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

them. I'd be pushed, as is, to find three different foster homes to take one each," Miriam said. "It's the middle of December, Rachel. Everyone's swamped in December. With the Christmas festival starting, and people who've made plans to get away for the holiday, people who are sick. You know that awful flu's going around. We were stretched to the limits before, and now we have all this to contend with."
    "I can't help you."
    "I'll have to split them up. Can you imagine what that's going to do to them? We've been looking for a place for them since late last night. They slept on the couch and in the chair in my office while I phoned everybody I know trying to find a place for them. They're tired, and all they have left is each other. The only time I've seen them really panic is when I admitted that I might not be able to place them in the same home."
    "Miriam, I can't do this," Rachel said more firmly.
    As if Rachel hadn't said a word, Miriam went right on. "We found them at a motel on the edge of town. The Drifter. Who knows how long they'd been there. Three days or so, we think. Their mother abandoned them."
    "Abandoned?" Rachel asked, her sense of outrage rising above her sense of self-protection.
    "Yes. The kids wouldn't say anything, but finally we found the man who checked them in. He remembers a woman he assumed was their mother, but he hasn't seen her since she paid for the room three days before."
    "How could anyone leave a five-year-old and a baby in a motel room for three days with a little girl?"
    "Emma," Miriam said. "She's eleven. Almost twelve. The boy's Zach, and the baby's name is Grace."
    Rachel's face began to crumble. "How could you bring me a baby?"
    "You and Sam are still on the list of approved foster homes, from when you took Will. I know you said you didn't want to do this anymore, but I'm desperate, Rachel. You know how strained the whole system gets this time of year. People just fall apart over the holidays. If you could just help me out until after Christmas..."
    "No," Rachel said.
    "I can't bear to separate them. If it weren't for that, I would never ask this of you. But I don't think I can look Zach and Emma in the eye and tell them they have to say good-bye to each other. I don't think I could tear them away from each other, and that's what I'd have to do. I'd have to physically tear them from each other's arms."
    "Don't do that," Rachel said. "Don't put that on me."
    "It's been hard for you. I understand. Life has been unfair to you and Sam. But you can't give up. You can't shut yourself up in this house and hide any longer either. It isn't healthy."
    "Don't tell me what I can and can't do, Miriam."
    "Now you listen to me. I didn't want to do it this way, but if that's what it takes, I will," Miriam said. "If you don't take these children, I will call your father and all three of your sisters and your brother, and I will tell them that I'm worried about you. That I think you might be seriously depressed and that you've been sitting here in this house all alone every day for the past few weeks. I will make sure they don't give you a minute's peace trying to save you from yourself."
    "You wouldn't."
    "Try me," Miriam dared.
    Rachel paused, considering the seriousness of the threat. Her family, hell-bent on saving anyone, was something to behold. They could make her life utterly miserable. Even worse were the other things Miriam had said.
    "You don't really think I'm depressed, do you?"
    "Not yet," Miriam said. "But I think it wouldn't take much. Sit here worrying and feeling sorry for yourself for a few more weeks, and you will be."
    Rachel stood there, scared and feeling trapped.
    "It's Christmas," Miriam said. "Give them a decent Christmas. Give me some time to find someone to take them all or to find their mother."
    "I can't."
    "It won't be like it was with Will. Don't let it be. Don't even think that someday these children might be free for you and Sam to adopt. Just take them into your home,