April 2018

Harm finished in the bathroom and stepped out into the bedroom. He was happy that it was Friday and the weekend lay ahead of them. The week had been hectic, and he felt like he'd been running from one thing to the next pretty much every day.

He found his wife on the bed with her phone and raised his eyebrows. "You know, back when we were first married you never brought your phone out five minutes after the act," he pointed out with amusement.

"Back when we were first married you would have been ready for round two by now," she threw back with a chuckle.

He slumped down on the bed. "Ouch."

She finished what she was doing and put her phone away. "It was Claire saying that she'd be home around 0100."

"I can't believe she's going off to college in the fall," Harm let out a sigh as he pulled his wife closer and kissed her head. "Wasn't it yesterday she started High School?"

"It sure feels that way. I just hope she'll continue to make good decisions," Mac rubbed his chest softly. "How I'll survive when she's in college in the fall I will never know."

"Me neither," he ran his hand down her side. "I don't know if I can sleep until she's back. Who was the party at again?"

"Jake Hutchinson's eighteenth birthday," Mac reminded him. "It'll be fine. She's a good girl."

"Yeah," he wasn't totally convinced. "So, tell me about those books Uncle Matt sent you."

"It's my grandmother's diaries," Mac looked thoughtful. "He's cleaning up his house before the sale."

"He's seriously moving here?" Harm wondered.

"Yes, he wants to be closer now that he's getting older. I never liked the idea of him being so far away, I can't look after him or help him with things," Mac smiled.

"It's a good idea, I just didn't think he'd really do it. He loves it there," Harm reminded her.

"He does," she agreed.

"Did you read the diaries?" Harm wondered as he caressed her thigh softly.

"Not yet," she hesitated. "She was a special lady. Very loving. She kept some of her Iranian traditions even after so many years here. She came with her father in the 1940s, we don't know much about her family and she didn't tell us much. Uncle Matt says that she never spoke of her life before she arrived here, but she mentioned once that her mother had been killed. Her father worked many low paid jobs. It was a hard life. She learned English from a neighbor who was a school teacher. He brought her books to read in between her chores at home. I didn't know the diaries existed, but Uncle Matt said that they showed up in her trunk. He had just put it up there without looking through it."

"Are you going to read them?" he asked as he moved in to kiss her neck.

"Yeah, I think I will," she moved her head to grant him better access.

"But not now," he moved over her, kissing her deeply.

"Not now," she agreed between kisses.

A little after midnight there was a knock on their bedroom door. Harm had set the alarm for 0100 and had dozed off. He mumbled a tired come in and pulled his wife closer.

The door opened. "I'm home," Claire peaked inside.

Mac sat up. "You're home earlier than we expected. Did you have fun?"

"Yeah, it was okay," Claire smiled. "I'll go to bed now."

"Thanks for letting us know that you're home," Harm mumbled tiredly.

"I love you, Sweetie," Mac said.

"I love you guys too," Claire turned and headed for her room.

Mac snuggled into bed again. "She's a good girl."

Harm nodded. "I know."

Saturday morning

Mac was surprised when her daughter showed up to have breakfast with them, expecting her to sleep in after getting in late the previous night. Harm was still in deep sleep when Mac woke up by Max's scratching on their door. Rose had been dead to the world, so he had wandered across the hallway knowing that someone in the house was a light sleeper and would let him out in the garden. Harm was still in deep sleep as she got back too, she showered and headed downstairs to get breakfast started.

"Good morning, you're up early," Mac smiled as she sat down with her fruit and yogurt.

"Good morning. I heard you get up with Max. I tried to fall asleep again, but I gave up," she scratched Max's ears. "How was your run?"

"Good. It's always nice to start the day with some sort of exercise," Mac studied her daughter. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, just have a lot on my mind I guess," Claire walked over to the coffee pot and filled a mug. "It'll be nice to have Mattie here this weekend."

"And we get to meet Alex," Mac pointed out.

"I already did," Claire reminded her. "They are so good together."

"That's great," Mac finished her breakfast. "So, you want to talk about it?"

"Not really," Claire hesitated. "Hey, Mom, can I read your grandma's diaries?"

"Sure," Mac stood.

"I think your Iranian heritage is exciting," Claire sipped her coffee.

"They are on my desk," Mac smiled as she put her dishes in the sink. "I have a guest room to prepare."

"Do you want my help with anything?" Claire wondered.

"No, I got it covered," Mac reassured as she headed out of the kitchen.

"Morning Mom," Matthew was rubbing his eyes.

"Hi, Sweetheart," Mac ruffled his hair. "Sleep well?"

"Yup," Matthew smiled.

