The McRae Series 01 - Twelve Days Sam and Rachel

going to take such good care of her."
    "Well, we all know how good a job I've done at that," Sam said, leaving unspoken their memories of what until now had been the worst day of his and Rachel's lives.
    He still remembered the look on Frank's face when Frank had rushed into the emergency room after learning about the car accident so many years ago. They were quite civilized in front of Rachel's mother, who was scared to death, but the minute she was out of sight Frank backed Sam up against the wall. With sheer terror and a burning anger on his face, he demanded, "This is how you take care of my little girl? And my granddaughter?"
    Sam still felt sick thinking of it, of how he'd failed them and how everything his father-in-law had worried about when he'd surrendered his daughter to the likes of Sam had come true that day. Their baby was gone. They'd almost lost Rachel, as well. And now, years later, there were no children. Rachel had been flirting with depression, and they were headed for even more heartache than before.
    Sam had done a hell of a job of taking care of Frank's little girl. He couldn't blame the man for hating him. He looked up at his father-in-law now and knew he hadn't seen Frank looking so devastated or so angry since Rachel's mother had died, and he was sorry. But Frank adored Rachel, and Sam honestly thought he might be relieved to know she was finally done with Sam.
    He thought about trying to tell Frank he'd done his best, that he just couldn't do it anymore, and asking him to take good care of Rachel when Sam was gone, but Sam didn't have to ask. Frank would do that.
    Finally in frustration, he said, "What? Do you want to hit me? Go ahead. Get it over with."
    "No, I want you to get your head on straight, boy. For some reason, my little girl loves you. She's always loved you. And I may not have approved of her choice at first, and I certainly worry about her being happy, but dammit, at least you've always been there for her. I never worried about that."
    * * *
    Rachel came inside with the children and found her father and Sam in the middle of a shouting match.
    "What in the world is going on?" she asked.
    They clammed up the minute they heard her, both looking guilty.
    "Nothing," her father said, glaring at Sam for another long moment, then turning to her and the startled children. "Why don't you let Sam put them to bed, Rachel. And you can walk me to the front door."
    "I can do it," Emma volunteered.
    "I'll help," Sam said, taking Zach by the hand and heading for the stairs.
    Rachel walked her father to the front door. "What was that with you and Sam?"
    Her father took her chin in his hand. "I asked him if he was taking good care of my girl."
    "Oh, Daddy," Rachel said, her heart sinking.
    "I'm your father. I have a right to make sure my girls are being looked after properly, and you... You're worrying me right now, little girl."
    "I'm not a little girl anymore, Daddy. And Sam..." She fought back tears. What had he said to Sam? "This isn't his fault. None of it."
    "You're sure about that?"
    "Yes." Oh, she was upset because he was leaving, but she couldn't blame him for that. She blamed herself. "He's a good man."
    "I know that, baby girl."
    "And he's my husband." Rachel felt the need to point that out even now. Sam and her father had never gotten along the way she would have liked.
    "I know that, too. But I've also got eyes of my own, and I know when my little girl's unhappy. I'm wondering what he's going to do about that."
    Rachel knew. He was going to leave. She could just imagine what her father would have to say about that, and again, she felt the need to defend Sam.
    "Did you ever really accept him, Daddy? I know we disappointed you years ago when I got pregnant and we got married, but it wasn't just Sam. It was me, too. I loved him. I always have. Right from the start."
    "You were just a girl."
    "And he was only two years older than I was. He was just a boy. And it wasn't like anybody took advantage of anybody else. If anything, it was my fault. I went after him, and I wasn't fair to him. He tried to stay away from me, because he knew how you all felt about him. How the whole town did. And it just wasn't fair. Don't you see that now? No one was ever fair to him."
    "Well, life isn't fair to us, is it? You know that. And I wish you didn't."
    "And I wish you could really accept my husband. He's been so good to me, and he's worked so hard."
    "I know that, Rachel."
    "Did you ever tell him that?