Waiting On The Rain (The Walker Brothers Book 3) Read online

  Waiting on the Rain

  Claudia Connor

  Waiting On The Rain is a work of fiction. Names, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2020 by Claudia Connor

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Also by Claudia Connor

  Worth The Fall

  Worth The Risk

  Worth It All

  Worth The Wait

  Waiting For You

  Waiting On The Rain

  Love At Last

  Where I Belong

  Praise for Claudia Connor

  “Love, love, love! Read Claudia Connor for a consistently raw and emotional love story.”—New York Times bestselling author Carly Phillips

  “This debut mixes passion and compassion in a contemporary story that has emotional depth. Readers will find the story heartwarming but with enough heat to remind them of what falling in love feels like.”—Library Journal, Worth The Fall

  “Connor’s writing is strong enough to maintain the emotional intensity of the main couple’s relationship through it all, providing a reading experience that will no doubt satisfy fans and leave many eager for more tales of the passionate McKinney Brothers.”—RT Book Reviews

  "Claudia Connor writes the kind of romance I love the most. Warm, realistic, steamy and heartfelt." -Kristan Higgins, New York Times Bestselling Author

  "SQUEEE!!! This was one of the most heart-warming and ROMANTIC books I've read in a long time!" -Aestas Book Blog

  "I just finished "Worth the Wait" and seriously, Claudia Connor has done it again. She broke my heart and then loving put it back together-- chapter by chapter. " -The Bookchick

  “Worth the Fall is one of the most touching, heartfelt stories I have read in years. It is nothing short of magic.”—New York Times bestselling author Sharon Sala

  “Definitely one of the best books of the summer . . . a must read!”—Underneath the Covers

  “I can’t get enough of Claudia Connor’s heartwarming stories. Sexy, emotional, complex, dreamy—her characters satisfy on every level.”—New York Times bestselling author Virna DePaul

  Note to Readers

  Dear Readers,

  I am so grateful to you for going on this journey with me. Beginning with the McKinney family, and moving into the Walker brothers.

  Ava’s character has been living in my mind for years, almost as far back as Matt and Abby. When I got to know Luke Walker, I knew they were meant to be together.

  Luke felt broken, tainted somehow, and didn’t want anyone to see him. Ava doesn’t look at him, can’t see him. But in the end she sees him more clearly than anyone else.

  Ava was a joy to write. It did require a lot of research and I was lucky to find several people more than willing to help.

  Also, when I was in college at Auburn University, I spent a year planning to get my master’s in Deaf Education. That later morphed into Early Childhood Education, but during that time, I took a class on general disabilities.

  The professor offered extra credit to anyone who wanted to spend 24 hours blindfolded. Always up for an adventure, I was eager. He gave me a blindfold and a cane, wished me luck and told me he’d see me on Friday and off I went. I began later that evening and I didn’t cheat once. I truly wanted to experience it.

  It. Was. Hard.

  Two things stood out. One, I had to rely on others for help. This was 1992 in a small college town. The campus offered transit from one side of the campus to the other, but there was no handy app to find the transit I needed or when it was coming. I couldn’t easily call for help because we didn’t even have cell phones then!

  Luckily, I had a boyfriend with a car, so he dropped me off near my classes. Navigating through an enormous building, up an elevator and to my classrooms, some of which were auditoriums, was a challenge to say the least.

  The second thing that stood out was the loneliness. At night, when dinner was over and my boyfriend left, it was just me in the dark and the quiet. I couldn’t watch TV. I couldn’t read myself to sleep. There were no podcasts then, I had no audio books. And even in the classroom, surrounded by people. I was in my own dark world.

  I know that my 24 hour experiment in no way compares to living with a sight impairment, but it made an impression on me and I’ve never forgotten it.

  I love Ava and Luke and I hope you enjoy their story as much as I enjoyed writing it!

  Sincerely,

  Claudia

  Xoxo

  Special Thanks

  A very special thanks to Dr. Chad Cullison, O.D. of Cullison Eye Care, Germantown, TN. His expertise and interest in making the facts regarding Ava’s sight accurate are greatly appreciated. Any and all mistakes are my own.

  For my girl, Jamie.

  Keeping me sane, keeping me moving, keeping the faith.

  Xoxo

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Excerpt from Worth The Wait

  Also by Claudia Connor

  1

  Luke Walker stood in the bathroom of Marco’s Supper Club men’s room, staring at himself in the mirror as the cold water ran over his hands.

