| Subject: Worth the Wait- Ch. 5 |
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Grandma JAG
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Date Posted: 23:09:42 10/26/02 Sat
In reply to:
Grandma JAG
's message, "Worth the Wait" on 22:59:22 10/26/02 Sat
Chapter 5
For the next few weeks, Harm and Mac spent every waking moment together, getting to know each other better. Even though they had worked closely together for six years, there was still a lot they didn’t know about each other personally. Mac knew that Harm loved music, but she found out that jazz was his favorite. So she checked out all the jazz clubs in the area, and they went to every single one of them, until they were able to narrow it down to their two favorites. If they wanted to do some dancing, their choice was Zanzibar on the Waterfront, which also had great food--something Mac was always up for! But if they wanted a smaller, more intimate setting, then Blues Alley in Georgetown was where they headed. Harm was thrilled that Mac shared his interest in jazz, and they spent many a night talking while listening to some great music, or just enjoying each other’s company without saying a word.
Harm found out that Mac loved old, classic movies. So one night he showed up at her apartment with some white cardboard boxes of Chinese food and an armful of videos he had rented. “The clerk laughed at my choices, but I told her that she needed to know my Marine to understand,” laughed Harm. So they stayed up until the wee hours of the morning, laughing at Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn playing husband and wife lawyers on opposite sides in “Adam’s Rib”.
“Do you think we’d be like that?” laughed Mac.
“Probably worse,” acknowledged Harm. “As stubborn as we each are in the courtroom, it would be hard not to continue the argument at home.”
“So I guess we would just need to find other ways to occupy our time, teased Mac, as she leaned over to give her sailor a long, luscious kiss. “This is just too perfect, Harm. I just keep waiting for the other shoe to drop, so to speak.”
“We’ve had too many shoes drop in the past,” Harm answered. “We’re deserving of this happiness! Don’t make it sound like it’s too good to be true!”
“I guess I just always figured that this kind of happiness only happens in the movies,” Mac sighed. “Maybe that’s why I love the old movies so much. They always have happy endings.”
“Well, our story will have a happy ending, too, if I have anything to say about it!” Harm was adamant. “A happy beginning and middle, too!”
“You are just too good to be true, sailor. How did I ever get lucky enough to cross your path?” Mac sometimes couldn’t believe her good fortune.
“It’s destiny----I keep telling you!” Harm flashed his grin as he reached out to pull her closer. “Hey, I almost forgot. I got a call from Mom today. She and Frank are flying out at the end of the week. She wants to meet Sergei. I thought with next weekend being a long weekend because of President’s Day, that it would be a good opportunity to drive up to my grandmother’s farm in Pennsylvania. It’ll give all my favorite people a chance to meet and spend some time together. What do you think?”
Mac looked up at him as she said, “Maybe this is something your family should do together, Harm, without me along. After all, this is your mother’s first chance to meet Sergei.”
“Actually, it was Mom’s idea for you to come, too. In fact, she insisted, and I won’t take ‘no’ for an answer! Is that clear?” Harm was clear he wasn’t going anywhere without Mac there beside him.
“Clear, sailor. It might be kind of fun being a part of a family,” Mac said, wistfully.
“And I’m more than willing to share them with you,” Harm responded with a smile. He wanted very much to make her a permanent member of his family, but that time would come---sooner than later, he hoped. “Well, I better get going. Hey, Sturgis’s father is preaching at the D.C. Community Church tomorrow and he invited us to come. What do you think?”
“Gosh, I haven’t been to a regular Sunday service in ages,” Mac said, embarrassingly.
“Me either, but I figured that with me surviving my last punch out, and then finally getting together with you, that maybe God is trying to tell me something. I’ve been given another chance, and maybe it’s time I start thanking Him for it!” Mac had never heard Harm speak about his faith before. She really was learning something new every day!
“Okay, you’re probably right. I’ve been feeling very blessed lately, too. And I really enjoyed listening to Sturgis’s father on Christmas Eve,” Mac thought it was probably about time that she took ahold of her beliefs and figured out what she needed to be doing with her life.
“Great! I’ll pick you up at 1000 hours. We can go out to brunch afterwards,” Harm gave her a long kiss goodnight as he walked out the door.
“See you soon---sleep well.” Mac reluctantly closed the door as she reflected on these past few weeks. Could it get any better than this?
