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  OTHER R. E. BRADSHAW TITLES:

  OUT ON THE SOUND

  (Adventures of Decky and Charlie, # 1)

  SWEET CAROLINA GIRLS

  THE GIRL BACK HOME

  RAINEY DAYS

  (Rainey Bell Series, #1)

  RAINEY NIGHTS

  (Rainey Bell series, #2)

  WAKING UP GRAY

  BEFORE IT STAINS

  COMING APRIL 2012…

  MOLLY: HOUSE ON FIRE

  RAINEY’S CHRISTMAS MIRACLE

  R. E. Bradshaw

  © 2011 by R. E. Bradshaw.

  All Rights Reserved.

  R. E. Bradshaw Books/FEB 2012

  www.rebradshawbooks.com

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  For information contact [email protected]

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author and publisher.

  Warning: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

  This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters, and events portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblances to actual persons living or dead or events are entirely unintentional.

  Rainey’s Christmas Miracle

  Christmas Day, 2011

  Rainey Bell stood toe-to-toe with some of the nation’s most feared serial killers and several almost killed her. She was always armed, always prepared for the worst. Former FBI Special Agent Bell had faced death and come out the winner, but nothing in her law enforcement background had readied her for the task she was about to face. Rainey thought she would rather be alone in the woods with a madman stalking her, than have to do what was required of her today. At least she would have a fighting chance of coming out unscathed in a life or death situation. Rainey knew this was going to be like walking through a firing range with a target on her back. She was already covered in a thin layer of cold sweat as she sat motionless on the couch in the den, staring into space. The time was rapidly approaching when she would venture forward into the waiting disaster she knew this day would turn out to be.

  “Honey, could you please help me?” Katie Meyers, the extremely pregnant love of Rainey’s life, waddled into view.

  Rainey’s mood lightened at the site of Katie teetering down the two steps from the hall to the den. She was so big now she approached them sideways to keep her balance. Katie was holding one boot in her hand and wearing the other unzipped, the top of the boot dragging on the floor behind her. Rainey broke into a wide smile. It was true what they said about pregnant women; they glowed. Katie was radiant, although she seemed more tired lately. Carrying triplets for thirty-three weeks was beginning to take its toll. The doctor said they would look at a C-section delivery after the Christmas holiday. No way was Katie going full-term. Rainey’s life was about to take a drastic turn and she couldn’t have been happier.

  Katie half sat, half fell down on the couch with a loud sigh. The frustration was evident in her voice, when she said, “I can’t reach the zipper.”

  Rainey knelt in front of Katie, grinning up at her. “You sure you don’t want to wear something you can slip off? Your ankles are going to be swollen by this afternoon.”

  Katie was near tears, as she often was these days. “I’m not wearing bedroom slippers, if that’s what you’re suggesting. I’m big as a house and wearing a tent for a dress. At least I can wear nice shoes.”

  “Okay, okay,” Rainey said, calming Katie before she started crying again. “It’s a very pretty velvet tent and you look beautiful.”

  Katie glared at Rainey, her crystal blue eyes darkening. Rainey recognized the signs. She probably shouldn’t have referred to Katie’s dress as a tent. She tried to recover.

  “How about I zip you into these boots and we go open some Christmas presents? That’ll cheer you up.”

  Katie was not in the mood to be cheered. “If my sister makes one comment about my size, I’m going to belt her.”

  Rainey knew Katie was referring to Maria, her oldest sister, who invariably stuck her foot in her mouth at every family gathering. Maria should be on her toes today, because her baby sister was primed and ready for a fight. Rainey also knew it was best just to let Katie rant and stay out of it, because if she got involved they would turn their attention to her. Rainey preferred to fly under the radar when Katie’s sisters were in the room. The less they noticed her, the better.

  Katie continued her tirade. “And if she starts up again about in vitro fertilization and multiple births and how I should have expected this, I’m going to knock her out. Really, make sure I’m not near anything I could do real damage with. I’m not sure I could control myself if a frying pan was handy.”

  Rainey squeezed Katie’s calf into the boot, zipping slowly, careful not to catch her swollen skin and definitely not going to suggest Katie had grown too large to wear them. Her legs and ankles were already swelling, earlier than usual. Rainey would have to make sure Katie rested with her feet up most of the day and that she drank lots of water. She already spoke to Katie’s mother about leaving salt out of the food preparations today. The swelling worried her, but Katie told her it was normal. She gently prodded Katie’s swollen foot into the other boot and decided to bring Katie’s house shoes, just in case.

  She listened to Katie’s lament about her sister and prayed the day would go by without too many emotional outbursts. Katie’s hormones were all over the place. Most of the time she was extremely happy, participating in all the normal nesting behaviors of a mother to be. Then there were days like today, when Katie’s mood would shift in seconds. She had been laughing one minute this morning and then a weeping ball on the bed the next. Rainey’s knowledge of human behavioral science was no match for what nature was doing to Katie’s emotional state. Rainey simply rode out the storms of tears and irrational behavior as best she could, keeping her head low and trying not to draw too much attention.

