Chapter 22

Dusk

Sept 4th

Grams' Farm

When Harm and Mac entered the house they found, Jen and Grams in the process of teaching Michael how to play rummy and Dammit and Leroy curled up at the foot of the stairs.

"No," Jen was saying, "you can only pick up a whole bunch of cards if you can use the bottom one right away."

"Arg," Michael groaned in frustration.

"Don't worry you'll catch on soon enough," Mac said from her place in the doorway.

"Mac!" Grams exclaimed, "are you trying to give an old woman a heart attack? Would you look at that!

You two are engaged!"

Jen jumped out of her chair, hugged Mac and started jumping up and down.

"Congratulations sir," Michael said shaking Harm's hand.

"Thanks Michael," Harm said with a smile.

"Congratulations Commander," Jen said giving him a hug.

"It's about time Harmon," Grams said giving her grandson a hug before moving over to give a similar hug to her future grand-daughter in law.

"Oh I've got to call Uncle Matt," Mac exclaimed breaking away from the group hug she was crushed in.

"And you should call your Mother, Harm," Grams added.

"And Sergei," Jen chimed in.

"I'll call Mom as soon as Mac finishes calling her Uncle Matt," Harm said, "but Sergei's going to have to wait until tomorrow because of the time difference."

"So sir," Jen said, "when's the wedding?"

"December 24th," Harm said, "Here in Belleville at St Michael's church. I already checked with the minister and he has an opening at 10am. Speaking of which I should call him and tell him it's a go."

December 24th?" Jen asked, "Christmas Eve? That only gives up 4 months to plan an entire wedding. We're going to need dresses, flowers, a hall, caterers, invitations, music... We'd better get started right now!"

Jen put away the deck of cards and Grams handed her a pad of paper.

Harm had to smile at her enthusiasm.

"Ok, first thing bridal party," Jen said.

"Well I can take some guesses but you'd have to ask Mac for sure," Harm replied, "the ones I know for sure are Chegwidden's walking her down the aisle, she'll have Chloe as one of her brides maids, Mattie as another. Sergei will be my best man and depending on how many bridesmaids Mac has my grooms men will be Bud, Sturgis and Keeter. Little AJ's the ring bearer and Kate Pike's daughter Harmony will be the flower girl. And I was thinking we'd get Chaplain Turner to do the ceremony."

"Ok," Jen said scribbling furiously, "Grams how many people does St Michael's hold?"

"About 100," Grams said.

"Good thing neither of us have big families," Mac said returning from her phone call and giving Harm a kiss.

"You get started on the guest list," Harm said, "I'm going to call Mom and Frank. Then I have to call the church."

"Ok Ma'am," Jen said turning to a new page, "off the top of your head who are you inviting?"

"Well Harm's parents, Grams, Sergei and Galena," Mac said, "that takes care of the blood relatives, I think unless Harm has some cousins on his mother side."

"He has two cousin and an aunt," Grams said, "but he's only close with one of his cousins. He's married with 3 children I think."

"Ok so Harm's aunt and his cousin and family," Mac continued, "the entire Roberts clan including Mike and big bud. Chegwidden, you Jen, Mattie, Chloe, Meg, Manetti, Sturgis, Alan Mattoni and family, Kate Pike and her daughter Harm didn't mention if she was married or if she had any other kids. Admiral Williams, Carolyn Imes, Mattie's dad, if that's ok with her."

"It should be," Jen said.

"Tiner, Gunny, if we can find him, Harm will want to invite Keeter, Admiral Boone, Skates and probably Tuna. Let's see people from my work, Josh, Donna, Toby, Leo, Fitzwallace, Will, maybe Charlie. The only thing with Charlie is that if he bring Zoe Bartlet we're going to have secret service all over the church. That's everybody off the top of my head. How many is that?"

"Not including dates," Jen said count up the list, "46 plus Jimmy Roberts since he'll probably sit on someone's lap."

"How many plus ones to we have?" Mac asked.

"For sure," Jen said, "25."

"That's 71," Mac said, "gives us 29 seats to play with."

"Ma'am who were you going to have in your wedding party?" Jen asked, "the commander didn't know who you wanted for brides maids."

"Chloe and Mattie for sure, Harriet will be to big, she won't want to be in the party, and I was thinking of asking you Jen and Skates."

"Don't forget to invite Terri," Harm called from the other room where he was on the phone with his Mom and Frank.

"Right," Mac said, "Teresa Coulter. And we should probably invite my replacement Lt. Colonel Samantha O'Patrick and her family. I know Harm would like Josh Pendry there, his father was Harm roommate in flight school and he used to date Josh's mom. The only problem would be getting Annie's ok. She doesn't want Josh to have any contact with Harm. But if you can try to find her we can always give it a shot."

"Yes ma'am." Jen said, "speaking of exes are we going to invite yours and the commanders exes?"

"Well the only ones of mine that are still alive are Mic and John Farrow," Mac said, "Mic left me because he knew I was in love with Harm. Harm doesn't like him to much though, that one might have to be

discussed. And Harm doesn't like John much more than he likes Mic. As I said Annie won't come, Jordan and Diane are dead, we'll invite Bobbi Latham although technically she wasn't a girlfriend but she is a good friend to both of us. I don't know about Renee, you'll have to ask Harm. That's all I can think of right now."

"Ok so lets figure out what we have to do over the next few weeks," Jen said, turning to a new sheet of paper.

"Invitations will have to be first priority," Grams said, "people need notice for this kind of event."

"We'll need a hall, caterers and flowers," Jen said, "it sounds like the Commander already booked the church."

"Dresses," Grams added, "you can't have a wedding without dresses."

"Music," Michael said, "kind of hard to have a first dance if you don't at least have a DJ."

Harm came back into the room then,

"What are we doing?" he asked.

"Making a list of things that have to be done in the next few weeks," Jen replied.

"Well then you'd better add buy dog food on there," Harm said casually.

"Sir we bought a new bag of dog food for Dammit last week," Jen said. The dog's ears perked up at the sound of her name.

"The dog food's not for her," Harm said, "it's for Hawkeye."

"Who's Hawkeye?" Mac asked.

"Mrs. Richardson's dog," Harm said, "she's moving in with her son and can't take the dog with her. He's about a year old and well trained."

"remember I told Mattie I'd think about getting her a dog," Harm said, "well this is perfect, we don't have to deal with a puppy, he's already trained and we can bring him back with us as a surprise."

"What kind of dog is he?" Mac asked.

"A German shepherd," Grams said, "you'll love him. I'll take you over to meet him after church tomorrow."

"You're serious," Mac said, "you're really going to get her a dog."

"I'm really getting her a dog," Harm said, "sort of a reward for making it through NJROTC orientation camp and a thank you for all the help she was this summer."

"I think that's a great idea sir," Jen said, "I know she's been missing playing with Dammit."

"Well with that settled," Grams said, "I suggest we get down to work planning this wedding."

The group sat down and began planning a long awaited wedding.

The end.

Look for sequels and vignettes coming soon.