Dulles Airport
15 Feb. 2002
1800 hours
Mac got a nervous feeling in the pit of her empty stomach as Harm turned his SUV into the airport parking lot. They were there to pick up his mom and her husband, Frank. What if his mom didn’t approve of her? She felt like such an outsider, what with Harm’s mom meeting Sergei for the first time and all of them driving up to Pennsylvania tomorrow. “Nonsense,” Harm had said earlier. “You’ve been with me from the moment I met Sergei, and my mom has been after me for years to get together with you. You need to be a part of all this!”
Even so, Mac couldn’t help but have some butterflies as they waited for the passengers to disembark from the airplane.
“There they are! Mom, Frank, over here!” Harm motioned to them, as if his mother could miss her tall, handsome son, who towered over the rest of the crowd.
“Harmon, I’m so glad to see you!” Harm’s mother gave her son a big hug, and then turned to Mac as Harm shook his step-father’s hand. “Mac, it’s so good to see you again.” She leaned over to give her a kiss on the cheek. “Harm told me that you two had finally gotten together. I don’t know what took him so long!”
“Mom!” Harm said, exasperated.
“I’m just teasing, dear.” She leaned toward Mac and whispered, “But I’m glad he finally came to his senses!”
“Thank you, ma’am,” Mac said, embarrassed.
“Please, call me Trish,” Harm’s mom replied. “And I don’t know if you remember my husband, Frank.” She motioned toward her husband.
“Yes, of course, it’s nice to see you again,” Mac extended her hand to Harm’s step-dad. She was beginning to relax and enjoy herself now.
“So Harm, where’s Sergei?” asked Trish, puzzled. “I thought he would come with you to the airport.”
“He decided to stay at my apartment and cook us dinner. He wants to dazzle you with his domestic abilities,” Harm laughed. “Actually, he thought it would be good for us to have a chance to visit before you met him.”
“How very thoughtful of him,” Trish seemed impressed. “He’s much like his brother.”
Harm grinned at the comment and replied, “More than you know, Mom. I’m very anxious for you to meet him.”
“So am I, Harm,” his mother replied. “So let’s get going!”
Harm’s apartment
1930 hours
Harm and his mother were laughing as they entered the apartment. Trish gasped as she looked around the apartment to find candles lit, music playing, and a beautiful table set, awaiting what smelled like a luscious meal. Sergei walked over to greet them.
“Sergei, I’d like you to meet my mother, Trish, and her husband, Frank,” Harm couldn’t repress a big smile, even though his insides were about to burst from anticipation.
“It’s nice to meet you, ma’am.... sir,” Sergei formally shook both their hands.
“Please, Sergei, call me Trish, and this is Frank. We’re very happy to meet you, too. I can see some of Harm in you already,” Trish was quick to make the young man feel at ease. “Something smells wonderful!”
“It’s one of Harm’s recipes. I hope you like it,” Sergei said with a smile.
“Well, since I taught him everything he knows about cooking, I’m sure it will be delicious!” Trish laughed as she sat down.
With everyone feeling much more relaxed after that first awkward moment, they all sat down to a wonderful meal. Mac sat quietly as she watched the interaction between these newly found relatives. They all get along so well, she thought to herself. Even in the midst of an awkward situation, they genuinely seem to like each other. How she wished her family had been like that when she was growing up.
Once dinner was finished, they all moved into the living room to continue their discussion. Sergei shared about his homeland, his ordeal in prison, and how thankful he was to have found Harm and to now be in the United States.
Trish reached for her purse. “That reminds me. I have something for you.” She reached into her purse and pulled out a bundle of letters and handed them to Harm.
Harm knew what they were before even looking at them. “Dad’s letters! Mom, are you sure?”
Trish smiled as she said, “I wasn’t sure until I met Sergei tonight. I can see so much of your father in him, and I trust your instincts, Harm. If they can get anything from these envelopes to help prove that Sergei is Harm’s son, then who am I to stand in the way? I loved your father very much, Harm. But after he was gone, I met Frank, and I love him, too. In a different way, but I still love and treasure him as my husband. I can see how your father could also love someone else, and I’m glad that he was able to find some happiness after that horrible ordeal he went through. Somehow it makes it easier for me to think of him as being happy before he finally died. And Sergei, you deserve to have whatever benefits you may have from being the son of a war hero. I only hope this will help.” Trish smiled through her tears, and Mac could see how painful it still was for her to recall Harm Sr.’s ordeal.
