Twelve Days (34 page)

"To my little girl, whom I love dearly." He raised his glass. "I'm so proud of her, for all that she does for our family and for this community. I can't imagine where any of us would be without her. Especially her husband and my new best friend Zach, and his two sisters."

He leaned down close and kissed Rachel's cheek. "This is what you were meant to do, little girl."

And it was. She realized that there wasn't anything she'd ever done in her life that gave her the kind of satisfaction that came from taking care of the people she loved. For so long, she'd honestly thought she was just drifting along, following where life led her, but in truth, she'd done exactly what she should have been doing. She'd been taking care of everyone. It was the only thing she could have done.

And these children... Zach was standing there grinning at the bottom of the stairs, and Emma was standing by the fireplace watching with an eagle eye as Rachel's fourteen-year-old niece held Grace. Her father was right. This was what she was meant to do. This felt better and more important than anything she'd ever done.

"I love you, Daddy," she said.

He winked at her as he addressed the crowd again. "And to my little girl's husband of twelve years. I was just thinking of how nice it is to be in this house on this day. The place where my wife and her sisters grew up, a place that holds so many memories. I don't think the house ever looked as good back then as it does now. Sam and Rachel made it glow.

"I was thinking about my own father-in-law and all the joy he's brought so many people with his work. He loved this town, too, and I realized that my son-in-law's brought the town back to us with all the work he's done to restore so many of our grand old buildings. He's made the place look as good as it did a hundred years ago or better, and now we have all these nice people from all over the place coming here to see it and enjoy it over the holidays.

"I know we had some hard times in this town and that there are lots of downtowns dying all over these days, but this town's alive and prospering. It glows with all the magic of Christmas, and I just wanted to take a moment to tell him how much that means to us. And that I'm proud of him and my little girl."

There were cheers and raised glasses and well wishes all around. Rachel gave her father a big hug and a teary smile.

"You were right," he said. "I hadn't been fair to him, and if I've made your marriage any harder because of it, I'm sorry. I thought I owed him a very public apology."

"You did good," she said, looking over at her clearly stunned husband. And then she had an idea. They'd show them this marriage wasn't done, no matter what they'd heard. She wrapped her arms around him and said, "Kiss me, Sam. Right here. In front of them all."

And Sam did. He caught her close and gave her a long, leisurely kiss that had their entire audience cheering before they were done.

She eased back in his arms, remembering the look in his eyes, the husky roughness in his voice that morning in their bed when he'd told her he still loved her. What more could a woman want from Christmas than all that she had in this moment?

* * *

She was in the kitchen cleaning up later that afternoon when someone's cell phone rang. When she turned and saw the look on Miriam's face, Rachel knew right away who this call was about.

The children.

A moment later, Sam was at her side, his arm firmly around her waist. When Miriam finished the call, Rachel said, "You found their mother, didn't you?"

"Yes. About two hours from here by car. In a hospital near Indianapolis. She's been there unconscious since the day after she left them in that motel."

Rachel drew herself up a bit straighter. Sam was right beside her, hanging close, maybe waiting for her to fall apart. Well, she wasn't going to. She'd known this day was likely coming, and this was what the children wanted.

"Is she all right?" Rachel asked.

"I don't know. But she's conscious now, and she wants to see the children, if that's possible. Today."

Rachel nodded, her heart withering just a bit.
Today.

"It's the woman they found in Shepherdsville, right?" Sam asked.

"What woman?" Rachel asked.

"Someone found a woman dumped on the side of the road two weeks ago. She'd been beaten half to death and was unconscious, with no ID. Nobody had any idea who she was."

"And you knew about this?"

"Yesterday," he said. "I found out yesterday. Not that she was their mother, just that she might be. I didn't see any reason to say anything until we knew for sure."

"Oh."

"What about their father?" Sam asked.

"I don't know," Miriam said.

"You're going to find out. He used to beat her up, and I'm betting he's the one who put her in the hospital."

"You've talked to the sheriff about all this?"

"Yesterday," Sam said. "He was working on identifying her, but I guess if she's awake, we don't have to worry about that. We do have to worry about him. If he's the one who did this to her, those kids aren't going anywhere near her until he's behind bars."

"Sam, it's not for you to say," Miriam argued.

"Forget it, Miriam. I promised them they'd be safe from him, and I'm going to keep that promise. The man's going to be behind bars. That's it."

Sam didn't give an inch. It was an hour and a half later before he heard from the sheriff. They had taken Annie Greene's statement from her hospital bed and used that evidence to arrest her husband, who was behind bars on a charge of attempted murder.

"Okay. It's getting late," Miriam said to the two of them, then checked her watch. It was almost five. The hospital in Indianapolis was almost two hours away. "Maybe we should wait until tomorrow."

"No. It's Christmas. We have to take them today," Rachel said. "It's all they really wanted for Christmas. To see their mother."

"Are you okay?" Sam asked.

"Yes," Rachel said, feeling more calm than she would have expected. "This is what they want, and I want them to be happy. Just like I want you to be happy. Whatever it takes."

Chapter 18

They told the children together. Zach jumped up and down, he was so happy. His whole face lit up, and he was practically running for the door, leaving Rachel to chase him.

Emma looked up at Sam with a mixture of hope and love and fear on her face that left him practically paralyzed, finally whispering, "You found her?"

Sam nodded.

She flew into his arms and held on tight, her whole body shaking. "Oh, Sam. Thank you."

"You're welcome, Em." He waited until she'd calmed down a bit, wishing he didn't have to tell her the rest, wishing he could really be her hero, the one who made everything all better for her. "There's something else."

