Breakdown: Conclusion

Some years earlier, Rain had been hiking in the Tonuco Mountain area and found four smaller and one large pink tourmaline. He had always found diamonds insipid, and he had plans. He had taken the stones to a jeweler a few months earlier, and had an engagement and matching wedding ring made in rose gold. He was planning to ask Tabora, but his nerve always failed him.

This time when they were going to be apart for a while frightened him a little, and gave him the resolve to pull the trigger. On his date with Malley, Sunday afternoon, he took her to the park to play. The first time she came to the bench where he was sitting to rest for a second, he caught her and held her on his lap.

"Malley, I want to tell you something," he said, squeezing her little body to his. "I need to tell you how much I love you."

She looked up at him, the afternoon sun turning her eyes to honey and gold. "I know that, silly," she said. "I love you, too, Rain."

"I know, baby," he said, "but this is kinda special. I love you so much that I don't ever want to be without you."

"What does that mean?" she asked.

"It means I want to be your father," he told her, hardly able to speak.

She could tell how serious he was. As far as she was concerned, Rain was her father, and she really didn't understand what he was saying. "Rain, you're already my father," she said.

He nearly broke down, right there in public. He held her tightly until she complained. "Rain, you're squishing me."

He laughed and loosened his hug, but not much. "I want to be more than anything in the world," he told her. "I'm going to ask your Mama to marry me, baby, so we can be a family and I can really be your father. Would you be okay with that?"

"Oh, yes," she said. "That would make Mama happier than anything. I thought we were going to get married when I'm ten, Rain?"

She giggled and he roared with laughter. "You are quite the little minx, young lady," he told her. "By the time you're ten you're going to be the queen of the world; I don't doubt it for a minute. I want to be your father just so I can sit back and watch you."

"When do you think you'll ask her?" Malley asked.

"I was thinking after our date," he said. "Will you help me, love-bug?"

"Yes, but would you push me in the swings, first?"

Rain laughed. "Yes, we'll do the important stuff first, okay?"

She nodded, climbed down from his lap and held his hand, leading him to the swings. She chattered away to him on the way home, keeping his mind occupied and preventing the build of his increasing nervousness. As she held his hand, skipping up the sidewalk, he could feel it and couldn't help feeling how crushed he was going to be if Tabora said no.

Tabora was lying on the sofa, a glass of tea in her hand, watching TV, when they came in. She sat up, bracing herself for the tiny girl avalanche that buried her in excitement and a rush of words. When Malley had unburdened herself about her date, she paused for a breath, then said, excitedly, "Rain wants to..." She clapped her hand over her mouth, cutting off her own words.

"Rain wants to what, baby?" Tabora asked. Malley shook her head, keeping her hand over her mouth, her curls swinging.

Her eyes shining, she lifted her hand long enough to say, "It's a secret, Mama."

Tabora cocked her head to one side and looked quizzically up at Rain. He took a deep breath, sank to one knee and brought his hand from behind his back, holding the ring box.

He opened it and the beautiful stones glowed as the sun through the front window set them ablaze. Tabora's hand flew to her mouth and she gasped.

"It's not a secret that I love you and want to spend the rest of my life with you, Tabora. Will you marry me and make my wish come true?"

Malley squealed in excitement. "He wants to marry us, Mama! He wants to be my father. He told me at the park!"

Rain pulled Tabora's hand away from her face, sliding the ring on her long slender finger. "Yes?" he asked softly.

Tabora nodded, not trusting her voice. "Say it, Mama," Malley urged. "She means yes, Rain!"

Tabora finally found her voice. "Yes, Rain. I will. I want to... I've always... Yes!"

Rain pulled her into an embrace, Malley squished between them. She wiggled free, kissed them both and went away to do Malley things, leaving the adults alone.

"Are you sure, Rain?" Tabora asked.

"Never surer of anything," he said. "Do you like the ring? I can get a diamond, if you would like that better."

He explained how he had the stones and how he had the ring made.

"No, I love it," she said. "This means so much more than if you'd just bought a ring at a jewelry store. It's beautiful, Rain, and the fact that you went to so much trouble makes it mean soooo much more. Anyone can have a diamond. This is special."

