strong family with lots of common sense. And Ryan,
Maddie and Mom all love us both. Ryan may be resistant at first, but he'll come
around."

Cara clearly
didn't feel as confident about it as he did, and it showed plainly in her eyes.
He hated the doubt and worry he saw there, wishing things were different, and
that they could just revel in the fact that they loved one another. It was a
pretty miraculous thing in his mind.

"You know
what I want to do this weekend, babe?" he asked.

"What?"

"I want to
not worry about what anyone is going to say or think about me lovin' you and
you lovin' me. Can we just enjoy the ... well,
honestly
... the miracle
of that for this weekend, and worry about the rest of it when we get
home?" He finished, and Cara only looked at him softly, her gaze traveling
from his eyes to his mouth, then back to his eyes, but he couldn't tell what
she might be thinking. He raised his eyebrows in question, reminding her that
he was waiting for her answer.

She smiled, a
sweet, tender, genuine smile that went straight to his heart. "I think
that is a perfect idea." She lifted her chin, and he kissed her tenderly.
"You're very wise, my love," she said.

Memories made
that weekend would last a lifetime, Cara decided as they walked on the beach
Sunday afternoon. The autumn weather wasn't perfect for beach strolling, but
with a light sweater and a warm man to snuggle up to, she was happy as a clam.

On Saturday
afternoon, they'd sat in a funky little beachside bar and watched on an
overlarge TV as the Longhorns whooped up on Baylor in a great game of college
football. Greg was happy with that and declared the rest of the weekend hers
and only hers to do with him as she pleased.

 And oh,
how she pleased.

They'd made love
so many times she was afraid she'd go home with honeymooner's cystitis before
it was all over. Greg was an amazingly talented and selfless lover, inventive
and commanding at times, tender and achingly sweet at others. Cara soaked it up
like a sea sponge and hoped to bank some of their goodness to offset the
drought of the future. It was so hard to find time alone with him, working
around her kids.

Of course, she
planned to break the news to them soon. She only had to find the right time to
do it. In the meantime, she'd have Greg come around more, and be a little less
stringent in keeping their feelings for one another so secretive. Maybe the
dawning would slowly come, and the impact would be less jarring for the kids.
She could only hope so.

They took a cab
to the airport late Sunday afternoon, both sad to think about returning home.
Their time together had been precious, and neither was ready for it to end.
Cara snuggled Greg's shoulder during the flight, stealing kisses and breathing
sighs remembering all the ways he had cherished her over the weekend. Stopping
by a Starbuck's on his way back to the hotel after a very early morning run to
bring her a favorite latte ... rubbing her feet, a dancer's dream ... ignoring
a host of college sporting events on tap on ESPN ... telling her in nearly
poetic language all the things he loved about her. He was a gem of a man, no
doubt about it. She couldn't ever remember having been treated so extravagantly
... so intentionally indulged and lavished with affection and devotion. It took
her about twenty-four hours to believe it was real, never having experienced it
from a man before. Finally she settled in and accepted it ... savored it. It
made her feel nearly drunk, so heady was his brand of loving.

"Thank you
for the most wonderful weekend of my life," she whispered, stretching up
to kiss his strong jaw, which he had left whisker-
stubbled
this morning at her request. She loved a heavy five o'clock shadow on him.

His lips smiled
slightly, then his eyes turned sultry, and Cara knew immediately what parts of
the weekend he was thinking about. "It was pretty darned good, wasn't
it?"

"That part
was for sure," she said, raising her eyebrows meaningfully. He laughed at
her. "But honestly, the whole weekend was beyond wonderful. Thank you for
coming to meet me and for taking such good, sweet care of me ... for not
watching football all weekend. Thank you for all of it," she told him.

He frowned, a
small pinch between his brows. "Cara, have you never been treated like
this? Like you were loved and cherished?"

The question
surprised her and made her slightly uncomfortable. Years of training by a
ladder-climbing, smoke-and-mirrors husband had taught her to never air their
grievances in public. No matter how ugly things might have been, she was never
to let anyone suspect they were a less-than-perfect pairing. Never.

She wanted to be
honest with Greg, but she didn't want to compare him to Jason.  She
searched her mind for something to say which might placate him, but came up
pretty empty.

"Forget I
asked." He kissed her forehead quickly. "Get used to it, babe. It's
how I roll."

She thanked him
with a smile as the flight attendant asked them to prepare for landing. As soon
as they pulled into the gate, Cara switched her phone back on and was surprised
to find a half-dozen texts from Maddie dinging into her inbox until it sounded
like a slot machine hitting it big.

"Good
grief," Greg said. "What's that all about?"

"I don't
know. Hope everything is okay," Cara answered as she fumbled with the new
smart phone she wasn't really familiar with or comfortable working yet.

She read
Maddie's first text.

OMG! Ryan found your
lost phone
!

"Oh, good
... Ryan found my lost phone," she told Greg before reading further.

Mom ... OMG ... Mom!
What the hell is going on???????

The first
inkling of implication began to gnaw at the back of Cara's mind. Her phone ...
text messages ... photos of her panties on the lampshade ... more slightly
naughty texts. All of it suddenly roared to life in her gut with the force of a
jet engine.

"Oh,
Lord," she said.

Greg was
removing their luggage from the overhead bin and heard her.

"What's
wrong?"

Cara read on.

Mom, this looks
really bad. Like you and Uncle Greg are--

OMG, Mom, Ryan is
totally freakin' out. Says he's taking my car over to Uncle Greg's house to
confront him. WTH, Mom???

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."

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.

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 his chest.