The McRae Series 01 - Twelve Days Sam and Rachel

general Christmas truce had been lifted—the subject of the truce, Rachel's troubled marriage. She could just imagine them all getting together and deciding they couldn't ruin Christmas with all this talk. But the presents had been opened, the ornaments were on the tree, dinner eaten, and soon her siblings would be leaving. They couldn't leave without saying anything.
    Her first clue was her brother, who came up to her and hugged her and said, "I don't know what's going on. That little scene with the ornaments?" He placed a hand theatrically over his heart. "Got me right here. And I don't know if that was staged—"
    "We didn't stage anything," Rachel said.
    "Okay, I just wondered. I wondered too if maybe you wanted me to beat him up?"
    "Sam?" Rachel asked.
    "Yes, Sam."
    "Why?"
    "I don't know. What's he done?"
    "He hasn't done anything," Rachel said. "And your wife's looking for you. I think she managed to corral your entire crew and wants to escape before they get loose. You have to go to her parents', right?"
    "Yes."
    "Go," she said, shooing him away and retreating to the kitchen.
    Her friend Mary Ann, from the shoe shop, caught her there and rambled aimlessly for ten minutes about nothing, which was a relief. But then Mary Ann's face fell and she whispered, "I just can't imagine you without Sam."
    "Neither can I," Rachel said, smiling and playing dumb about it all.
    She stuck her head in the refrigerator and when she emerged from there, her neighbor, Mrs. Potter, was giving her a kindly smile and patting Rachel's hand.
    "You can never give up, my dear. Never," Mrs. Potter said.
    "I'm not," Rachel promised.
    Her sister Ann confessed, "I was about to strangle Greg if he didn't get his mother to leave me alone about the fact that we hadn't had children yet. You think Daddy was bad? Greg's mother was relentless. I couldn't have a conversation with her without her asking me about it and making me feel like a bad wife because we hadn't reproduced yet."
    "Oh?" Rachel said.
    "Yes. She's never liked me, and I can accept that. But I don't think it's any more her business than Daddy's when Greg and I chose to have children, and don't get me wrong, I'm glad it's happening. But we just weren't ready before. We wanted a little time to ourselves. I think we deserve that."
    "Of course," Rachel agreed.
    "But his mother just kept pushing, and Greg kept telling me to just ignore her. I guess that's how he's dealt with her all these years, but I don't have to do that. She's not my mother. All I wanted was for him to stand up to her for me, and for the longest time, he wouldn't. We used to fight all the time about it."
    "You did?" Rachel had no idea.
    "Now she's driving me crazy about the baby. You'd think she was the only woman on earth to ever raise a child successfully. She thinks she knows everything, and I can already see it's going to be trouble. Greg doesn't always do what I think he should to get her to just butt out of our marriage, and as much as that irritates me, I still love him," Ann said.
    "Of course." Rachel had never doubted that part.
    "Sometimes it just gets so hard," her sister Gail added quite sincerely, then stood there waiting expectantly.
    "Oh," Rachel said, beginning to see where the conversation was going. She had honestly thought for a moment it was going to turn into a gripe session about men, and she hadn't understood what brought that on.
    "Alex wanted to take a job in Phoenix the year Mom got sick," Gail said finally, when it was clear Rachel wouldn't say anything more. "Can you imagine? I mean, it was a good opportunity for him, but we were doing fine here, and there was no way I could have left with Mom so sick. I couldn't believe he'd even suggest it. We had terrible fights about it, and one night I told him if he had to take that job, to just go ahead and go. The kids and I would stay right here, where we belonged."
    "Really?" How had Rachel missed that?
    "We all have problems," Gail said.
    "I know," Rachel agreed, but really, she hadn't known any of this.
    "I wish Mom were here. She'd know what to say," Gail said, sighing and looking around. "It's almost like old times, you know? Like when we were kids. Being here in this house at Christmas, with the family all around. Ever since Mom was gone, we've all been together here. It's the Christmas house and the Thanksgiving house and the Fourth of July. All of those things. I can't imagine us all not being here, and..."
    Her sister broke off, almost in