“I don’t know how to thank you, Trish!” Sergei went over to give her a big hug.
“Just wear the Rabb name with pride, Sergei, and never do anything to dishonor it,” Trish responded with firmness.
Harm smiled at his family as he stood and announced, “Well I better get Mac home and you two to your hotel. We need to be on the road early if we’re going to get to Gram’s by dinner tomorrow.”
Grandma Sarah’s farm
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
16 Feb. 2002
1700 hours
Sarah Rabb looked out the living room window as a large SUV drove up the driveway. With a big smile on her face, she rushed out the front door to greet her guests.
“Trish, Frank, welcome!” She gave them both a hug as they walked up the steps to the front porch. “And there’s that handsome grandson of mine!” She stood on her tiptoes to give Harm a peck on the cheek.
“Gram, I want you to meet Sergei,” Harm motioned toward his brother who was following him up the steps.
“Welcome to the family, Sergei,” Sarah Rabb gave her new grandson a kiss on the cheek, much to his surprise.
“Thank you, Mrs. Rabb,” Sergei said, embarrassed.
“Oh please, call me ‘Gram’, like Harm does. You’re one of the family now.” She turned as Mac waited at the bottom of the porch steps. “And who is this lovely young lady? You’re not forgetting her, I hope!” Grandma Sarah teased her grandson.
“No, Gram, I’m just saving the best for last. This is....... Sarah. Sarah MacKenzie.” Harm couldn’t hide the love in his voice as he said her name.
“You can call me Mac, Mrs. Rabb,” Mac said, not sure what to say to this obviously wonderful woman.
“I could..... but I like the name ‘Sarah’ so much better. That’s my name, too, you know. That makes it extra special,” Sarah Rabb liked this young love of Harm’s already.
“Then by all means, I would love for you to call me Sarah,” Mac smiled.
“And you can call me ‘Gram’ as well,” Grandma Sarah leaned over to give Mac a kiss, too. “Now, you all must be starving! Come in and sit down. I’ve got fried chicken and mashed potatoes, and..... of course, lots of vegetables and bread for my non-meat-eating grandson here,” Sarah loved to tease her grandson about his eating habits.
“Aw, Gram, you’re too good to me,” Harm laughed.
“Nothing is too good for my sailor. Now, as far as sleeping arrangements.... Frank and Trish take the guest room at the end of the hall, Sergei can sleep in Harm’s old room. There are two beds in there. Now, Harm and Sarah, I know how young people are these days, but in my house I have rules about..........
“Gram,” Harm interrupted, “Mac and I are not sleeping together.”
“Really!” Grandma Sarah looked surprised. “Well isn’t that something! That was your idea, I suppose?” looking at Mac.
“Hey, you think I don’t have morals?” Harm teased. “I even starting going back to church and everything!”
“You are having quite an effect on my grandson, young lady! It’s about time!”
Mac laughed as she looked at Grandma Sarah’s surprised look. “Actually, it was a mutual decision. We just decided to wait, that’s all. And he’s the one that got me going to church. It’s made a big difference in our lives.”
“Well, I am so happy. It’s so rare to see young people committed to old-fashioned values these days. Well, then, Harm, you can stay in your old room with Sergei, and Sarah can have the room across the hall. Let’s go eat and you can get settled later!”
After dinner, Mac sat on the front porch swing as she listened to the laughter in the kitchen. Gram had pushed the women away saying the men were going to clean up tonight. She was tending to the animals in the barn, while Trish was upstairs getting settled. Mac took a deep breath of the crisp night air as she looked up at the full moon that sat above the oak tree in the front yard. She was so engrossed in her thoughts that she didn’t hear Harm come out onto the porch.
“A penny for your thoughts, beautiful lady,” Harm said, quietly.
“They’re worth much more than that,” Mac said, as Harm sat down beside her. “All my life I’ve wanted a family like this, with big meals where everyone sits down together at the table, with talking and laughter, and teasing each other.”
“You were awfully quiet at dinner,” Harm said, worriedly.
“It’s hard to get a word in!” Mac laughed. “No, I was just taking it all in, thoroughly enjoying myself. You have a wonderful family, Harm.”
