Father's Day Weekend, Part Two -- The HarmyBoard Extras Fanfic

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Date Posted: 17:07:09 07/19/08 Sat
Author: fananicfan
Subject: Father's Day Weekend, Part Two

Here is the conclusion to Father's Day Weekend.

SUNDAY, JUNE 17, 2007

FATHER'S DAY MORNING
RABB HOME
0600

I feel the soft warmth of his lips against my cheek and then at the corner of my mouth before he whispers, "Good morning, beautiful."

I roll from my side, facing away from him, to my back before I crack an eyelid open to look at him. "Good morning, handsome," I say as my hand makes its way around to the back of his neck, bringing him down to me for another kiss.

When our lips part, I yawn and stretch, saying, "I need to get up and make breakfast."

His face is just inches from mine as he speaks. "It's Father's Day, so I get to pick what we do today, right?"

"Seems fair since, on Mother's Day, I got to choose, but I thought you'd already chosen to play golf in the charity tournament with Frank today."

"I am, but tee time isn't until eight."

"So what do you have in mind for now?"

His face moves closer, and I can feel the warmth of his breath against my skin as he whispers, "Let the kids sleep a little longer ... " He kisses me on the chin. " ... while we have some alone time ... " He kisses the end of my nose. " ... then I'll take everyone out to breakfast. After that, you can drop the girls and me off at Mom's so I can make tee time." His lips come down on mine, and a slow kiss of love and desire begins.

LUNCH SHACK
SAN DIEGO GOLF CLUB
LUNCHTIME

The tournament has taken a break for lunch, and Frank and I have found a table to sit at after making our way through the buffet line.

We're in the middle of lunch when someone approaches our table. When he gets close enough, he puts his plate on the table and pulls out a chair. His son is mirroring his father's actions to the man's right. "Frank, this is my youngest son, Tony," he says as he takes a seat. "I didn't think you had any children, Frank, so I'm surprised to see you here. Did you hire someone to play with you this year? You can tell me. I won't tell the officials."

Frank is always respectful of the fact that he isn't my father, but maybe it's time that I gave him the respect that he deserves. After all, he was always available to be my dad if I would've let him. "No need to hire out when your son and his clubs are in town at the same time for a change, right, Dad?"

The man's face pales, and I see him swallow hard. Of course, Frank is looking pretty pale at the moment, too. Maybe calling him dad was too much.

"Well, where have you been hiding?" the man asks me.

"My son's in the Navy and hasn't been stationed in the area until recently. His mom and I hope that he and his family will be around for a while, but only the Navy knows, right, son?"

I see a resemblance between Sami and Frank as he enthusiastically tests the waters on calling me son. "Correct, the good news is that we're sure that we'll be here until after your next grandchild arrives," I say as if talking to Frank, although I'm really filling in the other guys on the fact that Frank is expecting a new grandchild.

Tony speaks for the first time. "My wife and are expecting our first child in August."

"Yeah, it'll be my third grandchild, but my first grandson," his father replies with pride.

"The baby will be my fifth grandchild, Tim," Franks says with an air of one-upmanship.

"Do you have more than one child, Frank?" Tim asks with surprise.

"No, Harm's the only one," Frank answers matter of factly.

Tony is shaking his head. "I can't imagine having five children," he mumbles. I think he's in shock.

I don't know which one of us is more relieved by the fact that it's time to continue the round when lunch is over, Frank or me. That Tim guy was annoying.

As we walk to our golf cart to get back to the course, I ask Frank, "You and Tim good friends?"

"We're not friends ... acquaintances would better describe it. He and I were on a charity committee together a few years ago."

As we climb into the golf cart a few moments later, Frank says, "Thanks, Harm."

"Thanks for what?" I ask, confused.

"You spoke of me as your dad. That makes this my first real Father's Day ever. Thanks for that."

"Thanks for being around when I needed a dad," I reply sincerely.

'I'm glad we're golfing, or this moment could easily get too sappy,' I think as I continue to drive the cart towards our after lunch starting point.

I don't know why I've just now thought of this question, but it's really the first time that it's ever breached my thoughts. We're almost to our starting hole when I finally ask it. "Frank, I know that I didn't appreciate having you around back then, but I've seen you with Tyler, and I know that you'd have been a great dad if I'd let you be." I pause for a moment. "I'm not the reason why you and Mom didn't have children together, am I?"

For as proud as he looked when I called him dad, he now looks as sad. "No, son, you aren't the reason. I think we should play golf. It's too many years ago now. The reason doesn't matter any more."

I stop the golf cart and look him in the eye. "It matters to me."

He puts his hand on my shoulder. "It wasn't you. It was Mother Nature."

