| Subject: Worth the Wait- Ch. 7 |
Author:
Grandma JAG
|
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
Date Posted: 23:17:32 10/26/02 Sat
In reply to:
Grandma JAG
's message, "Worth the Wait" on 22:59:22 10/26/02 Sat
Chapter 7
Mac’s apartment
22 March 2002
1900 hours
Lt. Col. Sarah MacKenzie
and
Commander Harmon Rabb, Jr.
request the honor of your presence
as they start their new life together
as husband and wife
on Sunday, 21 April 2002
at 1600 hours
United States Naval Academy Chapel
Annapolis, Maryland
Mac ran her finger over the navy blue embossed letters on the invitation, as if tracing the letters made it more real. The special messenger from the Academy had delivered them this afternoon--all 200 of them! Harm had agreed to forego their usual Friday night tradition of watching classic movies and help her address envelopes instead.
It had been quite a week! Harm and Mac had gone to work Monday morning and announced their engagement in the bullpen as everyone enjoyed their morning coffee. No one seemed surprised--and here they were, priding themselves at keeping their “secret” for the past two months, and everyone could see right through them! The Admiral seemed the most pleased of all, which thrilled Mac thoroughly. She thought very highly of the Admiral--he was almost like a father to her--and she didn’t want to do anything that would cause him displeasure. He had been called out of town for the remainder of the week, so she did not get the chance to ask him if he would do the honors of giving her away at the wedding. She had asked him before, when she thought she was marrying Mic, and she felt rather embarrassed to do it again. But she had no one else to give her away, except for her Uncle Matt, of course, but he was still serving time in Leavenworth. She planned on asking the Admiral again first thing Monday morning.
Harm had asked Sturgis to be his best man, and Sergei and Bud (if he could get leave, which he assured them he could) would be groomsmen. Harriet agreed to be her matron of honor, and Chloe was thrilled to finally be a bridesmaid. To round out their bridal party, Mac asked Lynn, an old friend from college who she still kept in touch with. They had made arrangements for the reception at the officer’s club, and the florist at the Academy was taking care of all the flowers. The music was all planned--Sturgis actually agreed to sing, as well as be the best man--and the invitations just had to be addressed and mailed tomorrow. Mac couldn’t believe that everything was falling into place. Why did she have this nagging feeling that she was forgetting something?
A knock at the door snapped her out of her daydreams. As she opened the door to her handsome future husband, she couldn’t help but pinch herself that this was all really happening. In less than a month, she would be Mrs. Harmon Rabb, Jr.!
“Hey, beautiful!” Harm greeted her at the door, his hands full of Chinese food and a bouquet of daisies.
“What are the flowers for?” Mac asked, knowing what he was going to say. “What’s the special occasion?”
“Every day is a special occasion with you,” Harm grinned in reply. “Besides, only 30 days until you become my wife!”
“And you become my husband,” Mac smiled back. Her smiled turned to a grimace as she got a crick in her neck.
Harm jumped up when he saw the pain in her face, and started to massage her neck and shoulders. “Hey, now, you’re all tight! There’s no need to be stressed, Mac. Everything is falling into place beautifully, don’t you think?
Mac didn’t reply as she totally succumbed to his healing touch. “I’ll give you until tomorrow to stop that,” she mumbled, finally starting to relax.
“Well, tomorrow the food will be cold! Come on, let’s eat! I’ll rub your neck some more later.” Harm started to dish up her sweet and sour pork and his vegetable lo mein.
“Harm, there are still some details we need to talk about,” Mac said, as she hungrily dug into her food.
“Like what?” Harm asked, matching her forkful by forkful.
“Well, let’s see.” Mac got out the list she had been making. “Harriet and I are going looking for dresses tomorrow, and you guys are all wearing your dress whites, except Sergei......”
“Got his tux already rented, along with Frank’s,” Harm finished her thought. “What else?”
“What about our honeymoon?” Mac seductively asked. “We haven’t even talked about where we’re going, or approached the Admiral asking for time off, or.......”
“I talked to the Admiral on Monday before he left. He can spare us for 10 days, no more. Honeymoon is already booked and paid for.” Harm was full of surprises. He loved catching her offguard like this.
“Already booked?” Mac raised an eyebrow. “Where are we going?”
“It’s a surprise,” Harm replied, mischievously. At seeing Mac’s indignant expression, he quickly added, “Trust me, you will love it. We’ve traveled all around the world, Mac, but this trip will be different, I promise.”
“Okay, if you say so. Just tell me what I need to pack,” Mac liked this take-charge side of Harm. It gave her one less thing to worry about.
“I’ll make you a list,” teased Harm. “Now, what else is on your mind?”
