Breakdown: Conclusion

He found it and tried to bring it to bear. He was being jammed in the window and his arms were trapped. The gun went off, firing into the floor, and Joey twisted desperately to get his right arm free.

Rain was in a jam. If he let Joey go, he would fall back into the car and be free to shoot. If he dragged him out, he might be able to take the gun away. He heaved, and Joey was squeezed through the window. He fought to get his gun-hand free. As he was outside the car to his waist, his arm came free and he tried to shoot Rain. The gun fired twice beside Rain's left ear, and he could now hear nothing on that side.

Joey managed to get the gun on Rain's left side and he pulled the trigger again. Rain felt the shock and knew he was hit and needed to do something. He took a step to his right, pivoted and dropped, his full weight behind the elbow strike to the back of Joey's neck.

The gun fell to the ground, and Joey struggled weakly, stunned by the blow. Rain turned loose of Joey's arm and seized him by the hair with both hands, slamming his face into the unyielding steel of the door four times until Joey went limp.

Rain grabbed him by the belt and the collar of his shirt, dragging him the rest of the way out of the car, letting him fall to the ground. He picked up the gun and tossed it inside the car, and then grabbed the keys out of the ignition. Joey wasn't moving, but Rain gave him a savage kick to the side of the head, just to make sure he wasn't going anywhere.

He walked to the back and opened the trunk, then dragged Joey back there and threw him into the trunk, slamming the trunk-lid. There was a roaring in Rain's ears and he felt light-headed. He walked to the front of the garage and pounded on the small door. Nothing happened for a moment, so he pounded again.

"Rain?" He heard Tabora's small frightened voice.

"Yes, it's me," he said. "Las Cruces."

The door flung open and he saw Tabora and Malley's wide frightened eyes. "I... it's okay..." The roaring in his head reached deafening proportions and he was lying on the ground. "How..." he struggled to speak. He wondered why he was lying down, and then his vision narrowed to a point as blackness claimed him. He knew no more.

Tabora and Malley had heard the shots from inside the garage apartment, and Tabora grew frantic with worry. She had to do something, but she had no idea what. Barrett, she thought of Barrett. She snatched up the phone and called. Barrett answered on the third ring and Tabora breathed a sigh of thanksgiving.

Barrett could hardly make sense of the flood of words, but she did catch the gist. The words "Joey," and "gun shots" were enough. She snatched up her purse, got her own handgun and stuffed it inside. She called the police and told them that shots had been fired at her brother's garage, giving them the address.

She ran to her car and drove to the garage. The police had not yet arrived and she saw Tabora and Malley kneeling beside her brother's prone form just outside the garage door. There was no one else around, so she jumped out and ran over. Tabora and Malley were nearly hysterical, but Barrett had no time for that until she discovered that Rain was breathing. His shirt on the left side was soaked in blood, and she ripped it away. There was a nasty-looking wound there, but she didn't think it was in a terribly dangerous place.

"Malley, listen to me, baby," she said. "Run in and bring us back some clean shop towels. You know where Rain keeps them, right?" Malley nodded and scampered inside.

"Tabora, when she comes back you need to press the towels against that wound to try to control the bleeding, do you understand?" Tabora just knelt there, holding Rain's hand. "Tabora!" Barret's voice was sharp, snapping Tabora out of her shock.

"Yes, I understand." Tabora was grateful to have something to do.

Two men from the machine shop and the truck driver came up just as Malley returned with the towels. Tabora made a pad of four of the towels and pressed them against the wound. Everyone was talking excitedly and sirens were wailing closer. The police arrived, followed in a few minutes by an ambulance.

Rain had come around a couple of times after the police arrived, explaining what had happened. Joey's whereabouts remained a mystery until the second time he came around and told them he was in the trunk.

Rain was loaded in the ambulance and it sped away, followed by Barrett, Tabora and Malley in Barrett's car. Tabora and Malley were shaken and crying, and Barrett did all she could to keep them calm while she tried to drive.

"This is all my fault," Tabora kept repeating, almost as if it was a mantra. "If I hadn't been so stupid, Rain would be fine. Now he's hurt because of me, and I'll never forgive myself."

Barrett quickly lost patience with that. "Tabora, nothing that has happened was your fault. You need to stop saying that and stop thinking it! Did you shoot my brother?"