"Ask Claire to fix you something for breakfast," Mac headed up the stairs and walked into Rose's room. "Morning Sweetheart."

"Rose looked up from her book. "Hi," she smiled cleverly. "I just have to finish this."

"That's fine," Mac kissed her head. "Just let Claire know what you want for breakfast, I'm preparing the guest room for Mattie and Alex."

"When do we have to leave for the stable?" Rose wondered.

"I was thinking around 1100, that way we'll be back in time to greet Mattie and Alex," Mac smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry; you have plenty of time to finish your book."

"Thanks, Mom," Rose smiled and focused on her book again.

Mac crossed the hallway and entered the spare bedroom. Nathan would be coming home too and had wanted to stay in the basement. He hadn't mentioned anything about Eve coming. Come to think of it he hadn't mentioned Eve at all two weeks ago when he came home to stay the weekend.

"Good morning."

She turned and found her husband leaning towards the doorframe. "Good morning," she smiled sweetly. "Did you come to lend a hand?"

He chuckled. "You need a hand?"

"Not really no," she opened the closet and found sheets. "Hey, has Nathan mentioned Eve to you lately?"

Harm hesitated thoughtfully. "Come to think of it; he hasn't."

"That's strange, right?" Mac moved over to the bed.

"I guess," Harm agreed. "By the way, Matthew has a hockey game today. Are we all going?"

"Rose has Whirlwind," Mac reminded him.

"So I take it you're doing that then, and I'll go with Matthew?" Harm assumed.

"Probably," she agreed.

"Remember back in the day when weekends were for relaxing instead of running around on all sorts of activities?" he pushed off the doorframe. "When weekends were for sleeping in, spending lazy mornings in bed, naked…"

She studied him cautiously. "That was a short period, wasn't it? About six months before we had the house full and one on the way."

Harm chuckled. "Yeah, right," he wrapped his arms around her.

"We don't have the time," she reminded him with a chuckle and pushed him away.

"That's not very loving," he complained with a pout.

She smirked. "I'll make it up to you, but you have to get it in gear because you have to be at the ice rink at 1000."

"We haven't done anything just you and me in a long time," he leaned in and kissed her softly. "We should do something about that. See you later."

"Don't forget Matthew's bag," she reminded him.

"Yes, ma'am," he turned and headed out of the bedroom.

"Love you," she called after him.

"Love you more," he called back.

Later

Claire had decided to go along to the stable with Rose and Mac. She didn't ride much anymore, but since Rose started living with them, Claire too had found her way back on horseback. Mac had talked with the owner, and she had found them two steady horses to lend and they all went for a ride in the woods nearby.

"This is nice," Mac smiled. "I'm glad you decided to join us."

"Me too," Claire hesitated. "I don't know why I stopped going to the stable anyway."

"I think your other activities just took up all your time," Mac chuckled. "How was the party last night? You came home early?"

"I did," Claire let out a sigh. "It was fine at first, but this girl at school showed up, and I decided that life is too short."

"Is there a problem with some of the girls' at school?" Mac wondered.

"It's just Veronica in my class. She's always been kinda mean, and usually, she has spent most of her time ignoring me," Claire rolled her eyes. "She's popular you know, and because she's so mean I've stayed away from her. Only last week, Amber started school. She's from Oregon; her family moved here because her Dad got a new job. Anyway, Veronica decided that Amber was someone she and her friends can make fun of. I overheard them and asked them to back off. So instead, Veronica turned all her meanness towards me."

Mac did not like what she was hearing. "If you have a problem with someone we should talk to the school."

"That's why I didn't say anything. Trust me when I say that telling only will make it worse. Last year Lisa Oliver told the school that Veronica was hassling her, and she ended up changing school," Claire explained.

"Is that why her parents had her transferred?" Mac raised her eyebrows. "Well, that's not right. I can't believe it!"

"Don't get all worked up," Claire warned. "The last thing I need is for you to go all Marine and make this even worse. I can handle Veronica. It's only a few months left of the school year, and I'll be off to College if I can ever figure out where to go."

Mac hesitated. "But…"

"Mom," Claire cut her off. "I got it handled."

Deciding to let it go at the moment Mac let out a sigh. "Okay, fine. I just don't like it."

"Good," Claire tried a careful smile. "Trust me on this."

"Fine," Mac hesitated. "Have you talked with your brother lately?"

"Nathan?" Claire looked thoughtful. "About something specific?"

"About Eve," Mac clarified.

"No, he hasn't mentioned her," Claire hesitated. "Do you think something is up?"

"I don't know," Mac looked thoughtful. "I'm sure he would have said something if something was up."

Claire nodded. "I'm sure he would."

"Yeah," Mac mumbled thoughtfully.