The Next Conflicting Phase
Part Thirty-One
Why did it have to rain today?
Not just rain, but that slushy, messy mixture of rain and snow that
turned the entire world a dingy brownish-gray. The kind that hid the
sun and chilled the air enough that no sane person would dare spend a
minute longer outside than necessary. The kind of rain that even kept
people crazy enough to want an outdoor wedding in the middle of
winter inside the cozy confines of a small country club along the
river.
At least they'd have sun for the honeymoon, he mused. He'd checked
the weather forecast for the Bahamas first thing this morning, and it
reported clear skies and warm temperatures for the entire week they'd
be gone. Not that they planned on spending a whole lot of time
outdoors, he thought to himself, but he was sure they'd venture out
at least once or twice. Especially since he'd caught a glimpse of
the brand new red bikini she'd packed for the trip; he definitely
wanted to see her in that. And then he wanted to see her out of it.
Harm continued looking out the window, so engrossed in his fantasies
of Mac and her new swimwear that he didn't hear the footsteps
approaching from behind him.
"Good thing you had a backup plan." Harm jumped when he felt a
friendly hand on his shoulder, and whirled around just in time to see
Admiral Chegwidden step up beside him.
"Admiral!" he exclaimed. He held out a hand as he added
apologetically, "Sorry, sir, I didn't hear you come in."
"It's AJ now, Harm," he corrected pleasantly as they shook hands. He
nodded his head towards the window. "I was just saying that it was a
good thing you had a backup plan."
"Yes, sir," Harm agreed with a rueful grin. "One good thing about all
the bad weather the past couple of weeks, it gave us plenty of
warning and time to plan."
"I'll bet. Was Mac very disappointed?"
Harm shook his head. "Not too much. We knew it would be a long
shot," he explained with a shrug, "which is why we put so much
planning into the inside."
"You can tell. It looks amazing," AJ complimented as he glanced back
into the room where the other guests were sitting and chatting while they waited for the ceremony to start.
"Thanks," Harm responded, following AJ's gaze with a contented
smile. "Mom really went all out to make it as nice as possible."
Trish had chosen the room with the most windows so that they could
have as much natural light as possible, and had decorated the room
with enough flowers and plants to start her own greenhouse, in an
attempt to bring the outdoors inside. When she had first told him of
her plans, he'd been worried it would look overdone or ostentatious,
but when he'd walked in this morning and seen the finished product,
he saw that it was anything but. It was beautiful and warm and
tasteful; just like the woman who had decorated it, he thought
proudly.
Harm was drawn out of his admiration of the hall when AJ turned back
to face him and asked, "So, how's life at JAG these days? You
surviving having a Marine for a CO?"
"Just barely," Harm muttered with a roll of his eyes. AJ raised an
eyebrow questioningly, so he explained, "General Cresswell is a
little�annoyed with me."
"Really? That was quick. Did you shoot off another gun in open
court?"
Harm groaned and shook his head in embarrassment. "No one's ever
going to let me live that down, are they?"
"Probably not," AJ responded, grinning unrepentantly. "So what did
you do to get on Cresswell's bad side so fast?"
"I absconded with his fellow jarhead," Harm told him. "He wasn't
happy to take over only to find out that the only other Marine at
Headquarters was jumping ship."
It was the height of irony to Harm that Mac had been so apprehensive
about working with the General that she had decided to leave within
hours of his taking over as JAG, and then spent her last month in the
office forming the most solid working relationship with him of anyone
on the senior staff. Once they had cleared the air about the whole
Farrow incident a few days after he got there, she and the General
got on like the proverbial house on fire, bonding as fellow marines
awash in a sea of squids. In fact, Cresswell had spent most of Mac's
last month trying to convince her to stay. He had even gone so far
as to work out an arrangement where Harm would be reassigned to the
Pentagon but loaned back to JAG occasionally. Harm had been willing
to consider it, but once Mac made up her mind about leaving,
nothing could convince her to stay.
He'd been both disappointed and relieved by her decision.