"What?"

"She's in the hospital."

Emma's expression froze. "Is she okay?"

Sam dodged that one. He didn't know the answer himself. "She's been unconscious. You know, when you're asleep and can't wake up?"

Emma nodded.

"She's been like that the whole time. That's why she didn't come back to get you. And now she's awake."

"Is she still going to be in trouble?"

"I don't know. All I know right now is that we found her, and she wants to see you. Rachel and Miriam and I will take you to her."

"And then she'll take us home?"

"I don't think she's well enough to come home yet. But you can stay with Rachel and me awhile longer. You don't have to worry about that part."

"Okay."

She was still trembling, still worried. He could tell. Finally, she looked up at him and said, "Was it my dad? Did he find her? Did he hurt her?"

Sam nodded. "But you don't have to worry about him, either. He's in jail, and even if he wasn't, he doesn't know where you are and nobody's going to tell him. You're safe here, Em."

"Okay," she said breathlessly.

"Come on," Sam said, his hand firmly on her shoulder. "Let's go see your mom."

It was a quiet, somber drive to the hospital. Rachel sat beside him, her hand clasped tightly in his for most of the journey. Zach and Grace dozed off on the way, and they had to wake them when they arrived. Miriam went into the room first, and came back looking pale and worried. Sam knew why. He'd seen Annie Greene the day before.

"They're going to turn down the lights. I think that might help a little to hide the bruises. But she looks awful," Miriam whispered.

Sam took Emma and Zach aside and told them, "Your mom looks bad."

"Bad?" Zach said. "She's been bad?"

"No. Not that. She just... She has some bruises on her face, and it's kind of puffy, too. She has some machines hooked up to her, some tubes and wires and things, but don't worry about those. They're all helping her."

"Tubes?" Zach said.

"She's sick, Zach," Emma explained.

"Yes, she's sick. You need to be careful about jumping on her. Even about hugging her. I know you want to, but you don't want to hurt her."

Zach looked perplexed. "She can't hug me?"

"I bet she can. You'll just have to be careful. Let her hug you, okay? Don't run in there and grab her. You might grab on to a part of her that's sore."

"Okay." Zach was ready. "Can we go now?"

Miriam took him by the hand and said, "Come on. I'll take you."

Emma waited, looking up at Sam, getting ready to cry.

"I know you want to see her," he said. "Everybody here is working to make her better, but I bet seeing you and Zach will do more to make her feel better than anything anyone else could do."

"I'm scared, Sam."

"I know." She started to cry. Sam dried her eyes as best he could. "She needs to see you. She needs to know you're okay."

"Okay."

"Rachel and I will be right here waiting for you."

Emma disappeared into the room. Sam felt sick to his stomach, wishing he could spare her this, hating the powerlessness he felt in this moment. There should be a way for a man to protect the people he loved, and he loved these kids. There should be a way he could take the hurt himself and spare them.

And then there was Rachel, standing by the wall holding the baby, looking more angel like than ever as she slept with her face tucked sideways against Rachel's shoulder. Grace's cheeks were pink and full, her nose like a button, her lavish eyelashes lying against those silky cheeks, one hand clenched in a fist that was half in her mouth. She was sucking and smacking her lips against it in her sleep.

Sam smoothed down the flyaway baby hair and kissed the baby's forehead, then wrapped his arm around her and Rachel. Rachel was trembling, too, and she leaned her head on Sam's shoulder, and he could feel the misery coursing through her.

For a second, he thought of last night and this morning. Thought of how close they'd been, how hopeful he'd been. It was selfish, he knew, and he didn't wish any more misery on Annie Greene and certainly not upon her children. But he and Rachel had been so close, so close to having everything.

He pulled her closer, wishing he could stop her from hurting, too. Wishing he could give her strength and somehow make this bearable for her. But he didn't have any words, couldn't think of anything to do except hold her.

They were still standing there a moment later when the door to Annie Greene's room opened again. Zach and Emma came out in a rush, Zach looking scared, Emma almost as pale as her mother had been the day before. They came to him and Rachel. Sam picked up Zach, and he and Rachel pulled Emma into their embrace, the five of them locked there together in their shared misery.

"Mommy's really sick," Zach said.

"I know," Sam told him.

"Is she gonna get better?"

"I hope so, Zach."

Emma's head came up at that. She was studying Sam's face, looking for reassurance, and he couldn't bring himself to lie to her.
I hope so
was the best he could do with any degree of honesty at all.

Her lower lip started to tremble, and then her eyes and her mouth took on that pinched look a moment before she bent her head until it rested on Rachel's shoulder, and she started to weep. He would have done anything, he thought, anything at all to spare her this.

Miriam ended up taking the baby from Rachel and disappeared into Annie Greene's room once again. Sam took Zach down the hall to a vending machine and bought him a drink, because seeing Emma so upset was worrying Zach, too. It also bought Emma some time alone with Rachel. It was a while after that before they got everyone settled down in a small waiting room down the hall. Miriam came back with Grace and asked Emma to take her for a moment while she pulled Sam and Rachel into the hall and told them Annie Greene was asking to see them.

"I think she just wants to know who has her children for now," Miriam said. "Will you talk to her?"

Rachel agreed, and then Sam led her down the hallway. He'd hardly let go of her since the phone call, hadn't wanted to. She was obviously upset and shaken, but she hadn't fallen apart, not like she had when Will had been taken away from them, and it hadn't been that long ago. Sam was proud of her. She was obviously intent on trying to make this as easy as possible for the children, no matter what it cost her.