"I don't understand. Mom had me so ... " I fall silent before I complete my thought. My mind has zoomed ahead and comprehended the implication of my thoughts. Frank must have a problem.

"Your mother had had you, but she wasn't a "spring chicken" is how she put it. She also had concerns about how you'd feel about her having another child ... but your mother wasn't the problem. Low sperm count and poor swimmers, I was told. Some of the sciences that they use now for such conditions were in fledgling stages in those days. By the time the technology had become more widely available, I'd grown to accept that I'd never have a child of my own."

If I hadn't been feeling like a heel in the last year or so for the way I'd treated him, I was really feeling like it now. This man, who I'd never given an opportunity to be my dad, had just told me that I had been his only shot at fatherhood.

Frank puts his hand on my shoulder. "I think that things worked out for the best - even if I didn't think so at the time. I love your mother. Your mother and I have had a wonderful life together. Although it hasn't been until recently that you've let me be more of a father to you, you've always been my son. I'm just happy that now you don't mind that I tell people that you are. That's the best Father's Day present in the world." He's smiling. "You'd better get us to our hole, or we're not going to stand a chance of winning this thing."

I'm a little sad as I start the cart moving forward again. My thought as we head to our hole is, 'I missed out on having a great dad.'

BURNETT HOME
LATE AFTERNOON

Aside from the time that it took me to recover from Frank's bombshell, we had a great time and played well enough to place second. Frank was thrilled because Tim and Tony placed twelfth out of twenty-five pairs.

Last Friday, after our custody of the girls was upheld, my mom asked if the girls could spend the day with her, saying that she hadn't had a chance yet to get to know her new granddaughters, and, with Frank gone, they'd have the house to themselves.

Our SUV is in the driveway, so I wonder if Mac came over early just to help with dinner or if mom had a problem with one of the girls.

I enter the house behind Frank, anxious to find out what's been going on here while we've been gone.

We find everyone on the deck, but Ty is the first one to greet us. "Hi, Grandpa," he says, but he's headed for me. "I missed you, Dad," he says as he takes my hand.

"And I missed you, buddy."

"I missed you, too, Daddy." Sami says as she comes running over to me and takes my other hand.

"I missed you, too."

"How about me, sailor?" Mac asks just before she gives me a quick peck on the lips.

"Yes, I missed you, too." I look around Mac, but I see only Abigail. "And I missed you, Abigail." Abigail offers me a shy smile, but doesn't say anything. "Where's Mattie?"

"She's in the kitchen, fixing her dad and grandpa a Father's Day feast," my mother answers as she greets Frank with a kiss on the cheek.

"Have you been here all day?" I ask Mac.

"No, Mattie came over after she and I finished a project at the house with Ty. She said that she needed to get things set up and make sure that she had everything she needed to get dinner started. She said that your mother had agreed to help her make something that both you and Frank liked. Ty and I came over after your mother called to invite us to Abigail's tea party," Mac replies.

"Grandma had a tea party after Sami got up from her nap. Grandma and Momma had tea, the rest of us had milk in tea cups, and Abigail and I got two cookies each and Sami got one," Ty adds.

"Well, it sounds like all of you had a good time."

"Yes, it was a wonderful day. How did the two of you do in the tournament?" My mother asks Frank.

"Placed second, but that isn't the best part. That guy who I was with on the hospital benefit committee a couple of years ago, Tim ... he was married to Tammy and had three boys. All their names started with the letter T, remember?" Franks asks.

"Yes, we called them the Tee family because their last name started with a T, too, but I can't remember what it was. He was an annoying man."

"He's still annoying, and he was there ... but thanks to our son, we took second place, and he and his son, Tony, came in twelfth." I see my mom give Frank a sideways glance at the use of the words 'our son' just before I notice that I'm getting a similar look from Mac. I guess we'll both be explaining what happened on the golf course to our wives later tonight.

Mattie comes out and announces that dinner will be ready in fifteen more minutes.

"Harm, you've been out all day, so I'm sure that you'll want to leave shortly after dinner so that you can spend what's left of your Father's Day with your wife and children. So let's all go to my little get-a-way room for a few minutes before our dinner is ready, okay?"

"That's where we had our tea party," Sami informs me as we head into the house.

We all gather in the room that's my mother's sanctuary. The room is cluttered with furniture, if you ask me. She has an antique table in one corner, which is covered in a fancy tablecloth trimmed with lace. I'm sure that's where they sat for their tea party. There's a Victorian styled couch and a chair in the room as well. This room is where she keeps some of her favorite art pieces, and, in the bookcase that stands between the two windows facing the ocean, she keeps the photo albums containing pictures of the family that we were when my father was still alive. It's also the room where her piano resides.

