Read The McRae Series 01 - Twelve Days Sam and Rachel for Free Online

Rachel, at least not at first. He'd still keep an eye on her and help with the house. As much as they'd done to the old place, it always needed more.
    He'd decided. All he had to do now was hold out until after Christmas, tell Rachel and go.
    Then all he had to do was learn to live without her.
    Now it seemed he'd been so caught up in his own problems that he hadn't been paying enough attention to her.
    "What's going on between the two of you?" Miriam asked.
    "Nothing," he lied. The family gossip system was more highly developed than any communications satellite in the world. He wasn't interested in being fodder for the family roundtable. This was between him and Rachel.
    "Sam—"
    "We haven't gotten over Will, okay?" That shut Miriam up. She still felt guilty, and Sam was mad enough to use that against her right now. "So, Rachel doesn't go anywhere?"
    "Not for weeks," Miriam said.
    How could that be? She'd always been busy, taking care of her sick grandfather, helping Sam get the business off the ground, and later with her stained glass. She did amazing things with the glass, first on jobs Sam had taken on and then on jobs of her own. She helped her sisters with their kids, helped take care of her father now that her mother was gone. She volunteered at the church and for Meals on Wheels and all sorts of organizations around town. He'd always been proud of all she did, all she gave to everyone around her.
    "I know she cleared her schedule a lot while she was working on the Parker mansion the past year, but..." She'd finished that weeks ago, hadn't she?
    Sam had trouble remembering what day it was lately. Until he'd given himself a deadline to move out, he simply hadn't cared.
    "All her volunteer stuff?" he began, shaken and trying not to show it.
    "She's turned it all over to other people. No one's seen her outside the house in weeks—before the birthday get-together, at least. Everyone who's knocked on your front door has found her here, full of excuses as to why she can't do things, and yet she never actually seems to do anything," Miriam said. "Looks like you've got some things to take care of."
    "Yeah. You, too. Find out who these kids belong to, Miriam. Quickly."
    "I will," she promised. "Take good care of Rachel."
    Sam held his tongue. He'd never been able to take proper care of Rachel. Still, the thought of her sitting here all day in that damned rocking chair in the corner... He had come home one evening around dusk and found her sitting in the dark, asleep in the rocker.
    It had seemed odd, but she said she hadn't been sleeping well. He wouldn't know about that because he hadn't been sleeping in their bed. So he had let it go. He'd turned and walked away, as he so often did these days. He wondered what else he'd missed.

Chapter 3

    The afternoon was chaotic between getting the children settled and Rachel holding her breath while Sam was outside arguing with Miriam on the porch. But he gave in, because when he came inside he had some plastic shopping bags from Wal-Mart. At first, all she could think was that was so odd. Sam didn't shop, except for building supplies. And then she realized he'd given in—that the children were staying and these were their things.
    Rachel saw Emma staring at the bags. Her cheeks turned ruddy and she hid her face against the top of the baby's head. They had so little.
    "We'll go shopping tomorrow," Rachel said, thinking to reassure her.
    "We don't need much," Emma insisted.
    "Then we'll just get what you need," Rachel said. But they wouldn't. They'd get a lot. "It'll be fun. Especially picking out things for Grace. They have the cutest clothes for babies. I have nearly a dozen nieces and nephews; I shop for them all the time."
    Usually, it hurt, shopping for children she'd never have. But this time, she'd enjoy it. She'd dress Emma in something brand new, too. Something stylish, if she could figure out what stylish was to an eleven-year-old girl. It would be a good day. She'd make it