“I should hope she did,” Elaine said. “Some things shouldn’t be accepted from anyone but family.”
Sam sat back and watched Carrie’s mom and siblings collect eight hundred dollars in cash to help her get established. “That should be a huge help,” he admitted, pleased at her family’s generosity. “If she needs anything else, I’ll be there.”
“Well, I feel better knowing she’ll be near you,” Elaine told him, “especially with Dave acting like a crazy man.”
“Yeah, not to mention a serial rapist/murderer on the loose in this area,” Mack’s wife, Sharon, added.
“I live in Texas,” Katie said. “What are you talking about?”
“They linked the torture and rape of that woman in Lafayette to several in Chicago over the last three years and maybe some in Minnesota a couple of years before that. If it turns out to be the same guy, he’s only left one woman alive. That’s the one in Lafayette, and he let her live because she was blind from birth and couldn’t identify him, not from sight anyway,” Sharon said.
“That’s right,” Susan went on to explain. “Turns out this girl
is
a master at detecting dialects from different regions of the United States. She connected him to the Chicago area, and sure enough, there were some unsolved cases with the same M.O. She also detected a residual Minnesota accent, and
guess
what...More unsolved cases with that same M.O. Not a speck of evidence, but because of one blind woman, they may be close to breaking this case.”
“But he’s still on the loose? Oh, hell, that’s not good,” Katie admitted. “How far is her rent house from yours, Sam?”
“Not even half a block. We can stand on our front porches and yell at each other.”
Josh nudged Sam. “Man, you think you’ll be able to stand being that far away from her every night?”
Sam grinned over at the man. “Sarcastic, as well as obnoxious,” he said, as the other siblings laughed.
“But seriously, did you have to pull some strings to find a place that close to you?”
Sam recalled the chain of events that made this come about. “Nope, it just happened to work out in my favor, and I’d be a damned liar if I said I wasn’t happy about it.”
Several minutes later, Carrie burst out of her mother’s bedroom, excited and grinning like the cat who just found her own secret stash of canaries. “Grant and the twins are meeting us in Jennings at four o’clock. They’re bringing some of my furniture and anything else that can fit in the truck.” She clapped her hands together excitedly and beamed up at Sam. “They want to spend the night at the new place with me tonight.”
Sam reveled at the pure joy in Carrie’s face. She practically glowed at the thought of being with her children in their new home for the first time. Praying he could keep that look on her face, he nodded. “I’m ready when you are.”
Carrie laughed before turning to her mother. “Sorry we have to eat and run like this, Mom.”
Everyone crowded around Carrie when Elaine put the money and checks into her hands. “Here, honey. This is to help you get started,” she said, giving her daughter a hug.
“It’s from all of us,” Katie explained. “It’s a gift, not a loan. Use it however you need it.”
Carrie blinked back tears of gratitude. “We could get by with a lot less than this,” she said, looking down at the product of her family’s generosity.
“Hey, if that’s true, I could use a couple hundred,” Josh said.
“Me too,” Mack told her, grabbing for the money.
“God, y’all are idiots,” Christie said, slapping at her brothers’ hands. “Just take it, Carrie. We all hope it’ll make the transition easier for you and the kids.”
Carrie couldn’t speak because of the lump in her throat. Finally, she was able to croak out a weak, “Thank you.”
Josh lightened the mood by whispering loudly to Carrie. “Hey sis, about that ‘it’s a gift—not a loan’ comment? I’m sorry, but I need my sixteen dollars and thirty two cents back ASAP.”
“Could you possibly be any more obnoxious than you already are?” Christie asked, accentuating the question with a sharp jab to his shoulder.
Josh gave a deep chuckle.
“There’s always hope, little sister.”
He made a show of rubbing his shoulder. “You really need to find another outlet for all that animosity,
Christine
.”
“I know,” she moaned. “I’m praying it comes in the form of a man.”
Sam backed his truck up to Mack’s shop next door to Elaine’s. Within fifteen minutes, the queen size mattress, headboard, and rails were loaded and tied down in the back of his pick-up.
As Sam waited for Carrie, Mack went up to him and shook his hand.
“Thanks for doing this for her, Sam, we appreciate it.”
“Happy to, Mack.
I was worried this morning it wouldn’t happen.”
Mack laughed loudly. “Yeah, Christie told us all about that. Little sister had you scratching, did she? That’s good. It means she’s getting some of her old spunk back.” He shook his head. “She was a different person with Dave, you know. That son of a gun did a number on her self-esteem. Make sure you treat her right, okay Sam?”
“You have my word,” he said as he started his truck and backed slowly out of the driveway.