“We haven’t even talked about whose apartment we’re going to live in. I know how attached you are to yours and all the work you’ve put into it, but it’s so far on the other side of town. I’m not sure how you feel about this place.....”
Once again, Harm interrupted her. “Actually, I was thinking about a house.”
“A house?” Mac couldn’t believe her ears.
“You know, a building with a living room, kitchen, several bedrooms, with a garage for two cars, and a yard big enough for a swing set for the kids. Families live in them--I know you’ve seen them,” Harm teased.
Mac hit him playfully on the arm. Seriously, she said, “Can we afford it?”
Harm answered, “I figure with both our incomes, we should be able to find something in Virginia, some place where the commute to headquarters wouldn’t be too bad. Maybe a fixer-upper that we could gradually work on and make it our own. You’re dress shopping with Harriet tomorrow, right?” Mac nodded, still not believing what she was hearing. “Well, how about we do some house hunting on Sunday after church? I know this realtor in Springfield. Let me give her a call tomorrow and see what she can find in our price range.” Mac was still staring in disbelief at her sailor. “Now, come on, we have envelopes to address!”
Later, as she was taking a break to rest her aching hand, Mac laid on the couch watching Harm. He had been telling her stories about every single person on his list, so she had addressed about twice as many envelopes as he. There he was now, singing along with the radio as he addressed each envelope with a flourish. Was this the same man that two years ago had pushed her away in Sydney? Was this the same guy that had so much trouble in the past making a commitment? He looked up at that moment and smiled at her resting on the couch.
As if reading her thoughts, Harm laughed, “You know, if someone had told me a year ago that I would be sitting at your dining room table addressing invitations to our wedding that is to take place in less than a month, I would have told them they were crazy!”
“We’ve come a long way, Harm,” Mac said gently.
“Yes, baby, we have,” Harm replied, as he came over to the couch to pick up where he had left off earlier in massaging her neck. He leaned over to gently kiss her neck as he caressed each aching muscle. Mac felt a tingle go down her spine and spread to every nerve cell in her body. Suddenly, she wanted to forget about the invitations, the wedding plans, the house hunting. All she wanted was to totally surrender herself to this man that she was hopelessly in love with! She turned to face Harm and they kissed passionately as their arms embraced each other’s trembling bodies.
As their lips parted and they momentarily broke away, they gazed into each other’s eyes, each knowing what the other wanted so badly.
“Mac.......” Harm started.
“Harm, maybe since we have actually made a commitment to each other, it would be okay to........” Mac looked longingly into Harm’s eyes.
“I know I’m going to regret this later when I’m alone in my own bed, but no.......... we’ve come this far. We’re going to see this through until our wedding night. I promised you that, and I always keep my promises,” Harm said, regretfully.
“How did I end up with such an honorable sailor?” Mac said, mockingly.
“Just lucky, I guess,” Harm grinned. He started gathering up the finished invitations and put them in a box. “Now, you have a wonderful time tomorrow with Harriet, and I will take these to the post office and get them sent off tomorrow. Pick out a beautiful dress, ninja girl (Mac had decided that was her favorite of all his attempts at nicknames).
“Oh, I plan to. I want to make sure that you are looking at no one but me when I walk down that aisle,” Mac took his hand as she walked him to the door.
“You could be wearing rags and I would still be seeing no one but you,” Harm kissed her once more before tearing himself away. “Call me when you get home tomorrow after your shopping spree.”
24 March 2002
Springfield, Virginia
Saturday had turned out to be a fun day. Mac and Harriet had gone to just about every bridal shop in Georgetown, and were thinking about venturing into the city, when Mac saw it. The perfect dress! It was nothing like the one she had picked out for her “other” wedding. This one was white lace with a scoop neck and fitted waist that made a “V” in the front. It had a long, flowing train and pearl buttons down the back. Harriet had gasped when she saw it and had said it was just perfect. They had picked a similar style of dress for the bridal attendants, made of light blue satin. Mac had returned home exhausted but ecstatic at her purchases. That had been her biggest worry, the dress. But now that had fallen into place, too, just like everything else!
So here they were, Harm and Mac, on a Sunday afternoon, trying to find the perfect house. The realtor had been driving them around for three hours now, to Alexandria, Arlington, and now Springfield. Every house they had looked at had been too big or too small, too expensive, or in the wrong kind of neighborhood, or just plain ugly. They had not found a one that either of them had liked. Mac could tell that the realtor was getting frustrated. She didn’t blame her. She felt a massive headache coming on herself. Throughout all this, Harm had remained optimistic.
“We don’t have to find it today,” he said. “We’ll keep looking until we find exactly what we want. We have plenty of time.”
“Harm, the wedding is four weeks from today,” Mac said. “We don’t have plenty of time.”