  “Maria is so judgmental,” Katie continued. “Anything that doesn’t fit her definition of normal is unacceptable. We were not raised like that. Honestly, I don’t know how it’s possible for someone to move to Beverly Hills and become more conservative. She was never such a tight ass — ”

  The sound of thin glass breaking stopped Katie in mid-sentence, just as Rainey succeeded in closing the zipper on the last boot. Rainey stood and looked toward the Christmas tree in the corner. Katie had gone overboard with the decorations, wanting their first Christmas in the new house to be memorable. Rainey certainly wasn’t going to forget the number of broken ornaments, destroyed bows, and pieces of greenery she cleaned up. Freddie Kreuger, Rainey’s cat, thought it was his duty to wreak havoc, his own brand of Christmas cheer. Rainey heard groaning from the couch and turned back to see Katie struggling to right herself.

  “Take my hand,” Rainey said, extending her arm to Katie who grasped it, pulling hard against Rainey.

  Rainey grunted from the strain, which drew a glare from Katie. Once standing, she brushed by Rainey, heading for the tree. Rainey followed, hoping Freddie hadn’t ruined something Katie found precious. It wasn’t to be. Katie looked down at the floor and began to cry.

  “Oh Rainey, he broke the
ornament I bought for our first Christmas last year.”

  Rainey knelt down and started picking up the glass. “I’m sorry, honey. Maybe we should stick to non-breakable ornaments from now on. Let me get this up and we’ll go, okay?”

  At that moment, Freddie leapt out of the interior of the tree, causing several ornaments to fly toward the floor, garland trailing after him as he made his escape. Rainey couldn’t stop the shower of ornaments, but she did manage to grab the garland before he pulled the tree down.

  Katie shouted after the black cat, “I’m going to lock you outside until January!”

  It was an idle threat. Katie loved Freddie and in a different mood, she would have found his antics funny, but not today. Tears were streaming down her face. Rainey stood up and took Katie into her arms, which had become increasing difficult over the last few months, as Katie’s abdomen grew larger every day.

  “It’s just a Christmas tree, honey. It’s okay. You know it will be worse when the kids are here, so he’s letting us know we need to do things differently next year.”

  “I just wanted this Christmas to be perfect,” Katie whined.

  Rainey kissed Katie and wiped the tears from her cheeks. “It is perfect, sweetheart. Everything is perfect.”

  Katie smiled. “It is, isn’t it?”

  Rainey was relieved to see Katie’s mood shift. “Yes, I wouldn’t change a thing. Now, let me clean this up and we’ll go spend the day with your family.”

  Katie pulled Rainey’s lips down to hers and whispered against them, “I love you,” before she kissed Rainey deeply, causing a tiny groan from Rainey’s chest.

  Katie released Rainey from the kiss and giggled. “I’ve been depriving you. We’ll see what we can do about that later.”

  Rainey’s heart leapt at the prospects and just like that, Katie turned back into the sweet, bubbly blonde Rainey loved with all her heart. Maybe this day would turn out better than she hoped, if they could just get through dinner with the Meyers sisters without bloodshed. Rainey decided to think positive and look forward to holding Katie in her arms later tonight. After cleaning up the mess and before leaving the room to follow Katie, Rainey retrieved a small red box that she tied on the tree when it first went up. Katie thought it was an ornament. It wasn’t. Rainey had hidden Katie’s gift in plain sight and since Freddie was hell bent on destroying every ornament on the tree, Rainey thought it best to take the tiny box with her. She’d hate to have to search the house for its contents, if Freddie decided to do his worst while they were gone.

  Rainey grabbed Katie’s slippers from upstairs and hid them under her coat. With one last kiss at the door leading to the enclosed garage, Rainey looped her arm around Katie’s waist and said, “No matter what Maria says, we’re going to have a good time. Then I’m bringing you home and we’ll have a nice quiet Christmas night, just the two of us.”

  Katie smiled. “This is the last time you’ll be able to say that. From now on, it will be the five of us.”

  Rainey saw Katie’s expression change as she reached for her side.

  “Are you okay?” she asked.

  Katie rubbed her hand in circles on her extended belly. “They’ve been very active today. One of them has a foot under my ribs and keeps stretching.”

  Rainey was concerned but didn’t let on. Triplets were usually born around thirty-three weeks. Katie passed that milestone, but next week would be nearing the upper limits for most triplet births. The babies were healthy and at a weight they could now survive without complications. Complications were Rainey’s biggest fear. She was too happy and when that happened in Rainey’s life, something dreadful usually followed. She hoped that Katie entering her life had broken that cycle. Rainey prayed every day for healthy children and Katie having an easy birth. In Rainey’s experience, nothing was ever easy.

  She pushed her fears into the appropriate box in her mind and said, “They’re probably hungry. They heard something about turkey and ham and candied yams.”

  The mention of food spurred Katie out the door. “Oh my God, I’m starving.”

  Rainey laughed and armed the alarm, closing the door behind her. “Should I stop for a snack or can you make it to Durham?”

  The glare returned to Katie’s eyes as she wheeled on Rainey. “One more reference to how much I eat and you will be deprived a whole lot longer.”

