The McRae Series 01 - Twelve Days Sam and Rachel

with feet in them, and the floor was a heavily varnished hardwood. She slid along quite easily, and it had become a game to her now.
    He finished tugging her back, and she pivoted around on her belly to face him and giggled. Great. They could make a game of her trying to get close enough to the fire to singe her gorgeous eyelashes.
    "She doesn't understand," Zach said, shaking his head.
    "No, she doesn't." And he couldn't turn his back on her without finding her in some sort of trouble. It was definitely a whole new lifestyle.
    "Is Emma comin' back soon?" Zach asked. "Sometimes she listens to Emma."
    "Emma should be back anytime now." Sam glanced at his watch for the third time in ten minutes. Annie had decided it was time to tell Emma what was going to happen, and Sam had wanted to be there but their baby-sitter—one of his nieces—had canceled at the last minute, so Rachel took Emma and Sam was here trying to keep Grace out of the fire. But he was anxious to know how Emma was holding up.
    "I think I hear 'em," Zach said, racing for the door.
    "Don't go outside without your shoes, Zach!" he called out, maybe already too late. Kids were impulsive. About everything, it seemed.
    Meanwhile, Grace crawled over to him and pulled herself up until she was standing beside him, hanging on with great determination to fistfuls of his shirt and wobbling back and forth. She was determined to walk and fell down at least a hundred times a day.
    "You're going to give me heart failure," he told her.
    She patted his cheek. Hard. They hadn't convinced her yet to be gentle. Sam made a growling sound and went after her, his mouth landing against her soft, fabric-covered belly. She howled with delight and latched on to his hair. It was her favorite game of all.
    When she finally let go and he looked up, Emma was standing there staring at the two of them, looking a bit lost and afraid as she had that first day.
    So much had changed so quickly, he could hardly believe it. He'd growled at Emma for real that first day, scared her, resented her presence here, and been scared to death by her, too.
    This time he held out his arm to her and said, "Come 'ere, Em."
    Her face fell. She dropped to his side and buried her head against his chest. Her shoulders were shaking. She was crying, and he was fighting not to himself.
    Grace didn't understand this, either. She thought it was yet another game and soon she was hiding her face against his chest, too, and trying to get Emma's attention. Sam gently pulled her back, so she'd leave Emma alone.
    "Give us a minute, Grace," he said.
    She frowned—she was used to being the center of attention—and pointed to Emma and said, "Muh, Muh."
    "I know. It's Emma. She'll play in a minute." He reached behind him for her ball. Zach was trying to train her to fetch. Sam threw the ball into the corner farthest from the fire and said, "Get the ball, Grace."
    She didn't look happy about it, but she crawled off after it, her diaper-clad bottom swishing back and forth as she went.
    Emma finally lifted her wet face from his shoulder and said, "She's not a puppy."
    "Zach thinks she could be almost as good as a puppy. He wants to get her a leash and a collar, thinks we could keep her out of trouble easier that way. What do you think? We could stake her to the middle of the floor, give her some room to run, but still keep her out of the fire?"
    Emma laughed a bit, and then bit her bottom lip and cried.
    "We're going to take good care of her, Emma. You and Zach, too. We promised your mother."
    "I know. She told me. She told me everything."
    "If the doctors say it's okay, we'll bring her here to the house and take care of her. We did that with Rachel's grandfather and her mother before we lost them. We want you to have as much time with her as possible."
    "I'd like that, if she was here," Emma said.
    "We love you, Em," he said.
    "And I love you. But I'm scared. It's gonna be so hard..."
    "I know. But Rachel and I have been through a lot of bad times. We know how much it hurts sometimes, and I won't lie to you. Some things just always hurt. But things can get better, too. You'll get to the point where you can remember someone you lost, someone you loved, without hurting so bad you want to cry. Where you can be happy again. Where you know there are still good things in life ahead of you."
    "You think?" she asked.
    "Listen to me." He turned her head up to his. "I know it's true. All you need are people around you who love you.