The realtor let out a big sigh. Mac could tell that she didn’t think the perfect house was out there. “I have one more to show you today, and then we better call it a day,” she sighed.
They turned onto a tree-lined street with red brick houses lining wide sidewalks that held kids on bicycles and roller-skates. They had to slow down as a softball game had to move out of the middle of the street to let them by. Harm looked at the immaculate yards of each house, as the smell of barbecues filled the evening air. Mac liked the feel of this street and the friendly family atmosphere.
“Here we are!” said the realtor. Harm smiled down at Mac, whose smile suddenly faded. Harm turned to look at what had caused Mac’s sudden change of expression. Standing before them was a two-story brick house, much like the others on the street. But this one had a yard that was overrun with weeds and the white paint on the trim was badly chipped and peeling.
“Now this is your typical fixer-upper,” the realtor warned. “It needs some work, but it’s been on the market for awhile, so I’m sure you can get a great deal.”
Harm turned to Mac and said, “Look past the initial appearance and look for its possibilities. Visualize what it can look like after we get our hands on it.”
Mac nodded hesitantly and said, “I’ll try.” That headache was beginning to throb now.
They walked through the front door into the entry way. Bright crimson flowered wallpaper greeted them as they entered the living room. Mac started to feel nauseous. It was a good thing that Harm was holding her tightly by the hand and pointing out all the “possibilities.”
“Look at the beautiful brick fireplace!” Harm exclaimed. “They don’t make them like that anymore.”
The realtor saw a light in Harm’s eyes and was quick to point out other things that might be missed. “There are hardwood floors throughout the house. A new roof was put on last year, so you won’t have to worry about that expense for another 20 years or so. It sits on a half-acre, so it has a huge backyard with several large oak trees.”
They walked into the kitchen, and Mac gasped when she saw the lime-green cabinets. “I sure don’t think much of the former owners’ color scheme,” she said sadly.
Harm opened the cabinets to inspect the inside. “They are solid oak, so the paint can be stripped off and they can be refinished,” he informed Mac, always the handyman at heart.
They continued through the breakfast nook to open the French door that led to the backyard. The realtor was right--it was huge with three beautiful oak trees. “I could build a deck off the back door here. The greenery could be thinned out and a flower garden put over there, and maybe a vegetable garden on the side of the house....” Harm went on and on with more ideas. Mac stared at him in amazement. Could he be actually thinking of buying this dump? But she did like the layout of the floor plan. It also had a basement that could be used as an exercise room, and a playroom for the kids later on, Harm had pointed out. And it was large enough that he could wall off an office for them to keep their computers in.
“Let’s see the bedrooms upstairs,” Mac said. As they climbed the stairs with the beautiful oak staircase (that needed to be refinished, of course), Mac started to visualize the Oriental rugs that could be put down in the hallway.
“The plumbing has all been replaced with copper, and the brass faucets are all new, but in keeping with the old-fashioned style. The original four-footed bathtub is in the master bathroom and still works great!” The realtor was catching their excitement now. “There are four bedrooms and two baths upstairs, and a half-bath downstairs, with another half-bath in the basement.”
Mac walked through the huge master bedroom with a walk-in closet that was unusual for older homes. She looked into the other three bedrooms, but was drawn into the one at the end of the hall. It had been painted yellow, and a beautiful sunset could be seen from the large window, overlooking one of the oak trees in the backyard.
Harm walked up behind her and put his arms around her waist. “This would be a perfect nursery, don’t you think?”
Mac turned and looked at his hopeful expression. “Harm, there’s so much work to be done. How will we ever find the time?”
“We have the rest of our lives to make it perfect,” Harm replied, trying to ease the worried look on her face. “Look, the building itself is in good shape. It has a new roof and new plumbing. Sturgis and I can make this place livable in three weeks. We can sand and stain the floors and cabinets, strip off all this ugly wallpaper and paint the walls white. Then you can take your time picking out what wallpaper and paint you want for each room.”
“But what about the yard and the outside of the house?” Mac still wasn’t convinced.
“Tiner has a cousin who is in the landscape business, so I’ll just hire him to come and clean the place up. I can scrape off the outside trim and repaint it in one weekend. Come on, Mac, doesn’t this feel like home?” Harm didn’t want to push, but he had a feeling that they wouldn’t be able to find another deal like this one.
“And since it’s already empty, I can close escrow within the week,” added the realtor. “You can start fixing it up next weekend if you want.”
Mac looked at the pleading look on Harm’s face and couldn’t resist bursting out laughing. “Okay flyboy, if you think you can get it ready in four weeks. But don’t count on me too much. I still have a wedding to put together, remember?”
“Aye, aye, ma’am,” Harm saluted and then picked her up into his arms and twirled her around.
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
| |
Feedback: 