My mother moves into the room until she's standing in front of the piano stool, and Abigail stops at her side. When the rest of us have filed into the room and found some place to sit, my mother bends over and speaks to Abigail in a tone too low for any of us to hear.

We hear Abigail say, "No, I can do it."

My mother then turns to us and says, "I learned something about my granddaughter today, and she'd like to share it with you. Abigail, it's all yours."

"Harm plays me a song every night, so I wanted to play Harm a song for Father's Day. I haven't played in a long time, but Grandma let me practice this morning. So I want to play the song that I remember best ... if that's okay."

"Of course, dear," my mother reassures her.

If the song is for me, I feel that I should be closer, so I stand and place Sami, who was sitting in my lap, on the sofa where I was sitting.

Abigail sits at the piano, and I sit next to her before she begins to play. She plays flawlessly through the song before turning to look at me. "Did you like it?"

"I loved it," I say as I put my arm around her and give the top of her head a kiss while the rest of the family claps for my daughter's piano performance.

"She said that her father gave lessons for extra money and was teaching her. She's definitely retained some of it, or perhaps she just has a natural talent for it. I think she's nervous about playing in front of everyone, but she shouldn't be. She's quite good," my mother says in praise of Abigail's performance.

"Yes she is," Mac says before making her way over to give Abigail a hug, too.

Mattie waits until Abigail has received praise from everyone before she tells us to start heading to the dining room so that our dinner can be served.

LATER
RABB HOME
LIVING ROOM

They have me sitting down on the couch to receive my Father's Day gifts.

Since Sami is the youngest, she wants to give the present that she got for me first. "I picked it out all by myself, Daddy."

"You did? Well, what is it?" I ask as I take the box.

"You have to open it to find out," she replies with a giggle in that bubbly young voice that's part of what makes her so cute and loveable.

"Is that how it works?" I tease as I open the small box and reveal its contents - an enameled metal ladybug on a key ring.

"It's red and black so it matches your car," Sami says to me.

"Yes, it does. Thank you." I pull her into a hug and kiss the end of her nose. "Every time I see it, I'll be reminded of my little ladybug at home."

"Well, Abigail has already played me a song, so is it Ty's turn?" I ask.

"I made a card for you at school," Abigail says shyly as she offers me the card that she's made for me.

After taking a moment to look at the art work on the cover and the words 'Happy Father's Day' written on the inside, I give her a hug and place a kiss on her forehead before I say, "Thank you, Abigail. That's a very nice card."

Next, Ty offers me a card that he made at school and, after giving him a hug and a "thank you," I find that all the children have a collaborative gift for me.

I pull the wrapping paper off of the box and open it to find an 8" by 10" photograph of all four of my children.

"We thought that it would be better for your office if you didn't have a bunch of picture frames, so we had Grandma take our picture and we put it in the frame that Mac bought yesterday," Mattie tells me.

"And the project that Momma and I were working on before we went to the tea party was customizing the leather around the outside," Ty adds.

I lift the frame out of the box and look at the leather clad edges to see that each one of their names is stamped into the leather.

"I think this might be the best present that I've ever received," I say before hugging all of my children, some of them for the second time. This truly feels like Father's Day to me.

After the picture giving, Mattie has another gift for me. She has a store-bought card with a coupon in it to watch the children one evening so that Mac and I can have a night out on the town before the baby arrives.

After hugging Mattie for a second time, it's time to start the evening routine of getting the children into bed. Today may be Father's Day, but tomorrow we all have to go back to work or school, except Sami.

MASTER BEDROOM
BEDTIME

I hadn't realized that I'd been so quiet while we changed for bed until Mac gets into bed and asks, "Harm, are you okay? You've been awfully quiet since we came to bed."

"I'm fine. I've just been thinking. That guy that Frank was talking about at the golf course today ... he told Frank that he didn't think that he had any children. I told the jerk that he did and called Frank 'dad'."

"What did Frank do?"

"He talked with pride about me being in the Navy before bragging that, soon, he was going to be a grandpa for the fifth time."

"And it bothers you that he took to it so easily?" Mac asks.

"No, it makes me feel like a jerk."

Mac hooks her arm around mine and snuggles up close to my side. "Why?"

"I know now how much it would have meant to him if I'd only tried this one day a year to be nice to him by giving him a card ... calling him dad ... hell, just going to a baseball game with him. I should've given him this one day a year."

"Well, it sounds like you made a lot of that up to him this year."

"I guess."

"If you feel that badly, you could share your ladybug key chain with him." She laughs. "Sorry about that, but she was pretty insistent that you needed that because your car is 'ladybug colors.' I believe that's how she put it. I don't think she has an appreciation for the cool man car concept yet."