  Rainey opened Katie’s car door and stood aside. They were driving Katie’s Lexus, because Rainey’s new Dodge Charger, a gift from Katie after Rainey’s car was destroyed last spring, was still being equipped with armor plating and bullet-resistant glass. Katie worked her way down in the seat with a bit of difficulty and basically fell the last few inches with a “humpf.”

  Rainey shut the door and went around the front of the car, entering the driver’s side. Before she cranked the car, she faced Katie. “I think you’re the most beautiful woman in the world. Being pregnant only made you more gorgeous.”

  Katie brightened and kissed Rainey, sweetly brushing her lips. “You’re really hoping to get lucky, aren’t you?”

  Rainey cranked the car, saying, “Always.”

  #

  The Meyers sisters were five years apart respectively. Katie was the youngest at thirty-seven. Helena, the middle sister, was a taller, more statuesque version of Katie. She was the wild child of the family and Rainey liked her, even if she did think Helena was just a little too Hollywood, where the aspiring actress currently resided. She made her living as a model and sometimes landed a bit part. Helena had been supportive of Katie and Rainey’s relationship from the beginning. For that, Rainey was thankful, but it didn’t make up for the oldest sister’s disposition.

  Maria was a piece of work. Rainey couldn’t figure out how she turned out so differently from the other two. Maria was the only conservative Republican in the family, which was bad enough, but she spouted her Fox News informed politics at every opportunity. The fact that her baby sister was now living with a woman, and about to have a family with her, completely blew her mind. Rainey tended to stay out of the way when Maria was around, choosing to sit with the men in the den and drink, while the other women hung out in the kitchen. Invariably, Maria would find her and ask Rainey some offensive question about her relationship with Katie. Her latest intrusion had come at Thanksgiving.

  Maria found Rainey in the den watching football alone, the others having migrated to the kitchen to refill drinks and grab some leftovers from dinner. Rainey wished she had gone with them when she saw Maria approaching.

  “Rainey, I want to ask you something,” Maria began, slurring just a bit, an almost empty glass of wine in her hand.

  Wine made Maria less inhibited and nosey as hell. Rainey braced for another of Maria’s ignorant inquiries, like when she asked which one of them, Katie or Rainey, was the boy in their relationship.

  Maria stood in front of Rainey, who was seated on the couch. She crossed her arms, assuming her holier than thou persona, and continued, “I’m just curious. What will you do with these babies if something happens to Katie? I mean, who will you give them to if, God forbid, something goes wrong during the pregnancy and birth?”

  Rainey had been too stunned to answer for a second. The thought of something going wrong with Katie’s delivery had crossed her mind, but she never let it dwell long. It was unthinkable. Maria speaking as if it were a real possibility infuriated Rainey. She stood quickly, trying to control her anger.

  “Nothing is going to happen to Katie!”

  Maria was undeterred. “You can’t know that. Things happen to people all the time. You, I would think, should understand that. I just want to know where these innocent babies are going to end up in the event Katie can’t take care of them.”

  Rainey’s anger was growing in leaps and bounds. She spat back at Maria, “I will take care of my children.”

  “They are hardly your children,” Maria countered. “You had absolutely nothing to do with them being conceived, unnaturally as it were. They hav
e none of your genetics and would belong more to me as biological family than to you.”

  Rainey came unglued at that point and raised her voice loud enough to draw Katie out of the kitchen, when she said, “It will be a cold day in hell when my children belong to you. You tight assed, right winged, bit — ”

  “Rainey!” Katie shouted. “What the hell is going on in here?”

  “Your sister seems to think she’ll be taking the kids if something happens to you,” Rainey explained, her chest still heaving with anger.

  Katie stepped in front of Rainey and faced Maria, her eyes glowing with contempt. “I thought you might pull something like this, so for your information, I have filed legal papers giving Rainey full custody, should it be necessary. As Rainey said, it will be a cold day in hell when I allow my children to be raised by a closed minded bigot like you.”

  Still seething, Rainey said, “That’s not the B-word I was going to use.”

  Maria was everything Rainey had come to despise after beginning a relationship with Katie. She had known discrimination, working in a male dominated field, but Rainey never experienced the disgust her relationship brought out in some people. It was hard for her to wrap her mind around that kind of thinking. Her relationship with Katie had come about so naturally. They were drawn together like magnets, unable to resist the pull. Rainey couldn’t fathom a God that had not blessed this union. It was simply meant to be.

  Maria gave no ground. “That’s all well and good on paper, but what court would uphold that and leave them with a non-family member who, let’s face it, has a good chance of being shot dead tomorrow?”

  Dammit! Maria was voicing Katie’s greatest fear, a subject from which Rainey went to great lengths to shield her. Over the course of the pregnancy, Rainey had stayed out of harm’s way, leaving the more sketchy bond recoveries to the young agents she and Mackie hired in the fall. The business had doubled in size since moving to the new offices in Chapel Hill. Rainey acquired her Private Investigator’s license and began working more cases as an expert witness, investigating quite a bit for Molly Kincaid, a defense attorney in Durham. This eased Katie’s fears, but it always loomed in their lives that Rainey’s next time out the door could be her last.