Disappointed because the General's offer would have at least allowed
them to work together once in a while; relieved because it proved
that she really was doing what she wanted, not just what she felt
like she had to because she didn't have any other viable options.
And she was so happy these days, working on the book and volunteering
at a battered women's shelter � not to mention getting the house
ready for the foster child they'd just been approved to take in �
that Harm was willing to take the blame from the General for her
departure.
Realizing how much time had passed since the Admiral had joined him,
he glanced down at his watch and his eyes widened in surprise. In
just under twenty minutes, he and Mac would walk down the aisle and
stand in front of God and their family and friends while they pledged
their lives to each other. He swallowed hard and reached up to
adjust his tie, which was suddenly feeling too tight around his
neck. His hands shook just a little, and he sent up a silent plea to
the heavens to help him not screw up and make this anything less
than the perfect wedding that Mac deserved.
AJ watched as Harm fidgeted with his tie and then glanced once again
at his watch. He smiled knowingly, remembering his own wedding long
ago. "Nervous?"
"About marrying Mac? No," he answered immediately. Then he gave AJ
a rueful smile. "About forgetting my vows or dropping the ring?
Yes."
AJ laughed, and then patted his shoulder reassuringly. "Don't
worry. I'm sure you'll do fine."
He glanced out the window to Harm's left, the one that faced the
parking lot of the marina, just in time to see a limousine pulling up
to the front entrance, and smiled broadly.
"I think your bride has arrived," he told Harm, nodding his head
towards the limousine. Harm spun around and was halfway to the window mere seconds after the last words left AJ's mouth. Stepping as close as he could without fogging up the window with his breath and ruining his view, Harm waited for his first glimpse of his bride, of his Sarah.
The limo driver stepped out of the car and moved around to open the
passenger door, and Harm had to bite back a sigh of disappointment
when it was his mother and not Mac that first stepped out into the
cold winter air. If he had been paying more attention, he would have
noticed how radiant she looked, how proud and happy. But his eyes,
his thoughts; every part of him was focused completely on the second
woman to emerge from the car.
If Trish was radiant, then there wasn't a word invented yet that
would adequately capture the beauty of his future wife. Dazzling,
luminous, exquisite � none of those descriptions did her justice in
Harm's eyes; he was completely mesmerized by her.
Her dress was covered by a cream colored cloak with red trim, and
there were red and white flowers woven through her hair, with a few
wavy tendrils softly framing her face. She held a bouquet of red
roses in one hand, and was looking up at the elegant red brick
building with a wonderful, joyous smile.
"She looks beautiful," AJ said softly, watching Mac as she stood
patiently and let Trish straighten her cloak and check her hair; that
radiant smile never fading.
"Yes, she does," Harm responded just as softly. He finally managed
to tear his eyes away from Mac, and turned to AJ. "If you'll excuse
me, Admiral," he said hurriedly, not bothering to wait for a response
before striding out the door towards the parking lot, where Trish was
still fussing over her almost daughter-in-law.
After closely examining the bouquet to make sure all the flowers were
securely in place, Trish handed it back to Mac with a smile.
"There, darling, you're all set. Let's get you inside before that
sky carries through on its threat," she said, glancing up at the
dreary sky with its dark clouds overhead. She started towards the
entrance, but Mac quickly reached out and caught her hand, pulling
her gently back.
"Just a minute, Trish." Mac looked at Harm's mother and said a
little shyly, "I just�I just wanted to say�to tell you how much�I�"
she blushed, embarrassed by her own inarticulateness, before finally
blurting out a simple, "Thank you."
Trish's eyes filled with tears. "Oh, Sarah." She reached up and
cupped Mac's face in her hands. "I should be thanking you. You've
made Harm so happy. You've made all of us happy. And I can't tell
you how much Frank and I are looking forward to being able to call
you our daughter officially."
"I don't know what to say," Mac said softly, fighting back tears of
her own. But she did know what she wanted to say and, after a moment
of chewing nervously on her bottom lip, she stepped forward and
wrapped her arms around Trish. "I love you, Mom," she whispered, her
voice hesitant but sincere.