Rain had so many emotions sweeping over him that he could hardly contain them: love, relief that she'd said yes, and an overwhelming urge to take her to their bedroom and make love to her, over and over. That would have to wait until after Malley's bedtime, and he didn't know if he could wait that long. He had one more thing to do.

"I have to call Barrett and tell her," he explained.

"Let me tell her first, please?" Tabora pleaded. "I can't wait! Let's do it now, and then you can tell her, okay?"

Rain had no objection to that plan, and Barrett was ecstatic at the news. "I'm coming over, right now," she said. "I can't wait to see your ring, Tabora. Good job, Bruh. I've been waiting for you to grow a set and ask her."

Rain left for El Paso three days later, had a good trip, and sold his car for a nice profit. He talked to Tabora and Malley every night, and could hardly wait to see them. He left Friday morning, early, and was home by noon. He stopped at the pharmacy and took Barrett to lunch.

They walked into the diner, and the first thing Rain saw was Tabora, sitting in a booth across the way. Steve Garner was sitting across from her, holding her left hand in both of his, and she was smiling up at him across the table. Rain was stunned. He stopped, causing Barrett to bump into him.

"What the hell, Bruh?" she exclaimed. She peered around him and gasped. At that moment, Tabora looked up at them and waved, beckoning them over.

Rain turned on his heel and left the diner. He heard the door open and shut behind him and Barrett grabbed his arm, spinning him around. "What the hell are you doing?" she asked.

"You saw that," he said angrily.

"I don't know what I saw, and neither do you," she said. "We're going back in there and finding out!"

They never got a chance. The door opened and Tabora flew out, looking frantically around. She spotted them, ran over and planted herself in front of Rain, glaring up at him furiously.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" she yelled. "Were you just going to walk away? You don't get to walk away from me, Rain! There is no way in hell you can just walk away from me!"

"I saw..." he began.

"You saw shit!" she shouted. "I know what you saw! You saw me showing my ring to Steven! That's what you saw. If you'd have come over and took a seat like my fiancé should have done, you'd have seen Debbie come back from the restroom, but you just walked away like a big fucking jealous coward!"

Rain felt a swirl of confusion. He felt tremendous relief, for one thing, that what he had been feeling a moment before was completely unfounded, but he also felt hugely ashamed that he'd acted as he had. He tried reaching for Tabora to hug her, but she struck his hand away.

"No! Don't think you can just love on me and I'll forget about this!" She was obviously very angry. Then she burst into tears and flung herself on him, sobbing into his chest. "How can you think... I would never... Jesus Christ, Rain!"

"I think we should kick his ass, right here in the parking lot," Barrett said.

That brought a watery chuckle from Tabora. "We should!"

"I'm so sorry, Tabora. I just..."

"You should leave it at 'I'm so sorry'," Barrett said. "There is no 'just'."

"You're right," he acknowledged. "Baby..." he cupped her face and turned it up so he could look at her. Tears streaked down her little brown cheeks, and he felt awful. "I'm so sorry, Tabora. Please forgive me. I'm so crazy about you that I don't think that well. I'm so sorry."

"No, I know that things sometimes seem like they're something they're not," she said. "I know what you saw, but you have to trust me more than that, Rain. I have to trust you, too. I will never, ever hurt you like that. Whatever happens, you can't just walk away! You can't just throw me away like that!"

"No, I know," he said. "I swear, Tabora, I will never do that again. I made an ass of myself. I know that. What do you want me to do?"

She stepped back and looked up at him. "I want you to come inside. I'm going to the restroom to fix myself. You embarrassed the hell out of me, Rain. You need to apologize to Debbie and Steven, too."

He nodded. "I'll wait by the door for you, then we'll go over, get lunch, and I'll apologize and explain."

He was as good as his word, and though it was awkward for a few minutes, everyone was cool and they had lunch together. Rain told them about the car auction, Tabora, Debbie and Steve told Rain and Barrett what was going on at school, Barrett told them about going to the White Sands museum with her boyfriend and then it was time for the teachers to go back to school.

It took Rain some work to get Tabora in the same groove they had been in before, but he ate large amounts of crow and the bump in the road faded. They had very few arguments, about anything, and as the wedding day approached, they both thought they were in a very good place.