"You should've broken the news to her that I'll be selling my car to get a minivan, so I won't have a car to match it."

"About that ... " Mac turns and pulls a piece of paper out her night table drawer. " ... I got Frank to call his contact. The new '08 models are due out in a few months, so Frank was able to get us a great deal on an '07 minivan with the works. The color choice will be limited because we have to take one that's in stock, but we can pick up our new minivan tomorrow." She hands the piece of paper to me "That has the address of the dealership that we're supposed to go to and all the information that we'll need to give the salesman after we've selected the one we want." She takes a moment to take in a breath. "And because of the good deals that Frank has been able to get us on our cars, along with the great deal that he made us on the house, I don't see any reason why, since you're selling your loft to give us a financial boost, that you should have to sell your Corvette."

I turn and kiss her softly before pulling back. "Well, that's a very nice Father's Day present, but tell me ... in this budget configuration of yours, is there money for our daughter to have a piano and take lessons?"

"I think we can work something out, sailor."

"Why do you call me that? You know what it does to me."

"That's why I do it ... sailor."

My lips claim hers, and soon I'll be feeling the joy of being loved by her. It's the perfect end to this Father's Day weekend.

I hope you enjoyed this short little piece of the series. I've already started working on the next story so I hope you aren't getting bored with the series. The next story will have a case so it will be weeks before it's finished, but I am working on it.

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Replies:

[> A very enjoyable piece. There's no way one could be bored with the series, so I'll be waiting for the next chapter and I just hope it's not too many weeks before it arrives! -- Christa, 17:43:26 07/19/08 Sat [1]

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[> [> I will also concur that I too hope that the series and your muse regale us with your talents for a very long time to come! -- Christa, 20:21:35 07/19/08 Sat [1]

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[> Absolutely wonderful! Definitely looking forward to the next installment. -- cd, 18:09:28 07/19/08 Sat [1]

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Yesterday July 18th was my birthday & my favorite present was your Part 22. Just precious, I just love your "RABB FAMILY." Look forward to each part. & never bored with your series!! Also thrilled to see that you are posting your stories on the other site. THANK YOU! -- Can sheshe, 18:53:39 07/19/08 Sat [1]

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Bored? Never. This was a wonderful addition to the series. I imagine.....(inside) -- bama, 19:11:04 07/19/08 Sat [1]

that Harm will feel the way Frank did the first time Abigail calls him Daddy!

When I first read about the piano, my first thought was, 'Oh, I hope they get her a piano and lessons.'

Looking forward to 'the rest of the story'. Keep it coming.

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[> A heartwarming series. Thanks! -- Jubellant, 19:17:33 07/19/08 Sat [1]

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[> I enjoyed this very much and am anxiously awaiting your next episode. I hope your muse continues for years! -- Debbi, 19:59:09 07/19/08 Sat [1]

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[> Great job as usual. Can't wait for the next part to "hit the screen" so to speak -- Katiegirl, 21:00:01 07/19/08 Sat [1]

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[> Great addition to your story but do we really have to wait weeks? I'm not sure I can stand the wait. And boring is a word that I never associate with your stories. -- rmhlrkr, 22:12:33 07/19/08 Sat [1]

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[> Great job! Can't wait for the next part! -- Erk, 22:17:53 07/19/08 Sat [1]

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[> Bored? When it comes to your stories I don't know the meaning of the word. Great story love the Rabbs can't wait til the next one. -- shanabear, 22:19:54 07/19/08 Sat [1]

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[> Definitely not bored and definitely looking forward to your next part! Thanks for sharing! -- Ella, 22:45:51 07/19/08 Sat [1]

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[> A very wonderful story, as always. I am so looking forward to the next installment. Hope it comes soon. -- kathiemj, 23:56:38 07/19/08 Sat [1]

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[> Sad that it's over already :-( -- Sarah, 00:52:23 07/20/08 Sun [1]

And I'm not being picky or critical but I was wondering if the school that all the children attend is year-round! Because what a drag to still be in school on Father's Day!

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[> [> To answer your question, yes. California has year round school. The kids still get three months off, but they're every fourth month. They get April, August and December off, basically. So they still go to school about the same amount of time as other kids. -- Lee, 01:02:35 07/20/08 Sun [1]

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[> This is a wonderful story! I hope it goes on forever! -- Cookie, 14:18:32 07/20/08 Sun [1]

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[> Nice addition. Looking forward to the next installment -- CAZ, 15:54:21 07/20/08 Sun [1]

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[> Wonderful!Can't wait for more of your Rabb family! -- Lace, 03:55:41 07/21/08 Mon [1]

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[> Wonderful, fananicfan! Don't make us wait too long for the next part! -- judy52sa, 10:43:46 07/23/08 Wed [1]

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