Trish was overwhelmed, and tears slid down her face as she returned
Mac's embrace, clutching the younger woman fiercely to her. "Oh,
darling girl," she murmured, stroking her hand softly over Mac's
hair. "I love you, too."
That was the sight that greeted Harm as he stepped outside, and for
one brief moment he feared that something had gone wrong; that Mac
had gotten cold feet and changed her mind about marrying him. Then
they pulled apart and he saw Trish beaming at Mac and Mac smiling
shyly back at her and knew that everything was fine. Well, except
for the fact that they were both about to ruin their make-up. Since
he knew that they needed to last throughout the ceremony and the
subsequent pictures, he decided to lighten things up a little.
Heading down the stairs and across the parking lot, he called out
teasingly, "And here I always thought I would be the one late to my
own wedding, not Miss `I Have Great Timing'."
A joyful smile crossed Mac's face at the sound of Harm's voice, but
she kept her back turned to him as she shot back sassily, "For your
information, flyboy, we have another fourteen minutes and twenty-one
seconds before we have to walk down the aisle."
"Well, with as much time as it took you just to get out of the car
and move five steps towards the front door," he responded as he came
up behind her, placing his hands on her shoulders and leaning over
her to give his mother a quick kiss on the cheek before
continuing, "I'm not sure fourteen minutes is going to be enough to
make that long haul inside."
Mac whirled around to face him, a look of annoyance on her face that
was belied by the merry twinkle in her eye. She poked him in the
chest. "You know-"
"Children," Trish interrupted, her tone a mixture of amusement and
exasperation. Only these two would greet each other ten minutes
before their wedding by picking a fight. "Could you save the
bickering until after the ceremony?"
Harm and Mac looked at each other a moment and then shrugged and
turned back to face Trish, identical looks of mock innocence on their
face.
"Okay," they chorused amiably, and Trish glared at them for a long
moment before shaking her head and heading inside, muttering about
their bizarre senses of humor and how they were going to be the death
of her. Harm and Mac waited until they were sure she was out of
earshot, and then burst out laughing.
When they finally calmed down, Harm looked down at Mac and
asked, "How much time do we have left?"
"Eleven minutes forty-three seconds," she responded automatically,
her gaze focused on the closest car window as she checked to make
sure her make-up was okay.
Harm waited until she had carefully wiped away the last of the
moisture from her crying and laughing fits and then told her, "I
guess we better get moving." He flashed her his mega-watt
grin. "What do you say, Marine? Want to go inside and get hitched?"
"Why not?" She said nonchalantly, biting back the ecstatic grin
threatening to burst out at the thought that she and Harm were
finally getting married. Harm, on the other hand, didn't bother
trying to hide his own smile as he held out his arm for her.
Shifting her bouquet to the other hand, she linked her arm with his
and they slowly crossed the parking lot.
"Is everyone already inside?" Mac asked as they maneuvered around yet
another puddle, and Harm nodded.
"Yep. Bud and Harriet got here about ten minutes before you did."
When they reached the stairs, Harm took her bouquet from her so she
could grab hold of the banister, and they carefully made their way up
the steps. "Apparently, little AJ didn't want to wear a suit.
Harriet finally had to threaten to leave him at home with Jimmy and
her parents to get him to cooperate."
"Ah, left with Mrs. Sims. A fate worse than death," she said half-
jokingly, and Harm chuckled. "What about Chloe and Mattie?"
"Waiting inside with their fathers and our respective rings." When
they reached the top of the stairs, Harm handed the bouquet back and
stepped forward to open the door for her. "Mattie tried to act like
she lost yours, but Tom told her to be nice to me."
Mac smiled. "It's good that they're doing so well together," she
said happily, as she waited for him to follow her inside. When he
was once again at her side, she added more seriously, "I was worried
for awhile."
Harm nodded. "Me, too," he admitted, catching hold of her free hand
and squeezing tightly. He guided her to the small room where Mac's
purse and cloak would be stored. "But it all worked out for the best,
didn't it?"