It was not going to be a lavish affair. Neither of them wanted that, but Tabora did want to be married in a church. She spoke to Father Peter, but since neither of them were Catholic, it was impossible for him. There was a wedding venue that Barrett knew about, and a couple who were ordained to perform ceremonies, and she took Tabora to check it out. It was a beautiful location, the quaint chapel delighted Tabora, and they made the arrangements. The guests would consist of the teachers at Tabora's school, Rain's circle of close friends, Barrett, who would be Tabora's Maid of Honor, and Malley, who was extremely excited to be flower girl.

On a Saturday, one week before the wedding, Rain drove to his garage to make some last-minute preparations. They would be driving his latest project on a short honeymoon. He had found a 1932 Ford, Model B, and had been customizing it. It was yellow and black, he had re-chromed everything on it and had it ready to go. Rain wanted to check it one more time, take it for a little spin and make sure there would be no problems.

He had Malley with him. She was very excited about riding in the deuce for the first time. They were only going to be gone three days and she was going to stay with Barrett. She often had sleepovers with Barrett, but this was the first time she was ever going to be apart from her mother for more than one night. She was a little apprehensive, but she was quite comfortable with Barrett and excited about the activities the two of them had planned.

Rain was on his creeper, checking the brake lines he had just installed and Malley was sitting in her comfy chair, playing with her new Etch A Sketch, when the door burst open and Tabora rushed in, slamming and locking the door behind her.

She had been at the florist. They were discussing the boutonniere for Rain's tuxedo and the corsages for Barrett and Malley, and she was arranging for her own flowers, the bouquets that would decorate the venue and the rose petals that Malley would spread on her trip up the aisle. She was very excited, feeling the anticipation building, and she took several pictures to show Rain and Barrett.

Rain had given her money to pay for everything and she left the shop, feeling she had everything arranged. She got in her car and started home. The shop was on the opposite side of town from home, and she made several turns, just lost in thought about the beautiful flowers she had ordered. She had just made her signal to turn left when she was startled from her reverie by a car horn behind her.

She looked in her rearview mirror, fearful that she had cut someone off, or something. The driver behind her was not honking his horn at her, but at another car that was attempting to merge into the left turn lane behind her, cutting the other driver off. She was thankful that it wasn't her at fault and turned left onto her street. She drove slowly along through the school zone, and something made her glance at her mirror again. The car that had caused the altercation at the light was still behind her, an older model Chevrolet Impala. She noticed that the driver was black, which was a bit unusual. There were no black people besides her and Malley living in their neighborhood, and she took a second look.

Her breath froze in her throat and panic clawed at her thoughts. It was Joey! The man in the car behind her was Joey, and he was obviously following her. She gasped for air, all the dread of her life before finding Rain deluging her in a flood of fear and misery. She couldn't think, couldn't breathe, couldn't do anything but drive numbly down the street. She passed their home, unable to think what to do, continuing down the street until she came to the T, three blocks further on. She was forced from her paralysis. She had to make a decision.

An image of Rain flashed through her mind and she made a decision. She would go to Rain. Praying that he and Malley would still be at the garage, she turned right and drove toward her refuge. Rain would know what to do.

Her thoughts were still a jumbled mess, and she had no other aim than getting to Rain. She wished she could lose Joey, but she didn't know how to do that. All she could do was continue to drive. She did think to lock her doors. She stopped at a red light, about three blocks from the garage. No cars were in sight and she decided to make a move. Slapping her accelerator to the floor she shot through the red light, tires squealing, and sped the three blocks, leaving a good distance between herself and her pursuer. She was immensely relieved when she saw Rain's truck parked outside; he was still there. She screeched to a stop in front of the garage, snatched up her bag and dashed inside, losing one of her shoes in the process. She didn't care; Rain was inside and he would know what to do.

She bolted through the small door, slamming and locking it behind her. She looked wildly around, seeing Malley in her chair looking at her mother with startled eyes. Rain was rolling out from under the deuce on his creeper and she ran to him, sobbing quietly.

Malley jumped up and started toward her. "Mama, what's wrong?" she asked.

"It's nothing, baby," Tabora tried to reassure her. "Malley, I want you to go up to the apartment and turn on the TV, okay? Don't ask Mama any questions right now, just do it. I'll be up in a minute. I need to talk to Rain about something. It's okay, baby, just go."