  He’d crawled through South American jungles when he was barely old enough to qualify as a man, tumbled out of airplanes, and blown doors with blocks of C-4. He’d eaten sand in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Turkey and a few more places the US government wouldn’t want him to admit he’d ever been.

  At times it was fun, the training, the adrenaline rush, the bullshitting with the guys. Other times it was haunting.

  But there was always another day. Morning came and there was another mission. That’s why guys hated going on leave. Not because they didn’t want to see their families but because if you didn’t keep it tight, keep moving, planning, reloading, the darkness could creep in. As brave as they were, they feared being smothered by that darkness. And that’s where he was now, where he’d been the past few months.

  Retirement, permanent leave. Trying not to get smothered and doing his damnedest not to let it show.

  At the moment he was trying not to let it show as he washed baby barf out of his dress shirt. There’d been too many toddlers and babies belongi
ng to his little brother’s wedding party to not have one tossed at him. So, with the women in the wedding party posing for pictures, he’d gotten the barfing one.

  Hard to believe a human who weighed less than twenty pounds could contain so much…stuff. He was an Army Ranger for God’s sake and had smelled some acrid stink, but this was getting to him.

  The bathroom door opened, letting in the sounds of a wedding reception in full swing.

  “Hey, man.”

  Luke gave a head nod to the man as he passed on his way to the urinals. He squeezed out his dress shirt then held it under the hand dryer. His undershirt could probably use a good wash as well but the scars of war brought looks, if not questions, neither of which he was in the mood for.

  Ten minutes later he was back at the makeshift bar, watching his younger brother bump hips with his new bride. The happy go lucky jokester who never met a lady he didn’t like now settled down with a kid. Nora’s, and now officially Zach’s. A cute little guy who was somewhere between one and two and who’d stolen the show toddling down the aisle as ring bearer.

  They seemed in love, Zach and his new wife. Wife. Good, Lord. He shook his head at the thought. His older brother Nick had a wife now too. His baby sister, Hannah, was one. And this was life, he thought, taking a sip from the cold amber bottle. This was normal. People meeting, people linking up with one another. And today’s normal had been a small wedding in a Catholic Church followed by a reception at a supper club that served a lasagna dinner then offered a makeshift bar and parquet dance floor.

  “This next one is a ladies only dance,” the band leader announced. “If you’ve got man plumbing get yourself off the dance floor.”

  The band moved into a new tune. The females at the bar whooped and laughed, pushing their drinks into the nearest man’s hand so they could throw themselves into the shifting shaking mass of women singing about respect, spelling out the word.

  Women filled the dance floor as quickly as the men vacated. A mass of white dress shirts, in various degrees of tucked, the ties around their necks loosened, if not lost altogether. He’d left his own penguin suit choker on his assigned table. And nearly every one of them made a bee–line to the bar.

  Some he recognized as Zach’s fire station buddies, others were part of the McKinney clan his sister had married into. The noise around him ratcheted up as the men called for their drinks. The quick moving bartenders set small plastic cups and bottles on the bar, serving everyone as fast as they called out their order. Nothing said party like an open bar at a wedding. As much as he wished, it just didn’t say it to him.

  He’d been easing into civilian life for months now. Or trying. Maybe not trying hard enough since the civilian skin didn’t fit quite like his Ranger skin had. But then he hadn’t been non-active military for more than twenty years. He’d been a kid when he’d signed up. A wild, immature, overly emotional kid with a chip on his shoulder so deep he was shocked he’d been able to hold a rifle. But he had.

  He’d held a rifle and held it steady. He’d learned to navigate— day or night— run obstacle courses, and rucked miles until a lot of the anger had been sweat out of him or buried under exhaustion. Maybe that’s why civilian life was hard.

  He checked his watch. Almost nine. He figured at least two more hours before the bride and groom departed. The day had begun with a wedding party brunch at eleven this morning and his duties as groomsman hadn’t slowed since then. He’d surpassed his social limit hours ago.

  He perused the other side of the room dotted with large round tables where he’d survived the seated dinner portion of the evening. White table cloths, spindly green and pink floral somethings sticking up out of skinny glass tubes in the center of each one. Kinda cool, he thought, though it hadn’t blocked him from even one of the nine people seated with him. Might have been better altogether if he’d built a walled garden around himself, like the folders he’d set up as a child when the class took a test.

  But he’d nodded, even forced a smile when appropriate and tried his best to look like everyone else when on the inside he still felt gritty with sweat after operating in a middle eastern sandbox.