“Well, let’s see...... there’s my grandmother and my mother..... that’s pretty normal. Then there’s my stepfather...... I guess that’s pretty normal now-a-days. Then there’s my half-brother...... the son of my father who was shot down in Vietnam and sent to Russia where he met another woman and fathered a child with her. Then there’s me, the son following in his father’s footsteps as a naval aviator, hating the man who was trying to take my father’s place. Yep, just your typical Norman Rockwell family,” Harm said, only half-seriously.
“But that’s just it. Look at all you’ve been through, and yet you can still sit down together at dinner and talk and laugh and thoroughly enjoy each other! I never had that growing up. There was always fighting and hurtful accusations, and a lot of pain.” Tears came to Mac’s eyes as she thought of what a wasted childhood she had experienced. “I don’t want my children to go through what I went through.”
“They won’t, Mac. You have overcome so much, and now you’re here with me. My family is now your family. What’s mine is yours. You don’t ever have to go back to the way things were when you were growing up!” Harm reached out and pulled her close to him. “I’m not ever going to let you go, Sarah. That’s a promise.”
Mac thought she had never felt such contentment. Somehow she knew that she would never be alone again. She now had a family!
Grandma Sarah’s farm
17 Feb. 2002
0700 hours
Harm stood outside Mac’s bedroom and knocked. “Mac, are you up? Are you ready to go jogging?” He looked worried as there was no answer.
Just then, Grandma Sarah came up the stairs. “Sarah’s been up for an hour already. She knocked on your door, but when she didn’t get an answer, she peeked in. She said you were sleeping so peacefully that she didn’t have the heart to wake you. As long as you’re here, come in here and talk to your grandmother for a minute.” She motioned for him to go into her room.
Harm sat down in the big overstuffed rocker that he had sat in so many times before as he and his grandmother had talked about all the things going on in his life: his father’s disappearance, Harm joining the Navy, all the various girlfriends that his grandmother had always been so interested in, but that were never good enough for her grandson.
“I like Sarah.” Never one to mince words, Grandma Sarah got right to the point. “And you seem different with her. How do you feel about her? Is she the one that is going to finally get you to settle down and give me some great-grandchildren?”
Harm smiled at his grandmother’s bluntness. “Yes, Gram, she’s the one. I’ve known it for years now, but I’ve been too stubborn and bullheaded to realize it. I almost lost her several times, but I’m determined to not let that happen again. She’s it for me, and I’m happy to say that she feels the same way about me.”
Grandma Sarah went over to her dresser drawer and came back with a small black velvet box. “Then I think it’s time for me to give you this.” She opened the box to reveal a beautiful sterling silver diamond ring with matching wedding band.
“But, Gram, that’s your wedding set that Gramps gave you,” Harm exclaimed. “I couldn’t take that.”
“On our 50th wedding anniversary, the year before he died, your grandfather gave me this ring to replace the original set.” She pointed to the ring she was now wearing. “We both agreed that when the time came for you to get married, that you should give your bride this set and keep it in the family.”
Harm thought about how much this would mean to Mac, to have something that would truly connect her to this family. He couldn’t wait to find the perfect time to ask her to be his wife!
As if reading his thoughts, Grandma Sarah said, “Now you find the perfect, romantic time to pop the question, and get that girl to marry you soon!”
“Yes, Gram, I will. Thank you for always being here for me.” Harm reached over and held his grandmother tight.
“Careful, boy, these old bones are getting brittle! Now go and find that young lady of yours while I cook up some of my famous omelets. She’s bound to be starved after all that running. Why anyone spends that much time running in circles is beyond me!” she teased.
“Well, Mac is a Marine, after all,” Harm replied, laughing. My Marine, he said to himself, as he went to his room to put away the rings his grandmother had given him. As he came out of his room, he saw Mac coming up the stairs.
“Are you just now getting up, sailor?” Mac asked, trying to make him feel guilty.
“No, actually, I’ve been talking with Gram. I’m sorry I missed our run together,” Harm said apologetically.
“That’s okay,” Mac replied. “There will be lots of other times.”
Yes, the rest of our lives, Harm thought to himself. “Come on, let’s go get one of Gram’s omelets,” he said aloud, leading Mac down the stairs.
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