She went outside to go down to the little ice cream stand that was just around the corner. Otherwise Jack was probably going to wait there for quite some time before returning home.
When she got there Isabelle had already finished her ice cream and was playing at the swings with some other children. Mac sat down beside Jack on the bench where he was sitting watching her.
"Did everything go well with, Harm?" he asked her without looking up.
"Yeah," Mac nodded.
"I'm really going to miss her, Sarah," he told her not letting go with his eyes on his daughter.
"I know you will, but you can still come around to visit and..."
"It won't be the same. Especially not now that Harm is back. She won't need me in that way anymore."
"She's not going to forget you."
"Who knows?"
"I know," Mac looked at Jack instead of her daughter.
"When do you want to tell her?" Jack asked "Do you think we should put it off longer because of Harm's return and all."
"I'm not sure it's a good idea to postpone it anymore," Mac said. They had planned to tell Isabelle that they were going to separate the day they had found out that Harm was coming back and had decided to wait with telling her until after Harm was really back. "Friday we have that meeting with the lawyers, maybe we should tell her afterwards?"
Jack nodded agreeing to do that.
"In a way I think she already knows," Mac said and was looking at Isabelle again.
Six months of couples therapy had led them to stop fighting and together agree to separate and get a divorce. Neither one of them had met anyone else and they weren't angry with each other either, they had just stopped being in love and weren't happy together anymore as a couple. The friendship they had had before they had gotten together wasn't as strong as it had been back then either, however they still cared a lot about each other's happiness and were determined to make the separation as easy as they possibly could for each other and most of all for Isabelle.
"Maybe she's still in denial, just like we were," Jack commented.
"Not anymore."
"Not anymore," Jack agreed. "Friday sounds good."
They sat silent for a while watching Isabelle play or as they soon realized arguing a little with one of the other children.
"So are you going to go to that party tomorrow?" Jack asked.
"I'll talk to Belle about it, but I think so, yes. Are you coming too?"
"Wouldn't it be strange if you went and I didn't?."
"I guess."
Belle came up to them and asked if they could go home now, she was tired of arguing. They went home to have dinner together and later in the evening after Mac had talked to Isabelle, she called Trish and told her they were coming to the party.
Trish had rented the reception hall at the hotel where she, Frank and Harm were currently staying to have the party. Trish and Frank would often come and visit Mac, Belle and Jack and then they would always stay at Mac and Jack's house, but this time Trish had of course wanted to be close to Harm.
The whole hall was totally crowded when Mac, Jack and Belle arrived. Harm had had another set of debriefings and been questioned by a new set of people during the day and was already rather tired when the first guests had started to arrive.
Mac and Jack walked up to him both holding Belle's hands with her between them. Jack offered his right hand to Harm and he took it and they shook hands.
"I'm really happy that you're back, Harm."
"It's good to be back," Harm told him.
"Hi Harm," Mac said. "Belle, aren't you going to say hi to Harm?"
"Hi," Isabelle said shyly and then she caught sight of Little AJ. She looked up at both her mother and stepfather asking them to go to him and play. Isabelle often spent time at the Roberts' house and in the last year she had become really good friends with Little AJ and Jimmy. The age difference wasn't really a problem anymore. "Mom, can I?"
"Yeah," Mac nodded "It's OK."
"Mac," Trish waved from the middle of the room "Can you come here for a while?" Mac excused herself and went over to Trish.
"So."
"So," Jack answered Harm. There was some more silence and then Jack added "This is rather awkward."
"That is stating the obvious," Harm pointed out.
"I hope you're not upset about me and Mac. I mean..."
"No, I'm not..."
"Dad," they were interrupted by Belle who came running back to them and took Jack's hand and started dragging him off. "Dad, come on, you have to tell Mom that I can go outside with AJ and Jimmy."
"Belle..." Jack started but he was forced to walk with her up to Mac and Trish.
"So what is it like to be back? A lot of things have changed, haven't they?" Sturgis had come up and was now standing next to Harm.
"More then I could have ever imagined. I have a daughter... Mac and Jack... It's like there isn't room for me any more around here. I don't know what I expected to find here, but this wasn't it..." Harm was watching his mother standing with the family of three talking. They looked like the perfect family, like they belonged together.
Sturgis looked at Harm surprised. It wasn't like Harm to... feel sorry for himself like that. "Well, I think there will be made room for you. Belle has always been a bit cautious with strangers and people she doesn't know well. I think you'll definitely get the place as her parent, as her dad in time if you just want to. And Mac, well..."
"I didn't mean for it to sound like that..." Harm realized that Sturgis was trying to comfort him. "Of course it's great that she and Mac have been doing so fine even if I wasn't here."
"It took a lot of time for that to happen, you should know that. I don't think I've ever seen a person so alone as she was after you were lost. Nothing we did for her seemed to help at all. The first years I think it was just Isabelle that managed to keep her alive on the inside too."
Harm felt ashamed of how relived and good it felt to know that Mac hadn't taken his disappearance as easy as he had somehow gotten the impression of from what he has seen of her life now.
"We were so happy for her when she and Jack started seeing each other romantically. He was good for her, helped her to move on with her life. She became happy again. I think that was the first time that she really saw that we had been beside her the whole time."
"When did they get married?" Harm asked. His eyes had followed Belle and Jack who were now standing with Bud, Harriet, AJ and Jimmy.
"It's been four years now. Jack was stationed in Washington in 2004 and I guess they started seeing each other a year later."
"So what has happened in your life these past 8 years?" Harm asked..
"Well, Bobbie and I got married and ... Well, two years ago she was in a car accident... She's in a wheelchair now. She wanted to be here today, but there was a hearing in the senate and she had to be there. Maybe you can come over and visit us some day soon though."
"I sure will. I'm sorry about the accident."
"Don't be. We're not. It's just made us more grateful that we have each other."
Trish waved to Harm to come over to where she and Mac were standing. He said good bye to Sturgis and went over to where they were standing.
"We were talking about taking Isabelle out for a picnic tomorrow. Mac and Jack have to work and Isabelle is supposed to be with Harriet, but I thought maybe we could take her and spend some time with her. I see her so seldom and maybe it will be easier for you to get to know her when there aren't so many people around," Trish explained to him.
"Only if you want to. I mean if it's too much for you..." Mac started saying. She was really scared that they would scare Harm away from Isabelle by putting too much on him from start.
"No, it's not. I want to get to know her. I really do and I've already missed so much."
Neither Trish nor Mac could say anything against that.
"I have to go and tell them to start getting out the food," Trish excused herself. Mac offered to help, but Trish said it wasn't necessary.
"I'm afraid I'm going to push too much with her. She doesn't seem so interested in getting to know me and I don't want to force her."
"But she does want to get to know you. She's been asking a lot of questions about you all day. She's just shy right now."
"Maybe you're right. You know her better than I do."
"You'll get there too."
"Jack's good with her."
"Yes, he is."
"I was watching the three of you before and I kept thinking, if I had come home from Afghanistan that could have been us, you, me and her."
"I hope not," Mac muttered thinking about her divorce. Unfortunately the comment that was intended just for her own ears wasn't as quiet as it was meant to be and Harm had heard what she had said.
"I'm sorry, Mac. I wasn't aware that the thought of that was so awful to you," he stalked away out to the hotel garden.
TBC