Blessed Fate (33 page)

"It'll be good. They love me right now," I laughed, praying to everything holy I could think of that I was right. My palms were so sweaty, I could feel them slipping inside my gloves as I gripped the handlebars. Every muscle in my body felt twitchy, like there was an electrical current coursing through my veins. This was like pre-show jitters times a thousand.

Seeing Tom, Matt and Mike Neumann sitting around a square table at the rear of the diner made my stomach churn. I had planned to talk to her dad, and I suppose I knew her brothers would be there since they were staying at my place and we were meeting as soon as their plane landed, but they seemed bigger, more threatening with every step I took towards them.

"Mister Neumann," I greeted him as I reached the table. He looked much healthier than the last time I had seen him. I was glad Rain had taken that time away to spend with him and convince her brothers to make sure he saw a doctor. "Matt. Mike." I extended my hand to each of them, their grips strong and certain. I could almost imagine their large hands around my neck, strangling the life out of me if I hurt their little sister again.

"Please, call me Tom." I sat across from Tom, between the brothers, and felt all eyes on me. "So, care to explain what this is really about, son?"

I fought hard to avoid flinching at hearing him call me 'son'. It had nothing to do with my feelings towards the man or his daughter and everything to do with my own father. 'Son' was what he called me when he was about to tell me something I didn't want to hear as a child. Once we reconnected after his long absence, he used it every chance he got, as if to remind one of us that he was a parent.

Matt and Mike both turned to look at me, knowing as well as their father that I wouldn't have asked them here so early, before they even saw Rain, if it wasn't imperative. Well..." I cleared my throat. This was harder than I thought it would be. "I want you to know how much I love Maddie." I knew better than to call her Rain in their presence. Not only that, but it seemed like Rain was becoming more of a stage presence while Maddie was the woman I loved. "I'm hoping to spend the rest of my life with her, sir."

Mike's eyes grew wide as he stared at me. "Um, does she know this?" He let out a quick laugh. "Last I knew, you'd screwed up. Again. And my sister wasn't sure she was going to give you another shot."

I suddenly wished I had waited until I could talk to Tom alone. I should have known that since she was going to therapy, she would be talking to her family more now.

I bit my lip, trying to figure out the best way to respond. I knew I needed to be honest with them, even if that led to a serious ass kicking. "True, but I'm still trying to show her how sorry I am for all of that. Between the four of us, while I should have done things differently, I will never apologize for the fact that I erred on the side of caution. You weren't there. You didn't see how she was acting. You didn't listen to her cry about needing the pain to go away after your mom died. If she
had
been using again and I ignored what I saw and something happened to her, that would have killed me. So yeah, I screwed up. But I'm hoping she'll give me one more shot. And when that happens, I plan to marry her."

Tom cleared his throat. Matt leaned back in his chair, arms crossed tightly in front of him. Mike sat there with that stupid grin on his face that said he was going to enjoy the show that was about to start. "Son," he started, leaning in close to me. "Don't you think we'd be better off having this conversation
after
the two of you work out your differences? You're a good man; I can see that. And I'll forever be indebted to you for the way you've taken care of Madeline, but if you're not even dating right now, it seems a bit premature."

He was right, of course, and this is what I expected from him. It's what I hoped to hear from her. Yes, I was hoping to be shot down when I proposed to the love of my life. I needed to be. "I agree with you, sir. But I know it's a matter of time, and I have a plan. But we need to have this talk now in case Maddie does something unexpected, and I wind up engaged to her this week. I can't do that without knowing you'll give me your daughter's hand in marriage." I continued explaining exactly what I envisioned when it came to asking the world's most stubborn woman to be my bride.

Tom threw his head back letting out a laugh that seemed to come from deep within his body. "I think my daughter has finally met her match!" He reached across the table and shook my hand. Over breakfast, the four of us sat around like a group of old ladies planning every little detail that we would need to make sure this was the epic proposal I needed for Rain.

"Okay boys, it's been fun, but I think it's time to get to Colton's and see your sister." I tried to reach for the bill, since breakfast was my idea, and they were my guests, but Tom was quicker. The look on his face told me this was not the time to bicker over who was going to cover our meal.

"Honey, we're home," Travis yelled as soon as I pushed the door open. I could hear Rain's voice from somewhere deep inside the condo.

"Jackass, if anyone's going to say that, it oughta be me since it
is
my house," I said as I slapped him. I grabbed a six-pack out of the fridge, needing a beer to settle my nerves. Knowing that everything was in motion, and yet knowing that Rain and I weren't even together had my body threatening to reject the pancakes I'd had earlier.

"Hey strangers," she squealed as she ran down the hall. Yes, Rain actually squealed. Apparently, she liked my surprise. I felt my shoulders slump when Rain walked past me to Jon, Travis and Jared, giving each of them an enthusiastic hug. It wasn't until I felt her fingers slide across my back and hook into the belt loop on my hip that I started to relax.

