The McRae Series 01 - Twelve Days Sam and Rachel

never found out about."
    Joe laughed with him then. "It's funny how things turn out."
    "Yeah, it is."
    "Which reminds me. Sally and I've been meaning to call you. She's got her eye on the Wallace place, has for years. I know the damned house has to be a hundred years old. Can't imagine what she's thinking, but she wants it and that woman's almost always found a way to get anything she wants from me. She thinks we might be able to make something of the place. Or that you could."
    Sam grinned. "You have a small fortune hidden away somewhere?"
    "I'm a small-town cop. What do you think?"
    "We could take it slow," Sam offered. "You could probably do some of the work yourself. Isn't one of Sally's brothers a plumber?"
    "Yeah."
    "That ought to be worth something to you right now."
    Joe rolled his eyes and swore. "Just what I need. A money-guzzling shack."
    "Give me a call. I think I'm going to owe you a favor."
    "Oh, hell, Sam. I'd have been mad if you hadn't called for something like this. You're a part of this town now. We stick together, look out for each other."
    Sam nodded. He knew the people of Baxter did. He just hadn't realized he was considered one of them.
    "I need to get back," Joe said. "I'll call you as soon as I hear anything."
    Sam thanked him again and headed home himself, just remembering as he came into town that it was Christmas Eve. He didn't know whether to hope this woman in the hospital was Annie Greene or not. She was so sick she might never wake up, and he didn't want Emma or Zach to lose her. Grace was so young, she wouldn't remember her, but Emma and Zach would. He didn't want to have to tell them their mother was gone, and at the same time, he didn't want Rachel to have to let these children go. He didn't want to do that himself.
    And he had no idea how to work out any of this so that no one ended up with a broken heart.
    * * *
    When Sam got home, Rachel was getting Zach ready and Grace was asleep, but Emma was waiting for him. From the worried look on her face, he knew he had to tell her something and he didn't want to do it here.
    "I need some help," he told Emma, before she could ask him a thing. "I'm not quite done with my shopping..."
    Rachel laughed. God, he loved hearing Rachel laugh again. "He always waits until the very last minute," she told Emma.
    "Will you come with me?" he asked. "And help me?"
    "Okay," Emma said.
    Rachel looked surprised and he knew she wanted to ask what was going on, but he cut her off.
    "We'll hurry," he promised.
    "We have to be at church at six," she reminded him.
    "Church?" Zach frowned.
    "Yes, church," Rachel said. "There's more to Christmas than Santa."
    Sam promised he and Emma would be back in time. Emma followed him to his truck and said, "We're going shopping?"
    "Yes," he said. "Rachel needs a present."
    "Oh."
    She let it go at that and Sam tried to figure out what to say to her about her mother. He really didn't know anything for sure.
    He glanced over at her finally, after driving for a few minutes, sitting silently beside him looking at all the windows of the shops. She looked so sad. He didn't want her to be sad.
    "Rachel really should have something from you and Zack," Sam said, hoping to distract her and give himself some time to think. "Will you pick something out?"
    "I don't have any money," Emma said.
    "That's okay. You pick and I'll pay. It'll come from all of us. Do you know of anything she needs?"
    "No."
    "Well, maybe we'll find something." He parked in front of one of the two women's clothing stores in town and they walked in. There was Christmas music coming through the speakers in the store and a festive, if slightly desperate air about the place. It was Christmas Eve after all.
    The clerk, Jamie Cousins, whose husband worked with Sam, greeted him by name and gave them a warm smile. "Waiting til the last minute again, Sam?"
    Emma laughed a bit at that and Sam admitted that he was. They wandered around the store, Sam following Emma, who paused in front of a display of thick terry-cloth bathrobes.
    "Rachel's has a hole in it," she told him.
    "It does?"
    Emma nodded. "And Zack spilled grape juice on it the other day. Grape juice is hard to clean up."
    Sam frowned, thinking a bathrobe was as good a present as any. He'd gotten Rachel something else already, something he hoped she'd like, and this would be fine coming from the kids. He fingered the thick material in a pale, pale pink. It was soft, and he supposed it would be warm.
    "You don't