  He’d been firm on not bringing a date and gave points to his sister the wedding planner. She hadn’t pushed. Instead she’d paired him up with one of the bride’s coworkers who was old enough to be his grandmother. Another point for Hannah.

  There’d been a time when his hormones had raged and the thought of bridesmaids would have made him think good time. Now there was nothing raging. His blood didn’t run hot or cold. Sometimes Luke wondered if it was running at all.

  Not for the first time, he looked around him and thought what the hell was he doing here? Not in the building, or in the state of Virginia, but in the country.

  Was it too late? Could he call his commander, tell him April fools? Just joking? Why had he thought he could be anything other than a soldier? But he had thought that. Or had thought he wanted, that he needed, to try.

  His gaze skimmed over the room. Most of the women were on the dance floor while a scattering of people sat at one of the large round white cloth covered tables. Older couples, one he recognized as Zach’s fire chief and the chief’s wife. A blonde sitting alone, nursing a drink, not facing the dance floor— which was odd with all the commotion going on. This place was a people watching gold mine, if you were into that kind of thing. Maybe she wasn’t. Maybe like him she was feeling the sensory overload. He couldn’t see much of her. Just her back with her long, pale hair flowing down, past the top of the chair.

  Out of the corner of his eye, Luke saw Nick make his way over to the bar. He ordered himself a beer and gave Luke a chin jerk in greeting. They stood like that, side by side, facing opposite directions. To say they’d butted heads way back when, would be putting it mildly. At seventeen, Luke had had no interest in listening to Nick, his nineteen-year-old newly appointed guardian.

  Nick got his beer and turned to look out over the room, taking a long swallow from his drink. Luke noticed his brother scanning the room, locating each of his three babies before he spoke. “Holding up the bar or drinking it dry?”

  Nick’s tone was easy, not accusing so Luke tamped down his automatic bristling at his brother’s question. Told himself not to read too deeply into it. Before he came up with a response, Zach was there.

  “My man!” Zach shouted as he hooked an arm round Luke’s neck. “I’m going to need you to kick it up a notch. Turn that frown upside down.”

  Zach pivoted, turning them both back to the dance floor. When his gaze zeroed in on his bride, a goofy grin spread across his face as he watched Nora move. “That’s my wife,” Zach said. “I love saying that —my wife.”

  It was a wonder his grin didn’t split his face. Luke couldn’t really imagine being that happy. It was kind of creepy.

  One of Zach’s fire station buddies who’d also been in the wedding party joined them and rolled his eyes. “How many times can you say 'my wife?’”

  “More than you,” Zach said to his single friend. “And hey, without Dallas, that makes you the only single brother. Hey, Nick.” Zach leaned across him. “Luke’s the only single bro on the premises.”

  Nick raised an eyebrow at Luke then cut his eyes to Zach.

  Luke raised a finger to the nearby bartender. “Can we get some water over here?” It wasn’t the first time he’d thought of Dallas being absent today and hoped Zach wasn’t hiding too much disappointment at his twin not being here for his big day. Dallas, the quiet thinker, the introverted scholar, who’d shocked them all by going to police academy, then taken a job offer up north. And was now deep undercover and pretty much out of contact.

  The bartender filled two clear plastic cups, set them on the bar.

  “Drink some water, Romeo,” Nick said. “Don’t want you disappointing your bride tonight.”

  “What?” Zach picked up one of the waters. “Lot of women here. Can’t you get even one to dance with you.”

  �
�Not trying,” Luke said.

  “I don’t think you could get a girl to dance with you if you were. Not with that scowl on your face.” He downed one of the waters and started on the second.

  “Maybe not.” He didn’t feel like he was scowling. It was just his face, but he mustered up a smile for his brother.

  “I love you, man.” Before Luke could dodge, Zach grabbed him in a head lock and planted a kiss on his face.

  “Okay. Maybe some more water.”

  “Nope. Don’t need it. I’m high on love.”

  Luke could only shake his head. The band ended the ladies only dance and called the men back out onto the floor. The men obliged, maybe because the women were all dressed up, slightly tipsy, and dancing in heels.

  “I’m going to dance with my wife.” Zach finished his second water and joined his bride, but not before he reached into his wallet and slapped a crisp bill on the bar in front of Luke. “A hundred says you can’t get one woman to dance with you.”

  Luke just stared at it.

  “He’s going to regret that,” Nick said with a shake of his head.