"Hey beautiful," I said as I kissed the top of her head. God, I missed feeling her body against mine and smelling the combination of strawberries and vanilla that would forever remind me of Rain. "I see extra luggage here. Does that mean our surprise beat us home?" For this to work, she couldn't know that they'd been in town since the red-eye flight landed this morning, and I spent an hour with them before she got to see them.

"Yeah, they got here about twenty minutes ago." She stood on her tiptoes to kiss my cheek. It was a Herculean effort to keep from turning my head and burying my tongue in her mouth. It was obvious to me that the talk I knew we needed to have was going to go better than I had thought it would. "Thank you." She uncurled her body from my side and walked over to kiss Jon's cheek. "You guys didn't have to, you know."

Jon placed his hands on her cheeks, forcing her to look him in the eye. It was a move that would have felt overly intimate if not for the fact it was Jon. "When are you going to get it through that thick head of yours that there's very little we do because we have to? Colton
wanted
to do this for you. For all of you. So please, would you go over there, give the man a kiss and later tonight, long after we all leave, show him how grateful you are to have your family out here?" I narrowed my eyes, trying to will Jon to shut up before he pushed her too far. Rain looked over her shoulder and laughed when she saw how nervous Jon's words made me. "I'm serious. If you don't forgive him soon and have a marathon make-up sex session, I think he's going to blow."

"I'll see what I can do about that," she acquiesced, patting him on the chest. In four steps, she was standing in front of me, throwing her arms around my neck. Finally feeling her lips pressed hard against mine, I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her close to my body, deepening our kiss. Far too quickly, she pulled away, looking around me to see her dad and brothers standing on the balcony, trying to ignore what was going on inside.

She pulled my head closer to her level, feathering kissed along my jaw. "I love you, Colton," she whispered in my ear.

"Yeah?" It shocked the hell out of me that she was suddenly so open with her feelings. It made me panic, just a little, that she might wreck my grand scheme, but if she did, I would still wind up with exactly what I wanted, so that could hardly be seen as a ruined plan.

"Yeah." She kissed me again before resting her head against my chest, her arms sliding down to my waist. "I tried not to but couldn't. And now you did this for me, how can I
not
love you?"

"You hear that?" I asked, looking over Rain's head, flipping off the bandmates who had told me I was trying too hard to win her back before finally agreeing to help. "Told you my plan to get her back would work." The guys doubled over in laughter when Rain slapped my chest hard. I lifted her chin so she was looking into my eyes. "I'm kidding. I love you too. Now, I'm going to tell your family to get their asses in out of the cold. You guys coming tonight?"

"Um, I kind of thought I might get up there again tonight," she said tentatively. As awesome as this news was, she was already unraveling everything we had planned. I think Jon and I were both expecting her to continue resisting getting back to work. I looked at him and he shrugged, not sure how to respond since all of this was my plan. "Or not..."

I knew I needed to say something. The look of rejection and pain on my girl's face killed me. I actually watched her shoulders slump forward as if she was a balloon that someone was letting the air out of. When I couldn't find the right thing to say, my quick-thinking best friend chimed in. "Why don't you take this one last night off? If you think you're ready, you'll come with us when we go back out and ease you back in." Rain looked at Jon, obviously not happy with his request but slightly less annoyed.

She squinted her amazing amber eyes and let out a loud sigh. "Come on, my dad's here. Are you really going to deny him the opportunity to see me on stage again? Remember, he missed out on years of seeing me sing." I was suddenly glad this was Jon's fight for the moment because there was no way I would have been able to deny her when she played that trump card.

"Exactly. Your dad's here. More than him missing out on seeing you sing he's missed out on spending time with you. So please, for him, come and see us play tonight. Spend time with your family. And then, once they go home, you're more than welcome if you think you're ready." I bit down on my lips, fighting to stifle the laughter. If ever there was someone who could fight back when Rain played dirty, it was Jon. He didn't have the emotional attachment that I did, the one that made me want to give her whatever would make her happy.

I gave Jon an appreciative glance as I wrapped my arms around Rain. "Jon's right, babe. Give your dad this time with Maddie. I'm sure that no matter how proud of you he is, he'd rather see Maddie than Rain." I turned her in my arms and kissed her softly.

As I walked away, heading out to talk to her family, I heard her mumble something causing Jon and Travis to laugh.

"Everything okay in there?" Matt asked as I closed the door. I appreciated them giving us time alone, but didn't want them to feel left out. It was a cool morning, albeit warmer than back home for them, so I felt bad that they had been sitting outside.

I scrubbed at the stubble on my chin, suddenly wishing I had taken a shower and shaved before we got off the bus. This wasn't the way I wanted Rain's family to remember me looking on the day I asked them for their blessing to marry her. "Yeah, Maddie's one hell of a girl." I glanced over at Tom. "Thank you again, sir. I promise to take good care of her for as long as she'll let me."