"Yeah. I really think it did." She smiled softly at him as they
stepped inside and he closed the door behind them. He walked over to
her, stopping a few feet away and holding out his arms. Her smile
widened and she quickly stepped into his embrace. They held each
other tightly, with Mac's head resting on his shoulder and his chin
brushing the top of her head as he carefully avoided messing up her
hair. They rocked gently back and forth, as each one of them
reflected back on everything that had happened over the past year.
The months since Mac was diagnosed with cancer had been the most
difficult time of Harm's entire life; worse than after his father
went missing, worse than his crash or when Diane died or when he came
back from Paraguay thinking he had lost everything that mattered for
good. Nothing was more frightening or more painful than the thought
of her dying and him being left alone, and he thanked God every day
that she was still with him. Looking back on it now, he could admit
that all those people that had told him over and over how lucky they
had been were right � they were lucky. Lucky that they caught it in
time; lucky that Mac hadn't lost her breast and didn't have to suffer
through chemo. But most of all, they were lucky that they made it
through the ordeal together, and came out on the other side with
their relationship stronger than ever.
For Mac, her cancer had been a wake-up call. For most of her adult
life she had simply done what was expected, always taking the safe
road, the easy out; never letting anyone get too close, or opening
her heart for fear of getting burned. Even after she and Harm had
moved forward with their relationship, she still kept a part of
herself hidden away, afraid to let herself hope, afraid to reach for
those long ago dreams; telling herself that there would come a time
when it would be safe to set those dreams free. Then the cancer
came, and suddenly there was a very real possibility that she had run
out of time. And when it didn't, when she was given a reprieve, she
realized that she could no longer wait for some outside force to push
her onto the path she wanted to travel; she had to take that step
herself. So she did, finally confident in the knowledge that
whatever challenges she faced along the way, she would never again
have to face them alone.
Mac's internal clock interrupted her musings, warning her that they
had only a few minutes before they had to walk out of this room and
down the aisle. Pulling back slightly, she looked up at Harm, and
was surprised to see tears shining brightly in his eyes.
Lifting a hand up to stroke his cheek, she asked gently, "What are
you thinking?"
He smiled down at her. "That I was wrong last year," he told her,
turning his head and pressing a kiss to her palm. "This is
the best Christmas I've ever had."
She leaned up and kissed his cheek. "Mine, too," she responded.
Then she grinned. "I will repeat my statement from last year,
though � we are going to have a very hard time topping this next
Christmas."
Harm laughed and brushed his lips against hers, murmuring
softly, "We'll come up with something." He lifted his head and
grinned confidently at her. "We always do."
"Yeah, I guess we do." Harm leaned down to kiss her again, but Mac
slapped a hand on his chest and pushed back slightly.
"Hold that thought, sailor. We've only got two minutes and eight
seconds left, and I still need you to help me get this off. The
cloak, Harm," she clarified sternly when he waggled his eyebrows
suggestively at her. "The dress stays on."
"Spoilsport," he pouted, nevertheless reaching up to unhook her cloak
and slip it off her shoulders. He folded it carefully and laid it
down on the nearest chair. Turning back, his breath caught in his
throat as he saw her in her wedding dress for the first time.
"You're the most beautiful thing I've ever seen, Sarah," he whispered
reverently, and Mac blushed and looked shyly at the floor. Harm
reached out and caught her face in his hands, brushing his thumbs
over her cheekbones. "I love you."
"I love you, too," she answered just as reverently, tears filling her
eyes. Reaching up, she covered his hands with her own and leaned up
for one last, gentle kiss before they became husband and wife. Then
she squeezed his hands and gave him a bright, beaming smile. "Come
on, sailor, let's get hitched."
Harm answered her smile with one of his own. "Why not?" he replied
casually, and then grabbed her hand and pulled her impatiently out
the door and towards their waiting family and friends, their
delighted laughter echoing throughout the hall.
December 24, 2004
Swan Point Country Club
1220 EST
Harm glanced at his watch for the third time in ten minutes, and then
looked out the window at the choppy gray waters of the Potomac with a
sigh.
The end