Carrie ran out to meet him, brimming with excitement. “You remember my mom mentioning Vivienne McAllister?” she said, as he nodded. “Her son, Scott, will be meeting us at Christie’s. He and his brothers are loading up his trailer with the two sets of bedroom furniture
Vivi
is giving me. Red’s going to follow us to Kenton and after we unload the trailer, he’ll head back to LSU.”
Sam nodded. “These McAllister’s are close friends of the family, I presume?”
“
Vivi
is my mom’s second cousin, actually. I used to babysit for the kids when I was in junior high and high school. You can’t ask for nicer people. The kids are all red haired and blue eyed, like their dad, smart as whips, and sweet, all eight of them. They’re good people.”
Once they got to Christie’s, she filled her suitcases with her belongings. The twins had only agreed to spend part of the holidays with her so she left the majority of their things untouched. Between Carrie and Sam, they had her car loaded down in thirty minutes. Sam had just closed her trunk when a full size truck, hauling an enclosed trailer, pulled up to the intersection and honked the horn.
Carrie waved at the driver. “Here’s Red.”
The truck pulled over next to Christie’s drive, and Sam watched as a tall, buffed young man in his mid-twenties or so, jumped out. He walked straight up to Carrie and gave her a big bear hug.
“God, it’s good to see you, Carrie.”
“Scottie!”
She hugged him back. “Thank you for going to all this trouble for me.”
“No problem,” he told her. “I think the folks would have emptied out the house for you. Man they’re proud of you.” He turned toward Sam. “Hey, I’m Scott McAllister, but my friends call me Red.” He pointed to his dark auburn hair. “I don’t think it needs any explanation.”
Sam laughed and gave the young man a strong hand shake. “Sam Langley, Red. It’s good to meet you. I’ve heard good things about you and your family.”
Red gave him a broad smile. “Thanks Sam. We think the world of Carrie, you know.”
When Carrie went inside to make a final run-through of Christie’s place, Red turned to Sam. “You plan on treating her right?”
Sam’s gaze followed Carrie into the house.
“Only for the rest of my life.”
He turned his gaze to the young man who stood a couple of inches taller than himself. “I’m crazy about her, man.”
Red flashed him a grin. “So I’ve heard. How does
she
feel?”
Sam turned as Carrie locked Christie’s front door and began walking toward them. “She won’t say yet, but I’m working on it.”
***
They drove their vehicles to the small town where Jen and Tom were waiting for them at Ruth’s place.
“Now who lives here?” Sam asked Carrie as they met in front of the large two story home.
“My cousin, Ruth, lives here with her husband and two kids. Her dad is Donald, my mom’s baby brother,” she said, knocking on the door.
Once Carrie made introductions, Ruth led them to the three extra sets of living room furniture stored in her spacious home.
Carrie stared, dumbfounded, at the choices. “It’s like a furniture show room in here. How did you accumulate all this?”
“I keep my ears open,” Ruth said. “You’d be surprised how many people get tired of their good quality furniture before it wears out. I’ve got the room for it, so why not take it? Somebody can always use it.”
“I’m glad you do or we’d be sitting on lawn chairs,” Carrie admitted, before choosing a set for her home.
Within thirty minutes, the men had a very nice couch, two matching chairs, and a set of end tables loaded into Red’s spacious trailer.
Carrie thanked Ruth once more as they left to meet up with Grant and the twins. By the time they pulled up at the designated area, her kids were waiting with Grant’s truck loaded down. Carrie scanned the items in the truck-bed, and gave her kids a big thumbs-up at the sight of her favorite armoire and nightstand.
The caravan of five vehicles drove off in a northerly direction, arriving in Kenton within thirty-five minutes.
Grant and the twins piled out of his truck and went straight to their mom for hugs and introductions.
“Hey, Mr. Sam,” Grant said, shaking his hand firmly.
Sam grinned down at the kids. “I’ve heard good things about you three.”
“Yeah, we’ve heard some pretty good things about you, too,” Grant told him.
“Are you my mom’s boyfriend, or what?” Gretchen asked him.
Sam scratched his chin and smiled down at her and her exceptionally quiet twin sister. “I guess that depends on the three of you.”
Carrie decided to save Sam from more of her outspoken daughter’s grilling. “Okay, we’ve got to unload these trucks before dark.”
“Yeah, so you can enjoy the first night in your new house with your mom tonight,” Sam agreed before glancing over at his own house. “Hey, more free labor,” he said, waving to Nick standing out on the porch. Nick walked over and Sam introduced him to the crowd.
Lauren walked hesitantly up to her mother. “Hey, Mom, are you going to bring Toto here?”