Tabora shook her head miserably. "No, but if I hadn't..."

Barrett didn't let her finish. "You have been nothing but a blessing to Rain. Everything about you, everything about Malley, has been a gift from God to Rain, to me, and to our community. You didn't invite that..." she glanced at Malley who was soaking it all in, "crazed lunatic here. You didn't ask him to cause trouble, you didn't ask him to shoot Rain. Not one thing is your fault and if you say one more word about that I am going to scream!"

That brought a half-sob, half-chuckle, from Tabora and Barrett quickly tried to divert her. "How do you think he found you?" she asked.

Tabora's curls swayed from side to side. "I don't know. Well, maybe I do. You know I had to change my car license and my driver's license. Maybe he found out like that. What are we going to do, Barrett? What if he goes to court or something and makes me let him see..." she shifted her eyes toward Malley.

"I don't think you're going to need to worry about that," Barrett said. She reached over and patted Malley's leg, then Tabora's. "He shot Rain. That's a crime, probably a bunch of crimes, and it's attempted murder. I think he'll be going to prison for a very long time. Don't worry about that, sweetheart. Let's get Rain healed up and into that chapel so you two can get married."

Rain was in the emergency room being worked on when they got there, so they sat together and worried for a while. It wasn't long before a nurse came looking for them. She took them back to a curtained off area where they found the doctor talking to Rain, who was awake. He was bandaged on the wounded side, but he smiled and extended his arm on the other side to Malley.

She ran to stand beside the bed and he wrapped his arm around her. "He's going to be fine," the doctor reported. "No broken bones; the bullet just passed through the flesh and he lost a lot of blood. He's going to be fine as soon as that wound heals. We'll take the stitches out and he will be as good as new in no time."

"How long will it take?" Tabora asked timidly.

Rain laughed. "We're getting married as soon as I'm able," he told the doctor. "I don't want that put off, if it's possible."

The doctor smiled. "Well, we'll release you tomorrow. There should be no problem with that. I'd seriously advise against any... strenuous honeymoon activity until the stitches come out."

Tabora blushed and Rain and Barrett laughed. "What are 'honeymoon acti...' what he said?" Malley asked.

Barrett scooped her up and Tabora took her place with Rain's arm around her waist. "That is something you won't find out until you go on your honeymoon, love-bug," Barrett told Malley. "Remember, you're staying with me."

They stayed for a while, and then Rain became very sleepy from the pain medication the nurse gave him. He was moved to a room, and once he was settled in and sleeping, the three girls left and went home. Tabora insisted that she did not want to be alone, so Barrett went and got a few things and spent the night.

She went to work the next morning and Tabora and Malley went to the hospital. Rain was released shortly after noon, and they took him home. He quickly recovered his strength and though sore, he was getting around well.

Both Rain and Tabora were interviewed by the police several times, and they were able to relieve any anxiety by reporting that Joey was being prosecuted for several crimes that would see him getting a long stretch in prison.

The wedding went off without a hitch, other than Rain's difficulty getting into his tuxedo, and it was everything Tabora had hoped it would be. Malley was adorable, spreading the rose petals up the walk, and Rain's heart nearly burst when he saw Tabora in white, walking up the aisle toward him, her curls in studied confusion and her teeth flashing in the most beautiful smile he'd ever seen.

There was a little strenuous honeymoon activity, but the strenuous part was done by Tabora, while Rain lay on his back, believing he'd died and gone to heaven.

By the time Malley started the first grade, Rain had adopted her, and she was incredibly excited to learn she had a sibling on the way.

She was the flower girl at Barrett's wedding, and Tabora was her matron of honor, exchanging the places. Rain gave away the bride, and he loaned them the deuce for their honeymoon.

Joey was convicted on all counts and that source of stress was over. He had no more success in prison than he'd had in life, and he was murdered in prison, three years into his sentence.

Rain was sitting in the car dealership. He'd come in to get the brakes done on his truck and he was waiting. He heard the outside door open and a little brown angel spied him and came running to give him a hug and a kiss. She had on a little white dress, and his eyes grew moist as her curls tickled his chin.

"Hi, Daddy," Malley greeted him. "You'll never guess what happened at school today!"

A larger, very pregnant clone of his dusky angel leaned against the counter. "I'm sure you'll tell him all about it," she said. "My feet are killing me, Rain. You ready?"