Malley was very reluctant to go, but Mama never raised her voice with Malley unless it was something important, so she went. Rain was getting to his feet by this time, wiping his hands on a shop towel.

"Tabora, I thought you were at the florist," he said. "God, kitten, you look like you've seen a ghost! What's wrong?"

She flung herself into his arms, sobbing in quiet desperation. "I did see a ghost, Rain," she said. "It's Joey! He's here! He was following me and I didn't know what to do, so I came here. What are we going to do, Rain? What if he makes me go back? What if he tries to take Malley? What if he hurts her... Oh, God, Rain, what are we going to do?"

Rain firmly moved her back a step, walked quickly to the garage door and locked it, then hurried to the back door and locked that. He returned to Tabora, taking her in his arms and hold her as she sobbed.

"Tabora, stop panicking," he told her firmly. "This is a metal building with metal doors. There are no windows. No one is coming in here unless we let them. We're safe here. Now calm down and tell me what happened. Are you sure it is Joey?"

Tabora tried to get control of herself. They were safe; that came through her fear and calmed her. She nodded her head. "Yes, Rain, I'm sure. I just... I was so afraid. You don't know what he's like, Rain. He's evil, and he's going to hurt me or Malley!"

"No, I don't know what he's like," Rain said. "He may be evil, but he's not going to be hurting anyone. You don't have to be afraid of him, Tabora. I'm not going to allow him to hurt you, Malley, or anyone else. We can call the police. Is that what you want to do?"

She shook her head. "What good would that do? I don't think it's a crime for him to be here. He didn't do anything but follow me. What would the police do? They might ask him questions, but unless he does something, they can't do anything. It would just make him mad and he would be even worse. If he hurts me or tries to take Malley, it would be too late."

Rain sighed. "You're probably right. Tabora, I want you to go upstairs and stay with Malley," he said.

"I should be with her," she agreed. "What are you going to do, Rain?"

"I think I'll go have a talk with Mr. Creepy out there," Rain said.

She threw herself on him, wrapping her arms around him. "Nooo," it was a plaintive wail. "Don't go, Rain. He'll do something... hurt you. Don't go!"

Rain gently disengaged. "Tabora, look at me," he said.

She didn't understand. "What?" she asked.

"Do I look like someone who is afraid?" he asked. "Do I look like someone who some punk is going to hurt? Trust me, honey, the man is a coward. Every man who bullies women is a coward. I'll just have a talk with him, see what he wants. Lock the door when I go out and don't open it unless I say the words Las Cruces, okay?"

Tabora reluctantly agreed and Rain slipped out the back door. He heard her lock it behind him and he tried the knob to make sure. It was locked, and he walked to the corner of the building and looked around. There was an 18-wheeler parked at the curb, making a delivery to the machine shop next door. The Impala was parked in front of the truck, and Rain could see someone inside.

Keeping the truck between him and Joey, he worked his way to the front of the truck and moved quickly up to the driver's door. The man inside looked up when Rain's shadow fell across him.

"Something I can do for you?" His voice was deep and gravelly.

Rain stood very close to the open window, bending a little to look inside the car. "I was wondering the same thing," he said. "You're parked in front of my building. Something I can do for you?"

"My woman in there and I'm waiting for her to come out," Joey said.

"There's only one woman in there, and she's not yours," Rain informed him. "If you're talking about Tabora, she's my fiancée. I think you should move along and not come back."

"She's mine, and that's my girl, too," Joey said.

"No, you don't have a girl, and you don't have a woman," Rain said. "What you're about to have is a problem. Start this hunk of rust up, put it in gear and drive away. Don't ever come back."

The man's dark eyes were pools of malevolence as he looked up at Rain. His right hand moved into the floorboard and Rain saw a flash of metal. Joey had pulled what looked like a snub-nose .38 revolver from under the seat and he started to raise the weapon.

Rain reached in and grabbed Joey by the left arm, jerking it outside the car and slamming the man against the door, his head striking the door-post. He was stunned and momentarily dropped the weapon in the seat beside him. He was being pulled through the window and he desperately scrabbled around for the gun.